The gods whispered to the man, "You can not withstand the storm." The man whispered to the gods, "I am the storm."

Zeref sat cross legged on a stone pillar about ten feet in height, and only wide enough to sit or stand. He wore his newly created Kōton gauntlets, resting them on his knees, his eyes closed. The hair on the back of his neck standing up from the small charge of electricity in the air, every few seconds a crack of thunder echoes through the area as a bolt of lightning struck one of several rods in the area. Despite the sound snapping through the air, Zeref stayed in his meditative state thinking back to the harsh teachings of his father.

"Listen closely boy, you have one purpose in life. To serve, to be a obedient dog of war." Noc, Zerefs father looked down at the beaten boy no older then eight. "Beyond that, you are nothing, just a tool, a weapon made to be pointed in a direction and unleashed." The boy looked at his father with hateful eyes, but only spoke two words. "Yes father."

Zerefs father trained him, taught him how to survive, kill, fight, at least up until his death partly at Zerefs hands. Since that day Zerefs only goal was to get strong enough to never be under someone else's thumb, to never be used for the purpose his father tried to turn him into. As of now Zeref was a shinobi of kumogakure, even without his father it seemed fate wanted Zeref to be a weapon, someones weapon, Zeref would only be a pawn of the higher ranks of the village for so long, for now he needed to be a pawn to be able to get stronger till the time was right.

Zeref allowed his mind to wander as he continued to meditate from his past, to his present and then to plans for his future. He had already started to plan his rise to power, it was only a matter of time until he reached his goals or died trying. Zeref would leave a body in his wake if needed, what ever suited his needs the most, he was able to mold to fit any role only time would tell what he would become. 

---

Post- 386
Total- 386

Flash! One. Two. Three. Brooooom!

Nariko briefly closed her eyes, blinded by the bright light. She wasn't sure where she had ended up exactly with her wanderings, but she assumed it to still be Kumogakure. Which was still not Konohagakure, where she was to meet up with Nayoko, thanks to the Mass Murderer of Kiri-Forest. Whatever this place was, it was annoying. Every so often, lightning crashed down into one of those odd rods, then thunder roared across the area. It was noisy, and the blinding irritated her. The only good thing were the dark clouds, as they currently seemed to reflect her mood, but other than that, there was nothing to be seen in this entire dull place that was worthy of her attention.

Her preceding battle with the two jounin had been... yes, what had it been? A waking nightmare wasn't too far off, but it had also something entertaining. Stabbing clones, black warps of death and darkness. There had been a point where she was unaware of what had been real and what hadn't. The Uchiha, the Mad God, had been fun companionship, granting her the honour to copy his whirling eyes, but the Mass Murderer... he could drop dead for all she cared. It was clear he wouldn't bring her to Konoha, leaving her to her own devices without any servants to do her bidding.

There had been Rakurai before him. He had been nice. He had helped her when she had stumbled in Kumogakure with a fever. She could return to the orphanage, of course, but despite their friendliness, that thought was beneath her. The lack of luxury, to live in a down-trodden place like that, no. Just no.

Flash! One. Two. Three. Brooooom!

The lightning crashed down into a nearby rod. Too close to her liking, and she jumped to the side with a yelp, glaring angrily at the rod next to her as if scolding a servant for its lack of respect. Nariko sighed. Her wounded leg ached. The bandage was holding up fine under the tear of her skirt, but the pain throbbed almost as hard as migraine. She really had to get out of here and back to the main city, but it looked like the whole area was just like this. Turning back and returning from where she came was also a long end by now. If only her wings were strong enough, she could fly the whole way, but since that wasn't the case, she was doomed to endure the suffering memory of the battle.

Or was she? There, sitting on a pillar of stones in between the crashing lightning like a fool, sat a guy. Just sitting there, eyes closed, as if it was the most normal thing to do. Didn't he understand this place was dangerous?

"Hey, you. Could you be so kind as to show me the way towards the centre of Kumogakure?"

She rested a hand on her side, looking down for a moment while scratching at the bandage around her leg in annoyance. She hoped the guy wasn't sleeping over there, as that would mean she'd still have to figure out the way by herself. Since her exhaustion was getting the better of her, that was the last of things she was hoping for.

---

560

Dispute the thunder and lightning all around him, Zeref remained in a perfect meditative state, his mind flashing between past, present and future. There have been rumors of conflict spreading through other village, as well as his own, rumors of power hungry kages, and a man on a purging mission, Zeref was only loyal to his own needs. Zeref has been weighing the odds between how likely it would be that he could survive a war on  Kumogakure side. The village, from what he has seen was lacking in power, and in numbers, but did that have allies? Could they create allies? Only time would tell of what will come of the village, and were Zeref will place himself.

Zeref remained perfectly still, that was until he heard a footsteps, and then a voice. He opened his eyes to look down at what seemed to be a young girl about the same age as himself. Instantly annoyed that his meditating and training got interrupted for something as trivial as a lost girl. He got up and stood on top of the pillar before taking a step off to land a few feet in front of the girl with the pillar now at his back. Now that he was closer he noticed a bit more detail of the girl in front of him, like the fact she was hurt. A fight perhaps? "You missed the village, but some how found the Thunder grounds?" Zeref shock his head slightly, it was clear she wasn't from the village, he had little reason to put up an act, he doubted he could earn anything worth while for the girl. "Come, I'll show you the way." He wanted to leave her there, but his training was already interpreted so he might as well head back to the village to get some missions done. Not caring if she followed him or not, he turned and started walking away towards the village, flexing his hands in his gauntlets still getting used to the feeling.


Post w.c- 339
Total w.c - 725

The young man stood up, annoyance visible upon his face, and jumped down. He looked at her like it was the first time he had actually seen her, eyes lingering briefly upon the bandaged wound of her leg. He didn't seem concerned, the way he spoke, mentioning something about not having found the Village despite being here. Nariko tilted her head in disbelieve of his words, wondering if the man realised they were located somewhere in the wilderness that belonged to Kumogakure. While she certainly wasn't familiar with the entire Village and its point of interests, she could at least recognise this much.

"You seem to know as much about the Village as I do, considering this is the wilderness.", she replied with an irritated frown upon her face. "Are you even from Kumogakure?"

She certainly didn't feel like being laid astray by a young man who knew the Village as bad as she did, possibly ending up in the middle of nowhere. Thinking about it, he looked a bit scruffy. Much like a thug. The sort of thug that lived in the slums, preying upon the weak so he could beat them up to steal their money. She narrowed her eyes a little, suddenly suspicious. What if the guy had indecent intentions? Would she be able to protect herself? Probably. She had wings, weapons and survived a jounin level fight. Piercing ice jutsu, S rank genjutsu, crazy squirrels and a rain of shuriken, ... So much crazy stuff had gone it was hard to believe she had lived it all through.

Nariko looked at the guy again. Yep. A thug, indeed. Wild hair, dressed not to impress, but ready to rumble. The gauntlets looked dangerous too. Had he been thinking on how to take on the next heist? How to murder someone? She couldn't tell, but from the look of his face, he seemed up to no good either way. A low-life.

---

327
Total: 887

Zeref heard her speaking after he had already started to walk away, his movements halted at her questions. Was he from the village, not really, but only those familiar with it ever came to the thunder grounds. Zeref sighed a bit half turning around to look back at her, her eyes and face full of suspicion. "Am I from the village? technically no. I grew up in the mountains and only recently joined as a shinobi. Am I familiar with these lands, probably more then half the people who live in the village. Zeref run one of his hands through his hair to the back of his head before dropping it to his side once more. "Most people, villagers or wanderers don't make it up here, either because you can feel the change in the atmosphere, or, there are signs at every path saying 'danger'" Zeref smirked slightly before continuing. "But maybe you are just not paying attention do to your gimped leg." Zeref reached behind him and pulled out his headband showing the villagers symbol on it. "Truth be told, I don't like wearing it, to bothersome." he slide it back into his back pouch looking at her again pure amusement on his lips. "And, you should watch those eyes of yours, they give everything away. Like, if I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already." Zeref turned his back to her and started back towards the path. "Now follow me to the village, or stay up here and get struck by a bolt, doesn't matter to me either way." He put his hands up to the side a little as he walked in a 'what ever' like gesture before dropping them once more.

This time he wouldn't stop to see if she was following, or to answer any silly questions of hers. Her voice annoyed him, her thinking annoyed him, her posture annoyed him. But that was also how Zeref found most people, annoying, a bother, and a waste of time unless it could benefit him in someway, this girl didn't seem like someone he could benefit from by befriending or otherwise.


post w.c- 361
Total w.c- 1086

Being ditched,
thread exit/thread end.
400 for strength D1 to D2
1000 for jutsu