Dameon had only just returned to the village after having completed the Swordsman mission he and Strafe had been assigned. He had killed another three people and it didn’t matter to him. He had been assigned a task and he had accomplished it. As he walked through the town heading back to the ANBU HQ to check in he continued to wonder off in thought. His fellow villagers had key Intel on the top shinobi of the village and now that scroll of information was on him to protect. The war had changed him sure but it was everything else that had made a bigger impact him. In the war he had killed hundreds of men and women in the name of protecting the village that had adopted him and protect what few friends he barely saw anymore. After fighting Seven Bells he had essentially been left to die and was only discovered after everyone else. The person he had clung to life for didn’t even know he was alive and never actually cared to find out. His whole life he had been depressed and alone but it was only during the chaos of war that he hadn’t felt empty and lonely. His training lately had been slipping and he was falling into a cycle of training students, training ANBU, and doing missions he was obligated to uphold as a Swordsman of the Mist. Little time had been set aside for him to even go to his new home let alone train himself to become stronger. The village was in recovery mode and he knew his role in it was massive with re-establishing ANBU and training the new shinobi to be. He just wondered what he was fighting for anymore, because he knew it wasn’t personal or emotional.

He reached the admin building and headed downstairs into the depths of what was under ANBU jurisdiction. Since the village had been attacked most of the primary headquarters had been moved to the massive fortress of a building while construction continued on new buildings for the other branches. As he walked in the other shinobi stood at attention and bowed before returning to their duties. He had been given the respect of hundreds of shinobi but what was it all for? He always wondered seeing himself now more as a dispassionate weapon or tool used to achieve victory in any mission. Perhaps that is why he had moved through the ranks so fast because he never let emotion cloud his judgment and did as he was told regardless of how other people might see the task. Perhaps his purpose in fighting was the serve to give back to the village that had given him the opportunity to succeed or perhaps it was because he knew no other way. Whichever the case he didn’t question his loyalty like those he had disposed of only hours ago. He had never doubted the Mizukages wisdom and he wouldn’t start anytime soon. As he made his way to his office the Mizukage’s messenger was already waiting for him. A sealed envelope in his hands as he handed it to Dameon before walking out. Dameon knew how these things went if the messenger was delivering a sealed envelope it meant it was for his eyes only and was of the utmost importance. He closed the door to his office and opened the envelope and read the contents, it was no wonder it was sealed. The Mizukage actually wanted to meet him in person, had anyone else received the envelope anything could have happened. He took the paper and burned it with the candle that sat on his desk. He also took the time to change into his ANBU gear for maximum discretion.

He placed the mask over his face and moved The Midnight Child’s Blade so it was straight up along his spine as he wrapped the black cloak around him and threw up the hood. As he walked out he took the scroll he had been given and tossed it to the man who led the intelligence gathering section of ANBU. “Find out where this came from,” Dameon commanded as he continued walking to exit the administration building. “Right away sir,” the shinobi replied as he unraveled its contents to begin the assignment. Dameon’s mask was unique to the others; his was almost entirely blank except for a single black tear and looked as if it was falling from his right eye. He had not designed the mask but he felt that the other masks were mush to flashy for his tastes. He left the admin building and immediately took to the rooftops making sure he was to keep to his orders to be at the Fusa Prison Monument at the assigned time. He wondered what the situation was that he had been asked to meet the leader of the village in such a clandestine fashion. It must have been pretty important none the less. If anything he wanted to get there sooner to scout the place and make sure nobody else knew about the meeting that wasn’t supposed to know.

It didn't take long at his speed before he had arrived at the outskirts of the prison monument. He could see around him very well as the large crater left nothing to the imagination. If there was someone else in the area he would have seen them already. He was obviously here ahead of her as he had planned. He made his way down into the crater and looked up at the beautiful pillar of ice as a testament to the Mizukage’s power and her view on criminals. He looked at it and grinned under as his mask knowing he felt much the same. Those that don’t contribute to the world need not exist in it, at least to some extent. Criminals were just scum that hindered the progress of good people and a village. They had no purpose to serve in the world of the living. Knowing he had some time to kill he sat on his knees and crossed his hands together and closed his eyes as he calmed himself and meditated, waiting for his leader to arrive.

[1049 words]

Aya was standing at the destination waiting, Strafe and Yuudai were the only other two people in the area, the two other Legendary Sannin of Kirigakure, standing high above Aya in the grandstands of the arena, unlike the battle to crown a member of the Seven Swordsman, this was all the people she needed to witness this battle, his peers. Aya was not wearing her normal attire, she was wearing her black, furred, combat armour, the armour of Hashirama Senju, clad with her full mask as well as the cloak of the Mizukage covering her body under her armour, coming out from underneath it with its hood up and over her head. Each of her golden gloves coated her hands and her Fuuma shuriken, Sessho Sekki, and Changeling were each on her person at the time. She was armed and ready for battle.

Dameon Shikyo, I asked you here for a very special reason, I asked you here to give you an opportunity to ascend from your position as ANBU Captain of Kirigakure to the ever more auspicious title of Legendary Sannin of the Village hidden in the Mist. In light of your outstanding talent, I am offering you a chance, to test your mettle, in not only strength, but character, will, and ambition to see if you are worthy of the title... To succeed, is to be immortalized as one of the greatest ninja to have ever lived, and to live on as that name through the annals of history. To fail here means nothing, no-one watching you here today will think any less of you for failure, in lieu of respect you for trying...

After Aya spoke on an official level, she could not help but lower her tone, to her more femanine, caring voice her closer circle of people knew. There was worry in this voice, but, he deserved the opportunity that she was presenting him.

"I warn you... I've noticed lately your mind seems to wander into sadness, or entropy, to be a Sannin means you have to be in control of your emotions, to be able to use them, least they be used against you. The responsibility of a Sannin, is more than strength, its to become one of my three successors should I fail... I need to be able to trust you in potentially running the country should the worst ever happen, I hope this challenge, shall give you new the new purpose I think you're looking for, new resolve, and a whole country of those who will depend on you and look up to you far more than that as a member of the swordsman, as far more than strength... You need to be ready for this..."

She spoke as she tried to reason with him

"Do you Accept?"

Solstice's voice was soft, and caring, though she would be hard if she needed to be, and she felt she was going to need to. Should she accept, she was going to push him into a state of rage, attack him psychologically, test his strength of mind, body, and spirit as he needed to be truly, the strongest this City had to offer to win this position... And he needed to win.~

Dameon looked up out of his trance of mental preparation as the Mizukage appeared in her full battle attire. He of course knew exactly what this meant; he rose from his seated position on his legs to kneeling on one knee out of respect as he listened to her speak. He analyzed her words listening to every sentence carefully. He had been caught a little off guard by it all recognizing the presence of Strafe not too far away as well. He had finally understood everything that had been going on in the last day or so leading up to this meeting. He knew after her she had finished her official statement what this meant. It wasn’t just a test but a disclaimer; he could easily die in this test for this opportunity that had been set up for him. He would also be fighting someone he knew was exceptionally stronger than him, someone that could easily end the fight within minutes if she so desired. His fight with Seven Bells had made him realize the gap in power he needed to overcome. This was more or less a test to see if his strength as a ninja had run its course. If he was capable of progressing further this would be the deciding factor.

"I warn you... I've noticed lately your mind seems to wander into sadness, or entropy, to be a Sannin means you have to be in control of your emotions, to be able to use them, least they be used against you. The responsibility of a Sannin, is more than strength, its to become one of my three successors should I fail... I need to be able to trust you in potentially running the country should the worst ever happen, I hope this challenge, shall give you new the new purpose I think you're looking for, new resolve, and a whole country of those who will depend on you and look up to you far more than that as a member of the swordsman, as far more than strength... You need to be ready for this..."

There it was. Despite his best efforts at concealing his emotional state he had still been found out. Whether it was from Strafe relaying information from their latest mission or the Mizukage could just read it in his eyes he couldn’t tell. She knew though and there was no use in hiding it. Taken by surprise a little bit his eyes still remained focused and strong. He had been given an assignment and nothing would come between him and his objective. The majority of his troubles came from having nothing for himself, no friends, nobody that deeply cared for him, and a family that had banished him before he was even old enough to attend the academy. Perhaps it was his child hood issues that lingered in the back of his mind now bringing him down. After all before the war had started he had felt this way as he lived on the streets struggling to find his next meal. The war had been his saving grace, giving him purpose and a reason to continue living. The friends he thought he had made at the time had all seemed to disappear and veer away from him now that the war had ended. Toraika assumed he was dead and had never even bothered to find out even after their promises to never leave one another. His sensei that had trained him during the war hadn’t been around him since the end except for when Dameon had been discovered in his comatose state. Rinao had vanished off the face of the earth and even Keiko had mysteriously been quieter than usual. Who did he have left to protect?

He always asked himself this question. The village was not in any immediate danger so his role as a protector had been diminished to that of an organizer and trainer in recent days. Having no free time to himself to search for the answer he had come up shy on any solid conclusions. However now that he was put on the spot his mind raced to find an answer. He thought back to earlier days leading up to now. He had been an outsider all his life not even having a single person to talk to until days leading up to the war. The villagers had ignored him and written him off as a waste of human life. It started changing the moment he had become a member of the Seven Swordsman, though even during the ceremony people were amazed he had been selected and even questioned the Mizukage’s judgment. It wasn’t until after the war had ended and he had awoken from the hospital that he had noticed a change. There were hundreds of people at the hospital standing outside his room to make sure he would live. He would walk down the street now and be recognized and given respect. His ANBU associates always stood at attention to show respect when he arrived. Perhaps he had ignored this honor or just missed it entirely. He didn’t need any one person or thing to change him, he had a whole village that had needed him and trusted him.

He thought about this as the Mizukage stood in front of him. With a renewed determination he stood up straight and bowed to the Mizukage. He grabbed his ANBU cloak and tossed it aside allowing him to move more freely as the situation had now changed. He didn’t need to be as secretive as he had assumed he needed to be. He was among his leaders that were willing to let him join their ranks should he meet their expectations. He couldn’t let them down, he couldn’t let anyone down. He didn’t know if his loneliness would ever subside but he knew that he had too many people counting on him to continue succeeding to give a damn. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly as he looked into the Mizukage’s eyes.

“I accept,” he said with renewed vigor.

[1026 words]

Aya began to feel the swirl of power rush around herself, the ground beneath her feet began to quake under the static pressure of the Mizukage's ethereal might. Her eyes focused on her opponent as she had heard his words, she observed the immediate change in his stature, he was going to give this everything he had, and she was glad about it, she wanted to test his boundaries and see just what kind of man he had become after all of these years. Solstice's eye began to resonate as the other had been patched with a leather strap, she had been half blinded in the fight against Seven Bells, a scar that her mother was working on repairing with a chakra enhanced trinket, but, such things would not take part in this battle. She was going to fight as if Dameon was going to be the death of her, and he would need to fight equally hard to survive.

"Fight your hardest... I will not insult you by holding back."

She spoke loudly and firmly, her voice like the calm before the storm, as with insane levels of acceleration far exceeding human parameters the pole of changeling was withdrawn and its bow string released from its hold, Aya's hand as a blur moved to her quiver and drew six arrows at once, using Saracen archery to fire the arrows one after the other in Dameon's direction, aiming for his vitals, all six were in mid flight before the first one would come to its target, one aimed for the heart, one for each lung, one for the stomache, one of the neck and one for the eye were the six fired in his direction with lethal precision. Even one landing would mean the end of the battle, but if he was not able to handle an expert archer, he was not fit to hold his position in the ANBU corps...

Aya after her initial flurry smiled, and extended the blade once again from the end of changeling like a Naganata, before pushing the blade down on a 90 degree angle to make the weapon a lethal looking scythe. And she would charge with it. Taking a full length swing for Dameon's legs with the blade, the weapon sung as it cut through the air. Its sweet song like the lightest of whistles as Aya holding the blade at the very end of the pole aimed the strike for his ankle, the spin force of the heavy strike would be enough to begin Aya's Death spin and begun the signature part of her combat style, using momentum which never ended to build up progressively strong strikes. Once she started and got going Aya would become a force of nature, though she was not using chakra to enhance herself 'yet' It would not be long before those guns came out in force.

But she wanted to test Dameon first... just how much of her could she handle? This wasn't a battle of first hit, Aya expected Dameon to do 'well' in this fight against her. If not win, then he would have to at least push Aya to a position where she was on the defensive for her to even consider his position as Sanin. But this was merely the beginning, Aya had far more to attack him with than simple swordplay and chakra, battles were won in the mind, and soon, those games would have to begin.

Dameon focused intensely as he breathed in heavily than exhaled, a wave of static electricity crackled over his skin and settled. It was a part of his clan’s nature for his skin to lightly up with raiton that would crack out at the sky. This however was slightly different it felt more like a calm wave as it went from his head all the way down to his feet. It felt controlled and focused and it was a new feeling all together. His eyes trained on the mizukage as she made her chakra presence known as the ground shook just enough for them to feel the pressure. Most people in this scenario would feel fear or doubt, Dameon would feel neither. Dameon having such a horrible grasp of emotions and feelings had never actually experienced fear and when it was described to him it made no sense. He never understood the point in being afraid of someone else; he only saw it as a chance to experience something new and challenging. This was on a whole other scale though. Sure he had gone toe to toe with seven bells for a few minutes but the result was that was a coma and nearly dying. He silently and quickly expanded his electrolocation having already come up with a minor game plan. The problem with coming up with advanced strategies in a fight was that they only worked to an extent. Someone far more powerful than you could break it off the moment they noticed it or just power through it. None the less he expanded his field and quickly read the battlefield through his sensing technique. He slid a kunai down to his hand as he focused on the mizukage using his ace eyes that had helped him so much in the past, he looked and searched for anything distinguishable to decipher an incoming attack or any flaws he could take advantage of, the question was would he be able to take advantage of any knowledge gained. He already prepared a kunai with a smoke bomb attached to the end, something of a favored tactic of his as he recalled his last mission with Strafe.

He was able to track her movements more so watching it as she grabbed her weapon and the bow string popped out as she grabbed her arrows. She was fast, he had come across fast before like seven bells but he wasn’t as much of a distance fighter. The biggest thing about archers was they where they aimed were relatively easy to find out. The basics of archery involved physically aiming the bow toward the target and firing. While this was obvious what wasn’t in most people’s mind when fighting an archer was the archer’s point of aim. Simply put depending on the distance the archer’s eyes looked in a completely different spot either above or below where the actual arrow was aimed to adjust for any number of factors on the arrows trajectory. If you could estimate the point of aim you would know if the arrow would be higher or lower, left or right was a matter of looking at the bow and making your best judgment call. They were minor details but enough to tell where the first few arrows would be aimed. The issue was then was that while he would doge or deflect the first couple the others would be following them. So his best bet was to guess whichever one would be the furthest left or right to avoid any other arrows by moving beyond it, this was easier said than done when they person you were fighting could fire them all before one would normally be able to react. However the benefit to her firing them all so quickly is that if one were to stare straight at it you could see all six of the arrowheads in a scatter plot formation and get a slight idea of where to go if it was possible to go anywhere at all.

Having already prepared his kunai but none the less he had decided to start moving the moment she had reached for her bow knowing it was best not to sit still, and moving as far away left or right from her initial volley would give him some leeway no matter how scare of a timeframe that would be. As she fired her arrows he narrowly dodged the farthest possible one to his right which seemed to have been aimed at his eye. Taking a mental sigh of relief he stuck to his game plan and tossed the kunai with the smoke bomb attached to the loop on the end at her. He already had cracked the smoke bomb and it led a long trail of smoke as it traveled giving him enough cover to leap backwards staying out of sight as he performed raiton kage bunshin immediately followed by a henge that turned into a copy of his C ranked rusty katana. Using this opportunity he also prepped the raiton clone with additional chakra in case anything should go wrong.  Using the raiton bunshin he launched the henge’d katana and the real katana. One that went straight at the mizukage, and the other at around seventy five degrees into the air. It was only moments later that the mizukage ran in at him and went for the sweep at his legs. With the large scythe, he had two options to avoid. Since it was a long weapon using aikido he could easily step in toward her and begin attacking himself to turn on the heat, and that was his plan. Drawing his bokken he sidestepped the scythe in and toward the direction that the mizukage swung it and lunged in with his bokken in an upward motion toward her throat. It wasn’t the best weapon in the world but he could still kill with it if he needed to because of the angle he had to dodge at it would have been a lot hard to attack with the Midnight Childs Blade though it was obviously more powerful. He would press the attack now sending a flurry of aggressive attacks that needed her utmost attention to respond to.
=====================================================================

Chakra: Dameon: 125/300 , Raiton Bunshin: 135/135

-5 Chakra for jutsu prep.

Spoiler:

[1047 words]

Dameon had made a grave error, and whether he knew it or not, he had just lost a sword forever... In sheer reaction to him using one of his weapons as a throwing device, Aya activated her Sage Mode, stepping in with a single stride, her appearence would change, though, as 90% of her body was covered, all of it would be very slight, butterfly like tattoes would cover her visible body, and small white daimond like butterfly wings would explode from her back as she raised her hand in defence. Aya activated her Demon Ice Venom teqhnique simultaniously... her signature ability which devastated countless men in the war, it held the power to imbue weapons with its strength and chakra flow, and as he had thrown one of his weapons in her direction, wielding her weapon in one hand she would deflect it with the palm of her other golden gauntleted hand, grinding across the armoured surface, being imbued with the powerful chakra flow technique as it flew past her, and instantly shattered into a thousand pieces, the rusty, ill made blade unable to handle the power of Aya's technique as she technically enchanted her opponent's weapon to become more powerful, but its low ranking form simply could not withstand it.

Her own scythe now becoming a tool of icy death, she swung with the strike for his legs, though he was quick on his feet, the smoke from the kunai had begun to shroud the arena, though as it was thrown at her face, the low ranking Kunai too met the strength of her body armour, grinding across her face mask, sparks flying in each direction as Solstice opened up her senses as well as her sight to percieve her opponent. Aya's hearing was equally as keen as her sight, him merely moving through the wind, his clothes billowing as he moved, no matter how quiet he attempted to be. Though sensing his chakra was folley, he was an ANBU after all, his armour hid his chakra signature from sight almost perfectly save for those who had vastly more powerful skills than Aya possessed. With Aya's wide swing, her opponent moved, and as he did she drew the pole back in closer to her chest so that she could be on the defensive should she have to be. But as he came closer, she let out a surprise as she did not stop spinning with her blade. As he stopped to strike, the blade still continued to swing for his center body, side swiping him from the side as Aya's Tanketsu all opened as a simple precaution.

With a violent outburst of chakra Solstice's Mimic'd technique stolen by the hyuuga clan's simple ideology, she would send a crippling repulse of hyouton energy to violently smash her opponent back, thanks to her repulse, any wound the scythe blade would leave would be little more than a deep lasceration should it have managed to connect, though, the simple nature of the scythe was to penetrate defences, blocking was never in a warrior's best interest, as the curved nature of the blade meant that unless you blocked it well away from your body, the scythe would meet some of its mark... Aya was burning through chakra, but she didn't seem to mind, he was as well, and Dameon seemed to be doing just fine, Aya's reserves were many times higher than his, and he needed to be able to take her at her full power. This was one test, and the others were to come. Dameon was an accomplished swordsman, but the fact that he did not seem to be using the Midnight Child's blade, was somewhat of a mystery, With Aya's Demon Ice Venom flowing through her weapon, Very, Very few of his weapons, those of B rank and lower, would be cleaved in half upon contact with Changeling, and the S raank technique which was empowering it with a frigid glow.

Though Deep within aya as she began to fight on this level, something began to stir within her, there was something becoming stronger to those who would be able to sense chakra, the power of the Demon ice Venom was preparing to flare. The surge of which as seen in the battle against seven bells, was able to freeze large areas of people within the area of effect, be it delivered by a punch or from one of the weapons she was using at the time. As Aya fought, she began to speak...

"Why do you fight Dameon!?" Aya shouted in his direction, loudly in time with her dance, not distracting her at all as she intended to attack from two locations, the psychological, as well as the physical.

"Why do you fight when people only know your name because of a sword you hold!? Why protect them!? Why save them!? Why should the strong put their lives on the line for the meek!? If you die, do you think they'll care!? Will the cry!? Or is your legacy the sword in your hand, which, will simply pass to the next who will hold it...!!??" Aya was intending to be harsh, to make him question himself, his worth, was he only a blade? What made him special? worthwile? Any ninja could become strong, Aya didn't need strength, she could pick any strong ninja from the village to become powerful and they would under her guidence, she needed something more for a Sannin, they needed passion, conviction, leadership, purpose, gusto, and so many other qualities to become one of the in line for Kage group...

Aya hoped he did not buckle...

Jutsu:

Dameon watched as his real katana shattered into oblivion. He had expected it to happen for the most part but the point of it was to keep her eyes and attention away from the second that was now midair not too far away from their current position. Meanwhile Dameon’s raiton clone was still staying toe to toe with the mizukage for a couple obvious reasons. One is it was a deception that would require her attention and two it was there to provide an opening for a counter attack. Should the raiton clone explode within two meters of her she would take the full damage of the lightning empowered by his clan. Having tested it in the past he knew that the clone would deal a great amount of damage worthy of being a jounin level attack and cause severe third degree burns to the entire body of the enemy. It was probably one of his best techniques due to the level of options it provided. In the meantime though he would stay in henge until an opportune time to attack. The clone stayed close to Ayakashi well within the the two meters knowing that the weakness to a long melee weapon was when it had to hit a close range target.

There was no doubt in his mind that the mizukage knew this after she tucked the blade in close and spun to perform a close range attack with the scythe. The clone knowing time was of the essence jumped in at her as the scythe strike connected with his chest before her follow up ice jutsu would happen. Blood would squirt out from the wound and the clone would go to scream in pain as it exploded into a highly concentrated explosion of raiton giving little to no time to react to the deceptively powerful jutsu. As the clone exploded Dameon cancelled the henge and aimed his index finger at the mizukage and fired his white raiton beam at her aiming for her chest, the idea was to aim big and hit big. If the mizukage took the full damage from the clan she could very well be stunned in place or drop or any number of variable situations. Instead his was aimed at the area most likely to be hit in any of the scenarios. Sure he was shooting through the smoke but with his sensing jutsu still activated he could see her and fire with deadly precision and still allow it to be a sneak attack to her not being able to gain a visual cue through the dense smoke.

As Dameon landed back on the ground sweat rolled down his face though the mask hid it. His breathing picked up slightly as well as he drew the Midnight Child’s Blade from his back. He contemplated her question that he was able to hear from both her and the clone after its explosion. It was a good question, one that he asked himself every day and he had only ever told himself the answer but now possibly it was time for her to know as well.

“Simple. I may have had a shitty life growing up. I may have been an outcast whose life was shunned from the very start no matter where he turned but you know what? I don’t regret or wish for it any differently for me. It is through my pain and suffering that I fight to protect others from having to go through what I did. I fight so that others may live the lives they were meant to have,” he stated boldly as the cloud slowly faded and Dameon appeared as he walked toward the Mizukage slowly and paying enough attention to be prepared for a counter attack of some kind just in case he hadn’t done enough damage or he hadn’t landed anything at all though the latter seemed a little less likely. He refrained from activating his legendary sword however waiting patiently to assess the situation and what was going on. He was still assessing the information the clone had given him upon the end of its life. Her sage mode was active he needed to be diligent at this point anything could happen. He recognized the use of senjutsu because of seeing Sanosuke’s during the war. He stayed alert and paid extra attention to his sensing jutsu as the smoke continued to clear.

“You will not break me down so easily try as you may,” he stated proudly.

===============================================================

95/300 Chakra
Chakra spent this turn: 30

-10 Electrolocation Upkeep

Spoiler:

Kekkai Genkai Used:

Shikyo Blessing: Raiton +1

In case of confusion involving clone + henge read spoiler below:

Spoiler:

Any questions,concerns,or comments just message me on skype or pm. :)

[757 words]

All hell broke loose, but he had made a couple of very interesting mistakes, the first being he could not keep up with the Mizukage's natural speed. Dameon was slower than Aya was, and there was little denying it, though he was close, they still had a world of training in between the speed of the mizukage, and the speed of even a seven swordsman giving her just enough time to pull back, the second of mistakes was making the mistake that the slash of the scythe and the explosion of the aura of ice were not simultaneous. Yet it was not the effect of her explosion which shook the impacted area, it was the hit of her scythe. The Chakra flow which ran through the scythe was empowered by her sage mode, although it was weak to raiton affinity techniques and his was boosted by his clan, the natural state of her technique being a higher rank, created a point where after the damage was resolved, they were equal. The frost effect froze a large portion of the solid Raiton Bunshin before it detonated, as well as knocking the solid mass backwards some feet.

Combined with the attack colliding with her armour, mask, and gloves, Aya did not come out of the attack unharmed, but she came out far less injured than anyone would have expected from the point blank explosion of raiton chakra, which Aya was known to be weak to. Her reaction time had to be quick, the explosion had caused a small tear in the arena where a cloud of a mix of dust dirt and debris had formed as a beam of lightning exploded from the dust aiming for Aya's chest, it was time to show her opponent what the Kage was truly capable of.

Whipping her hand up, and flowing chakra into one of her golden gloves, it radiated with a barrier like surface, as the beam struck her hand, the jutsu would be maintained for a couple of seconds before Aya would point it back in his direction, aiming for his chest and firing as all Dameon would see, is his bolt of lightning penetrating the dust, only for another exact same technique to fire back in his direction. Aya was panting slightly at being damaged like that, but, this was far from over, her goal was to test him, not end him, and she had to reign in her emotions, to avoid herself from attacking him with 'everything' she had. Such an assault she did not feel he would be able to weather with his current skill level.

The rebounded strike was aimed for the precise location of its source, askew to a side slightly to hit his chest with a multitude of information running through her mind, calculating exactly which hand he would have fired the beam with, so she would be able to triangulate his chest. She would know which of his hands which he was predominant with, assuming he had a predominant hand. As Solstice had scouted him for this position, she had his statistics on her desk after he had wanted to take this position, and she had noted which of his arms he had thrown the swords with, the subtle differences between how he used one hand and the other.

The attack in return may have cut off his speech, but Aya needed to reconstitute, she was maintaining demonic Ice Venom, leading her to need to perform her next test on him. How he was able to deal with her technique, he had the advantage of element on her, but she had the advantage of rank, experience, strength, speed, and power, as well as so much more... It was at that moment she felt a surge through her body as she activated her Butterfly agility, wings exploded from her back, which blew away the smoke, as she smiled in his direction, her scythe in hand as she kicked off the ground with all of her strength, propelling herself toward him at full speed, her image was a blur as she moved more than a meter to a side of him and bought the blade out for his neck.

Burns and damage was apparent over the front of Aya's body where it could be seen, namely her legs and across her cloak more than anything else, though the shroud of the Mizukage was made specifically to reduce the power of Raiton abilities... Aya thought she had him at this very moment, moving at such a speed, her blade still resonating with the ice power which flowed through her body, threatening to both freeze and cleave him in a single strike.

Chakra:

Dameon followed closely the actions of the Mizukage and gathered the intel from the raiton clone that had exploded. Along with his sensing electrolocation jutsu it was like watching her through the smoke as if there was no smoke. He wasn’t overwhelmed with surprise when he saw he narrowly avoid the brunt of the damage and even catch his beam of lightning with her bare hands though he assumed it would be because of some technique or defensive jutsu. He was tired of it all the trickery and ranged combat he knew well that the Mizukage specialized the close range and so did he. To try and fight her at a distance did nobody justice especially to himself at his point his adrenaline was pumping and the whole world seemed to stand at a still as his eyes widened and pupils enlarged to take in every tiny detail possible. His sense of restraint had gone to the side and his fight or flight response had kicked into overdrive. Though for Dameon there was no ‘flight’ involved he had never been one to run or hide form any foe or threat he faced it didn’t matter who it was. As the beam flew toward him he finished his sentence and turned his body just enough that his own attack flew past him. His eyes remained trained on the Mizukage as he tossed his ANBU mask aside with a grin on his face enjoying the challenge.

“You can do whatever you like. I am tired of all this foreplay. You won’t ever get me to quit or stop but I would love to see you try,” he said boldly as the smoke flew away and he spotted the wings she had created with a jutsu. He knew about her Ice jutsu around her skin that needed physical contact to create serious damage and he knew about the other jutsu she had used to repulse away his advances slightly. Above all he knew the style of fighting she did with her scythe. Simply using aikido would not work at least not in the previous situation. She had maintained enough balance that she was able to counter his tactic to try and use her body against her. Now he had a slight increase in the ability to use such methods as he speed increased and seemed to not be holding back. Watching her and following her, his face was unafraid by her speed or power and in an almost eerie kind of way instead a smile was brought to his lips. At least he could say he had forced the Mizukage to use her sage mode, though he wasn’t sure if that had been a good thing or bad, either way to him it was an achievement. He dumped a small amount of chakra into his sheathe for his sword and tossed it aside not wanting the added distraction should he have to turn in a hurry.

She had moved slightly to his right and his electrolocation along with his astounding eyes could track her movements if only a little. His electrolocation he could predict her speed and assume when she would arrive. Though he had to focus his eyes on her shoulders if he wanted to attempt to predict where the attack was coming from. He activated the midnight child’s blade and extended it up to its full length of one and a half meters and with one hand on the weapon step to the side slightly and raise the blade to intercept her weapon and block it. He would only make contact with her weapon for a fraction of a second  before he stepped in toward her coming within inches as he flipped the Midnight Childs Blade into a reverse grip and stood there staring at her through her mask with a look of determination and boldness. He wouldn’t attack her or move to attack her but he was on his guard. Instead he would simply stand there and try and let his eyes do the talking unlike what she had seen before.

“Go ahead. Make me quit,” was all he would say as his breathe could be seen rolling past her mask. He wouldn’t move no matter what she did and he wouldn’t flinch in the slightest. The fact was he was nearly all out of chakra and if he spent any more than he had already he might end up hospitalizing himself or worse.

==============================================

65/300 Chakra

-10 Electrolocation Upkeep
-5 Chakra prep
-15 Sword activation

Note: Sword gives -1 to attacking Bukijutsu.

edit: including total WC for thread so far for training

[752 words]

WC Total: 4,631
-2,500wc for [White Raiton Armor]
-2,000wc for [White Raiton Katana]
WC Remaining: 131

(Coulda totally hit you with this <3)

Aya missed him by inches with the reflected bolt of lightning which cascaded beside his ear, as she kicked from the ground with each of her running steps, she was almost flying, and although her blade connected with the power of the midnight childs blade, the ice from her weapon crept down the blade to freeze his hands solid from the clash like a venom, making his weapon nearly useless with a single clash unless he did something smart, the midnight childs blade was made of crystal like chakra when activated, but it was still a solid, meaning the surface of it could still be frozen like any other solid. Aya on contact with Dameon at her full speed would have pushed him back meters with the heavy clash, almost literally throwing him backwards with a hit strong enough to normally shatter his arms, but, the powers of the Midnight Childs blade was to resist the strength of others stronger than you. It was a fantastic weapon, and many times more powerful than changeling. But with this one, single, block. Aya realized that her tutorial had come to a head, the look in his eyes told Aya that no psychological attack against him was going to work, and so, it came time for her final technique. It was in the form of a challenge, an exchange, she wanted to call him out, and test his strength.

"Not bad... you are an admirable fighter, though, I would like to see how powerful you are. Show me how strong you are, show me now, in sheer force, a technique strong enough to defend against me, live through this, and I will grant you what you desire, this is the final exchange... I'm coming for you Dameon Shikyo..."

Aya stood in a low stance, bending her knees with her fist toward the ground, frost power coiled within it, being drawn in by the area around her, her butterfly wings had more chakra flown into them, making them seem more and more divine as power radiated through her body, her sage mode markings lighting up as she seemed to erupt into ice. Her muscles tensed as supernatural strength ran through her body, a bright blue ice life fire running over her hand, freezing the ground around it. She mimicked the Akamiji almost, in some way, shape and form, with the use of four techniques simultaneously, she accommodated and replicated the effect of one.

Aya smiled as she seemed to be a one woman Glacier, her power seeming to know little bounds as it coiled around her. The person she was staring down would almost need to defend with an S rank Raiton Technique to counter the effects of her combined attacks, assuming he was able to defend against her with S rank Raiton, or, he would need to meed her attack head-on with another S rank raiton technique and perhaps one to match her strength to counter the offensive effects of her attacks...

Using her butterfly agility, she flickered back, allowing him time to react to her attack as she charged. She was so fast, but the build up to her attack was something else, long, slow, giving him enough time to think. If he avoided this attack, he would be considered simply too weak to be a village Sannin, every ninja needed an ace in the hole, and with his remaining chakra he would need to develop one. Hell, even if he didn't have a technique, the goal was to survive. If he took the blow head on, meeting it with his fist, then removed his arm with his blade before his entire body was frozen, Aya would have him healed and back to normal, he would pass with flying colors.

But how he survived it, was up to him.

She charged him from 100 meters away, running in with a single punched aimed for the center of his mass. The blow was powerful enough to kill any living thing should it make direct contact, people watching were sitting on the edge of their seats, thinking was Aya really intending to kill him? She knew his pride, that determination in his eyes would mean that he would take the challenge, he had to, or he would die trying, and Aya loved that about him, it was excellence incarnated into material form, that determination could save a nation if he tried.

Chakra 200:

Dameon stayed where he was the ice had transferred onto his blade but he had deactivated it before it could transfer onto the hilt and to his own hands. His blade was entirely made of chakra but the moment he stopped channeling into it the blade would dissolve and the ice would fall to the ground. He kept staring into her eyes and as she spoke he watched her lower her stance to hit the ground he knew after what she had just that this wasn’t going to be good. He instinctively used the jutsu he had already prepped and he substituted back to the sheathe. The sheathe appeared to be Dameon until the ice rolled over him and then the cloud of smoke popped just before the sheathe became crystalized. He continued to move out of the way of her jutsu as it approached and when he finally got out of the way of it he turned around to face her. He was getting tired as he stopped running and slid. His leg slipped and buckled as he fell to the ground. His whole body was sweating and he was finally starting to the effects of the battle.

He balled his fists up against the dirt and pushed himself up painfully. The lack of chakra in his body starting to get to him as he struggled to his feet and watched her movements. He needed to do something and fast or he was going to die. He still had some chakra left though it wasn’t much he had no real way of blocking or counteracting her attack not with had much power as she had. He needed to invent something new on the spot but that was impossible. He had been messing around with an improvement upon his skin current jutsu which surrounded his entire body in raiton to help negate attacks. He was stronger now there was no reason he couldn’t finish the jutsu and it was now or never with his life on the line if anything it was only an increase in motivation. His eyes never faltered as stood up his electrolocation had deactivated and he was kind of glad if he was going to do this he needed to force almost all the chakra he had left to his skin. He stood up and focused his eyes on her keeping as much focus on her as possible.

He focused raiton chakra to his skin like he would his old jutsu but just as it formed he sent a lot more to his skin. The white raiton formed around his skin, it had started as a blue raiton like normal and then became white and stable almost like a cloak enveloping his skin. It was just white enough to see through and didn’t look anything like natural raiton, it wasn’t erratic and shooting in every direction. He stood there because he was confident he could take the hit now and he wouldn’t flinch or keep his eyes off of her. Another big reason was that with so much chakra already spent he could barely move but he wouldn’t let her see that he took a step forward toward her and braced as her attack collided with his raiton armor. He wouldn’t know the end result the chakra deprivation had exhausted him and the stress needed to create a new jutsu would push his body past its limits. The armor was strong though especially against the Mizukage’s ice element. Her punch would come within an inch or so from hitting him and stop any actual contact from happening. Meanwhile Dameon’s shield would drop after her attack and he would fall forward toward her aiming to collapse on his stomach from exhaustion.

10/300 chakra

Spoiler:

634wc

Aya's blow was stopped in middair by a shield of sorts which seemed to erect itself around him, and though the bright light wavered and died as her fist crashed into it, the force of her blow, her speed, and her chakra enhanced strength send a ripple so strong, that the physical impact of the blow created a crater beneath Dameon. The force surrounding the strike blowing the frigid ground and air apart, including Dameon himself who now had zero footing or chakra to spare and knocking the boy off of his feet and meters away, even Aya having never physically touched him during her attack, instead rather, touching the barrier and colliding with spectacular force, as the five techniques collided in such a fashion it was brilliant to the eyes to see.

But as it seemed the battle was over, it did not take a Kage to know that Dameon was out of chakra, and, though he would have been unharmed by the ripple of the techniques, which had even thrown Aya backwards toward the end of it, being so low in chakra was dangerous for a ninja, should he remain conscious for the next couple of minutes it would be nothing short of a miracle. But, in either case, Aya approached him, looking down at the young man, and member of the seven swordsman. Removing her mask, to reveal her bright Sapphire eyes, staring down at him and smiling with pride and adoration. Kind-of surprised he managed to live through the attack with so little chakra.

"Goddamn... well, you did it... barely. I consider this a pass, though you are going to need to get stronger than this, and you have to promise me to keep everything in order. I'm going to get these guys to send you to hospital now, cos, your chakra is really, really low, to the point you may fall into unconsciousness so It's really important that you rest, and try not to use any more for the next week or so while you recover. Chakra fatigue is a pain... though, the training facilities only myself and our Sannin are privy to, are top notch, we'll train that chakra up to its next state~"

She said with a smile, dropping the bomb that he had the permission of the Mizukage to ascend to the rank and stature as the remaining member of the villages Sannin, joining the ranks of both Straife and Yuusdai, though, Aya had still not quite reached her dream of solely members of her family being Both the leader, and the village Sannin, it was getting close to being that way. It was only right that it was a member of the seven swordsman who would raise to this title. But there was one more thing which needed to be addressed. Taking Sesho Sekki from her belt, the drill blade had yet to have a home, and neither of the other two Sannin willed to be its wielder. The blade was complex, and needed a complex skillset to be able to wield, though it was more than worth it to the people who got there in the end.

"You know, Sesho Sekki still needs an owner, it is the mantle of the Captain of the Seven Swordsman... As a Sannin of the village you now have the right to attempt to claim this blade as your own, in place of the Midnight Childs blade you currently wield. Should you ever seek this weapon out, you are more than welcome to attempt its trial. After you recover of course." Aya amended, surely not thinking that he go through the trial now, though, she would be impressed if he could, the ninja who went for first the position of Sannin, then Captain of the Swordsman would be considered more than a legend internationally, if not solely for endurance. But, with him in this state, Aya highly doubted it, though she was incredibly impressed by his resolve.

Finally as the medics came, Aya would listen to any last words Dameon had to say, in response to her, or, anything at all, be they questions, or other statements. Most people thanked her for being given the positions they held, but, she did just put Dameon through a hell of his own, so, she was not closed minded to the idea that he might be a little pissed. The thought of him exploding at her made her smirk lightly, as if remembering a joke that was never truly said.

OOC: Total thread word count 4336/4000. Reaction time A-1 - S

He wasn’t entirely sure how he was able to pull it off, when the Mizukage’s attack he had expected to be struck if not worse but that wasn’t the case. Instead the ground beneath him gave way as their jutsu collided in a wide ray of light and what would be a shockwave that rippled through the ground kicking up the frozen ground. Dameon would attempt to keep his footing but the exhaustion was too great. He would fall forward after having moved back a few meters from where the attack had occurred from. With nothing there to support him he landed face first onto the cold ground and exhale would escape his lips as the wind was taken from his body. His whole body felt dead and unresponsive as he struggled to move. His eyes felt heavy as well, wanting to close but he would through sheer will power force himself to stay awake. Slowly he grabbed his kunai from his leg holster and stabbed it into the top of his thigh. The stab would send endorphins and adrenaline back into his body, along with the pain his eyes would fling open. With a few grunts he placed his palms on the ground and began to push himself up. He slid his left foot under him and pushed himself up to his feet slowly his torso lagging behind his legs as he stood up straight. He would slide the kunai back into the holster and look the Mizukage in the eye as she spoke.

"Goddamn... well, you did it... barely. I consider this a pass, though you are going to need to get stronger than this, and you have to promise me to keep everything in order. I'm going to get these guys to send you to hospital now, cos, your chakra is really, really low, to the point you may fall into unconsciousness so It's really important that you rest, and try not to use any more for the next week or so while you recover. Chakra fatigue is a pain... though, the training facilities only myself and our Sannin are privy to, are top notch, we'll train that chakra up to its next state~"

A smile in the form of a grin would appear on his face. He was happy to be recognized as one of the strongest in the village. It had been his goal since he had been kicked out of his clan to obtain such a high honor. To him he felt like the first half of his life goals had been accomplished and a large weight of stress had been taken off of his chest. He watched as the Mizukage removed the legendary sword from her belt. All of the legendary swordsman had heard of the swords magnificent and devastating strength. Sesho Sekki was well known for its complicated system but one that could master it would be able one of the strongest swordsman to ever exist.  He looked down at the Midnight Child’s Blade that was still in his hand deactivated and it its less than legendary state.

"You know, Sesho Sekki still needs an owner, it is the mantle of the Captain of the Seven Swordsman... As a Sannin of the village you now have the right to attempt to claim this blade as your own, in place of the Midnight Childs blade you currently wield. Should you ever seek this weapon out, you are more than welcome to attempt its trial. After you recover of course."

“I have no issues with leading the Seven Swordsman but I would prefer to use the Midnight Child’s blade. It is a beautiful sword that like myself was made to overcome diversity. Perhaps we have only just scratched the surface of these legendary blades because I feel like there is still a whole other level of power that the Midnight Child’s Blade hasn’t shown me. I will spend a great deal of time to discover its strength. In the meantime if you so decide I will gladly accept Sesho Sekki and learn its strength, learning to use it might be exactly what I need to unlock the true power of the Midnight Child’s Blade,” he stated slowly making sure to carefully choose his words in between his heavy breathing. He was exhausted and his body ached everywhere, even talking proved to be a challenge but he would refrain from showing as much weakness as possible to his superior. He would slowly extend his free hand to touch Sesho Sekki’s hilt. The Sesho Sekki felt like an entirely different beast and he felt like it was calling out to him to be tamed. Dameon favored the speedier and more silent destruction that his current blade produced but the sword he was now contemplating about learning to use was like a large wave of destruction completely in another category. It was heavier and bulkier and god knows horrible to conceal. It probably didn’t even come with a sheathe. Yet Dameon would also see this as a challenge as he picked the larger blade up feeling it’s so called soul. The balance was incredible for being such a heavier and bulkier sword that more closely resembled a lance. He would nod and twirl the blade artistically and with skill in his hand though it seemed slower and needing more strength to use.

”I will use Sesho Sekki, if anything it is another challenge for me to overcome,” he said with a grin on his face as he bowed painfully. He would accept the honor of leading the seven swordsman and he was pretty sure he could somehow manage to learn to use the blade eventually at least. At the very least he knew learning to use the mighty blade would progress him even further in skill once he mastered it. He desperately needed to rest though and the medics were now surrounding him. He pushed them away long enough to stand completely upright holding the blade outward getting used to the blade he would be wielding from now on once he was able to master its use, but he still had a lot of training to overcome to master his bukijutsu. He hoped he could train with someone else to help him achieve that goal. He moved the blade around his body slowly getting used to its balance. He couldn’t believe how balanced it was for being so much wider at the bottom toward the hilt. A smile was still plastered onto his face happy of everything he had accomplished in the last half hour or so.

“While I learn to use this amazing new weapon will I still be able to use the Midnight Child’s Blade to complete missions or assignments? I would begin training immediately but as you pointed out I cannot physically do much of anything. Mentally I would love to start right now,” he said with another smirk as he felt his legs give out and it was at that time that the medics had caught him. He handed the blade over to Ayakashi for safe keeping as the medics helped Dameon back to his feet and allowed him to use their shoulders for support.  He looked at her as they both smirked at the same time both obviously thinking of something that made they smile on the inside.

“We should do this again, it was fun. Maybe next time I won’t have to hold back,” he joked both of them knowing he had gave it everything he had and then some but he had felt compelled to joke about his current situation of being completely incapable of moving on his own, if anything it lessened the embarrassment he was silently feeling.  The medics stood there still holding Dameon upright waiting for their Mizukage’s orders to take him to the hospital. With how often Dameon was in and out of the hospital he was beginning to contemplate the idea of opening up a medical ward in his house. He smirked as the idea came to his mind and he waited to see how his Mizukage would respond to his previous statements.

1,387WC
2,021WC total.

OOC: Apparently this became nothing more than a training thread. Grateful. Perhaps useful again later.