It had been almost a week since the first round of the chuunin exams and Fukai had fully recovered and prepared for the next round. He was ready for anything as he always was, a trait that had proved useful in the first round. Being quick on the ball and fast at realising and reacting to a situation kept him flexible and fluid. He had managed to avoid any strenuous conflict with Mr Hippo by using his head. It certainly was a weird day but it was over now. A fresh slate, he had to expect anything and everything. Just because he had come out the other side of Genbu without a scratch didn't mean that he would find the rest of the exam easy. He did not know what the next round would be but he expected some sort of tournament to be ahead. The tournament component was one that was ever-present at each exam and was one that he was not too afraid of. The one verses one format was familiar to him as it was the same as the matches in the clan dojo back at home. Two shinobi facing each other in a testament of skill. One thing that was different however, was the method of battle. The Fantomusodo was a clan who religiously practiced in bukijutsu based combat and it was this weapon versus weapon showdown that Fukai was truly adept at. There were many ways a ninja showed his craft apart from weapons, and this is where he could find trouble.

Today he was off exploring Mt Ikkyu again. He had had lots of adventures already and found that there were countless new areas of interest. He was going to see the small fair that opened up a few days ago. It looked like a small scale carnival event of some sort with bright colours and fluffy candyfloss. Fukai neared the spot that he had previously scouted out. From two blocks down he could hear toot toots of cheerful music and the odd squealing child. Ahead of him as a young couple with a todler no older than four. He sat atop his dad's shoulders and happily bounced along towards the excitement. There was a group of teenage Kumo ninja that were heading in the same direction. Making the most of their day off, Fukai assumed. These attractions seemed to be pulling quite the crowd, he wanted to get in there and see what all the fuss was about.

Stepping through the gates, he had a view of the whole fair area. It looked like a marketplace or some sort of compound that had been converted for the occasion. It was an area of about fourty metres squared. A small cubby hole of a place for the amount of stuff that had been packed in. There were food stands with candy floss and hot dogs and caramel apples. There were souvenir shops with little nick nacks and gadgets galore. But there was one thing that particularly caught his attention. It was the game stalls. The large male walked over to examine a particular stand that a little thin moustachy man occupied. There the gathering of Kumo nin that Fukai had noticed were having a go, he watched as the old man explained the rules. All you have to do is cover the larger circle with these three smaller discs to win a prize. Let me demonstrate. With quick and practiced movements, the little man covered the larger circle just as he had explained. He then whipped away the discs before the winning pattern could be realised by the onlookers. Fukai was intrigued. It seemed so simple, how could anyone not win at this game, there had to be a catch. He continued to observe as the teenage shinobi payed the entrance coin and had a go. Each one seemed to fail in succession.

Hmm..

[653]

Deep in Asura's mind, he found his ultimate foe, the enemy of his sanity, Vritra. Asura feared this creature's motives, Vritra always wanted to take control of Asura's mind and nothing else, all the beast wanted was Chaos, there is no less he would settle for. Asura feared that if Vritra were to take his mind over, Asura would lose his humanity, Vritra would kill, or at least try. He feared breaking the vow to his family, feared hurting them if Vritra were to ever have control. Every second of every day, he could hear the beast tormenting him, talking to him, making the most evil suggestions, trying his best, to gain control.

The night moon was hanging over the small grey tent that Asura had put up the day before, the moon's light shone on his camp while Asura was kept deep in sleep. Asura walked through the forest in his dream, scanning the Trees and bushes for any signs. He had no idea where he was, or even why he was there, the moment he looked dead ahead of his path, he noticed a glowing pair of red eyes creep out of the darkness and shadows. Asura remained in place as he watched a man, quite like himself wandering out of the darkness, approaching Asura, repeating a single verse over and over again, "Voices twist and turn the mind, changing the way we hear the vines, looking upon the earth below, where our empty beds will grow... Vritra is the name that is placed on my head. Vritra, is the one that will claim your head." The stranger kept repeating it in a sadistic voice, sending chills throughout Asura's body. Asura looked at the man, staring him dead in the eyes, "Let the voices be silent, let them be still, let the hordes of the lost sound their ill will." The stranger spoke in a low tone. Asura awoke, breathing heavily as he looked around in a panic, looking for those hellish red eyes that haunted his dream. Asura placed his hands on his forehead, "Gods, that was... Vritra... I wish you would stop... I'll  never let you control me..." He shook his head from side to side, trying to get the thoughts out of his mind, the image of that man. He looked almost the exact same as Asura; such a thought scared this once fearless giant. He fell back, Vritra sending a few words of his own into Asura's mind, 'Oh, but Asura, my dear Asura, there will come a time where you will have no choice, hahehehe. When it comes to destruction, my first step will be your sanity... Not like much of that remains any way. The only thing that keeps you sane from me, is your precious Yuki, your dear sister that you care for so much... Life never lasts forever, and I will control you, no matter how you try to avoid it, I will control you. Hehehehe.', Asura decided to ignore his own insanity and tried heading back to sleep, placing his arms under his pillows as he returned to his slumber.

Asura yawned as he slowly raised his head off of his pillow. His eyes slowly opened, showing the blurry light peering through the tent. The blur started to clear as he shook his head from side to side, clearing his mind of the nightmares from last night, the sights of gigantic spiders crawling around him, vanishing, leaving his mind with the dream of a six-armed being, glowing with wrath. Asura tapped his forehead lightly with the palm of his head, his head aching, "Owww... Why today... Wait... I was told there might be a festival up the moutain, at least something good comes of this, get to relax a little, huh?.. But still, I can't relax all the time, I have to put some good work in if I am ever to be the best." He quietly spoke in his low, styled, tone voice. He moved the blanket off of himself and tossed it to the side as he crawled out of the tent. He stood up and yawned, stretching his arms and legs, cracking his neck before throwing a few punches at the air. He packed up his things putting them away carefully before picking up his backpack.

"Right, I think I should start making my way up." He appeared in his new look, the look was only a few days old but it changed almost his whole appearance. He appears as a tall, muscular man with sharp features, short hair that was once white but was dyed a different colour. With Asura's new look, his once white hair is now smoky grey, and instead of spiking forward it is going off to the side a little, with the chance of it staying down. Asura tends to brush his hair to keep it this way, otherwise it ruins the new look that Asura had put so much effort into. He wears a tight black shirt that has short sleeves and reaches to the mid-section of the neck. Over his shirt he wears a blood red hoodie, the sleeves are cut short to keep them at a similar level to the shirt below. Over the hoodie and the shirt is a strange vest with a dark beige colour, it have five straps, one around each shoulder and three around the waist. Over his whole outfit he wears a pure white jacket, long sleeved but rolled up to the elbow with a red circle on each shoulder, within the circle is a white symbol, showing the Konohagakure Symbol in the centre. Asura also wear black leather gloves that are designed for comfort in battle, they allow his fingers to move freely while still keeping a tightly fit look. He wears long baggy black trousers with a belt hidden under his blood red hoodie. Covering his feet all the way up to just below the knee, Asura wears dark grey/navy bluish leather boots, again, designed for comfort during battle. Over his left leg, at the thigh, is a dark grey/navy bluish leather strap with a holster to hold Asura's Kunai, going down the side of the strap is Asura's head band that he placed there, fitting it perfectly, keeping it from being scratched or damaged during battle and keeping his new look.

He looked over to the river before turning and walking away from the waterfall. Asura walked along on the side walk, looking around as he passed by the shorter villagers, smiling as he wave to those who recognized him. He would occasionally look up to see the beautiful morning sky as he walked past the several homes between his camping ground and the market, hearing the villagers talk as he passed by, seeming to have not a care in the world. Asura turned the corner and passed by a Cafe, his eyes scanning the streets for signs. Eventually he found himself outside of the festival. He looked on ahead before slowly walking in, the seven foot tall ninja simply walked past most of the games, ignoring others to the point where he came across a stranger who Asura swore he saw sometime before, maybe at the sign ups for Chunnin Exams. Instead of going up to the man in question or getting his attention, the giant looked to what he was watching, watching closely what was going on.

Fukai watched the stall trick carefully but was still able to notice a large figure approach him from the side. Upon turning to greet him, he saw just how big the man was. His peripheral vision had not quite captured the magnitude of his size. Standing more than half a foot higher than Fukai, who was considered tall by most, the stature of the man dwarfed him. A shinobi from Konoha it seemed, judging from the large symbol imprinted on his shoulder. So he hailed from the same village as that kid Joruri. Their encounter had been brief but delicious. He wondered if this meeting would end in such creamy happiness. Stopping his mind from wandering once more onto the topic of doughnuts, he turned his head to greet the new man. Hello there fella! He was in an unusually good mood today, maybe it was the hyped atmosphere or his own sense of current weightlessness. Before the exam had started, he had been understandably stressed. He wanted to forget about the exam and all the paired responsibility, at least for today. It's a strange feat, isn't it? This man can whip on a few odd shaped discs and completely cover that larger one and yet, no one can seem to figure out how he does it. Fukai's purple eyes twinkled and a little grin appeared on his lips. I wonder if there is some sort of deception to it or if it is just some sort of positioning puzzle. He watched on as the group of kumo nin tried once more.

Give me one more try, old man! A blonde boy of about fifteen years slammed down another coin. The small aged man chuckled as his quick little hands whipped out to collect the gold piece. Fukai crept a little closer and peered over his shoulder to see what was going on. He could practically see the boy's brain thumping as he tried to calculate the best spots for maximum coverage before putting them down. One after the other he placed them with hesitancy until the last, where he groaned as he realised that it wasn't going to cover the remaining space. His friends behind him **** a little at his failure. Feeling a little ashamed and fooled by what seemed like a simple game, the boy targeted the man for his anger. Hey, this game is rigged! Give me my money back! He shouted at the small figure with such vigor that Fukai stepped back. The stall owner was unphased by the kid's antics. He would guess that the man had experience in dealing with this sort of situation. You agreed to the game and payed the price. That doesn't mean to say that any others may not get it right. His eyes slid over to Fukai, already eyeing up his next customer after milking and shaming the last. Fukai was intrigued at the gesture of the challenge.

He approached the makeshift wooden stall, it's colourful signage made from woven banners. His eyes shifted from the man to the puzzle and back again. Fukai did not see how to complete the puzzle but he did want to try something. His fingertip crept towards the stack of discs and as it did, the Iwagakure genin expanded an invisible ball of fuuton chakra. He picked up the discs and without looking back at the puzzle, he placed the them down while watching the old man's reaction. What Fukai had done was use his Mirage Orb jutsu and bent the light from the ill fitting discs so that they would be perceived to be covering the circle. As he finished, the stall owner's eyes widened and his mouth shaped into a little o. Satisfied with his trick, Fukai gave a little wry smirk. After a few seconds, the old man's face contorted back to normal. Just kidding. Fukai looked up at him in confusion. What, you think that we would let ourselves be robbed with the use of ninjutsu, here in the middle of a ninja village? As the realisation sunk in, he began to feel stupid. Of cource, many would have already tried similar things in the past and this little man had likely seen plenty of tricks in his time, in fact, tricks were his job.

An enormous guard that had to be at least eight feet tall was suddenly behind him and put his hand on his shoulder. Fukai could feel the strength in the man's grip as he spun around. Looking into those small beady black eyes did not give the young man much hope for his immediate future. Ninjutsu and other ninja art is not permitted in this 'ere fair, you have broken the terms and as punishment you and your friend here will help with whatever odd jobs need doing. Fukai was skeptical about what exactly these terms of the fair were but was sure that no one had ever argued with this behemoth of a man about them before. Fukai looked over his shoulder at the poor man that he had managed to drag into this.. whatever this was. He mouthed out to the now seemingly middle sized man out of the three of them to ask him if he wanted to make a break for it. Depending on what the male replied with, he would take action. If the konohagakurian wanted to run for it, Fukai would quickly jab a finger into the man's gripping wrist and send a little pulse of raiton into it so that he may escape. He would then run for the entrance of the fair and down the street, hopefully with his new acquaintance. If the man wished to accept their fate, Fukai would do so too as it was the least he could do. He would let the man lead them around the back of the main fair stalls and give them a broom and a mop and tell them to start cleaning.

[1009] /1662
~exit~
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