Anbu Kirito
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Hey guys.
So, for those who aren't aware, my character Azuma Uchiha is one who's story I take quite seriously in the NW. Since about 4 months ago I've been writing missions building his character, the characters he interacts with, and a multitude of others in preparation for a novel-length story, largely split into three arcs. The first of these arcs was just completed. So, without any further ado, I'd like to present the entirety of ARC 1 of Azuma Uchiha's story, in total nearly 25,000 words, collected in one place.
Arc 1 - A New Home
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Wiping a bead of sweat off of his forehead, Azuma sighed. Having declined the old man he'd met several months ago's offer, the green-haired 15-year old now once again found himself wandering across the bone fields alone, although this time, he lacked even the simplest of missions. No Daimyo who had something he needed stolen, no assassination that needed carrying out, no nothing. Then again, it wasn't like that was new.
This is what, month three without anything to do?
It wasn't that he was worried about money. In fact, Azuma could really care less about the status of his funds as he was a ninja trained in survival skills. Hunting some food by picking a bird out of the sky with a quick Fuuton: Yubijuu was easy enough, and setting up a fire was...well...certainly not a problem for an Uchiha of all people. Anyway. The real issue was legitimate, bonafide boredom, as well as not really having much of a permanent home at all.
And so, fed up with all of it, Azuma had come to the Bone Fields of all places on his ongoing search for answers, and more importantly, for a potential home.
Why did I think this was a good idea again?
The boy cracked his neck as he glanced around. It wasn't nearly as impressive of a place to him now as it had been the first time he'd come through. Sure, the sheer volume of sand which worked its way into his shoes was still downright insane, but as he moved across the desert with longer, swifter legs, he found that it didn't feel all that grand to him anymore.
He'd been here for about... what, a day and a half now? Yes, that seemed about right, seeing as the sun was just-about setting now. His first night had been spent in a rudimentary box made up of Doton-fashioned walls, if only to protect him against scorpions and whatever other little critters. He'd actually heard rumors of there being gargantuan bugs hidden across the desert, often slumbering beneath the dunes in wait of a poor traveler who was destined to become their next meal. Those rumors sounded absurd, of course, but then again...
Something has to leave all of these skeletons behind.
On that note, he'd just passed the eight-hundred and fifth skeleton of his journey. This one looked that of a large, quadrupedal woodland creature, perhaps a deer from the bordering forest that had rather tragically found itself lost in the midst of an unfamiliar place.
Hah. Doesn't that sound familiar.
Well. Perhaps lost wasn't the right term, but still; Azuma wasn't exactly aware of where he was going or what he was doing. He was just... walking. Stone pillar after stone pillar, dune after dune, and flatbed after flatbed, he'd traversed much of the open expanse that was the Bone Fields without really feeling like he'd gone anywhere.
That was, until perhaps half an hour after the sun set, when Azuma came across a certain landscape feature which he found eerily familiar. From atop his dune, it should have looked like just any other part of the desert. Oddly enough though, surrounding the little valley created by the dune he stood on as well as the others around it were three pillars, all of which were near equivalent in height.
Of course, if it had been just those pillars which looked familiar, he would have dismissed it as an instance of silly deja-vu, but that wasn't the case. This was because in the center of the little dip was yet another dip in the sand's elevation. This one was far more pronounced than the usual dip down from a dune; in fact, so much so that it couldn't be natural. The dip was shaped almost as if somebody had taken a very long, three-foot thick sword, and shoved in straight into the ground before drawing a line with that sword, resulting in a miniature crevasse.
It was upon noticing this that Azuma realized that he was standing in the very same location of his previous visit to the Great Wind Desert, or more specifically, the location at which he'd found that damned diamond. Upon recognizing this, he glanced down to his side to look at his Katana for a brief moment, remembering how he'd rather comically over-exerted himself in a display of Fuuton using that very sword as an apparatus for his technique. The boy couldn't help but smile at the memory. He wasn't all that much older now, but he'd grown more than a couple of inches and lived what felt like an eternity's worth of life over that little gap. He much less of a child nowadays, he supposed.
As much as I love the nostalgia, I think it's time to keep moving.
Then, something particularly weird happened; he didn't. Still stood atop that dune of sand, as Azuma's eyes scanned the unforgiving landscape, his brain was rampant with ideas, with potential. Surely he couldn't stay here, could he? For one, it was pretty much the middle of nowhere by definition.
Well, to be fair, it isn't very far from the forest, which isn't very far from the nearest town if I remember right.
Okay so maybe it was the middle of NOWHERE but it was still dangerous! There was no reason for him to stay in a place where he'd be struggling to stay alive.
Okay but didn't I JUST ruminate over how easy it was to survive? Food isn't hard for me to get, period, and I can materialize water from thin air.
Well, maybe that wasn't an issue but... uh... damn, maybe his instincts were right on this one. Despite his best efforts, Azuma hadn't mustered the strength to lift a foot in a direction away from the little valley, and frankly, his gut had a history of making good decisions when it came to things like this.
So sure, he'd stay the night. Or the week.
A month, tops.
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Come morning in his stone box of a shelter, Azuma already had a long list of ideas planned for his little settlement. To put a few of them simply, he wanted to create a small reservoir to hold water, build himself a proper dwelling, and he wanted to secure the area around said dwelling. The boy, although a mature for his age, allowed himself a childish grin at the thought of doing all of this.
Finally! Something to keep me busy!
Unfortunately, upon dusting his clothes off, cracking his neck, Azuma came to yet another realization. If he wanted to spend any of his time building all of that stuff, he'd first be forced to clear out the space around the little valley he was now residing in. That meant the sand dunes had to go. With that thought out of the way, the green-haired Uchiha let out a sigh as he clapped his hands to the floor of his shelter and allowed the stone beneath his feet and around him to crumble, returning to the sand from which he'd raised it.
Immediately, the sun hit him with full force. He'd have to get used to that. Regardless, he had work to do. Looking around his position at the epicenter of the dip in the sand, Azuma figured that the diameter of the valley, at the moment, was about 20 meters. Big, but not big enough for what he hand planned.
The good news was that he happened to be proficient in techniques which were great for blowing sand around. He'd start with the north-facing dune. First, however, the boy let his mind come to rest on an idea that had been nagging him for a long while.
How did all of this sand get here? Rock erosion?
No, that didn't make sense. There were only a few hundred pillars of rock across the whole of the Bone Fields. Furthermore, the sand here was almost... white? Oh, wait, that made sense; all of the bones on the surface must have eroded, he supposed. After all, this certainly wasn't a new landmass. It was certainly unique, at least. Anyway, that was a thought for later.
Azuma first clapped his hands together and shut his eyes, allowing chakra to build up in his lungs. Following this, he applied the Fuuton nature to this chakra. Then, without ceremony, he exhaled while thrusting both of his hands forwards.
Almost immediately, a large gust of wind erupted in the direction of the North dune, one powerful enough to simply pick up all of the sand which composed it. Within moments, the former dune was now deposited somewhere well into the distance.
I do admit, this area does look a little weird missing one of the dunes; sorta like a house with only three out of four walls, and-hey what's that?
This was the least interesting turn of events to Azuma though; no, what he found far more interesting was what his technique had just revealed. In particular, it was something which brought him back to his earlier train of thought.
Are those the skeletons of people?
Beneath the sand was... well, mostly more sand, but rather eerily, a corpse-pile of freakishly well-maintained human skeletons. Azuma was used to seeing animal skeletons spread about the surface and occasionally that of a poor traveller who'd forgotten water, but this? This was almost organized. Even odder was the metallic gleam of a small object which had caught his eye from the distance. Allowing himself to give in to his curious urges, the boy ran towards the previous site of the dune.
And as soon as he arrived, he slid to his knees and grasped what he could now see was a shining, perfectly preserved kunai knife, complete with equally well preserved dried blood. To confirm his suspicions, Azuma first gave the blood a wipe with his shirt, thinking it might have just been dirt, or something else than had gotten lodged in the sand. Nope; it was definitely blood.
Well wasn't THIS a surprise?
It was then that he realized why the bodies were piled on top of each other so closely. For one, the sand, which had clearly accumulated on top of them over many years had simply pushed them together, and two, they were rather obviously ninja who had been engaged in combat. Upon further inspection, he'd also found the hilt of a sword with no blade anywhere in sight and a few other pieces of basic shinobi weaponry, many of which were in good condition. The reason they'd not been picked up in his gust of wind was because they had all been trapped beneath the skeletons of what were likely their respective wielders, and for that he was thankful.
What had been a mundane morning task had very quickly turned into an interesting little history lesson for the boy. Of course, the depth of that lesson was limited from his perspective. Azuma didn't know this, but well over three hundred years ago, the members of two clans whose names were long since lost to time had engaged in a clan war so expansive that it had actually created the vast majority of the area now referred to as the "Bone Fields", bringing ruin to an area which had actually once been one of the most contested and hospitable places in the whole of the Great Wind Desert. Stories had since turned into legends, which had even further left public discourse, with the understanding of most being that the Bone Fields were simply just a very dangerous part of the Great Wind Desert.
Of course, that all depended on when a person came through the Bone Fields. Azuma again didn't know this but both times he'd moved through the area had been during similar seasons, a point in which many of the bones were covered by immense dunes of sand. During the summer, in the absence of storms, the bones remained covered, but had he visited during the spring, when windstorms were all too common, he would have likely already have seen a multitude of the human skeletons which truly defined the rather nefarious background of the Bone Fields.
Azuma, of course, wasn't satisfied with the knowledge a passing glance could provide him with. And so he allowed his greatest tool, his three-tomoed Sharingan, to swirl to life, hoping it could see something that his naked eyes could not.
With his eyes in their most active form, the young Uchiha once again gave the skeletons a closer look and smiled upon realizing what he'd exposed. Much like the bodies themselves, it appeared that the faintest of chakra signatures had been preserved upon each the bodies of those who had perished in whatever battle had taken place here. This signature appeared to Azuma as a faint blue aura lining the skeletons of each individual who lay among the corpses. Hell, two of the signatures even had a slight tint in color, indicating some form of nature transformation had been applied very soon before their demise. One appeared green, and the other just a little bit red; so fire and wind, he supposed.
That makes sense. Fire users are common in the Land of Wind, as are wind users.
At that thought, Azuma actually laughed. How fitting. Once upon a time, practitioners of Katon and Fuuton had fought and perhaps even lived here, and for hundreds of years since, it had remained an an open lot. Now, only he, a shinobi who preferred the use of both Katon and Fuuton was taking it over.
I suppose history really does repeat itself.
Finally, with this newfound knowledge, if vague, and a soft smile arming him, Azuma felt satisfied. He was ready to start clearing dunes again. After all, who knew what he might find beneath the next one?
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Azuma exhaled, although this time, it was driven by exhaustion and not the need to cast a Fuuton jutsu. He'd finally finished clearing out the dunes around his little valley. Slumping backwards onto his bottom, Azuma let himself lay down in the sand, too beat to pursue the rest of his daily tasks for the moment. At that precise moment, an idle, if annoying thought shot its way into his brain.
...It isn't really a valley anymore, is it? Without the dunes, I mean.
Way to kill the fun, brain. See, this was why he didn't ever rest. Oh well; back to work, he supposed. First and foremost on Azuma' list of things to do was to actually build the place he'd be sleeping in, and god knew he didn't want to have to just sleep in a fucking box again. That said, there wasn't really enough material for him to build something decent located in the surroundings, save for the few stone pillars about the place.
The good news was, he had a solution to that. Pushing himself off of the ground, the green-haired boy stood up and took a few steps back from his position at the center of what HAD been a valley (and was now an unnaturally flat portion of the desert). First, Azuma bit his thumb and winced, still a tad sensitive to the admittedly mild pain summoning techniques required of their casters. Then, he made a series of three handseals and smacked his right palm to the ground.
Almost immediately, a portal opened in the sky above the boy which dropped a rather large quantity of raw rock in front of him. However, as it landed, the stones melded with the ground and one another, slowly forming into a 50x50 meter semi-smooth square of solid, earthen ground. Azuma silently cheered at the not of not having to wake up and step outside into an endless ocean of sand every morning. Thank god for his newly cleared space. Surely this would be enough, at least for now.
Azuma then took his first steps onto the stone. It felt nice to have something solid beneath his feet, which were, at this point, rather sore from the lack of any proper support. That said, he was still far from done. The boy briskly moved to the center of what he was about to use as his foundation before looking around.
25 meters to each edge from the center here if I was as precise as I hoped... yeah, I'll need some walls for all of this space. Won't be secure otherwise.
It would be difficult to defend a home from whatever potential opposition Azuma ran into if he couldn't control what went in and out of his little compound. Furthermore, walls just seemed like a good idea for what was to hopefully become a proper settlement for him and maybe some other people in the future. Despite this though, the boy was encountering yet another problem in the form of a simple question.
How do I make a perimeter wall that's 200 meters long? I certainly can't spam Doryuheki...what, 20 times? That would probably take up like 40% of my chakra, and I've already used a good chunk today.
While only a brief setback, it was certainly something he had to think about for a moment, before stumbling upon an idea he figured was actually quite genius. The technique he had in mind wasn't exactly designed for this kind of use, but if it worked how he thought it did, then it would probably solve his problem quite quickly. Thus, Azuma built up quite a significant amount of chakra, and began to weave a rather complex set of handseals. In fact, he had to restart the sequence once or twice, since this was a technique he'd actually only used once. It was very high-ranked, and while he was actually a good bit more knowledgable when it came to Doton than even with his more naturally gifted elemental affinities, he still risked failing. Eventually, however, he completed the sequence, leaving the rest up to fate.
I'm in the middle of the square... and I want walls two meters thick, so I need to raise the ground in a square extending 24 meters from me in every direction. And, I think 5 meters should be enough, height wise. Don't want to completely block out the sun. Alright chakra; don't fail me now. First, the whole foundation.
And so he clapped his hands to the ground. The speed at which the floor responded was shocking, even to Azuma; almost immediately, all 22500 square feet of his foundation shot up about 15 feet. Great! It had worked. The young shinobi took this opportunity to take a breather for a moment; he could only use this technique twice a day or so, and it was very taxing. After about five seconds, he gave up on that notion though, unable to stop himself from smiling through the sweat. This was exciting! He was growing as a ninja. Alright, it was time to see if he could pull off what he had intended for his second usage of the jutsu. Azuma briefly let his mind dwell on the numbers he'd thought up earlier.
48 meters long, 5 meters tall. 45 meters long, 5 meters tall. You got this.
Azuma built up the chakra necessary and began moving through the handseals with much more confidence this time; he'd done it once. He could do it again. And that he did. Without any hesitation, upon completing his preparations, the boy clapped his hands to the ground, and just as quickly as it had risen, a square 48 meters long (24 meters in each direction from his position at the center) and 5 meters deep dropped, returning him to his exact previous elevation, but with a new view.
The result of Azuma's little escapade surrounded him in as a set of perfectly even-height walls about 5 meters tall, and 2 meters thick. Now this was a compound, or at least the skeleton of one. He certainly felt more finished with the job than it looked. Despite the fact that there were two more steps left in his plan to create the ultimate desert home, the hardest part was over now. The rest would be a simple exercise in far less complicated Doton and a few Suiton techniques.
In fact, Azuma felt so motivated that he wouldn't even take a brief break. The boy had officially resolved to finish the basic concept of his dwelling by the time the sun had gone down, if not much earlier as was entirely possible. First; he'd build his reservoir. Of course, there wasn't exactly a source of running water near him, so he'd have to provide his own supply for now, but the vessel which would hold said water, regardless of its source, was certainly within his reach. It only took Azuma a brief moment to decide where his water storage would be. The northeast corner simply made the most sense, as it would shade his water from the morning sun, which was the biggest period of evaporation if his memory of the water cycle served him right.
Upon reaching the corner he had in mind, Azuma gave himself a 5 x 5 meter space to work with. He then made four handseals and clapped his hands to the ground, causing a single five meter long and three meter tall wall connected to the perimeter wall to arise from the ground. Following this, Azuma repeated this same action, this time erecting a wall which connected from the end of the wall he'd just made back inwards towards the perimeter wall. This left him with a 5 x 5 x 3 meter box.
Alrighty then. Just one more step to this part. Azuma swiftly walked up the box he'd just created and stood carefully on the lip.
125 cubic meters of water, right? Okay then this'll be easy.
With his plan already halfway finished, Azuma set about completing it by making six handseals then moving his palms upwards towards the sky as if he was lifting something. Soon after, water began to seep out from the ground at the base of the box, slowly filling it up until he was left with only a few inches space from the surface of the water to the top of his reservoir.
Sick! I have water now. That's refreshing... no pun intended.
Now, it was time for the last part of his plan for the day. To be honest, Azuma really wasn't feeling building another box, even if this one was going to be smaller and have a ceiling. No, he wanted to sleep somewhere cool and build himself a proper house once he had all the materials necessary. That was tomorrow's problem. Right now, style was the goal, and the green-haired teen had just the right idea in mind.
I get to be lazy for a few days if this works, which it should.
Azuma walked a few feet away from his new reservoir, but remained facing the north wall of his compound. He then, in a ritual that was becoming obnoxiously familiar, clapped his hands to the ground, releasing chakra into it with a clear purpose in mind. From the floor arose two small square stone pillars, 3 feet apart from one another and about 7 feet tall. These pillars were also located about feet away from the north wall. Beyond this, two platforms, about 3 feet wide and 1 foot thick, connected themselves to the pillars from the perimeter wall. The first platform was built at a height of about 3 feet off the ground. The second one was attached at the very top of the pillars, 7 feet high.
The result of this set of creations was the basic shape of a single bed with a cover above it that could block rainfall (although seeing as Azuma was in the desert, he didn't think that would be a problem), and more importantly, pesky morning... or mid-afternoon sunlight. He had a bed! That was a first.
Then, with a sigh of relief, Azuma removed his pack and took out his bedroll, which had admittedly seen lots of use, and positioned it upon the lower platform. He was finished! And by the sky's evidence, he was well ahead of his sunset deadline. That said, he wasn't going to wait on the sun for him to get some fucking sleep. So, with full knowledge that there was still lots of empty space to fill in his compound, but complete comfort in that fact seeing as it had only been a day, Azuma pulled himself onto his new bed of sorts, slipped into his bedroll, and closed his eyes, relishing in the fact that the platform above him shaded him from the sun that had so often conspired to ruin his plans for relaxation.
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Azuma's first interaction with another human in a long while took place a few days after he set up his compound's little skeleton. In that time, he'd added a doorway, and had begun studying how to create some rudimentary form of running water. By extension, it made sense that he was due for a run into the nearest village or town for supplies. It was when he decided to set out that the person in question appeared.
It had to have been high noon when Azuma saw the brown-hooded figure approaching across the now mostly flat sand-scape. That was his first indication that something was off. It was the middle of the day, and travel was dangerous.
Why would anybody be travelling through the desert at this time of day? That's a death sentence for any non-Shinobi. Unless-
He was cut off by a kunai flying past his face and grazing his cheek in the process, lodging itself in the outer wall of his compound. Azuma's eyes widened immediately, but before he allowed any other thoughts run through his head, he took up a traditional Strong Fist stance with his right foot pointed forwards and his left foot pointed sideways along with the rest of his body. At this point, the hooded person was moving much more quickly than he'd initially seen; so fast that sand was literally being kicked up into a cloud behind her. There wasn't much time to do anything other than fight.
He's fast.
That they were. In seconds, the figure was upon him, Wakizashi in their left hand. From a few feet away, Azuma could barely make out the movements of a downwards slash being prepared from the person's right hand side. In response, the Uchiha drew his own sword, a Katana, to counteract the opponent's swing, their steel meeting in the space between them within a mere moment. Sparks flew off of both blades immediately, and just as quickly, Azuma could tell his enemy was stronger than him.
He ground his teeth as the force of the opponent's strike kept pushing him backwards. First he gave an inch, than another. Soon, Azuma was being forced up against the outer wall of his compound. The doorway was about five feet to his right. If he could get inside, he would have a more stable footing, and it wasn't as if there was a lack of open space. As his arms pulsated with pain, he waited for the right moment to escape.
Wait...
With a single surge of force, Azuma forced both of his arms downwards, pulling the sword out from the clash along with them. In this brief moment, he ducked, his opponent's Wakizashi slicing through the air where his head had just been. Originally, he had then planned to follow his dodge with a dash towards the doorway, but that didn't appear to be in the cards.
Now-
The teen's self-signal was interrupted by a swift kick to the left side of his chest, strong enough to send him flying through the air, parallel to his wall. Azuma saw the doorway fly by and grunted in both pain and disappointment.
****. There goes that plan.
He then planted his hands in the sand and let his body skid to a halt, prior to letting out a cough. His enemy had more than likely just cracked one of his ribs. That was unfortunate. Now he REALLY needed to get into town. Looking up from his position, Azuma saw that the cloaked figure was now taking his time moving towards the boy, clearly no longer seeing him as a threat following their first little encounter. The green-haired shinobi took this opportunity to raise a hand and speak between his pants.
"Who the hell are you? Why did you attack me?"
Heh. It was worth a shot. Lucky for him, the opponent acknowledged his words, although they didn't stop moving forwards, only choosing to reply in a light, snide tone ripe with some form of anger.
"I could ask you the same thing. What right did you have to build over my family's grave? Tell me that and maybe I'll give you a better answer. Oh, and your name could help too. I don't like burying people without something to write on the headstone."
Azuma grimaced with a little bit of intrigue plaguing his face at the same time. That answer hadn't helped him out much, but it had provided him with a couple of pieces of information. For one, the skeletons he'd unearthed earlier this week had been those of this person's family, most likely. That was unfortunate. The second thing was a little bit less important, but was just as interesting to him.
Judging by his opponent's voice, this hooded figure was a girl.
Well shit, he was just a regular at getting his ass kicked, wasn't he? Okay, well, better get his head back to the fight if he wanted to survive. As the enemy continued to walk forwards and reached within 5 meters of Azuma, he came up with an idea. First, he sheathed his Katana. Then, he threw his hands forwards while focusing chakra into them. From his palms erupted a torrent of water, aimed straight at his opponent.
The girl, of course, decided to respond with her sword. At first, Azuma wondered how exactly she intended to do such a thing, seeing as thin metal, no matter how well it could cut, was for the most part unable to deal with a torrent of water. How wrong he was. Her Wakizashi took on a blue glow before she swung it, releasing that blue glow in the form of a wide, circular object, which she quickly swatted the torrent away with. Just as quickly, the glow vanished. Furthermore, he swore he could have seen his opponent smirk under the shadow of her hood.
Damn them. Cheeky asshole. Okay.
Okay then. So water wasn't the best option. Azuma had an idea though; and it required that he test out his enemy's defenses with a few more attacks. So, he darted to the right, away from his walls, and wove a single handseal while he did so. He then inhaled.
Let's try fire.
Following an infusion of chakra into his lungs, the boy exhaled a massive, dragon shaped fireball in the still slowly-moving hooded girl's direction. She appeared to respond with, yet again, a construct formed out of her glowing sword. ****, okay, so was her technique neutral to all elements? Azuma's first thought had been that it was some sort of Raiton ability, but it seemed to be something else entirely. Ah, **** it. Deciding that deduction was best left to the pros, the Uchiha made a decision that was probably for the best.
After a brief moment, Azuma's eyes swirled with red, developing three Tomoe around his pupils. Following this, oddly enough, his enemy actually stopped their slow, menacing course forwards, taking a moment to comment on the turn of events.
"What's up with your eyes?"
Hah. Shit, what else was new? Azuma was so used to people knowing about the Sharingan that he'd forgotten some people probably had never even heard of it around these parts. He stifled a painful chuckle while giving the girl a half-hearted reply, his mind still racing for an idea, seeing as physically, he was entirely outmatched.
"I don't think I have to tell you that, but for the sake of it; It's a part of my heritage. I'm an Uchiha."
After a brief moment, his adversary simply shrugged.
"Never heard of them."
Azuma sighed, although his brain was experiencing far more interesting ideas.
That's good; now I just need to-
His thoughts were again interrupted by a change in his opponent's speed, the figure rushing his way with clear intent to get the battle over with. This time, while he could certainly track her better, she was coming from a lot closer and he wouldn't be able to draw his sword in time, nor weave handseals. His eyes could predict the arc of her incoming swing; a horizontal slash, surely capable of slicing him open like a fish. So, what COULD he do? Azuma made a decision on the fly.
As the slash coursed forwards, the green haired teenager swung his right arm downwards with the goal of trading blows. Azuma soon felt the searing pain of the girl's sword cutting into his chest, but at the same time, he could also feel his fist making contact with her face. Then, as time ceased to slow in his eyes, the exchange ended with the slice finishing, although not nearly as deeply as she'd intended it to, and the girl stumbling backwards, reeling from the harsh strike to her head.
Azuma coughed at the exertion. Even though the strike had been shallow, his black tank-top was now drenched in blood, a resource which he was losing rather quickly. He needed to finish this soon, or else he'd BE finished. The enemy, on the other hand, wasn't all too flustered, simply shaking their head and ignoring whatever damage, if any, the punch had caused. Azuma glared daggers in her direction, observing her chakra pathways for a brief moment.
I need to land at least one big blow to turn this around, and I think I know how, but it's a big if, and it relies on an assumption which could very well be wrong, so I'll say this once-
Azuma let both of his hands fall to his sheathed Katana.
-let's gamble.
The boy kicked himself forwards, dashing with all the speed he could muster, aiming himself straight at his opponent. The girl seemed just as eager to strike him down, and prepared a sword-swing of her own. But what she couldn't count on was Azuma's eyes. He saw her strike, he knew where it would cut. And so he drew his sword ever-so slightly out of his scabbard a bit early, knowing that speed-wise, he couldn't match her on even footing.
One inch closer. And then another. She swung, and in time, so did he. And then, just as their blades were about to meet, Azuma allowed his chakra to flow throughout the sword, electrifying it. Time, once again, took up its normal pace from his point of view, and in a flash the collision was over. He stood, his Katana crackling with lightning extended out in front of him. His eyes were aimed forwards, towards the horizon, just the same. It was like a scene out of some Samurai film.
Then, he heard the sound of a blade lodging itself in the sand, and took note of the grunt his opponent had just made. Azuma finally allowed himself to turn around, making sure not to re-sheathe his sword. He was greeted by the sight of half of the girl's Wakizashi blade missing from it's original home, as well as a thin line of blood dripping down across her now shredded tunic. In the collision, at some point, her hood had blown off, revealing a head of flowing, reddish hair, and the fair face of a girl who looked not much older than he did.
Azuma took this brief reprieve to speak once again, hoping to at least try to salvage the situation.
"I figured; you're a Samurai, aren't you? Or do you just not know any Ninjutsu?"
He could see the girl's jaw tense at the mention of her identity. She remained facing the other way for the most part, her eyes still hidden from Azuma's view.
"Maybe."
A brief second passed before Azuma allowed himself to speak again, fully aware that time was of the essence with an open wound like his.
"I'm Azuma. If you still need something to put on the headstone, I mean."
The girl's face remained turned in another direction, although her reply indicated at least some waning in her intent to murder him. A little, at least.
"Duly noted. I...I won't apologize for striking down a man who built over the graves of my clansmen."
He grimaced, unsure how to deal with the situation.
"For the record, I didn't know about the skeletons until a few days ago. I'm sorry I treated the dead with such disrespect."
Hell, am I always this apologetic? Where the **** are the curse words?
Yes, even he felt a bit out of his element talking about a sensitive topic such as deceased family, no matter how distant. Hell, it wasn't like it was an unfamiliar topic to him; he'd never really known his parents. Clearly, this girl didn't feel the same way though.
"You may repent with your life. You are a fighter of honor, to have struck me from the front in such a lopsided confrontation. I take no pleasure in striking you down, but know I must do so in honor of my family. They are my pride, and the only thing I have to define me."
He stifled a chuckle. Even she knew how outmatched in raw power he was against her. Azuma's Ninjutsu arsenal was far too pinpoint for a fight against somebody with such a physical advantage against him. Still, it was clear only one of them would finish this fight standing. In that moment, the girl finally turned around, her piercing blue eyes meeting with his own red orbs.
In that second, Azuma cast a genjutsu upon the girl, although its nature was yet to be revealed.
The girl spoke yet again while she drew yet another Wakizashi from under the part of her cloak which hadn't yet been shaved away. This time, her words resonated with determination and begrudging respect, not anger.
"This next contest will be our last, Uchiha-San. You know as well as I do that neither one of us will stand through another deep strike, and I intend to make contact before you do. My name is Tsukimiya Shiro. You have earned that knowledge."
Instead of speaking, Azuma simply nodded, observing as her sword once again took on a blueish glow, although this time it didn't extend into any sort of construct. Then, interestingly enough, the girl moved the Wakizashi to her side, as if it were in a sheathe.
Iaido, I suppose.
Ah. So this was it. He rushed forwards in time with the girl, fully committed to a right-diagonal slash across her chest as he did so. Then, as if nothing at all had happened, the girl cut into the green-haired boy before he could even make a move, her sword swing no more than a flash in the pan, having re-sheathed itself near-immediately. His throat exploded with blood, and his corpse fell to the ground.
And then, she felt a searing pain spread across her lower abdomen. The corpse faded from view, and to her right stood Azuma, clearly struggling to stand as blood dripped down from the gash across his chest. His sword was cleanly behind her, having struck her in a horizontal slash not unlike the one she had struck him with earlier. She felt little pain, the wound having been numbed by the crackling energy surrounding the boy's Katana. She even managed to choke out a few words.
"Y-you... I have b-been bested, if not in the purest f-fashion."
He frowned, unsure how to process the situation at hand, only managing yet another apology.
"I'm sorry. I am a Shinobi; and I am not honorable, I apologize for allowing you to believe that. Like you, my pride lies in my family, and I used our abilities to win this fight."
She simply offered him a confused glare, before uttering her last words before collapsing to the sand.
"T-there is no dishonor in taking pride in your family, Uchiha Azuma. T-that is the greatest honor you may bring to yourself."
And then, she fell. Azuma took a brief moment to breathe, then sent fire-transformed chakra into his hands, running them over the deeper-than expected cut across his chest. He winced in pain at the cauterization. It was a pain he was not foreign to, but still, it was just that; painful.
Then, with the immediate danger out of the way, he allowed his gaze to shift down as his eyes returned to normal. He looked upon the body of the girl... no, Shiro, shielded only by her cloak. He saw the blood trickling out of her two wounds, and he contemplated.
And then, he saw her chest moving, ever so slightly, up and down. In that moment, his mind was made up. Ducking to the ground, Azuma grunted in tremendous pain as he scooped the girl up and began to walk her back into the compound. She only wanted to do what he did; honor her family. This compound was, to be fair, built on stolen property.
It was the least he could do.
So he would try his damndest to save her. Surely it couldn't be too hard, if he had at least stopped his own bleeding for now.
Damn empathy.
He could try all he wanted, but Azuma was, even at his worst, a person who meant well, and a person who took on the pain of others. Right now, he could both literally and figuratively imagine what Shiro was going through, and he couldn't bare to let her suffer through it any longer.
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Azuma had to move quickly, and he meant quickly. It wasn't as if he was out of the woods, but his bleeding had stopped and had resulted from a comparatively shallow wound, whereas Shiro was suffering blood loss from two wounds delivered by an electrically-charged sword. There was a stark difference between the damage dealt by a chakra-enhanced blade and cold, normal steel, and it was one the Uchiha was witnessing right in front of his eyes. In fact, while he could get away with cauterizing his wounds, he wasn't even sure whether that would suffice for the girl in his arms because there might have been some internal bleeding from her deeper, more severe wounds.
It looked like he would have to save her life the old fashioned way then. Alright.
So he picked up speed, his legs carrying him into his compound as quickly as possible, doing his best to ignore the pulsating ache spreading through his arms. As soon as he arrived in the more sheltered area, Azuma glanced around, unsure of what to do next. He saw his travel bag lying next to the rudimentary bed he'd built for himself. Immediately, he sprinted over in it's direction.
Come on, come on... tell me you have what I need...
Upon reaching the stone bed, he lay the red-haired girl's body upon it, facing upwards. It would do as an operating table for now, he supposed. Then, the teenage shinobi ducked underneath the bed, pulling his large travel bag out as he did so. Azuma proceeded to rummage through the bag, pulling out a few things in the process. First, he tossed one of many small cloths onto the ground. Then, he continued sifting through the rummage, cursing his own lack of organization.
Damn it, all I need is a fucking needle. I have one of those right? Come on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a metallic glint. There! In a flash, his right hand jabbed in and out of the bag, returning with a small sewing needle and tiny spool of thread. That was perhaps the most important item for the procedure Azuma had in mind, and frankly, Shiro might have been dead on arrival if he hadn't found it. Thank god his adoptive mother had always forced him to travel with a needle and thread. Stitches and sewing, she'd have said, were the unsung heroes of Ninja life.
You weren't wrong, Okaasan.
Even if she'd never shown him love, he was grateful for the shelter her and the clan had provided. Azuma wouldn't have been the same without that part of his life. Enough nostalgia though. Azuma pulled himself back up, holding the needle and thread in his right hand along with the cloth.
Right, well, he needed to see the wounds first. In an instinctual motion, Azuma drew a kunai from his side holster and sliced the girl in front of him's cloak open, allowing him to pull it to the side. She wasn't wearing a shirt; oh dear. As much as his teenage mind wanted to run wild with the girl in front of him's appearance, he had more important things on the brain. Immediately, he could see the two strikes, both planted across her chest starting just above the belly button. He then dropped the kunai, spreading the cloth across the center of both wounds, where the cuts were most severe and blood was still flowing.
The cloth was quickly dampened by the blood. Shit, okay, so he might need another way to stifle the bleeding. Rapidly, Azuma's mind ran through every bit of medical knowledge that he had. In that moment, he glanced over in the direction of his makeshift water tank, and came upon an idea.
Water can dilute blood flow, not just wash it away. I need another cloth.
With a moment of reluctance, Azuma removed his hand from the cloth on Shiro's chest, hoping that the brief dip in pressure wouldn't stop the effort of ceasing the bleeding. He then ducked down to rapidly grab another cloth, knowing that the one he had previously been using would no longer be absorbant like he needed it to be until he rinsed it out. Then, not willing to spend even the spare few seconds it would take to run the few meters over to his water tank, Azuma forced his chakra to quickly expand outwards from his body, letting him literally flicker up to the ledge of his reservoir with tremendous speed.
Azuma once again crouched down, dipping the cloth into the water of the reservoir. Making sure it soaked up as much water as possible. Then, the green haired boy once again flickered down to the bed, removing the old cloth and quickly replacing it with the new, wet one. The difference was stark and obvious. Slowly but surely, along with pressure came a stop in the bleeding. Azuma repeated the damping process a few times, squeezing the blood from the cloths into his reservoir, ignoring the fact that he'd need to refill it later.
This went on for well over an hour, eventually culminating with Azuma forcing Katon-influenced chakra into his palms, allowing him to superheat the wet cloths. Quickly, they reached a near-boiling heat, and despite his own familiarity with such things, the young shinobi found himself burning his palms rather mildly, if painfully. He then proceeded to place this cloth on the open wounds. Quickly, the wounds bubbled up and Shiro winced. It was the first sound of pain Azuma had heard from her mouth during this whole process, and frankly, while he should have felt sorry for the girl, he was more relieved that she was capable of making noise in the first place. Regardless, those bubbles indicated the death of any potential infection, and confirmed that there were no deeper, internal wounds which could cause further problems.
Thank god.
Azuma hadn't even noticed that he'd started panting until this very moment. Every technique he'd been employing during his little medical intervention was only of minuscule cost to him, but since he'd been using them so frequently across well over two hours, he was starting to feel the onset of a waning chakra supply, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a good while. Azuma took this brief moment of peace to glance across the girl's body and her troubled, if very still, face. In that second, he came to the conclusion that perhaps, chakra exhaustion wasn't so bad if he could save a life in the process.
She's still breathing, the bleeding has stopped, and there's no serious internal damage. Hell, I'm lucky. Okay, well; now for the stitches.
Ironically, this was the easy part. If Azuma was good at anything, it was stabbing people, and he had, for a time, favored senbon to more traditional ranged weaponry, although that had since changed. Thus, stitching up a pair of wounds wasn't an issue. Within about thirty minutes of careful, clear precision, he wove in two lines of tight stitches to each wound, sure to leave almost no space between each of them. He couldn't half ass this job; a wound like this could reopen just as quickly as it had been created, and frankly, after all of this effort, he couldn't stand the idea of it all going to waste.
So, with careful, steady hands, the wound was closed, and Shiro remained breathing. The sun was already nearing it's last hours in the sky, and the compound was quickly descending into shadow. So, Azuma couldn't blame himself for collapsing, his back against the wall.
He was exhausted, both physically and internally, but for now, he was provided with the opportunity to rest, one he would gladly take. For the moment, Azuma closed his eyes. In his head, he mulled over what would happen upon waking up. Would he wake up?
It was all so confusing, the future and that.
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He woke up midway through the night, the moon beaming down onto his position from straight above the compound. It was large tonight, although super-moons were common in the middle of the desert. Azuma was then rather quickly shaken from his moon-gazing by an aching pain in his wrists. Clearly, he'd been clenching his hands holding one thing or another for far too long that day. It wasn't as if he regretted it though.
Azuma then shifted a little, repositioning himself so that his back wasn't in quite as much of an uncomfortable position. Then, just as he was about to turn to look at the person he'd both fought and saved in the last 24 hours, he found that even the slightest movement had woken up that same individual.
Upon facing her, he found that the girl's eyes were wide open, simply staring at him from her place on what was usually his bed. Then, just a moment after meeting her eyes, Azuma quickly glanced away, unsure of what to say and ripe with some twisted form of embarrassment. Lucky enough for him, the female samurai had a few words to get whatever conversation was to be had on track.
"Why did you save me? I tried to kill you. I would not have done the same for you."
Well, wasn't she good at getting to the point? A simple question with an oddly complex answer. Azuma's gaze remained planted elsewhere, his eyes drifting off to who knows where as he replied.
"You attacked me for violating your family's place of burial, right?"
The girl replied briskly, her voice betraying nothing.
"That is correct."
Azuma spoke just as bluntly, avoiding a show of emotion, although he was wrought with it at the moment.
"Then you were in the right, and regardless of whether I chose to defend my life, you didn't deserve to die out there."
A moment passed between the two, not even wind making a sound. Then, Shiro spoke once again, her tone evasively complimentary, as if she was unfamiliar with the words she was speaking.
"You are odd. For a Shinobi, I mean. I would expect such behavior from a Samurai but-"
Azuma twitched ever-so slightly, before cocking his head in confusion, not quite experienced enough with people to maintain his cool after hearing such a blatantly backhanded compliment.
"Odd? Which Ninja exactly do you surround yourself with, if they aren't so much as respectful of a person's motives? It isn't exactly like we do this because we chose to; we were either born into it or forced there. Nobody wants to be bought and sold as a weapon, trust me."
For the first time in their brief encounter, something odd happened. Shiro frowned, and spoke in a manner which wasn't quite stalwart. She had emotions, obviously, but Azuma had yet to see them until this moment. And boy, were they scary.
"My people were killed by Shinobi. Both here, centuries ago, and where I am from, far to the North. Our ways are looked down upon; you have no right to judge my expectations of you! What else should I have expected upon seeing somebody parading about in a great stone cube where many of my family's bones had once been?!"
Well. That was rather surprising. Finally, Azuma turned to face the girl again, allowing the eye contact to be sustained this time. With that, he just stared for a moment, losing himself in thought. She wasn't wrong. It wasn't as if he'd known what had happened to her people in particular, but at the same time, he did know that many Shinobi looked down upon Samurai, regardless of their clan or social status. It was only reasonable that this girl had her reservations towards him.
Am I really going to say it again? Oh well.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. I suppose I just have a different view of Shinobi, being one myself. That said, I know more than a few people who might fall into your idea of a Ninja."
Images of Sin and Alucard came to mind. They truly had forsaken their paths as people for one of bloodshed and power. To be honest, Azuma preferred having friends.
And maybe he could come out of this whole mess with a new one if he played his cards right.
Shiro spoke next, replying in a more reserved tone of her own this time, although not quite retreating to her once monotone tendencies from earlier in the exchange.
"I too apologize. My original statement was meant as something of a compliment, although I see why it might incite such a reaction."
Azuma raised an eyebrow at the girl's continued usage of such formal language. This time, he allowed some of his natural curiosity to seep into his words.
"Do you always speak like that? I've never met a girl who's as polite as you, especially to somebody they were trying to kill just a few hours earlier."
Through the darkness, Azuma could make out the faintest coloration on Shiro's cheeks. He allowed those previously suppressed teenage impulses to loosen up a little at that sight, although he was more pleasantly surprised than anything.
She's actually pretty cute when she isn't pointing a sword at me.
Furthermore, when the girl spoke this time, she actually sounded a bit flustered before attempting to turn the question around on him. Who knew!
"I-... I take pride in being well spoken, Uchiha-San. Why do you ask? Does it bother you?"
Azuma stifled a laugh at that statement before shaking his head, his own facial features relaxing a bit.
"I never said it bothered me. I was just wondering why. Nothing wrong with speaking well though; I'm not quite as articulate as I'd like to think am, and ****, god knows I'm not the cleanest talker."
Shiro's eyes actually widened at the profanity, clearly affecting her enough to the point where she actually turned away, moving her body to face the other way entirely before speaking in a vaguely offended tone.
"I do not appreciate your language, Uchiha-San."
The green haired boy shrugged, although he found the brief reprieve from what was slowly turning into the world's most awkward interrogation was soon interrupted by a very feminine squeak coming from his left. He quickly shot up to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain that would have otherwise made him wince, having only stood up due to instinct. Azuma then moved to speak, wondering what had elicited such a reaction.
"What's wrong?"
After a second of silence, Shiro spoke, still refusing to turn around and now sounding oddly violated.
"My cloak! Where has it gone?"
Azuma sighed and put a hand to his brow. That was what she was worried about? For ****'s sake, he would never get used to situations like these. It wasn't exactly made any better by the fact that he was a teenager who had thought about exactly what Shiro was thinking about at this very moment, if only in the deeper, less innocent recesses of his mind.
"...I cut it open so I could stitch you up. What did you THINK I'd done with it?"
Immediately, the girl looked like a dear caught in headlights. Even the one cheek Azuma could see was bright red, and it was the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Soon after, Shiro appeared to attempt to straighten herself, clearly disappointed with her own show of vulnerability.
"O-Oh. Of course you did, Uchiha-San. What else would it have been?"
Azuma simply shook his head before sliding back down against the wall, fully content to allow his wound to keep healing without any further irritation. It was only after several minutes of silence that either one of them spoke.
"I have something to say."
Azuma glanced up from his position on the ground to the source of the soft sound; a now turned-around Shiro. He raised an eyebrow for a moment before speaking his own peace, more confused-sounding than anything.
"You don't need my permission to speak; go ahead."
Shiro nodded, and then seemed to take a moment to work up the courage to say whatever it was she wanted to say. Then, it came out with a practiced smoothness that clearly came from that well-spoken background of hers.
"Thank you for saving my life. I did not deserve this kindness."
Azuma looked at the girl for a second before replying in a resigned tone, rather fed up with Shiro's self-deprecation.
"Stop that. You're as deserving of kindness as any other human; I had hurt you in my own defense and figured I'd try my damndest to make sure I didn't have blood on my hands from someone I hadn't been forced to battle via a contract or something. It was selfish of me. That... and I can understand how painful losing family can be. I've had my fair share of those experiences. People do things out of rage, or out of honor, or out of pride, but regardless of their motive, if it comes from some form of love, I can't fault them for it."
Shiro opened her mouth as if to speak then closed it, instead choosing to process the boy's words. After a moment, she returned to speaking, with a renewed sense of kindness to her words. It was a small gesture, but Azuma did honestly appreciate it.
"I am...glad to know that I am not the only one, but at the same time, do know how awful that must sound to your ears. I hope you understand the meaning of my words. You are a good man; I am lucky to have fallen against somebody like you."
At that, Azuma couldn't help but smile and nod.
"I do understand. No offense taken, Shir-... Tsukimiya-San."
Again, Shiro blushed at his words, specifically when he nearly used her first name. Then, after a moment, the girl appeared to correct him.
"Shiro is fine, Uchiha-San."
Azuma looked at the girl for a moment before acknowledging her statement with a reply of his own.
"Then you can call me Azuma."
The redhead's face didn't change at all upon hearing this, although Azuma could tell that inside, the gesture was at least somewhat confusing to her.
"...Alright, Azuma-San."
He snorted. Maybe eventually he'd get her to drop the honorific. Wait, hold on.
Eventually?
Where exactly WAS she going to go after this was all said and done? Did she still hold a grudge? Did she have any destination in mind? There were so many questions he hadn't had answered yet, but still, one statement rang out in his mind. A suggestion more than anything, but still, a statement. It only took Azuma a few seconds to decide what he was going to say after taking note of it. Perhaps this meeting had been for the better.
"I don't have any hatred for you, you know. You aren't my enemy as far as I'm concerned. As such... I'm inclined to offer you a place here."
Shiro's eyes widened at that statement, unsure of what to say as the green-haired boy gestured to the area around him.
"It isn't much, but I could use another pair of hands around. I totally get it if you were going somewhere, obviously. I just... I would feel wrong not at least allowing you to stay somewhere which truly belongs to your family, especially after doing what I've done to it."
Yet again, silence fell upon the unlikely duo. Only after over a minute by his count did the girl in question speak again, and by all rights, her answer surprised him.
"I... would like that."
Azuma avoided making any grand gestures at the moment, but nodded with a soft smile on his face before leaning back and relaxing his muscles.
"Alright. Rest now. We can talk more tomorrow."
Shiro herself also managed a nod then closing her eyes, although not without one last farewell for the evening.
"Right. Goodnight, Azuma-San."
The Uchiha once again glanced up at the quickly fading form of the girl he'd so oddly found himself sitting next to before replying about as simply as possible, lacking any further words for the moment.
"Goodnight, Shiro."
They were both sound asleep within minutes.
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It was a full week before both of the two young, solitary warriors were healed enough to resume any significant degree of mobility. Surprisingly, there was little further opportunity across that week for Azuma to interact with Shiro. No, he'd spent most of his time cleaning his wound, cleaning her wounds, and finding food for them both to eat. It was only on that seventh day, in the early hours of the morning, when Shiro finally was well enough to walk about for long periods of time, that she asked him anything meaningful.
"So, why do you hunt all of your food, Azuma-San?"
It wasn't that the question was odd, just that it came out of nowhere. Azuma turned his head back in the girl's direction prior to responding from his position near a small table-like platform he'd been using to draw out ideas for a running water system.
"Oh? I don't know how else I'd get it."
Shiro looked confused, seeming muddled by the green-haired boy's naivety.
"You are aware that you could grow food, correct?"
Azuma froze in his tracks. How the HELL hadn't he thought of that. For somebody who prided himself upon his intellectual faculties, that had been a pretty idiotic possibility to overlook. Thus, despite the tint of embarrassed red coating his cheeks at this revelation, the Uchiha did his best to shrug it off.
"I guess I never really thought about that. It's a good idea though; works in conjunction with my idea for running water."
The girl furrowed her brow even further, continuing her little prodding campaign directed towards Azuma's rather lacking self-management skills, and rightfully so. This time, she spoke with a more advising tone, although her words could have come across as intentionally rude to anybody who hadn't known her for a little while.
"That is odd, for somebody who lives by themselves in the middle of the desert. You are smart, but clearly you are still lacking in maturity, Azuma-San."
Azuma shot Shiro an indignant look from his position at the table and simply shrugged prior to brushing the girl's little assault off with a comeback of his own, spoken in a vaguely sarcastic tone. He'd found, over the past few days, that sarcasm was a form of humor that she responded to rather well.
"This, coming from the girl wearing said immature boy's T-shirt and sweatpants? I'm so hurt, Shiro."
Upon hearing his words, Shiro huffed about for a moment and pulled up the blanket Azuma had provided for her up closer to her face, covering the simple white shirt that she had on. It wasn't her fault that she hadn't been travelling with any other clothing. It was hot in the desert, for damned sake! Thus, she spoke in a resigned if flustered tone of voice, clearly annoyed at having this little issue pointed out.
"Shut up."
Azuma raised his eyebrows at that, even taking the opportunity to further poke fun at the girl.
"That's the first time I've ever heard you use anything remotely resembling an insult, Shiro. I must be doing a good job getting close to you.
As if she hadn't been flustered enough, Shiro nonchalantly tossed the blanket back onto her bed and waltzed over to the table, sitting down with all the theatricality of a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. For somebody so composed much of the time, she was a very sensitive person. That, or just a little socially deprived.
Or maybe both? Who knows.
Upon sitting down, the girl appeared to observe Azuma's hand-drawn designs as he went over them, trying to reckon the geography of his new environment with the potential for a pipe system. After a few minutes of glaring downwards, Shiro pointed her finger towards one of the entrances of the compound drawn out on the piece of construction paper, describing an issue that Azuma hadn't really thought of.
"Those pipes might be submerged in this design, but would they not disturb the local giant scorpions? That would be a poor decision, Azuma-San. They are quite fearsome."
Azuma gave Shiro an odd look before rolling his eyes in disbelief, something that the samurai did not appreciate.
"You're what, fourteen? And you still believe in myths like that? I've lived here for a good little while now and I've never once seen even one of them. Shiro, for somebody who prides herself on her maturity and composure, you're a tad gullible."
Immediately, the girl snapped back at him, intent to correct the few smaller, and single larger, mistakes that he had made when talking to her. There was no real malice in her voice, but she was certainly a little bit annoyed.
"For one, I am fifteen years old, Azuma-San; and for your information, I turn sixteen in only a few weeks. Furthermore, I assure you that the myths surrounding the Bone Fields' infamous giant scorpions are very true. All Tsukimiya-style Kenjutsu is derived from observing the scorpions of this desert."
Azuma looked at the girl for a moment once again, pondering upon her answer. She certainly seemed dedicated to her truth; and frankly, he wasn't really willing to doubt that the girl's clan had some natural source for their style of swordplay. So, instead of pushing the issue, he resorted to a classic tactic. That was, of course, changing the subject. With a newborn smile and a lighter tone of voice, he replied to Shiro, if indirectly.
"That's funny. I'm fifteen as well, and I'm turning sixteen in a few weeks as well. When's your birthday?"
Worth asking, at least. If I'm living with her, I should get to know her better.
After staring at Azuma with a clearly forced indignation for a second, Shiro replied simply, content with the knowledge that, in her mind, she had one that brief little clash in wildlife knowledge.
"I was born the 30th of December."
Azuma's eyes widened, and then he broke down laughing. Shiro again took on that annoyed tone of voice, unsure what to make of the green-haired teenager laughing over his half-baked underground pipe plans.
"What is it that is so funny, Azuma-San!"
After a minute spent recovering and clutching at his chest, the Uchiha composed himself enough to respond to the girl, completely lacking in any negative emotion as he did so. Talking with her was a strangely enjoyable experience for him, it seemed; especially for somebody who wasn't very talkative.
"N-nothing... it's just a crazy coincidence. What're the odds that we have the same birthday?"
It was Shiro's turn to have her eyes widen, unsure what to make of this development. Then, after a brief moment of silence, she spoke again, this time with a previously unheard mildly mischievous intent in her voice.
"I believe the odds are one in three-hundred-sixty-five, Azuma-san."
Was that an attempt at a joke? Jesus, we have work to do.
The last of his laughter having tapered off already, the green-haired teenager gave his companion a deadpan glare, clearly unimpressed with her attempt at humor.
"Shiro, it was rhetorical."
The girl immediately deflated at her joke's failure, still clearly adjusting to residing with such a carefree person. She really was just that socially inept; it wasn't an act, was it? Azuma looked at her for a second, then decided to cheer her up with something he'd been planning to do anyway. Hopefully, the girl didn't mind the idea of activity this soon after her recovery.
"Alright. Chin up, you have plenty of time to learn how to land jokes, even if I'm not sure why you don't know how to already. Right now, I think we should head into the town on the outskirts of the desert. We can get you some clothes which you actually want, and I actually buy the things I need to get this water system working. The only other thing I can think of is some more medicals supplies... maybe a generator and some appliances. Hell, maybe I'll pick up some seeds, see if you can help me plant some food for some point in the future. It isn't like I have anything else to do with my money. Does that sound good?"
Rather quickly, the young samurai in question perked up at the notion of doing something other than lazing about. Nodding her head with a freneticism that remained one of the few indicators she wasn't an 80-year old grandmother, Shiro spoke with an enthusiastic, if somewhat restrained tone.
"That sounds like a good idea, Azuma-San. But I have a question."
Azuma motioned for the girl to go on with his right hand.
"What is a generator?"
That hand immediately planted itself on his face. Like he'd said, they had a lot of work to do.
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Picking up the generator had been simple enough. Azuma was familiar with the town at the borders of the Bone Fields and with the exception of some "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" from his red-headed companion at the sight of some of the more modern technology in the store, it had all been a very smooth experience. Then, with a quick visit to the Post Office, he got the generator sealed in a storage scroll, and that was that.
After that, the duo were simply walking about town, considering getting a late lunch. Shiro had even pointed out that there was a tea shop in town and to quote her directly, "Tea is the preferred drink of a fine lady."
Azuma chuckled at the statement and rebuffed it with a similarly gendered statement; "Glad I've got a dick then."
The resulting embarrassed blush on his new ally's face had been both oddly cute and spectacular to witness. At that point, she'd just tried her best to ignore the other teenager and had directed them into a clothing store where she soon grabbed a few simple, modest outfits consisting of simple shirts and shorts for the most part, something Azuma encouraged as an option over a traditional Kimono. Alas, while the green-haired Uchiha waited for the girl to finish purchasing her goods, he thought about the comical nature of the earlier events that had transpired.
For such a stiff girl, she's pretty funny.
Then, Azuma was taken out of his head by a familiar voice.
"All done, Azuma-San."
The boy nodded at Shiro and then began to walk back towards the road which led out of town when he saw something out of the corner of his eye which troubled him. With his left hand at his side, he gestured for the girl to walk up alongside him, doing so without ceasing his movement. As soon as she was within earshot, Azuma spoke quietly, sure to not draw attention or act any differently.
"...We're being tailed."
Shiro tried her best to hide her widened eyes, although she quickly recovered and replied in an equally quiet and serious tone of voice, making sure to keep pace as to not give away the illusion.
"Why do you say that?"
Azuma characteristically cracked his neck to the right, playing the behavior off as natural. Of course, Shiro knew otherwise and quickly allowed her eyes to trail over to the right of the boy for a mere moment. As she did this, she could just make out a silhouette standing in the shadowed alley between two of the street's many buildings; this was only possible because she saw the faintest glint of a Hitai-Ite on the man's forehead. Quickly replying to her ally, she confirmed his suspicion.
"I see him. Who do you think he is?"
Azuma kept his eyes trained forwards but picked up the pace a tad, sure that the figure had caught on to the fact that he'd been noticed at this point.
"I have an inkling, but they're certainly no friend of mine. Now listen, we're going to run as soon as we get to the desert, you understand?"
More than an inkling, but I'd like to hope it isn't him...
The redhead gave him a subtle nod and prepared to move, although not sure how fast she could go without risking opening her still freshly healed wounds. Then, as they'd planned, the duo began to sprint as soon as they hit the first grain of unpaved land. Immediately, Shiro winced in pain, but she silenced any sound that would have come out of her mouth out of fear of alerting Azuma. As for the Uchiha, he waited nearly a minute before glancing behind them to check if they were still being followed. Of course, as he expected, a black speck appeared to be getting closer in the distance. Azuma turned his head to his female companion then spoke, this time not bothering with being quiet.
"Shiro, he's on our heels; let's speed up."
That was a ballsy assumption to make, but at that point, Azuma had briefly forgotten about the wounds he'd left on the girl's body, his mind currently occupied with escaping their pursuer. Immediately, Shiro nodded and picked up the pace alongside the Uchiha, but quickly stumbled and grunted in pain. Azuma slid to a stop and knelt down by his clearly impeded ally.
"Hey. What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Shiro looked away, apparently more ashamed then anything to be stopping them from making their escape. It took a few seconds before she replied, admitting what the issue was.
"...The cuts, while healed, appear to still be very sensitive. I worry that I will reopen them even at a surface level if I go any faster. I am incredibly sorry for the inconvenience, Azuma-San."
Azuma took a moment to consider what the girl was saying before smiling and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, only to then pass her the bag containing the scroll with the generator sealed inside of it. Shiro glanced up at him in confusion.
"We need to escape this guy, but you need a longer head start. Run ahead, I'll bump heads with him for a minute then shake him off of our trail. Keep heading straight for fifteen minutes, but when you see the first rock pillar, take a hard right. Eventually you'll get back to the compound."
Shiro opened her mouth to protest, but her words died on her tongue, unsure how to process such kindness from somebody she'd been fighting with only a few days ago, much less somebody who she was actively inconveniencing. Instead, she changed her choice of words, standing up as she did so.
"Right. ...Be safe, Azuma-San."
Azuma's eyebrows raised at the rather sensitive statement, but he quickly gave the girl a characteristic shrug of his shoulders before beckoning her on her way.
"Will do, but don't worry about me, Shiro. This guy's no problem for me, I promise. I'm pretty much certain I know who it is now."
Instead of replying, the girl then nodded, starting to run off at her former, slightly slower pace with the bag in hand. Azuma then glanced up to see the speck still approaching, now much closer, probably a minute away at most. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he thought about his previous words.
That may have been a little white lie, Shiro. This fucker is a tough customer, I'll be honest... but as of our last meeting, I was still stronger.
Azuma again looked at the speck, which was now much more clearly the shape of a moving person, wearing a traditional Jonin vest and flak jacket, a stark contrast to his own much more relaxed choice of clothing. At this point, he was certain who their pursuer was; an old comrade, or rather, a colleague. The man was about 15 seconds away from his position at this point; as such, the Uchiha rose up from his position on the ground, taking a relaxed but aware stance. With those fifteen seconds, he also ran his hands through a few handseals and forced his chakra through his feet and into the ground, where he created a shadow clone.
Insurance for later.
Soon after, his opponent-to-be arrived with one of his characteristic smirks pasted to his face. The man was a bit taller than Azuma, and had dark brown hair, cut short and parted down the center. At both of his sides were abnormally long rectangular pouches, and on his back was a Wakizashi. As the green haired Shinobi had expected, the ice was broken rather quickly upon the man's arrival.
"How ya' doin, Azuma-chii? Been a long while, ain't it?"
The Uchiha scoffed at the man's choice of nickname before replying with a rather irritated tone of voice.
"Oh **** off, Segamu, calling me 'little' doesn't work when you're only a couple of years older than me. Anyway, I saw you tailing me, so cut to the chase. What do you want?"
The older shinobi cracked his neck as he gave his response, moving forward slowly and reaching into one of his pouches before drawing out a kunai with a unique seal inscribed on it. Azuma let his eyes fall to the knife for a second to try and make out what it said to no avail, instead choosing to listen to his pursuer's reasoning.
"Nah, you'll always be the little kid you used to be to me. And if I'm being honest, I'm not after you. I'm still working for the Daimyo up a few hundred miles south, but this mission has nothing to with you, so if you don't mind letting me pass, that'd be great. If you did that, I'm sure I could put in a good word and get you moved out of whatever hole you live in now."
Azuma shook his head absentmindedly as he too walked forward, his head falling to Segamu's feet for a moment.
"That's bullshit; no way you aren't here to kill me. I know that old man Minamoto's wanted me offed since I left his forces, and there's sure as hell no way that you'd put in a good word for me."
Segamu shrugged, his smirk not leaving his face as he continued approaching the younger ninja. Despite this, what was of most interest to Azuma was, again, his reply.
"No, no, I mean it, you aren't the target of my mission. I won't lie and say I wasn't tailing you though. Am I really that untrustworthy to you? You wound me, brother."
That... that fucking ASSHOLE!
Azuma raised his head in response to the familial term, his eyes a piercing red with three tomoe swimming around each of his pupils. He stopped dead in his tracks at that moment, his face now ripe with an unusual anger for the traditionally emotionally absent boy.
"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago, you scum. Oh, and let's see why I don't trust you! Maybe that time you left Kaya to die on one of our missions, or that time you tried to poison me at family dinner to 'thin out the competition'? Or wait- no, even better; how about the time you killed Riku-Ototo?! Yeah, I think that's the one."
Segamu laughed at the younger boy's recalling of events long passed, taking up a combat stance as he did so.
"Oh little brother, you know me too well, but don't act like you actually care about any of that. You've killed in cold blood more than I have, and they weren't even your real family. They didn't love you, so don't pretend you loved them. Anyway, even if I am lying, I don't see why it should matter."
At that point Azuma had heard enough. Launching himself forwards, he struck out with right handed punch aimed at his opponent's jaw. Segamu quickly responded by moving his left arm up and directing the punch to the side while then following up with a right handed punch of his own which was on a course for home. Of course, with his Sharingan, Azuma had already begun a counter following his first attack's failure. By ducking inwards and to the right of his opponent, he moved underneath the older boy's attack. From this position, he then sprung up and delivered a powerful left handed uppercut to the base of Segamu's jaw, causing him to stumble back a few feet. The green haired boy shook his fist right after the impact, loosening up the wrist.
Bite on that, you prick.
Segamu quickly spit out a bit of blood which had come from the roof of his mouth before letting his face return to that smirk from earlier, although it appeared a good bit more sinister now.
"Right; I forgot about your special little eyes. Tell me, does it feel good having something to remember mommy and daddy by?"
Azuma grit his teeth in response to the goading, instead allowing his rage to stay in check for the moment. After a few seconds of silence, this paid off. His opponent moved in first this time, leading with a left-handed swipe of his tagged kunai aimed directly to slash Azuma's throat. Rolling his eyes, the boy simply backed up, his eyes easily predicting the trajectory of the oncoming swing. Despite this though, Segamu's grin remained constant, and by the time it was revealed why, the Uchiha didn't have time to react properly.
Ducking backwards wildly as if he was playing a game of limbo, Azuma barely avoided the blade of fire which erupted out from the end of the kunai in response to a simple hand gesture made by his opponent. Hell, it even cut into his forehead, searing a few of his bangs off and leaving a slight cut in the process. The sealing tag on the knife had vanished as a result of this, leaving the kunai with what looked like a permanent extension to its length.
Fuinjutsu? That's new. Explains why I couldn't see it coming too. Either way, my eyes can do more than just see chakra, and Segamu doesn't know that.
Azuma thus backed up a few more feet to be certain that he was out of the now much extended range of Segamu's flaming blade. However, instead of humoring the man with a question about how he'd come up with the technique, he glanced upwards and let his eyes meet with his opponents, casting a quick genjutsu which gave the illusion that Azuma had just drawn the sword from his side, when in reality, he was still barehanded.
So, when Azuma moved forwards with a left handed hook on the way to making friends with his adoptive sibling's face, it looked as if he was rushing the man with a right-moving sword slash. To the Uchiha's eyes, it just looked like his enemy had developed some sort of ocular disability as he swung his sword to block his brother's supposed sword attack. Of course, in reality he was swinging at nothing, which made it more than a little funny. Of course even as the older boy's strike missed wildly, the green-haired boy couldn't help but grow a slight smirk of his own as his fist made impact with the man's face.
Immediately snapped out of the Genjutsu by the pain but lacking in the awareness necessary to respond to Azuma's follow up, Segamu soon found himself pushed further backwards with yet another punch, this time one to the left side of his face from the other boy's right hand. This was again followed up with a spinning left legged back kick to the chest, summarily knocking the man onto his ass. Azuma let his smirk grow a tad at the sight of his ex-sibling on the ground, even letting a snarky word or two slip out.
"For the record Segamu, Otousan always said that I was the better of us two at Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, so I don't really care about your little fire-sword. Now, are you going to tell me why you're following me, or n-"
Azuma was suddenly interrupted by a blunt column of erupting from the ground right in front of him and slamming into his chin with the force of a very hard punch, knocking him to the ground much like his now recovering enemy. Soon after he'd gotten back up onto his feet, Segamu himself began to speak in a similarly patronizing manner to his opponent.
"Azuma-chii, shut up will you? Otousan this, Ototo that, who the hell cares?! I've moved on from then and so should you. Did you really think I didn't know the Sharingan could cast Genjutsu? I have sources you don't know about, for the record."
Azuma, quite obviously not concerned with his adoptive relative's taunting, was far more confused by how he hadn't seen this attack coming. As if the older boy could read his mind, Segamu offered an answer by raising his palms, revealing a pair of characters tattooed in black ink on each of them.
"Chakra concealing seals, Azuma-chii. Perfect for dealing with silly boys who pretend their eyes are more useful than mine. See, I came prepared."
Azuma pushed himself back to his feet after a brief moment stumbling about, then proceeded to back up a few more feet to distance himself from his adversary, the shock evident in his eyes as he fumbled through words for a reply.
"W-what? When... when did you get this good at sealing? How did you-"
Segamu glanced to his right hand and raised a pair of fingers. When he spoke, it appeared that the man actually allowed a little bit of legitimate, uncovered malice enter into his voice.
"Two or so years ago? This specific technique, I mean; I can do far more than that, but it's not like you'd know that since you had run away by then. You may have outshined me when we were little kids, Azuma-chii, but now, I promise you that there's no contest between us two."
Azuma hardened his stance at this point, ready to pounce yet again, but he couldn't help but realize that it was very, very possible that his adoptive brother was right about being stronger.
He couldn't even keep up when we were kids... how much stronger is he now? Well, I still think I can outmatch him in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, but even then, I'll need to watch out for those seals.
Again, as if he could read his mind, Segamu shook his head.
"Azuma-chii, I know you expect me to still fall behind you in a few places; I mean look at your hands."
Upon glancing downwards, the green-haired boy saw that both of his hands had fallen to the handle of his Katana and were preparing to draw it. Furthermore, those hands were actually shaking. Why was he shaking! Why was this bastard rattling him so much?! Apparently, Segamu wasn't done talking though, so Azuma rose his head once again to listen to what the man had to say.
"Anyway; I assure you, you aren't going to win at close range either. Watch this."
With that stated, Segamu used his open hand to make a one-handed handseal, the seal of confrontation. Suddenly, two bands around both of his ankles began to glow, and then slipped off of his legs with a sickening thump. The older shinobi glanced up with yet another smirk, Azuma's own mouth making a terrified 'o'.
"You can't keep up anymore, Azuma-chii."
Within seconds, Segamu vanished from view and plowed into the younger boy with a roundhouse kick to the stomach. Which leg it came from was frankly a mystery to Azuma, who was now flying backwards through the air while stuck in a loop of mental confusion at the thought of being smacked around so easily.
How fast IS he!? I could barely even see that with my Sharingan.
Then, as if in time with his confusion, Segamu appeared alongside the boy as he coursed through the air, only to try and deliver a right armed elbow strike to send Azuma into the ground followed up with a slash of his flaming blade. It took all the green-haired teen could do just to spin his body around so as to avoid the elbow strike, landing in the sand on all fours and sliding back a few meters. As soon as he landed, he then thrust his right palm forwards to where his brother stood, the hand crackling with Raiton-transformed chakra. From the hand erupted a tremendous blast of lightning, much more akin to a laser beam than a bolt of lightning.
C'mon, HIT him!
Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be in the cards for Azuma, because before the blast had even faded he felt a disturbance in the wind next to him and the left side of his body was quickly met with a searing, burning pain. Despite pushing himself to the right in time to avoid a completely lethal strike, it was still tremendously painful and the boy couldn't help but let out a mighty scream upon being cut. His left hand immediately went to the wound to check for blood, but surprisingly, there was none; the wound had been cauterized upon its creation.
Tch'. At least there's ONE bright side to all of this garbage.
Despite this, the wound was no less hindering than it usually would be, something Segamu seemed all to aware off. Immediately upon seeing the state of his adopted sibling, the older man deactivated the seal on the kunai, causing the flaming blade to putter out. Azuma looked on in confusion at this action, unsure what to make of it. Of course, as he'd tended to, his enemy had an answer to the boy's confusion.
"Y'know, I was looking forward to trying that little technique out some more, but I don't think I need it to deal with you if I'm being honest. If strength was measured a mountain, you'd be one of these sand dunes and I'd be one of the mountains back up in the east, sorta like where that bitch of yours is from, y'know? You don't have a chance, Azuma-chii. Just let me by."
Azuma's mouth dropped at the mention of "that bitch".
Wait, what!? Shiro? Why does he know wher- OH. Oh ****.
After blinking a few times at that statement, Azuma solidified his features and gave Segamu a stern reply, now having latched on to his motive for being here.
"Hold on... what do you want with Shiro? She was just coming back to her clan's lands, that's all."
Segamu appeared to roll his eyes at this statement, explaining his reasoning in a very purposely patronizing tone, sheathing the kunai from earlier as he did so.
"Azuma-chii, Minamoto-jiisan is one of the last descendants of the clan that won whatever war went on in this shithole hundreds of years ago. As soon as he got wind a Tsukimiya was in these parts, he wanted her dead on the spot. I told you I wasn't here to kill you, didn't I? Now again, let me move on and let's just stop all of this pointless shit, yeah'?"
Azuma's eyes widened, but even more shockingly, he actually thought about what his brother was saying. His brain raced through the implications of that last statement, unsure how to deal with them for the moment.
He doesn't want me dead? He's here to kill Shiro? But... what has she done?
And that was what did it for him; the answer was nothing. Shiro had done nothing. It wasn't as if he knew the girl incredibly well just yet, hell, they'd been at each other's throats just a week ago. But he had pledged to give her a home, and Azuma would be lying if he said that he wasn't growing very fond of her. So yeah; he wasn't going to budge.
"Sorry, Segamu. It isn't gonna happen."
The older shinobi let out an exaggerated sigh after hearing those words, making a show of how disappointed he was, although it was otherwise very obvious that he was going to enjoy beating the tar out of his adoptive sibling.
"Oh Azuma-chii. You're really on about all of that sentimental crap, aintcha! Well the-"
He was, of course, interrupted by a flying right legged roundhouse kick to the left side of his face. While he quickly recovered and managed to dodge Azuma's follow up, the irritation on Segamu's face was clear. That alone indicated something to the Uchiha, earning a slightly more cheerful outlook on the battle ahead.
He may be way stronger than me and a hell of a lot faster than me, but he's no sensory type. I can use that; or rather, I NEED to.
Clearly, Segamu was done with the sarcastic pleasantries. Theoretically speaking, there was nothing wrong with striking somebody midway through discourse, but of course, he would have claimed to have been a gentleman of honor. A false claim, to be sure, but still, he had deluded himself into being pissed. As such, the man ran through several handseals, and soon inahled. He was getting cocky; Azuma could clearly see what was coming, and as such, raised his hands and coated them with Suiton chakra in preparation for the blatant Katon attack coming next.
Despite the tremendous size of the incoming fireball, a spherical spray of water rapidly extended from Azuma's hands once it neared him and soon engulfed the flames, vaporizing them with a steamy hiss. Following this, expecting a counter attack, Azuma quickly drew a kunai from one of his side holsters.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to use it as intended. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Segamu racing through the cloud of steam; unable to react in time, Azuma took a left-handed hook to the face and was send staggering back. His only response was to toss the kunai he held haphazardly to his right, landing right behind where the older shinobi now stood with a grimace on his face. The green haired boy cracked his jaw, making sure it wasn't broken, but still, he stood with an out of place smile on his face.
Then, before Segamu could inquire as to why Azuma had such a look on his face following a failure to avoid one of his strikes, the teenager made a single handseal. His eyes widening, the older boy soon found himself being pierced through his right side by a drilling stream of wind. Wincing in pain as he ducked out of the way of the remainder of the stream, the man glanced behind him, only to find that the source of the attack was the faintly glowing hilt of the kunai that the younger boy had thrown only moments earlier.
Gritting his teeth in pain, Segamu cursed at Azuma, frustrated with the fact that despite the tremendous disparity in their physical capabilities, he was still taking hits.
"Oh for ****'S sake, fight me like a man Azuma-chii!"
Azuma put on an air of confidence for his response, imitating the older boy's tendency to patronize whomever he saw as 'below' him. He'd never liked Segamu for that reason.
"I don't know Segamu; you said it yourself. I'm just 'little', so you can't expect me to fight like a big, strong man like you."
Although if I'm being honest, I won't be able to hold up after much more of this. I have to win this soon.
Quickly, Azuma glanced backwards; the clone he'd set earlier was about 10 meters behind him in a nearly straight line. Maybe he could use that. Regardless, the older boy's features first formed into a grimace at the younger shinobi's words as expected, but then, they changed into a much more neutral expression; something uncharacteristic of Segamu. Finally, the dark-haired ninja took a combat stance as he spoke with little inflection on his tone. Immediately, this put the green-haired Uchiha on edge.
"Right. I'm going to kill ya', Azuma-chii. Sorry, or whatever, but I have more important things to deal with than somebody this much weaker than me."
As if. I've still got the mental advan-
Azuma didn't even have time to blink before he felt his adoptive brother's foot make contact with his chin, sending him flying up into the air. Then, the Segamu appeared above him, striking him with a left-legged axe kick, leaving the younger ninja on a crash course with the sand. Finally, just before he made impact with the ground, the older boy yet again appeared out of nowhere, this time in front of his body, reaching out and yanking him towards him by his shirt.
Segamu's free right arm began to glow through his shirt, only to destroy the sleeve around it and reveal an incredibly intricate seal, now luminescent with green chakra. He then chambered the arm for a straight punch. Now looking right at his opponent through half-shut eyes, Azuma heard one phrase before he was sent back into his world of pain.
"Wind Release: Jetline Cannon."
From the older man's elbow came a tremendous blast of chakra in the form of a gust of wind which propelled his fist into a punch which hit like a train, quite literally. Azuma practically folded inwards around Segamu's arm and was sent flying backwards, coughing up blood and feeling at least two ribs crack at the sheer strength of the blow. When he did finally hit the ground, he skipped for a few more feet, only to land face first.
Holy shit. If I take one more of those, I'm done for.
Doing his best to get up, Azuma quickly let his hands move into the tiger handseal as he proceeded to inhale in preparation for a wide-spread Katon technique, but he soon found that it was far too painful to actually create the attack.
****. I can't... am I going to die?
Segamu was now walking towards him, slightly surprised that the boy had actually survived the attack. Finally getting to his feet, Azuma looked around frantically for a solution. He was now behind the clone; it was about 5 meters in front of his current position. Okay... what could he do with that. At this point, he was also legitimately running low on chakra, especially since he'd cut it in half earlier when he made the clone.
Alright... so I have a clone, and my taijutsu skills pretty much. Segamu has speed, strength, and for all I know, some crazy-ass ninjutsu arsenal too. What can I do with all that?
Trying his best to take deep breaths and still his mind, Azuma closed his eyes and searched this situation for a winning solution.
Soon after, Azuma's eyes opened, the Sharingan having been deactivated via conscious decision. He could no longer afford the chakra toll if he wanted to finish this fight alive. He'd already resolved that there was no way that he could kill Segamu; but he could certainly knock him out with what he had left. The first step to accomplishing this was taunting the older boy; the good news was he was an expert at that and had been for years.
"Hey, S-Segamu. You've g-gotten pretty damn f-fast, and a hell of a lot s-stronger than me, I'll admit. And that's a p-pretty strong technique, but you know what it can't do?"
Segamu shrugged, continuing his slow movement forwards.
"No, I don't, Azuma-chii. But please, do tell me. I'd love to know."
Azuma smirked through the very real pain surging throughout his body, giving the man his answer.
"Well, it doesn't make up for either of the places where I beat you out."
Segamu's lips moved into a thin line, clearly annoyed at the boy's insistence that he had any advantage over him at all. His tone clearly reflected this, now ripe with his usual sarcasm but accented by a hint of anger and frustration.
"And what're those, yeah?"
The green-haired boy sighed, sure to make a show of his arrogance. What he said was partially true for the record.
"Well; I'm still more skilled than you are, and I'm still a hell of a lot smarter than you. I mean, come on, the technique you came up with was just a really strong punch, c-clearly there can't be all that much going on up there, can there?"
Now the anger was far more evident; what composure Segamu had developed was gone.
"Y'know what, Azuma-chii, I don't fuckin' care what you think! I'm gonna enjoy putting my fist through your chest!"
Azuma's last words were the cherry on top.
"Try me."
Segamu was now 4 meters in front of him. Thus, as he was about to launch himself forwards to deliver another one of his unfathomably powerful punches, the ground behind him collapsed as a clone of Azuma leapt out of the sand. In its right hand was a very large sphere of rapidly rotating raw chakra. While Segamu did have time to turn around in confusion at the light sound of the sand being displaced, he didn't have time to avoid the sphere being slammed into his back, sending him flying forwards towards the real Azuma.
And now to show off that superior skill I mentioned.
While this occured, Azuma took up a unique stance, with his right foot extended forwards and his left leg bent heavily behind him. From this position, he surged forwards towards with one last burst of speed, focusing chakra into his left leg as he leaned forwards and struck the oncoming form of Segamu with a lightning-fast upwards moving spin kick to the base of chin. From this kick erupted a mighty current of wind which formed itself into a massive dragon. This dragon proceeded to twist and tear throughout the air, cutting into the older shinobi, prior to carrying him twenty meters away and crashing into the sand with a great explosion.
Immediately, Azuma collapsed to the ground, his legs nearly giving out as he coughed and panted in exhaustion. That technique was unbelievably taxing, and this was, as far as he could remember, the first time he had ever used it in combat. Frankly, he was lucky that it worked in the first place.
But it did work, didn't it. See? More skilled.
After taking a moment to make sure he saw no movement from the crater he'd just created, Azuma forced himself back onto his two feet. He then made a single handseal, dispersing the clone from earlier and providing himself with a slight reprieve to his chakra exhaustion. The green-haired boy then glanced backwards, giving only a passing look in direction of his adoptive sibling's body, only hoping that he'd put him out of commission long enough to get back to the compound. If he could do that, then there was pretty much no chance that Segamu could find him and Shiro.
The thought of the girl reminded him of why he'd even bothered with that last fight in the first place.
Right; I have to get back to her. She's probably more than worried.
The sun would set soon; he wanted to get back before then. So, with a few words to himself and a turn of the head, Azuma began to head back to the compound as quickly as his rather weakened body could wincing with tremendous pain and forcing himself to stay conscious with every step.
"Let's hope that she got back okay."
Even to Azuma, it was funny that his thoughts were so focused on somebody else when his body was in this state. Either way, he had a girl to go meet.
-----------------------------------------
Azuma took more than a few hours to stagger back through the dunes, the sun beating down upon his lightly clothed, already bloodied body. Of course, eventually, the sun set, making the walk much easier on him. Water wasn't the issue, to be clear. He was just plain exhausted.
Ah. There it is.
Azuma's gaze remained neutral, despite his relieved internal status at the sight of his compound, looking exactly as it had when he had left it. It was home, he figured, so why didn't he look happy to see it? As he neared the door, his worries were quickly lifted when the missing piece of the puzzle tackled him to the floor in a tight embrace, a mess of red hair clouding his vision. A soft-spoken feminine voice that he knew quite well now broke the silence of his last few hours.
"You're okay!"
Azuma raised an eyebrow at Shiro's rather physical gesture and speech, grunting as he returned her embrace, not quite having the heart to tell her that she was currently on top of a multitude of very painful wounds which weren't quite as well healed as he wished they were.
"Arg- ow, Shiro, it wouldn't have taken me so long to get back if I wasn't dripping a little blood from a few paper cuts."
In response, the redhead even-more-painfully pushed off of the boy's body, back to her feet, tripping over her own tongue to apologize, as she tended to.
"I apologize, Azuma-San. I was just... well, worried. You have been so kind, and I have done nothing that makes me deserve a sacrifice of such a degree from you-"
Azuma hadn't risen quite so quickly though; he was looking at the girl with eyes wide and inquisitive as she spoke to him, only to interrupt her from his spot on the ground.
I know why I wasn't happy with the sight of the compound.
"Shiro, you used a contraction. That's a first."
The girl immediately went red, assuming she'd done something wrong. As this happened, Azuma was getting to his feet, something Shiro was currently paying little mind to as she did what she had tended to an awful lot; that was of course, worry.
"Oh I apologize! I try my best to speak as-"
She's why I call it home now.
She suddenly found herself silenced by the green-haired boy's lips. Despite what Azuma had expected her response to be, which was, of course, to slap him and call him a disgraceful charlatan or something, it turned out that Shiro didn't instantly recoil from his kiss. In fact, she leaned further into it, slowly wrapping her hand around the taller boy's shoulders. Then, after a few moments passed with the duo locked in this brief stint of honest passion, the two teenagers moved their lips ever so slightly apart from one another, each of them taking a light breath.
Shiro came to rest her head softly on Azuma's shoulder as the boy spoke, his tone not as ripe with sarcasm as it had tended to be around this girl, with their incessant teasing of the other on pause for just a second while he came clean on a few of the more pressing aspects of their interactions with each other.
"I like you better when you're relaxed, Shiro. The honorifics, the annunciated words... I know you're worried about making something up to me, but for the life of me I'm not sure what it is. That fight? How we met? That's forgiven. I don't look at you and think, 'there's the girl who cut me up'-"
Azuma felt Shiro tense at that phrase, and thus raised a comforting hand to her back to hold her close and reassure her before continuing.
"-I think, 'there's my home'. There's the girl who I live with, the girl who I've wronged, who's clan's land I desecrated."
Not moving from her position on the green-haired Uchiha's shoulder, the redheaded Samurai spoke as if she was afraid to meet his eyes, having not talked about their first, most negative interactions so frankly since, well, since their fight.
"I... why exactly do you care? Why do I deserve to stay in your house, drink your water, and have whatever just happened happen to me?"
Azuma smiled for the first time since he'd been with the girl earlier in the day.
"I don't have a reason other than you're a lovely person who's just as lonely as I am. You're no less deserving of help, of affection even, than any other human on this planet. In fact, I'd argue you deserve more seeing what you've been through in your lifetime."
The tender moment was then, of course, unfortunately interrupted by Azuma wounds, a pulse of pain shooting throughout his body.
"R-right... I need to wash these wounds, Shiro, as much as I'd love to just be this close to you for the whole night."
The boy could FEEL the redhead's cheeks turn scarlet this time. Despite this however, there was a very clear reluctance to her movements as she let go of Azuma's body.
I suppose it's good to know that she didn't mind being that close to me.
Immediately, however, with the lack of support, Azuma staggered forwards, catching himself just barely before moving through the doorway of his compound, Shiro just ahead of him, a look of worry plastered on her face.
"What exactly happened out there, anyway Azuma-sa... Azuma?"
Azuma smiled again, this time at the usage of his name without the honorific, giving Shiro her answer as requested. Despite his smile though, his tone was clearly much more grave than it had been, the mood having become more serious as soon as he recollected the events that had transpired earlier out in the desert.
"...my brother, or rather, adoptive-asshole-dickface-jerk-who-isn't-actually-related-to-me-but-was-raised-with-me was sent here to kill you."
Shiro's eyes widened at both the content of the boy's words as well as his longwinded train of expletives. However, with a knowing look from Azuma which said 'let's talk about it tomorrow' about as loudly as his mouth could have, she simply nodded and let it go for the moment.
There would be plenty of time to talk, and even though the situation the two teenagers were in was far from perfect, neither could bring themselves to truly be worried.
Needless to say, both slept well that night.
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A week passed, and as time heals all wounds, Azuma's surely did close and vanish, leaving the faintest of scars and the lightest of bruises; memories of a fight which as he would have told you, was certainly rather memorable. Of course, as he recovered, conversations with Shiro were nearly all the entertainment he had, although frankly he wouldn't have had it any other way. Surprisingly, their lips hadn't touched since that day where he'd collapsed out in the dunes, but again, he wasn't bothered.
There was a connection between them, and he was happy to let it progress as it was already. Shiro seemed to feel a bit remorseful, as if she thought that she'd brought on Azuma's injuries by proxy of being Segamu's original target. The green-haired boy, of course, disagreed.
I chose to fight. You didn't.
In his mind, she was the least at fault in the situation; plus, it wasn't as if he didn't enjoy kicking his adoptive brother's ass.
Regardless of all of this, by the seventh day, the young Uchiha was largely healed, and as if on queue, there was another development that morning in the form of a hawk dropping by with a message. Shiro was still sleeping when he woke up, as she'd often tended to be, but in this case, it was rather convenient. Drawn upwards by the bird's cry, he soon found a scroll dropped into his hands which when opened, read rather simply;
Azuma,
Magnus here. It's been a while, hasn't it? A year, I believe. I'm sending you this message because you should come as far North-East as you can as soon as possible. I've found a home, where our kind are welcome. It's a place located at the tip of Lightning Country, known as Vestbygden. You can get there by travelling through the Great Wind Desert, along the Western edge of Fire Country, and then up to and along Daikotsu Bay until you reach a place where the land stretches no further.
I know that will take you some time, but I'm sure it isn't beyond your capacity, seeing as even down here I've been able to keep tabs on you. You've made quite a name for yourself! Regardless, there are a few things you can do along the way that I think might suit your talents; money-making opportunities, I mean. Plenty of my informants have told me that a group of Rogue Ninja called the Defias Brotherhood have spread across the upper regions of the Great Wind Desert. They're led by a woman, VanCleef-something-or-rather. You probably won't get to her in time to take the bounty on her head, but the rest of the syndicate is well spread out across much of your path to my position. You shouldn't have a problem finding trouble, and in your case, cash, along the way to me.
-Magnus.
Well hell. That complicated things ever so slightly. Azuma looked around, gazing upon the compound he'd built; with some help from Shiro, they'd managed to install the running water system and generator. It was really coming together.
Yet I'm immediately considering leaving it.
Magnus was a friend and a mentor whomst Azuma wouldn't ever forget. He'd been the first to reveal the young boy's true heritage, something which had come to define his very being. Thus, as much as he wanted to stay here, the answer to Magnus' request was rather obvious. He'd go in a heartbeat. The only problem was these were Shiro's clan's lands, and he wasn't sure whether she'd come with him. Over the next half hour he agonized over that thought, his own teenage emotions mixing with the logical point of view he'd tried to approach things from for years.
Thus, of course, Shiro picked such a time to finally wake up.
She could immediately tell something was off when she saw the green-haired boy's pensive grimace and the scroll in his hand.
"Azuma... what's wrong?"
The boy glanced up to see the redhead looking at him, less worried sounding than she was sympathetic. God, she was so great; he wouldn't be able to bare leaving without her now.
"I... an old friend sent me this scroll-"
He raised the rolled up piece of parchment as if to indicate what he was talking about.
"-and he wants me to come live with him in Lightning Country. He says I won't be on the run anymore. For who I am, I mean."
Shiro raised an eyebrow at this. She was all too familiar with running away from those who would hurt you; her whole life had consisted of being hunted. Hell, just recently she'd been the target of that assassination which Azuma had stopped, so self-sacrificially. Still though, she was confused as to why Azuma would be hunted. As if sensing this, the boy spoke, his voice choking as he unearthed memories that he truly detested thinking about.
"You k-know I'm an Uchiha. We're not just a powerful clan... w-we're nearly extinct. I got taken in by a family who didn't tell me what I was when I was younger, since my parents died before I can remember meeting them... Magnus, my friend up East, he's also an Uchiha. Both of us know how it feels to be hunted for our eyes; they're valuable commodities on the black market, Sharingan, and we never quite had the population of the Hyuga Clan so our Dojutsu naturally commands a price."
Ah. So that was what it was. A longing for family. Shiro could only let out a sad smile in the boy she'd come to care for so much's direction. He continued while she moved closer to him, sitting down at the stone table which he'd conjured up when building the compound.
"My parents were killed, Shiro. Their eyes were sold, and mine would have been if I was old enough to have the Sharingan. Then, of course, when I awakened it, they came after me too. It's impossible to make a living as an Uchiha and hide your identity; it's just a part of the job. But when you start getting assassins breaking through the door to your Inn room at three in the morning, you get tired of it pretty fucking quickly, especially when it starts before you hit goddamn puberty. Anyway... I sound like a fucking mess and I get that this looks pretty pathetic, but my point is that he's the only family I know of, and I'm torn beca-"
Shiro cut him off with a kiss just like he had done to her a week earlier, although this one was different than the last. It was more primal, less controlled, lacking in any semblance of the prim and proper mood which Shiro usually brought with her. Instead, it was an honest physical expression of emotion which Azuma couldn't help but lean into, since he too felt the same way. For a minute they held each other, only stopping briefly every few moments to trade glances and silently confirm that the other was comfortable. Then, when they finally broke apart, the redhead looked at the young Uchiha with a stalwart gaze and spoke words which he could have never expected.
"Uchiha Azuma, you're an honorable, lovely boy, and you're somebody I'm rather struck by. You told me once that everybody deserved help. Later, you said everybody deserves love. I'll repeat both of those sentiments to you right now. My family is gone, just as yours has been, for many years. I traveled here, to my clan's ancestral lands, because of that same reason, and just by my luck, I stumbled upon somebody who was looking for the same thing I was. So don't you EVER think I wouldn't go wherever you would. That would be no way to pay you back for how good you've been to me... and to be honest I can't stand the idea of losing you to geography of all things."
A weight similar to a mountain lifted itself off of Azuma's shoulders immediately as he leaned into the girl, catching her in a tight embrace. Quietly, he spoke to her, glad she understood above all else.
"T-thank you. I... I can't stand the idea either."
Although he couldn't see it, Shiro had stopped fighting back the blush she'd been hiding since their lips had met, the green-haired teen's sweet words striking her despite their simplicity.
Silently, the boy shared a thought with himself, confirming what he'd have struggled to admit verbally.
I wouldn't have been able to go without you. Thank you, Shiro. Thank you so much.
Upon ending the embrace, Azuma wiped off tears that he hadn't even known he'd produced before looking at the girl, as if expecting a revocation of the moment they'd just shared. No such denial came. Instead, the two simply exchanged bright smiles as they both stood up, preparing to pack up their things.
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[END OF ACT 1]
So, for those who aren't aware, my character Azuma Uchiha is one who's story I take quite seriously in the NW. Since about 4 months ago I've been writing missions building his character, the characters he interacts with, and a multitude of others in preparation for a novel-length story, largely split into three arcs. The first of these arcs was just completed. So, without any further ado, I'd like to present the entirety of ARC 1 of Azuma Uchiha's story, in total nearly 25,000 words, collected in one place.
Arc 1 - A New Home
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Wiping a bead of sweat off of his forehead, Azuma sighed. Having declined the old man he'd met several months ago's offer, the green-haired 15-year old now once again found himself wandering across the bone fields alone, although this time, he lacked even the simplest of missions. No Daimyo who had something he needed stolen, no assassination that needed carrying out, no nothing. Then again, it wasn't like that was new.
This is what, month three without anything to do?
It wasn't that he was worried about money. In fact, Azuma could really care less about the status of his funds as he was a ninja trained in survival skills. Hunting some food by picking a bird out of the sky with a quick Fuuton: Yubijuu was easy enough, and setting up a fire was...well...certainly not a problem for an Uchiha of all people. Anyway. The real issue was legitimate, bonafide boredom, as well as not really having much of a permanent home at all.
And so, fed up with all of it, Azuma had come to the Bone Fields of all places on his ongoing search for answers, and more importantly, for a potential home.
Why did I think this was a good idea again?
The boy cracked his neck as he glanced around. It wasn't nearly as impressive of a place to him now as it had been the first time he'd come through. Sure, the sheer volume of sand which worked its way into his shoes was still downright insane, but as he moved across the desert with longer, swifter legs, he found that it didn't feel all that grand to him anymore.
He'd been here for about... what, a day and a half now? Yes, that seemed about right, seeing as the sun was just-about setting now. His first night had been spent in a rudimentary box made up of Doton-fashioned walls, if only to protect him against scorpions and whatever other little critters. He'd actually heard rumors of there being gargantuan bugs hidden across the desert, often slumbering beneath the dunes in wait of a poor traveler who was destined to become their next meal. Those rumors sounded absurd, of course, but then again...
Something has to leave all of these skeletons behind.
On that note, he'd just passed the eight-hundred and fifth skeleton of his journey. This one looked that of a large, quadrupedal woodland creature, perhaps a deer from the bordering forest that had rather tragically found itself lost in the midst of an unfamiliar place.
Hah. Doesn't that sound familiar.
Well. Perhaps lost wasn't the right term, but still; Azuma wasn't exactly aware of where he was going or what he was doing. He was just... walking. Stone pillar after stone pillar, dune after dune, and flatbed after flatbed, he'd traversed much of the open expanse that was the Bone Fields without really feeling like he'd gone anywhere.
That was, until perhaps half an hour after the sun set, when Azuma came across a certain landscape feature which he found eerily familiar. From atop his dune, it should have looked like just any other part of the desert. Oddly enough though, surrounding the little valley created by the dune he stood on as well as the others around it were three pillars, all of which were near equivalent in height.
Of course, if it had been just those pillars which looked familiar, he would have dismissed it as an instance of silly deja-vu, but that wasn't the case. This was because in the center of the little dip was yet another dip in the sand's elevation. This one was far more pronounced than the usual dip down from a dune; in fact, so much so that it couldn't be natural. The dip was shaped almost as if somebody had taken a very long, three-foot thick sword, and shoved in straight into the ground before drawing a line with that sword, resulting in a miniature crevasse.
It was upon noticing this that Azuma realized that he was standing in the very same location of his previous visit to the Great Wind Desert, or more specifically, the location at which he'd found that damned diamond. Upon recognizing this, he glanced down to his side to look at his Katana for a brief moment, remembering how he'd rather comically over-exerted himself in a display of Fuuton using that very sword as an apparatus for his technique. The boy couldn't help but smile at the memory. He wasn't all that much older now, but he'd grown more than a couple of inches and lived what felt like an eternity's worth of life over that little gap. He much less of a child nowadays, he supposed.
As much as I love the nostalgia, I think it's time to keep moving.
Then, something particularly weird happened; he didn't. Still stood atop that dune of sand, as Azuma's eyes scanned the unforgiving landscape, his brain was rampant with ideas, with potential. Surely he couldn't stay here, could he? For one, it was pretty much the middle of nowhere by definition.
Well, to be fair, it isn't very far from the forest, which isn't very far from the nearest town if I remember right.
Okay so maybe it was the middle of NOWHERE but it was still dangerous! There was no reason for him to stay in a place where he'd be struggling to stay alive.
Okay but didn't I JUST ruminate over how easy it was to survive? Food isn't hard for me to get, period, and I can materialize water from thin air.
Well, maybe that wasn't an issue but... uh... damn, maybe his instincts were right on this one. Despite his best efforts, Azuma hadn't mustered the strength to lift a foot in a direction away from the little valley, and frankly, his gut had a history of making good decisions when it came to things like this.
So sure, he'd stay the night. Or the week.
A month, tops.
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Come morning in his stone box of a shelter, Azuma already had a long list of ideas planned for his little settlement. To put a few of them simply, he wanted to create a small reservoir to hold water, build himself a proper dwelling, and he wanted to secure the area around said dwelling. The boy, although a mature for his age, allowed himself a childish grin at the thought of doing all of this.
Finally! Something to keep me busy!
Unfortunately, upon dusting his clothes off, cracking his neck, Azuma came to yet another realization. If he wanted to spend any of his time building all of that stuff, he'd first be forced to clear out the space around the little valley he was now residing in. That meant the sand dunes had to go. With that thought out of the way, the green-haired Uchiha let out a sigh as he clapped his hands to the floor of his shelter and allowed the stone beneath his feet and around him to crumble, returning to the sand from which he'd raised it.
Immediately, the sun hit him with full force. He'd have to get used to that. Regardless, he had work to do. Looking around his position at the epicenter of the dip in the sand, Azuma figured that the diameter of the valley, at the moment, was about 20 meters. Big, but not big enough for what he hand planned.
The good news was that he happened to be proficient in techniques which were great for blowing sand around. He'd start with the north-facing dune. First, however, the boy let his mind come to rest on an idea that had been nagging him for a long while.
How did all of this sand get here? Rock erosion?
No, that didn't make sense. There were only a few hundred pillars of rock across the whole of the Bone Fields. Furthermore, the sand here was almost... white? Oh, wait, that made sense; all of the bones on the surface must have eroded, he supposed. After all, this certainly wasn't a new landmass. It was certainly unique, at least. Anyway, that was a thought for later.
Azuma first clapped his hands together and shut his eyes, allowing chakra to build up in his lungs. Following this, he applied the Fuuton nature to this chakra. Then, without ceremony, he exhaled while thrusting both of his hands forwards.
Type: Offensive
Rank: B
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 20
Damage: 40
Description: The user will create a large surge of wind that is capable of pushing a target back and dealing some small cuts to them. The wind technique is also strong enough to push back a large summoning creature.
Rank: B
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 20
Damage: 40
Description: The user will create a large surge of wind that is capable of pushing a target back and dealing some small cuts to them. The wind technique is also strong enough to push back a large summoning creature.
Almost immediately, a large gust of wind erupted in the direction of the North dune, one powerful enough to simply pick up all of the sand which composed it. Within moments, the former dune was now deposited somewhere well into the distance.
I do admit, this area does look a little weird missing one of the dunes; sorta like a house with only three out of four walls, and-hey what's that?
This was the least interesting turn of events to Azuma though; no, what he found far more interesting was what his technique had just revealed. In particular, it was something which brought him back to his earlier train of thought.
Are those the skeletons of people?
Beneath the sand was... well, mostly more sand, but rather eerily, a corpse-pile of freakishly well-maintained human skeletons. Azuma was used to seeing animal skeletons spread about the surface and occasionally that of a poor traveller who'd forgotten water, but this? This was almost organized. Even odder was the metallic gleam of a small object which had caught his eye from the distance. Allowing himself to give in to his curious urges, the boy ran towards the previous site of the dune.
And as soon as he arrived, he slid to his knees and grasped what he could now see was a shining, perfectly preserved kunai knife, complete with equally well preserved dried blood. To confirm his suspicions, Azuma first gave the blood a wipe with his shirt, thinking it might have just been dirt, or something else than had gotten lodged in the sand. Nope; it was definitely blood.
Well wasn't THIS a surprise?
It was then that he realized why the bodies were piled on top of each other so closely. For one, the sand, which had clearly accumulated on top of them over many years had simply pushed them together, and two, they were rather obviously ninja who had been engaged in combat. Upon further inspection, he'd also found the hilt of a sword with no blade anywhere in sight and a few other pieces of basic shinobi weaponry, many of which were in good condition. The reason they'd not been picked up in his gust of wind was because they had all been trapped beneath the skeletons of what were likely their respective wielders, and for that he was thankful.
What had been a mundane morning task had very quickly turned into an interesting little history lesson for the boy. Of course, the depth of that lesson was limited from his perspective. Azuma didn't know this, but well over three hundred years ago, the members of two clans whose names were long since lost to time had engaged in a clan war so expansive that it had actually created the vast majority of the area now referred to as the "Bone Fields", bringing ruin to an area which had actually once been one of the most contested and hospitable places in the whole of the Great Wind Desert. Stories had since turned into legends, which had even further left public discourse, with the understanding of most being that the Bone Fields were simply just a very dangerous part of the Great Wind Desert.
Of course, that all depended on when a person came through the Bone Fields. Azuma again didn't know this but both times he'd moved through the area had been during similar seasons, a point in which many of the bones were covered by immense dunes of sand. During the summer, in the absence of storms, the bones remained covered, but had he visited during the spring, when windstorms were all too common, he would have likely already have seen a multitude of the human skeletons which truly defined the rather nefarious background of the Bone Fields.
Azuma, of course, wasn't satisfied with the knowledge a passing glance could provide him with. And so he allowed his greatest tool, his three-tomoed Sharingan, to swirl to life, hoping it could see something that his naked eyes could not.
( Doujutsu: Sharingan ) Eye Technique: Copy Wheel Eye
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
With his eyes in their most active form, the young Uchiha once again gave the skeletons a closer look and smiled upon realizing what he'd exposed. Much like the bodies themselves, it appeared that the faintest of chakra signatures had been preserved upon each the bodies of those who had perished in whatever battle had taken place here. This signature appeared to Azuma as a faint blue aura lining the skeletons of each individual who lay among the corpses. Hell, two of the signatures even had a slight tint in color, indicating some form of nature transformation had been applied very soon before their demise. One appeared green, and the other just a little bit red; so fire and wind, he supposed.
That makes sense. Fire users are common in the Land of Wind, as are wind users.
At that thought, Azuma actually laughed. How fitting. Once upon a time, practitioners of Katon and Fuuton had fought and perhaps even lived here, and for hundreds of years since, it had remained an an open lot. Now, only he, a shinobi who preferred the use of both Katon and Fuuton was taking it over.
I suppose history really does repeat itself.
Finally, with this newfound knowledge, if vague, and a soft smile arming him, Azuma felt satisfied. He was ready to start clearing dunes again. After all, who knew what he might find beneath the next one?
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Azuma exhaled, although this time, it was driven by exhaustion and not the need to cast a Fuuton jutsu. He'd finally finished clearing out the dunes around his little valley. Slumping backwards onto his bottom, Azuma let himself lay down in the sand, too beat to pursue the rest of his daily tasks for the moment. At that precise moment, an idle, if annoying thought shot its way into his brain.
...It isn't really a valley anymore, is it? Without the dunes, I mean.
Way to kill the fun, brain. See, this was why he didn't ever rest. Oh well; back to work, he supposed. First and foremost on Azuma' list of things to do was to actually build the place he'd be sleeping in, and god knew he didn't want to have to just sleep in a fucking box again. That said, there wasn't really enough material for him to build something decent located in the surroundings, save for the few stone pillars about the place.
The good news was, he had a solution to that. Pushing himself off of the ground, the green-haired boy stood up and took a few steps back from his position at the center of what HAD been a valley (and was now an unnaturally flat portion of the desert). First, Azuma bit his thumb and winced, still a tad sensitive to the admittedly mild pain summoning techniques required of their casters. Then, he made a series of three handseals and smacked his right palm to the ground.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Descripton: The user will bite his thumb and perform the Boar → Monkey → Bird → Monkey → Ram hand seals, slamming their hand into a scroll on the ground. This technique is a combination of the Summoning Technique and an Earth Release technique. The user summons a large amount of rock from a giant canyon which, during the process of being summoned through this technique, he shapes into a design he outlined previously in a scroll. This allows the user to change the topography of the map and create any earthen feature he needs from pillars to gorges, canyons, mountains or simply plains. If the user wants to or is defeated, the alteration ends as any summon eventually does. Additionally he can use (Doton: Dimenshon Fuudo Shihai) - Earth Release: Dimension Topography Control at any point to change the design and alter the summoned terrain.
Note: can only be used once per battle
Rank: A
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Descripton: The user will bite his thumb and perform the Boar → Monkey → Bird → Monkey → Ram hand seals, slamming their hand into a scroll on the ground. This technique is a combination of the Summoning Technique and an Earth Release technique. The user summons a large amount of rock from a giant canyon which, during the process of being summoned through this technique, he shapes into a design he outlined previously in a scroll. This allows the user to change the topography of the map and create any earthen feature he needs from pillars to gorges, canyons, mountains or simply plains. If the user wants to or is defeated, the alteration ends as any summon eventually does. Additionally he can use (Doton: Dimenshon Fuudo Shihai) - Earth Release: Dimension Topography Control at any point to change the design and alter the summoned terrain.
Note: can only be used once per battle
Almost immediately, a portal opened in the sky above the boy which dropped a rather large quantity of raw rock in front of him. However, as it landed, the stones melded with the ground and one another, slowly forming into a 50x50 meter semi-smooth square of solid, earthen ground. Azuma silently cheered at the not of not having to wake up and step outside into an endless ocean of sand every morning. Thank god for his newly cleared space. Surely this would be enough, at least for now.
Azuma then took his first steps onto the stone. It felt nice to have something solid beneath his feet, which were, at this point, rather sore from the lack of any proper support. That said, he was still far from done. The boy briskly moved to the center of what he was about to use as his foundation before looking around.
25 meters to each edge from the center here if I was as precise as I hoped... yeah, I'll need some walls for all of this space. Won't be secure otherwise.
It would be difficult to defend a home from whatever potential opposition Azuma ran into if he couldn't control what went in and out of his little compound. Furthermore, walls just seemed like a good idea for what was to hopefully become a proper settlement for him and maybe some other people in the future. Despite this though, the boy was encountering yet another problem in the form of a simple question.
How do I make a perimeter wall that's 200 meters long? I certainly can't spam Doryuheki...what, 20 times? That would probably take up like 40% of my chakra, and I've already used a good chunk today.
While only a brief setback, it was certainly something he had to think about for a moment, before stumbling upon an idea he figured was actually quite genius. The technique he had in mind wasn't exactly designed for this kind of use, but if it worked how he thought it did, then it would probably solve his problem quite quickly. Thus, Azuma built up quite a significant amount of chakra, and began to weave a rather complex set of handseals. In fact, he had to restart the sequence once or twice, since this was a technique he'd actually only used once. It was very high-ranked, and while he was actually a good bit more knowledgable when it came to Doton than even with his more naturally gifted elemental affinities, he still risked failing. Eventually, however, he completed the sequence, leaving the rest up to fate.
I'm in the middle of the square... and I want walls two meters thick, so I need to raise the ground in a square extending 24 meters from me in every direction. And, I think 5 meters should be enough, height wise. Don't want to completely block out the sun. Alright chakra; don't fail me now. First, the whole foundation.
Type: Supplementary/Defensive
Rank: S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 40
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique grants the user the ability to freely lower or raise the terrain within a specific area surrounding them, in a similar manner to its parent technique, albeit on a much larger scale. The user will slam his hands on the ground which he can then lower or raise the ground up to 100 meters in a large section. The rise will be fast enough to pin enemies to the ground, restricting their movements as they struggle to get up and the drop will be fast enough to leave almost all enemies without a footing (albeit not airborne). Because of the large chakra needed to alter such a large area of the terrain, the user will be able to use it only a limited number of times.
Note: Can only be used twice.
Rank: S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 40
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique grants the user the ability to freely lower or raise the terrain within a specific area surrounding them, in a similar manner to its parent technique, albeit on a much larger scale. The user will slam his hands on the ground which he can then lower or raise the ground up to 100 meters in a large section. The rise will be fast enough to pin enemies to the ground, restricting their movements as they struggle to get up and the drop will be fast enough to leave almost all enemies without a footing (albeit not airborne). Because of the large chakra needed to alter such a large area of the terrain, the user will be able to use it only a limited number of times.
Note: Can only be used twice.
And so he clapped his hands to the ground. The speed at which the floor responded was shocking, even to Azuma; almost immediately, all 22500 square feet of his foundation shot up about 15 feet. Great! It had worked. The young shinobi took this opportunity to take a breather for a moment; he could only use this technique twice a day or so, and it was very taxing. After about five seconds, he gave up on that notion though, unable to stop himself from smiling through the sweat. This was exciting! He was growing as a ninja. Alright, it was time to see if he could pull off what he had intended for his second usage of the jutsu. Azuma briefly let his mind dwell on the numbers he'd thought up earlier.
48 meters long, 5 meters tall. 45 meters long, 5 meters tall. You got this.
Azuma built up the chakra necessary and began moving through the handseals with much more confidence this time; he'd done it once. He could do it again. And that he did. Without any hesitation, upon completing his preparations, the boy clapped his hands to the ground, and just as quickly as it had risen, a square 48 meters long (24 meters in each direction from his position at the center) and 5 meters deep dropped, returning him to his exact previous elevation, but with a new view.
Type: Supplementary/Defensive
Rank: S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 40
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique grants the user the ability to freely lower or raise the terrain within a specific area surrounding them, in a similar manner to its parent technique, albeit on a much larger scale. The user will slam his hands on the ground which he can then lower or raise the ground up to 100 meters in a large section. The rise will be fast enough to pin enemies to the ground, restricting their movements as they struggle to get up and the drop will be fast enough to leave almost all enemies without a footing (albeit not airborne). Because of the large chakra needed to alter such a large area of the terrain, the user will be able to use it only a limited number of times.
Note: Can only be used twice.
Rank: S
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 40
Damage: N/A
Description: This technique grants the user the ability to freely lower or raise the terrain within a specific area surrounding them, in a similar manner to its parent technique, albeit on a much larger scale. The user will slam his hands on the ground which he can then lower or raise the ground up to 100 meters in a large section. The rise will be fast enough to pin enemies to the ground, restricting their movements as they struggle to get up and the drop will be fast enough to leave almost all enemies without a footing (albeit not airborne). Because of the large chakra needed to alter such a large area of the terrain, the user will be able to use it only a limited number of times.
Note: Can only be used twice.
The result of Azuma's little escapade surrounded him in as a set of perfectly even-height walls about 5 meters tall, and 2 meters thick. Now this was a compound, or at least the skeleton of one. He certainly felt more finished with the job than it looked. Despite the fact that there were two more steps left in his plan to create the ultimate desert home, the hardest part was over now. The rest would be a simple exercise in far less complicated Doton and a few Suiton techniques.
In fact, Azuma felt so motivated that he wouldn't even take a brief break. The boy had officially resolved to finish the basic concept of his dwelling by the time the sun had gone down, if not much earlier as was entirely possible. First; he'd build his reservoir. Of course, there wasn't exactly a source of running water near him, so he'd have to provide his own supply for now, but the vessel which would hold said water, regardless of its source, was certainly within his reach. It only took Azuma a brief moment to decide where his water storage would be. The northeast corner simply made the most sense, as it would shade his water from the morning sun, which was the biggest period of evaporation if his memory of the water cycle served him right.
Upon reaching the corner he had in mind, Azuma gave himself a 5 x 5 meter space to work with. He then made four handseals and clapped his hands to the ground, causing a single five meter long and three meter tall wall connected to the perimeter wall to arise from the ground. Following this, Azuma repeated this same action, this time erecting a wall which connected from the end of the wall he'd just made back inwards towards the perimeter wall. This left him with a 5 x 5 x 3 meter box.
Type: Defensive
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A
Description: The user will first perform the Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog and then creates a solid wall of earth as a form of defense. Chakra is either converted to earth within the body and then spat out to form the wall or the user can manipulate pre-existing earth to form the wall. The earth then instantly rises up and takes form. The barrier itself is also coated with chakra, making its strength incomparable to that of a normal mud wall. Because of the earth's special characteristics, the wall is highly resistant against, for instance, fire and water. Hizuren Sarutobi spits mud from his mouth to perform the jutsu whilst Kakashi creates a wall composed of bulldog sculptures to box-in Pain.
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A
Description: The user will first perform the Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog and then creates a solid wall of earth as a form of defense. Chakra is either converted to earth within the body and then spat out to form the wall or the user can manipulate pre-existing earth to form the wall. The earth then instantly rises up and takes form. The barrier itself is also coated with chakra, making its strength incomparable to that of a normal mud wall. Because of the earth's special characteristics, the wall is highly resistant against, for instance, fire and water. Hizuren Sarutobi spits mud from his mouth to perform the jutsu whilst Kakashi creates a wall composed of bulldog sculptures to box-in Pain.
Alrighty then. Just one more step to this part. Azuma swiftly walked up the box he'd just created and stood carefully on the lip.
125 cubic meters of water, right? Okay then this'll be easy.
With his plan already halfway finished, Azuma set about completing it by making six handseals then moving his palms upwards towards the sky as if he was lifting something. Soon after, water began to seep out from the ground at the base of the box, slowly filling it up until he was left with only a few inches space from the surface of the water to the top of his reservoir.
Type: Supplementary/Defensive
Rank: C
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 15
Damage: 30
Description: After performing the required handseals: Tiger → Dog → Monkey → Snake → Boar → Tiger, the user makes water rise from the ground and they can use this water in various ways. They can create a body of water for a water summoning to be encased in and allow them to move around where normally no water exists, or create a body of water to block incoming attacks or surround his target and then drown them.
Rank: C
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 15
Damage: 30
Description: After performing the required handseals: Tiger → Dog → Monkey → Snake → Boar → Tiger, the user makes water rise from the ground and they can use this water in various ways. They can create a body of water for a water summoning to be encased in and allow them to move around where normally no water exists, or create a body of water to block incoming attacks or surround his target and then drown them.
Sick! I have water now. That's refreshing... no pun intended.
Now, it was time for the last part of his plan for the day. To be honest, Azuma really wasn't feeling building another box, even if this one was going to be smaller and have a ceiling. No, he wanted to sleep somewhere cool and build himself a proper house once he had all the materials necessary. That was tomorrow's problem. Right now, style was the goal, and the green-haired teen had just the right idea in mind.
I get to be lazy for a few days if this works, which it should.
Azuma walked a few feet away from his new reservoir, but remained facing the north wall of his compound. He then, in a ritual that was becoming obnoxiously familiar, clapped his hands to the ground, releasing chakra into it with a clear purpose in mind. From the floor arose two small square stone pillars, 3 feet apart from one another and about 7 feet tall. These pillars were also located about feet away from the north wall. Beyond this, two platforms, about 3 feet wide and 1 foot thick, connected themselves to the pillars from the perimeter wall. The first platform was built at a height of about 3 feet off the ground. The second one was attached at the very top of the pillars, 7 feet high.
Type: Supplementary/Offensive/Defensive
Rank: D
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 10
Damage: 20
Descripton: Creates small pillars of earth, small tools, and small shields of earth
Rank: D
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 10
Damage: 20
Descripton: Creates small pillars of earth, small tools, and small shields of earth
The result of this set of creations was the basic shape of a single bed with a cover above it that could block rainfall (although seeing as Azuma was in the desert, he didn't think that would be a problem), and more importantly, pesky morning... or mid-afternoon sunlight. He had a bed! That was a first.
Then, with a sigh of relief, Azuma removed his pack and took out his bedroll, which had admittedly seen lots of use, and positioned it upon the lower platform. He was finished! And by the sky's evidence, he was well ahead of his sunset deadline. That said, he wasn't going to wait on the sun for him to get some fucking sleep. So, with full knowledge that there was still lots of empty space to fill in his compound, but complete comfort in that fact seeing as it had only been a day, Azuma pulled himself onto his new bed of sorts, slipped into his bedroll, and closed his eyes, relishing in the fact that the platform above him shaded him from the sun that had so often conspired to ruin his plans for relaxation.
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Azuma's first interaction with another human in a long while took place a few days after he set up his compound's little skeleton. In that time, he'd added a doorway, and had begun studying how to create some rudimentary form of running water. By extension, it made sense that he was due for a run into the nearest village or town for supplies. It was when he decided to set out that the person in question appeared.
It had to have been high noon when Azuma saw the brown-hooded figure approaching across the now mostly flat sand-scape. That was his first indication that something was off. It was the middle of the day, and travel was dangerous.
Why would anybody be travelling through the desert at this time of day? That's a death sentence for any non-Shinobi. Unless-
He was cut off by a kunai flying past his face and grazing his cheek in the process, lodging itself in the outer wall of his compound. Azuma's eyes widened immediately, but before he allowed any other thoughts run through his head, he took up a traditional Strong Fist stance with his right foot pointed forwards and his left foot pointed sideways along with the rest of his body. At this point, the hooded person was moving much more quickly than he'd initially seen; so fast that sand was literally being kicked up into a cloud behind her. There wasn't much time to do anything other than fight.
He's fast.
That they were. In seconds, the figure was upon him, Wakizashi in their left hand. From a few feet away, Azuma could barely make out the movements of a downwards slash being prepared from the person's right hand side. In response, the Uchiha drew his own sword, a Katana, to counteract the opponent's swing, their steel meeting in the space between them within a mere moment. Sparks flew off of both blades immediately, and just as quickly, Azuma could tell his enemy was stronger than him.
He ground his teeth as the force of the opponent's strike kept pushing him backwards. First he gave an inch, than another. Soon, Azuma was being forced up against the outer wall of his compound. The doorway was about five feet to his right. If he could get inside, he would have a more stable footing, and it wasn't as if there was a lack of open space. As his arms pulsated with pain, he waited for the right moment to escape.
Wait...
With a single surge of force, Azuma forced both of his arms downwards, pulling the sword out from the clash along with them. In this brief moment, he ducked, his opponent's Wakizashi slicing through the air where his head had just been. Originally, he had then planned to follow his dodge with a dash towards the doorway, but that didn't appear to be in the cards.
Now-
The teen's self-signal was interrupted by a swift kick to the left side of his chest, strong enough to send him flying through the air, parallel to his wall. Azuma saw the doorway fly by and grunted in both pain and disappointment.
****. There goes that plan.
He then planted his hands in the sand and let his body skid to a halt, prior to letting out a cough. His enemy had more than likely just cracked one of his ribs. That was unfortunate. Now he REALLY needed to get into town. Looking up from his position, Azuma saw that the cloaked figure was now taking his time moving towards the boy, clearly no longer seeing him as a threat following their first little encounter. The green-haired shinobi took this opportunity to raise a hand and speak between his pants.
"Who the hell are you? Why did you attack me?"
Heh. It was worth a shot. Lucky for him, the opponent acknowledged his words, although they didn't stop moving forwards, only choosing to reply in a light, snide tone ripe with some form of anger.
"I could ask you the same thing. What right did you have to build over my family's grave? Tell me that and maybe I'll give you a better answer. Oh, and your name could help too. I don't like burying people without something to write on the headstone."
Azuma grimaced with a little bit of intrigue plaguing his face at the same time. That answer hadn't helped him out much, but it had provided him with a couple of pieces of information. For one, the skeletons he'd unearthed earlier this week had been those of this person's family, most likely. That was unfortunate. The second thing was a little bit less important, but was just as interesting to him.
Judging by his opponent's voice, this hooded figure was a girl.
Well shit, he was just a regular at getting his ass kicked, wasn't he? Okay, well, better get his head back to the fight if he wanted to survive. As the enemy continued to walk forwards and reached within 5 meters of Azuma, he came up with an idea. First, he sheathed his Katana. Then, he threw his hands forwards while focusing chakra into them. From his palms erupted a torrent of water, aimed straight at his opponent.
(Suiton: Seiryūshō) - Water Release: Azure Dragon Palm
Type: Offensive
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: 40
Description: The user unleashes a spiralling torrent of water from his hands.
Type: Offensive
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: 40
Description: The user unleashes a spiralling torrent of water from his hands.
The girl, of course, decided to respond with her sword. At first, Azuma wondered how exactly she intended to do such a thing, seeing as thin metal, no matter how well it could cut, was for the most part unable to deal with a torrent of water. How wrong he was. Her Wakizashi took on a blue glow before she swung it, releasing that blue glow in the form of a wide, circular object, which she quickly swatted the torrent away with. Just as quickly, the glow vanished. Furthermore, he swore he could have seen his opponent smirk under the shadow of her hood.
Damn them. Cheeky asshole. Okay.
Okay then. So water wasn't the best option. Azuma had an idea though; and it required that he test out his enemy's defenses with a few more attacks. So, he darted to the right, away from his walls, and wove a single handseal while he did so. He then inhaled.
Let's try fire.
Following an infusion of chakra into his lungs, the boy exhaled a massive, dragon shaped fireball in the still slowly-moving hooded girl's direction. She appeared to respond with, yet again, a construct formed out of her glowing sword. ****, okay, so was her technique neutral to all elements? Azuma's first thought had been that it was some sort of Raiton ability, but it seemed to be something else entirely. Ah, **** it. Deciding that deduction was best left to the pros, the Uchiha made a decision that was probably for the best.
After a brief moment, Azuma's eyes swirled with red, developing three Tomoe around his pupils. Following this, oddly enough, his enemy actually stopped their slow, menacing course forwards, taking a moment to comment on the turn of events.
( Doujutsu: Sharingan ) Eye Technique: Copy Wheel Eye
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
"What's up with your eyes?"
Hah. Shit, what else was new? Azuma was so used to people knowing about the Sharingan that he'd forgotten some people probably had never even heard of it around these parts. He stifled a painful chuckle while giving the girl a half-hearted reply, his mind still racing for an idea, seeing as physically, he was entirely outmatched.
"I don't think I have to tell you that, but for the sake of it; It's a part of my heritage. I'm an Uchiha."
After a brief moment, his adversary simply shrugged.
"Never heard of them."
Azuma sighed, although his brain was experiencing far more interesting ideas.
That's good; now I just need to-
His thoughts were again interrupted by a change in his opponent's speed, the figure rushing his way with clear intent to get the battle over with. This time, while he could certainly track her better, she was coming from a lot closer and he wouldn't be able to draw his sword in time, nor weave handseals. His eyes could predict the arc of her incoming swing; a horizontal slash, surely capable of slicing him open like a fish. So, what COULD he do? Azuma made a decision on the fly.
As the slash coursed forwards, the green haired teenager swung his right arm downwards with the goal of trading blows. Azuma soon felt the searing pain of the girl's sword cutting into his chest, but at the same time, he could also feel his fist making contact with her face. Then, as time ceased to slow in his eyes, the exchange ended with the slice finishing, although not nearly as deeply as she'd intended it to, and the girl stumbling backwards, reeling from the harsh strike to her head.
(Kodzuku) Punch
Type: Offensive
Rank: D
Range: Short
Chakra: N/A
Damage: 20
Description: One of the simplest moves in Taijutsu, the user will simply use one of his hands to deliver a simple punch by clenching his fist and swinging his arm. The user is free to do variations of a basic frontal punch and the technique though simple, can be deadly for strong users.
Type: Offensive
Rank: D
Range: Short
Chakra: N/A
Damage: 20
Description: One of the simplest moves in Taijutsu, the user will simply use one of his hands to deliver a simple punch by clenching his fist and swinging his arm. The user is free to do variations of a basic frontal punch and the technique though simple, can be deadly for strong users.
Azuma coughed at the exertion. Even though the strike had been shallow, his black tank-top was now drenched in blood, a resource which he was losing rather quickly. He needed to finish this soon, or else he'd BE finished. The enemy, on the other hand, wasn't all too flustered, simply shaking their head and ignoring whatever damage, if any, the punch had caused. Azuma glared daggers in her direction, observing her chakra pathways for a brief moment.
I need to land at least one big blow to turn this around, and I think I know how, but it's a big if, and it relies on an assumption which could very well be wrong, so I'll say this once-
Azuma let both of his hands fall to his sheathed Katana.
-let's gamble.
The boy kicked himself forwards, dashing with all the speed he could muster, aiming himself straight at his opponent. The girl seemed just as eager to strike him down, and prepared a sword-swing of her own. But what she couldn't count on was Azuma's eyes. He saw her strike, he knew where it would cut. And so he drew his sword ever-so slightly out of his scabbard a bit early, knowing that speed-wise, he couldn't match her on even footing.
One inch closer. And then another. She swung, and in time, so did he. And then, just as their blades were about to meet, Azuma allowed his chakra to flow throughout the sword, electrifying it. Time, once again, took up its normal pace from his point of view, and in a flash the collision was over. He stood, his Katana crackling with lightning extended out in front of him. His eyes were aimed forwards, towards the horizon, just the same. It was like a scene out of some Samurai film.
(Chō Biburāto Raitontō) - Super Vibrating Lightning Release Sword
Type: Supplementary
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A (+40 to Kenjutsu/sword-related attacks)
Description: The user channels their lightning chakra into a blade, increasing its vibrating frequency and giving it more cutting power than standard wind techniques.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: B
Range: Short
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A (+40 to Kenjutsu/sword-related attacks)
Description: The user channels their lightning chakra into a blade, increasing its vibrating frequency and giving it more cutting power than standard wind techniques.
Then, he heard the sound of a blade lodging itself in the sand, and took note of the grunt his opponent had just made. Azuma finally allowed himself to turn around, making sure not to re-sheathe his sword. He was greeted by the sight of half of the girl's Wakizashi blade missing from it's original home, as well as a thin line of blood dripping down across her now shredded tunic. In the collision, at some point, her hood had blown off, revealing a head of flowing, reddish hair, and the fair face of a girl who looked not much older than he did.
Azuma took this brief reprieve to speak once again, hoping to at least try to salvage the situation.
"I figured; you're a Samurai, aren't you? Or do you just not know any Ninjutsu?"
He could see the girl's jaw tense at the mention of her identity. She remained facing the other way for the most part, her eyes still hidden from Azuma's view.
"Maybe."
A brief second passed before Azuma allowed himself to speak again, fully aware that time was of the essence with an open wound like his.
"I'm Azuma. If you still need something to put on the headstone, I mean."
The girl's face remained turned in another direction, although her reply indicated at least some waning in her intent to murder him. A little, at least.
"Duly noted. I...I won't apologize for striking down a man who built over the graves of my clansmen."
He grimaced, unsure how to deal with the situation.
"For the record, I didn't know about the skeletons until a few days ago. I'm sorry I treated the dead with such disrespect."
Hell, am I always this apologetic? Where the **** are the curse words?
Yes, even he felt a bit out of his element talking about a sensitive topic such as deceased family, no matter how distant. Hell, it wasn't like it was an unfamiliar topic to him; he'd never really known his parents. Clearly, this girl didn't feel the same way though.
"You may repent with your life. You are a fighter of honor, to have struck me from the front in such a lopsided confrontation. I take no pleasure in striking you down, but know I must do so in honor of my family. They are my pride, and the only thing I have to define me."
He stifled a chuckle. Even she knew how outmatched in raw power he was against her. Azuma's Ninjutsu arsenal was far too pinpoint for a fight against somebody with such a physical advantage against him. Still, it was clear only one of them would finish this fight standing. In that moment, the girl finally turned around, her piercing blue eyes meeting with his own red orbs.
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( Doujutsu: Genjutsu Sharingan ) - Eye Technique: Copy Wheel Eye Illusion
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra cost: 30
Damage points: N/A
Description: This technique is simply the use of generic genjutsu used by members of the Uchiha clan. By simply having their opponents look into their eyes, the Uchiha can lock the user within a genjutsu of their choosing.
Note: Can only be used with 3 tomoe sharingan
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra cost: 30
Damage points: N/A
Description: This technique is simply the use of generic genjutsu used by members of the Uchiha clan. By simply having their opponents look into their eyes, the Uchiha can lock the user within a genjutsu of their choosing.
Note: Can only be used with 3 tomoe sharingan
The girl spoke yet again while she drew yet another Wakizashi from under the part of her cloak which hadn't yet been shaved away. This time, her words resonated with determination and begrudging respect, not anger.
"This next contest will be our last, Uchiha-San. You know as well as I do that neither one of us will stand through another deep strike, and I intend to make contact before you do. My name is Tsukimiya Shiro. You have earned that knowledge."
Instead of speaking, Azuma simply nodded, observing as her sword once again took on a blueish glow, although this time it didn't extend into any sort of construct. Then, interestingly enough, the girl moved the Wakizashi to her side, as if it were in a sheathe.
Iaido, I suppose.
Ah. So this was it. He rushed forwards in time with the girl, fully committed to a right-diagonal slash across her chest as he did so. Then, as if nothing at all had happened, the girl cut into the green-haired boy before he could even make a move, her sword swing no more than a flash in the pan, having re-sheathed itself near-immediately. His throat exploded with blood, and his corpse fell to the ground.
And then, she felt a searing pain spread across her lower abdomen. The corpse faded from view, and to her right stood Azuma, clearly struggling to stand as blood dripped down from the gash across his chest. His sword was cleanly behind her, having struck her in a horizontal slash not unlike the one she had struck him with earlier. She felt little pain, the wound having been numbed by the crackling energy surrounding the boy's Katana. She even managed to choke out a few words.
"Y-you... I have b-been bested, if not in the purest f-fashion."
He frowned, unsure how to process the situation at hand, only managing yet another apology.
"I'm sorry. I am a Shinobi; and I am not honorable, I apologize for allowing you to believe that. Like you, my pride lies in my family, and I used our abilities to win this fight."
She simply offered him a confused glare, before uttering her last words before collapsing to the sand.
"T-there is no dishonor in taking pride in your family, Uchiha Azuma. T-that is the greatest honor you may bring to yourself."
And then, she fell. Azuma took a brief moment to breathe, then sent fire-transformed chakra into his hands, running them over the deeper-than expected cut across his chest. He winced in pain at the cauterization. It was a pain he was not foreign to, but still, it was just that; painful.
Then, with the immediate danger out of the way, he allowed his gaze to shift down as his eyes returned to normal. He looked upon the body of the girl... no, Shiro, shielded only by her cloak. He saw the blood trickling out of her two wounds, and he contemplated.
And then, he saw her chest moving, ever so slightly, up and down. In that moment, his mind was made up. Ducking to the ground, Azuma grunted in tremendous pain as he scooped the girl up and began to walk her back into the compound. She only wanted to do what he did; honor her family. This compound was, to be fair, built on stolen property.
It was the least he could do.
So he would try his damndest to save her. Surely it couldn't be too hard, if he had at least stopped his own bleeding for now.
Damn empathy.
He could try all he wanted, but Azuma was, even at his worst, a person who meant well, and a person who took on the pain of others. Right now, he could both literally and figuratively imagine what Shiro was going through, and he couldn't bare to let her suffer through it any longer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Azuma had to move quickly, and he meant quickly. It wasn't as if he was out of the woods, but his bleeding had stopped and had resulted from a comparatively shallow wound, whereas Shiro was suffering blood loss from two wounds delivered by an electrically-charged sword. There was a stark difference between the damage dealt by a chakra-enhanced blade and cold, normal steel, and it was one the Uchiha was witnessing right in front of his eyes. In fact, while he could get away with cauterizing his wounds, he wasn't even sure whether that would suffice for the girl in his arms because there might have been some internal bleeding from her deeper, more severe wounds.
It looked like he would have to save her life the old fashioned way then. Alright.
So he picked up speed, his legs carrying him into his compound as quickly as possible, doing his best to ignore the pulsating ache spreading through his arms. As soon as he arrived in the more sheltered area, Azuma glanced around, unsure of what to do next. He saw his travel bag lying next to the rudimentary bed he'd built for himself. Immediately, he sprinted over in it's direction.
Come on, come on... tell me you have what I need...
Upon reaching the stone bed, he lay the red-haired girl's body upon it, facing upwards. It would do as an operating table for now, he supposed. Then, the teenage shinobi ducked underneath the bed, pulling his large travel bag out as he did so. Azuma proceeded to rummage through the bag, pulling out a few things in the process. First, he tossed one of many small cloths onto the ground. Then, he continued sifting through the rummage, cursing his own lack of organization.
Damn it, all I need is a fucking needle. I have one of those right? Come on.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a metallic glint. There! In a flash, his right hand jabbed in and out of the bag, returning with a small sewing needle and tiny spool of thread. That was perhaps the most important item for the procedure Azuma had in mind, and frankly, Shiro might have been dead on arrival if he hadn't found it. Thank god his adoptive mother had always forced him to travel with a needle and thread. Stitches and sewing, she'd have said, were the unsung heroes of Ninja life.
You weren't wrong, Okaasan.
Even if she'd never shown him love, he was grateful for the shelter her and the clan had provided. Azuma wouldn't have been the same without that part of his life. Enough nostalgia though. Azuma pulled himself back up, holding the needle and thread in his right hand along with the cloth.
Right, well, he needed to see the wounds first. In an instinctual motion, Azuma drew a kunai from his side holster and sliced the girl in front of him's cloak open, allowing him to pull it to the side. She wasn't wearing a shirt; oh dear. As much as his teenage mind wanted to run wild with the girl in front of him's appearance, he had more important things on the brain. Immediately, he could see the two strikes, both planted across her chest starting just above the belly button. He then dropped the kunai, spreading the cloth across the center of both wounds, where the cuts were most severe and blood was still flowing.
The cloth was quickly dampened by the blood. Shit, okay, so he might need another way to stifle the bleeding. Rapidly, Azuma's mind ran through every bit of medical knowledge that he had. In that moment, he glanced over in the direction of his makeshift water tank, and came upon an idea.
Water can dilute blood flow, not just wash it away. I need another cloth.
With a moment of reluctance, Azuma removed his hand from the cloth on Shiro's chest, hoping that the brief dip in pressure wouldn't stop the effort of ceasing the bleeding. He then ducked down to rapidly grab another cloth, knowing that the one he had previously been using would no longer be absorbant like he needed it to be until he rinsed it out. Then, not willing to spend even the spare few seconds it would take to run the few meters over to his water tank, Azuma forced his chakra to quickly expand outwards from his body, letting him literally flicker up to the ledge of his reservoir with tremendous speed.
(Shunshin no Jutsu) - Body Flicker Technique
Rank: D
Type: Supplementary
Range: Short-Long
Chakra Cost:10
Damage Points: N/A
Description: Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement, the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance.
Note: Cannot be used in battle.
Rank: D
Type: Supplementary
Range: Short-Long
Chakra Cost:10
Damage Points: N/A
Description: Shunshin no Jutsu is a basic Ninjutsu technique. The ninja will appear and disappear in an instant, allowing them to retreat or attack suddenly. To facilitate the movement, the ninja will often use nearby elements such as mist, sand or leaves to mask their appearance or disappearance.
Note: Cannot be used in battle.
Azuma once again crouched down, dipping the cloth into the water of the reservoir. Making sure it soaked up as much water as possible. Then, the green haired boy once again flickered down to the bed, removing the old cloth and quickly replacing it with the new, wet one. The difference was stark and obvious. Slowly but surely, along with pressure came a stop in the bleeding. Azuma repeated the damping process a few times, squeezing the blood from the cloths into his reservoir, ignoring the fact that he'd need to refill it later.
This went on for well over an hour, eventually culminating with Azuma forcing Katon-influenced chakra into his palms, allowing him to superheat the wet cloths. Quickly, they reached a near-boiling heat, and despite his own familiarity with such things, the young shinobi found himself burning his palms rather mildly, if painfully. He then proceeded to place this cloth on the open wounds. Quickly, the wounds bubbled up and Shiro winced. It was the first sound of pain Azuma had heard from her mouth during this whole process, and frankly, while he should have felt sorry for the girl, he was more relieved that she was capable of making noise in the first place. Regardless, those bubbles indicated the death of any potential infection, and confirmed that there were no deeper, internal wounds which could cause further problems.
Thank god.
Azuma hadn't even noticed that he'd started panting until this very moment. Every technique he'd been employing during his little medical intervention was only of minuscule cost to him, but since he'd been using them so frequently across well over two hours, he was starting to feel the onset of a waning chakra supply, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a good while. Azuma took this brief moment of peace to glance across the girl's body and her troubled, if very still, face. In that second, he came to the conclusion that perhaps, chakra exhaustion wasn't so bad if he could save a life in the process.
She's still breathing, the bleeding has stopped, and there's no serious internal damage. Hell, I'm lucky. Okay, well; now for the stitches.
Ironically, this was the easy part. If Azuma was good at anything, it was stabbing people, and he had, for a time, favored senbon to more traditional ranged weaponry, although that had since changed. Thus, stitching up a pair of wounds wasn't an issue. Within about thirty minutes of careful, clear precision, he wove in two lines of tight stitches to each wound, sure to leave almost no space between each of them. He couldn't half ass this job; a wound like this could reopen just as quickly as it had been created, and frankly, after all of this effort, he couldn't stand the idea of it all going to waste.
So, with careful, steady hands, the wound was closed, and Shiro remained breathing. The sun was already nearing it's last hours in the sky, and the compound was quickly descending into shadow. So, Azuma couldn't blame himself for collapsing, his back against the wall.
He was exhausted, both physically and internally, but for now, he was provided with the opportunity to rest, one he would gladly take. For the moment, Azuma closed his eyes. In his head, he mulled over what would happen upon waking up. Would he wake up?
It was all so confusing, the future and that.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
He woke up midway through the night, the moon beaming down onto his position from straight above the compound. It was large tonight, although super-moons were common in the middle of the desert. Azuma was then rather quickly shaken from his moon-gazing by an aching pain in his wrists. Clearly, he'd been clenching his hands holding one thing or another for far too long that day. It wasn't as if he regretted it though.
Azuma then shifted a little, repositioning himself so that his back wasn't in quite as much of an uncomfortable position. Then, just as he was about to turn to look at the person he'd both fought and saved in the last 24 hours, he found that even the slightest movement had woken up that same individual.
Upon facing her, he found that the girl's eyes were wide open, simply staring at him from her place on what was usually his bed. Then, just a moment after meeting her eyes, Azuma quickly glanced away, unsure of what to say and ripe with some twisted form of embarrassment. Lucky enough for him, the female samurai had a few words to get whatever conversation was to be had on track.
"Why did you save me? I tried to kill you. I would not have done the same for you."
Well, wasn't she good at getting to the point? A simple question with an oddly complex answer. Azuma's gaze remained planted elsewhere, his eyes drifting off to who knows where as he replied.
"You attacked me for violating your family's place of burial, right?"
The girl replied briskly, her voice betraying nothing.
"That is correct."
Azuma spoke just as bluntly, avoiding a show of emotion, although he was wrought with it at the moment.
"Then you were in the right, and regardless of whether I chose to defend my life, you didn't deserve to die out there."
A moment passed between the two, not even wind making a sound. Then, Shiro spoke once again, her tone evasively complimentary, as if she was unfamiliar with the words she was speaking.
"You are odd. For a Shinobi, I mean. I would expect such behavior from a Samurai but-"
Azuma twitched ever-so slightly, before cocking his head in confusion, not quite experienced enough with people to maintain his cool after hearing such a blatantly backhanded compliment.
"Odd? Which Ninja exactly do you surround yourself with, if they aren't so much as respectful of a person's motives? It isn't exactly like we do this because we chose to; we were either born into it or forced there. Nobody wants to be bought and sold as a weapon, trust me."
For the first time in their brief encounter, something odd happened. Shiro frowned, and spoke in a manner which wasn't quite stalwart. She had emotions, obviously, but Azuma had yet to see them until this moment. And boy, were they scary.
"My people were killed by Shinobi. Both here, centuries ago, and where I am from, far to the North. Our ways are looked down upon; you have no right to judge my expectations of you! What else should I have expected upon seeing somebody parading about in a great stone cube where many of my family's bones had once been?!"
Well. That was rather surprising. Finally, Azuma turned to face the girl again, allowing the eye contact to be sustained this time. With that, he just stared for a moment, losing himself in thought. She wasn't wrong. It wasn't as if he'd known what had happened to her people in particular, but at the same time, he did know that many Shinobi looked down upon Samurai, regardless of their clan or social status. It was only reasonable that this girl had her reservations towards him.
Am I really going to say it again? Oh well.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped. I suppose I just have a different view of Shinobi, being one myself. That said, I know more than a few people who might fall into your idea of a Ninja."
Images of Sin and Alucard came to mind. They truly had forsaken their paths as people for one of bloodshed and power. To be honest, Azuma preferred having friends.
And maybe he could come out of this whole mess with a new one if he played his cards right.
Shiro spoke next, replying in a more reserved tone of her own this time, although not quite retreating to her once monotone tendencies from earlier in the exchange.
"I too apologize. My original statement was meant as something of a compliment, although I see why it might incite such a reaction."
Azuma raised an eyebrow at the girl's continued usage of such formal language. This time, he allowed some of his natural curiosity to seep into his words.
"Do you always speak like that? I've never met a girl who's as polite as you, especially to somebody they were trying to kill just a few hours earlier."
Through the darkness, Azuma could make out the faintest coloration on Shiro's cheeks. He allowed those previously suppressed teenage impulses to loosen up a little at that sight, although he was more pleasantly surprised than anything.
She's actually pretty cute when she isn't pointing a sword at me.
Furthermore, when the girl spoke this time, she actually sounded a bit flustered before attempting to turn the question around on him. Who knew!
"I-... I take pride in being well spoken, Uchiha-San. Why do you ask? Does it bother you?"
Azuma stifled a laugh at that statement before shaking his head, his own facial features relaxing a bit.
"I never said it bothered me. I was just wondering why. Nothing wrong with speaking well though; I'm not quite as articulate as I'd like to think am, and ****, god knows I'm not the cleanest talker."
Shiro's eyes actually widened at the profanity, clearly affecting her enough to the point where she actually turned away, moving her body to face the other way entirely before speaking in a vaguely offended tone.
"I do not appreciate your language, Uchiha-San."
The green haired boy shrugged, although he found the brief reprieve from what was slowly turning into the world's most awkward interrogation was soon interrupted by a very feminine squeak coming from his left. He quickly shot up to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain that would have otherwise made him wince, having only stood up due to instinct. Azuma then moved to speak, wondering what had elicited such a reaction.
"What's wrong?"
After a second of silence, Shiro spoke, still refusing to turn around and now sounding oddly violated.
"My cloak! Where has it gone?"
Azuma sighed and put a hand to his brow. That was what she was worried about? For ****'s sake, he would never get used to situations like these. It wasn't exactly made any better by the fact that he was a teenager who had thought about exactly what Shiro was thinking about at this very moment, if only in the deeper, less innocent recesses of his mind.
"...I cut it open so I could stitch you up. What did you THINK I'd done with it?"
Immediately, the girl looked like a dear caught in headlights. Even the one cheek Azuma could see was bright red, and it was the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Soon after, Shiro appeared to attempt to straighten herself, clearly disappointed with her own show of vulnerability.
"O-Oh. Of course you did, Uchiha-San. What else would it have been?"
Azuma simply shook his head before sliding back down against the wall, fully content to allow his wound to keep healing without any further irritation. It was only after several minutes of silence that either one of them spoke.
"I have something to say."
Azuma glanced up from his position on the ground to the source of the soft sound; a now turned-around Shiro. He raised an eyebrow for a moment before speaking his own peace, more confused-sounding than anything.
"You don't need my permission to speak; go ahead."
Shiro nodded, and then seemed to take a moment to work up the courage to say whatever it was she wanted to say. Then, it came out with a practiced smoothness that clearly came from that well-spoken background of hers.
"Thank you for saving my life. I did not deserve this kindness."
Azuma looked at the girl for a second before replying in a resigned tone, rather fed up with Shiro's self-deprecation.
"Stop that. You're as deserving of kindness as any other human; I had hurt you in my own defense and figured I'd try my damndest to make sure I didn't have blood on my hands from someone I hadn't been forced to battle via a contract or something. It was selfish of me. That... and I can understand how painful losing family can be. I've had my fair share of those experiences. People do things out of rage, or out of honor, or out of pride, but regardless of their motive, if it comes from some form of love, I can't fault them for it."
Shiro opened her mouth as if to speak then closed it, instead choosing to process the boy's words. After a moment, she returned to speaking, with a renewed sense of kindness to her words. It was a small gesture, but Azuma did honestly appreciate it.
"I am...glad to know that I am not the only one, but at the same time, do know how awful that must sound to your ears. I hope you understand the meaning of my words. You are a good man; I am lucky to have fallen against somebody like you."
At that, Azuma couldn't help but smile and nod.
"I do understand. No offense taken, Shir-... Tsukimiya-San."
Again, Shiro blushed at his words, specifically when he nearly used her first name. Then, after a moment, the girl appeared to correct him.
"Shiro is fine, Uchiha-San."
Azuma looked at the girl for a moment before acknowledging her statement with a reply of his own.
"Then you can call me Azuma."
The redhead's face didn't change at all upon hearing this, although Azuma could tell that inside, the gesture was at least somewhat confusing to her.
"...Alright, Azuma-San."
He snorted. Maybe eventually he'd get her to drop the honorific. Wait, hold on.
Eventually?
Where exactly WAS she going to go after this was all said and done? Did she still hold a grudge? Did she have any destination in mind? There were so many questions he hadn't had answered yet, but still, one statement rang out in his mind. A suggestion more than anything, but still, a statement. It only took Azuma a few seconds to decide what he was going to say after taking note of it. Perhaps this meeting had been for the better.
"I don't have any hatred for you, you know. You aren't my enemy as far as I'm concerned. As such... I'm inclined to offer you a place here."
Shiro's eyes widened at that statement, unsure of what to say as the green-haired boy gestured to the area around him.
"It isn't much, but I could use another pair of hands around. I totally get it if you were going somewhere, obviously. I just... I would feel wrong not at least allowing you to stay somewhere which truly belongs to your family, especially after doing what I've done to it."
Yet again, silence fell upon the unlikely duo. Only after over a minute by his count did the girl in question speak again, and by all rights, her answer surprised him.
"I... would like that."
Azuma avoided making any grand gestures at the moment, but nodded with a soft smile on his face before leaning back and relaxing his muscles.
"Alright. Rest now. We can talk more tomorrow."
Shiro herself also managed a nod then closing her eyes, although not without one last farewell for the evening.
"Right. Goodnight, Azuma-San."
The Uchiha once again glanced up at the quickly fading form of the girl he'd so oddly found himself sitting next to before replying about as simply as possible, lacking any further words for the moment.
"Goodnight, Shiro."
They were both sound asleep within minutes.
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It was a full week before both of the two young, solitary warriors were healed enough to resume any significant degree of mobility. Surprisingly, there was little further opportunity across that week for Azuma to interact with Shiro. No, he'd spent most of his time cleaning his wound, cleaning her wounds, and finding food for them both to eat. It was only on that seventh day, in the early hours of the morning, when Shiro finally was well enough to walk about for long periods of time, that she asked him anything meaningful.
"So, why do you hunt all of your food, Azuma-San?"
It wasn't that the question was odd, just that it came out of nowhere. Azuma turned his head back in the girl's direction prior to responding from his position near a small table-like platform he'd been using to draw out ideas for a running water system.
"Oh? I don't know how else I'd get it."
Shiro looked confused, seeming muddled by the green-haired boy's naivety.
"You are aware that you could grow food, correct?"
Azuma froze in his tracks. How the HELL hadn't he thought of that. For somebody who prided himself upon his intellectual faculties, that had been a pretty idiotic possibility to overlook. Thus, despite the tint of embarrassed red coating his cheeks at this revelation, the Uchiha did his best to shrug it off.
"I guess I never really thought about that. It's a good idea though; works in conjunction with my idea for running water."
The girl furrowed her brow even further, continuing her little prodding campaign directed towards Azuma's rather lacking self-management skills, and rightfully so. This time, she spoke with a more advising tone, although her words could have come across as intentionally rude to anybody who hadn't known her for a little while.
"That is odd, for somebody who lives by themselves in the middle of the desert. You are smart, but clearly you are still lacking in maturity, Azuma-San."
Azuma shot Shiro an indignant look from his position at the table and simply shrugged prior to brushing the girl's little assault off with a comeback of his own, spoken in a vaguely sarcastic tone. He'd found, over the past few days, that sarcasm was a form of humor that she responded to rather well.
"This, coming from the girl wearing said immature boy's T-shirt and sweatpants? I'm so hurt, Shiro."
Upon hearing his words, Shiro huffed about for a moment and pulled up the blanket Azuma had provided for her up closer to her face, covering the simple white shirt that she had on. It wasn't her fault that she hadn't been travelling with any other clothing. It was hot in the desert, for damned sake! Thus, she spoke in a resigned if flustered tone of voice, clearly annoyed at having this little issue pointed out.
"Shut up."
Azuma raised his eyebrows at that, even taking the opportunity to further poke fun at the girl.
"That's the first time I've ever heard you use anything remotely resembling an insult, Shiro. I must be doing a good job getting close to you.
As if she hadn't been flustered enough, Shiro nonchalantly tossed the blanket back onto her bed and waltzed over to the table, sitting down with all the theatricality of a three-year-old throwing a tantrum. For somebody so composed much of the time, she was a very sensitive person. That, or just a little socially deprived.
Or maybe both? Who knows.
Upon sitting down, the girl appeared to observe Azuma's hand-drawn designs as he went over them, trying to reckon the geography of his new environment with the potential for a pipe system. After a few minutes of glaring downwards, Shiro pointed her finger towards one of the entrances of the compound drawn out on the piece of construction paper, describing an issue that Azuma hadn't really thought of.
"Those pipes might be submerged in this design, but would they not disturb the local giant scorpions? That would be a poor decision, Azuma-San. They are quite fearsome."
Azuma gave Shiro an odd look before rolling his eyes in disbelief, something that the samurai did not appreciate.
"You're what, fourteen? And you still believe in myths like that? I've lived here for a good little while now and I've never once seen even one of them. Shiro, for somebody who prides herself on her maturity and composure, you're a tad gullible."
Immediately, the girl snapped back at him, intent to correct the few smaller, and single larger, mistakes that he had made when talking to her. There was no real malice in her voice, but she was certainly a little bit annoyed.
"For one, I am fifteen years old, Azuma-San; and for your information, I turn sixteen in only a few weeks. Furthermore, I assure you that the myths surrounding the Bone Fields' infamous giant scorpions are very true. All Tsukimiya-style Kenjutsu is derived from observing the scorpions of this desert."
Azuma looked at the girl for a moment once again, pondering upon her answer. She certainly seemed dedicated to her truth; and frankly, he wasn't really willing to doubt that the girl's clan had some natural source for their style of swordplay. So, instead of pushing the issue, he resorted to a classic tactic. That was, of course, changing the subject. With a newborn smile and a lighter tone of voice, he replied to Shiro, if indirectly.
"That's funny. I'm fifteen as well, and I'm turning sixteen in a few weeks as well. When's your birthday?"
Worth asking, at least. If I'm living with her, I should get to know her better.
After staring at Azuma with a clearly forced indignation for a second, Shiro replied simply, content with the knowledge that, in her mind, she had one that brief little clash in wildlife knowledge.
"I was born the 30th of December."
Azuma's eyes widened, and then he broke down laughing. Shiro again took on that annoyed tone of voice, unsure what to make of the green-haired teenager laughing over his half-baked underground pipe plans.
"What is it that is so funny, Azuma-San!"
After a minute spent recovering and clutching at his chest, the Uchiha composed himself enough to respond to the girl, completely lacking in any negative emotion as he did so. Talking with her was a strangely enjoyable experience for him, it seemed; especially for somebody who wasn't very talkative.
"N-nothing... it's just a crazy coincidence. What're the odds that we have the same birthday?"
It was Shiro's turn to have her eyes widen, unsure what to make of this development. Then, after a brief moment of silence, she spoke again, this time with a previously unheard mildly mischievous intent in her voice.
"I believe the odds are one in three-hundred-sixty-five, Azuma-san."
Was that an attempt at a joke? Jesus, we have work to do.
The last of his laughter having tapered off already, the green-haired teenager gave his companion a deadpan glare, clearly unimpressed with her attempt at humor.
"Shiro, it was rhetorical."
The girl immediately deflated at her joke's failure, still clearly adjusting to residing with such a carefree person. She really was just that socially inept; it wasn't an act, was it? Azuma looked at her for a second, then decided to cheer her up with something he'd been planning to do anyway. Hopefully, the girl didn't mind the idea of activity this soon after her recovery.
"Alright. Chin up, you have plenty of time to learn how to land jokes, even if I'm not sure why you don't know how to already. Right now, I think we should head into the town on the outskirts of the desert. We can get you some clothes which you actually want, and I actually buy the things I need to get this water system working. The only other thing I can think of is some more medicals supplies... maybe a generator and some appliances. Hell, maybe I'll pick up some seeds, see if you can help me plant some food for some point in the future. It isn't like I have anything else to do with my money. Does that sound good?"
Rather quickly, the young samurai in question perked up at the notion of doing something other than lazing about. Nodding her head with a freneticism that remained one of the few indicators she wasn't an 80-year old grandmother, Shiro spoke with an enthusiastic, if somewhat restrained tone.
"That sounds like a good idea, Azuma-San. But I have a question."
Azuma motioned for the girl to go on with his right hand.
"What is a generator?"
That hand immediately planted itself on his face. Like he'd said, they had a lot of work to do.
--------------------------------------------------
Picking up the generator had been simple enough. Azuma was familiar with the town at the borders of the Bone Fields and with the exception of some "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" from his red-headed companion at the sight of some of the more modern technology in the store, it had all been a very smooth experience. Then, with a quick visit to the Post Office, he got the generator sealed in a storage scroll, and that was that.
After that, the duo were simply walking about town, considering getting a late lunch. Shiro had even pointed out that there was a tea shop in town and to quote her directly, "Tea is the preferred drink of a fine lady."
Azuma chuckled at the statement and rebuffed it with a similarly gendered statement; "Glad I've got a dick then."
The resulting embarrassed blush on his new ally's face had been both oddly cute and spectacular to witness. At that point, she'd just tried her best to ignore the other teenager and had directed them into a clothing store where she soon grabbed a few simple, modest outfits consisting of simple shirts and shorts for the most part, something Azuma encouraged as an option over a traditional Kimono. Alas, while the green-haired Uchiha waited for the girl to finish purchasing her goods, he thought about the comical nature of the earlier events that had transpired.
For such a stiff girl, she's pretty funny.
Then, Azuma was taken out of his head by a familiar voice.
"All done, Azuma-San."
The boy nodded at Shiro and then began to walk back towards the road which led out of town when he saw something out of the corner of his eye which troubled him. With his left hand at his side, he gestured for the girl to walk up alongside him, doing so without ceasing his movement. As soon as she was within earshot, Azuma spoke quietly, sure to not draw attention or act any differently.
"...We're being tailed."
Shiro tried her best to hide her widened eyes, although she quickly recovered and replied in an equally quiet and serious tone of voice, making sure to keep pace as to not give away the illusion.
"Why do you say that?"
Azuma characteristically cracked his neck to the right, playing the behavior off as natural. Of course, Shiro knew otherwise and quickly allowed her eyes to trail over to the right of the boy for a mere moment. As she did this, she could just make out a silhouette standing in the shadowed alley between two of the street's many buildings; this was only possible because she saw the faintest glint of a Hitai-Ite on the man's forehead. Quickly replying to her ally, she confirmed his suspicion.
"I see him. Who do you think he is?"
Azuma kept his eyes trained forwards but picked up the pace a tad, sure that the figure had caught on to the fact that he'd been noticed at this point.
"I have an inkling, but they're certainly no friend of mine. Now listen, we're going to run as soon as we get to the desert, you understand?"
More than an inkling, but I'd like to hope it isn't him...
The redhead gave him a subtle nod and prepared to move, although not sure how fast she could go without risking opening her still freshly healed wounds. Then, as they'd planned, the duo began to sprint as soon as they hit the first grain of unpaved land. Immediately, Shiro winced in pain, but she silenced any sound that would have come out of her mouth out of fear of alerting Azuma. As for the Uchiha, he waited nearly a minute before glancing behind them to check if they were still being followed. Of course, as he expected, a black speck appeared to be getting closer in the distance. Azuma turned his head to his female companion then spoke, this time not bothering with being quiet.
"Shiro, he's on our heels; let's speed up."
That was a ballsy assumption to make, but at that point, Azuma had briefly forgotten about the wounds he'd left on the girl's body, his mind currently occupied with escaping their pursuer. Immediately, Shiro nodded and picked up the pace alongside the Uchiha, but quickly stumbled and grunted in pain. Azuma slid to a stop and knelt down by his clearly impeded ally.
"Hey. What's wrong? Are you hurt?"
Shiro looked away, apparently more ashamed then anything to be stopping them from making their escape. It took a few seconds before she replied, admitting what the issue was.
"...The cuts, while healed, appear to still be very sensitive. I worry that I will reopen them even at a surface level if I go any faster. I am incredibly sorry for the inconvenience, Azuma-San."
Azuma took a moment to consider what the girl was saying before smiling and putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, only to then pass her the bag containing the scroll with the generator sealed inside of it. Shiro glanced up at him in confusion.
"We need to escape this guy, but you need a longer head start. Run ahead, I'll bump heads with him for a minute then shake him off of our trail. Keep heading straight for fifteen minutes, but when you see the first rock pillar, take a hard right. Eventually you'll get back to the compound."
Shiro opened her mouth to protest, but her words died on her tongue, unsure how to process such kindness from somebody she'd been fighting with only a few days ago, much less somebody who she was actively inconveniencing. Instead, she changed her choice of words, standing up as she did so.
"Right. ...Be safe, Azuma-San."
Azuma's eyebrows raised at the rather sensitive statement, but he quickly gave the girl a characteristic shrug of his shoulders before beckoning her on her way.
"Will do, but don't worry about me, Shiro. This guy's no problem for me, I promise. I'm pretty much certain I know who it is now."
Instead of replying, the girl then nodded, starting to run off at her former, slightly slower pace with the bag in hand. Azuma then glanced up to see the speck still approaching, now much closer, probably a minute away at most. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow as he thought about his previous words.
That may have been a little white lie, Shiro. This fucker is a tough customer, I'll be honest... but as of our last meeting, I was still stronger.
Azuma again looked at the speck, which was now much more clearly the shape of a moving person, wearing a traditional Jonin vest and flak jacket, a stark contrast to his own much more relaxed choice of clothing. At this point, he was certain who their pursuer was; an old comrade, or rather, a colleague. The man was about 15 seconds away from his position at this point; as such, the Uchiha rose up from his position on the ground, taking a relaxed but aware stance. With those fifteen seconds, he also ran his hands through a few handseals and forced his chakra through his feet and into the ground, where he created a shadow clone.
(Doton Ninjutsu - Jirai Kage Bunshin) | Earth Release Ninjutsu - Landmine Shadow Clone
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: First, using Doton chakra, the user molds a space approximately a foot underground that is in the exact shape of their body and whatever it is wearing at the time. The user then funnels non-elemental chakra downwards into the ground, and produces a shadow clone in the space they just made. When the opponent is within range of this spot (2 meters or so), the clone will burst out of the ground and perform a surprise attack, usually a freeform taijutsu or kenjutsu attack of some kind. This clone can also use a specific technique of some kind, but doing so obviously costs the move slot that it normally would.
Notes:
-This jutsu requires two hand seals, one for the earth component and one for the shadow clone.
-Follows the same rules as all clone techniques (clone counts towards maximum number of clone uses per battle).
-Clone has the properties of a normal shadow clone.
-Takes up two move slots.
-Can only be used once per battle.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: A
Range: Short
Chakra: 30
Damage: N/A
Description: First, using Doton chakra, the user molds a space approximately a foot underground that is in the exact shape of their body and whatever it is wearing at the time. The user then funnels non-elemental chakra downwards into the ground, and produces a shadow clone in the space they just made. When the opponent is within range of this spot (2 meters or so), the clone will burst out of the ground and perform a surprise attack, usually a freeform taijutsu or kenjutsu attack of some kind. This clone can also use a specific technique of some kind, but doing so obviously costs the move slot that it normally would.
Notes:
-This jutsu requires two hand seals, one for the earth component and one for the shadow clone.
-Follows the same rules as all clone techniques (clone counts towards maximum number of clone uses per battle).
-Clone has the properties of a normal shadow clone.
-Takes up two move slots.
-Can only be used once per battle.
Insurance for later.
Soon after, his opponent-to-be arrived with one of his characteristic smirks pasted to his face. The man was a bit taller than Azuma, and had dark brown hair, cut short and parted down the center. At both of his sides were abnormally long rectangular pouches, and on his back was a Wakizashi. As the green haired Shinobi had expected, the ice was broken rather quickly upon the man's arrival.
"How ya' doin, Azuma-chii? Been a long while, ain't it?"
The Uchiha scoffed at the man's choice of nickname before replying with a rather irritated tone of voice.
"Oh **** off, Segamu, calling me 'little' doesn't work when you're only a couple of years older than me. Anyway, I saw you tailing me, so cut to the chase. What do you want?"
The older shinobi cracked his neck as he gave his response, moving forward slowly and reaching into one of his pouches before drawing out a kunai with a unique seal inscribed on it. Azuma let his eyes fall to the knife for a second to try and make out what it said to no avail, instead choosing to listen to his pursuer's reasoning.
"Nah, you'll always be the little kid you used to be to me. And if I'm being honest, I'm not after you. I'm still working for the Daimyo up a few hundred miles south, but this mission has nothing to with you, so if you don't mind letting me pass, that'd be great. If you did that, I'm sure I could put in a good word and get you moved out of whatever hole you live in now."
Azuma shook his head absentmindedly as he too walked forward, his head falling to Segamu's feet for a moment.
"That's bullshit; no way you aren't here to kill me. I know that old man Minamoto's wanted me offed since I left his forces, and there's sure as hell no way that you'd put in a good word for me."
Segamu shrugged, his smirk not leaving his face as he continued approaching the younger ninja. Despite this, what was of most interest to Azuma was, again, his reply.
"No, no, I mean it, you aren't the target of my mission. I won't lie and say I wasn't tailing you though. Am I really that untrustworthy to you? You wound me, brother."
That... that fucking ASSHOLE!
Azuma raised his head in response to the familial term, his eyes a piercing red with three tomoe swimming around each of his pupils. He stopped dead in his tracks at that moment, his face now ripe with an unusual anger for the traditionally emotionally absent boy.
"You lost the right to call me that a long time ago, you scum. Oh, and let's see why I don't trust you! Maybe that time you left Kaya to die on one of our missions, or that time you tried to poison me at family dinner to 'thin out the competition'? Or wait- no, even better; how about the time you killed Riku-Ototo?! Yeah, I think that's the one."
( Doujutsu: Sharingan ) Eye Technique: Copy Wheel Eye
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
Type: Supplementary
Rank: C - A Rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 15 - 30 ( -5 per turn for 1T and 2T, 10 per turn to keep active for 3T )
Damage: N/A
Description:
One of the Three Great Dōjutsu (San Daidōjutsu), the Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Unlike the other Dōjutsu, not all members of the Uchiha Clan possess the Sharingan. This great Dōjutsu seems to awaken only on exceptional Uchiha members and only in times of great stress. Once awaken, the pupil turns red and a single tomoe (巴) seal appears around the center pupil. As the user masters and evolves their eyes, the tomoe (巴) seals increase, topping 3 per eye. The main ability of the Sharingan, like any other Dōjutsu, is to enable the user to see the flow of chakra. This ability is further improved as the Sharingan gives color to chakra, enabling the user to differentiate chakras from different people or from different sources. Although the user can see chakra through matter, he cannot see beyond dense matter or in long distances. Coupled with the ability to see chakra, Sharingan users gain acess to an incredible clarity of perception that enables them to read insanely fast movements or minor details, enabling them the ability to foresee in an easier way, traps, incoming attacks, etc. This clarity of perception is so great that a Sharingan user can sometimes start performing a counter to an attack that is still being performed, enabling the counter to be launched only a split a second after the attack. This clarity of perception leaves Sharingan users able to track high speed movement easily as well as to read through handseals. This last ability enables them to learn techniques much faster and sometimes copy them directly from the enemy, as long as the user has the necessary chakra affinities and requirements to perform it. Finally, the Sharingan is often linked to Genjutsu and mind-manipulating illusions, mostly because the user can, mostly through Eye Contact, directly and precisely use his chakra to manipulate the enemy's chakra flow. In return, the users clarity of perception gives him the ability to more easily decipher visual illusions cast upon him and see past them. The Sharingan has a great cost to the user though. The chakra consumption disables its use for long periods of time and, even when the user grows stronger, it's still hard to keep it active for long periods of time.
Note: The user, if he hasn't gained full mastery over his Sharingan, will need to spend a move to activate it, although as long as he has chakra and enough stamina he'll be able to keep it active until the end of the match. If the user is Sannin Rank or above and has gained his 3 Tomoe Sharingan and held it for one month, he becomes able to passively activate it, meaning he'll no longer spend a move of his 3 per turn.
Note: To avoid direct Eye Contact and be able to focus only on the body movement below the chin, the opponent needs to have mastered Taijutsu to possess the necessary skill
Note: C rank usage is for 1T Sharingan, B rank usage is reserved for 2T Sharingan. A Rank usage is reserved for 3T Sharingan.
Note: Predicting the nature of a technique or what it exactly is requires the user to either know the technique or that its a cannon technique.
Note: Danzo and Kakashi bios activate the Sharingan by removing the covers in their respective eyes and suffer a +10 chakra consumption per turn penalty
Note: The user is bound by the abilities and limits of the stage of sharingan he possesses, stated in the rules of the KG.
Segamu laughed at the younger boy's recalling of events long passed, taking up a combat stance as he did so.
"Oh little brother, you know me too well, but don't act like you actually care about any of that. You've killed in cold blood more than I have, and they weren't even your real family. They didn't love you, so don't pretend you loved them. Anyway, even if I am lying, I don't see why it should matter."
At that point Azuma had heard enough. Launching himself forwards, he struck out with right handed punch aimed at his opponent's jaw. Segamu quickly responded by moving his left arm up and directing the punch to the side while then following up with a right handed punch of his own which was on a course for home. Of course, with his Sharingan, Azuma had already begun a counter following his first attack's failure. By ducking inwards and to the right of his opponent, he moved underneath the older boy's attack. From this position, he then sprung up and delivered a powerful left handed uppercut to the base of Segamu's jaw, causing him to stumble back a few feet. The green haired boy shook his fist right after the impact, loosening up the wrist.
Bite on that, you prick.
(Appākatto) Uppercut
Rank: C
Type: Offensive
Range: Short
Chakra cost: N/A
Damage points: 30
Description: The user strikes the enemy with a powerful rising uppercut, sending him hurling backwards.
Rank: C
Type: Offensive
Range: Short
Chakra cost: N/A
Damage points: 30
Description: The user strikes the enemy with a powerful rising uppercut, sending him hurling backwards.
Segamu quickly spit out a bit of blood which had come from the roof of his mouth before letting his face return to that smirk from earlier, although it appeared a good bit more sinister now.
"Right; I forgot about your special little eyes. Tell me, does it feel good having something to remember mommy and daddy by?"
Azuma grit his teeth in response to the goading, instead allowing his rage to stay in check for the moment. After a few seconds of silence, this paid off. His opponent moved in first this time, leading with a left-handed swipe of his tagged kunai aimed directly to slash Azuma's throat. Rolling his eyes, the boy simply backed up, his eyes easily predicting the trajectory of the oncoming swing. Despite this though, Segamu's grin remained constant, and by the time it was revealed why, the Uchiha didn't have time to react properly.
Ducking backwards wildly as if he was playing a game of limbo, Azuma barely avoided the blade of fire which erupted out from the end of the kunai in response to a simple hand gesture made by his opponent. Hell, it even cut into his forehead, searing a few of his bangs off and leaving a slight cut in the process. The sealing tag on the knife had vanished as a result of this, leaving the kunai with what looked like a permanent extension to its length.
Fuinjutsu? That's new. Explains why I couldn't see it coming too. Either way, my eyes can do more than just see chakra, and Segamu doesn't know that.
Azuma thus backed up a few more feet to be certain that he was out of the now much extended range of Segamu's flaming blade. However, instead of humoring the man with a question about how he'd come up with the technique, he glanced upwards and let his eyes meet with his opponents, casting a quick genjutsu which gave the illusion that Azuma had just drawn the sword from his side, when in reality, he was still barehanded.
( Doujutsu: Genjutsu Sharingan ) - Eye Technique: Copy Wheel Eye Illusion
Type: Supplementary
Rank: B
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra cost: 20
Damage points: N/A
Description: This technique is simply the use of generic genjutsu used by members of the Uchiha clan. By simply having their opponents look into their eyes, the Uchiha can lock the user within a genjutsu of their choosing.
Note: Can only be used with 3 tomoe sharingan
Type: Supplementary
Rank: B
Range: Short - Mid
Chakra cost: 20
Damage points: N/A
Description: This technique is simply the use of generic genjutsu used by members of the Uchiha clan. By simply having their opponents look into their eyes, the Uchiha can lock the user within a genjutsu of their choosing.
Note: Can only be used with 3 tomoe sharingan
So, when Azuma moved forwards with a left handed hook on the way to making friends with his adoptive sibling's face, it looked as if he was rushing the man with a right-moving sword slash. To the Uchiha's eyes, it just looked like his enemy had developed some sort of ocular disability as he swung his sword to block his brother's supposed sword attack. Of course, in reality he was swinging at nothing, which made it more than a little funny. Of course even as the older boy's strike missed wildly, the green-haired boy couldn't help but grow a slight smirk of his own as his fist made impact with the man's face.
Immediately snapped out of the Genjutsu by the pain but lacking in the awareness necessary to respond to Azuma's follow up, Segamu soon found himself pushed further backwards with yet another punch, this time one to the left side of his face from the other boy's right hand. This was again followed up with a spinning left legged back kick to the chest, summarily knocking the man onto his ass. Azuma let his smirk grow a tad at the sight of his ex-sibling on the ground, even letting a snarky word or two slip out.
"For the record Segamu, Otousan always said that I was the better of us two at Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, so I don't really care about your little fire-sword. Now, are you going to tell me why you're following me, or n-"
Azuma was suddenly interrupted by a blunt column of erupting from the ground right in front of him and slamming into his chin with the force of a very hard punch, knocking him to the ground much like his now recovering enemy. Soon after he'd gotten back up onto his feet, Segamu himself began to speak in a similarly patronizing manner to his opponent.
"Azuma-chii, shut up will you? Otousan this, Ototo that, who the hell cares?! I've moved on from then and so should you. Did you really think I didn't know the Sharingan could cast Genjutsu? I have sources you don't know about, for the record."
Azuma, quite obviously not concerned with his adoptive relative's taunting, was far more confused by how he hadn't seen this attack coming. As if the older boy could read his mind, Segamu offered an answer by raising his palms, revealing a pair of characters tattooed in black ink on each of them.
"Chakra concealing seals, Azuma-chii. Perfect for dealing with silly boys who pretend their eyes are more useful than mine. See, I came prepared."
Azuma pushed himself back to his feet after a brief moment stumbling about, then proceeded to back up a few more feet to distance himself from his adversary, the shock evident in his eyes as he fumbled through words for a reply.
"W-what? When... when did you get this good at sealing? How did you-"
Segamu glanced to his right hand and raised a pair of fingers. When he spoke, it appeared that the man actually allowed a little bit of legitimate, uncovered malice enter into his voice.
"Two or so years ago? This specific technique, I mean; I can do far more than that, but it's not like you'd know that since you had run away by then. You may have outshined me when we were little kids, Azuma-chii, but now, I promise you that there's no contest between us two."
Azuma hardened his stance at this point, ready to pounce yet again, but he couldn't help but realize that it was very, very possible that his adoptive brother was right about being stronger.
He couldn't even keep up when we were kids... how much stronger is he now? Well, I still think I can outmatch him in Kenjutsu and Taijutsu, but even then, I'll need to watch out for those seals.
Again, as if he could read his mind, Segamu shook his head.
"Azuma-chii, I know you expect me to still fall behind you in a few places; I mean look at your hands."
Upon glancing downwards, the green-haired boy saw that both of his hands had fallen to the handle of his Katana and were preparing to draw it. Furthermore, those hands were actually shaking. Why was he shaking! Why was this bastard rattling him so much?! Apparently, Segamu wasn't done talking though, so Azuma rose his head once again to listen to what the man had to say.
"Anyway; I assure you, you aren't going to win at close range either. Watch this."
With that stated, Segamu used his open hand to make a one-handed handseal, the seal of confrontation. Suddenly, two bands around both of his ankles began to glow, and then slipped off of his legs with a sickening thump. The older shinobi glanced up with yet another smirk, Azuma's own mouth making a terrified 'o'.
"You can't keep up anymore, Azuma-chii."
Within seconds, Segamu vanished from view and plowed into the younger boy with a roundhouse kick to the stomach. Which leg it came from was frankly a mystery to Azuma, who was now flying backwards through the air while stuck in a loop of mental confusion at the thought of being smacked around so easily.
How fast IS he!? I could barely even see that with my Sharingan.
Then, as if in time with his confusion, Segamu appeared alongside the boy as he coursed through the air, only to try and deliver a right armed elbow strike to send Azuma into the ground followed up with a slash of his flaming blade. It took all the green-haired teen could do just to spin his body around so as to avoid the elbow strike, landing in the sand on all fours and sliding back a few meters. As soon as he landed, he then thrust his right palm forwards to where his brother stood, the hand crackling with Raiton-transformed chakra. From the hand erupted a tremendous blast of lightning, much more akin to a laser beam than a bolt of lightning.
(Raiton: Chidori Raimei) - Lightning Style: 1000 Birds Thunderstorm
Type: Offensive
Rank: S
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 40
Damage: 80
Descripton: The user will channel lightning chakra into his hand, covering it with a massive chidori. The user will then point his palm forwards, unleashing that chakra, creating a massive 120º blast of lightning that spreads from his hand, outwards and forward towards the enemy.
Type: Offensive
Rank: S
Range: Short-Mid
Chakra: 40
Damage: 80
Descripton: The user will channel lightning chakra into his hand, covering it with a massive chidori. The user will then point his palm forwards, unleashing that chakra, creating a massive 120º blast of lightning that spreads from his hand, outwards and forward towards the enemy.
C'mon, HIT him!
Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be in the cards for Azuma, because before the blast had even faded he felt a disturbance in the wind next to him and the left side of his body was quickly met with a searing, burning pain. Despite pushing himself to the right in time to avoid a completely lethal strike, it was still tremendously painful and the boy couldn't help but let out a mighty scream upon being cut. His left hand immediately went to the wound to check for blood, but surprisingly, there was none; the wound had been cauterized upon its creation.
Tch'. At least there's ONE bright side to all of this garbage.
Despite this, the wound was no less hindering than it usually would be, something Segamu seemed all to aware off. Immediately upon seeing the state of his adopted sibling, the older man deactivated the seal on the kunai, causing the flaming blade to putter out. Azuma looked on in confusion at this action, unsure what to make of it. Of course, as he'd tended to, his enemy had an answer to the boy's confusion.
"Y'know, I was looking forward to trying that little technique out some more, but I don't think I need it to deal with you if I'm being honest. If strength was measured a mountain, you'd be one of these sand dunes and I'd be one of the mountains back up in the east, sorta like where that bitch of yours is from, y'know? You don't have a chance, Azuma-chii. Just let me by."
Azuma's mouth dropped at the mention of "that bitch".
Wait, what!? Shiro? Why does he know wher- OH. Oh ****.
After blinking a few times at that statement, Azuma solidified his features and gave Segamu a stern reply, now having latched on to his motive for being here.
"Hold on... what do you want with Shiro? She was just coming back to her clan's lands, that's all."
Segamu appeared to roll his eyes at this statement, explaining his reasoning in a very purposely patronizing tone, sheathing the kunai from earlier as he did so.
"Azuma-chii, Minamoto-jiisan is one of the last descendants of the clan that won whatever war went on in this shithole hundreds of years ago. As soon as he got wind a Tsukimiya was in these parts, he wanted her dead on the spot. I told you I wasn't here to kill you, didn't I? Now again, let me move on and let's just stop all of this pointless shit, yeah'?"
Azuma's eyes widened, but even more shockingly, he actually thought about what his brother was saying. His brain raced through the implications of that last statement, unsure how to deal with them for the moment.
He doesn't want me dead? He's here to kill Shiro? But... what has she done?
And that was what did it for him; the answer was nothing. Shiro had done nothing. It wasn't as if he knew the girl incredibly well just yet, hell, they'd been at each other's throats just a week ago. But he had pledged to give her a home, and Azuma would be lying if he said that he wasn't growing very fond of her. So yeah; he wasn't going to budge.
"Sorry, Segamu. It isn't gonna happen."
The older shinobi let out an exaggerated sigh after hearing those words, making a show of how disappointed he was, although it was otherwise very obvious that he was going to enjoy beating the tar out of his adoptive sibling.
"Oh Azuma-chii. You're really on about all of that sentimental crap, aintcha! Well the-"
He was, of course, interrupted by a flying right legged roundhouse kick to the left side of his face. While he quickly recovered and managed to dodge Azuma's follow up, the irritation on Segamu's face was clear. That alone indicated something to the Uchiha, earning a slightly more cheerful outlook on the battle ahead.
He may be way stronger than me and a hell of a lot faster than me, but he's no sensory type. I can use that; or rather, I NEED to.
Clearly, Segamu was done with the sarcastic pleasantries. Theoretically speaking, there was nothing wrong with striking somebody midway through discourse, but of course, he would have claimed to have been a gentleman of honor. A false claim, to be sure, but still, he had deluded himself into being pissed. As such, the man ran through several handseals, and soon inahled. He was getting cocky; Azuma could clearly see what was coming, and as such, raised his hands and coated them with Suiton chakra in preparation for the blatant Katon attack coming next.
(Sution: Shimetta Te) | Water Release: Damp Hands
Type: Defensive/Supplementary
Rank: B
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A
Description: Damp Hands is a technique that was designed to be a split-second measure for protecting against fast moving, weaker chakra-based attacks. By focusing Suiton chakra into one's hands, the user surrounds their hands with a thick, viscous, water-like "bubble" outline. Upon contact with a Suiton, Katon, Raiton, or Fuuton jutsu (or at a time of the user's choice), the bubble will immediately release itself as a quickly expanding, semi-sphere of Water, neutralizing the opposing technique. Furthermore, the bubble can be converted into a water source for a C or D ranked Suiton technique.
Notes:
-This Jutsu can be used a maximum of 4 times.
-This Jutsu has no effect on Doton, Taijutsu, basic Ninjutsu, or Kenjutsu techniques.
-Upon the creation of the sphere, the jutsu fades until another usage.
-You may only use leg-based taijutsu, basic ninjutsu, and Suiton techniques while active, and can only use techniques that require four handseals or less.
-Maximum three turns active per usage.
Learned By: Jojo/Open/Open/Open/Open/Open
Type: Defensive/Supplementary
Rank: B
Chakra: 20
Damage: N/A
Description: Damp Hands is a technique that was designed to be a split-second measure for protecting against fast moving, weaker chakra-based attacks. By focusing Suiton chakra into one's hands, the user surrounds their hands with a thick, viscous, water-like "bubble" outline. Upon contact with a Suiton, Katon, Raiton, or Fuuton jutsu (or at a time of the user's choice), the bubble will immediately release itself as a quickly expanding, semi-sphere of Water, neutralizing the opposing technique. Furthermore, the bubble can be converted into a water source for a C or D ranked Suiton technique.
Notes:
-This Jutsu can be used a maximum of 4 times.
-This Jutsu has no effect on Doton, Taijutsu, basic Ninjutsu, or Kenjutsu techniques.
-Upon the creation of the sphere, the jutsu fades until another usage.
-You may only use leg-based taijutsu, basic ninjutsu, and Suiton techniques while active, and can only use techniques that require four handseals or less.
-Maximum three turns active per usage.
Learned By: Jojo/Open/Open/Open/Open/Open
Despite the tremendous size of the incoming fireball, a spherical spray of water rapidly extended from Azuma's hands once it neared him and soon engulfed the flames, vaporizing them with a steamy hiss. Following this, expecting a counter attack, Azuma quickly drew a kunai from one of his side holsters.
Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to use it as intended. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Segamu racing through the cloud of steam; unable to react in time, Azuma took a left-handed hook to the face and was send staggering back. His only response was to toss the kunai he held haphazardly to his right, landing right behind where the older shinobi now stood with a grimace on his face. The green haired boy cracked his jaw, making sure it wasn't broken, but still, he stood with an out of place smile on his face.
Then, before Segamu could inquire as to why Azuma had such a look on his face following a failure to avoid one of his strikes, the teenager made a single handseal. His eyes widening, the older boy soon found himself being pierced through his right side by a drilling stream of wind. Wincing in pain as he ducked out of the way of the remainder of the stream, the man glanced behind him, only to find that the source of the attack was the faintly glowing hilt of the kunai that the younger boy had thrown only moments earlier.
(Fūton: Gara no sagi) - Wind Release: Hilt Deception
Type: Offensive
Rank: A
Range: Mid
Chakra: 30
Damage: 60
Description: The user imbues a weapon with wind (a standard ninja tool or sword), then throws their weapon in such a way that it pierces the ground whilst leaving the hilt pointed towards their target. Once the blade breaches the ground, the imbued wind is released in the form of a sharp, twisting stream that originates from the hilt and proceeds to drill into the target. Alternatively, if the user hasn't imbued their weapon with the requisite chakra prior to throwing it, they can make a single handseal to achieve a similar effect.
Note: Only useable thrice per battle.
Note: Courtesy of LonelyAssassin
Type: Offensive
Rank: A
Range: Mid
Chakra: 30
Damage: 60
Description: The user imbues a weapon with wind (a standard ninja tool or sword), then throws their weapon in such a way that it pierces the ground whilst leaving the hilt pointed towards their target. Once the blade breaches the ground, the imbued wind is released in the form of a sharp, twisting stream that originates from the hilt and proceeds to drill into the target. Alternatively, if the user hasn't imbued their weapon with the requisite chakra prior to throwing it, they can make a single handseal to achieve a similar effect.
Note: Only useable thrice per battle.
Note: Courtesy of LonelyAssassin
Gritting his teeth in pain, Segamu cursed at Azuma, frustrated with the fact that despite the tremendous disparity in their physical capabilities, he was still taking hits.
"Oh for ****'S sake, fight me like a man Azuma-chii!"
Azuma put on an air of confidence for his response, imitating the older boy's tendency to patronize whomever he saw as 'below' him. He'd never liked Segamu for that reason.
"I don't know Segamu; you said it yourself. I'm just 'little', so you can't expect me to fight like a big, strong man like you."
Although if I'm being honest, I won't be able to hold up after much more of this. I have to win this soon.
Quickly, Azuma glanced backwards; the clone he'd set earlier was about 10 meters behind him in a nearly straight line. Maybe he could use that. Regardless, the older boy's features first formed into a grimace at the younger shinobi's words as expected, but then, they changed into a much more neutral expression; something uncharacteristic of Segamu. Finally, the dark-haired ninja took a combat stance as he spoke with little inflection on his tone. Immediately, this put the green-haired Uchiha on edge.
"Right. I'm going to kill ya', Azuma-chii. Sorry, or whatever, but I have more important things to deal with than somebody this much weaker than me."
As if. I've still got the mental advan-
Azuma didn't even have time to blink before he felt his adoptive brother's foot make contact with his chin, sending him flying up into the air. Then, the Segamu appeared above him, striking him with a left-legged axe kick, leaving the younger ninja on a crash course with the sand. Finally, just before he made impact with the ground, the older boy yet again appeared out of nowhere, this time in front of his body, reaching out and yanking him towards him by his shirt.
Segamu's free right arm began to glow through his shirt, only to destroy the sleeve around it and reveal an incredibly intricate seal, now luminescent with green chakra. He then chambered the arm for a straight punch. Now looking right at his opponent through half-shut eyes, Azuma heard one phrase before he was sent back into his world of pain.
"Wind Release: Jetline Cannon."
From the older man's elbow came a tremendous blast of chakra in the form of a gust of wind which propelled his fist into a punch which hit like a train, quite literally. Azuma practically folded inwards around Segamu's arm and was sent flying backwards, coughing up blood and feeling at least two ribs crack at the sheer strength of the blow. When he did finally hit the ground, he skipped for a few more feet, only to land face first.
Holy shit. If I take one more of those, I'm done for.
Doing his best to get up, Azuma quickly let his hands move into the tiger handseal as he proceeded to inhale in preparation for a wide-spread Katon technique, but he soon found that it was far too painful to actually create the attack.
****. I can't... am I going to die?
Segamu was now walking towards him, slightly surprised that the boy had actually survived the attack. Finally getting to his feet, Azuma looked around frantically for a solution. He was now behind the clone; it was about 5 meters in front of his current position. Okay... what could he do with that. At this point, he was also legitimately running low on chakra, especially since he'd cut it in half earlier when he made the clone.
Alright... so I have a clone, and my taijutsu skills pretty much. Segamu has speed, strength, and for all I know, some crazy-ass ninjutsu arsenal too. What can I do with all that?
Trying his best to take deep breaths and still his mind, Azuma closed his eyes and searched this situation for a winning solution.
Soon after, Azuma's eyes opened, the Sharingan having been deactivated via conscious decision. He could no longer afford the chakra toll if he wanted to finish this fight alive. He'd already resolved that there was no way that he could kill Segamu; but he could certainly knock him out with what he had left. The first step to accomplishing this was taunting the older boy; the good news was he was an expert at that and had been for years.
"Hey, S-Segamu. You've g-gotten pretty damn f-fast, and a hell of a lot s-stronger than me, I'll admit. And that's a p-pretty strong technique, but you know what it can't do?"
Segamu shrugged, continuing his slow movement forwards.
"No, I don't, Azuma-chii. But please, do tell me. I'd love to know."
Azuma smirked through the very real pain surging throughout his body, giving the man his answer.
"Well, it doesn't make up for either of the places where I beat you out."
Segamu's lips moved into a thin line, clearly annoyed at the boy's insistence that he had any advantage over him at all. His tone clearly reflected this, now ripe with his usual sarcasm but accented by a hint of anger and frustration.
"And what're those, yeah?"
The green-haired boy sighed, sure to make a show of his arrogance. What he said was partially true for the record.
"Well; I'm still more skilled than you are, and I'm still a hell of a lot smarter than you. I mean, come on, the technique you came up with was just a really strong punch, c-clearly there can't be all that much going on up there, can there?"
Now the anger was far more evident; what composure Segamu had developed was gone.
"Y'know what, Azuma-chii, I don't fuckin' care what you think! I'm gonna enjoy putting my fist through your chest!"
Azuma's last words were the cherry on top.
"Try me."
Segamu was now 4 meters in front of him. Thus, as he was about to launch himself forwards to deliver another one of his unfathomably powerful punches, the ground behind him collapsed as a clone of Azuma leapt out of the sand. In its right hand was a very large sphere of rapidly rotating raw chakra. While Segamu did have time to turn around in confusion at the light sound of the sand being displaced, he didn't have time to avoid the sphere being slammed into his back, sending him flying forwards towards the real Azuma.
(Oodama Rasengan) - Big Ball Spiral Sphere
Rank:S
Type:Attack
Range:Short
Chakra Cost:40
Damage Points:80
Description: Oodama Rasengan is an advanced Ninjutsu technique that creates a very large Rasengan ball, following the same method, limits and logic behind the original, smaller technique.
Note:Must already know rasengan.
Rank:S
Type:Attack
Range:Short
Chakra Cost:40
Damage Points:80
Description: Oodama Rasengan is an advanced Ninjutsu technique that creates a very large Rasengan ball, following the same method, limits and logic behind the original, smaller technique.
Note:Must already know rasengan.
And now to show off that superior skill I mentioned.
While this occured, Azuma took up a unique stance, with his right foot extended forwards and his left leg bent heavily behind him. From this position, he surged forwards towards with one last burst of speed, focusing chakra into his left leg as he leaned forwards and struck the oncoming form of Segamu with a lightning-fast upwards moving spin kick to the base of chin. From this kick erupted a mighty current of wind which formed itself into a massive dragon. This dragon proceeded to twist and tear throughout the air, cutting into the older shinobi, prior to carrying him twenty meters away and crashing into the sand with a great explosion.
( Konoha Ryūjin ) - Leaf Dragon God
Type: Offensive/Defensive
Rank: A-rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 30
Damage: 60
Description:
This is an ultimate taijutsu technique created by the legendary taijutsu master Chen. It appears to be initiated by an upward spin kick at which point it quickly becomes like tornado. Forming into a dragon with long whiskers, it attacks the target aiming to swallow them, at which point they are cut by the razor sharp air currents inside the attack. After initiating the attack, the user appears to remain shielded within the base of the tornado as the outward surface of the dragon seems to be solid enough for a person to impact and rebound off of, making the only way to enter the technique once it has been initiated is by being swallowed. However, there is one distinct weakness to the technique. Since the Dragon God's real form (and what it basically is) is that of an ordinary tornado, though cosmetically shaped into a dragon, its attack power is based on rotation. If one enters the attack's centre (Dragon's Eye) while rotating at high speed, such as Lee's One-Man Front Lotus, it can be dispersed without inflicting damage. The technique, while seemingly similar to Wind Release, is actually just the users own physical power (through the use of the spinning kick) shaping the air into currents through movement. It is, however, enough to fight off elemental ninjutsu of the same rank and below.
Note: Can only be used by Taijutsu Specialists and EIG users
Type: Offensive/Defensive
Rank: A-rank
Range: Short-Long
Chakra: 30
Damage: 60
Description:
This is an ultimate taijutsu technique created by the legendary taijutsu master Chen. It appears to be initiated by an upward spin kick at which point it quickly becomes like tornado. Forming into a dragon with long whiskers, it attacks the target aiming to swallow them, at which point they are cut by the razor sharp air currents inside the attack. After initiating the attack, the user appears to remain shielded within the base of the tornado as the outward surface of the dragon seems to be solid enough for a person to impact and rebound off of, making the only way to enter the technique once it has been initiated is by being swallowed. However, there is one distinct weakness to the technique. Since the Dragon God's real form (and what it basically is) is that of an ordinary tornado, though cosmetically shaped into a dragon, its attack power is based on rotation. If one enters the attack's centre (Dragon's Eye) while rotating at high speed, such as Lee's One-Man Front Lotus, it can be dispersed without inflicting damage. The technique, while seemingly similar to Wind Release, is actually just the users own physical power (through the use of the spinning kick) shaping the air into currents through movement. It is, however, enough to fight off elemental ninjutsu of the same rank and below.
Note: Can only be used by Taijutsu Specialists and EIG users
Immediately, Azuma collapsed to the ground, his legs nearly giving out as he coughed and panted in exhaustion. That technique was unbelievably taxing, and this was, as far as he could remember, the first time he had ever used it in combat. Frankly, he was lucky that it worked in the first place.
But it did work, didn't it. See? More skilled.
After taking a moment to make sure he saw no movement from the crater he'd just created, Azuma forced himself back onto his two feet. He then made a single handseal, dispersing the clone from earlier and providing himself with a slight reprieve to his chakra exhaustion. The green-haired boy then glanced backwards, giving only a passing look in direction of his adoptive sibling's body, only hoping that he'd put him out of commission long enough to get back to the compound. If he could do that, then there was pretty much no chance that Segamu could find him and Shiro.
The thought of the girl reminded him of why he'd even bothered with that last fight in the first place.
Right; I have to get back to her. She's probably more than worried.
The sun would set soon; he wanted to get back before then. So, with a few words to himself and a turn of the head, Azuma began to head back to the compound as quickly as his rather weakened body could wincing with tremendous pain and forcing himself to stay conscious with every step.
"Let's hope that she got back okay."
Even to Azuma, it was funny that his thoughts were so focused on somebody else when his body was in this state. Either way, he had a girl to go meet.
-----------------------------------------
Azuma took more than a few hours to stagger back through the dunes, the sun beating down upon his lightly clothed, already bloodied body. Of course, eventually, the sun set, making the walk much easier on him. Water wasn't the issue, to be clear. He was just plain exhausted.
Ah. There it is.
Azuma's gaze remained neutral, despite his relieved internal status at the sight of his compound, looking exactly as it had when he had left it. It was home, he figured, so why didn't he look happy to see it? As he neared the door, his worries were quickly lifted when the missing piece of the puzzle tackled him to the floor in a tight embrace, a mess of red hair clouding his vision. A soft-spoken feminine voice that he knew quite well now broke the silence of his last few hours.
"You're okay!"
Azuma raised an eyebrow at Shiro's rather physical gesture and speech, grunting as he returned her embrace, not quite having the heart to tell her that she was currently on top of a multitude of very painful wounds which weren't quite as well healed as he wished they were.
"Arg- ow, Shiro, it wouldn't have taken me so long to get back if I wasn't dripping a little blood from a few paper cuts."
In response, the redhead even-more-painfully pushed off of the boy's body, back to her feet, tripping over her own tongue to apologize, as she tended to.
"I apologize, Azuma-San. I was just... well, worried. You have been so kind, and I have done nothing that makes me deserve a sacrifice of such a degree from you-"
Azuma hadn't risen quite so quickly though; he was looking at the girl with eyes wide and inquisitive as she spoke to him, only to interrupt her from his spot on the ground.
I know why I wasn't happy with the sight of the compound.
"Shiro, you used a contraction. That's a first."
The girl immediately went red, assuming she'd done something wrong. As this happened, Azuma was getting to his feet, something Shiro was currently paying little mind to as she did what she had tended to an awful lot; that was of course, worry.
"Oh I apologize! I try my best to speak as-"
She's why I call it home now.
She suddenly found herself silenced by the green-haired boy's lips. Despite what Azuma had expected her response to be, which was, of course, to slap him and call him a disgraceful charlatan or something, it turned out that Shiro didn't instantly recoil from his kiss. In fact, she leaned further into it, slowly wrapping her hand around the taller boy's shoulders. Then, after a few moments passed with the duo locked in this brief stint of honest passion, the two teenagers moved their lips ever so slightly apart from one another, each of them taking a light breath.
Shiro came to rest her head softly on Azuma's shoulder as the boy spoke, his tone not as ripe with sarcasm as it had tended to be around this girl, with their incessant teasing of the other on pause for just a second while he came clean on a few of the more pressing aspects of their interactions with each other.
"I like you better when you're relaxed, Shiro. The honorifics, the annunciated words... I know you're worried about making something up to me, but for the life of me I'm not sure what it is. That fight? How we met? That's forgiven. I don't look at you and think, 'there's the girl who cut me up'-"
Azuma felt Shiro tense at that phrase, and thus raised a comforting hand to her back to hold her close and reassure her before continuing.
"-I think, 'there's my home'. There's the girl who I live with, the girl who I've wronged, who's clan's land I desecrated."
Not moving from her position on the green-haired Uchiha's shoulder, the redheaded Samurai spoke as if she was afraid to meet his eyes, having not talked about their first, most negative interactions so frankly since, well, since their fight.
"I... why exactly do you care? Why do I deserve to stay in your house, drink your water, and have whatever just happened happen to me?"
Azuma smiled for the first time since he'd been with the girl earlier in the day.
"I don't have a reason other than you're a lovely person who's just as lonely as I am. You're no less deserving of help, of affection even, than any other human on this planet. In fact, I'd argue you deserve more seeing what you've been through in your lifetime."
The tender moment was then, of course, unfortunately interrupted by Azuma wounds, a pulse of pain shooting throughout his body.
"R-right... I need to wash these wounds, Shiro, as much as I'd love to just be this close to you for the whole night."
The boy could FEEL the redhead's cheeks turn scarlet this time. Despite this however, there was a very clear reluctance to her movements as she let go of Azuma's body.
I suppose it's good to know that she didn't mind being that close to me.
Immediately, however, with the lack of support, Azuma staggered forwards, catching himself just barely before moving through the doorway of his compound, Shiro just ahead of him, a look of worry plastered on her face.
"What exactly happened out there, anyway Azuma-sa... Azuma?"
Azuma smiled again, this time at the usage of his name without the honorific, giving Shiro her answer as requested. Despite his smile though, his tone was clearly much more grave than it had been, the mood having become more serious as soon as he recollected the events that had transpired earlier out in the desert.
"...my brother, or rather, adoptive-asshole-dickface-jerk-who-isn't-actually-related-to-me-but-was-raised-with-me was sent here to kill you."
Shiro's eyes widened at both the content of the boy's words as well as his longwinded train of expletives. However, with a knowing look from Azuma which said 'let's talk about it tomorrow' about as loudly as his mouth could have, she simply nodded and let it go for the moment.
There would be plenty of time to talk, and even though the situation the two teenagers were in was far from perfect, neither could bring themselves to truly be worried.
Needless to say, both slept well that night.
----------------------------------------------------
A week passed, and as time heals all wounds, Azuma's surely did close and vanish, leaving the faintest of scars and the lightest of bruises; memories of a fight which as he would have told you, was certainly rather memorable. Of course, as he recovered, conversations with Shiro were nearly all the entertainment he had, although frankly he wouldn't have had it any other way. Surprisingly, their lips hadn't touched since that day where he'd collapsed out in the dunes, but again, he wasn't bothered.
There was a connection between them, and he was happy to let it progress as it was already. Shiro seemed to feel a bit remorseful, as if she thought that she'd brought on Azuma's injuries by proxy of being Segamu's original target. The green-haired boy, of course, disagreed.
I chose to fight. You didn't.
In his mind, she was the least at fault in the situation; plus, it wasn't as if he didn't enjoy kicking his adoptive brother's ass.
Regardless of all of this, by the seventh day, the young Uchiha was largely healed, and as if on queue, there was another development that morning in the form of a hawk dropping by with a message. Shiro was still sleeping when he woke up, as she'd often tended to be, but in this case, it was rather convenient. Drawn upwards by the bird's cry, he soon found a scroll dropped into his hands which when opened, read rather simply;
Azuma,
Magnus here. It's been a while, hasn't it? A year, I believe. I'm sending you this message because you should come as far North-East as you can as soon as possible. I've found a home, where our kind are welcome. It's a place located at the tip of Lightning Country, known as Vestbygden. You can get there by travelling through the Great Wind Desert, along the Western edge of Fire Country, and then up to and along Daikotsu Bay until you reach a place where the land stretches no further.
I know that will take you some time, but I'm sure it isn't beyond your capacity, seeing as even down here I've been able to keep tabs on you. You've made quite a name for yourself! Regardless, there are a few things you can do along the way that I think might suit your talents; money-making opportunities, I mean. Plenty of my informants have told me that a group of Rogue Ninja called the Defias Brotherhood have spread across the upper regions of the Great Wind Desert. They're led by a woman, VanCleef-something-or-rather. You probably won't get to her in time to take the bounty on her head, but the rest of the syndicate is well spread out across much of your path to my position. You shouldn't have a problem finding trouble, and in your case, cash, along the way to me.
-Magnus.
Well hell. That complicated things ever so slightly. Azuma looked around, gazing upon the compound he'd built; with some help from Shiro, they'd managed to install the running water system and generator. It was really coming together.
Yet I'm immediately considering leaving it.
Magnus was a friend and a mentor whomst Azuma wouldn't ever forget. He'd been the first to reveal the young boy's true heritage, something which had come to define his very being. Thus, as much as he wanted to stay here, the answer to Magnus' request was rather obvious. He'd go in a heartbeat. The only problem was these were Shiro's clan's lands, and he wasn't sure whether she'd come with him. Over the next half hour he agonized over that thought, his own teenage emotions mixing with the logical point of view he'd tried to approach things from for years.
Thus, of course, Shiro picked such a time to finally wake up.
She could immediately tell something was off when she saw the green-haired boy's pensive grimace and the scroll in his hand.
"Azuma... what's wrong?"
The boy glanced up to see the redhead looking at him, less worried sounding than she was sympathetic. God, she was so great; he wouldn't be able to bare leaving without her now.
"I... an old friend sent me this scroll-"
He raised the rolled up piece of parchment as if to indicate what he was talking about.
"-and he wants me to come live with him in Lightning Country. He says I won't be on the run anymore. For who I am, I mean."
Shiro raised an eyebrow at this. She was all too familiar with running away from those who would hurt you; her whole life had consisted of being hunted. Hell, just recently she'd been the target of that assassination which Azuma had stopped, so self-sacrificially. Still though, she was confused as to why Azuma would be hunted. As if sensing this, the boy spoke, his voice choking as he unearthed memories that he truly detested thinking about.
"You k-know I'm an Uchiha. We're not just a powerful clan... w-we're nearly extinct. I got taken in by a family who didn't tell me what I was when I was younger, since my parents died before I can remember meeting them... Magnus, my friend up East, he's also an Uchiha. Both of us know how it feels to be hunted for our eyes; they're valuable commodities on the black market, Sharingan, and we never quite had the population of the Hyuga Clan so our Dojutsu naturally commands a price."
Ah. So that was what it was. A longing for family. Shiro could only let out a sad smile in the boy she'd come to care for so much's direction. He continued while she moved closer to him, sitting down at the stone table which he'd conjured up when building the compound.
"My parents were killed, Shiro. Their eyes were sold, and mine would have been if I was old enough to have the Sharingan. Then, of course, when I awakened it, they came after me too. It's impossible to make a living as an Uchiha and hide your identity; it's just a part of the job. But when you start getting assassins breaking through the door to your Inn room at three in the morning, you get tired of it pretty fucking quickly, especially when it starts before you hit goddamn puberty. Anyway... I sound like a fucking mess and I get that this looks pretty pathetic, but my point is that he's the only family I know of, and I'm torn beca-"
Shiro cut him off with a kiss just like he had done to her a week earlier, although this one was different than the last. It was more primal, less controlled, lacking in any semblance of the prim and proper mood which Shiro usually brought with her. Instead, it was an honest physical expression of emotion which Azuma couldn't help but lean into, since he too felt the same way. For a minute they held each other, only stopping briefly every few moments to trade glances and silently confirm that the other was comfortable. Then, when they finally broke apart, the redhead looked at the young Uchiha with a stalwart gaze and spoke words which he could have never expected.
"Uchiha Azuma, you're an honorable, lovely boy, and you're somebody I'm rather struck by. You told me once that everybody deserved help. Later, you said everybody deserves love. I'll repeat both of those sentiments to you right now. My family is gone, just as yours has been, for many years. I traveled here, to my clan's ancestral lands, because of that same reason, and just by my luck, I stumbled upon somebody who was looking for the same thing I was. So don't you EVER think I wouldn't go wherever you would. That would be no way to pay you back for how good you've been to me... and to be honest I can't stand the idea of losing you to geography of all things."
A weight similar to a mountain lifted itself off of Azuma's shoulders immediately as he leaned into the girl, catching her in a tight embrace. Quietly, he spoke to her, glad she understood above all else.
"T-thank you. I... I can't stand the idea either."
Although he couldn't see it, Shiro had stopped fighting back the blush she'd been hiding since their lips had met, the green-haired teen's sweet words striking her despite their simplicity.
Silently, the boy shared a thought with himself, confirming what he'd have struggled to admit verbally.
I wouldn't have been able to go without you. Thank you, Shiro. Thank you so much.
Upon ending the embrace, Azuma wiped off tears that he hadn't even known he'd produced before looking at the girl, as if expecting a revocation of the moment they'd just shared. No such denial came. Instead, the two simply exchanged bright smiles as they both stood up, preparing to pack up their things.
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[END OF ACT 1]
