Akane had gotten beaten up pretty severly by city guards. It was not like she had done anything particularly bad really, after all it wasn't like that dog had belonged to anyone in particular and it was the kind that was bred for it's meat anyway. However one of the alley squatters had taken offence to her sitting in an alley munching away at raw dog flesh and had thus called the guards on to her.

Her normal lie of being an inuzuka didn't work when she had half a hand of dog entrails hanging out of her mouth and so the watchmen had clicked to the fact that she may in fact be a Jugo clan member. Shit went to Yomi from there out and there was a short but violent tussle between her and four officers after one smashed her face with a cudgel. She clawed ones eye out and castrated another with a kick but they were ruthless and several street toughs had joined the fight when they saw that she what clan she was. Killing one of her people in a fight was considered to be a badge of honour amongst those wishing to prove their metal and retrieving a head of even a partially transformed member would earn free drinks for years as well as a fine trophy to mount on the wall.

Things got even more out of hand and the rage took over. Akane got her talons into one of the street tough's gut and emptied the contents of his stomach out onto the street. It got worse from there the attacks got more ferocious from all sides cudgels and makeshift clubs raining down blow after blow on her. When the fury started to wane she made a break for it dashing as fast as her battered body would carry her. Mothers hid their children's faces as she fled half-way between states still bearing marks of her combat form on her body.

When she was far from the city she rested. The guards couldn't find her out here. The wild welcomed and despised her at the same time. Compared to the city guards and Anbu whom it merely hated. This was not their land it was the wilderness. She spend two weeks healing from her wounds, the first couple of days had been the worst. One of her eyes was swollen and wouldn't open , she was pissing red and finally a whole lot of her teeth had been smashed out of her jaw. The first two healed soon enough but the teeth required concentrated effort with her senjutsu to grow back - something that she couldn't bring herself to do until her second week of healing.

Now she was looking far and wide for a type of mushroom known in the tongue of her people as Shigokuzai. She had no idea what that word meant but one night when her father was drunk he told her about how her mother had used them to enter into a shamanic trance and talk to the spirits. Akane had no idea if she was meant to smoke them or grind them to a powder to drink with wine or even how much one was meant to take. But she needed them - she needed to learn how to fight. And not just how to fight but how to fight better than any damn city guards or anbu. She had the power, she knew it but no one had taught her how to use it.

It would be different now however. She was down on all fours and sniffing out the mushrooms as a pig would  hunt for truffles. Coming across a fallen log covered in moss and riddled with rot she could pinpoint a musty aroma - one that smelt of spirits and the other-world. This was it no going back now.

She strained and with an immense effort shifted the rotting tree away to see what lay underneath. Several kinds of mushrooms grew in the damp and humid spot but only one had that distinct air. Grey and squat the fungi were with bulbous caps on top of chubby stalks that looked like the fingers of children. Snatching them up greedily Akane retreated to her camp whistling under her breath.

Most people thought it was best to wait until night to try rites such as these but Akane decided that she gave no shit and simply threw the handful of mushrooms into her open maw. For the first couple of seconds she didn't feel much of anything and wondered to herself if the mushrooms had indeed worked or if she had maybe got herself a bad batch instead of what she wanted. After about a minute though that suspicion was instantly dismissed as the world began to peel away drifting and swirling like paint going down an artists drain when he washes his brushes. The stars shone neon and the ground was aglow with primal energy. It was if the world had been born anew.

A primal age of unformed possibility and she was the sole witness to it's ancient majesty. But Akane knew she was not alone and with knowledge came clarity. The terrain around her began to solidify into recognisable structures and the great forests of the past ages towered up into the distance like the legs of giants. Through the air flew creatures long extinct and bugs the size of lions danced and swarmed across the earth. Yokai and the dead flew as one trailing spectral auras out across the heavens while the breath of the dragon kings made the clouds slide across the horizon at a pace far faster than their lazy material counterparts.

Akane had never been here before and while she had witness the small spirits that lurked in the deep forest and the sad spectres of those who could not pass on to the afterlife she had not actually made such a journey. Others would have used this chance to learn sacred knowledge and better both themselves and the world around them.

Akane had only one desire – to learn how to fight.

(Taijutsu D-C 1025/1500 words)

Ayabozu had had a long day, looking at the starry sky above his head, he had spent the day in the Iwa wilderness tracking down the well which he had in this region. Looking long and hard he followed the incredibly subtle tracks which he had laid for himself, there was a small road of shinto shrines, but only one of them bore a small mark upon its forehead. The mark said 'south' in Kanji, turning to the north he headed for exactly a mile before turning to the direction of the waxing moon and travelling a further couple of hundred meters. This was his folktale for they mysterious punisher of those who had done great wrongs. Ayabozu was that punisher, and he had emptied his trough in Konoha, it was finally time to begin to live up to his name in Iwa.

Looking over his well, he sat at the side, and with skilful operation of the bucket pulled it up and moved aside, falling backward and dropping down to the base of the dry well. On the ground was a couple of letters. The Folk tale was not a common one, but it was one altogether... One of the pieces of paper however did not look old and withered. Taking the individual pieces, he opened the small scroll to see the prayer of what looked to be the handwriting of a small boy. Ayabozu didn't know what the boy was asking for in the dark depths of the well, so, gripping the rope in the centre, he climbed himself up to the top. It was handy to have wells like this around the country, it always meant that you were able to hide from the world should it be coming after you.

Once he got to the top, he looked into the heart-felt and passionate words from a young child, filled with anger, pain and hate...

"To the Shadow of Iwa...

Two days ago, a woman killed my father, he was a malitia officer who was working for our village. He found her doing bad things, and killing animals in the streets and tried to stop her and arrest her, but the lady attacked him. She was a ninja, and a powerful one, strong enough to fight off all the policemen who were there...

I don't have very much money, but here is the 20 ryo that my daddy gave me to go to the academy with before he died. please can you I want the lady that killed my father to die for what she did, she ruined our lives.

She had orange hair, and had the ability to turn into a monster. Ninja around the area said that she hadn't passed any of the boarders out of Iwa, or they would have known... My father was a good man, who was the best at his job...

Punish the people who took my daddy away...

~Rin."

Ayabozu read the letter and his staunch expression became cold, looking down to his dog, he sighed, calling the pup along, he would need her keen senses to be able to track down this ninja, but first he would have to make his way to the village the crime was committed in... Tracking the scent from the paper, his puppy was always able to track the person back to the town from which they originated, following the scent back until they found the house from which they came from, looking over it in the dark, the town was some miles away from his likely destination, though the woman would probably be closer to the boarder of this country, unless she had a home here...

The woman sounded like a member of the Jugo clan, which would make her a dangerous mark, but if there really was a Jugo clan member here, there was a chance that other atrocities like curse marks being made from her blood was something possible in this area, which was something Bozu was not about to begin to allow... such chaotic Kinjutsu from one of the great ninja wars of times gone by, deserved to be buried forever more, no longer staining the air of the worlds around them. Never would Ayabozu prepare one of those forbidden seals unless he absolutely had to, to defeat some kind of far greater enemy.

It didn't take some slinking to find the murder site, this was a small town, and she found an old, rotten and discarded dog bone, from which his puppy was quickly able to determine the pungent earth smell which radiated from it. Leading Ayabozu off once again toward a nearby forest, tightening the two of his gloves, he was ready for what was about to come, a battle with a member of the Jugo clan was not something his clan would have normally undertaken alone, but he was the last Iga clan in this area, this place usually belonged to the Koga clan, but they had long since spread themselves out due to the horrors of war at their doorstep.

The forrest surrounding the area his pup had left him was not the most dense of areas, It was little more than shrubbery compared to the ancient trees of Konoha which continued to grow in every direction with the slow relentless process of time. These woods were natural, they had little chakra in their roots, and did not come from the most powerful ability konoha had ever seen. There were ninja in Konoha which thought that all trees sprang from the singular plant which encircled their hidden paradise. Bozu's eyes squinted to see through the shadow, the textures of his clothing fading into the textures of the night, there was a low grumble from his puppy, and that's when he knew his opponent was not too far ahead.

The Roaming ninja looked through the brush to see the girl swallow some form of forest food, he watched, and waited, he knew there would be a time for him to strike in the near future, but there was something in the air, something noxious, he could smell it on the wind, the spores of what she lifted from the log. He could not identify the toxin by scent alone... but his dog could, it was effecting the sensitive scent and senses of the creature already... So she was taking some kind of drug... this was perfect, he would wait for her to be fully under the adverse effects of the substance, and strike when she was at her most vulnerable.

Twenty minutes would pass until Ayabozu felt that it was the perfect timing, hidden from sight, mind, scent and hearing on all fronts. Silently extending the wires of his gloves and attaching them to his two puppets, keeping his puppy back and hiding it behind a tree so that he would not be in the line of fire... With his ranged puppet, he aimed her up with one of the Kunai rockets, a low ranking weapon, though it was a shot from surprise which could cripple her, but the shot needed to be somewhere she needed, and somewhere the burns would cripple her... aiming up her eyes, there would be a snap-hiss as the firework rocketed to life and flew toward her at break-neck speeds.

From here it was all about the volley, as four more one after the other exploded from the mouth of the smaller puppet which perched from its tree. Ayabozu all the while not needing to expend his chakra on the strings most other ninja would need them for. In front of himself as he remained hidden, the dark clothed close combat puppet of his own loomed, a spectre of its own right, black hat and shredded robe, the puppet looked somewhat like a villain from a horror show as Ayabozu kept to himself, his puppy moving away from the fireworks, watching how his master fought, observing and learning, every move, every function, how his fingers typed the air causing the strings which flowed from them to dance.

The fireworks on their own would only be the beginning of the fight, Ayabozu's near sociopathic, brilliant mind was already playing the chess game to think forward over a dozen moves to keep ahead of the ferocious Jugo clan member. He was thinking of what kind of flesh-craft she would be apt at, he was thinking of what kind of techniques the monster would know and how trained she would be in their use. With more thought more risks in this battle became more and more apparent, until there was a single factor which remained outstanding... This woman had killed the father of a child, who would now never be able to come home to his family... The child hated this psuedo ninja so much that he was willing to put his faith in an old myth to bury this woman for her crimes... that said enough to him, and that was all the proof he needed...

Ayabozu had found his target, and from here there was no escape for the Jugo...

1500/1500 Learned Seijutsu~

Learning Doton style Tremour seal 44/1500

Time when involved with matter of the supernatural was far more malleable than most gave it credit for. When ones spirit was sent forth into the places beyond they could spend months or even years in their astral form before even a single second had passed in the material plane. Akane had not gone so deep as to have achieved this but she had passed the barrier and her mind was working at an insane pace.

Eighteen minutes before the attack:  

Crossing the brutal desert Akane's feet burned on the scorching sands. Snakes with the heads of dead friends watched her coiled around cacti whose thorns pierced deep into their flesh. Far beneath titanic forms shifted causing entire dunes to shift and roll with their bulk. Just when Akane felt the last pieces of skin char off her feet the altar appeared. Climbing up onto the stone her wounds sustained in the trek were healed gone as if they never happened. She rose calling to the heavens above screaming out to Lord Sun.

"Celestial father teach your daughter how to bear arms of flame , teach me to crush my enemies with withering force and I shall sing your praise till my lungs collapse."

But when Lord Sun turned his face to her Akane could not bare the force of his gaze and when he spoke her ears began to bleed from the roar.

Akane fled back across the desert in shame.

But she would not give up....

Thirteen Minutes before the attack:

Taking a deep breath Akane leapt of the great lilly pad diving head-first into the glistening water. All around her swam fish , eels and amphibians of all breeds. Ningyo - the fish maidens of deep ran their pale fingers through her hair marvelling at it's red and orange hues Akane struck out at them with a fist causing the cowardly creatures to scramble back to relative safety of the murky nooks. The water became steaming hot as a salamander slid from a volcanic vent. While Akane was fond of both    Salamanders and their Newt cousins she couldn't stop for a snack - as well as the fact that in the spirit world the amphibious creatures would burn those foolish enough to touch them

Bursting from the water Akane landed gracefully on the next altar. This one was gilded and carved into the shape of a great lotus - it's petals spread out like the resting place of a Buddha. Wiping the water weed and errant pond skaters from her hair she again looked to the heavens and called out to the Suns wife Lady Moon.

"Oh beautiful mother who hangs serene in the sky , teach your daughter how to confound my opponents and strike them where they least expect and glide past their attacks as serenely as a reflection on water. Do this and every drink I take shall be to your kindness and majesty."

But when Lady Moon turned her face to her Akane began too become entranced by her immense beauty and when she spoke it was the peal of madness and Akane began to feel her thoughts slide into lunacy.

Akane threw herself back into the water salty tears mingling with the fresh currents.

Even though she had made a fool of herself in front of the lunar lady her resolve to succeed had only grown stronger.

Eight minutes before the attack:

Akane having taken the form of a beast ran swift through the forest. Behind her a pack of wolves had joined sensing that she was of noble blood. Trees shuffled and walked uprooting themselves to get out of the groups way and deer fled leaping over caterpillars the size of pythons as they avoided  being a quick meal. Eventually the pack came across a great cave bear - something that had been extinct in the material world for millennia. Leaping at it Akane sank her teeth deep into it's flesh. The bear battered her away with a paw easily flinging her to smash into the trunk of a gigantic tree cracking what seemed to be several ribs in the process. However the wolf pack was onto the bear and they darted and weaved around it's feet taking nips when they could find an opening. The bear dropped to all fours and lunged, taking one wolf by the neck and decapitating the beast in one bite.

The remaining wolves howled and from the forest emerged a massive dire wolf throwing it's considerable bulk onto the bear to weigh the creature down. However even though the beast was the size of a mare the bear was still about to throw it off and it took the rest of the pack and Akane to bite and claw it into submission. In the melee the Bear scooped up two wolves and as it died crushed their ribcage with a titanic bear hug. Next came the task of dragging the great bears carcass to the audience chamber something that even with he wolves made Akane feel that she would simply expire doing.

But eventually the audience chamber was reached and the offering was dragged into the centre ready to receive the counsel of the ancestors. And come the ancestors did. Some wore the shapes of men draped in furs, armour or simply naked for the world to see. Men and women - some grey hair and wrinkled features and others still in the bloom of youth their hair fiery orange and their skin smooth and unblemished. Yet still others came in their transformed state appearing as Dragons and Ogres , Tengu and Nue and strange beasts that no one had ever seen before.

Akane stepped forward into the circle and rose her voice.

"Ancestors I bring you the meat of a great bear take this offering and in return teach me how to fight my enemies and survive into the new age. Teach me to tear down the houses of 'authority' and  'law' and simply live as nature intended let those who would beat and cage me taste instead the fury of the wild and the wrath of the storm. Do this please I beg off you...."

But the ancestors said nothing and only stated at her with expectant eyes waiting for something that Akane knew nothing of.

"Why are you not accepting my offering? Am I not the Daughter of the Shouta - a chieftain in his own right. Am I not of your blood?"

But still the ancestors did not reply and the sense that she was missing something intensified strongly.

"Why can't you..."

Akane did not understand. The spirits of the ancestors were governed by the sacred accords by passing from the wheel of reincarnation they now followed a different set of rules to mortal men and women. Until Akane had presented them with her saga or Yukar as it was called in their tongue the ancestors would not be able to lift a finger to help her.

Akane began to grow frustrated and angry. It seemed that her very family was mocking her. Of all the people in the world she could turn to for help these were the ones she trusted the most. And their silence seemed to mock her incessantly.

"Fine XXXX you all then you withered old XXXXs I'll dig up you graves and take a shit in you XXXXing skulls. Before using your leg bones to XXXXXXXXXX with cause that's about all the joy I am going to get from you you self righteous XXXXs."

Akane's insides felt like they had been frozen , thawed by forest fire and then frozen again. She wanted to be sick , wanted to simply crawl up into a ball somewhere and hide where no one could find her. But she couldn't. Eventually she would be forced to fight one of the Anbu - the secret police that guarded the ninja world. The boogie men to her people, masked assassins that killed without mercy and gave up their very names to serve the kage (Something which only those who practised dark witchcraft and sold their souls to Oni would do in her peoples society). Her grandfather and all of her fathers siblings had been taken by anbu. They had gone into a town to get supplies due to it being a bad winter and some idiot boy had hurled a large  stone at her aunt (who was only 8 years old by then) opening up her skull and causing her to bleed all in the hopes of gett a reaction from the stranger. He had got more than he bargained for when the little red haired girl had (Not able to control her temper or senjutsu) had shifted into the form of a predator and split him from neck to groin. Akanes grandmother who had been inside an inn with her husband trading fox pelts that they had collected for preserved food came out to see what the noise was just in time to watch her daughter get impaled through the eye by a terrified city guard.

Things as they always did got worse and Akane's grandfather and grandmother along with her fathers two other older siblings had shifted into war state and began tearing the city guards to shreds. Fortunately for the townsfolk and unfortunately for Akane's family a squad of Anbu were passing through after having dispatched of a missing ninja for the Kage. It had not been a quick or easy fight and even though Akane's grandfather managed to rip one of the Anbu's heads from their shoulders the teams cold tactics and training in ruthlessness eventually persevered against sheer ferocity and anger. Only Akanes father managed to escape by instinctively changing his appearance and bodily make-up appearing as just another village boy horrified by the carnage.

When her father had told her the story he had a bitter smile on his face and explained that he didn't have to make up his horror. The ones who lived in towns and cities were so fragile but so cunning and ruthless and once you did them wrong - even by accident they would hunt you to the ends of the earth. That's why her father had given up become a dog in service to the villages and their order and did exactly what they told him. Akane didn't think she could do that. She had hated her time at the ninja academy - hated it with a passion. She could not be thrall to their whims and she would not bow her head as a slave.

But all her options had failed her. She had no one left to call on - the stars were too distant and the Yokai would only wish to get the best of her. She could try talking to the other dead but if the spirits of her family would not assist her then she was sure nothing good would come from the others. She was now wandering aimlessly without a direction but unable to return home.

Three minutes before the attack:

Akane did not know how she had made it to the mountain peaks. Her fingers were frozen and her lips cracked open and raw in the frigid wind. The dim shapes of Yuki Onna watched her in the distance laughing as she suffered in the sub zero temperatures. One came out in front of her dressed in only a very light silk kimono onto one bare foot she alighted spinning around and around giggling at Akane between her pale blue lips.

"If you were a man my sisters and I would have saved you and kept you warm for the night but we don't like other women up on our mountain. So how about we simply watch your soul freeze solid instead?"

Akane marshalled what strength she had left and punched her in the vagina.

The Yuki-Onna didn't even have time to scream as she began to fall from the mountain side clutching at her crotch. Akane was thinking about saying something witty to the falling Yokai when suddenly she felt shards of ice pierce into her back. The rest of the Yuki Onna were taking revenge for their fallen (quite literally) sister and Akane's back was becoming a pincushion of ice needles which were being fired from all directions. The lone climber knew that it was only a matter of seconds before she gave out and fell to join the Yuki Onna in some ravine somewhere broken, shattered and unable to return to her physical body till whatever strange healing process spirits used kicked in.

This never came to pass however as black wings enfolded her easily knocking away the shards of ice as they flew.

One minute before the attack:

Akane cracked an eyelid open. To her surprise she was whole and to the best of her knowledge unhurt. The wounds in her back from the ice shards had even closed over in an amazing stroke of fate. Looking about she saw she was in some kind of fortress made of black stone seemingly carved into the peak of the mountain.  Clouds drifted far below them and in the sky twinkled a million stars even though it was bright as day. And around her stood Tengu. Lots and lots of Tengu...

It would seem that the avian yokai had taken her to one of their aeries - strongholds built on the peaks of mountains. And this one was no ordinary fortress but one of monolithic proportions large enough to house an emperor as well as his entire royal court and army. Akane scrabbled to her feet looking around warily but none of the Tengu made any motion to even advance on her let alone attack. Something strange was going on... even for the messed up world of spirits.

Suddenly there was movement amongst the collected Tengu ranks were formed and many bowed low enough for their noses to touch the stone of the floor. Amanozako had just stepped forth from the door leading to the interior of the fortress. Occupying a position somewhere between goddess, yokai and demon Amanozako was the mother of the Tengu species. From her womb sprang one of the most powerful and influential species of Yokai in the known world and aside from a few esteemed individuals who had become tengu under their own power (Emperor Sutoku -whom not even Amanozaku was a match for was one of the best examples of this) she held complete sway over Tengu kind answering only to Nurarihyon himself. She was vast and old , ugly and horrible with tusks that jutted out of her lower jaw and claws that could rend through the greatest of human armour as if they were nothing.

For once Akane had nothing to say.

Amanoaku on the other hand did have a question to pose to the Jugo girl. With the voice of a kindly grandmother under-laced with the hiss of a poisonous worm she inquired :

"I hear you have been looking for someone to instruct you in the ways of fighting. Is this in fact true?"

Akane fumbled with her tongue before answering.

"Yyesss"

Amanozakus gaze hardened.

Akane thought for another few seconds before adding something (Politeness did not come naturally to her)

"My lady"

Amanozaku's smile was terrible to behold.

"Very well then girl I will take that as you consent to training. I shall instruct you in the arts of killing and in return you shall serve under me for a term beginning at my discretion.  

But before you get started I shall save your life."

Two seconds before the attack:

In the material world Akane's eyes sprang open. Spinning like a Dervish Akane bounded out of the way of the first oncoming rocket. Springing from one hand to the other Akane tumbled at an intense rate black smoke pouring from her lips all the while. Hitting the ground just past the explosions Akane  rose to her feet. Claws that were once fingernails tore through what little was left of Akane's clothes as she bounded towards Ayabozu well defined muscles moving beneath her skin.

Ayabozu would sense that something was wrong here. While the Jugo clan were understood to have a good sense of smell the instant detection of was supernaturally accurate. And while the infamous berserk rage did make the savages lose control Akane seemed to be more puppeted by an unseen force than in the throes of fury.

( Taijutsu D-C 1500/1500 , Taijutsu C-B 2000/2000 , Senjutsu 275/6000)

Ayabozu watched as his opponent's spry body leapt to life like a man possessed, and he immediately saw the unnatural nature of her movement, noting the smoke pouring from her mouth in plumes which seemed unlikely to be the work of an actual jutsu, she could not be so daft as to expend her chakra thusly. Ayabozu was no stranger to the concept of a demonic possession in this day and age, as a fuuinjutsu master of the Iga clan, he would likely be able to seal this creature if he could get a hold of it. Looking to its movements he snarled knowing that there was some kind of game afoot, but this look did not last long, as he thought about the potential of a Jugo living puppet... there was a chance that this person was under the effects of such a melody, being puppeted by the invisible strings of an otherworldly creature. The potential for damage was too astounding, though, were it to be another ninja puppeting the girl, the puppet master would have to be a sage themselves to use the techniques associated with the Jugo puppet.

Locking his eyes on the unnatural being, he now knew just how dangerous this woman was capable of becoming to not only him but everyone in the nearby village, big or small... Her movements were expert, and her reactions were miles over that of the rank he would have considered a Jugo of her age, stature, and the fact she wasn't the size of a building yet... All clever points, as much as he didn't want to have to fight a moving fortress which some of the older Jugo clan he had hunted were capable of becoming... But if she wanted to be a beast... she would have to fight a beast before she got to him. The close combat puppet drew either of its blades, one fluttered with heat as the other seemed lighter in the air.

Soyokaze and Makikomu flared to life as the dark hatted puppet gripped each of them in its first two hands, preparing the tail for any additional strikes which may or may not come in time. Whipping his hand and the strings connected to it on one side of the puppet like pulling the rip chord on a spinning top, the puppet began a tornado like spin with its blades, the flaming one being the one the Jugo would have to really look out for as it blurred with the other in the myrriad of strikes. It was only then that Ayabozu rolled out of cover, his puppet spinning no more than three meters in front of him as he puppeted the construct with expert finesse and stability. The force of the strikes would be powerful enough to be able to cut through her unprotected limbs, the blows exchanging from striking high to low to high repeatedly in such a pattern that going through the puppet would be almost impossible directly.

Ayabozu needed to shut this woman down quickly, so, it came to that time... His other puppet leapt up into the branches of a tree and with a flurry of base rapid fire non combat fireworks, another four Kunai rockets were shot toward the Jugo at hastening speeds. This was quickly becoming a fight, which was something Ayabozu often enjoyed to avoid, but, he felt that he owed this one to the young boy which had lost his father to this monster. Ayabozu crouched low like a tiger, using his puppet as a shield and looking up at the beast, in his own slightly animistic pose, not in an attempt to mimic her, but in an attempt to draw on the strength of his reactions and get in touch with his inner-most survival instincts.

He was going to need them... But he remembered the last time he took this pose...

---

"Ich, Ni, San!"

A commanding voice echoed out through the air around him, as he, with the use of his Shishi Gashara puppet, his chakra strings attached to the small puppets limbs functionally, the blue sapphire chords moving like paint brushes as he moved his hands in the forms which he was instructed to, back then shishi had arms, able to grab and interact with the world as if it were a living animal, also much smaller and less combat oriented than other puppets of its size, he had to come to this dojo for training often, leading toward multiple times a day on certain days within the academy, learning his basic puppeting forms as well as needing to go to the other Dojo for training in the arts of calligraphy and other skills which would enhance the power of his kekkei genkai.

The training was harsh, but fair, he and the instructor played a move by move game of chess with their puppets as he bought himself down to the academy student's level with a puppet which was more or less like his own, in order to allow the young ninja to have a chance of success... Ayabozu loves his puppet, and he was getting better at this game with each and every attempt. He learnt that power came from a puppet user's mind, outsmarting and outmanoeuvring his opponent to such an extreme that they would have to chose the impact which was the lesser of two hits, and to repeatedly push them into that scenario.

His eyes were focused, his breathing slow and calm as they stared each other down, waiting for any opportune moment to strike, the person to attack first without a point of advantage he was taught was often the person who lost. Attacking was a disadvantage unless you had something which your opponent did not, and Ayabozu did not have anything that his master had, but, he had a young, intelligent mind which was not above thinking outside the guidelines of this training session... His eyes looked to the other puppets on the walls as he crouched low so his instructor could not see his gaze or his strings, so he shrunk low, like a shadow and used the transformation technique to make it seem like he had retracted one hands worth of his chakra strings, moving them instead to the limbs of a second puppet.

Suddenly, Ayabozu launched an attack, with fewer chakra strings the puppet of his opponent dodged nimbly and two penetrating strikes were trusted into the head of Shishi, as a second puppet closed the gap between them, gripping the puppet of his instructor only to be flipped over its shoulder with increased reaction times and speeds than Ayabozu was able to portrey in his puppets, but the fight was not over. Shishi though wounded had avoided death while instigating a fight, throwing one of its own blades at its opponent's chest, the other puppet was forced to block the strike as Ayabozu's second puppet attacked head on once more. Burying blades into the second puppet's joints, it immobalised Ayabozu's second puppet, but Shishi drove its blade into the core of his tutors' puppet's wire, which caused its arms and legs to fall apart with what little movement he caused.

Ayabozu ended the conflict in this stance... When the tutor had told him that he had still struck down one of Bozu's puppets, Ayabozu told him something very simple. "But I didn't have only one puppet, and the sacrifice needed to be made to get the target..." His tutor smiled, and they moved further in their training after that day.

---

Ayabozu re-doubled his focus as the spinning blades proved to be little more than a distraction winding up momentum as the curved shots of the Kunai rockets would part to just either side of the fight like a cage, hoping to trap his opponent in the range of it, the spinning attack became a turning slash, of a high blow for the neck and a sweeping blow for the legs, ending with a 'X' slash upward as the puppet rose once again with both of its hands. The Kunai rockets would serve to cut off her escapes and hopefully dazzle her with the bright lights, while the more lethal attacks would come from right ahead of her~

1400 words

It was almost as if Akane knew what was coming. Well that was not entirely accurate it was more as if the force that was puppeting her body was unconcerned by such things as linear history. As the malicious machines blades began to hurtle towards her Akanes bare form patched of flesh began to bubble and melt across the Jugo clan members back.  With a great leap backward she soared into the air wings unfurling and smooth skin giving way to grey scales. By the time she was aloft the transformation had already finished  : Claws, wings and a tail had all formed. All were of course were razor sharp and would easily dice through flesh as any weapon.

Akane herself was however blissfully unaware of these goings on as she was herself busy defending her spectral form from assailants in the tengu's fortress. Preta - relatives of gaki were beginning to surround her snapping with jagged teeth and grasping at her with long thin fingers. She slammed a fist into ones eye knocking the creature back and causing the others to scamper back from the ferocity of the assault. However this would not serve to dissuade them for long as the hunger that constantly gnawed at their spectral innards would overwhelm them with remarkable swiftness driving any fear from their minds.

Akane decided that she needed to take the offensive if she was to bring herself to victory. crouching down on all fours she sprang at the first preta. The unclean spirit was thrown off balance by the attack and Akane was able to get her talons under it's skull. Wrenching with sickening force she tore with all her strength and was rewarded with a sickening pop. Though the head was ripped clean from it's neck the severed body part was still very much conscious and it gurgled and howled at Akane mumbling words that may have been curses in some strange language long forgotten. Another Preta was already making it's way to drive it's claws into Akanes bowels and rip out a chunk of flesh the size of an orange but instead it was rewarded with the head of it's comrade thrown at it at breakneck speeds giving it something highly like a concussion as it resounded skull to skull.

Terrible pain sheared through Akane's back as a Preta raked it's talons through her exposed back gouging skin and flesh under it's nails in a macabre display of pure barbarian savagery. Akane howled as her back was maimed though it did not keep her down for long. Locking her hands around the Preta's too long arms she flipped the spectre over her shoulders bringing it's head and neck down into the ground with a wet crack. Raising a foot Akane stomped it's cranium till there was little left but shards of bone and flecks of grey matter. The rest of the Preta fell to a number of slashes from one of her carapace blades that she generated from her arm. The severed parts did not die however and even stripped from the bodies that held them they wiggled and writhed attempting the slow and agonising process of returning to their prime body so that they may be whole again.

It was not to be so essay for them however as Amaenozako gestured to the arena with one vast and gnarled hand. The gibbets of flesh began to erupt into tiny pillars of blue flame flickering merrily as they deposited the hungry ghosts unceremoniously back to Gakido the lowest point in the celestial realms.

Another motion and the top of what appeared to be a gigantic gateway began to rise out of the ground. Carved out of ruddy red metal the structure was prodigious in size even when compared to the massive fortress that the Tengu inhabited. As more of the monolithic portal became visible one could spot myriad  faces adorning the front of the structure each more terrible than the ones before it. Horn's , fangs and spines were common place and the number of eyes ranged from one mere Cyclopean orb to countless piercing globes that followed all those before it.

With the odour of brimstone the gates began to slowly  open outward. Akane didn't hesitate long enough to get a good look at her next opponent and she had already begun to warp her body into war form so that she was ready to go toe to toe with whatever the hell came out of the gate. She wasn't dissapointed when her opponent turned out to be a nine foot tall oni complete with singe horn and a studded tetsubo club that could easily fell a horse in one strike.

The demon eyed her up with undisguised malice before charging at max speed towards her rumbling in it's throat like a bull as it sped forward. Akanes wings allowed her that small amount of extra momentum she needed to get out of the way of the locomotive like attack. She launched herself at it's back slashing and hacking with terrible fervour attempting to bring down the devil. However the bestial fury that Akane was putting into her flurry was not enough to down the creature and it brouhgt its club around lightning fast. A wing was clipped by one of the edges and the memrane ripped and tore sending Akane to the dirt. The Oni brought it's club up over it's head drawing on it's vast well of strength to utterly ruin Akane with a single strike. Akane's tail darted out in rapid succession each time piercing into the ogre like fiends belly drawing leaks of blood and stomach acid. Right before the club came down Akane sprang catlike putting as much distance as she could between herself and her diabolic attacker. The Oni seemed frustrated that it's attack had missed and instead switched tactics simply making haste brining it's club back and forth in low fast sweeps that would take Akane's head from her shoulders. In an unexpected move Akane simply sprang under her attackers weapon rolled across the ground and shot bodily towards it's face her body yet again showing the marks of a swift transformation.

What hit the Oni's visage was in essence an akane sized porcupine ball of spikes and jagged edges. Eyes were turned to jelly as the rods of bone gored into the sockets and completely removed the vision from the malefic entity. The oni's fist caught her and the creature roared in even more pain as the spines tore at the flesh of it's hands. However she was lifted from it's eyes and hurled into a wall with the snapping of bones. The entities blindness was all that saved Akane from certain doom as the tetsubo effortlessly crashed trough the solid stone and buried itself hilt deep into the ground. Akane's body felt as if she was trampled by a horse but she pressed on removing herself from the wall and morphing her arm into an axe blade. Hacking into the wrist of the Oni the demon let go of the blade with another terrible screech of pain.

Akane's fists closed over the weapon and every muscle in her torso and legs strained with exertion and she brought the weapon up for the creature. The first blow impacted ribs cracking several and shattering others with the sheer weight of the weapon. The second blow was almost a mirror image of the Oni's previous attack. Akane hefted the war club above her head grunting with the sheer exertion of dragging  a weapon like this to such an elevated height. There was no last second dodging for the Oni however as the creature was simply not built for the cat like manurers that Akane had used to evade the murder implement. The head dispersed into noxious smoke that drifted away into the wind shades of fallen warriors began to leak from the severed neck of the demon and some even turned to acknwledge Akane's presence gesturing to her in gratitude as they set off for a more habitable part of the astral plane.

By now some of the Tengu had started nodding and giving the barbarian girl looks that signified , if not respect than at least something other than pure contempt - she was after all a good warrior and of the  one of the strains of man that yokai tended to favour in their dealings. No Jugo clan member had ever to their knowledge ever become a disciple of the Buddhas  or even willingly set foot inside a Buddhist temple willingly if they were not about to commit some form of mischief. Perhaps a seemingly trivial detail to many but to the enigmatic bird men it could mean the difference between life or death. Akane did not follow the old ways as such but her heritage put her in good standing and she certainly had no ties to the new priesthoods that had been slowly creeping their way into the land. It was a long war but when it was between Yokai and monks one could understand the fact that both sides had an extra large store of patience. So for what everyone else seemed to be a cold affair with only a minor skirmish here and there was actually a slow burning flame hiding just under the skin of the entire land. Far in the sky the battles were fought - with blade and body techniques that had been jealously guarded and honed to perfection though centuries of training.

Tengu were almost unmatched when it came to blade skill and when one drew their katana you knew that there would be blood one way or another (And for the majority the blood did not come from the Tengu)

Akane was struggling to catch her breath in the downtime between bouts. Her body ached all over and she was wondering why she needed to piss so god-damn much when she was in her astral form that to the best of her knowledge needed no external nourishment and thus did not pass any kind of natural waste. Amanozako however did not care a scrap about the state Akane was in and demanded a level of  excellence from one that she was about to teach that  did not involve slumping like a bunraku puppet with it's strings cut and master off whoring in the gutter. Akane needed to be utterly ruthless if she was to be endowed with the knowledge of martial supremacy.

Scratching noises echoed from on high and a viscous rope of fluid the shade of snow began to descend from the heavens. Manifold black eyes fixed on Akane as the Tsuchigumo alighted driving the spiked tips of each of it's eight massive legs into the stone of the arena causing clouds of dust to fly up and billow across the fort.  Akane’s mouth dropped open for a few seconds upon inspecting the giant arachnid. Such creatures while once not uncommon in the material world had long since become exceedingly rare due to the fierce resistances that men tended to put forth when the spiders broke into their towns and began to feast upon their young and defenceless.  However groups of hardened warriors were chosen to face off against such beasts and even then they were expected to have losses  of at least several of the men. However Akane was all on her own in this fight and she did not feel confident in any of the tengu stepping in to lend assistance to the young warrior. Akane dropped a string of curse words that would make a sailor blush leading to some of the tengu raising their eyebrows and giving her questioning looks at her utterly disgusting and new  use of the human vernacular.  The tsuchigumo quite unlike the opponents before it did not immediately rush in to devour Akane but instead sat back and analysed the ways that she breathed and twitched. Lifting it’s abdomen into the air it began another blast of the sticky fibres this time spreading a web of them across the battlefield.
Akane dived for an open space and began to pray to whatever gods were listening (save for Amanozako herself) as she tumbled into the open space between fibres.
Back in the material plane Akane swooped and dived on wings of warped flesh. She darted and dived jerking away from Ayabozu’s attacks always a step ahead.  Suddenly Akane snapped to the offensive slashing out with elongated claws on both hands and feet.  However these while vicious in their own right were merely feints to the true attack. Akane’s tail whipped out attempting to slam into Ayabozu’s knees and bring him to the ground using his own body to shield Akane from attacks from the puppets.

2408/6000 Senjutsu D-C

She was not the only person whom was able to fight on a spiritual level, he was something from a dream himself, and he would not be bested by these kind of tricks, as she took to the air and his puppet was running dangerously low on ammunition, the next procedure was simple in its own right, Ayabozu closed his eyes as she dived into the air, attempting to align himself with her spirit world, she wanted to fight this battle on two fronts, then so would he, where giants clashed on a day to day basis, he would calm his mind so that it may fight in time with his body, in a realm where chakra was a matter of thought and feeling, where it was limitless and infinite rather than limited such as in the real world. Though, here, there were very clear real boundaries to one's capabilities.

You could only perform what your body had imprinted on your mind, it was only within the power of the enlightened to be able to perform anything more than that in the realms of the spirit. Looking over the vast cliffs of the area he could find her, accosted by what seemed to be other birds of prey, standing beside him was a great wolf spirit, white, pure, and adorned with red markings in the most spectacular of fashions. Where she had a spirit to protect her body while she performed this feat, he had only the half spirit wolf which followed him on his travels, it would have to manoeuvre his body as he always did, but, the human fuuinjutsu user was fine with this, here, he was a deity, there was nothing which could best him in this realm.

Looking to their fight in the spirit world, he bought his two hands together and smiled as a bead of flame began to worm within a beach ball sized orb of fire, which compressed inwards to such an extent that it would be little more than a marble, unnoticeable and nearly insignificant, taking it in his hand it was hot to the touch as he threw it with all the velocity he was able to toward the target and the birds which were attacking her. The sealed flame would then escape, and the flame would be free, erupting outwards like a burning sea of heat and combustion. A power which due to its roots would be all the more effective in a place like this. Looking to her, and smiling a knowing smile as if to say 'did you really think i would not find you?' He placed his two hands on the ground, in a fighting style which many seal masters of the iga clan knew.

It was time to bring up the earth around her, but first, he needed companions. two large overlapping symbols stretched out on the ground from either of his hands, and from them rose two ferocious beings, tigers created by amazingly intricate symbols and filled with what seemed to be nothing more or less than living chakra. Chakra had its own life, but the Iga clan were one of the few clans of the world which were in tune enough to be able to meditate with it, merge some of its processes into themselves, become one with the consciousness of the chakra which ran through their veins in order to create the living seals which they used to fight with.

Slapping either of his hands to his own shoulders, two bladed wings appeared created from the same symbols as his tigers and filled with white light. Like a bullet, himself and his tigers rushed toward their opponent. Ready and waiting for any of the attacks she would attempt to perform on him in the vicinity of this world. Though, there was only the one issue he could see befalling his plan, was if her spiritual backer was the kind to interfere with their combat within the grounds of the spiritual world. He doubted whatever was controlling the movements of her meditative body was the kind of something which would take a great amount of effort in having to puppet a human. It would probably be able to split its focus rather easily into fighting Aya there, and fighting him here as well, and he would not be looking forward to that...

Flying in like a swallow chased by his two lordly white tigers, he would pull up, allowing each of the tigers to attack her one after the other through the chaos first, as he would attempt the first of his flly by's not aiming the center of his mass at her, but flying past her and letting out one of his bladed wings to take her out at head height as she would hopefully be distracted at this point, landing like a winged slayer past his victim whether he landed his blows or not. Spinning around her would rise like a tornado, flicking his wings into a pattern which would turn her, as well as the corpses around her and himself into a light mulch before folding his wings back in, and readying his fingers for her next attack.

---

Meanwhile in the real world, the young wolf pup was having to, for the first time, control the body of a living human host. Even though it was young it took to it with the skill and wisdom one would expect for a wolf spirit, full of pride, power, and ability. Ayabozu drew his sword puppet close to his chest to defend against Akane's winged attacks, because, unknown to her, the puppet had a little more punch than she may have at first thought. The two blade arms clashed with its wings, but as she came in with her claws as well, the Puppets second two arms were revealed with the puppet's third weapon. The sickle and chain whipped out and intended to wrap around Akane's arms in a rather iteresting fashion. But, such were her faints. And such was the puppet's response.

Her bladed tail whipped out, aiming for ayabozu past the defence of his puppet, but, Ayabozu had yet more up his sleeve. From the puppet, a tail emerged, a claw like appendage on the end of it opened and fired a harpoon bolt in an attempt to innter-cept the tails attack. If the attack moved on the same course, it would be penetrated by the puppet's harpoon and pin akane to the ground. She was matched limb for limb by this puppet, and once again, Ayabozu had not used a single drop of chakra in their fight. He could feel that second by second he was gaining the upper hand. There was nothing this jugo had in the real world which would dent his iron clad defence.

From behind him simultaneously to him blocking her assault, shishi fired a single white bolt in between the puppet and akane, the white ball hovered for a moment, not moving fast enough for it to be an offensive firework, but what came next would be a dazzling and stunning spectacle of blinding light, which Ayabozu would have to avert himself, the white flare rocket would attempt to blind the unsuspecting ninja as followed up, two Kunai rockets launched for each of the skin of her wings in an attempt to set them ablaze or rip holes in them to make them unable to fly. The Jugo would have thought to make the wings rudimentary feathered rather than skin, so that they were more practical when damaged by such means...

This match was turning, and it was not good for the jugo clan member. She would need to do better than this to be able to best him. And she would need to think of a way around her puppets to reach him.

1318+1400
Learned tremour seal,

The bolt ripped through her tail simply slicing off the extra appendage instead of pinning her to the ground. It wiggled and writhed on the ground akin to the shed limb of a lizard but Akane was already long gone swooping above again. The flash bomb detonated shedding it's brilliant light across the arena. This would not have been an effective technique at the best of times. Ayabozu while clearly an efficient man-hunter was not used to bringing down those who did not rely on their eyes to sense all incoming danger. Akane's nose and ears were well sharp enough to pinpoint movement from any number of different sources in the vicinity and while in war-form her toungue would slide out and taste the air like a snake. This was not to mention the area of sense she gained from her sagely nature which could provide small amounts of what essentially equated to sonar.

But this was all meaningless Akane was possessed by otherworldly forces and thus not using her eyes in the least. Barrelling like a fighter jet Akane weaved through the missiles and with phenomenal strength brought her arm down in a diving punch for the puppets core. There would be little need to worry about the construct shielding Ayabozu for the effigy would likely act as a hurled missile smashing into it's owner or another puppet at a remarkable pace.

In the spirit world Amanozako noticed the arrival of the interloper - Ayabozu's spirit. This would simply not do to interrupt the trials as such and so she began to wield her magic sliding her power out into the open as a cat unsheathed it's claws. Time was odd and malleable in the other-world and could be nudged much more easily than the material plane.

Bozu was drawn from his actions and shunted head first into the tsuchigumo battle. What he did then was his choice as the giant spider had decided to devour both of the humans. Planting it's thorax into the ground the arachnid let out a load of young each roughly about the size of a tarantula. The horrors scuttled across the arena for Akane and Bozu at a remarkable rate leaping into the air with mandibles raised as soon as they came into range.

Akane seeing the arachnid tide drew in a deep breath. Letting it hold till the last second she unleashed a gout of fiery nature chakra. Both the young and the web sizzled at the heat and Akane took her chance to burst through towards the main body of the great spider. Her arm shifted into a carapaced form better to bash the monsters brain in with crushing force.

2857/6000 Senjutsu D-C

Within the real world, his partner taking hold of his body and leaping back, the white fey wolf growled as she focused on controlling her human compatiot, the fury of the beast they were fighting was greater than she could have possibly imagined, though she knew of the fearsome mother of the Tengu, why she would be here, now, and governing her charge with such excellence, Nue would have to do the same! Pushing Ayabozu into a position where he would leap backwards and pull his arms to the side, the chakra strings which governed the puppet before him would also pull to a side as the colossal war-form of the Jugo would throw all of her force into her aerial punch, the harpoon fired from the tail of the cloaked blade puppet pinned the section of her body to the ground as blood exploded from the open wound and the limb was jettisoned.

Controlling a person controlling a puppet was much more mentally taxing however, unlike powering a multi limbed war-machine, the canine's power over the world of the living was far from the greatest in the world, though born from Kami and blessed with the white fur and symbols in reverence to Tsukoyomi, the wolf pooled all of its knowledge of the human form and Bunraku mastery into continuing to move the limbs of his master. The blade puppet's two hidden arms whipped out with their chain to coil around the arm of their opponent as she was airborne, and with crushing force attempted to swing her into the nearby tree where the rocket puppet lay in wait.

All the while with the other hand, the rocket puppet loaded a sparkler into its maw, awaiting its target should she be looped with her own momentum and swung, would blow the cone of heated gunpowder down on the Jugo with power and finesse as the blade puppet took a step back, flourishing each of its blades in a spectacle, it would attempt to thrust the two of them deep into her wings. Attempting to sever her flight capability entirely and systematically cut her down to side, though attempt to not be lethal in any foreseeable means. The skin of her wings would tear with some but little loss of blood, while the burns shot at her from the firework puppet would be second degree wounds covering the hit area of their opponent. The flames of righteousness would burn with Ayabozu's passion, however uninformed it might be, but such was the nature of his business, it was not up to him to ask why a man died and a child was left orphaned, it was simply that it had happened, and that he had a duty to the orphaned child to be his sword of vengeful fury.

---

Within the Spirit world, Ayabozu appeared on a scene where both he and his target seemed to be combating a giant spider. The size of which was far greater than that of anything he had ever seen, even in the Namehage festival of which he had been a part of. Though here he was unable to bring his puppet, he was able to perform on such a level where he did not need to worry about the chakra which would normally be flowing through his veins. This was the spirit world, one's mind was the power of their spirit, and energy was that which they were made of. Chakra, here, was near limitless, the transmutation of your own energy, which could not be destroyed.

Opening his palms, the symbols for the orb of fire came into being, as the sphere of Fuuinjutsu symbols filled with Katon chakra, sealing them in as the giant arachnid plunged its rear into the ground. Ayabozu pressed his hands together, shrinking the ball until it was naught but the size of a marble. And throwing it in the direction of the spider as its young began to be released from its rear end. Clicking his fingers together the fire within the marble exploded outwards in every direction, bathing the area at the feet of the spider in fire, and with an ear piercing squealing hiss, attempted to swarm the young before they had the chance to get too far, and spread out to the point they would be unable to be caught by any one technique.

The fire after the ability came to its end, became natural fire, spreading along any natural flammable surface it could find, flaring through the web and spreading like wildfire at such a speed it would not be long before the spider was grounded... more's the pity. But Ayabozu was not here to aid the girl in her conquest against this trial, he was here to take her back to the world of the living and have her pay for her crimes. If he could make her abandon this place, it could end the possession in the real world and allow for her to be an easier fight. Breathing in and out, Ayabozu exploded into movement, strafing to the left. Throwing out his hands to either sides, long red chakra strongs flew from his fingers as he threw them up to a ledge to coil around. With a yank, he picked himself up from the ground and landed on the head of a dragon statuette, perching for a moment before jumping down once again for his target, spinning like a whirlwind of flaming chakra, intending to lash at both her and the spider with enough force to whip into the spider's form and deal second degree burns, as well as to his intended victim. If she could kill the spider, she'd have sealed her fate...

The puppets forcefully applied chains began to wrap around Akane's wrist. Against a normal opponent this would have been debilitating but this was by no means an average battle. With her already athletic physique enhanced by both added muscle and nature chakra that flowed through her in war-form she had strength that would envied by a tigress. Akane instead began to rise the chains not freed from her arm. Like a great albatross Akane soared towards the heavens her wings beating a staccato rhythm against the heavens.

Puppets were after all connected by strings to their master and strings could just as easily be used as a noose for the unwary. The sliver of Amanozako's consciousness understood that like most beings of flesh and blood Bozu needed to fill his lungs with good and full air in order to keep functioning this side of Nod. Akanes muscle structure flexed sending her up for the heavens. The sheer amount of distance that she could clear with her eighteen foot wingspan was immense and very soon she would have gained enough height so that the air was thin enough to knock the other ninja out while allowing her morphed lungs to handle the change in density.

In the spirit world Akane had just finished letting out her flaming breath of nature chakra and was running at maximum speed towards the Tsuchigumo. The great spider was her first priority but the newcomer was going to be considered a definite secondary threat . She had no idea who exactly Bozu was or why he had shown up in the trial but it was better to just assume he was another threat placed by Amanozako and thus save herself the trouble of having a knife shoved in her back later on. There was only one person in the world that Akane trusted and that was herself.
Well that was not entirely true. Others could be trusted to act within the confined of their nature. For example city guards would always bully and harass those who looked or acted even a bit out of the norm. Merchants would turn their noses up and make snide remarks about how  those with dirty and ragged clothes could never hope to afford their wares. Townsfolk would always seem friendly at first until they started to suspect that something – anything was wrong with you and then  they would act like scared rabbits fleeing to the safety of their homes and calling for the guards so that they would come and beat you with truncheons and clubs. This was the way of the world and Akane had grown accustomed to it. It was not that she enjoyed or approved of the way things were but she couldn’t do anything about it really. Sometimes the feeling of being so damn powerless made her so gods damn angry that she just snapped. And when she snapped it was when things went bad. She could kill a couple of guards easily sometime she even mauled a few townsfolk if they picked up the courage to throw things at her.  But there was always more of them , more and more would come until she had to flee into the wild or take a spear or a crossbow bolt through the eye which would put an end to all the resistance that she could muster. It was ironic really, if she could get close to the newcomer she could probably rip his arms out of his sockets without too much trouble but he – just by being born what he was could mix with other people without having to hide his race behind the mask of an Inuzuka.
Akane pivoted through the air spinning over the arachnid form her fist impacting against it’s chitionous cranium. The crunch was satisfying but nowhere near as much as feeling the extra boost in height the impact gave her lifting her up and over the attack sent by Bozu. Her sculpted physique flew over the chords arching above the flaming wires.
And in the middle of the air Akane felt time begin to slow again.
Shit.
Amanozaku apparently liked to do things at her own pace and screw those who were around her. Akane supposed that it was something to do with being the lady and master of all Tengu…
And then she was out in the wilderness. All around her snow drifts piled high devouring even the pine trees that dotted the horizon. A sea of infinite white spread as far as the eye could see. Akane stretched her memory back and began to remember. She had been in this place before – a few winters back and it had been a bad, bad time in her life. Her back was bloody and raw from the bear that she had tried to slay. Her stomach growled and grumbled and the rags she had wrapped around her raw and cracked feet did absolutely nothing to drive out the cold. She was going to die Akane knew this she was too hungry , too tired and everything was simply a frozen hell stretching out around her into endlessness. Fighting a Kodiak bear was not a good idea at the best of times. And this one had been an absolute monster of a beast standing fifteen foot tall and with claws that could rip deep gouges into trees. However she had been desperate. So damn desperate. Noting else was alive around here. The foxes and wolves had long fled to other parts of the country where the moisture did not freeze in their lungs. The bear had given her the beating of her life even  She was still in war-form the minute she dropped it she knew that everything was over for her – the increased fortitude stopped the cold from simply murdering her and instead made it feel like daggers piercing her skin.  
That was when the crossbow bolt smacked into her left shoulder. Piercing into the flesh and muscle of her bicep. Even though this was only a conjured phantom memory Akane felt herself scream with agony and pain. Men in thick firs began to shout orders to each other and Akane realised that the bolt was topped with chain links. The men were pulling her in yanking as sailors would  when they drew in a harpooned whale. The pain intensified to a pitch and she fell to the ground writhing as the hunters dragged her across the snow.
“What the hell is it?”
One called out to another. Straining to see through the flurrying snow and discern what he had caught.
“S’got horns” said another more observant one.
An older voice chimed in. Clearly the leader of the hunt – though at the time Akane was not up to discerning such things.
“It’s a Rage Ogress. You find em up in swamp country though very rarely down in these parts. Nasty bastards at the best of times though they make for some great trophies and their organs can be sold at a high price to medical nin and alchemists. Their ‘bits’ even make for potent aphrodisiacs  so make sure to chop those out nice and clean. At any rate the beast seems hurt so as long as we do this slow and careful we are rich men.”
Akane saw a machete raise up in front of her face.
“No please don’t..”
One of them stepped back.
“Yamas beard - theshebitch can talk”
The older hunter replied annoyed at his charge.
“Course she can damn well talk. It’s an ogress not a bloody bird. Just hack her damn head off and lets be done with it.”
The machete rose again and Akane using the last of her strength began to cover her undamaged hand in protective carapace. It was a botch job if there ever was one and was more of a makeshift porcupine than an actual limb of any sort.  Akane lurched forward as she was dragged slamming it into the  first man’s neck and puncturing his windpipe. She fell onto him biting with extended fangs wolfing down flesh into her mouth. Her strength was coming back fast. In a few seconds she had stropped the corpeses belly bare and was reaching up to her shoulder where the crossbow quarrel was lodged into her flesh. It was torn out and began to bleed almost immediately but it was the invigorating pain of health and she felt the life pulse through her.
The others began to curse and scream and beside her another crossbow bolt went wide shot by a man who had just watched his comrade die a horrible and painful death. She was on him in seconds  grabbing his face in both hands and crushing down.
HARD.
The man’s face caved and then only the last of them remained.
The old hunter wet himself before he died the moisture turning to ice and mixing with the blood of the entrail’s that were stuffed greedily into Akanes maw.
And then there was a change of scenery sickeningly fast.
Akane was in a room thrown violently onto a rough hard bed her back smacked into the wall causing shudders to wrack her form.  The faces of dead men watched her from through the room. Akane knew them. She had killed them after all.
Their leader stepped forth. A watch captain, tall and well-muscled with a shit eating grin plastered all over his slimy face. He was the one who had spotted her down stairs – she was playing mah-jong with a few others in hopes of winning herself some coin.  The game had gotten pretty intense and she was sure that one of the other women who was playing had cheated somehow. She was some sort of mage with a white powdered face and over applied lipstick.  The bitch was using Fuinjutsu somehow and all the tiles seemed to be favouring her in all her plays. Akane suspected she may be using talismans hidden in her robes in order to affect the flow of the game.

Everyone else had had enough and were shooting the sorceress nasty glares. However she was probably working for one of the local Yakuza bosses and that fact combined with her obvious mastery over chakra was enough to keep everyone’s suspicions to themselves.
Not so for Akane.
The sorceress pulled a nine gates hand out of seemingly nowhere and everyone’s money rolled over to her side of the table. Akane was furious though. This smirking git was taking all the money she had earned begging by the road and it had taken her hours to do it. She probably made a large sum of profit cursing whomever her clients wanted her too and lived a cushy and pampered life free of any worries save for boredom.
XXXX that.
Akane stood up and pointed one long nailed finger at the damn hedge witch.
“Just because everyone else is so damn scared of you doesn’t mean that I am going to sit round and take it in the arse from you.”
The sorceress got to her feet mirroring Akane.
“You insolent little whore what the hell did you just say to me?”
Akane grinned revealing sharp teeth.
“I said that I’m not going to sit here and let an ugly disease ridden hag sit here and rob me bind and say nothing about it.”
The witch glared daggers at Akane thinking about what to do for her next move.  She could probally activate one her seals that contained fire and lightning and send it at her but that would raise the possibility that Akane would simply reach over the game grab her by the hair and smash her nose into the table repeatedly.
The witch finally turned to leave the table with the money on it to Akane deciding to leave one smart arsed comment before she departed.
“Damn Inuzuka you are basically an animal….”

The witch froze.
And the smile returned to her face except this time it was sickly as if she had been pulling the legs of some kind of crawling insect.  
“I don’t think you are an Inuzuka. After all I am sure we would have gotten word if Konoha had sent one of it’s operatives to our little abode.”
Reaching inside her coat she pulled out a talisman and swiftly hurled it in Akane’s direction.
Akane tried to dodge but the paper flew as if alive sticking to her skin and making her tingle all over as if she had just touched an electrical current.

And then Akanes disguise fell away as her body resumed its natural shape. Fangs and claws were still slightly prominent but less than they had been before and her hair was now a shade of reddy orange completely distinct from an Inuzuka’s brown tresses.
In short her cover was blown.
The sorceress began to speak up.

“Look at what has been hiding among us. She’s clearly up to no good or why would she dare creep in from the wilds to hide amongst real humans?”
The sorceress pointed one black lacquered nail towards Akane.
“ Guards take her away and interrogate her.”
There were already twelve guards sitting about the tavern drinking after a day on the beat.
Akane cursed internally. She might be able to take the guards on her own but with the sorceress around her chances were much worse. Defeated she hung her head and let the captain lead her away into the watch station.
Now she was sitting on a bed and waiting for whatever came next.
The guard captian reached into his coat pocket and produced a painted picture of a blue haired woman. She seemed to carry an air of command about her similar to a queen or princess. Akane did not know her by sight but she assumed that she was someone important.
Was this who they were going to take her in front of?
Would this woman preside over her judgment and bring the headsman’s axe  down on her head once and for all?
But no the guard leader was talking.
“I hear that you savages can change your shape at will right? Don’t bother answering I already saw what you did over in the tavern. Now listen to me and listen to me well. I want you to change into this woman in the picture you got it? No funny business you half human bitch you just take her form and then start giving the boys and I some fun. Even a half human like you should understand what I am talking about right ?”
Akane began to comply. He wasn’t quite in reach of her just yet and she needed to clear the numbers fast if she was going to get out of this in one piece.
The first thing to change was the hair. Fire red strands began to switch to the colour of icy blue glaciers and the frozen walls of the polar caps. Akane’s skin lost it’s tan and started to become the pale colour of milk seen as very desirable in a maiden and something that the Aisu were often praised for.
Next her figure began to alter changing her body shape slightly In order to replicate that of the women in the picture. Curves altered muscle became more firm and less pronounced and she dropped a few inches in height.
The commanders grin almost split the sides of his face with it’s undisguised lust and desire. A hand reached out to caress her shoulder and Akane felt herself recoil at the touch. It was not like she was a virgin by any means but most sexual encounters she had were at the very least voluntary or at least brought on by the extreme consumption of alcohol and thus pretty much her own fault.  This was however a nasty mixture of blackmail and violation which she could not stand for.  He leaned over and began to smell her hair. Much good that would do him – unlik his ice princess she had not taken a bath or shower in weeks and it would not be pleasant.
The man sneezed as the dried leaves and bark that lay in her hair got in his nose. And then Akane decided to strike. Ducking down she grabbed the commanders leg and lifted him into the air. The man was momentarily dazed an didn’t quite know what to expect as the now Aisu looking girl used him as a makeshift weapon to start smashing his comrades about the room.  It felt like years and by the time it was over Akane was covered in bruises and thoroughly out of breath.  However they were all down and she was somehow still standing.  Stripping one of the guards of their uniform she suited up and made for the door. No one had seen this blue haired woman walk in before and thus her unfamiliarity and the guard uniform that she wore let her escape from town.
The scene shifted one last time.
This was somewhere she had never been before. A boy was walking towards a well with a piece of paper in his hands. Snot was dripping from his nose and his eyes were filled with tears she looked at the piece of paper and somehow the words that were written on it played in her mind.
To the Shadow of Iwa...
Two days ago, a woman killed my father, he was a malitia officer who was working for our village. He found her doing bad things, and killing animals in the streets and tried to stop her and arrest her, but the lady attacked him. She was a ninja, and a powerful one, strong enough to fight off all the policemen who were there...
I don't have very much money, but here is the 20 ryo that my daddy gave me to go to the academy with before he died. please can you I want the lady that killed my father to die for what she did, she ruined our lives.
She had orange hair, and had the ability to turn into a monster. Ninja around the area said that she hadn't passed any of the boarders out of Iwa, or they would have known... My father was a good man, who was the best at his job...
Punish the people who took my daddy away...
~Rin."
Akane’s hackles began to rise. She had an idea of why the newcomer had turned up now and why he was after her.  The idiot was out on some kind of crusade for justice. Well where someone when her father was murdered or her people was were massacred?  No one had come to help her as a child so this little prick could find his ‘avengers head in the same damn well he took his commissions from.
She couldn’t’ contain it any longer this little bastard thought that his thug of a father was a hero and that she was some kind of bogey man that killed people because she enjoyed it. She had half a mind to find the little shit afterwards and then grafted enough of her blood and flesh onto him that he became like her.
But thinking was just so hard at the moment.
Akane’s nature energy was too much  she couldn’t hold it any longer.
And she blacked out
Amanozako smiled – an expression that could freeze water and kill small animals.
Nature energy exploded outwards covering the flames in pure crackling chakra. The tsuchigumo became an immobile statue completely petrified.

The wave spread across the fortress coming towards Bozu the fury of the earth made manifest and expunged in a wave. It possessed the beauty of a tidal wave the grace of a storm and like both it gave no care for those in its wake.
In the centre of the apex Akane’s body writhed as the throes of metamorphisms held her in their grasp.
Around the arena Tengu shifted positions to best avoid the dangerous , dangerous energy.

6000/6000 Senjutsu to C rank

192/3000 Taijutsu B-A.

Ayabozu watched his opponent with fire in his eyes, the power which was welling up around her was something marvellous to behold, but, there was the part of him which knew he would not be able to hold this up forever. The creature which was backing her he could see but a shadow of, and the colossal chakra which radiated from its form was far too grand for him to handle in the spirit world. The weakest facet of her form was her body, but, escaping the spirit world would not be easy, and the monster which was controlling her would probably attempt to trap him in this world where she held all of the cards. Rage filled the Jugo, and with the rage came a storm of nature chakra. Holding out each of his hands, he closed his eyes and focused, until suddenly an orb of chakra symbols expanded out in front of him... this was his defence.


The symbols performed their duty, the wave of chakra crashed past him on every angle save for the now glowing green orb of nature energy, filled to the brim and frozen in space within it. Clapping his hands together the orb closed in on itself, getting smaller and smaller until it was out of sight, and the chakra was sealed away for good. Looking up at the girl, the exorcist bore a look of colourless determination and seriousness on his face, his wings still spread out to either side of his body as he rushed the girl in full force, hoping to take her by surprise with his assault. Red, whip-like tendrils flayed out from his fingertips as he charged her, curving his wings to throw himself into the air and spin like a veridian hurricane as the whips lashed downwards for her, burning into the ground as the fire raged around them.

It wouldn't be long after this attack that Ayabozu simply vanished from the spiritual world, as if he had never been there in the first place. his person, gone, as well as the sounds he had made, his impression, leaving behind only the remnants of his deeds, the fire, the chaos, any wounds which he had inflicted with his techniques, and that would be it....

Like a ghost, deciding its time in the world of the living had come to its end...

While within the real world, things had gotten a little more chaotic, Nue, with his base control of Ayabozu's body, had been scooped up with the force of the possessed woman's flight, the puppet hanging on with its chains, and clinging on now tightly to the woman, as Ayabozu after several meters was also tugged into the air. With very little time, he looked back to Sishi Gashara, whipping his hand and causing it to latch hard onto the trunk of the tree in which it had been stationed, gripping tight and becoming an anchor. With the full force of Akane's flight, she would suddenly feel herself unable to move even an inch, while the pull force was almost enough to dislocate Ayabozu's shoulder, he cried out with the initial pain before composing himself, and pulling hard to pull her back down to the ground.

Reeling her in with his chakra strings and his puppet which was latched to her, he would attempt to pull her hard from her thirty meter height and slam her into the ground, while he would land some meters away, a little damaged, but otherwise largely unharmed, though with a little ground shock from the multiple story drop, buckling and hitting the ground with a loud thump and a small cloud of the dirt spreading outward in a plume of smog...

At this point Nue was tired, he felt the pain as if it was his own, and with a mutter could no longer hold control of Ayabozu's body, his energy drained due to being far weaker than the creature which controlled Akane, Nue slipped into a soft sleep while Ayabozu after his fall was forcibly pulled back into his own body due to the emptiness which filled it for less than a second. Standing up, back in the real world, Ayabozu had the memories of what had happened here, having seen it with his eyes, and fought it with this body, he remembered. So, in clapping his hands together once more, it was time to finish this battle. Chakra ink covered his hands as the symbols spread, both of his hands now going for two separate stacks of seals which were hidden in the recesses of his coat.

Taking each of them in either hand the seals which he had placed on his hands glowed, and like an X-ray seemed to burn the symbols placed on them through the pieces of paper, printing them onto each and every one of either individual stack of fifty seals, which, in turn with the chakra they were imbued with, began to fray into the shapes of shikigami. Small dragonfly shaped pieces of paper, that when standing up, might resemble a small person, the symbol that governs them in their centre like a beating heart. Ayabozu muttered the command word {Attack} breathing it under his lips as the seals through all of them took on a red hue, priming their limited intelligence into their purpose.

This is your only opportunity to surrender, give in... or these creatures fly!~

Ayabozu did not expect surrender, there would be little the spirit which was within her would achieve by giving in to an exorcist, and while Ayabozu knew that he would not be able to seal such a monstrous creature with any of his current seals, he knew he would be more than capable of causing it to evict her body...

The shikigami floated up one by one rapidly, like having created an army as they orientated themselves for their flight, until one hundred of them encircled the air around Ayabozu, not quite attacking yet, though preparing to do so at a moments notice. Should she respond with surrender, Ayabozu would leave them floating around himself. But should she continue her attack, the instant in which she attacked or made any form of resistance to the claim of surrender, the Shikigami would bullet forward, flying through the forest like a a divine wind of cascading blades. Weaving through the trees and even cutting through smaller branches as they would make their way toward their target and become a blender of colossal and relentless force!

Whips of fire lashed into Akane's flesh the girl howling in the midst of transformation as the spasms that wracked her body intensified. Ayabozu's attack was painful but it was the pain of the soul. A malaise that Akane knew only too well. She was the product of a bygone age stranded in a world that was hostile to her very existence these blows spectrally impacted but without the ritual potency of Fuinjutsu to back them up they were simply jolts of red-hot pain delivered without rhyme or reason.

As Enma the judge of the underworld would tell those who remarked on his punishment. Afflictions of the spirit need to be hammered for years to truly break down a soul. Momentary pains would be forgotten especially when compared to the inner turmoil that we cause ourselves. Oni and other servants of the underworld would spend up to millennia truly shattering a soul and drawing it out of it's own learned patterns and habits. Akane's soul was a massive ball of confusion , doubt , fear and rage essentially a ball of agony ready to burst.

Thus it came as no surprise that Bozu's attack while felt was simply absorbed into the whole. Insanity was becoming prevalent in Akane's thoughts the lunatic rage that plagued her clan overtaking her utterly. With no support from anyone Akane was simply going to lose it all - she had nothing left to return to and the madness was in fact a blissful respite from the hardships of mundane sanity in the soiled world of men.

In the material world Ayabozu’s strings jarred with Akane’s flight yanking her hard out of the air and into the ground blow. There was the sound of bones creaking and several snaps as she hit something that would likely prove either fatal or severely  debilitating  to any regular person on the receiving end. Akane was wounded for certain but her body was not so weak and she would endure till another day.

“This is your only opportunity to surrender, give in... or these creatures fly!”

Ayabozu spoke thus. And he addressed not Akane but the being inside her. Amanozako the queen and mother of all Tengu that was moving the Jugo girl around as would a finger puppet.  Indeed she had only left a sliver of her power in Akane but now that Bozu wished to parlay it was time for a more direct confrontation.
Akane rose from the ground drawn up this time not by the wings that sprouted from her back but by the unseen hand of great power that was lurking just under the skin of reality.  Naked and limp Akane resembled nothing less than a puppet dangled from its strings. The bottom of Akane’s jaw slid open releasing an oily cloud of black smoke that began to coalesce in the space between the pair.

Amanozako had arrived on the scene and she wished to speak to Bozu on her terms.
From the blackness a face emerged a long hooked nose jutted out over eyes that were twin pits of blackness. Relics of the time before there was light cold expanses of primordial night that instantly knew everything about Ayabozu – past , present and future.

Long stained tusks moved as Amanozako spoke.

“Iga you would lay a hand on my servant?  One as skilled in sealing as yourself should well understand the danger of interrupting a rite such as this. For you see I have decided to take this girl as my pawn. She will dance through the world believing her actions to be her own. But in reality it is I who am guiding her hands – I who cause her feet to stride across the earth and I who chose when she draws the very breath in her lungs. And now Iga know that you yourself have drawn my attention to your person. Before you were autonomous but now you are drawn into the game of divinity played by the movers and shakers of this world.  

Mayhap I shall call on you to kill a Kage or Daimyo as they sleep or perhaps I shall force you to instigate rebellions across the land ending in bloodshed. Maybe I shall even peer deep into your heart and force your hand to move towards what you truly desire.  I know that you wish to bring about a change in the zeitgeist but what will happen were I to fill your heat and head with a passion for revolution that cannot be restrained. But there is always the chance that I the things you accomplish while under my banner will be of no consequence to you at all. Perhaps they will only flower when everyone you know has turned to dust and the sun hangs low and red in the midst of its death throes. You have no way of knowing. But I shall leave you with this advice. Harm not my other servants. Those whom I have marked are forbidden to you and that includes the girl you see before you thrust into the soil by your hand.”

Amanozako did not make threats to Ayabozu.  She instead reached a hand fused of darkness out of the cloud the markings of a seal apparent on the palm.  A pact mark akin to the one made with a Reaper a covenant between a mortal and the entity who would so desire their life.

1124

Ayabozu litened to the ramblings of the Otengu, having speculated, but never known her true presence, as the woman he had been fighting like a puppet on unseen strings clicked to a standing position and the being within her came to speak on her own behalf, many of Ayabozu's speculations became facts. The woman within the girl had shown her true colours and spoke with an ancient tongue which carried her years, her wisdom, and unfathomable cruelty and malice to those who could decipher the distaste in her words as they rolled off her celestial tongue. Ayabozu watched and waited, knowing that she would come to an end, soaking in all the relevant information he would need before making his next move. And as she extended the contract seal, he knew the three things which he needed to know, assimilating three absolute truths about the entity before him, identifying it, and with that, he knew exactly how he would be striking at her.

Amanozaku no O-Tengu...

He spoke under his breath as the Shikigami locked onto the name, thus, the first part of his attack had been completed, the 100 shikigami would fly through the air at top speed, weaving and cutting through the trees like a divine breeze, leaving hell within their wake as Ayabozu continued his plan, there was only one entity in his arsenal that he was able to bluff to be able to force her into a retreat, but the cost of that would be chakra, and more of it than he would be able to recover from if the fight were to go on longer past the bluff. Her nature allured to such, she had outstretched a contact to him, and though the script was old, he could read its words, and such an act, showing one a glimpse into their nature with an offer, was a risky move... Amanozaku must have truly believed he would have joined her at the moment of its presentation.

The Shikigami coiling around the girl would not strike at the flesh which the great OTengu had possessed but rather cutting into the finger which was possessing her, their nature as Fuuinjutsu allowing them to have a physical impact on the spiritual world, and when it came to pain and distraction, a blade of paper was worth one hundred blades made of steel in the world of the spirits. The Shikigami would attempt to cut into the finger enough to release it, and draw out her ire and attention to the person who was attacking her. Ayabozu needed to put on a show, and truly convince her of the skill he possessed, which would be no small feat, but even she would not have seen this technique enough times to be well versed in its use.

As such, crossing his arms seals began to swim over his skin forming into the position of vermilion wings which began to stretch outwards, Soon after he would place the second of his four wind seals on the floor. The seal would expand outwards instantly in glorious overlapping patterns, ready to be activated as he quickly used the substitution jutsu to relocate himself with all of the speed he would need to be able to reach the location of the third seal. Swapping with one of the branches one of the Shikigami had cut, and leaving it in his place, he placed his hands on the ground once more, and the third symbol began to expand in all its greatness. Allowing Ayabozu to fly skywards, and look down on her.

Clicking his fingers, a seal which had appeared once as another, began to shift, revealing its nature as an ambiguous seal, warped into that of the fourth and final one, a grand Azure symbol. The being within the centre of these four seals would feel what would begin to be fear, or at the very least suspicion as Ayabozu, having the first activated upon his back. Though the chakra within these four jutsu held within them the trace chakra of the beings of which they represented, and through them, a truth, and a fifth was rumoured to be able to be summoned, but only by the greatest of Iga clan members, a Seal which could summon the god of the winds, and one of the most powerful Fuuinjutsu seals the world had ever seen.

Ayabozu took his position to the south, and from his vermillion swallows wings, Amanozaku would be able to see fire, as the flicker of Suzaku the vermillion pheonix would pierce through his own eyes as the symbols covered most of his body. Smiling, Ayabozu spread his arms and the wings, noting as the southern wind began to blow in response to the technique, ever so subtly, but it was there, there for the world of the spirits to feel.

From the Second Symbol Ayabozu had placed, the symbols lifted from the ground to piece together in intricate patterns, lines and interlinking symbols the picture of a massive black tortoise which surrounded the floating twig which ayabozu had placed in its centre to protect. The tortoise known as Genbu's eyes flickered blacker than the abyss, even darker than the night black of its own shell as it flickered to life with the chakra of Ayabozu, and the faintest glimmer of the attention of the spirit it was representing in the supernatural world. Positioned to the North, as should it always be, the north wind surrounded it, whispering a soft tune as it moved through the small cracks in the tortoise's shell, like deep crevasses in the earth itself.

To the west, A white Tiger rose to become threatening, white chakra with black symbols became known across its skin, creating the appearance of stripes and depth. The symbols coiled into cones to create its fangs, so intricate that one could barely discern the chakra which solidified them. It would have taken more skill than the average Fuuinjutsu artist to be able to create these constructs. And Ayabozu was no amateur when it came to these things. The Tiger of the west Byakku gave out a loud, chakra enhanced roar, standing tall and looking over the three which had already emerged, awaiting the awakening of the last of them as it formed.

To the east of the four, the last symbol which had lay in wait all of this time rose to colossal sizes, larger than the others as if the focal point of the four. The fifteen meter long azure serpent weaved itself into reality, raising from the symbols in the ground as it was awakened by Ayabozu, more chakra taken from his body to fill the void which comprised its form. The antlered head of the dragon rose up, while its claws became comprised and its jaw opened wide in a threatening stretch in the direction of Amanozaku. Seiryu's glimmer of essence within the jutsu hearkened a truth, that these were the four winds, of north, south, west and east, and that their master would not be far behind.

Ayabozu clapped his hands together. Looking in the direction of his target, the chakra intensive ritual having finally been completed.

"Amanozaku no O-Tengu, you have your final chance, dismiss yourself and remove your contract seal from the thrall you possess, or a greater threat I will summon whose presence is the very winds he commands, with the power of his vassals the four of vermilion, white, black and azure, I will call to the golden one who rests upon the heavens overlooking your very mountains from his perch... Challenge me, and I will return in kind."

Ayabozu's seriousness, his unreasonable, unreadable, emotionless face would work in his advantage, though he was some time from being able to summon the power of the god of the winds, there was little he was able to do to threaten a Kami like Amanozaku. But this would hopefully make this fight no longer worth it, even if Amanozaku were able to beat what he was bluffing towards, the fight could go either way, and having the power to summon him in al his greatness suddenly would more than likely give the being the upper hand to begin with. Something which an ancient being would rather wait, until she knew she could win, rather than gamble on such an unvaluable bet...

"Choose... Now..!"

The expression that first crossed the face of the Tengu matriarch was one of disgust as if a pile of refuse had stood up from the road and spoken to her with the voice of a human. How dare this mayfly open it's mouth and spew forth such ultimatums to one such as her-self. In the blink of an eye his body would be dust and his soul dragged deep into one of King Yama's prisons in order to await pitiless judgement that he would draw celestial ire that much sooner and in a far more personal manner was astounding to Amanozako.

However the tusked mononoke gave pause with the arrival of the four servants though she could sense they existed not as their true manifestations but rather effigies. She had given Ayabozu a cursory examination looking at his history as well as easily accessible thoughts and memories.

However...

She had not looked deeply into his clan lineage for that would require some time and effort even on her behalf. Following the branched of a single bloodline down to their roots required preparation and what one could discover buried deep beneath the soil of ages could be both surprising and disturbing. Had Kohryu the dragon lord of the winds had some hand in these events. The great beast gave the appearance of being naught but a sleepy observer to the world awakening once in an eon to bat an eyelid towards earth before returning to the dark recesses of deep sleep as only a dragon may know it.

She did not believe that the soporific hermit was his true persona however. It may have been enough to fool lesser devils , yokai and godlings but Amanozako suspected that what  lurked beneath this façade was a mind sharper than any blade and more ruthless than the ravages of time itself. That Kohryu also known as Huang Long in some circles had agent's amongst humanity as well as even perhaps the chaotic shifting courts of the Yokai was almost a given.

She would have to weight this up - while she had plans for both the humans before her they were not worth the chance (remote that it may well be) of having the lord of the winds manifest in this place due to an unforeseen slight on her behalf. While her powers were enough to match the dragons own it would be a taxing fight for both sides and the losses would be sorely felt. Worse yet neither side was likely to kill the other and thus the feud would fester and grow for millennia causing her to waste her bird like children in clandestine missions of surveillance and assassination where she could better use their services elsewhere.  

Indeed the fact that Kohyru's presence was to be implied might be enough to draw the reptiles gaze. Were Bozu to speak his name it would surely create ripples. As it was said 'Speak of Cao Cao and thus Cao Cao is at the gates' and in the Celestial bureaucracy was not the dragon a perfect counterpart?

Amonozaku's projection opened her mouth to speak to Ayabozu.

"Well done false monk you have won yourself and the maiden a reprieve from my machinations. And yet there may be a day where your greatest wish will be that you had instead taken my offer. Entrusting ones fortunes and fates to a dragon is a sure way to forfeit any chance of a happy life that one may have in-store. Shrewdness is a blade that may cut both ways and without a scabbard of wisdom to draw it from you grow more in danger of slicing your own fingers off every time you draw it. Take the girl and do what you wish with her but know that in the end she will bring you naught but misery and pain and that by accepting her life she is your burden to bare. After all you clearly lack the precision and tact to control her as I would."

Something did seem somewhat off about the unconscious girl. Amanozako had thought her completely unclaimed a budding shaman priestess of sizeable power (If not the  instruction and guidance to use it) ready to be plucked ripe and juicy from the tree. However something in her seemed draconic in nature a scent she had not picked up before. She could not define however weather it emanated from the past or future vague as it was. Could Kohyru have had designs on the girl even before she had? Had this all been anticipated - the opening move in a gambit that was designed to trap her or even worse use her as a piece against one of the dragon's other hidden enemies.

She would not be used in such a manner and the dragon was a fool to think that he could get away with offences such as this. Using her vast network of spies and children she would figure out the dragons game and give him a reminder that she was not someone to be trifled with.

The black miasma flared letting off showers of incandescent energy motes as it did so before folding in on itself and disappearing in a motion that would make even the most radical and learned of physicists sick to their stomach with the geometric implications of what had just occurred.


On the ground in front of Ayabozu Akane’s body began the transformation back from beast to human. Her horn’s and wings diminished in size before disappearing altogether to be replaced by clean and healthy looking patches of skin soft as that of an infant.  Dirty claws on hands and feet became long dirty nails . Akane would win no court beauty contests as she was larger than the imperial standards of beauty allowed as well as possessing more muscle than was seemly. However there was something primal about her looks that spoke of desires that those in the towns wished to cover up – someone strong enough to match their ferocity and not giggle and preen behind the foolish mask of innocence that the geisha and whores portrayed.


It also appeared that Ayabozu’s attack had broken her nose on impact for there was a pooling puddle of blood on the ground mixed with a bubbling noise that suggested that air was attempting to pass through the broken feature. Were her mouth not also open there would be the chance that she would choke to death but it appeared that her body knew enough to do such actions on instinct. It was probably not the first time she had been in this position and since Bozu appeared to not wish to instantly end her life perhaps not the last either.

Taijutsu B - A :

Ayabozu felt the weight of the words of the Tengu mother as she claimed that he had won this round, and that she was not willing to take the risk of the summon he was alluring to, such was his bluff, and it seems his grand gesture had not fallen on blind, uncaring eyes. She seemed to have seen right through him and through his intentions, but there must have been more she needed to contemplate about implied with his threat, perhaps the threat of Kohryu had its own consequences, which Ayabozu would be paying for later, whatever the case may be, Ayabozu felt the winds change when the presence left her body, creating a void of power which was almost palpable as the once stagnant winds began to blow freely, lifted by the servants of the winds which disappeared one by one, the sudden loss of chakra dropping Ayabozu to his knees in fatigue.

Breathing heavily, he looked to and fro before noticing that the woman who lay before him had not yet arisen, standing up, Ayabozu lumbered over to her, not bothering to take one of his medical pills, she had already seen his true nature, there were few in this world who knew who and what Ayabozu was, many of them members of his own clan, while very, very few knew who he was past the mask of the medication and knew of his prestige as a ninja of the old grass country... Approaching the girl he found his footing quickly, his superhuman body recovering from the tiredness in moments, walking over to the girl and kneeling down, taking a quick look at her nose and with his incredibly base knowledge of medical processes, relocated the bone into alignment with a quick flick of his wrist.

The blood would begin to flow a little more freely, but at least in this position, it would be able to heal a little faster. Leaning down, he lifted her arm and flipped it over his shoulder, lifting her with ease he would move her to a safer location, though she was more than likely under a state of possession when she had committed her crimes, there was a high chance that the village nearby would no longer accept her as a patron without some form of proof of the supernatural occurrence, and especially not without revealing that he was the ninja of the well. Such was the crux, but it seemed by the words of the great Otengu, she was to be his responsibility, and though he did not trust nor abide by the edicts of a monster of her quality, he could not ignore her foresight on the topics of fate, there was more than likely something in their future together, which would mean it would be more advantageous to comply.

Sitting her by a tree, he Ayabozu would make a fire for warmth as the sun set over the mountain tops. Ayabozu had managed to find some fresh game and began to cook it over the heat of the fire, his techniques and skills in sealing and exorcism had more than likely saved his life in this instance, he could not have thought another means to bluff the great creature out of her body without either threatening to kill the girl, or delivering on killing her, a fight which could still have swayed either way with the unnatural endurance of her being possessed by a creature of Amanozaku's magnitude. Ayabozu was counting his lucky stars tonight. Staring up at the clear sky a blur with the swirling red nebulas which bloomed like the brightest of scarlet flowers, surrounded in glittering stars like morning dew clinging to the celestial blossom's form.

Taking his medication from his pocket he looked to the information which was printed on the label, looking across the words and contemplating their meaning, the kind of life he was living, he smiled thinking about the alternative, perhaps complying to his cover, becoming some kind of great cartographer who travelled the world making maps for travellers, finding the most amazing things, but there was a simple truth... in this day and age the ninja who walk the face of the earth are gods of nothing but destruction, and that with a wave of their hand the beauty which he would learn to revere would be swept away like a tide never to be seen again. Ninja were too powerful, too influential, and too reckless. They needed to be regulated and they needed to be ruled over with an iron fist.

"Is it wise to think that after you have changed the world you will be offered a position in it of your choosing? Is it foolish to believe that in making the stronger weaker, you will be punished after for being the strongest? Am I right to want to make this world a better, more peaceful place? Or am I wrong to believe that true change is a thing which is even possible for a man to achieve?"

He spoke lightly in contemplation, rolling the bottle in his hand before taking one of the pills out by tapping the top of the bottle against his hand, with a single tap one of the pills rolled out into the palm of his hand, and with a single swift motion he delivered it into his mouth, bit once, and swallowed it. The effect which it would have on his body would not be instant, but it would be rapid. His vision began to become somewhat of a blur as the colours and brightnesses of the world became enhanced, his body felt heavy and his muscles felt weaker and tingling, perking his lips up into a soft, passive, genuine smile as his mental disposition became something not like himself. The true him sitting in meditation within his own mind, contemplating his future plans.

"I hate when i get into these grumpy moods, so, girl, are you awake yet? I think we have a couple of things to talk about, liiiiiiiike who you are, what you intend to do, and what our plans are going to be together from this day forward as a travelling party. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to the adventure!"

The man had within a few scarce moments become of sunny disposition and somewhat flamboyant in nature, clumsy, honest, and whimsical. The serious almost bloodthirsty persona no longer visible in his features, movements, even his attire looked different, the colours seemed to befit this form of him rather than adhering to the stern look on his face, detracting from their radiance and making them seem more dull. His eyes sparkled with life and his voice less monotonous in nature, it was almost as much of a transformation as she make with her skin, perhaps something which she would be able to relate with, needing to hide from the world so not to be seen for what she truly is.

Be it out of hate... or fear.

Since consuming the mushrooms Akane had never really awoken. Being in a state of trance was close enough to dreaming so that the experience blended seamlessly. Mind and the spirit realms were close companions and one was highly likely to bleed into another especially if the one in question was marked as a shaman.

Akane's eyes cracked open slowly letting in the glow of the crackling fire draw her attention to the traveller with her. Since he had neither killed nor raped her as she slept she supposed he at least had some form of decency lurking somewhere inside his being. The fragments of memory that she did have of the event told her that he was potent enough in skill and the talent of sealing. He had done something to make the Tengu mother leave though gods only knew what he had done to achieve such an end.

Perhaps it was better that she did not know in this particular case. Though whether denying her the tutelage of Amanozako was a good or bad thing she did not know yet. She thought back to the words that woke her. The man's voice was slow and slurred almost as if he was extremely drunk. Akane could not smell any alcohol and she had a damn good nose for such things so she just decided to ignore the impairedness entirely.

"Who am I? Well that's an easy question even if the others aren't. Call me Akane - that my name or  if you don't want to whatever the fuck comes to mind works to as long as it's not patronising bullshit. As for what I am the hair and the claws should tip you well off to that. As for what I am going to do next.... find my sister I suppose or failing that go on some kind of trip in order to help me control this mystic shit that gets forced upon me by a bunch of ancient assholes that like to talk gibberish and make stupid demands of their descendants.

As for travelling with you."

Akanes eyes focused on Ayabozu in order to read him as best she could.

"You have been given a geas to that extent hmmm?"

Taijutsu B-A

2811/3000

Ayabozu listened with some intent, the words which slipped through her mouth were somewhat course and unrefined, but such was what he should have expected from someone who has probably known little more than anger and fury through their entire life. He could see some childishness within her mannerisms, but there were equally double within his own when he was in a state like this. Sitting down, his voice was not slurring so much as he spoke with a form of enlightened sensitivities and attachment to all material and immaterial things. With the kind of elevated charisma which a person only ever truly spoke when they were not in their best of minds. But he could already begin to see the reasons why he was here, looking at Akane was like looking into a mirror on some levels, he could see the person he knew he could have turned out to be if he had of held onto his anger.

"You know, You would make a pretty convincing Inuzuka or Nekomata, ya know that right? The animal like features would meld to you, fixed to your form and would only serve to aid your cause and probably my own if i am to be travelling with you. Though, if you wanted to go one step further, not many members of those clans have red hair, might want to look into changing that some time, there's a nut extract which will strain out that colour with handsome blacks and browns."

he said with a smile, standing up and breaking some meat off a catch which lay to his side, before holding it over the fire, at a height where the flame would not touch the meat, but the hot air would still cook it, so that the meat would not simply turn to carbon and ruin the good game. It was not long before the hound Nue made his way toward the front of the campfire, the wolf sized pup lay down before it, the flickering flame casting rainbows over his white fur, rather than the simple blemishes of orange, yellow, and red. Underlying just how special this wolf was deep down.

"I only have a few simply guidelines if we're going to be travelling together, and they're not too hard to run by, one, is I am a cartographer and a guide, not a ninja, you don't know much about me and until I trust you, i would like to keep it that way. I have enemies, and this disguise much like your own is so that i don't attract unwanted attention from the villages as we travel within their boarders."

His first ask he did not think was too big of a deal, it meant that there would likely be times where she was in fact lying for him, but he would likely compensate her for her troubles if she would feel like it was applicable. There was a second and third ask he would have of her, but, he had a feeling that he should not ask too much of her so quickly, she would likely have some form of rebellious streak in her with the sound of her current attitude, and Ayabozu did not want to come across as some form of authority figure, as if he were assuming the position of leader.

"The second is that i think the two of us, while in private should learn how to be a proper team. Each of us are powerful in our own right, and with our power we would be able to achieve great things, together, even greater. You know I don't trust you, but you also already know that I am a skilled Sealer, and have a pet of which i am close with, I'm also a skilled puppet user, meaning I'm not often a person to get into the thick of a melee unless i absolutely have to... we should think up some form of fighting technique together when we have the chance...

And the last thing i would like to ask you is... not to eat my dog. I like him, and i would rather him stay whole."

He said with a slightly nervous laugh. Still however being honest int he fact that he would really like his companion to not be eaten so early in their journey together. Scratching the back of his head, he lowered his gaze to Nue, stroking his hand over the pup's snow white fur which had been embellished with the red symbols as the pup slept heavily soon after, drifting into a peaceful slumber. Ayabozu's puppets had not suffered any extreme damage, and he had the chance to buff them out over night as well as replenish the firework ammunition for Gashara.

"Though, all in all, i think the two of us are going to have a blast. I'm sure you've seen some wonders in your time, and if you would like, I'm a daoist, so, i know a thing or two about the basics of the kinds of rituals your family probably employed. Meaning I could help you out in that respect with a little bit of time and effort." Ayabozu offered.

It seemed like the times were a changing, there was nothing the whimsical puppet master could do but ride the wind to see where it would take him. But one thing was for certain, the reasons why Amanozaku wanted this girl were likely layered, there was something special about her, a riddle which he needed to decipher in order to attain her true nature. He wanted to assess whether or not she would still be a threat to the world, or whether she could be use as an instrument of truth and peace in the end, so long as the people left her to her own devices. Because, why her, and not some other member of their monstrous clan?

Summary of training: