A familiar, soft bed was where Aiza found solace this night, as was common for most of his nights. It was a bed given to him by his adoptive parents when he moved, and therefore it held decent sentimental value. His silken red hair fell over his pillow like crimson ink on paper, and his mind wrote out his dreams with due process. He unconsciously crafted a world within his mind while the clock struck 11 PM...now, he found himself standing, wide awake, with no memory of being asleep or how he had woken up. It wouldn't occur to him just yet that this wasn't reality, and with ignorant bliss, he stepped out into the darkness of the unknown, the depths of his own psyche, the dreamscape that stood domineeringly ahead.

The sun had no presence here, nor did the moon. In fact, celestial bodies seemed to be wholly absent, as all that could be seen from Aiza's position was a pitch-dark void over him. Not a single star in the sky, no planets discernible from the black vacuum. In front of him lay a forest of black trees, most of which were barren as they would be in winter, whereas in truth it was quite hot, or at least the Itohane had perceived it so. He loosened his collar and unbuttoned his shirt in an attempt to cool off even a little before advancing into the effete forestry, enveloped in curiosity. He stopped before passing under the canopy of the first tree, and turned to face what he had just walked away from; nothing. The ground had disappeared behind him, and now he had no where to go but ahead. He sighed and entered the shaded cluster of dead trees.

Aiza continued, pushing past dry branches and stepping over dead leaves everywhere he went. Light was dim,as branches had looked out with was happening to see to see the flaws of this realm; he hadn't how he'd gotten there, but without a source of heat or light. The geography was changing around him yet again and he illuminated everything for the time being without trying. The dead forest he had entered now seemed to stretch on for thousands of kilometers, and he ceased walking, standing silent for a moment as his mind processed the situation. "It's a dream, then. An illusion, and that's my cue to wake..." he waited a moment, but nothing happened, and he was still in the same place. Odd, he knew that whenever one realized that he/she wasn't dreaming, the awoke immediately, but it wasn't working.

Looked like he was trapped, for the time being, so Aiza sat down in the dead leaves, leaning back against ad tree and going into deep thought. One other thing that Aiza knew about dreams was that they could hold meaning from time to time. S, that was his goal; to find out what this one meant, and of course, how to get out. He rose to his feet and stretched, eventually making his way to the east. There was the pressing matter that this forest was infinitely vast....a sound above caught Aiza's attention and he looked up. He found nothing but the same void, yet when he looked back down, a massive spiral staircase was there. It was an exit, if anything, so he began to abscond its steps, one by one, eyes focused to the black skies. There was a light at the end of the stairwell, and they were finally getting closer to its distant glow...

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Training Judgement Break
Word Count: 605/1,500

At the apex, Aiza stood level with the light, looking into it with cautious eyes. He reached out to touch it, only for his hand to be burned by its heat. He tried to pull away, but it gripped him suddenly like a curse, pulling him closer. The burns spread up his arm and throughout his body as the light now completely engulfed him. Its luminescence blinded him, and when it faded away, he was in a white room, with no visible walls or methods of escape. His arm tingled in pain, and he held it as his eyes darted from left to right and back again. What had just happened? He didn't think pain could be so real in a dream...A figure now stood in front of him, a tall woman by the looks of it. She had maroon-colored hair that fell down to her waist, and the entirety of her eyes were black. She merely smirked at Aiza playfully. Her features were flawless, but she did possess a few noticeable abnormalities along the rest of her body. Her nails were sharpened to a lethal edge; her ears were pointed at the ends. She licked her lips, and he noticed her tongue was forked and slender much like a snake's.

"I was just in a forest, and at the end of the stairs...did you bring me here? And why is this dream so realistic?" She tilted her head to the side, letting her hair fall past her shoulder and obscure a portion of her face; her black eyes were steady on Aiza still.

"You're probably very confused right about now. Allow me to explain. You see, this isn't a dream, it's an SS-Rank Genjutsu of mine, that allows me to invade the target's psyche and control their thoughts and dreams. I can use it from any distance, as long as my target is asleep or unconscious by some other method...in short, I control this place, and I've brought you here." As soon as he understood it was a Genjutsu, Aiza attempted to use Genjutsu Kai, but to no avail. "Nope. Sorry, you have no control over your physical body until I end the Genjutsu or until you wake up naturally...meaning you can't use Genjutsu Kai to stop it." He sighed and crossed his arms, figuring that as long as she had him trapped like this, he should listen to what she had to say.

"Well then? What exactly is it you want from me?"

A genuine look of offense and hurt was brought to her eyes. "I should've guessed that you wouldn't remember after so long. You don't recognize your own mother." His breath caught in his throat at those words. You don't recognize your own mother. She couldn't be.

"Don't lie to me, you're not my mother. I haven't seen my mother since I was born; I was adopted. My mother never wanted me."

"Is that what you think then? A shame, really, you should know that your father and I didn't want to do what we did. We weren't fit to raise a child. You were given my clan's surname in hopes that you would never be able to find us, because I've since taken your father's surname. We didn't think that you would even want to know us, we weren't worthy to know you after we put you up for adoption like that. But things have changed...I'll explain more later, but for now, just know that I'm sorry. As for why I'm here...I'm here to help you train, and help you activate your kekkei genkai."

Aiza was having a hard time processing everything at the moment, so he just approached the matter of training instead of the fact that his mother was standing in front of him."My kekkei genkai? The Itohane have a kekkei genkai, or is it my father's clan...?"

"My eyes, my nails, my ears, my tongue? This is the Itohane's true power. It's not just a change aesthetically; I'm much stronger than usual while I'm like this. It is Gaia's Legacy."

Aiza mouthed the word "how", as he stared on at her in awe...she merely perked her eyes up a bit and clasped her hands together in an odd fashion. "Make this hand sign. It is the key to unlocking the legacy." He looked down at his hands and back at her before mimicking her hand seal. Power surged through his veins, and he felt it burning, filling more and more. She gestured for him to continue, and not to stop just yet. It continued to build until it reached a boiling point, and it surged out of him in the form of azure chakra. His eyes turned black like her's, his eyebrows grew jagged and larger, two small horns appeared on his forehead, and his hair turned maroon, as well. He felt a sharp stab on his tongue, and felt his teeth; they were razor sharp and canine-esque. "How did I...?" The woman interrupted him, creating a clone and coming at him full speed with a hidden blade.

"Mother..wait, mother!" Aiza called in a much deeper voice than his natural one, but she didn't stop, and the blade was now less than a foot away. He kicked it away, and she made a futile attempt to claw at him. He dodged and tackled her, leaving her staggering back. He followed up with a punch in the stomach, another forceful punch in the upper chest, and yet another in the opposite site of the stomach, before uppercutting her into the air. His strength was at least twice his usual capability, as activated by the Legacy. He jumped into the air after her, and poised to slam his foot into her chest. "Judgement Break!" He yelled. At this point, his insticts were animalistic, and his only intention was to kill. His kick landed and she rocketed to the white void, landing hard with a crack. She lay motionless, and the white room around them began to crack like glass. "Good work, Aiza. You've already got the hang of it....see you again soon." He landed next to her, looking down at her with a flustered expression. Nothing was making sense....

Just then, the room shattered down and a light flooded in. Aiza's eyes wrenched open, and he was back in his bed, facing his room's window and the sun just outside. His clock read 6:30 AM, and he fell back down into his pillow, unsure of anything that had just happened. His voice and teeth were back to normal, and he assumed the rest was as well...but he just didn't know what to think anymore.

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Training Judgement Break
Word Count: 1,500/1,500 -Complete

Training Ninjutsu D > C
Word Count: 269/1,500