Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shiro leaned forward on the banister of the high balcony and watched as a scuffle erupted within the assembled troops below, 3 days had passed and no emissary from the group known as the Alliance had shown up signaling at least for now the village hidden in Alchemy’s departure from the group. The fighting below ended as all of the known spies for the Alliance were captured and the unknown ones took flight, Shiro waved off the pursuing troops, if they had evaded his careful investigation into the matter they deserved to escape. Shiro smirked raising his hands palms out in a triumphant gesture “Fellows, today marks a new beginning of Alchemy. Today we move forward from being a small foot note in the annals of history to becoming the next great Shinobi village!” Shiro crowed triumphantly his hand sweeping across the horizon as a dazzling bright sun began to rise over the mountains. “Now on to war! 3rd battalion report for duty at the gates at 0900hrs we go to make history!” Shiro smirked nimbly leaping over the banister of the balcony free falling until he was caught by the long sinuous form of Hotaru in his complete Beast form. As he rose through the air he was quickly joined by another dragon, this one made of wood and metal Greed flew upon the currents with ease his puppet supporting both his weight along with that of Kuroi the only Chimera of who was for the most part earthbound. As the twin dragons headed towards the gates they were joined by another two figures that of the Crimson winged Chinmei and the angel winged Kagiri. “And off to war we go my friends!”
14/?

"Emergency Transport System my a**..." Shiro appeared in a large puff of smoke from a large scroll along with his three closest guards. "Ello' and your various complaint is? Person who must be pretty Damn important to have me summoned from so far away?" Shiro remained calm in the face of the angry Kage.

Shiro shrugged, "I've been making my nation bigger, more important..." his voice faded for a moment his eyes took a lustrous sheen fading quickly to Grey. "I'm a Peacemaker that's what I do, my methods are unconventional, but I don't seek war only unity... oh and I don't turn into a flaming skeleton..." Shiro said his voice had changed become smoother less arrogant, more tired and somewhat humble. "I don't kill when I enter a village unless necessary so it really couldn't be called in a attack in most circumstances. I might ask in a harsh fashion, but the villages always have a choice, but most know what's best for them at the moment. Oh and the people who have joined my nation have been more successful and safer since my nation began to unite the others. Some countries even join me by choice. I'm tired of this feudalistic structure so I act to end it. A crusade to end all wars. I know I act in vain, but I will continue until I have nothing left. " it was clear that she wasn't exactly talking to Shiro anymore, it was a presence that was even older then the century old Fuhrer.

Akira and traveled to an unbelievable place THis place was truely unlike any village that he had ever been in. Hell, it was more like a city, no a utopia, then it was a village. Everything was built of stone. THe buildings were sturdy. The rodes were clean, made from stone as well rather then packed dirt. The people of the Alchemy village really knew how to live. Akira took a deep breath and was greeted with the best smelling air he had ever had out side of his own village. This was odd since this place seemed to be the most industrialized place Akira had ever been in.

He looked around the village and saw several children. They were playing happily in the streets. The adults were going about their buisness seemingly happy as well. For such a war like nation, the people were extremely peaceful. Akira did not even see any guards posted around the village. THe people seemed to not fear anything. Their army is great so Akira could understand that. He wondered if it was truely necessary for him to come in to town wearing a desquise. The people did not seem to be too bad.

However, he knew that it was deffinently required. Akira had to deal with people following him where ever he went in his home village. He did not reallly trust his own team for that matter to let them know where he was going let alone to come with him. he was truely in a dangerous predicament. And it was all because of Fuhrer Howard, the leader of the Alchemy Village. But he would get his, Akira, however needed to prepare. He had been given a ninja team as a genin because he was an excellent ninja.

He had been all around and and learned several techniques and knew how to master them. He was a master of several dead techniques and a good fighter. Along with all of that, there also were not a lot of choices. Now the Johnin exams were comming up and Akira had to add some techniques to his repituar to prepare for it. That is why he is here today. And why he would be there for as long as he had to. This was something that he had to do. He would not have a lot of time so this was important.

Akira took one last look around the Village before starting on his way. He wanted to learn the ways of the Alchemist and knew not where to go. Along with that He also did not know who to ask for assisstance. However, he did know where he could go if he needed to learn some information. With that he started to wander the town looking for a bar, tavern or anywhere else the town folk would congregate to. He figured if he wanted to learn any information a good bar keep would have to be a good listener.

He got was he was looking for. It looked to be a pretty run down place. That was what Akira was looking for. It was always the broke ones who would be willing to run their mouths. Their bragging would gain him the information that he needed. He needed to continue so that he could gain the respect that he felt he needed. He needed to continue so that he could oficially lead his team. With a deep breath he opened the door to the bar. He was met with shouting. Akira smiled. That was a good sign to him.

6/6 Inner Circle
He walked into the bar and ordered a bottle of saki The barman did not even give Akira a second look as he went to get AKira his bottle and cup. While he waited Akira, form under his desquise performed some hand signs and activated his Second Sight technique. With that he would better be able to listen to the what was going on inside the bar. He quickly fine tuned the sounds that were comming his way so that he would not go crazy from the noise. He went from conversatioln to conversation looking for something that would point him in the right direction.

He heard the barman come back and placed the saki infront of him. Akira smiled at him in thanks. He was not planning on drinking the alcohal. He hated the taste of rice wine anyway. He just wanted to give the bartender a reason to not throw him out. He planned to be in there for a long time anyway. He needed to wait till people were drunk and shouting, but maybe there would be some legit hacks out there who actually knew what they were talking about. It was rare but they were always out there if you knew where to look.

He keep going from conversation to conversation. He had been in there for two hours and had moved to a table so that the bartender would not get suspicious with him. At that point he was even sipping on the rice wine, and grimacing when the taste hit his tongue. The stuff was truely terrible. All Akira knew was that this had better be worth it. He had heard of the greatness of the Alchemy Fuhrer so he had come here. He needed to learn at least the basics and then branch off of those to learn more techniques.

He was half way through the bottle of saki when he had finally heard what he was looking for. It was in a conversation between a fat red faced man and a ragged vegabond. "I'm telling you, I may be the greatest alchemist who ever lived besides the fuhrer himself. THey call me the. . . Fire Water Alchemist because of my proficiency with . . . Fire and water alchemy. I even taught Ed Howard a thing or two about alchemy. He would be nothing withoug me and he knows it. That is why I am such great friends with him."

Akira knew that the majority of the story was false through listening to the mans erratic heart beat through the whole story. The drunkards ragged friend knew that it was a lie because he started laughing immediatly after the story ended. However the name, Ed Howard seemed to be real. It may be nothing but it was a lead worth considering. Akira took his wallet out of his pocket and put down some bills to pay for the drink. He then stood up from his table and left the bar, hopefully to never return again.

With that Akira began to wander around the place, looking for someone who seemed trustworthy. It took him some time to find the perfect person. A little old lady who looked perfecly harmless. Akira walked towards her, hoping that his cloak would not scare her. It did not, fortunately. In fact, she seemed to be smileing at the sight of another person to talk to. Akira greeted her with as much respect as he could. She smiled at him and inquired about why he was here. Akira was taken aback by the directness of the old lady.

6/6 Symbols
She was clearly not someone who wanted to be messed with. Akira nodded and went straight to the point. "I am looking for a person named Edward Howard, or Ed Howard if that is what he goes by. Any help you can give me will be much apreciated, ma'am." "Well, well, you are quite respectful of those who are your elders. Though I do not trust those who feel the need to hide their faces I will help you out in this case. Why are you looking for him, may I ask?" "I am looking to train under him to learn his secrets."

"I see, another alchemy enthusiast. You know, many of your kind come but very few have what it takes to learn alchemy. Ed Howard studied alchemy from when he was a young boy to become as proficient as he is. Personally I would say that you should give upt your aspirations. They will only end in your failure." "I am willing to train to get what I want. I have something to fight for, this is not just my aspiration. I will not give up this easy. Now if you can not help me then I will simply find some else who is willing."

Akira was about to leave when the woman grabbed his arm. Her grip was surprisingly strong. Not too strong to not be able to break out of it, but strong enough that he would have trouble doing so. Akira turned around to meet the old womans eyes, now annoyed. The old woman still had a smile on his face when she looked at him. "Okay, okay, fine, if you want so much to fail, then who am I to stop you? Just remember, I warned you that the training would be hard, almost impossible to do. It will be the greatest hardship that you have ever done."

"THe one known as Ed Howard can normally be found at the state library. However, only our state Alchemists are alowed in there so getting in, you are on your own. He is an easy man to find trust me. All you need to do is know what to look for. I warn you once again to give up your aspirations, chances are you will never learn alchemy. It is just too difficult for the average man." "I will not give up. I am not the average man. I have been through trials, hardships and I have come out the way I am today. Now I am going to the next level."

"If I can not stop you then you are on your own." With that The old woman turned around. Akira thanked her and left. "The State Library, huh? That shouldnt be too hard to enter." Akira had passed by the library on his way into town. It was wierd because it was the only place in town that was being guarded. Akira had to respect their protection of knowledge. Knowledge was a great thing and needed to be protected. Now, he would break into the place. He walked up to the doors of the library.

The guard at the door stopped him. "You are not authorized to enter here sir. Please, go back from whenst you came." He looked Akira in the eyes for one second more then he should. Immediately activated his Kikuta Memory technique. "You know me, . . . Guile. You were there when I passed my state alchemy exam." Akira said, picking out information and adding memories to the poor mans head. "Ahh yes, you can pass." The guard let him in without anymore resistance. Akira did not even have to make major changes to his memories.

6/6 Knowledge
On the inside Akira was surprised to see just how large the library was. He quickly made his way to the quiet study area. If he was to find a man in the library this would be the most ideal place to start. He looked around the place and saw several people pouring over books. This was going to be a long day. He wondered what the old woman meant when she said "you won't be able to miss him." He looked closly at everyone in the quiet stud area. They were all unique in the way that they looked different from eachother.

However, they were all pretty generic from that point. They all looked normal. Like people who he would not look at twice in the street. Except one of them. He looked regular, but he was a kid. There was no way there was a state alchemist this young in the military. But he had to be or he would nt have been able to get into this place. "I wonder if that is what the woman meant. Well there is only one way to find out. Ed Howard." Akira said the last two words louder than the rest. Sure enough the young one head popped up.

Akira walked towards his table and took a seat. The table was littered with books. All the books were on alchemy. Akira had deffinently found his man. Ed waved a hand at the books infront of him. "Start reading. this will be your first lessons." Akira was dumb founded. This was not what he expected in Alchemy training. Ed spoke again. "You have to know what you are doing before you can do it. knowledge is power." Akira nodded and picked out the first book. He was absorbed into the world of Alchemy.

The history of Alchemy, people like Nicholas Flamel and the first Philosophers Stone. The importance of a circle. Chemisrty. The books were all there in front of him. He saw that Ed was reading as well. However, this had to be all stuff that he knew already, or he would not be able to do alchemy. IT was interesting reading all about the history of alchemy. It was truely a ninja art all its own. Akira was interested in finding out what he woul get from learning it. However, all of the knowledge was payment enough.

Suddenly Akira felt a tap on his shoulder. It felt had oddly enough. He finally got a look at Ed's arm. "So that is why you are known as Full Metal." Akira said looking at the auto mail arm. Ed nodded before getting back to buisness. We are done. I hoped you learned enough from those books because now we will get into the basics of alchemy. With that Ed Howard stook up, showing his diminuative stature. Akira did not say anything about his height. He knew that it was not the size of the dog ing the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.

With that they made their way outside. "See ya later Oli, good day Mr. Howard." the guard said as they left. "So how did you get through those gates . . . Oli, is it?" "It is Akira, and as far as the guard knows he remembers seeing me pass my State Alchemist exam. Don't ask." Akira said as he followed Ed. Ed made his way to a sandy playground. "This is where we will practice." Ed said kneeling down on the sand. Akira did the same. Ed then used his regular hand to quicklty draw an aclchemy circle.

6/6 Transmutation

Akira was surprised at how quickly he could draw a intricate circle complete with simbols. With that he slammed his hands down on either side of the circle and the sand within it turned into a pain of glass. He did it again and it disapeared. Akira was wide eyed. Ed Howard spoke again. "By the end of your time with me you will be able to do much more. Untill then lets start with the basics. Alchemy is built on the priciple that 'one is all and all is one, as well as the principle the 'the sum is greater than its parts'

To preform Alchemy, one needs ingrediants, nothing can be made from nothing. However, you also need a conduit to provide the power for your alchemic reactions. First there is the circle. One needs a perfect circle to create the needed alchemic reaction because it is what the power uses to create the reaction. that will be our first lesson." Ed Howard erased the intricate circle that he had made and instead made a simple one. " This is what you will be starting with. If you do not have the hand to make this then we will not go on.

Alchemy needs a steady hand and you will not last long is you do not contain one." Akira nodded trying to take in everything that Ed had said. He then took a deep breath and slowly drew a circle. It was not perfect. Ed spoke curtly. "Erase it and try again. you need to be able to draw perfectly and quickly to use alchemy in battle." Akira nodded and ran his hand over the sand making is so that the circle was not there. He then tried again. and again he failed. He kept doing this for an hour before he was proficient in making circles.

Alchemy Training 1 3/3

"That is good. Now we will going on to symbols. The symbols make the impossible possible. THey are the life blood of alchemy. Not but the most basic of alchemic reactions can be done without symbols." Ed then drew symbols onto the circle that he had made. Once again he put his hands on the out side of the circle and there was s flash of light. WHen it cleared there was a pane of glass. Once again he put his hands back and there was a flash of light and when the light dimmed to nothing the glass was gone.

With that Ed expected Akira to do the same thing. The books talked about having a steady hand and unswerving concentration. he drew the symbols with out much need for help. However, Akira was suddenly feeling woozy. Apparently all of the knowledge that he had gained in that one day was finally getting to his head and it was too much for him toa take in at once. Or maybe it was just that walking around in a cloak in the heat had finally given him a heat stroak. Either way, his brain was shutting down.

A cloaked figure seemingly unwilling to fight without provocation. COntinuously giving warnings that he did not want this. The screaming going on around proving otherwise. People being captured as a great and unstoppable army was pushing through all of the defences. However all of that means nothing, not to those in the alleyway because they had something else going on. They had their own battle to fight. Once again warning to surrender, or else there would be no chance in hell of survival.

Across form him, a ninja. Calm, collective and proud. He would not give up for anything. This was his village. They had no right to invade it. And now that they did they thought that the people were just going to give up and kneel before a tyrant. No that would never happen, They would never give up and never surrender. He was young but he knew what it meant to be a ninja and to follow a ninja way. He would protect his village even if it meant death. And if death awaited him then he would go out fighting.

Alchemy Training 2 4/4

The one in the cloak shook his head in defeat. There was no getting into the head of the knuckle headed ninja. He would have to take care of him the hard way, and do it quickly incase his master needed him. He took off the cloak showing his body. IT was not human, though that would not be completly obvious, not just yet. Now he simply looked strong. He flash stepped and ended up behind young ninja. The ninja obvously did not expect the attack so quickly so he did not do anything to stop it.

The man quickly did some handsigns but he did not know that the young ninja was doing hand signs of his own. Right at the same time they both do explosive attacks the combine and explode between the two. The enemy flew backwards into one wall while the ninja flew forwards into another wall. That explosion laid them both out for a while. It seemed just long enough for a counter attack. The young ninja launched some kunai knives at the behemoth but they simply bounced off of his thick hide of skin.

The behemoth then created shadow clones of himself that speeded towards the young ninja using their body flicker technique. They soon came to restrain the young ninja. The ninja in a desparate move used his harmonics technique. . . Akira could hear the sound of high pitched whistling all around his head. He thought is was infact a harmonics technique. However, he soon learned that it was instead a tea kettle signaling that the water was boiled. Akira opened his eyes. He opened them a little too fast.

He was greeted with a great amount of light. It was too much for him and he closed his eyes immediatly. He instead listened for a while. He knew that his surroundings had deffinently changed. ALong with that, Akira knew that his desquise was gone as well. Thigs were most deffinently not as they seemed This time Akira opened his eyes slowly. There was a light in his eyes, which would explane the blinding brightness. He turned away from the light while his eyes adjusted to the blinding light.

When he did he saw that he was in a bed. It did not seem like a hospital bed so at least he was not in a hospital. THey always had problems when you tried to sneak out. The walls seemed to be either yellow or white, which made the room seem even brighter then it really was. When he finally felt his eyes were acustomed to the light he turned to look forward. IT was truely a big light that was over his bed. At first he thought that it was an interrogation light but now he saw that it was simply a regular over head light.

Alchemy Training 3 5/5

"Threatening...? Eh, I have people to write up things like that," Shiro stood lankly almost more calmly then before. "Honestly, I don't think I could die even if I wanted too..." he still had a kunai sticking out of his shoulder which didn't really seem to bother him, his eyes even softened for a moment and for a brief second he almost seemed human, with emotions and everything. His crazed grin relapsed. "Two actually, but one chose to ally with me though, that was a rather nice change. Many things don't entertain me, but I have to see them everyday... how sad. My choice stands as this I will not expand my nation anymore for the time being, but I will also not give up any of my current empire. Is our business concluded? I have an army to disperse and redistribute." Shiro was actually waiting for her response.
6/?

After finishing the tea Akira felt stong enough to sit up. He looked and saw that his cloak was next to the window. The bed he was in felt good and it had been a long time since he had been in a nice comfy bed. All in all he could not complain. Sadly he still had work to do in the hidden alchemy village. He finally got out of bed and set the cup back on the nightstand. He looked out the window and saw thta it was around the afternoon, probably a little after noon with how bright the sun seemed to be.

Akira once again heard footsteps outside the room. He put on the shirt that had been taken off of him just as the door opened. It was the old woman again. "Well, if you are strong enough to get out of bed then you must be strong enough to take your meal at the table. Grab that cup and lets get going." With that she turned around and went back out of the room. Akira quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind. Along with the cup Akira also grabbed his cloak before he made his way out of the room.

Out of the room and down the stair and Akira came to a cozy little kitchen. The old lady did not have much, but she had enough to live comfortably. That was always good. Akira took a seat at the table where she had put his meal. She was dishing out another plate for herself. Akira looked down at the food and suddenly had his mouth watering. He did not realize how long it had been since he had a home cooked meal. It felt good. HE really was happy that he coud have this opertunity to have one.

The old lady sat across from him. She immedialty went about eating. Akira did the same. The food was delicious. He knew that it would not last long on his plate. He just piled it into this mouth as fast as possible and sure enough it was all done in about seven minutes. He was stuffed. He wished that he could get meals like that everyday. The old lady was astonished by how fast Akira ate the food. "Wow, you would think that you had not eaten for weeks. Next time your around I'll make more."

"Thatnks, that was the first home cooked meal I had had in a long time. I really can't afford to get them too many times, and I don't have the time to settle down. I just really appreciate that, it meant a lot." Akira was almost at tears. It took some concentration but he forced them back after a few moments. The old lady nodded. "You welcome, I guess. Anyway, Ed will be comming around in a little while to join us so why don't you get ready." "I'm already ready to go. There is no point in doing anything else."

"Fine, then in that case, why don't you help me with the dishes?" With that there was a knock at the door. The old lady went to answer it. "That must be Ed now." She opened the door and sure enough it was Ed Howard. He came in and saw Akira doing the dishes. "Heh, I see the old hag got you doing manual labor huh?" With that Ed recieved a blow to the head from a wrench. Akira cracked a smile seeing the bump form on Ed's noggin. "God grandma! What was that for?" "For not showing your elders some respect."

Armstrong Beautifu Earth Blast 6/6

"For the sake of peace," Shiro gave a full bow hands curled into fists at his sides in military fashion bowing from the waist. "I must go now I have left a few things unattended that may escalate if they not attended to immediately." Shiro and his regiment of guards vanished heading quickly towards the docks. Shiro had no idea what could have happened in his absence and the one sane part of his mine had wanted to avoid full out war at all costs. "Pride can you see anything?" Pride nodded slowly his gaze cast westward. "A battle... we must stop it Lord. " Shiro nodded the affirmative. "Yes, we shall, faster!" the four picked up speed heading for the docks.