"Ah..." He was left breathless at the sight. Konohagakure no Sato lay before him, the village hidden in the leaves, one of the great shinobi villages, teeming with life as it always was. A slow smile crept onto his face as his onyx-hued gaze fell to the bustling streets below. Every day that passed made the village he called his home feel so much more distant, something precious to him that was held so close yet just out of his reach. Standing atop the water tower gave him a beautiful panoramic view of the village, from the tall trees beyond the walls to the colourful mansion settled so nicely beneath the carved heads on the mountain backdrop. As his gaze lifted and fell upon the faces, a small smile grew on his face. Oh how happy he was to not see his own mug placed beside the long line of his predecessors. How unworthy he felt to be held to their standard in his current state. His gaze dropped again, this time fixated on his left leg. Even now, standing stationary atop the highest point for a kilometer or so, pain still radiated from the limb. The wounds that once decorated him had healed and scarred, yet the damage had been done.

Takao grit his teeth. Not from the pain, but from the memory. It was a lingering, lasting, ever present trophy he carried with him as a result of his failure. ...Maybe a little bit from the pain too. By some miracle he'd managed to fall asleep every night by telling himself he'd done all that he could, but he was too wise to his own bullshit. How useless he had become... it frustrated him to no end. He inhaled a deep breath and tasted the fresh, cool autumn air as his eyes slowly closed, and he allowed his thoughts to wander.

//

"He's an incredibly powerful shinobi-" The words of his adviser were cut short.


"So am I." Takao said, his cold grey gaze unwavering after having set upon the dreary sight of the village, his village, beneath stormy clouds. His desk was cluttered, covered from corner to corner with papers and reports and books that were haphazardly strewn about.


"Y...yes, I know, but he isn't to be underestimated-" Again, his voice rose over the adviser.


"And neither am I." Takao's words were spoken clearly and concisely, and with a cold tone to match the mood. His arms unfolded and he turned halfway, his left boot thudding against the wooden floors, waiting for what the man on the other side of the desk would say next.


"I understand that, Hokage-sama, but please, listen to reason!"


A slow breath escaped Takao's nostrils as he sauntered closer to his desk, and his gaze dropped to the papers on his desk. Amidst the papers was a picture of a man, clad in the typical attire of a Konohagakure Jōnin. The paper it was clipped to listed information on his career as a shinobi that Takao had already read, as well as the information regarding his death.


"He's a threat to the village, I know that." Takao said as his hand came down on the paper. "His death proves that. I'm not going to sit in this ****ing chair and send more people to die! My job is to protect the village and the people inside it, not to sit idly by and throw bodies at our problems until they eventually get solved." The words flowed effortlessly from his mouth, yet the way his tone pitched and shifted made it clear that they were driven by emotion. He had underestimated their target's abilities and sent one of his shinobi to his grave. It would not happen again. He looked to his adviser, the man who was entrusted with the task of keeping the young and inexperienced Hokage in line, yet his eyes were set on the floor. Takao's head tilted; had he struck a cord with the man? Was he seeing things from Takao's point of view?


"I'm going."

//

Takao's eyes slowly opened as another breath left his lungs. His leg was really hurting now. He winced and hissed through clenched teeth. It felt like he was withering away in the village hidden in the leaves... unable to train, progress held just out of his grasp, so tantalizingly close yet still so far away.

"Alright... enough sulking." the raven-haired shinobi huffed out as he stepped closer to the edge of the container. Chakra flooded his hands and feet, the exact amount of such was precise and controlled. He descended the tower in a slow slide, gently lowering himself to the street. Pain rocketed through his body the instant the slightest bit of his weight fell onto his leg, and he lost his breath. He grit his teeth and slammed his fist into the wall he'd descended, causing cracks to ripple from where the bare skin had met stone.

The best medical shinobi in Konohagakure couldn't do anything for him other than putting his leg back in working order, and then then it was just barely so. The slightest bit of weight or pressure on the limb caused pain to shoot through his body, just as it had been doing since sustaining the injury that put him out of commission for so long. He grit his teeth again, suppressing the urge to pound the wall he leaned on into dust. There was little that could be done for him in Konohagakure, but there was still hope. Iwagakure no Sato, the village that he had once thought to have been responsible for the death of his mentor. The journey there would be painful and long, but it was one he'd have to make.

He had no choice.

- -

Gifted Trait (Permanent 20% Wordcount Reduction on Training Topics)


Endurance E > E-1 [60/60]
Endurance E-1 > E-1 [120/120]
Endurance E-2 > E-3 [180/180]
Endurance E-3 > D [240/240]

Endurance D > D-1 [260/260]
Endurance D-1 > D-2 [99/320]

Total Word Count: [959]

Each careful step he took was done so with a wince and throaty growl. The back alleys of Konohagakure that ran through the village like a labyrinth provided him with some solace, however minute it was. The long, painful walk was accompanied by the repulsive smell of trash left out for the night. His gaze rose skyward and settled upon the hues of purple and orange that had overtaken the welkin, the bright and vibrant hues cast onto woolly clouds. The sight brought the slightest hints of a smile to the corners of his mouth. The setting sun and accompanying colours were something adamant and ever-present amidst a sea of variables and uncertainties. A sense of normalcy, in other words, for a mind that was busy and clouded.

"Ack- ...shit, that hurts." He hissed again as his weight fell onto his left leg. He had barely made it down the street before the pain set in again, crashing throughout his body in near unbearable waves. Through clenched teeth did he manage a smile, musing how enduring so much pain for so long was likely to have some kind of effects on his overall tolerance and well being. Whether or not those effects were either beneficial or detrimental remained to be seen, though they were just another reminder of how paramount his traveling to Iwagakure was. And even then, there was no guarantee of his success. As Takao sauntered his way down the alley, his mind returned to wandering.

//

"There you are."

Takao's black gaze rested on his target. Small tracks, barely able to be noticed had one not been specifically looked for them, had lead him to this location on the border of the Fire Country. His target hadn't been particularly good at covering his footprints, in some cases literally so. The raven-haired Hokage's eyes narrowed as he watched the man, who stood a good head taller than he did himself, saunter nonchalantly into the darkness of the cave on the other side of the clearing.

"Tch... How stupid does he think I am..?" Takao muttered to himself, a scowl deeply set on his face as he tinkered with an object in his hands. It was one of his own design, a volley-ball sized fabric container with heavily condensed ash, not unlike the flammable material utilized in a particular fire release technique. After slapping a grand total of three explosive tags onto the object, he set it on the ground and preformed a single hand seal.

With the first of many contingency plans set into motion, Takao rose to stand and shifted his gaze to settle back on the cave entrance. He jumped from his cover in the forest to the clearing, and slowly moved his way into the cave, his expression masked with the same scowl that had been set on his face for what felt like days.

The cave was dark and black. The air felt cold, damp, and heavy. There was a taste to it that he just couldn't describe beyond "unpleasantly disconcerting". Overall, the environment was uncomfortable and set him on edge.

A bright red light flashed toward the opposite end of the cave. Takao winced slightly, then his eyes widened. "Fire." His mind repeated as a burning orb of bright red and orange flames rocketed toward him. He tensed his left leg and threw his right shoulder backward, effectively allowing the fireball to pass just an inch by his body. The heat barely caressed his clothes and skin before flying by and crashing into the entrance wall. Takao's eyes narrowed again as he glanced at the source.

"Your reaction time is as impressive as ever!" He heard a familiar voice call from the darkness.

"What was so impressive about that? Stop patronizing me, old man." Takao scoffed in response. As his words concluded and his voice bounced off the cave walls, more balls of flame rained from the darkness. His dodges were easy and precise: The first was side stepped in a similar manner to the size, by throwing his shoulder out of the way. The next fireball came closely behind the first, and five more yet behind that. Employing a series of impressive acrobatic feats, done to live up to the apparent "impressive reaction time" that he had been praised for, had left him unscathed as the last fireball soared just below his body. His boots came into contact with the stone floor, only for his body to be met with steel. Takao's eyes widened as the blade sank into his body, piercing cloth, flesh, and bone alike.

"You should know better than to put yourself in such a precarious position, my son." The last words leaked from his assailant's mouth like smooth venom as sanguine fluids dripped from the blade. Takao's brows furrowed and a smile grew on his face. A cloud of smoke erupted where he once stood. In his place, the ball of ash had been stabbed through, and the tags immediately were lit aflame by the presence of chakra.

The muffled sound of an explosion emanated from within the cave. Takao didn't waste time in returning to the cave. Chakra was pumped into his legs and were used to override the muscles of his jump as he leapt through the cavern entrance. Remnants of the explosion still burnt, illuminating the supine yet still conscious body of his assailant, who had been caught by the trick. His clothes and skin were singed, yet the damage was clearly not debilitating.


Takao returned to the ground on top of him - just as he did so, his target shifted and leapt out of the way. As his boots made contact with the ground, the chakra in his legs exploded outward. The ground crumbled beneath his might, cracking and rippling in every direction.

"How much of an amateur do you think I am, father?" The last word was spoken with clearly emphasized distaste. His own father, flesh and blood, attacking him with such reckless abandon and complete lack of hesitation. His abandonment of not only Takao and his mother but the village was unacceptable, but the murder of one of the shinobi he had fought alongside... it was unforgivable, and for such an atrocious transgression, he would surely have no sympathy for this man whom he had once called his father.

"Well, I don't think you're an amateur at all, my boy! In fact, quite the opposite!" His father charged forward, and the two exchanged blows. Takao put his weight on his left foot and accepted the blows to start, using their power and momentum against him through masterful deflections and skilled movements. His father had always relied heavily on the chakra aspects of the shinobi life, compensating for his lacking physical attributes with their breath attacks. Takao had taken a different approach, and had honed his skills in hand to hand combat to then be further augmented by their blood ability. Not a single strike of his father's landed, yet Takao continued to maintain the upper hand in the battle, stealing precise jabs and strikes where the opportunities presented themselves.

Words were replaced with fists as the two duked it out in the darkness, only dimly lit by the slowly dying flames of the earlier explosion. His father swung high, to which Takao grabbed his wrist and rolled him over his shoulder before slamming him into the ground below. The thud that resonated from deep within his body was satisfying, yet bitter sweet. He took no pleasure in the act of participating in combat against his father, yet he realized how necessary it was regardless, and thus endured. Dull eyes watched each and every movement the man made, and he reacted accordingly, employing a mixture of deflections and evasive maneuvers that protected him from the man's blows.

"Why are you doing this? There were no problems, we were the people who were going to-" Takao's words were cut short suddenly by his father's louder voice, booming throughout the cavern as he slowly rose to stand.

"If you truly think that... If you honestly think this village won't use you like a dog, and spit out the bones when it's done with you, then you are truly the fool that you must think I see you as! We forfeited our humanity so readily so long ago thanks to the thoughts they forced into our minds! But no more..." His father's hands clasped tightly together to form a seal. "I won't be their dog anymore, and neither will you, my brainwashed son! We'll be freed of their clutches together!"


Takao's eyes widened, and time felt as though it was slowing to a stop. A small, dim light appeared on the ceiling of the cavern - a flame. It was followed by another... and another, and another yet. Countless flames appeared, and a hissing sound emited from them in unison.

"...Tags!"

The explosions were systematic and destructive. The roof was the first to collapse, causing massive earthen debris to fall on top of them. The rest of the cave followed suit, until only rubble was remaining.

//

"I... really hate caves." Takao muttered to himself disdainfully as he slowly made his way home.

- -


Endurance D-1 > D-2  [320/320] (99+221)
Endurance D-2 > D-3  [360/360]
Endurance D-3 > C     [420/420]

Endurance C > C-1     [460/460]
Endurance C-1 > C-2  [73  /480]


Total Word Count: [1534]

His home sat before him, nestled cozily between several other buildings. His gaze lingered for a short moment, knowing that it would be quite a while before he saw the familiar architecture. A metal key in his hand found its way to the keyhole below the doorknob and pushed the heavy wooden door open. The hinges creaked and echoed throughout the dark room. He stepped inside and dropped down to sit on the raised floor, quietly unlacing his boots. He discarded them off to the side and exhaled a long, fatigued breath. His right leg was sore from carrying the weight of his body, his left pulsed and radiated with pain from damage long since healed over. His mind was tired from constant wandering, and his entire being could very well use a good deal of rest and recuperation. Yet Takao wasn't the kind of person to give in to such desires and succumb to the weaknesses of his body. He rose to stand, his muscles aching and his bones creaking like the old man he felt himself to be, and he moved out of the entryway. Bare feet padded across wood floors turned to carpet as he moved through the halls.

Takao's home was bigger than it needed to be, yet at the same time it wasn't extravagant or unnecessarily flashy. The wooden floors of his hallway lead him to the courtyard, a small outdoor section in the middle of his home that allowed him to enjoy one of his more peaceful hobbies: gardening. Several well kept plants of all different assortments grew from the courtyard. The sight offered him a bit of solace, more so than the silhouette of his village did. In a world of death and destruction, where he was trained to fight and to kill, he found himself happiest when he was growing and creating something.

"Maybe someday." He quietly muttered to himself.

Takao lowered himself and placed his hands firmly on the ground. His legs were forced together at the ankles, and his arms bent at a specific and practiced angle. With the usage of his arms, he lowered his body to the ground until his chest hovered just barely above the wooden floorboards, and then he pushed up. His legs swung up from underneath him and he grit his teeth, powering through the intense pain that ran up through his leg. His grey eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed intensely. He dropped back down to the same position and repeated the process, over and over, enduring the pain as it grew stronger with each repetition. "One inch..." he grunted, his voice resonating from deep within his chest as he pushed up and landed on his feet. "At a time..."

//

"The damage to your left leg is ...substantial..." The green-hued gaze of the coat clad shinobi met the cold, dull grey gaze of Takao. A large bandage covered his cheek, and several others covered the rest of his body beneath the hospital garment that covered his body.


"Is it fixable?" He asked, his voice unusually calm given the circumstances.


He was met with an exhale. The man he spoke to turned his back to Takao and faced out the window. "Well... That's a complicated question with a complicated answer." His response was spoken uneasily, as if he wasn't sure that the words he had chosen thus far conveyed exactly what his mind wished to say. "Very rarely have I found that the impossible remains impossible for us. Things we thought we irreparable ten years ago are simple inconveniences assigned to entry level medical shinobi-" He caught himself rambling on and met Takao's cold gaze, and used a quick clearing of his throat to set his train of thought back on track. "-...What I'm trying to say is what is irreparable today is not necessarily irreparable tomorrow. We lack the necessary... experience to fully reconstruct your leg."


A slow and steady breath left Takao's nostrils. He'd known the answer to his question before the words had left his mouth, yet it brought him some closure to hear them spoken by somebody who knew better than he, regardless of how unpleasant or bittersweet it was. "We can return it to an operable state, but even our best trained staff aren't necessarily equipped to handle this kind of damage. I'm... truly sorr-" His words were cut off by Takao raising his hand. A slow smile crept up onto the teenager's face - an honest one, not forced, yet still bearing an underlying sadness.


"I appreciate everything that you've been able to do for me this far. My injuries are a result of my own inexperience and recklessness, so your apologies are appreciated... but unnecessary." The steady tone of the words that left his mouth betrayed the expression on his face. His career as a shinobi was everything to him. It was all he had, his sole purpose in life was to fight and to protect. He knew himself well, and he knew the people that he surrounded himself with better. If they were to look him in the eyes, they would see exactly what he was feeling; he always telegraphed that kind of emotion so clearly.


"If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get some rest. I'm really ****in' sore."

//

Sweat poured off his face and chest, his upper garment having been discarded not long after he began the regime. It was wishful thinking, that he could simply work his injuries off, but his kind had been known to do the impossible before just through the usage of sheer willpower. Near daily visits to the medical professionals let him know that he wasn't getting any better, but at  the same time, he wasn't getting any worse either. He was managing to build up muscle despite his injury, yet the overall usage was lacking due to the pain and lack of mobility that stemmed from his injury.

"Iwagakure..." His voice was weak from fatigue. "I accused their Leader of murder and espionage..." Takao slowly pushed himself up and rolled onto his back, panting heavily between the words he spoke aloud to himself. "...called a meeting that lead to the demise of said leader... and others as well..." He huffed out a breath and a smile crept onto his face. "...and now I'm going to go ask their new leader to fix me up..." A single chuckle, which escaped more like a pant than a laugh, was produced by his chest.

"I'm ****ed."

- -


Endurance C-1 > C-2    [480/480] (73+407)
Endurance C-2 > C-3    [560/560]
Endurance C-3 > B       [117/560]

Total Word Count: [1084]

"Hah... ...ah... shit..." His breath escaped in intervals, providing him with precious oxygen with each fatigued huff that blew from his chest. He rolled onto his back and let the supine position work on draining away the exhaustion, however negligible the amount. It didn't feel good to rest, nor did it relieve him of the fire that burned in his chest. Not a fire of pain, not a burning of exhaustion and fatigue, but rather the desire to keep going. He knew his limits best, more than any medical shinobi could ever even begin to fathom, yet he still wanted to push. Takao wanted to keep climbing. One inch at a time, one step after the other, in hopes that maybe he might reach the light.


His eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the darkness that had settled over Konohagakure no Sato. He groaned and struggled to sit up. His muscles were screaming at him, telling him to stop and to lay back down, but he forced himself to sit despite their pleading. The teen's dim, unsaturated gaze settled upon a figure in the window, and his eyes narrowed.

"Eri." He called out to the figure, which was clearly avian in shape. His arm was outstretched for the bird, who complied and took flight. A few hefts of its large wings brought it soaring through the air, and its talons landed on Takao's arm, though he didn't seem to mind.

He looked to the falcon's back and frowned. The message case was empty, as he'd been both expecting and dreading. He clenched his teeth and hissed out a sound of annoyance.

"You've gotta be kidding me... Still no response." A throaty breath left his mouth and he shook his head. His leg took precedence over their stupid systems and miles of paperwork. So he was going, whether they were interested in giving him permission or not. "Whatever."

Takao motioned for the bird to leave his arm and return to its perch, and he slowly stumbled back up onto his feet. "I'm not going to wait any longer. I've had enough of this." His bare feet padded softly across the wooden floorboards as he made his way to his bedroom. His options were limited. He knew of the dangers that lurked in Iwagakure, and how prevalent they would be once it was learned that he was in the village. Takao slid open the door of his bedroom and sighed as his feet hit the soft carpet, a welcome change from the hard wood he'd been walking on.

He was quick with his writing after approaching the desk on the far east wall. A simple missive, written concise and neat, and rolled to fit in the message carrier attached to his bird. He returned to his avian companion and stowed the message away. "Eri, I need you to fly this to Iwagakure and return to me as soon as possible. I'll be en route to the village by the time you start heading back, so keep an eye out for me." A smile crossed his lips as he ruffled the bird's head. In its eyes, he could see the slightest bit of hesitance and worry. "Go on. I'll be fine."

The hesitance lingered, but the hawk finally took flight, its destination was the mansion in Iwagakure to deliver the message directly to the Iwakage -- or whoever would receive a missive in his stead, presumably a secretary of some sort. He trusted his message would arrive swiftly, he knew exactly how much of a skilled navigator and how fast the bird was. His gaze returned to the moonlit room and he exhaled. "I'm really putting my faith in this..." He tossed a bag onto his bed and moved to the nearby closet.

An assortment of weapons were retrieved; they weren't especially his specialty, but he enjoyed giving himself options if such a scenario that would require such options would present itself. A few spare sets of civilian clothing were packed as well, since he was predicting that his stay in Iwagakure would be more than just a day or two. He let his mind wander as he worked.

"I wonder what he's gonna ask in return... If he even agrees, anyway." Takao muttered quietly to himself as he packed the clothes into the bag. "Money seems unlikely... My eternal servitude to the village maybe?" A dry chuckle escaped his throat and he shook his head. "Maybe information... maybe hunt down some criminals of the village... Or maybe he'll kill me on the spot. That'd make things simple, I guess."

He shrugged and glanced down at the backpack on his bed. "If I'm lucky, I'll be able to slip into the village unnoticed... Then again, I can't remember the last time lady luck gave me her favour." His gaze sank further, glancing down at his leg. Even as he stood with all of his weight on his right leg, he could still feel faint waves of pain washing over the limb and throughout the rest of his body. As much as he felt like he wanted to grit his teeth and yell out into the night in pain, he desire never honestly crossed him. By now he'd become so used to the pain that it had almost begun to feel natural, as if his body was meant to feel like this all the time. He found such a confliction to be more painful than his leg itself; to have his body believe one thing and his mind believe another. Two halves of the same coin, trying desperately to move in opposite directions yet held together and in place by the chains that bound them. He raised his hand to his face and slowly rubbed upward through his hair. "Alright... Let's not try to read too far into it."

He hefted the pack up off the bed and gently lowered it to the ground. It would take him at least a full day's worth of flying for his bird and message to reach Iwagakure should the winds favour his avian companion, so there wasn't any point in leaving immediately. His muscles were tired and screaming for some much needed rest, which is weakened mind would gladly oblige them with. He fell onto his bed with a soft thud and let one last long exhale escape his chest. A good bout of sleep was exactly what he needed.

- -

Endurance C-3 > B       [560/560] (117+443)


Perception E > E-1        [60/60]
Perception E-1 > E-1    [120/120]
Perception E-2 > E-3    [180/180]
Perception E-3 > D       [240/240]


Perception D > D-1      [28/320]


Total Word Count:       [1072]