Maikomaru...it was going to take ages to get used to that name. It had been a few weeks since his run in with his father. He felt weird to say it. He felt weird to be called it. But it fit. Because he felt new. He felt like a new man. A new person. With new resolve. It was funny how a day with a tired old man could completely change a person. Maikeru was dead. Maikomaru remained. He had a new conviction. A stronger path to walk. And a deeper mindset. He was given something. Something important. Something invaluable. Conviction. The only gift he would be given from his father other than life itself. A purpose. And this was something that was not to be squandered.

Maikomaru sat in his tent the majority of the week. Much strain was put on his body, and he needed time to let it relax. He looked down at his body, now scarred and hardened by battles. More violent one’s that he was used to. He had become larger. Bulkier. He remembered when he was smaller, and had only tenacity. Now there is something far greater on his belt. Unfortunately couldn’t finish his thought without realizing how tired he was. He had thought about what he was put up to do in all of what was happening The Land of Wind. Where Suna once stood. There were many people who he gave aid to. At the same time there was a blood soaked trail that stained the sands leading in his direction. He had to save and kill so many people. And for once, he had stolen an opportunity to go to his tent....and finally rest. His eyes began to give in to the temptation of closing. And once they finally did, he noticed the side of his tent had a shadow looming over. His eyes shot back open. His eyebrows scrunched. Whoever this was, if they hadn’t given him a good reason, there would be a great deal of hell to pay. He rolled out his tent, and saw that a man who had the physical mass of a skeleton. And when he saw the expression on Maikomaru’s face, he immediately flinched. He stood up and leaned over the man, who was busy being intimidated rather than telling him why he had disturbed him. “Um...you have a mission. And this one is a bit more difficult, but we are short handed in more qualified shinobi.” His voice was higher pitched. He really didn’t want Maikumaru to take that as an insult. Lucky for him, he didn’t. His face softened, resigning to his fate. He remembered what his father had told him. He gave him a bit of a weary smile, serving as a wary apology. He lightened his voice up. “So what’s the mission. Sounds like a challenge.”

“I presume you have heard of the Demolition Corps, have you not? With your Kekkei Genkai and all?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, that is returning. And you are a shoe in for the task. What you are to do is go to the Suna fortress and break it down. And I just want you know...this mission is optional. You can say “no.” This mission is indeed out of your league. It's just something that was thought for you to be interested in. Keep in mind if you choose to accept this mission the chances of you coming back alive is very unlikely.” Maikumaru gave another tired smile. “I accept.” He tossed the scroll at him, and nodded. “Good luck. You’ll need it.” He looked at it, and back at the man who began to walk away. Maikumaru looked at the scroll, and skimmed through it, despite this being a mission he should take more seriously. He rolled the scroll up and reached in his tent, removing the bag. He slicked his hair back, and took a deep sigh, looking face pointed to the sky, for a good long minute.  He sighed, and pressed on to the mission.



After making the journey across the sun scorched desert, Maikumaru peered over the dune and saw it. It was a dome. A large dome. It was strange to look at. It was a beaten dome that had different colors of stone across it, a result of some strange alchemy no doubt. He held his hand over his brow, blocking away the Sun’s brightness from his eyes. He saw that the dome was already under attack. Maikumaru took this as an opportunity. It was likely they were bandits commencing a raid, but he wouldn't worry about that right now. Staying low to the ground to in hopes to mask his presence, confidant it’d , he created the Tiger, Ram and finally Dog hand seals. His hands moved quickly created the Tiger, Ram and finally the Dog seal. He felt a sudden charge around his body, as the world around him begin to glow blue. Maikumaru felt ethereal, and suddenly, he was in the heat of the battle. He grabbed the closest enemy and hoisted them over his head. He drove them down hard on his thigh, that was covered with stone in the shape of a wedge. He felt the nice sickening snap of the spine, and tossed him aside.  He looked at the man who, through and educated guess,  was leading the charge. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. For now I will be your ally.”

927 WC

Jutsu:

The relation between the Yang-rich World and that of the Yin-attuned Otherworld is one that is difficult to fully understand. While those who were born and lived in the Land of Demons are far more familiar with the concepts of Yin Yang, the two worlds and the mystical powers that come with them, the Five Nations had shown Laïs that their comprehension of the two forces was limited at best. Theirs went no further than the concepts of balance, the spectrum of healing and occasionally that of Yin or Yang-rich jutsu. Though it was not the carrion crow's sage task to bother teaching these narrow-minded shinobi what the truth of the Two Worlds entailed, even she was still young in grasping the entirety of their relation.

Having sensed the presence of a familiar giant walking the earth in this region of Sunagakure and having felt the might of his chakra potential being manifested in a technique terrifying enough she worried he might erase the whole desert from the world map, Laïs had moved closer to the place where the whole event was transpiring. Despite her worry, there were two particular questions Laïs asked herself. Two questions she hoped to see answered by nearing the assault on a hidden fortress sheltered by the sand and the devilish winds.

The first of her questions concerned Yosei himself. The Black Heart of her mistress held a power that rivalled that of her, but where Laïs knew what her mistress was about and capable off to some extend, the man was still a mystery on terms of abilities. By staying at a save distance and observing his movements and the power he could harness, she expected to come to understanding of what exactly he embodied. His three chakra natures were not unknown to her but affinities could manifest as differently as there were shinobi in the world, leaving her guessing still at the purest essence of his soul. By observing his work of art on the battlefield more of his secrets would be revealed.

The second question had nothing to do with any of the people around here. The Yang-World was reflected within the Yin-Otherworld. Rivers and seas formed barriers of silver liquid for the spirits that lived in the realm of the dead, pushing them into new directions and tearing those spirits foolish enough to pass through them to shreds where they would otherwise simply require tools to get over. Buildings constructed by the hands of Man, calcified in intent and form, existed as a dancing mass of energies in the Otherworld. Though they did little to stop spirits from passing through, these empty shells of the World gave the semblance of life within the Otherworld - a persistent after-image mockingly left behind for the dead. Knowing all of this, Laïs wanted to see the impact in the Otherworld when this sort  of massive destruction would take place in the world of the living.

Now sitting on one of the stone spires that formed the teeth eating up the desert sand, the Jugo's presence was barely existing. Indeed, only those with a sense of understanding of the flow of Yin and Yang would be able to notice the carrion crow sage's existence despite her body and essence having faded away into the Otherworld. The Sage was effectively nothing different than a spectre at this point, invoking the latent powers of the ghostly Valkyries to remain invisible to the naked eyes of mortals as they wandered the battlefield to choose the souls worthy of Valhalla. The perfect form for a crow that had come to learn and observe from powers greater than herself.

The trail was once again flagged by death. Corpses and their lingering lost souls would once again beckon the Yin-attuned woman forward like flickering black candles summoning the presence of the Yobadashi demons. Perhaps she would do wise to heed the summon as the sky above her turned ashen, blocking out the sun to cloak the area in an eerie darkness. Unfamiliar the technique, that chakra signature was recognised by the wizened eyes of the Jugo who had formerly experienced it from a few meters distance at most. The Ash Crow didn't feel like fading permanently into Yomi just yet and ran further along the path of souls until she had reached the entrance Yosei had made.

Him and his forces ever moving forward, the path to knowledge was an easy one to walk for the unseen spectre.

---

773

310/320 | 90/100 | Rage 0/12:

Verdandi had lost track how many missions she had been sent to since she entered the war zones of Kaze no Kuni. Something between 30 and 40 missions? Another one more wouldn't matter much, she would think at first when she entered the mission headquarters. It went without saying that she was wrong in coming here in the first place as so many times before. As the assignment that was 'in need of more support' was unveiled, Verdandi scratched her head. Going there seemed majorly unhealthy. But it seemed like she had exhausted the amount of lower ranked missions one could get assigned towards, going by her success rate Verd hence got dips on this one. She didn't like it. HQ had far more trust into her skills than Verd had them by herself. All the stronk wonky people would go there and show off their thick veiny muscles while the tiny frail princess was supposed to somehow dance along and look good in the process. She sighed. But what does one do for fame, glory… or in her case for Ryo and the fact that auntie Aya wouldn't yell at her for being a lazy piece of butt. Verd however figured that, with a larger scale mission she'd have to dress accordingly. Leaving her usual princess garments at home and slipping into the black infiltrator's outfit. The mask she'd be wearing was supposed to somehow become the design of her ANBU one. She had been using it quite frequently as of late to undergo a number of missions against Kumogakure's religious fanatics.

Whilst there was no supposed enemy village here that could make a ruckus about the Kiri-nin finding her way into this place. The amount of people rostered up to take down that fortress was big. Little did she know that the sealer himself had put his fingers into play with this mission. One could only wonder if he filed the mission himself somehow or just showed up here on his own accord. Village-nin would turn up at the entrance to the valley that lead against the huge sand dunes protecting the fortress. Verdandi would move separately. She wasn't in charge of the soldiers this time. They could do whatever they wanted. Eventually more specialists or troops would show up over time. Verd glanced over the area. In the distance she could see a multitude of tiny dots, resembling a few guys that were previously in hiding going offensive. The sky was changing. The heaven would turn dark. The ashen smoke would blast upon the surface below. Considering the reaction that the village-nin were showing, a bit more of a retreat-like formation for now. Clearly displayed that they had no clue about what was happening. The group that was seemingly summoning hell down upon this fortress didn't seem to have much ties with the village forces. At least they didn't bother to come down, say hello, shake hands and talk about the weather. Verdandi sighed in sneaky black garments.

She felt how the heat was tapping down on her. Quickly she touched her chest and exhaled a thick mist of Hyouton chakra that would roam onto her body and cling to it like a second layer of skin even above her clothes. The soft layer on her body would gently cool down her skin and allow the Yuki girl to feel a bit more comfortable within the nasty environment of this heated desert. That meteor like hell spawn was to rain to the ground from above didn't make things much better. However, a multitude of sunaan military forces would answer the obvious attack by spreading out into the valley, openly attacking the forces. A few of them would march into direction of the village-nin that had since stopped their advances. Verdandi would follow their example and not go and do any rash movements while seemingly uncontrolled hellfire was raining. She had a certain lust for adventure but being hit by fire from the sky wasn't necessarily one of her hobbies. Especially if the did seem like of the kind that could burn the princess to ashes. Verd accepted the fate of a more cautious approach and would instead move down towards the village-nin. She would slowly approach them and wait until the sunaan military was about to engage them. If they were so bold to do so, Verd could easily flank them coming from her position above. However, she could tell just by looking at them that these troops were the canon fodder. The real threats wouldn't see reason to leave a heavily guarded fortress and make themselves vulnerable by bluntly stepping into the open. Little did they know that the fire that was boiling in the heavens was more than capable to tear down their priceless little walls.

820

Chakra 330 / 350:

Boredom was a curse, a curse which could even fall upon those who were expected to lead shinobi on the battlefield in these turbulent times of war and strife, yet despite how unbelievable it seemed, there was at least one of those leaders who had been put under such a wretched curse. Even as swaths of shinobi were being dispatched by other shinobi all over the lands she inhabited and her own forces, dwindling as they may be, took part in this unprecedented scale of warfare ever since the days of the fourth shinobi war, the sole leader of the Ryujin had settled herself upon a large, elaborately and elegantly crafted chair at the very end of a long, ancient table deep within the ruins of what had once been a place for the wealthy in a long forgotten empire that had rules the land of Wind before time immemorial. With her legs crossed and leaning upon said aforementioned taable, this woman sat in that chair sighing deeply as the few commanders under her sway remained bickering, argueing and squabbling about courses of action they had to take to either gain or safeguard pieces of land and territory under their control.

It was this very act of stoïc, stand still war which had started to bore the woman, who in all honesty would have admitted to herself that such trivial wargames were far beneath her. Sure she loved war, but she detested the so-called finer aspects, rather engaging and experiencing the thrill of battle than sitting in a room, discussing tactics and possible plans. In her opinion, the best plans, where those made on the spot, tactics based on situation and timing rather than foresight and the gathering of information far away from the battlefield itself.

With an ivory cup filled with a slightly sour, yet rather delectable liquor held in her hand, the woman looked at the ceiling and wondered what she'd have to do to alleviate herself from her present predicament. She wasn't allowed to just head out on a whim and attack some village's encampment, this would after all be a rather stupid decision when her forces had already been spread thin to keep an eye on all the invaders and to gain a foothold of at the very least a perimeter of around a ten miles radius surrounding her very own encampment and base of operations. Plainly said, not being able to go out on a whim was in a way the least of her problems. Given that it was mostly the fact that she had not a single clue on how to break the stand still which haunted her and forced her to remain in place until an option would be given to at the very least move out or move away.

Laïs wasn't around, most likely doing her own stuff in the desert lands surrounding the base of operations and from the Sealer she hadn't heard much except the fact that he apparently had been busy gathering followers for his own things to be done. All in all, it was obvious, as long as she had nothing to do, Lamya was not to act brazenly and without second thought, lest she ruined the progress made by her companion and her students efforts to learn much from those she would not have met if it were not for this pointless little wargame in the middle of the desert.

It was then that finally it seemed, a stroke of good luck and fortuity was being handed to her, when one of her more 'personal' guards approached her amidst another fit of sighing out loud, bowing towards her and whispering a few words into her ear that made her show a wicked smile from ear to ear. "The Sealer is making a move on a stronghold not far from here, should we assist him?"

The woman simply motioned the guard to continue, not forcing him to wait for any answer she might or might not have given. "Intel states that there is some ring of slavetrade involved with this and this faction has managed to cast Iwagakure's ire upon them for many thefts of sacred stone from their land."

"I see...don't care much about the whole slave thing, but if we ARE going to choose a new place to crash, it would most certainly be Iwagakure, so keeping them indebted to us might be a good thing," Lamya quickly sprang up from her seat and looked at the men still squabbling about tactics and borders, letting out a final deep sigh and simply deciding to ignore them outright while following the guard who had made her aware of what the Black Heart was doing. "You stay here, take care of Uraeus and see that he does not eat any of my...testsubjects, last time he managed to devour two of them...it really screwed up my progress on this summoning thing."

With that she left the large hall and went straight up the stairs, not even thinking of putting on any kind of armor, just wearing the white and gold dress she had worn the day that the Sealer had gotten rid of her Living Seal, simply because despite the very idea that this little ray of hope in her otherwise bored existence might be a dangerous undertaking, she also desperately desired the fun, the thrill of it all and that meant she had to appear before all in her least imposing, least oppressive self. She had to appear just as she was and nothing more, nothing less.

In less than half an hour, she had managed to jump accross rockformations near the borders with the land of Stone, closing in on the location of this strengthened encampment, a stronghold to slavers and rebels willing to forego the cause of their own nation and dabble in their own thievery and despicable acts while ignoring the call of those who ruled them from within. Practically laughing as she arrived about a click away from the stronghold, the Desert Snake tried to simply walk over to the place. She could've sworn that she spotted someone not too far away from her, so with a swift rush, she ran up to the strange individual of which she knew nothing, just to stop right next to this strange, furr wearing girl. "So...watcha doing here?" With a bright smile on her face, lamya hoped to at least appear nothing as she usually appeared like, having no intent to ruin her day with some pointless squabble or fighting with someone who wasn't a target. "You going to that place with those bandits as well?"

1125

In the vast wastelands of the desert, sounds could be easily carried to the far reaches of the lands. Haunting sounds, at first, she had thought them to be nothing more than memories that had begun to manifest now further than her dreams. Yet with each echoing cry seeming louder as it echoed within the depths of her mind made her stomach churn and bile raise like fire, burning a path into her mouth. Had she snapped down in that cell? Or did it simply supply her with the vision of the worlds vile truth? Unable to stand the sight of the four walls of her tent nor the examinations of another doctor telling her she should remain within the damned tent. Even out along the borders of the encampment, she couldn't find peace from the damned sounds, the bile easily being replaced with a venomous anger.  Her presence in the encampment itself causing some unease, mainly to those that had witnessed her return, the mess of her or the rumours that had followed.  

Her hands would reach up to cover over her ears dulling the ominous sounds, her mind swimming as she mumbled through gritted teeth, "It's just birds, just birds." Yet her mind was not swimming but drowning. her fingers would curl digging into the sides of her head. Time spent alone and without focus or a goal, gave fuel to the guilt that swallowed her mind, backed up only by the endless questions, Was he still alive? Did he suffer further? Where were the rest of her team? Were they alive? Was she... the only one left? Even in the cell, she had a clear objective, but now that freedom sat in her palm she was now more aware that her hopes had been futile.  Following a short sharp pain, nestled behind her left eye, the pressure in her head would seem to dissipate rapidly. When had she sat in the warmth of the sand? another action she could not recall, nor how long she had been there yet as her hands slowly withdrew from her ears, only for their movements to falter. Blood? Her gaze would focus on the droplet in the sand only for another drop to soak into the parched desert. Her hands would move to her face shifting to her nose, nothing … only a smear on the back of her hand. Her brow would furrow grazing the tips of her left hand along her cheek before travelling to her eye.  A sigh would raise from her lips as the realisation set in, between the burst blood vessel in her eye to the patches of marred flesh that seemed numb to the touch.  

So, consumed by the drowning of her own mind she hadn't realised until the last moment that the laboured breaths signalled someone too close. Her form would twist, kicking up the sand in the process as she rose into a crouch, her gaze locking of the incoming figure only to relax as she watched the messenger come to a halt, the same gaze most gave now when she didn't cover the left side of her face, not quite horrified more so disgusted. Despite this, she females voice would come between heaved breaths as she doubled forwards gripping at her own knees "Your presence is required..." She would stumble a couple of steps forwards holding out a small scroll. Finally, silence had come... Her mind would clear as her left hands remaining digits curled around the scroll, drawing to her feet as she unravelled it.  

Biting down on the flesh of her bottom lip her brow would crease. How could chunks of the chakra infused rock of Iwagakure be taken so easily? With a hiss as she crumpled the note stuffing it back into the girls' hand as she pressed hard into the sand, her form setting into a sprint. Her objective clear as she passed from the perimeter of the camp, heading out into the open desert to give aid. Still, in full movement, her hands would raise to draw down the veil like material that hung from loops threaded within the braided white strands of hair, to cover the left side of her face completely, making sure to secure the material to the small hooks on her clothing, found just beneath her jawline. Her attire that composed of a bodysuit, made a tight fit to ensure maximum coverage for her left side up to her throat completely whereas the right side showed visible flesh of her chest and arm. Draped about her form a lightweight material quite like the material of her glove, the glove itself had been made to keep the missing digits area covered and extending up along her forearm to her elbow. Whilst her beaded senbon that decorated the now snow-white strands of her hair, that for the most part sat in a bun whilst the right half of her fringe brushed her brow whilst a weighted bead held a section of hair down to frame her pointed features and high cheekbones. The only weaponry nestled safely about her form from Ripa tsume that hid within the folds of the draped material hanging from her hip to Amai sitting innocently in the front of her belt as Tatsu took its usual place against her back, again remaining in her belt, the sight of the two easily mistaken for simple fans.

Her hasty footfall would slow before coming to a halt as her head slowly tilted back allowing her eyes to widen and her lips to part slightly as she bore witness to the darkening of the sun, like an eclipse as ash filled the sky its scent thick in the air like a smog. Scanning the area her gaze would lock on the sight of an encampment. As though drawn forwards her slow steps would carry her forwards a form of fascination setting in as she watched the figures in the distance collide almost like a dance. Common sense, however, would again halt her footing drawing her attention back up to the ashen mass within the sky. For now, she would remain on the outskirts, biding her time before entering the fray, lest she be taken out by that which now hid the sun.  

---

Word count: 1052

Makoto never expected something like this as he was traveling under the heat of the hot sun, suddenly the skies blackened as he felt something intense, something he had never felt before as he looked around and decided to quickly hide himself beneath some sandy dunes and looked to the sky. He saw darkness in the skies and there was something he could not make out far off in the distance, he was not sure but he remembered hearing of there being some kind of fortress in that direction as he hid beneath the sand, he held in his breathe as some random shinobi stepped on him and walked towards the center of the darkness, if he did not have his shield he might have died as some of them really needed to lose some weight. What was it with people and not watching where they were walking as they seemed drawn towards it like moths to a flame, but it would be a lie to say that Makoto did not have that same feeling.

A bit of fear and a bit of excitement as he began to wonder what on earth could blacken the skies so much, was it a storm as he thought to himself the skies blackened far too fast for that as he wondered was this a deathly lightning storm ninjutsu, in which case he might be safest just laying there and hoping for the best. Though he had this strange feeling since this darkened skies seemed to stretch so far it was unbelievable was it a thousand meters or more. As he tried to gauge the distance it could be a few kilometers at least which meant there was no way this could be any normal ninjutsu, was this a jutsu of the highest rank, was it a rare forbidden jutsu art thought lost in the progress of time or could this be the technique that laid waste to the hidden village of sand.

For some moment he felt like he could be in danger as he just hoped the technique would not be able to reach him this far away, not that it would not be possible to simply run further away from it as he took note of what he saw.

Words = 378

Myrddin let out a sinister laugh as he watched the men fighting each other over a girl, itwas moments like these that the male enjoyed the most. Chaos, one could find it any where at any time. No one could really stop it, in fact trying to stop it usually makes the situation that much more chaotic. It is the symphony that is life, it was the music of the male's very soul. Since the break in the boy's psyche, Myrddin had been able to enjoy his time among the waking world. No longer kept on a leash of the boy's insufferable conscience and good will towards man nonsense, for the first time in his sixteen years of life Myrddin was not weighted down by thoughts about the lives of others. Unlike Raphael who saw only good and evil within the world, Myrddin realized the truth about the world. The was no good or evil, there was no right or wrong. There was only Chaos. Chaos is what makes the world move, Chaos is what keeps one among the land of the living and Chaos is what takes one's life away. The world was nothing but a series of chaotic events that kept everything else in motion. One day he would find those tmwho thought as he does, and on that day the world will tremble beneath the Chaos of Titans once more. The male was in no rush to achieve his goal, there was no need to be for if he just lets go and allows himself to allow the chaos to come to him then his goal would be achieved. For the first time he was free to do as he pleased, no schedule, no assignment, no care in the world other than seeing it all unfold before him. Raphael had once referred to it as if the wind was calling to him from a distance, it was what drew him to the land of lightning and the village hidden in the clouds, and it called to him again calling for him to return to the land of wind once more. Myrddin however knew it more as a yearning, he was drawn to Kumogakure because of power. During the chuunin exams the Raikage had called for a summit with the other Kages, that coupled with two of Suna's destroyers making an appearance. All those powerful energies in one place and somewhere deep inside the boy he could feel that power, and he yearned for it to be his and so he sought it out. With the closing of the chuunin exams and the departure and separation of the powerful chakra left a pit inside of him, just as he had felt the night he witnessed Suna's destruction. The power of the Titans would never be his, he was but a boy among giants. The boy trained all the harder improving not only his physical abilities but his mental and spiritual abilities as well, he did everything he could to achieve that power and yet still it remained out of his reach. Then the yearning began again, massive power was growing within the land of wind. The titans were once again revealing themselves to the world, their might and their sonder. The boy believed he wantes to come here to help these people, but in reality he was here to find the sources of this yearning and to obtain a piece of the power that the Titans held. Having his feel with the back and forth of the two buffoons, the male turned to head out in search of something more.

Dark clouds on the horizon began rolling overhead from the North, it was as if the universe was answering his call. "I guess it is true what they say, 'if you are patient, your will come.'" The male said aloud though no one was around to hear him, chaos had come once more and the power of titans was once again among the realms of man. The male felt he had little choice but to investigate the source further, Myrddin would take off towards the epicentre of the black clouds that now blanketed the sky and blocked the Sun's light. Disappearing in a flicker with sand kicked up around where he once stood, before suddenly reappearing atop a an outcropping of stone that surrounded the fortress. From this angle he watched as the man tore throw opponent after opponent, this man wielded the power of a Titan. Watching the man the male felt an itch that he could not ignore forming the seal of confrontation the boy created a copy of himself, perfection in every way down to the mask that covered the male's face. Handing the clone his Kaminari Steel windmill shuriken, the boy stated "you know what to do." With a quick nod the clone dropped from on top the stone out cropping and moved in towards the man, of course the man seemed to be doing plenty of damage on his own but the young anbu just could not help himself he had to be apart of the action.

---

862

Chakra ~ Self:190/190 ~ Clone:190/190:

Verdandi gazed into the distance and enjoyed the view for now. The village soldiers kept asking if they could finally go ahead and advance. Too giddy to get into battle. But Verdandi shook her head and waved her hand from the distance. Telling them to shut up and sit tight. Some of the guardians of the fortress were marching around and stomping over the sand dunes. Most men seemed to just be confused over what was happening. But Verdandi had a very unique ability that seemed to completely escape most other individuals in this place. Especially those weird slavers moving through the valley instead of hiding in the castle. She had patience. The ability to sit her ass down and wait it out when something way larger than herself was happening. Also, she lacked the insane narcissist ego to not fail and see when she was yet outmatched. Still a young child on this battlefield. Leaving it up for the elder, seasoned shinobi to pull the big red strings and let the plot unfold before her eyes. Which it actually did. Whatever had created that nasty, black, ashen heaven now had furthermore created an ever-growing sun of flames above the castle. This was one of these moments where she totally would have held Chi's hand and romantically gazed into the eyes of apocalypse before her. A seemingly world-ending technique always got her blood welling and her heart rate would raise to match the adrenaline and the sweet feel of goose bumps on her skin.

Verdandi had taken a bit too much of a glimpse of the sun. Silly young princess. Her mother used to tell her during the solar eclipse not to stare at the orb of light even if it was pretty. Even back then she couldn't help but try and build Hyouton based glasses, tinted with ink to allow her to see it anyway. But today. She didn't have any of these glasses on her and totally gazed into that large beautiful ball of destruction casually melting down men and stone beneath it. Crumbling away the entrance ways to the building. Soon extending to the point where it would engulf a lot of those militiamen and slavers she had seen running around. Basically, burning them to ashes within the beautiful rays of sunlight from the man-made planet mimic. Verd could hear that her soldiers that just moments ago ought to charge into battle. Now were glad Verd had told them to stay put and even moved backwards now. Dandi shook her head. She couldn't care less if they ran or not. They were canon fodder sent here to eventually die or not. She had been working for the villages long enough to sense when someone was just here to die and when someone actually had enough personality and power to themselves to have a miniscule chance of surviving. Like Bob. The cool leaf ninja with the weird haircut. Ahhh Bob. Verdandi nodded and smiled. Fond memories of her favourite side character.

But unfortunately to Verdandi's utter and complete irritation. Not everyone shared the same humble and patient features that she was so proudly showing off, to her mental self, moments ago. Being rudely interrupted in her train of thought. Her day dreams of romantically enjoying the apocalypse with her suiton-cthulhu boy. By an actual living person that completely had made use of Verdandi's absolute inability to see much to straight forward appear next to her. Verd almost had a heart attack when her sub servient senses picked up the few signals that would actually have foretold the appearance of the snake goddess. But the combination of being mostly blind, being unprepared from visitors, especially approaching from behind and the insane natural speed she seemed to carry with her, ultimately led to the situation where Verd could either hope that the individual was of friendly nature or accept her utter doom and admit that leaving this plane of existence while staring into the sun would be quite a lyric and acceptable way to die. It would eventually come to Verdandi's utter relief that the creature speed-approaching her did not seem to be hostile after all. Halting just close within the ice princess vicinity and daring to look all fabulous and dashing pretty. Verd did have to admit that it might have been partly due to the fact that her eyes were basically covered in that blunt glowing shadow over her pupils after seeing the second sun. But as her vision slowly returned a bit, the bright light surrounding the gorgeous creature before her would have led nations to kneel and worship her as their next utter goddess.

But eventually. That glowing glint of blind holy light would subside further and there was but a an adult female, with indeed wonderful proportions and a pretty dress but all the holy glorious godlike special effects had worn off. Verdandi would be slightly a'gasped by the badass way she just stood there in all her glory and smiled an almost creepy smile of pure and utter friendliness towards the ice princess. Verdandi's empathy quickly picking up multiple warning signs. Emotional instability maybe? Deep suppressed rage? She couldn't put her finger on it. Could have also been a seemingly insatiable desire to cause havoc and destruction but she mixes the lot of them up sometimes. Dandi decided it wasn't the time to trust her empathic instincts, instead it was time to shut down that over thinking brain for once. Concentrate on the fact that the pretty dressed lady had just smiled her most bootyful smile at Verdandi while asking her questions. Verd would quickly return her smile, brightly. Only to notice that she was still wearing an incredibly ugly and insanely scary mask on her face. For a moment there, her absolute need for being socially correct and polite would drive her to grab her mask and slightly raise it from her skin. At least making her bright smile and her sweet pink young lips visible as she giggled away.

However, before she could make the mistake to fully reveal her face. Verd's smile would slowly turn into a pout as she forced her own palm to return the mask straight back onto her face. Having shown a glimpse of her lips, maybe was enough to give the pretty lady before Verd an idea of what kind of young woman could be behind the mask. Verd would bow forward very shortly. Not finding any dramatic royal greetings to be really of place here. Since no names were exchanged and Verd had just returned the mask back on her face, Dandi was counting on the off-chance that this whole interaction might go down the way without any names at all. Verdandi began to explain how she came here. Just wanting to free some good ole' slaves and then suddenly, big large sun appeared and was now burning down thee castle! Nodding eagerly at the prospect that proof to her words were straight there, the dressed lady didn't seem impressed as much, as if she had seen such eclipse or apocalypse before.

"Hmmm yes yes, the sun should be collapsing any moment now… I guess its save to move in a bit. If you wish to accompany me towards the castle's entrance. I have a feeling that the gate will be wide open once this whole fireball thingy disappears!"


1250 / 2070

Maikumaru weaved back and forth, dodging blows from from left to right, while successful blows he was able to take a hit in stride, using them to fuel the rage of battle, while at the same time enduring the intense heat that came off the man he had approached. He gave a compliment to Maik, which made him smile. “I can endure more than most”. Using the style his late master had taught him, combined with the teachings of his late father, Maikumaru berserked across the desert, decimating anyone foolish enough to come his way. As he did, he peered over the towards the dome. When he did, he was suddenly punched in the face. The Brawler punched back in a slower and more powerful fashion, giving a mighty roar with it. He went back too looking at the dome, and couldn’t help that some of its material looked familiar. But he was forbidden from dwelling on it, as he began to become assaulted by duo of defenders. He grabbed them both by their necks and lifted them into the air, giving an angry shout while throwing them to the side.

But then something else had caught his attention. Not just him, but something that would advert the eyes of most people on the battlefield. In the sky was a magnificent ball of fire. It glistened over the dome. Put shade over his eyes, to get a better glimpse of the faux star. Maikumaru was taken aback by the consistent and consecutive bursts of heat, clenching his muscles. “It's...so hot.” It was too bright for him to look at directly. When it over, he looked onward at the Fortress. It melted many of the structure. Maikeru realized something. The swirls of orange were a very specific color and texture that none other then special material only found in the Land of Earth and only forged by Iwagakure. Maik clenched his teeth. This was theft against his village and one that must be rectified immediately

Whatever Jutsu that was had melted straight through the layer of the Fortress. After hearing his comment about freeing someone, Maikumaru looked down to the powerful Ninja. Maikumaru cracked his neck from left and right and then cracked his knuckles. “If you mean kicking their asses by freeing, then yeah…lets do some freeing.”

Maikeru floated into the air. As he did so his body became engulfed large amounts of rocks that grew on his body, and formed into a Minotaur. The beast ran forward, trampling over enemies and knocking them aside, listening to the crushing bones as he railroaded over them, and seeing the panic in everyone around him as snaps and breaks created exhilarated him. He saw that there were many people under where the dome had been melted open and reacted quickly. His hands reacted quickly, creating the Ram → Boar → Dog → Bird → Hare hand seals. When he sent a large amount of Raiton to the ground, four large pillars made from the earth below ascended to the outside of the dome. The group stopped. In their tracks. Some ran right into the lightning “ropes” and were instantly shocked. Maikumaru. He felt the unstable energy that was his Bakuton Kekkei Genkai surge to his leg. He raised his foot and slammed it into the ground. From his foot onward the explosive and volatile chakra was forced into the ground, cracks on the floor, and sand being thrown aside from underneath was leaching towards his enemies. The Chakra eagerly sped swiftly towards the target, ready to bring destruction to them. He created a one handed hand seal and then there was a magnificent explosion that destroyed the pillars, and decimated the prisoners inside their lightning prison. When someone with a particular blunt Warhammer made an attack in an attempt to opportunistically flank Maikumaru, the Iwa Ninja grabbed one of the panicking Shinobi and lifted him and used him to block the incoming attack, hearing his bones break from the impact of the giant weapon. His broken body to the side, and jumped back. While creating the Ram → Horse → Dragon. He spat out a large heap of mud on the floor, which expanded and turned into the head of a dragon, that gave a loud roar, opening its mouth and shooting large balls made of hardened mud that shot at the enemy, violently pelting him, knocking him off guard and to the ground. When his weapon dropped out of his hand, Maikumaru immediately saw the opening, and removed a Kunai from his pouch, and jumped on top of him. Maikumaru shoved the weapon deep into his neck. Blood spilled from the wound and his mouth. The Champion of Iwa angrily pulled the weapon from the man's throat, and wiped it off. Maikumaru ran past people, punching people out of the way. He jumped into the air and laid his fist down on the wall. He clenched his teeth and fists once more. “This….this doesn't belong to you…”

837/1764 WC

Jutsu:

The trail of death left behind by the Black Heart was... Was there even a word for it? She could almost recount the way he had killed these men as if she had been there herself. Every movement of his body seen before her mind's eye as she spotted the single strike that had taken them down. It was so clean one could only consider him merciful in his approach despite the killing intent he had been wielding. Every puncture, every slice, every halmark of a life's end revealed a dance of death the sage couldn't even begin to grasp. Otherworldly. Perhaps that was the word she was looking for, the concept so familiar to her that the idea right under her nose was so easily overlooked. Yes, eldritch would pretty much describe the artistry he had brought forward. As if he had been given years of time to perfection the way of killing. Years of time that others would never have been able to achieve.

Laïs would smile. Such a romantic man, wrongly perceived as a ruthless killer by those who opposed him. A monster without remorse. Failing to see how he brought a swift and conclusive death to avoid any sort of suffering to these pitiful mortals. Yes, perhaps the man did have some qualities worth cherishing after all, his actions breaking the judgement of a first impression where he had seemed as nothing more but an aloof personality vying on her mistress, harbouring power and plans without much more than that. Death was an art with plenty of hidden specialisations. It seemed the man knew that much.

Continuing her path along the dead, souls reaching out to her as they knew the occultist could see them as clear as daylight. In fact, having breached the Veil with her technique, the Jugo was not even dwelling in the realm of the living at this point, fully engulfed and embraced by the Yin-energies that were inherent of Yomi. The Otherworld like a negative of the World. Cool, quiet, waiting to be discovered. Like one of the phantoms of Yomi, the young woman pursued her path following the flickers of rising ethereal light. Drawing closer to Yosei as she set one foot before the other whereas he was being slowed down time and time again by opposing forces. Even if his advance was only slowed a mere few seconds, she would eventually catch up. Given time.

The air was heating up. The blistering flame pretty much being a sun of its own inched closer, aggressive fire licking the already dry sky of Sunagakure and swallowing it up as it grew dangerously closer with every passing moment. Urging her on as the very idea of being burned alive by this destructive mass was a terror barely kept behind the nightmarish memories of what her mistress had deeply imprinted in her psychology. There was but one to fear and that was Lamya, but this kinjutsu was doing a good job in making her forget that mental scar. Taking Einherjar from her back and clenching it tightly in her hand as if it would provide a measure of comfort, Laïs mustered her courage and moved further along the Death Trail.

In the distance, she could see him. The Black Heart of her mistress - Yosei. Chatting with another person. Seemingly a person who had become an ally considering the rather short distance between them. She couldn't see who or what it was exactly, the person in question certainly not bearing the black clothes of the Ryujin. Not wishing to leave potential secrets undiscovered, Laïs expanded her sage senses to the limits of her possibilities and suddenly picked up a vast amount of people running about. Most of these were skirting the soon-to-be-ruins of the fortress that was currently being assaulted but in the desert itself were another few personalities. All but two of their chakra signatures lingered around her own level of power. One of the powers peaking high above the others being the very power she had been following so far, the other being the familiar darkness of Lamya herself. Registering the Snake's presence here was quite a surprise, the darkness almost feeling like the comforting embrace of a friend despite the nightmares she had brought. Laïs would grin. If both of these monsters were here, she had pretty much nothing to worry about but them.

Moving closer still to Yosei and his partner, Laïs eyes would register the new ally in full detail. His face, his clothes, his chakra signature. Until she picked up the presence of a group of shinobi swiftly running towards her. Shinobi registered by Yosei as well, from the way he moved his gaze to perceive them. She doubted the squad was meant for her, a small worm hiding in the sea of sands, but she'd move swiftly out of their trajectory, allowing them to clash with the wraith. Like a deja-vue, the way he moved through weapon and enemy alike was much like, and even surpassed, the imagery she had seen in her mind's eye before. Having seen him in action for the first time, she was so much given the confirmation this man was not of the this world. Eldritch, indeed. Curiosity piqued at this point, the Jugo truly wanted to know what shadows lurked behind the man and moved forward.

Little did she know the man had a similar sage sensory as hers, allowing him to pierce through the Veil into the Otherworld where she currently resided and bypass the cloak of Yin-senjutsu chakra she was wearing around her figure. Whereas Yosei would be able to pinpoint the origins of her echoing voice, it would leave the ally next to him guessing where it originated from, his senses not awakened just yet to perceive senjutsu chakra properly.

"A magnificent dance if I ever saw one.", the carrion crow sage's chuckle would follow. "I hope you won't mind if linger around for a while? I want to see the fireworks you're bringing."

---

1027
Total: 1800

300/320 | 70/100 | Rage 0/12:

The very sound of screams and despair could be heard for miles away, but the most beautiful and certainly illuminating sight of beholding a sun so close to the doorsteps of the earth itself was quite exhillerating. Some may have called it blinding, others could call it immaculate, but to Lamya, it actually more or less looked apetising. For some odd reason, she had to grin and lick her lips just at the sight of such radiant brilliance. Yet, alas to all who thought of the sight to be beautiful from their position to watch it from afar, the whole show was over and subsiding quite as fast as it had started, a rather disappointing end for something which looked to be so nice to have a look at.

Frowning slightly, the Snake gently followed this new companuion's pace. It was intriguing to find someone in the middle of the desert wearing a mask which was neither of the Ryujin or any of the Suna clans, very interesting for both the time in which nations seemed to struggle with eachother to invade the forelorn land of wind and certainly in a place like the desert where all were unforgiving to the unknown and unspoken. "Well, though I doubt there'll be anything to do for us when we reach that place," The woman laughed and motioned towards the subsiding light, pointing out that she was most certain that something like that must've ment that at least one or two great pawns in the world's game had been moving. With the youth seemingly hesitant to show her own face and only revealing a pair of lips forming into a smile and then a pout, the Desert Snake simply gave the girl another bright smile, before walking onwards."Pretty smile, should show it more I guess."

The girl was right though, the bright representation of a star, a sun, had been collapsing and ending its radiance. The idea that they'd be moving through the main gate with ease because of this was...less appealing of a thought. "Why not have some fun and quickly get over there to see what's all the fuss," Acting a bit giddy, the woman started picking up the pace and moved on towards the castle. "What's the fun if there's nothing left for us to do?"

She wondered though, who'd it had been that had set off such a weird and straight up blinding sort of jutsu. It almost looked like some sort of genjutsu, though it seemed to share some properties with her own kinjutsu White Rage, which she had actually never displayed in public before. So the questions came flowing into the woman's mind. Who was it? Who had such a similar technique? Who had access to something that radiant? All questions to which she knew the answers were to be found at the castle, so as to her own instinct, she moved even faster, striding through the sand as if she got swept up by a gale of wind and was simply riding or rather gliding atop of it, only to stop just once and turn her head back to the girl. "A shinobi that can't run faster than a snail...isn't really a shinobi, right?" She laughed and moved on ahead, all the while forming a few handseals to prepare herself for whatever might've remained holed up in that place, even after that sun-like appearance of before. "Oooh, I'm getting all goosebumpy over here."

At long last, she reached the castle's gates and they were...not open as she'd had thought, they were still closed, but even so, Lamya could hear the rumbling, the clashing of blades, flesh and metal behind it. The very fact she couldn't just jump over the massive walls or slam through the immensely strong gates did irritate her at some level. "can't go through, can't scale it...can't jump over it, but I CAN try to fly over it." With thoe words being uttered, the back of her dress ripped open as a mass of flesh, skin and scales erupted from her shoulderblades, forming a pair of immaculate, white and scaled wings, which with a single beat proppelled her upwards into the air, until she had reached a high enough altitude to manage it for herself to perch atop the gatehouse's upper wall and have a good look over what was happening inside of the castle.

"Hmm, so we got Iwa-nin...some suna remnants, a few of which I know nothing and..." With her eyes growing dull and a vicious smile upon her face, the Desert Snake recognised at the very least two faces in the crowd. Spreading that pair of wings once more, lamya jumped down, right in the middle of a group of what seemed to be soldiers of some sort, her impact was...well, not an impact at all, as her feet simply touched the ground gently as she reached the ground, at which point the woman simply slammed a few of the men asidee with her wings and started laughing loudly. "Why didn't any of you tell me there was a party?!?"

Some of the mend drew their swords, others fetched any projectile they could find, all clammoring for the metal on their waists and hips to throw or slash at the newest intruder. Though at least a few hits managed to find their way at the woman, the result remained the same. There was no scratch on her wings nor herself, yet her skin had become scaled, her muscles more defined and her eyes simply showed a rather strange red-ish hue within the gold that was so prevalent within its silver ring. "Really...You guys don't get it do you? I was trying to greet someone I know..."

With her muscles buffing up even further, her nails nearly becoming claws and her limbs and torso nearly shredding the dress she wore to bits, the woman suddenly grabbed one of the soldiers by the head and squeezed until it popped like a fresh plum, blood and brain splattering all over the soldier's comrades and the ground. All the while, the woman simply strode through the dumbstruck crowd to move towards the one who'd had drawn her attention the most: The Sealer. "Should've figured it was you who had triggered that blinding thingy earlier."

1087/2212

notes:

In a world where true titans of power wandered so freely amongst the ordinary folk, bearing witness first hand to the creation of a second sun, such enough to cut terror and chaos amongst the masses. Was this unmistakably beautiful style of devastation like that in-which had laid ruin to Sunagakure no Sato? Like a moth to the flame of war the masses further seemed to spill forth from the fortress, as though they would make a difference to the titan that opposed them, cannon fodder at best.  As the second sun shifted towards the fortress Taeru’s left hand would rise to shield her squinting vision, as she peeked through the slithers of gaps in her fingers. When had she begun moving again? Her long stride drawing her closer, was she too just a moth to the flame?  

With her lips parting, her breath taken hostage by a mixture of the heat and the sight of the second sun turning layers of Iwagakure sacred rock to its molten form, like that of the Kanetsu clan that wielded the arts of Yoton. For but moment, her mind would wander, where was Lord Raishi in this war? Yet such thoughts would take on a darker tone as her thoughts shifted to her late squad member Anri. Her long strides would pick up speed as she broke off into a sprint, her destination clear as anger boiled within her, urging her forwards. Each and every step kicking up trails of sand in her wake before finally finding the crunch of glass. The crunch itself now instilling a sense of unease in the pit of her stomach calling forth to trigger the ignition of her chakra, calm at first like flickering embers raising into the air. A subtle vibration of sickness and decay entering the fray would signal her arrival in the form of her chakra signature.  

The calm before the storm though lasting mere milliseconds seemed to last a lifetime as the spin of her Ripa tsume finally collided with that of an enemies kuni. A standstill as the sound echoed between the two only for Taeru’s form to dip downwards, turning Ripa tsume to its side so that the blade now faced her enemy before launching herself forwards with a harsh force so that as her shoulder connected with the enemies gut, whilst her blade would knock against her enemies wrist bone before shaving a chunk of flesh from the wrist to the elbow, shredding the clothing in the process. As the enemy bent double over her form her own would dip further so that her rump almost grazed the glass ridden sand before sliding out from beneath the body. As she arose, Amai already residing in what had started out to be her empty hand, flicking the tessen shut with a snap sharp enough to flick the enemies blood along the ground. Her pale robes now already stained with a flood flow of blood that, with close inspection of her enemy, had spilt from a gash in their stomach stretching from one hip to the other.  

The folds of fine fabrics saturated now would slap against her thighs with each step the sight pausing the enemies that advanced towards her for but a moment, yet time was not their friend and they were late to this dance of bloodshed. Stepping forwards, her gaze would sweep over the enemy, Ripa tsume in one hand and Amai in her other, her part in this performance had only just begun. As the first stepped to confront her, a male well built and taller, she too would step to meet his stance. Taking careful note of the electrical charge crackling along his arms, set off as he cracked his knuckles. As he launched his first, only dodging seemed appropriate feeling the static pass by her masked cheek watching his fist pass her as her form turned side face before sliding closer, Amai still closed she would strike hard and true against his ribs, the sound of the bones cracking under the pressure, before pivoting on the spot to pass by him before striking down against the back of his head sending him to the ground. The others now entered into their attacks. As ones sword swung in a downwards arch she would step back allowing the blade to embed into their comrades back only for her to step into the waiting arms of another whos grip tightened almost breathlessly around her chest to the point she felt her ribs may give way, her heels rose and the balls of her feet barely grazed the ground. Drawing her leg back between the offender's legs to gain momentum as she drew it upwards in a vertical split, kicking him hard enough in the face for the grip to loosen. With the new found room she would drive Ripa tsume into the soft of his waist, a total of three times, her last thrust being be disrupted by a harsh boot to the chest sending both herself and the one that had held her into a heap on the ground.  Roling from the bloodied male as another boot aimed in a stomp came just out of time. Her form would press from the ground as her opponent's foot rose again, rolling Ripa tsume to a side hold with her index through its loop, like a claw of vicious proportions she would drag the blade along their inner thigh before using its curve to continue its tracts into the males delicate region, opening him up as she drew face to face with him, his regret so plain to see upon his pain-ridden features. A surge of toxic green flamed chakra would glide over Amai as she placed it beneath his chin leaning her own face back as she loosed one of her seven rounds.

The males form would drop at her feet only for her to walk over the body her aim true as she strode forwards loosing another three bullets; one in the chest of a women, the second in the face of another and the third in the hip of a male, of whom's throat she would slice on her way past. Her steps heading towards the main brunt of damage to the fortress and towards those she would, for now, class as comrades, bringing with her the eerie sensation of a creeping sickness.

---

Word count: 1074.
Total word count:2126

330/350:

As the legend inside Makoto’s mind went, a Man who was more the six meters tall with a large robe dictating him as the great saviour of this land. Little did he know that the technique he would be witnessing was one that should have never come into creation as it broke the fabric of reality. No one remembers how the war started and how it had come to this, but it was clearly man who had blackened the skies by asking for the impossible. Man had entered a realm that they should not have, from being mortal beings they were striving to become gods. Like the sands of the forgotten village of Sunagakure, they would one day return to dust like a release of all their worries as they break free from their mortal shackles.

Makoto could not believe it, his mind was not ready, his body was not ready. Every fibre of Makoto’s very being could not fathom the awe inspiring epic fortitude and metal required for people to stand there before such a godly jutsu. A part of Makoto felt like he could die happy right here and now, but his survival instincts kicked in reminding him that in the future maybe he would find a jutsu even greater then what he witnessed today as the storm you expected from the darkened skies did nothing to hide the fact that all of this was not a natural disaster.

Makoto felt to some degree that the world had turned dark, not in a literal form but in a figurative form not that he even understood the thoughts rushing through his head as the madness made no sense as the intensity got intense, with suspense making him tense as he wonder what was at the end of his sentence.
Like a prisoner within his own mind, lost in a maze with no exit to find.

Working so hard like he was trapped in an endless grind, falling so far behind losing his sight going blind.
The flash of life before his eyes, he just could not find himself being as strong as these guys. Losing all hope as he tries to cope, trying to relate to feelings driving him to the rope.

Moving ever closer as he crawls on the ground, buried beneath the sand creating a mini sand dune mound. Like a lost hound hidden with no trace to be found. With every step they take he just can not relate, how in the world can you care about love when you are cursed to hate.

The feelings that Makoto felt, the damage that this world has dealt. He was broken inside without a reason to hide, he had lost his ability to feel, until that moment a jutsu would reveal. He found his first love in the form of burning shurikens, a mix of jutsu and other shenanigans. He could never forget that day, when his parents just left him alone to play. Trying so hard to try to perfect a technique, but he did not have the strength as he felt so weak. Forming hand seals from the rat to the cat to the dog and the bat, he made so many seals that he dropped down and sat. Resting from a day of hard work and training, and his parents scolding him as he tried explaining.

He destroyed some artifacts and got punished in some way, he does not remember what happened but the feelings will stay. He was now set free, as he just let it be, since he knew his parents could not care to see.

No one understood and how could they understand the feelings of a boy overwhelmed by the intense feelings of a love for jutsu that no one could ever know, no one could understand, no one could ever break his conviction, like an affliction.

Unsatisfied by everything, as jutsu like music to him start to sing. Like a mad voice not giving him any other choice as his mind wants to draw close like a moth to a flame, who is it, in the end that you would blame
It was said on this day long ago that a boy would see the end of the world and grow.
Like a child in the wake of the morning full of energy before he starts exploring.
The feelings of reality bending and the pains of chakra spending.
He performed so many hand seals inside of his mind, as the endless re-awakening of the forgotten ninjutsu grind.
Work hard, try hard, sing songs of jutsu and become shinobi bard.
Barred from life, armed with knife as you do not care for the nagging of a wife.
Live by your own word, die by your own sword, find excitement or get lost being bored.
In a time when shinobi ruled the world, there was peace gained through the hardships of war
As you then try to build, a future with a broken core.
Torn apart by the feelings of hatred, losing everything that you feel is sacred.
Awaken the pain inside, then divide, your emotions that you hide.
So no one can tell you what to do, no one can try to stop you.
Become the unstoppable force, and follow the path of your course
Like a full course meal, feel satisfied just being able to feel
Do you understand how it came to this, this twist in fate like a curse lost in its own verse.
Unable to return to the way things were before, not able to care for people anymore
Was this the true path of a shinobi, to become a tool when nobody knows me
Do lose face behind a mask, and just grind out endlessly in a never ending task
What did it mean to be a spy, what did it mean to tell a lie, what was the truth of being a guy, or the real emotion felt when one would cry

All these feelings inside of Makoto’s head, driving him from the living to the dead
He stepped closer until these feelings took hold of him tightly
He needed to live on to shine his jutsu more brightly
How he wondered when he became so unsightly
Giving up his dream to go fight in a dead sea
Bodies everywhere as the world had fallen into chaos
As all the times he had thought he had won, it was inevitably a loss
A loss of words, a loss of limbs, a loss of life and a loss of whims.
How would he decide and to who will he confide
That the only thing that he cares about is mastering all jutsu
As he wondered if others would want to get good too

It was not over yet as he could never ever, ever, ever give up on his dreams.
He had to get passed his fears and ignore the endless cries and screams.

People were running away in fear as he realized just how beautiful the blackened skies made the jutsu appear, even with his poor eyes he could see the magnificence of the envoy brought forth by a jutsu god as he began to wonder if one day he would too ascend to become a god of all jutsu. Makoto was not a true shinobi in the sense that he could be used as a tool, for him the one he served was the one jutsu that would bring an end to that which is not jutsu, the ultimate jutsu to awaken the feelings hidden deep within this wall of sin. Makoto had to find his divinity and find his will to compete in a world beneath his feet as he will no longer accept his defeat. Witnessing a jutsu so epic it made him fall in love at first sight, but it was merely a crush as his own feelings he would begin to fight, under the light of the dark beginnings that shine so bright as his chest felt pain as his feelings made his chest feel tight.

Makoto was having a panic attack as the excitement over flowed he began to lose feeling as his mind drifted away as the shifting sands blew through his hair that day as he wondered what was going to happen to this world as the endless hordes of people charged forth towards the destruction while others ran from it. No one had time to care about a small boy laying within the sand, no one willing to even take the time to think to lend a helping hand.

Makoto found himself in a new world inside of his head as he began to wonder if he was now living in the land of the dead. A mysterious shrouded figure stood before him as he looked to the man floating above the water with the four elements surrounding the man were a ball of water rotating around him with an endless flow, a stream of fire breaking the fabric of reality as the flames moved so slow. The earth element spinning around like planets rotating around the sun, and the wind element igniting the flames as if to have them dance and have fun.

It was on this day that Makoto decided that he would become the avatar, not in the sense that others understood as he felt he should become a master of the elements as he knew there was an element he could not master as he did not know where it was as a spark lit up deep inside of his soul as he renewed his feelings to follow his one true goal. He began to see the truth, it was like a revelation as he could not understand the sensation he felt inside of this dream that spoke to him as he was still laying on the sand inside his mind as he began to remember what it was.

He stood up trying to reach out to the man, but the first thing he felt was a burning sensation as the fire inside him would awaken. Then as he felt the flowing waters of life, his body felt like it was shaken. Something deep down inside of Makoto had been taken as he tried to awake and tried to break away from the mistake. He had drifted from his path and now he had to be reborn in a new light, as once again he would choose to fight as he began to open his eyes and finally returned to the land of the sand as he raised the grains and looked at his small hand.

Makoto was coughing as the winds seemed to blow harshly as he looked on even now it was still overwhelming what he saw before him.

Makoto could not believe his ears as even from so far away in his safe haven of sand he could hear the cries as he began to wonder what it was that he was feeling now as he found his resolve. He laid there baring witness to the spectacle before his eyes as there seemed to be a flame appearing in the sky or had it been there all along as he began to wonder just what had happened for him to lose consciousness earlier as he felt some bump on his head and realized someone must have stepped on his head and knocked him out for a while. Though it did not change that this jutsu was taking his breathe away as the winds were vibrant and wild with so much life that he knew this was a testament to years of training and perfection.

Makoto began to admire this technique even more and more as his heart was turning black with curiosity allowing darkness to enter his mind. Makoto did not understand how anyone would want to get involved in war, until now that he felt so excited by seeing this jutsu before him as he had just enough self preservation not to get any closer to this vast intensity that seemed to cause the fabric of reality to shift, though he was probably reacting more then usual from the step to his head earlier on.

The heat in the sky was creating a distortion as the warm winds rushing from the epicenter seemed to be flowing endlessly as the hot desert felt like a furnace as Makoto could feel the sweat of this heat wave bearing down on him as his hair felt so wet as the heat was being trapped in the sand they lay on top of him as he felt like he was being cooked as he also suffered from some levels of heat exhaustion as well. For a moment Makoto looked out the corner of his eyes and saw his home land of Iwagakure and wondered if this spectacle of beauty could even be seen from that far away as he resisted the feeling of death that seemed to be approaching.

Makoto thought he heard something in the distance, but his mind may have been playing tricks on him as he could not make out much as the sound was muffled and sounded like cries for help as he could not make sense of it all. Though from this far he should have heard nothing as he was too far away to make out anything, all he knew was that who ever it was had to be epic and imagined the technique must have an epic name like, 'The Darkness of the Heavens that have forsaken me, shall cast you into the Abyss of my Fallen Flames as I love nothing, care for nothing for I am Jutsu and you are mere mortals, Death from the Sky bringing forth the Ashes, Meteora'.

Makoto did not waver as he once more felt he had to say it out, though not too loudly inside of his mind he said, 'That must be a god'

However Makoto was not able to relax as people had been fleeing like crazy he began to roll around and moved closer to a ruined rock wall that was probably from a past building as he buried himself better in the sand and moved his shield to a better location as he kept watching the brilliance that was so far away. He was not sure, but it was so far he doubted he could even reach it with the use of the body flicker technique which he was unable to perfect yet.

Makoto began thinking of how many hand seals or how skilled he would have to be to perform the technique he was witnessing, it might look slow from how far away he was. Even though the ones who were there must have had a much better view then him. Though Makoto knew he had to live if he ever wanted to make a jutsu that was equally impressive in the future. He then began thinking of all the jutsu he had managed to master and the few he was able to create thinking back to how hard it was to train them.

The first technique that Makoto had managed to learn outside of the academy was the one that first sparked his interest in ninjutsu, it had practicality as well as he took to learning it. He remembered how he had to do breathing practices in order to improve how well he takes in air as well as to improve how well he could take in chakra as well. He kept practicing until he could feel the jutsu molding inside his throat and then he breathed forth his first attempt at the technique. He had awoken in the hospital with burns to his lungs and throat as he nearly died. He was scolded and told to give up on remaining a shinobi, having just barely gotten out of the academy he was the weakest of his class mates to pass. However he was not so frail as to give up this easily as he would try again and again, trial after trial as he went to hospitals and more localized medics as well until that fateful day came.

He performed the tiger hand seal to improve his ability to focus fire element chakra and then took in a deep breathe as this feeling he felt was different from what he felt before, he expelled the chakra from his mouth and splitting it released about two tiny spheres of fire that went through the air, but seemed to vanish without a trace barely lasting half a second. However his eyes lit up brighter then ever before as he finally performed his first real jutsu even if it was a failed attempt, he made progress to a level far greater then what he had reached before.

Makoto would train hard every day each time the balls became clearer, lasting longer and going further. As time passed they would split wider and he managed to create a few more. The jutsu was only able to reach the size of baseballs at the time, but he was not discouraged while others would laugh and some would tell him once more to give up, however he refused to accept this and never gave up as he kept practicing, "Katon: Housenka no jutsu" as he began shouting it out. He got more vocal and kept repeating the technique over and over again until his chakra was exhausted, he would end up hitting himself at times and he was glad he did not live in Konoha, since he heard about that place being full of trees which might be bad for practicing fire ninjutsu, though for some reason it was the main village in the country of fire which made no sense to Makoto.

Finally after a lot of practice and trial and error with the burns on his body and the beatings he took as some other genin shinobi beat him up for being weak. They did not over do it since bullying was not always the best thing but as long as they did not seriously injure him it would not really get anyone to take note of it. As time went on the balls got bigger, it was unbelievable how large the once small balls of fire were. Now he was spitting out four to five large balls at a time as they landed on the ground leaving behind some small flames as he began to wonder if this technique had a level beyond that as he kept repeating it over and over.

Makoto trained really hard as the few genin who had bullied him had finally gotten bored, though one of them still remained as Makoto seemed to have nearly completed the technique the boy decided to have some fun. They faced off as he said all he had to do was make sure that he matched him or suffer as they began the training the boy used the same technique, however his balls were bigger and stronger as they completely decimated his phoenix flower technique as Makoto got knocked out by a fire ball to the forehead that knocked off his forehead protector and some of the fire balls missed as the bully was not really that mean. This training continued for some time and then one day he found that he was managing to take out a few of the other boy's balls before finally stating that he would give it everything he had to defeat his opponent in the realm of jutsu.

They both got in positions as they performed the tiger hand seal in preparation for releasing their respective techniques as the boy said one last time. "Be careful, I really had a bad day so I might go a bit harder then usual" as Makoto glared back at him. "I can take it" as they faced off they both performed the techniques as they got caught up in the heat of the moment as they shouted it out. "Katon, Housenka no jutsu!!!!" as the techniques clashed the fireballs seemed to cancel each other out, but the one fireball was heading for Makoto and dissipated before reaching him as a streak of fire formed next to him as the other boy grinned. "Good job, for a weak brat" as Makoto felt good about himself as he got patted on the head only realizing something after words as he noticed the burn marks he realized that this boy had been training too in order to make sure he would not be beaten so easily and the truth was while he managed to just barely stop it, he was clearly lacking in the power department as he realized that this boy could be reaching a new level he could not break just yet.

In order to deal with this Makoto decided he would train even harder as he waited for them to continue their training he never saw the boy again as he wondered where the boy went as he began to feel rather lonely, however he would not give up on his goal to become the one true master of jutsu as he realized there was a level beyond for this jutsu.

He continued to practice this technique and later learned the mist flame dance to improve his other fire jutsu and make it even more powerful as a combination technique, this would later give him the idea for another jutsu known as shakkaho, as he had trained a lot in the past he understood that sometimes jutsu had drawbacks as he gained an extra ability in the technique, however it is clear that he lost out on damage and found that it was similar to the phoenix flower that spread out its damage as well. Though it was more effective at dealing with multiple jutsu and had other applications as well.

Makoto finally snapped back to reality as his eyes lit up once more the flame in his eyes was undeniable as a new idea was born inside of Makoto, why settle for a single giant ball of fire to destroy whatever was in that direction as he was not sure but there was a dangerous fortress in that direction. He began to wonder if he could not bring for a flame from the sky with multiple meteors to lay waste to the world and bring about the end result. He began imagining lighting the entire village of Konoha on fire and burning it to the ground as he was enraged by how they could be so dishonest in their ways. How the village could use him like a mere tool for their amusement as they shunned outsiders, or at least that was how he had begun feeling after witnessing how some of the konoha shinobi reacted and enacted things as he became less then complacent.

Makoto began to feel that he lost grips once more as he seemed to have lost control at the time as he fell to the side unable to understand what had led to this as he began to wonder why things were the way that they were. Makoto began feeling some heat exhaustion as he seemed to be losing consciousness again, if it were not for the minor shade from the ruined wall he may have died from heat stroke long ago. However he had to remain conscious, he had to see the conclusion of that ball of death falling from the heavens upon the man made fortress, he had to witness it and he had to strive to create an even greater falling out so that man will once more revere and respect the gods of jutsu.

Whoever this god was, whether this god was a man or a woman, in truth he wanted to believe it was not a man, but a giant jutsu that had gained sentience and decided to punish mankind for their sins against the gods of jutsu. Tasting of the forbidden arts as they were never created to become mere tools for humans to abuse, but as a form of art whose beauty could never be understood simply from being in use.

Makoto felt like his life was slipping away, he could not stand the desert. This heat was too much, not even the hard rocks of Iwagakure felt this heated as he felt like he could collapse from reality from pain alone. His longing for the art of jutsu was the only thing keeping him from falling sooner. He felt a jutsu was to him like a web was to a spider, something that just did not feel right when it was not beside you as he began to believe that this might really be the end. His mind could not make up its mind as he mindlessly minded his mind as he did not mind that he minded what his mind could not mind in the first place. His thoughts broken and his mind long lost in the ecstasy that is the jutsu of the gods this was becoming rather dangerous as he reached to feel his chest as his heart was racing as fast as jutsu that had been boosted by some compound of a catalyst as he gained an idea for a new jutsu as he began to wonder if you could create an even more powerful jutsu through the set up of catalysts.

In the end only with plenty of training and hard work over the course of a long time would Makoto be able to achieve the impossible, to create a jutsu to bring the lost lambs back to the one true path of all people, they ways of the shinobi were not his way, for Makoto his way of the shinobi was the mastering of all jutsu and in a sense if he knew it back then he may have not wished for that which he should not have wished for.

Makoto was no mere child on the battle field, he was a shinobi who had to live on and learn all the jutsu of this world, live on as best he could and never allow himself to be taken out by the madness that people found themselves longing for. He would not be swayed by large amounts of money, or by the beautiful appearance of people who grow old and die or simply leave you alone. Makoto had to do all that he could for his one true love, the unattainable achievement becoming the Avatar of All Jutsu.

Makoto finally relaxed a bit as he felt like the heat was disappearing as he dozed off once more, where was his god now is all he could think to himself as his mind faded into the sands as he was buried. Though he would awaken once more, though he would not know how to explain what he would see when he awakens again.

Words = 378 + 4498 = 4876

The young owl masked male watched from his vantage point as the destruction below unfolded before his electric blue eyes, the ball of fire lighting the cloud darkened desert as if the sun was falling from the very heavens above. The amount of power it took to create such a jutsu was a true wonderment to the young shinobi, only once before had he witnessed such power. Though in a different form, it was still undeniable that it was a power equal to this, such power that could destroy an entire village. Screams of terror in his ears even from the distance he was from the compound that was under the attack and sand turned to glass before his eyes by the falling sun, the male's mind flashed back to the night of the destruction of the hidden sand village. It was hard for the male to believe that  Destruction of the same magnitude, power held by the Titans of the realm, power that the boy desired for himself. The power to wield such destruction would be a symphony within the boy's hands, the Symphony of Chaos and Destruction. Activating his wind sense the male would spread his chakra thinly throughout the air around him until it covered a two hundred and fifty meter radius around him, allowing him to monitor any movement within his range as he continued to watch the action from the pillar above the battle that was underway. There were many different pawns on the board that was this battlefield all of which he would monitor, however the male's eyes were transfixed upon two of them, the Man who seemed to be causing the most destruction as well as the source of the falling Sun and that of his shadow clone.

The male's shadow clone dropped from the side of the cliff hitting the sand below at a sprint, taking off into the center of the chaos that was unfolding. Channeling chakra throughout its body as it ran, until it was running at full speed. The sight of the descending sun did not waiver it's resolve, there was fun to be had here. Opening the Kaminari Steel Windmill Shuriken the shadow clone launched it towards a group of Anbu that were headed for the man that was the source of the falling Sun. The shuriken causing them to break off from their attack as it sliced across the front of the three of them, the Shuriken flew past the men before curving and returning to the hand of the shadow clone that was running towards them. Releasing a burst of chakra from its body the clone propelled himself straight up, however with the momentum of it running forward the clone shot over the heads of the man and the three that he had stopped from attacking him in one swift front flip. Landing on the back side of the three men and bringing the large shuriken to slash across their backs, before unleashing a portion of the chakra that he had flown into his fist. A single punch to the back first man which sent the man flying ten meters forward on a collision course with the man they brought the sun down upon the camp. The other two men tried to recover, turning on the shadow clone aiming to strike it with one of their blades. However the clone proceeded to block the attack with his windmill, before kicking the two men as he backfliped away from them. The second he landed in the sand the male's shadow clone swept its legs toward the pair, releasing an arc of chakra toward them that quickly turned into a tornado four meters in front of him, the two men as well as anyone else that were unfortunate enough to get sucked up by this tornado would find themselves covered in one and a half inch lacerations before being launched five meters into the air above them. The shadow clone would then continue attacking want and all that came out of the camp with the intention of fighting on their face, it's movements as fluid as the Taijutsu specialist that the male was. As those who fled the scene in fear for their lives were able to move past the shadow clone, those that chased after them or moved into the fray of battle were met with the fist or legs of the clone. The smoke and fire that filled the battlefield limited the sight of the clone from seeing all that were in the mist of the battle, he kept the man who seemed to be the one that started the battle within his sight no more than ten meters away as he moved through the growing numbers that were coming to defend their home. The clone's eyes kept the man within his sight as he moved like a spectre of a Titan that the male had perceived him to be, these men did not stand a chance against this man who was swatting them down like flies around him. Finally there was a moment where there was a break in those around the clone, "Tell me Titan, are you the one that is the cause of this destruction?" The clone would call to the man moving closer to the man but still staying a few meters away for when the next wave of fighters descended upon them, though he already knew the answer to the question he wanted to hear it from the man himself. "I do not care the reason you do this, I care only of the power you wield. I will help you in your quest for I am bored and in the need of some fun, however I have seen power similar to this before, so tell me were you among the destroyers of the village hidden in the sand as well?" The clone asked after given the answer to his first question, as he threw the Kaminari Steel Windmill Shuriken towards the next group of those that came to the defense of the camp.

The male inhaled a deep breath as he watched the clone throw the Shuriken before activating his subsitution, replacing the shuriken with himself before exhaling his breath to unleash his great vacuum sphere. Creating a five meter diameter sphere in front of himself and launching it at fifty meters a second, allowing it to tear through thirty meters in less than a second and ripping anyone unfortunate enough to be in front of the male to be shredded. The male would not stop there quickly forming a string of three handseals the male created seven images of himself, all looking as real as the original however looks were deceiving. All the clones moved in unison with the male hiding the original within them, both confusing the enemy and allowing the male to attack them as he pleased, while the shadow clone battled along side the Titan.

---

1167/2029

Self:130/190 Clone:140/190:

Verdandi would reach the top of the building in time. The snake lady that had complimented her on the smile she had given her, was quickly advancing ahead, so fast that Verdandi couldn't really keep up with her. Earning the tease, she'd give the princess while floating casually with dragon wings off and away over the half-broken gate. Verd would jump after her. She couldn't help herself. Some emotional melancholy would pierce her chest whenever she'd look at the snake lady. The slightly arrogant but cheerful glare that she exhaled was but a beautiful sight. Verd admired the view for a while. But something disturbed her as well. As if she was exhaling a pain that was deeply hidden under her skin. Verd watched her casually turn berserk and starting to smash the puny soldiers like they were tiny little fruits in her hands. Verd gave her a lost nod of respect before she eventually moved on. Trying to bear the weird feeling that was haunting her. Trying to accept that her empathy was just doing its job. "I too hope to see you again someday." Verd would whisper to herself. Watching the dragon like queen slowly tear her way through the number of enemies that presented themselves to her. Her claws cutting through them like paper. Certainly not the person she'd have to worry about getting hurt today. Not far from each other, Verdandi would see multiple men that were already fighting their respective opponents fiercely and with a strength admirable to watch as well.

A large hulk with seemingly explosive powers? A lady at his side with green flames? There was also a shadow somewhere in the twilight. Verdandi could feel but not see it. Something else was there too though. A warrior with a very familiar aura and at lasts the seeming leader of the bunch. He was occupied trying to reply all the curious peoples demands and requests. While yet he had his very own opponent to deal with. All of them. Snake included seemed but busy trying to fight their way through the fortress entrance. The forces of the strong one rushing forth. Freeing the first of the slaves and soon. Using a transportation tag? Verdandi was intrigued. How did he do that. There were only were few recorded abilities like these in history. Verd had not seen one since… ever. The sealing summoners gate from Sero being the closest thing she could relate with. Was it a summoning technique? Or a genuine teleportation? Verd's eyes widened. She'd watch. Follow and study them. But soon the seemed willing to advance further into the castle. At last, it would appear that Verd's cue to join the combat seemed to have come at last. Verd smirked. These people would make quick work of all the soldiers anyway nearby. There was no need for her to join them here. Also, it was too crowded anyway. Dandi didn't like it when she ran into the dangers of potentially harming her allies with her frost.

It was time to move and disappear. Verdandi formed a single hand seal of unusual shape and instantly disappeared. Her body now coated. Unable to be seen even from sensory. Unable to be heard as she moved. Anyone with perception, sensory powers or dōjutsu at S-Rank might still smell her presence or see her chakra. Otherwise, Verdandi was gone for good. She could casually walk past the lot of them. Leaving explosion boy and zombie lady behind. Passing by the unknown shadow in the twilight. The familiar Kozai boy. The strange and powerful leader of the attack. Winking once again to the queen of snakes. Disappearing for good into the castle.

As Verdandi moved through the steps of the fortress, down the stairs to where she was expecting the prisoners to be held. She would slice her blade through any guard that passed her. The incomplete chainsaw blade, rutting its shark teeth through the bodies of men. Completely obscured by her technique, Verdandi could just cut through them and keep walking. With her full end strength, pulling her sword against their throats and legs. Cutting them open and leaving them to bleed and die eventually. She knew where the nasty spots, the weak tendons, the bleed'able arteries were. Cutting int the spots seemed more like a game to her as neither of the common soldiers along the way down really had the means to deal with an invisible enemy. Tapping deeper into the depths of the building, soon arriving at the place she was searching for.

It was just the first of multiple prison blocks but still contained a large number of captured slaves. Verd ogled around the corner in her cloak of obfuscation. She thought it was probably necessary to create a guide of them of sorts. But unwilling to reveal herself from the shadows. Verdandi created a clone of her own body. Noticing that, with her mask and all she was still kind of intimidating and scary. Verd would let her clone use the transformation technique. Puffing her into a gentler appearance, specifically one of a young farmers woman she had seen in Kiri before. While the new farmer girl would become the decoy. The real Verd would stay close behind her clone and casually slice her blade into any enemy that dared to come close or attack her. The prison ways were filled with low ranked enemies she didn't have to reward with more attention than a single slice of her blade. But in time. The prison guards had arrived as well. As the clone was busy trying to find the master lock that would undo all the locks in this prison block. The invisible Verdandi would move straight towards the group of potentially C and B ranked guards. Inhaling as she sheathed her blade and started to form a rather long series of multiple hand seals. Readying a rather massive amount of chakra as the multitude of them seemed dangerous enough make her worry.

But Verdandi decided that making quick work out of them would be the smartest solution. The clone in farmer girl's appearance, was pulling various knobs and pushing random buttons she could find in the control box. While the multitude of guards could only see her, they were not any less happy about the blood trail already left behind. Immediately guessing it was but the stranger woman that did such a thing. But they wouldn't get a big chance to mess with the clone. From an invisible source. Behind the men, thousand water needles appeared. Raining down towards their legs. Attacking their tendons and making them all kneel like good boys. Whilst in a sudden second move. Verdandi exhaled the vacuum blade technique. Cutting into their necks and backs as well as their throats. Leaving them cut up to bleed and scream. Last but not least. Verd would pull her blade from her sheath again. Moving in to give each of the guards one by one a merciful push of her katana into their chests towards their hearts. Giving them a quick remedy for their suffering. Ghost Verdandi casually snickered, pleased and returned to guard duty. But soon. The clone would find the button. With a single click on it. All prison doors in holding block A would be opened. With another one the main gates into the hallway and stairs she came from opened as well. The farmer-girl clone would move through the block. Always accompanied by ghost Verd whom casually took care of anyone trying to interrupt the freeing. Until at last dozens of slaves were ready to follow Verd's clone into freedom. Towards the sealers men, whom could potentially transport each of them away, far away to safety. However, for the slaves to really get to that place. The ninja upstairs would have to somewhat clear the way forward…


1330 / 3400

Chakra 235/350:

Maikumaru pounded his fist on the second layer of the dome. The theft would be paid for one way or another. Maikumaru prepared for a jutsu, one that would be the first of many to breaking down the wall. But just then, Maikumaru was assaulted by a violent gust of wind from his left. He was a larger shinobi than most, and couldn’t maneuver himself well in air. As a result he stumbled and rolled. But he was quick enough to get up from his spot. He peered over to the direction in the right. It was a woman, whose face was obscured by an ANBU mask. Her clothing was as ebony as the eternal abyss itself. And her fan was beautifully decorated.

Maikumaru steadied himself. He looked at the woman with hatred, and disdain. She was a Suna ANBU. One of the ones who were running this base. She had to be dealt with. Maikumaru raced towards her, going into his boxing stance, waiting for her attacks. He smirked as she jumped into the air, and began to spin. As she did so, her body was engulfed itself with a spinning tornado. She took a final swing with her fan, and it launched at Maikumaru. Many people watched the violently spinning winds rush towards him, the vortex moving as of it was enraged. But Maikumaru instantly went into his Reflector Stance. He felt the Chakra surge through the outside of his body. He held out his hand as the tornado rubbed against it, making an attempt to slash at Maikumaru, but only in vain. He shoved the large tornado forward, causing it to be reflected right back at her, his smirk as wide as ever. She was caught off guard, her destruction a product of her own creation, as she was slashed by the Tornado made up of bladed winds, she screamed as she was caught up in the chaotic Jutsu. When it dispersed, she dropped to the ground, on her hands and knees, he mask falling off her face. She looked particularly pretty. It was unfortunate that Maikumaru had to break her into as many pieces as possible, for her crimes against his village . He jumped up in the air, and charged up his fist with a large amount of Bakuton. He aimed for her back, but she rolled out of the way, causing Maikumaru to land his explosive knuckles into the ground.

She apparently had more tricks up her sleeve. She weaved hand signs, and activated her blasted a large wave of at him. He could see the wiggle, if the air around the blast. He jumped out of the way of the nigh invisible blaze, as it would slam through others. They got burned to the point where their skin become leathery, the moisture had evaporated from them, and their bodies became shriveled husk. It was Scorch Release. Something Maikumaru was not willing to heavily deal with. He had to dispatch her quickly. Maikumaru ran up to her with blinding speed, from activating the Chakra in his body, increasing his physical capabilities beyond that of a normal Shinobi. She didn't even have the time to react, as he grabbed her by her arms. He wrapped his arms around her body, conducting it with a high amount if Lightning Release Chakra. He began to squeeze her body, and began to get crushed by his power. She went limp. Maikumaru tossed her body to the side, unsure and equally uncaring of she was alive or not.

He looked over to her. He walked over to her and felt her pulse on her neck. She was definitely still alive. She had valuable information. He was going to make a mental note to remember whew she was. It was not much of a priority, which was why he wasn't going to fully assure she survived this battle.

He placed his hand on the stone all. It was the second layer. While everyone caught in the background, Maikumaru knew that this would take an S rank Jutsu to break through. Luckily the man from earlier more than likely had that covered.

I'm the mean time, he would began clearing the enemies around the wall to make room for the second S rank attack. He spat mud into the ground. It started to morph and change into a head of a dragon. The beats opened it's mouth and fired balls of bud at enemies.

From there Maikumaru would only engage in the smaller enemies. Everything was up to the mysterious man.


784/2548 WC

[EXIT], out of inspiration.

Total wc: 1800
-1000 Weapon Mastery: Chakram
- 500 Returning Providence

As she trudged forwards, through the sink and crunch of glass and sand, the odd sensation like wading from the deep waters to the shallows as the glass became thicker and thicker as the heat rose, nearing the fortress. Her left hand would raise giving a light flick of her wrist to open Amai out fully, and though the tessen itself still remained illuminated with the toxic green coloured flames she would raise it up for the time being as though to shield her sight. Gritting her teeth, an almost bestial hiss to slip past her lips as they pulled back, further creasing the visible scars of her upper and lower lip, at the sight of heat blurred images scrambled about, both attempting to avoid the flames of destruction that had sought to punish them for their sins and to meet them in the open, whether such were to fight in the hopes of getting away or simply thinking that could fight back the force that had come to wing them to their deaths. Shinigami.  

Closing her eye’s she would continue forwards another few meters before inhaling, filling her lungs to their capacity, savoring and registering the smoke tarnished scents within the area picking out only one that she could recognize.  Yet the sensation within the air would shift and her visible piercing yellow orb would peel open to set her unforgiving gaze upon a group moving a little too quickly away from the fortress. The group of three to edge closer before splitting off from one another. The central male would sprint directly towards her, his katana at the ready as the other two positioned themselves accordingly. A team yet a sight enough to draw forth memorize from the recesses of her mind and where the male had been, the imagery of a women would replace him, the image just as verisimilitude as the crunch of glass beneath her feet. Deja-Vu would kick her body into action this time. Her form would tilt slightly pressing more to her left side allowing her hip to give out in time for the first attack as the katana swiped for her, met by her own Ripa tsume to send the attacker off balance as Taeru herself fell one way as she parried the enemy off to the other. Her left hand, still gripping Amai would press to the glassed ground to give bounce back, enough to force herself back up and just enough away from the second attack that came from her side, the action clipping her left thigh forcing a thick purple bruising would flare up, blooming almost instantly beneath her clothing. The dull pain sending a thumb like a heartbeat through her system.  Twisting away from the individual she would swipe to slash at the enemies waist furthering them into the oncoming attack of their comrade, as they attempted to avoid Taeru’s blade.  The crunching sound of the enemies ribs would seem to echo within her mind, a wave of relief at it not being her own ribs in such a state that had taken one of her enemies to their knees. Yet without the breath of relief to complement the feeling her left hand would raise with Amai before snapping the tessen closed sending another of her bullets into the side of the neck of the recovering third enemy.  

Her gaze would follow the third of the enemies to the ground watching the flesh of the ‘bullet’ wound simmer as his form twitched. The first of the three having recovered had already turned, using the momentum to slash downwards in a diagonal arch. Yet, even as Tearu’s form arch away from the swipe the sensation of the blade’s tip, piercing before tearing and  parting the flesh of her chest, the five inches long laceration deep  and instantly irritable as the torn clothing left the wound exposed to the heat, yet with its exposure and the flow of her own blood, a sickly sweet scent of a prolonged death would seep thickly into the air, a though a fresh corpse of an elderly long awaiting death had been opened for the world to smell.  An unexpected stomp to the back of her left knee would have her form collapse to her knees before feeling the second of the enemies arms coil around her neck, as the enemies hand reached to complete the hold Taeru’s left hand would raise Amai, trapping the tessen in the hold too. With a grunt of pain, she would tilt her head away as much as possible as she felt the enemy press against her form before losing the last of her bullets into the throat and jaw of the offending enemy. The grip around her neck would almost instantly loosen. As she choked for air the connection of a boot to the wound of her chest would quickly remove the little air collected, from her lungs as her form crumpled back against the fresh carcas that had just a moment before, held her.  
Both impacts would have her splutter and cough, with her rump touching the ground her torso would lean up so that she was propped naturally against the corpse, her lungs heaving and clawing for air, yet she had to move. Her for would lean to her left, placing the side of her left hand and Amai against the ground for support as she shifted in the attempt to roll away to regain her composure however the swift connection of the males boot to her face would further her into the movement sending her body twisting into the air before rolling across the glassed ground for a couple of meters. The inside of her bottom lip splitting upon the contact to fill her mouth quite quickly with a thick mixture of blood and saliva. Landing on her front she would attempt to rise, hoisting her torso up onto her forearms as she again gasped for air allowing the mixture within her mouth to leek, part of it spreading along the pale cloth of the veil, as though giving her a bloody smile.  

With her mouth left agape a pestilential green flow of chakra would spill from her lips like a gushing river forming and settling around her, barely a millisecond later the same would spill rim the wound of her chest before leaking through the clothing of her left side, adding to the ominous pool that gathered about her form. Such a flare of her chakra would show like a toxic overflow rather than a burning fire like most drawing forth an ominous sensation, this was not the colour of healing, not by a long shot, this was that of pestilence, infectious and angry. Those few that had the pleasure of seeing chakra would even say the sight of it were that of another world as the chakra itself took form, sitting upright like a secondary torso, like that of a woman, gaunt yet once lavish in beauty, its hair would flow like a river in the chakra of its very being, from its shoulders a mantle of bone arching out before curling upwards a sheet of thick flesh spread between the two bearing the mark and holy sign of Jashin. Its eyes ears and mouth mangled and sewn shut, it would lean forwards spreading the ominous sensation further with each movement. As it lent Taeru’s body would seem to follow almost like that of a ragdoll, her body seeming to contort to its will as it rose drawing Taeru to a standing position with seeming ease. It would lean closer to her frame enough to draw up from her arms able to grasp around Taeru’s wrist like the shackles it wore, its own collar connecting it to Taeru. Taeru’s body now as it had only a few times before, easily resembling a puppet to her own chakra as it rose from her. The sensation alone that crawled forth from her would have her opponent falter, pausing in their tracts as they bore witness in part to what they had drawn forth.  

Her head would drop a little to one side as her usually stern features creaked, as her lips split into a wide, almost sadistic grin before curling her form forwards, using her left hand to reopen Amai. A guttural laughter spilling from her lips would force her shoulders to heave, the sound traveling with ease, its tone sweet yet somewhat manic, before rising from her hunched position using Amai to fan herself as her laughter subsided a touch dropping back into the dull husk of her voice, “come.” The finality and the weight of her accent in comparison to her laughter would seem harsh and very dividing as she gave this command. Closing Amai her form would slowly lower, showing a grace and control somewhat un-natural like that of a marionette doll as her feet spread and her knees bent for the form she took, seeming guided into the position. Once crouched she would allow Amai to slip from her fingers as though its uses were through, yet leaving a small glimmer of chakra upon it.  As her right gave display with a few twirls of Ripa tsume her torso would twist lightly and her left hand would graze around her waist as though about to start a dance, however her fingers would brush against Tatsu, tucked into the back of her draped belt, dislodging it as she imprinted her chakra upon it, forcing it too, to drop to the ground. With her deranged smile dropping she would again give the command, this time, however, it would come as more of a bark than anything else, “COME!“ Her lips twisting into a snarl, the pretty features changing into something ugly with disgust for the opponent that faced her now, yet, the male stood before her the image of a female would remain.

As though jolted to life the male would flinch before leaping into action as he pressed off, now placing both hands upon his katana to attack her. Coming up close the male would swipe diagonally one way and her form would dip the other before twisting clipping the males hip with her elbow before creating a long shallow incision along the back of his back as they traded sides sending him into a small stumble, twisting again to face her. A smirk would grace her lips as her left hand rose to give her fingers a slow wiggle before beckoning him to come again. However the subtle movements of her fingers would have both Amai and Tatsu slowly open out, silently still upon the ground before the beckoning movement where they would raise a few inches from the ground, upon the male's movement again she would draw her left hand back and with the movement, both Amai and Tatsu would zip past the male nicking into the flesh of his calves on their way past, shocking him enough to knock his aim from its true path, allowing for Taeru to leave past with but a nick to the shoulder of her left side upon the males recoil. With the subtle movements of her left hands remaining digits, the tessen would twist in crossing diagonal movements as though like two yoyo’s, with the threat to etch into the flesh of those that attempted to cross their barrier.  Yet they both would ready once again before launching into their attack. Their blades sparking with each clash, yet with each clash the tessen would clip another small wound into the males form until they again ended up just over a meter away, Taeru’ the imagery of risen death and pestilence and the male that of struggling bloody life as he panted, the multiple twinges of pain evident in the features of his face as he attempted to ready once again. One final push off he would lunge, aiming to finish this with a single strike yet her left hand would raise dragging her tessen up at an angle to lodge them into either side of the male’s neck dropping him to his knees as his blade clattered against the glassed sand. She would step to the male threading her fingers into the males hair to draw his head back causing the tessen to shift loose and the blood flow to show as the fresh wound’s opened, flooding his clothing in the process. she would spin Ripa tsume about her right hand to gain momentum before driving the blade into the male’s chest before tugging the weapon free. her grip still on his hair as the body slacked her gaze would seek out the situation of the rest of the fight before allowing her gaze to seek out the labeled  Shinigami and then the fortress and its situation.

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325/350:

Word count: 2150.
Total word count: 4276.

"makoto... makoto... makoto..." as a voice whispered and called out his name, begging him to wake up from this dream he was having. Like the droplets of water that rise up from the earth to become clouds and merge to create a storm that bursts forth a torrent of rain that becomes the floods of a monsoon, as the lakes and rivers are formed while the water falls and the mountains erode and break apart. The earth cracking and like the strong rocks they are they stand firm, but even the strongest rocks will break apart and be crushed by the forces of nature to eventually become the small grains of sand. However every grain of sand in this world stands together among all the sand to form the great expanse that is the desert. This is the thing which Makoto had been reading about in the library long ago, however what he did not understand was how things could end up the way they did as he shook his head a bit to get the sand out of his hair as he finally woke up.

Makoto felt his head and it had a slight bump as he scratched it a bit feeling some blood as he just saw people rushing and running like crazy and he wondered what had happened as he tried to think back to earlier as he was laying here buried in the sand, had he not used his shield as a cover he may have lost his opening which allowed air to flow into his hiding place. It was at this time that he soon came to realize that things were not as simple as he had thought earlier as he looked to the sky wondering if the darkness would ever fade. He opened his eyes struggling to move and then just remained as he was as no one seemed to notice him hidden beneath the sand as he looked on, maybe they did notice him and simply did not care for a child hiding beneath the sands that could maybe form glass if what he saw before him were to be a lot closer, but he was safely out of range of whatever this jutsu god had sent forth to destroy the fortress as he began to wonder if this was the act of a god or the work of the devil as he could not make sense of the madness that was this jutsu.

Makoto finally knew that the path of jutsu was not necessarily the righteous path, but to him it was the only way as he noticed something he would never have expected in his life time and it was because of this that he would eventually come to harbor a darkness that he did not know of, a darkness that hid itself deep within his heart as he felt like he could do anything if he simply found a way, found the power to create the ultimate jutsu.

One day Makoto, would create the jutsu to end all jutsu, he would one day create the Last Jutsu. At least that was the strange thought he had in his mind and deep within his heart and soul, all he knew was that he could not let it end just like that. He had to get a move on and then it happened again as the grains of sand passed him by, his mind faded and he passed out once more whether it was from shock or the intensity of what was happening here on this fateful day. All he knew was that he would have to learn all he could, about the mysterious nature of what happened here and there was only one person he could ask, someone who would never miss out on this and he did not know who it was as he just had this idea in his head that only the strong would truly understand what it is he was searching for as he began to wonder why the sky looked as if it turned into a cloud of ashes, it was as if the world had become engulfed in a Sky of Ashes as he took a short nap once more.

Words = 4876 + 705 = 5581

Verdandi moved into the inner hallway that was mostly empty from any guards. Telling the prisoners from block A to wait within their room through her gentle looking farmer-girl clone. Verd would stroll down the hallway in her stealth covering her from head to toe, leaving the shady blink of an odd reflection in place of her actual body while she jumped the last guard that was seemingly confused, standing lost in his tracks as to what he should do about the majorly escalating situation. Pushing him down with his face to the floor, the impact of Verd’s jump had smashed him to the ground so bad he was knocked out in the process. Dandi for once didn’t see the need to kill this one, the way this fortress was moving to its doom he’d most likely find his end anyway one way or another. Quickly she charged into block B and since her clone had figure out the right control mechanism to open the cell block doors it was easy to open them. Verd would continue down the hallway until the cellblocks C and D were taken care of as well. None of the guards remained here or were already moving upstairs to fight the intruders there. The number of slaves and prisoners accumulated was rather large but the dozens of people seemed to make the big difference as Verd must have been able to get her hands on most of the prisoners, at least all that were in the main cell blocks down here.

While the farmer clone was trying to hoard them at the exit to the cell blocks, she’d talk to them in confidence to call them down and reassuring that none of them would come to any harm if they just followed her lead correctly. But the situation in the fortress was getting rather chaotic. Dandi could see troop movements that would be of great disturbance to her pathway. She avoided them and moved in the shadows back upstairs to assess by herself what kind of dangers would be awaiting them. The guys with the teleport tags were being defended by their own men and stayed in their clear area whilst their companions and fellow ninja attending were charging into the masses and taking out large groups of enemies bit by bit. Verd could see that one they were upstairs the path to the teleport sealers would be without danger but they first had to get there. Dandi quickly moved back down and this time she would push, kick and slice her blade into any of the enemy soldiers she would encounter. Letting them fall off the long way down the stairs, not rarely to a rather painful end to their service as gravity would pull their bodies like ragdolls among whatever dungeon buildings and torture devices were waiting for them to fall upon. Arriving back at the entrance to the cell block.

Verd could see that her farmer clone had casually taken out one guard that had been bothering them with a kunai to the forehead and a slice to the throat. The fires around them started to spread. The flames were burning into the castle walls and dropping from the upper levels. Wooden devices from upstairs would break in their structure from the fire damage and fall down, turning the structures into large projectiles covered in flames that would quickly set ablaze any furniture and frail devices on the lower levels. Occasionally the flames would extend towards barrels of ethanol or alike, at last they would end up exploding and craving large holes into the fortress walls down here. Parts of the northern barracks would cave-in and crumble. Not rarely could she see the lower ranked guards being crushed by structures or swallowed by the fire surrounding them. Occasionally there were chakra talented ones that could protect themselves with their inhuman strength or by covering themselves in chakra crafted armor. Verd would keep an eye on them as to make sure that she didn’t miss out on them attacking or something. For the first part she would prefer to actually just wait in the very location she was currently hiding with the large numbers of liabilities behind her. But as the world seemed to come crumbling down around them further and further, it became questionable as for how long Verd would be able to remain down here without her prisoners getting smashed by breaking wall formations or caught up by the growing fires.

Dandi exhaled her archerfish technique into the large hall before her as the fires threatened to carve their way towards them. Extinguishing the lot of the flame before her. Slowly her stealth would begin to fade the longer she was exposing herself and casting techniques. Giving the prisoners behind her a glimpse on their invisible savior. The technique used however, called in the attention of more guards that were covering the lower section. Charging from their breaking barracks towards the cell blocks. But doing so they would have to cross the suiton field of the archerfish technique. Giving Verdandi the chance to push her Hyōton chakra into the water layered out before her and to turn it to frost. People would slip in their task to cross it and slide idly towards Verd, whom in tern would raise a multitude of frost spears from the icy floor leaving the guards to their fate as they slid in against them, being impaled by the large spikes forming before them. One of the more skilled guards would jump off before impact and threaten to make his way further towards the slaves. Verd would pressure chakra to her feet and jump. With her blade unsheathed she’d meet him halfway into the air and push her family heirloom into his guts. Leaving him lethally wounded before Dandi kicked herself off his body to somersault backwards on the ground. Quickly slashing her blade to her right into the air to shed the blood staining her weapon off it, sheathing it once again.

As the entrance to the prison blocks seemed to be properly safe right now. Verd would call out for the slaves to follow her lead. Moving up the stairs, avoiding the coming barrage of little wooden parts on fire that kept falling from the upper levels. Occasionally forced to halt in her steps. The farmer clone would take the rear end and make sure she was last in line and that the multitude of prisoners were all accounted for. Arriving at the upper level, the other shinobi attending had already completely wiped the enemies from the entrance area. Leaving nothing to bother Verd’s convoy as they made their way towards the teleport supporters. Dandi would make sure that each of them would be given attention to quickly have them ported out of the fortress. Ultimately completing her own primary goal in this mission and ensuring the safe escape of the prisoners. Her comrades in this battle would certainly take care of stragglers and eventual prisoners that were held in areas offside from the prison block. Dandi could see that the fortress itself had taken heavy damage and that a large portion of the enemy troops had already been dealt with.

She shortly charged in through the main hall and back towards the entrance. Keeping an eye out, literally, with her Sharingan scanning her surroundings. Verd was trying to figure out if she had left behind any larger groups of prisoners but couldn’t make out any of them. She must have found the lot of them and seeing how the other ninja were hard at work all over the place Dandi was certain that this was her cue to leave. With the prisoners safe, her clone had dispersed, Verd would charge in her ANBU attire and her face covered in her skull mask towards the entrance. On her way back, she could see a rather worn down and wounded companion of herself. The woman seemingly covered in blood was scaring the hell out of Dandi. But the defeated corpses of her enemies surrounding her seemed to prove that despite her blood clad appearance she had taken them all down to hell as price for opposing her on this battlefield. Dandi could a large man with a Claymore approaching her while she was seemingly still recovering from her fight. In a rather reactive motion, the ice princess would clasp her palms together forming the dragon hand seal to create an abundance of Hyōton chakra between her palms. As he would separate them the frost in her hands would quickly form itself into the shape of a large crystal spear and at Verdandi’s command, with the aim of her flawless perception through the Sharingan, it would pierce through the mans back trying to attack the woman while he had raised his arms to swing his Claymore at her. Stopping him in his path and giving her the chance to finish him off while the spear would pierce into his spine and crack his bones.

Verdandi would wink at the women she supposedly helped out. Creating an unusual and potentially awkward moment of peaceful joy between them before she finally decided that it was indeed, time to go. A last few set hand seals would come together and the princess would fade away into brittle snowflakes as she used the high-speed transport technique to leave this cursed place. Outside the fortress she’d meet the survivors of her troops, gather them up and leave. Her eyes behind her mask gazing back at the burning and crumbling ruins of the former prison. Hoping that she had a positive influence on the overall battle here and that the remaining ninja would make it out safely before it would all crash down for good.


[EXIT]

1600 / 5000

Chakra 175/350:

Maikumaru was still in the facility, going against formidable shinobi. He was staying with most of the other Invaders, allowing with the mystery man to move forward. Maikumaru was once again attacked by another rogue Sand Shinobi. “How many of you are there?” The shinobi wore a mask over his mouth, and a hood, concealing most of his face. Maikumaru took his brawling stance, and smirked at the enemy. “C’mon. Show me what you got.” When he took a fighting stance of his own, he did so elegantly, slowly and gracefully placing his palm in front of him, as if it was a sheil, and a fist yielded back, facing upward close to his body, and his right foot in front of his body, and his left foot back. Maikumaru knew that he had to proceed with cautious. The elegance and grace of the way he broke into his stance, and the stance itself spoke volumes. He was a defensive taijutsu fighter. One that danced around defenses. It was only a hypothesis, but still, Maikumaru had to be aware of everything that his enemy was about to do. He jogged toward him, and yielded his fist back getting ready to throw the punch. He threw the punch to his face, but stopped in, using it as a feint. As predicted, he placed his hand in the direction of the fist that threatened his face, but instead, Maikumaru halted it, and rammed it into his gut. When he did, the Shinobi Staggered, allowing Maikumaru to unleash his furious strikes on him. His heavy clunky attacks landed, each one more devastating than the last. When he went for another punch. But this time, he was able to sidestep it, and wrap his arm around Maikumaru’s arm. He retaliated with punches to the face with his free hand, it halted him from whatever action ihe was planning on taking, but he continued to grip Maikumaru’s arm. The Iwagakure Ninja drove his knee into his gut, finally getting him lose.
Maikumaru had decided to end the fight by grabbing him by the mouth and nose, lifting him up in the air. He squeezed hard, watching him squirm into his grasp. Maikumaru watched him fade. But before he did, there was another gust of wind he looked over and found that there was another rogue shinobi with a sword.

Maikumaru looked at them both, and cracked his neck. He looked next to him, and saw a spear into the sand. He grabbed it and picked it up, spinning it in his right hand. Maikumaru knew how to use a spear. He had learned under the training regimine of his late mentor. The two rushed him, but he stood his ground. He parried the first attack made by the swordsman, and then the Tai master appeared above him, spinning around to kick Maikumaru in the head. He grabbed his leg and slammed him on the ground, and then threw him in the swordsman, whom he was still in lock with.

He then raised the spear above his head, and threw it between the two shinobi, who were now both lying in the sand. He reached behind him, and equipped his gauntlets. “C’mon. Show me what you got.” They both rushed towards Maikumaru, with the swordsman performing an overhead attack. The other one tried to flank Maikumaru, while, vertically spinning behind him. But the Champion of Iwagakure lifted his hand at a ninety degree angle at the swordsman. As for the taijutsu master, he caught his palm strike. He squeezed the hand, forcing him to grunt and pain, and then he yanked the sword back, flipping it, and smacking the owner in the face with the handle. He threw the sword to the ground, and looked at the Tai User who was experiencing a crushed hand. Maikumaru turned to him, and let his hand go. “No more games.” Maikumaru punched him in the face, and then in the stomach. He was taking his time with this one, until he heard the scrunching footsteps behind him. He spun around, and broke the sword with his gauntlets. On reaction, he flipped back, and took out a Kunai, and charged Maikumaru. He had quick timing. He felt a kick to his back, and the Swordsman took his Kunai, and tried a vertical slash. Maikumaru held his hand out, and deflected the attack. Maikumar turned aroudn to deliver a backfist to his enemy, grabbing him by the back of the neck, and throwing him into his ally. Maikumaru was getting sick of facing them this way, both of them on either side of him. They both grabbed their bearings and once again charged at Maikumaru. He was curious to find out that they were going through the definition of insanity. The one with elegance was the first one to make an attack. He jumped in the air, and and flipped, allowing his brandished foot to come down on Maikumaru’s head. But he wasn’t an idiot. He understood that the fight in unison. He jumped into the air, pushing the leg back and having him fall to the ground on his back. He looked down to confirm the reason he jumped. The Swordsman slashed at his legs. He overextended himself, having him fall to the ground. Maikumaru landed on top of him. He was getting bored of this. He grabbed the kunai from his own pack, and stabbed him in the back of the neck. The Tai Use got up from the ground, and dashed forward, screaming in rage. They must have been friends.

The elegance in his moves have been amplified. He had become the eye of the storm, his movements were as fluid as water. He was fighting very defensively, dodging his attacks, and then transitioning into fluid attacks to retaliate. He started to get the better of Maikumaru, with a kick to the knee to drop him down to the other one. And then he tried to go for a kick to the neck. Maikumaru lifted up his wrist, and blocked the attack. He pulled on his leg, knocking him down on the ground. Maikumaru climbed on top of him, and started to whale punches at him. Until finally he wrapped his fingers around his necks, and strangled him. He was waiting for him to die. And then he did.

Maikumaru looked around. There was nothing left he could do. He snuck off into the distance, and left the scene.

[EXIT]
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