Sunagakure! The Land of Wind and Kashiki's ancestral homeland. It was just how he remembered it from the stories he was told by his parents, the sands glittered like mounds of gold dust, the dunes shifted like a raging sea, the sun beat down and seemed to be even brighter here then it was in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The puppet shaped and smithed to look like a huge bird soared across the sand dunes. Kashiki had sent a message to extended family asking for a place to stay for a bit until he found a better place, and had gotten the go ahead from his aunt and uncle to stay with them for a while. The huge bird like puppet began to descend to the the rocky sand dunes that made up the Land of Wind, landing just outside a small mining village like the many that dotted the terrain. The huge gusts of wind made by the bird's wings blew sand around under the puppet, and the talons found purchase in the sandy ground. Kashiki hopped of the bird, grabbing his backpack and a few of his belongings before waving goodbye to the other passenger, Nova Makato the soon to be Kazekage and the one who really made it possible for Kashiki to come to his homeland, Izumi the person who granted Kashiki the ability to represent his home in the finals of the recently ended chunin exams whether he won or lost, and the rest of the group. In Kashiki's bag was everything he needed to be comfortable in the place he would now call home, bedding and pillows, clothes, ninja tools, a few books from his personal stash including The Ghost in the City, Mists of Kaus, Blade of Smoke, and The Oath of Glass. Without access to a library Kashiki's hobby in learning about history and specially war history would be lacking but a few favorites of his might make his time more enjoyable. Grasped in his right hand was his family's heirloom blade, Gyakusatsu.

His left arm, or lack there of due to injuries from his fight with Yoshihiro Joe, was wrapped in a bandage to stop infection and aid the healing process. The loss of it pained Kashiki akin to the death of a dearly beloved pet or a family member, he had put years of training and work into perfecting himself only for it to be wasted as his arm was removed entirely. Kashiki wandered through the small mining village, drawing stares from the villages both due to his equipment and from his lack of a left arm, but Kashiki pressed on ignoring their gaze. After a long search he found the place he was looking for, a medium rotund clay building with a sign over the door signifying it as the home of Ayako and Daimu Kuroka, his aunt and uncle. Kashiki propped the blade against the exterior wall and pounded on the door. "Auntie Ayako its me, Kashiki!" the boy shouted. A few moments later the door flung open, a surprise hug launched from the now open door. "My little 'Shiki its been so long!! I haven't seen you since you were a little sprout!" Aunt Ayako shouted as she hugged Kashiki. Following behind her came Daimu, his hand coming down on Kashiki's head in a noggie. "Hey, kido, what happened to the arm? You get messed up by someone, want me to take care of them for you?" Uncle Daimu asked, pointing his thumb against his puffed out chest. "Daimu quit living in the past, you ain't much of a fighter anymore." Auntie Ayako cried out with a snicker "Lets get you unpacked 'Shiki, its almost lunch time."

The trio headed inside, Kashiki deposited his belongings in a guest room and headed to the dining room where he was greeted with a feast of assorted favorites from his childhood and a few things he'd never seen. Kashiki sat down, followed by Daimu and Ayako, and the three of them dug into the food. Dumplings, spring rolls, barbecue pork and chicken, soda, and even some freshly baked cookies. The food was amazing, especially the cookies which were a family recipe he hadn't had since he was at most six years old. Kashiki thanked his aunt and uncle for the food and headed to his room to unpack. The room itself wasn't very spacious but it was just big enough to be cozy instead of cramped. A wall mount rested on the wall for Gyakusatsu to sit in when it wasn't needed. Kashiki made his bed and unpacked his clothes into the wardrobe before placing the family heirloom of a blade upon the wall. He fell back onto the bed, exhausted from the trip and happy to be able to rest his head without fear or interruption. Kashiki closed his eyes, nearly drifting to slee-

"KASHIKI!" Ayako shouted. The boy sat bolt upright, groggy but he thought it best to listen to his aunt and uncle and so bolted out to the sitting room.

. . .

"-You mean to tell me you can't create your soul-sword?" Daimu asked the boy. In all honesty he had never even heard of a soul sword but it seemed important to his aunt and uncle. "Uhhhh, no? is that a bad thing?" Kashiki asked confusedly. "Yes that is a very bad thing, without a soul-sword you barely deserve to be called a Kuroka, let alone wield Gyakusatsu." Akayo exclaimed. "Yeah thats a pretty bad thing I'd say, what exactly is a soul sword though?" Kashiki asked, more scared for Gyakusatsu then curious about whatever a soul sword was.

"A soul sword is a piece of your soul that our family trains to take a physical form. The Tamashī no Ken, or Sword-Soul is strengthened through victory and the destruction of one's foes, victory is in turn harnessed as power is taken by force as a power that tempers the sword soul." Akayo explained. "Yeah, so winning fights makes your soul sword stronger, kiddo" Daimu interjected before Akayo continued. "-Yes, that is true. The manifestation of the Sword-Soul is different for every person in our family and the clan itself, while the name is misleading, the weapon we materialize does not necessarily have to be a sword, it can be any weapon and usually encapsulates the theme of the person whom it originated from; a process that involves a mixture of their personality, their primary weapon style if applicable, element they primarily rely on and the style of techniques they typically employ. Understand?" "Kinda, what exactly do they look like, are they like actual weapons or just globs of chakra." Kashiki asked, his curiosity piqued by the explanation. "Ohoho, they're weapons alright!" Daimu exclaimed as he tapped his thumb on his chest and grasping his hand around what seemed like air at first. Pulling his hand forwards a rod of wrought iron appeared to pull from his chest followed by a huge barrel shaped hammer head with small holes dotting it's surface. "This is Zuku Taru, the Iron Cask and my soul sword. Ohoho." Daimu exclaimed excitedly, his mouth curling into a boyish grin. Akayo waved her hand over her head, grasping at the end of her arc. A bolt of lightning appeared in her hand, flexible like a whip and crackling with energy. "And this is my soul sword, Arashi the Tempest." Akayo said, much more calmly and clearly then Daimu had. "So do I have a soul sword?!" Kashiki asked, excitement clear in his voice. "Ohoho, why of course kiddo" Daimu said in a jovial tone "You just gotta learn how to awaken it and bring it out. Ohoho" "And how do I do that?" "Ohoho, kiddo. All you godda do is search in your soul for your sword, imagine grasping it and flow chakra into it's shape, the most imporant part is imagining your soul taking the weapon's form. Do that and you'll have a soul sword in no time kiddo."

". . .Sounds simple enough" Kashiki said as he did as commanded. He closed his eyes, imagining his soul coalescing into a solid form, a. . . vaguely axe shaped construct of solid clouds and wind. Suddenly a vision took him, standing amongst the dunes during a sandstorm of a scale bigger then Kashiki could comprehend. His vision snapped as he now stood on a high peak above even the clouds. The clouds swirled around him as Kashiki stood on the peak, flowing towards him and into his nostrils, filling him with dense air as the world began to shift. He was inside an empty stone room, lit only by sickening radiance glittering off of a huge figure across the room in tiny firefly like sparks. The figure was giant, bigger then a two story home and with pitch black leathery skin. Two ram like horns curled forwards from his temples and two ox like horns stuck up from his forehead. He was bound in huge ropes of golden light, a hand shaped stone plate handing from one close to the ground. Kashiki stepped towards the figure, his hand reaching out to the plate. A sudden cold took him as he reach forwards, and his hand instinctively drew back from it. "Hreh Hreh Hreh, so you've finally come eh boyo. If you wish to awaken your sword soul you'll have to release me Hreh Hreh Hreh." Kashiki tried to talk, but his lungs felt to be filled with liquid lead, and he held his tongue. Kashiki pressed his hand into the stone plate, it shattered and dropped to the ground, the ropes of gold light dispersing as the figure let out a wheezy breath and groaned before standing with a raspy chuckle. "Good choice boyo. Hreh Hreh Hreh. Now, take your blade and my power, I shall hone your blade and you will hone my form. Hreh Hreh Hreh." With that the vision ended and Kashiki awoke with a strange item held in his hand. Held in his hand was a large semi-axe shaped construct made of stylistic clouds. "Ohoho you did it kiddo, you forged your sword soul, you musta been one of the fastest ones to do it in our family kiddo. Now you gotta name it, no sword soul is finished until its named. Ohoho." Daimu exclaimed excitedly, his mouth curling into his signature toothy grin. "Hmm. . . how about. . ." suddenly a revelation came to the swordsman chunin, as if the blade itself called out it's name. ". . .Kumori-ono, the Cloudy Axe" Kashiki said with a grin. "Ohoho perfect, now lets try it out kiddo." Daimu said as he hefted his hammer, lifting it up into an overhead swing. Kashiki rolled sideways dodging the hammer swing and brought his axe up, cutting a shallow gash on Daimu's arm. "Woah kiddo, you ain't half bad. That sword soul is quite nasty for a beginner's." Daimu said as he clapped Kashiki on the back both of their weapons dissipating. The two headed inside, making some small talk before they turned in for the night. Kashiki wandered to his room, looking at Gyakusatsu before flopping down on his bed. His eyes closed to the soothing sounds of the desert at night, and dreams took him. He was standing in the room once more, however now it was furnished and huge braziers of maroon fire lit the rocky room. Resting upon a pile of stylistic clouds was the figure once more. "Hreh Hreh Hreh, good to see you again boy, I'm glad you decided to call your sword soul, my living conditions are bit better now as you can see. I brought you here to tell you to keep improving, I'm watching your progress and if you stop improving my power will be revoked. Hreh Hreh Hreh." With that the dream ended and Kashiki awoke, it was morning and the smell of bacon and eggs filled the house, this wouldn't be that bad.

WC: 2007
Training my KKG to its first level, discarding remaining 7 words