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Can a Nightmare...

~*Gatsuei-anei*~

Gatsuei gave an impressed whistle as she opened the door to take a peek inside. Ichi-kun... you are impressive, wherever you left that little wimp with no self-confidence, make sure you keep him there." Gatsuei noted the size of the single room in their makeshift, man-made cave before resurfacing with the rest of them. A mischivious smile bloomed on her face for a moment before she quickly put it away, crossing her arms and tilting her head to the side as thought she was a little curious... and somewhat concerned about something. "Though pray-tell, Ichi-kun.... why was there only one room made when there are two genders... are we trying to get a sneak peek at the lovely Kounichi in the group?" Gatsuei narrowed one of her eyes in suspicion as she gave Ichi-kun a hard, long look as if she was gazing into his soul to try and find any hint of naughty thoughts with his decision for the single room. The hard look and seriousness was quickly quickly replaced with a faulting stern look as the corners of her lips threatened to twitch into smile. She came over and attempted a playful poke in the ribs. "I'm just teasing. Thanks and good job Ichi-kun. I'm going to go and take a look around now."
Gatsuei was about to leave when she remembered something, she turned to look over her shoulder at Ichi and Inochi. "Oh, before I go, I almost forgot to tell you that Kazuki was heading towards on of the mountain tops... it was the highest one to the Northwest. I thought I would at least let you know so that you don't worry about him while he goes off to try and see about his purification."
Gatsuei couldn't actually see the yellow glow off the mountain that Kazuki, and everyone else could likely see. It was likely a quirk that could be corrected later, like her chakra control when she was more or less kicked out of the academy. Well, ignorance was bliss right now so it was alright for the time being. After she sorted out her thoughts and by the time that she got back, maybe the boys would have an idea of what to do in order to reach this purity thing that Quingfu was taking about.

Gatsuei made her way further down the mountain and began searching for decent caves and clues to how she and the others could obtain spiritual cleansing... or whatever it was that Quingfu wanted them to do. The wind was picking up violently and snow starte to pick up more and more. It was a disorienting occurence that could effect even the most harty mountaineer. Gatsuei didn't know if this had something to do with the wind around her that seemed aggitated and chaotic. But she was starting to get a little worried for her well being. She tried to locate the mountain lip where Ichi and Inochi were located but the snow was blocking her view. She was lower at the base of the mountain, was she not? That sounded right, she didn't that felt an upwards ascent in her footsteps. Alright, first she would try and head back to the base camp, then she would try and get her bearings again to go and check on Kazuki.... but first she might need to wait out this wind storm that was kicking up snow and reducing her visablity.

Can a Nightmare...

~*Gatsuei-anei*~

Gatsuei looked around at her environment for a while, not sure where she was exactly and where she was suppose to go. She listened to the voice as it passed by her on the wind and gave her the instructions, she wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. How was she suppose to manifest her chakra nature? Did it do so automatically and she was just suppose to find her or was she suppose to find a way to shape it herself? Gatsuei looked around once more and decided to start to climb the rest of the mountain ahead of her. The wind seemed to pick up and gnaw at her exposed flesh rather ruthlessly. She pulled her cloak tighter around her and pinned it there with Ichi’s gift, that way she could use both of her hands for the more treacherous bits of the mountain and still stay warm. As she climbed higher to the top, she tried to think about what she was suppose to do in order to pass this, she assumed that each was different, by the way the immortal said it, each had their own task, a task that they were not alone with. The brutality of the cold was something else, and the more Gatsuei climbed the less she seemed to get anywhere on the mountain, she was supposed to get to the top, was she not? After what seemed like an eternity of climbing and not getting anywhere near the top of the mountain, she decided to take a small break in a cave that she managed to find. Gatsuei took a look inside, the cave itself was deep, black and rather unwelcoming. If there was something inside, she should be able to avoid it if she stayed near the entrance. Perhaps it was better to sit and think for a moment instead of just perform actions and continue forth useless. Gatsuei leaned back against the rocks of the wall and removed her mask, she looked at the plain surface and let her mind wonder around and try to figure out what Quingfu meant by the worlds charka. Wasn’t chakra something that the was produced in the body? How could the world produce something like that? By the way that Quingfu described it, it almost sounded like energy; energy couldn’t be created nor destroyed, only transferred from one for of energy to another. So… was the chakra the worlds energy then? Did the chakra come from without and she was unknowingly channelling it like a tree draws in nurturance? Gatsuei’s thoughts were interrupted by a deep throated growl. She paused and her head snapped to the side as she listened for a moment, but after hearing nothing dismissing it as the wind, she placed her mask back on anyway and looked out into the billowing winds and the snow that was dancing across the plane with some level of uncertain caution. What the hell was that? Was it truly the wind and nerves or was it something else entirely? She wasn’t sure to be honest, and she wasn’t sure if she should stick around and find out. The wind was ruthless out there though, it was almost as if her mere presence angered it and whipped it into a frenzy.
Then again, with this world it may have very well been the case.

Gatsuei stood up to leave the cave again when the deep throated growl sounded again, it was louder and more aggressive than the last time that she heard it. She was about to hoof it from the cave when she heard a soul shaking bellow echoed across the valley. She turned in time to see a toothy maw opened wide and attempting to devoured her burst through the darkness of the cave. Gatsuei leapt up slightly and rode the momentum out of the entrance of the cave and into the cold, artic world that lay outside. She tumbled in the snow for a while, knocked off balance because of the bestial strength that lay behind the sudden and unexpected attack. With a flip and a tumble she righted herself up on her feet and looked up at what had knocked her a** over tea kettle. Behind the mask, Gatsuei’s eyes widened in a restrained panic as she saw what was coming out of the cave. It was everything, and yet nothing at the same time, it was like a mass of chaos given somewhat of a form. The head that attacked her was shaped like a bare skull, teeth long and sharpened like viciously barbed swords. Balefire eyes blazed out from otherwise empty eye sockets. The black flesh of the terror rippled and shifted with screaming faces and demonic visages that were birthed from what could only be the madness of the gods themselves. The more that the creature pulled itself out of the cave the less structure it seemed to have of its body and the more it denied the laws of order and sanity. The thing was friggin HUGE, multiple hands grasped the lip of the cave and pulled out a slug like body out of the hole. Once the body was out it shifted and reformed into something that was roughly human shame, though it possessed no back legs, and two massive, muscular arms that held it aloft, three figures allowed the balance of the creature, the creatures backside extended into five tails that lashed out, the ends of them tipped with fanged maws. The neck of the creature craned over towards Gatsuei.
”W-what the hell is that?”

That is your spiritual energies that you have corrupted and despoiled with your hatred and spite at the world.

There was another bestial howl before the creatures neck extended towards Gatsuei, the neck itself sprouted millipede like legs from underneath it to allow it to move faster and direct itself fully at the young woman. Gatsuei scrambled to get out of the way and managed to get to her feet before she was caught up in the jaws of the hellspawned monstrosity, she used every ounce of her strength to not be crushed in its voracious jaws. The wind was pushed passed her with such a great speed that she didn’t even have time to acknowledge the side of the mountain before she was smashed into it with savage force. The force of the impact caved in a portion of the rocky side of the mountain and caused an avalanche and briefly sweeping Gatsuei under a tide of snow. The monstrosity retracted it’s head and its tails reared up, teeth snapping as they were pushed over head and sent under the snow where they found their prey. The five tails threw the still dazed and battered Gatsuei high into the air like a rag doll. She desperately tried to shake off the daze in her mind as the five tails all danced around each other in order to get to her, she threw her body off to the side and missed one of the snapping maws, the force of the graze spinning her counter clockwise in the air as another mouth ended tail launched a flank assault while she was spinning rapidly. Teeth sank into her left side and her body almost snapped in half from the sudden abrupt stop that she experienced when she was caught in the mouth of the second attacking tail. The pain pulled her out of her groggy fog, though the pressure from the bite itself did nothing to help her situation in anyway. She could hear more of her ribs breaking and could taste a metallic substance rolling over her tongue and flowing out of her mouth. Gatsuei retched the remaining blood out of her mouth and unceremoniously rammed her claws into the gums of the creature. The tail bellowed in agony and let her drop, just in time to avoid another tail that was about to take a bite out of her as well, instead, it got a mouthful of a rather displeased second tail. With her balance restored and her bearings now recalibrated, she quickly located the other mouths that where coming to feed.

The first mouth that attacked her was coming down on her again, the fourth and fifth ones were right about even with it but coming in from both her flanks, making this even more improbable to dodge efficiently, she really didn’t have much choice, and she prayed that there was nothing solid close to the surface of the snow bank that was under her. Gatsuei straightened her body and picked up velocity to attempt to escape. As soon as she hit the snow, she would have to roll her body and get out of the strike zone, it didn’t leave her much time, but I was better than becoming a spark of insanities buffet. Gatsuei tucked her chin a bit, and as soon as her body impacted solidly with the snow she rolled backwards. The speed of it was paused by the thickness of the snow, but she managed to flip her way backwards to narrowing avoid the fangs that crashed into the frozen earth and buried itself in deep, cold snow. A deep throated growl was followed by a roar and the predator that hunted Gatsuei shifted itself once more, four more legs pushed out of its body as four of the tails retracted. The mouth at the end of the tail opened wide and pushed out a stinger that dripped with a vile looking substance that hissed as it hit the ground beneath it. The six legs stretched out and became more spider like. The main body stretched out and flattened, the neck of the creature pulled itself out and elongated slightly. The face and head of the monstrosity still staying constant in its look as the rest of it shifted and morphed like it was made of some sort of gelatine, the faces that covered the surface of its skin also rippled and shifted, protruding slightly out as they hardened to make some sort of carapace for the grotesque abomination. There was a screech that emitted from the spawn as it charged forwards with impressive speed. The long legs carried it swiftly over the snow while Gatsuei had to put great efforts to trudge through it. It didn’t take long before the monstrosity was on top of her and attempting to devourer her with eager jaws and foul breath. Gatsuei rolled to the side in time for the face of the brutish creature to push through the snow and contact heavily with the frozen earth below. Gatsuei thrust her weapon into the eye of the beast as it pulled its head up to strike again. The thing bellowed in a mixture of agony and rage as it threw its head back and violently shook its head from side to side as if to try and dislodge the pain. Gatsuei took the opportunity to get away as fast and as far as she could. After the spawn’s screaming stopped, Gatsuei heard a wet suckling noise from behind her, she turned her head in time to see the eye that she had just gouged out flicker and blink back into creation once more.
Aw… hell no….
It regenerated? It friggin regenerated?? Gatsuei watched as the shape of the creature shifted once more back to what it had been before it came rampaging up to her. The neck of the creature extended once more, though when it came at her this time it was far more control and relaxed in its approach. The wicked speed it had before was replaced with short, quick bursts of speed until it caught up with Gatsuei. From there, it swayed like a snake charmed by music before it seemed to have a lock on her. With that, it opened its maw and vomited forth thousands of grasping arms that first forced her into the snow face first with staggering power before thousands of hand grasped and grabbed at the young ninja, Gatsuei lashed out with a sweeping slash and caught a number of them, severing the appendages with one blow, the separated arms twitched and flailed on the ground, making high pitch squeaking sounds as they evaporated into a black vapour. Despite her valiant effort, the hands had latched on with an iron grip, the began to pull her into the mouth of the creature. No matter how much she struggled and tried to squirm away, this was an enviable outcome. With one final gasping breath Gatsuei was swallowed whole, disappearing down the greedy gullet of whatever the hell this thing was.


Gatsuei came too in a void, there was just no other way to describe it. It was like she was suspended in water, but wasn’t able to see anything. There was no up or down, there was no left or right, sky or land… it was just… darkness there and nothing more. Gatsuei blinked her eyes slowly, this place felt wrong somehow, she felt like she was being touched by slime or some sort of algae. Her body felt heavy and weightless all at the same time. Silence rang heavily in her ears for a moment and she closed her eyes to try and restart her mind. Everything felt like it was in slow motion, even her thought patterns seemed to turn over in her head. She knew what happened… at least she thought that she did. But seriously… where was she? What was this place.

”This place is what it is child.”

The voice that came from everywhere and yet nowhere at once echoed as if they were in a deep, large and empty chamber. The alien voice sounded exactly as though it was speaking with her voice, though when it echoed, there was an androgynous voice that echoed softly behind it, as though two were speaking at the same time… herself and someone else. There was confusion that clouded Gatsuei’s mind. She wasn’t speaking to answer her own questions. Yet hearing her own voice brought a strange comfort to her, the presence was a nurturing one. It was gentle and soft- soothing.
”Who… are you?”

”I am that which I am.”

The reply did nothing to quell the confusion in Gatsuei’s clouded mind. She looked around slowly, but her eyes picked up nothing but the inky darkness that surrounded her in this suspended cradle. ”Where are you?”

”I am all around… how sad that you cannot see me, no matter how hard I try and reveal myself to you. Why are you unable to see me, child?”

The voice became more curious than hurt but this, from the greasy feeling of this world came the gentle touch of fingers placed on various parts of her body. Gatsuei tried to uncomfortably squirm away, but whatever she was suspended in was like cement, she couldn’t move at all.

”You poor child, you have collected so much negativity in your major chakra points that your out of balance. You cannot see because your left and right eyes are imbalanced from your actions and choices. Well then, we have some work to do, don‘t we?”

Work, what did she mean by that? How was she supposed to do anything when she couldn’t move? Still that didn’t seem to stop whatever it was that was out there, whatever it was that she couldn’t see, only feel. The fingers retracted themselves and seemed to recoil back into the void. There was a few moments of nothing but the void again before something powerful and sharp smashed its way into the base of Gatsuei’s spine, even the grip of this strange void couldn’t hold back the initial spasm of pain. Though after that initial jolt her pose froze like that. Gatsuei’s conscious seemed to leave her body - like she was having an out of body experience- it was surreal, and something that she doubted she would ever experience again after this. If only she knew…

’First, we shall cleanse your Base Chakra point; for there can be no firm foundation without a good base. The emotions associated with this chakra point relates to our body‘s identity as an individual and survival. You need to overcome your fear in order free this chakra point.”

Gatsuei felt like she was falling thought the earth itself, only to come to an abrupt halt on a polished stone floor where she was surrounded by stone figures shaped like Oni in various poses, most notably the various hand signs that were needed to summon and control chakra. Looking around she noted that she was utterly alone here, there was nothing but the sounds of her breathing and the echoes of her footsteps as she walked around. What was he biggest fear? Dying alone, unsung and unremembered in some vast forest in the middle of everything and yet at the same time in a vast beyond of nowhere. Gatsuei looked around and placed her hand on the statue of one of the multi-limbed Oni, she let her hand softly caress its surface, she knew what it was that she was afraid of, but how did one let it go? She came into the middle of the floor and took a cross legged sitting position on the floor where she reflected on her fears, and what they meant to her. She supposed more than anything that she was afraid of being alone, it was kind of ironic, and in some ways twisted that she seemed to surround herself in her own fears. Then again, she was probably afraid of people too. Well, not people per say, more like she was afraid of abandonment and the pain that was associated with it. The feelings of worthlessness and that nobody cared was probably one of the worse things that she felt. That was what she was afraid of, abandonment, rejection and the agony of betrayal that came with it. Gatsuei opened her eyes to find herself surround by all those who abandoned her, betrayed her and rejected her in the past. Kazin, Mana, Seika… her family… hell, 90% of the village was hanging around and the rest of the 10% probably just hadn‘t heard the intended rumour of her planning to destroy the village in a bout of insanity. Her numerous so called friends thought out the academy, they were all there, glaring down at her, disapproving of who she was because she was Yuzuki. She closed her eyes once more and took a deep breath; she had a lot of fear surround her and she needed to find a replacement to those who were taking up the root of her fears. She felt herself relax, although there was fear in rejection there was also a joy in acceptance. The Raikage, who still had faith in her abilities and person, he was the one who waved what should have gotten her executed and gave her a second chance. Gatsuei opened her eyes and saw a large number of the ghosts dissolve and open a space where she could see the spectral form of the Raikage lazily leaning up against one the statues of the Oni - his hands behind his head and his eyes closed as if catching up on his sleep. There was also Kishi, he didn’t have any qualms about her at all, he wasn’t put off with her in the slightest and he was likely the first person to ever fully accept her right off the bat. He also gave her a means of which to never feel lonely, whenever she used that Jutsu, she always thought of him. Another gathering of spirits departed and the image of Kishi striking one of his odd poses was in the new clearning. She could almost hear the blasted, annoying laugh of his fill the room. Then, the wolf-girl ANBU and Dr. Seuss was also the for her. They were like family to her now, although they got off to a rocky start, they seemed to accept her for who she became instead of who she was. More people cleared and the images of the two of them were side by side. Then finally… there was Ichi. She hadn’t known him for a long time, but he forgave her for what she had done to him and offered a hand in friendship when few others would have done the same. The last of the haunts vanished and Ichi was standing there with his laid back smile. She didn’t need to focus on who would reject, abandon or betray her, there were always though who would do so, but she could easily let those people go, she had others who were always going to accept her for who she was and what she is capable of, not who she was. She close her eyes for a moment and pushed those fears and insecurities away. When she opened her eyes she saw that the place she was at now was totally empty, nothing by a circular stone slab of red marble in the void of darkness. Gatsuei suddenly found herself being torn back into the place where she was before. The darkness here was less suppressive now, though she still could hardly move her body, a crimson glow was emitting from the base of her spine where she was struck previously by the unseen entity.

’Very good child, you have cleared your first chakra point. But I can see we still have much to do.”

Gatsuei was trying to move around, but her body was still pretty well frozen. No matter what she did to try and move nothing seemed to respond that well, she could shift around a few inches at best, but the slimy feeling was still all around her. Suddenly without warning, she felt another harsh blow in between her belly button and her pelvis. She felt the air being sucked out of her stomach from the sheer pain of the jab and she felt a separation from her body again as it tried to lurch forwards to hug around the wound. She felt herself falling, though she didn’t fall as far as she did last time. She felt a sudden impact once more.

”The next point that we will be freeing from negativity is the Sacral chakra point; this is the point that governs emotions, states of desire, feelings and imagination. You need to release yourself of guilt.”

Gatsuei pulled her face out of the ground and looked around, this room was very much like the place that she was in previous spare the fact that this room was tiny, barely even enough room for her to be there. She pushed herself up and into a kneeling position, this was going to be something else entirely, wasn’t it? She had so much guilt that she didn’t know where to start. Pulling it all together the sounds of a thousand angry voices bellowed and screamed at her for various things, hundreds of thousands of things that she was guilty off, the attempted destruction of the village, the murder of the cub at the chuunin exams to name a few drops of water in this whole big ocean. Gatsuei was having a harder time trying to pick out individual things so that she could address them individually and get them sorted out. Her past was chalk full of guilt and regrets that she wouldn’t be able to sort through on her own. The more she tried to single them out, the more the other began to get louder and more angry with her that they weren’t being addressed first, each thinking it was just as worthy of her attention as the next one. She felt paniced, closed in and claustrophobic until she felt the presence that was sending her on this journey right beside her and to her left.

”Do not let these things panic and close in on you, we all make mistakes, just accept that these things happen and forgive yourself. You cannot be a positive influence on others if you can‘t even forgive yourself of your past transgressions. You are not the person you were yesterday, nor will you be the person you are today, tomorrow.”

Gatsuei let what was said roll around in her mind, and it made sense to her in a way, it was going to be hard, but if she ever wanted to get out of here, she was going to have to forgive herself. Gatsuei got into a meditative sitting position and closed her eyes. Individually, one-by-one she forgave herself of all the wrongs she did. She knew that with becoming an Immortal, that she could make up for them and then some. She may not be able to take back the actions of the past, but she could strive to make sure that she didn’t repeat the same things again, she didn’t need to burden herself with such things anymore. She shed this guilt like a scorpion moulted its old skin so that a fresh carapace could come into existence once more. The howling voices and the angry bellows slowly faded into soft murmurs, then into whispers, then silence was the only thing that was in the room. When Gatsuei opened her eyes again, she was sitting on a large circle of orange. The world was still and calm in her chakra point now. Gatsuei stood up once more and as before she found herself being yanked back where she was before. From the point in which her body was struck, an orange glow radiated, slightly pushing back the darkness of the void she found herself suspended in.

”Well done child, you have cleared yourself of your guilt, your second chakra point is cleansed. Forgiveness of another is difficult, but sometimes forgiveness of yourself is even more challanging. Shall we continue then?”

Poor Gatsuei didn’t have time to answer before she felt another impact four fingers width above he naval… and good god did that one hurt. Whomever this entity was seemed to have no compassion in it before deciding to forcibly poke her in some of the least guarded regions of her body. As before, she felt her conscious leave her body and fall once more, though this time it was even shorter than before. Like it was only a few feet down from where she was. Gatsuei bounced painfully off her backside… she wished that spiritual cleansing was a little more… gentle.

”The third point is the Solar plexus chakra; this Chakra is the focus point for our power of will. Our sense of power, ego and authority, as well as self-control and discipline are centered here. We need you to banish your shame, the biggest disappointments of yourself.”

Gatsuei looked around, this place was a large and sturdy area, she appeared to be in some sort of fortification this time, she was a woman who had a pretty strong will… almost to the point of stubbornness, so she wasn’t surprised that this was a fairly strong looking place, though it did look like it needed some polishing up. She wasn’t saying it was near perfect, there were obviously cracks and warping in the area despite its steady strength. Gatsuei looked around and walked to the center of the room where a pillowed seat was located. She lowered herself down into a cross legged position and closed her eyes. Her biggest disappointments in herself? That would have to be not being able to become a Medical Ninja like her father wanted her to be, that was the first. There were others as well, her failures were often something that she brooded upon, but there wasn’t too terribly many disappointments in herself, spare rushing mindless towards the Sound village without giving it much of any thought, and the after math of that. She supposed that her biggest disappointments in herself were being blinded by her selfish lust for power. She should have known better, she knew and was taught that nothing comes easy and that it was always better to work hard for something, she had tried to take a shortcut down a path towards a goal that she warped and distorted into something horrific. That wasn’t anything that a ninja should be proud or comfortable doing. It rang true for others, and now it was true for her. However, she recognized and acknowledged this was a shameful act and she was more than willing to let the rest of those feelings go. She had been given a second chance at life to make a better path for herself. She had already found a better path, one of discipline and self control. Being an immortal was going to be something that would help focus her on these principles and she would proudly go on this path with little to no shame. She cast away her shame, she wasn’t the same person as she was then as she is now, and even though she might be tempted at times to try to go down that darker path again, she would have better guidance on her journey this time. She wasn’t alone anymore, she had people who could help her find her way if she ever got lost on her path. People who would help her stay on the road that she truly wanted to do in and make sure that she saw pure in her intentions. Gatsuei took a deep breath and inhaled slowly. When she opened her eyes she noted that the warps and cracks in the building had been sealed over and fixed, the place burned with a golden yellow. Gatsuei waited patiently while the feeling of ascending once more claimed her being and she found herself back in the dark void, the place where the being had struck her was radiating with a golden yellow glow.

”It‘s good to see that there has been some healing in you sense your negativity has clogged up your chakra points. We are making good progress, lets move on shall we?”

Yes, Gatsuei wanted to get this over with so she could stop having her body smashed every time that she needed to cleanse her chakra pool. Why couldn’t they just… walk there like normal people. If you could even walk around in here… it was hard to tell. Gatsuei inhaled deeply and prepared herself for the next strike and then the descent to wherever they needed to be in this dark, dark world where Gatsuei couldn’t even move. Gatsuei felt the middle of her chest almost cave in as the next charka point was summoned from within. Gatsuei gasped for breath, it almost felt like her host just cracked her sternum. Something peculiar though… there was no drop, she only felt herself in a standing position. The world around her thought was heartbreakingly familiar though. Her heart clenched and she raised her hand as if to cover her wound.

Ever a man...

.

The spirit is not something you can hear like a midnight sax. It's not something you can feel like a hand on your back. It's something less than material and much more important than anything real.

"And so we should begin..."

Inochi had take his leave of the safety of others and stood alone at the edge of the mountain. Looking beyond the edge of the clouds would prove futile, but somehow he felt like it would be a good deal easier than the task at hand.

The wind picked up. It was the sort of autumn wind that might very well shiver your spine as it crept through the zipper of your coat. Just enough to let you know it was still there, but not enough to chill your soul.

"I... think we should begin with working on ourselves... what do you think Ichi..."

His words where only just barely audible over the high winds as he rejoined the group.

...becoming a lion

Ever a man...

.

The ANBU took a long while before he spoke. He fidgeted with his mask in his hands while he spoke. He didn't make eye contact with the demon host as he thought. It might have seemed weird, but it was how Inochi got when he interacted with people.

"That's... not a bad place to start if it's what you did. Maybe facing our own personal demons is like a mnemonic... and that whole spirits part of chakra..."

Inochi quickly flashed his hands through several seals and without any real ceremony made a perfect clone of himself. Parts of the clones glowed a feint blue as it first emerged but slowly died down.

"is what is learned.... maybe.... you know -um- like a method of teaching."

Inochi looked at the boy next to him finally,

"I mean -um-, the basic stuff in the academy talked about how chakra is a mixture of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience."

It was like the Leaf ninja was reading from a text book.

"Some techniques... like my own family's Shintenshin no Jutsu, are based more on the -um- spiritual side of things. Taijutsu technique on the other hand are much more based on -um- physical energy. So that's the -um basics of it. We need to learn to control only the -um- spiritual side of the energy... I think."

Pausing for a moment, he hesitantly added a little more.

"Well... The Sage of the Six Path's was said to -um- have been able to create things at his will from nothing, and to -um- even give them life to them by mixing the two forms of chakra.... or something. So... I guess that mean's it possible... if he took it like -um- two steps farther... or something."

...becoming a lion

Kazuki Habaragi

Kazuki awoke to find that he was on the ground, lying with his stomach on the dirt. At first, he wondered where he was then remembered. Spirit area. Training to become an Immortal. Coming to terms with his spiritual self. All that jazz. He scrambled up to his feet and looked around. No one was around. It was day now though. The sun about the middle of the sky, probably a little after noon.
Kazuki returned to the rock from yesterday. As he sat upon it he thought of something. Where had his copy gone to? Had he dispelled it or something? Had it followed his orders and left him to his own thoughts? He shook his head and closed his eyes. Concentrating he focused on the past day's events and his encounter with 'himself'. "Just letting you know, your face looks really retarded right now. What are you trying to do? Take a crap?" Kazuki's eyes shot open. There standing in front of the rock was his copy with the same smirk from the day before."So you back for another round? Good. I'm interested in what you have to say to me." Kazuki licked his lips and straightened his back. "Well, to be honest, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you. You say that Ichi has doubts about me and that he still holds that event against me, but I believe your wrong about that." The copy raised its eyebrows at him. "Oh really? And what makes you say that?" Kazuki noticed it that his copy wasn't accusing him of doing anything right or wrong yet. It was asking for an explanation. "The day that I made an apology to Ichi I saw something in his eyes that I hadn't seen before. He used to look at me in a way that was timid and unsure but that day....He looked at me with a confident look. A look that said to me 'I believe you'. A look that said 'I forgive you'. A look that welcomed me back to his circle of life. I believe that is what that look in his eyes said to me. And no matter what you say about his or my feelings, I know where my heart lies and I believe I know what he thinks I am to him. A friend. And I'm going to stick to that philosophy until I see any evidence that its not true, in either my actions or his. Therefore!" Kazuki beamed at his copy with these final words. "Your words of doubt hold lies and thus I don't believe them and are not bothered by them in the slightest."
His copy smirked, then nervously laughed, and then burst into small bits. Kazuki didn't understand until another deep voice spoke to him. This one was different though. This one sounded more calm and collected than the first voice.
"Well done. You've defeated your voice of doubt. It was a strong member of your emotions. Since you've beaten him, he will no longer bother you. That is until he finds a different tactic to attack from. But since you've beaten him this time. I have faith you can beat him again and again. Now you must explore your chakra. Find it inside of your self and master it. For this part of your training, you don't need to be in a certain place so you can return to your friends if you wish." Kazuki smiled. He looked up into the sky again one last time before heading back down the mountain towards the others chakra.
Training so far-574+615=1189/2500

Kazuki Habaragi

As Kazuki walked down the mountain, he held his head high. Yeah it was really cold and walking through the snow was in no way desirable but he was in a different state of mind than the one he had ascended on. He felt happy and without a care in the world. With this attitude his steps became jolly and his hands reached into his pockets as if he was taking a wonderful stroll down the Sand village instead of the snowy wasteland he was in.
After a couple of hours, Kazuki noticed something that had been following him for a while. He had thought it to be nothing but now he refused to ignore it. He stopped where he was and waited for it to catch up to him. The presence he felt was strong and strangely Kazuki felt like it was calling to him, just like before only different. The wind around Kazuki began to kick up and for some reason he heard the distant rumble of thunder. Kazuki looked up into the sky. Descending to meet him was a sort of man but he had the wings of a dragon. As he descended and began to near the ground he flapped his wings, slowing his descent. With each flap of his powerful wings, Kazuki was buffeted by winds of enormous strength, almost knocking him over. The man landed, his feet lightly touching the surface of the ground. Kazuki noticed that all of the snow around the immediate area had been cleared away. Must have been those gusts of wind as the man came down from the heavens. Kazuki slowly raised his gaze to the man's. He had striking yellow eyes that had no pupils. His face was stern and his jaw powerful. His body was muscular and he had a sword at his side, a katana. Despite his amazing physical appearance, he wore simple clothing. Just a regular shirt and pants with double belts crossing each other adorned him. He wore no shoes at all. Kazuki gawked at this man. "Uh, who are you?" The man didn't respond. He simply looked up at the sky, as if he was expecting something. Kazuki cocked his head at the man. Was this more spirit training? Who the heck was this dude to him? And why did he look like a regular dude but had FREAKING DRAGON WINGS? His eyes interested Kazuki though. Normally no one has those eyes but his eyes sort of became that way when he used his kekkei genkai, but his pupils remained. Was this something new? Suddenly Kazuki felt all of his hair stick straight up. He smelled something weird, like something was sparking through the air. Wait a second. SPARKING?! Kazuki looked up just in time to see an arc of lightning spiral out of the sky and drop directly onto him. Instinctively closing his eyes, he started to raise his arms in defense. Then he realized that nothing was happening. He wasn't dead. He wasn't burnt to a crisp. He opened his eyes. The world was white. Not snow white but white like there was nothing there at all. Kazuki looked around and noticed the dragon man standing in his same postition but now looking towards him. He nodded and pointed to Kazuki. He felt something inside of his gut move. The man curled his hand into a fist and pulled it towards himself. From out of Kazuki sprang a bird. Kazuki watched as the bird seemed to form in front of him and fly around him. It was green with a lightning bolt of yellow splashed on its back. What the heck was going on? Why did a bird just come out of him? The dragon man looked at him again and spoke.

"Catch it."

Kazuki looked at the man like he was kidding. He wanted him to do what now? Whatever. 'How hard could catching a bird be?', he thought. All he would have to do is make some chakra strings, catch it and then bind it. There captured. He moved forward to begin his plan.............and found he couldn't move an inch. He couldn't even budge a muscle not even to look around or make any facial expression. The only thing he found he could do is use his Carsing eye to see where the bird was. 'What the heck?! The guy had just told him to catch it. Why couldn't he move?', he thought. The voice from earlier spoke in his mind. "Well of course you can't move. Using spirit energy isn't about your body control its about your mind. You must use your mind to capture the bird." Kazuki stopped and thought about the voice's words. "Capture it with his mind'? How was he supposed to do that? "Obviously you weren't listening to me, boy." Kazuki would have jumped....if he could. It was the voice of doubt from before. "Wow, didn't think you'd be back for more already." The voice laughed. "Idiot! I'm not here to do that. I'm here to help you out. Remember that the spirit is only half the whole being. The body is also needed. Therefore I am both the voice of doubt and lies and the voice of truth and wisdom. Everything is like that. Do you know the voice that keeps telling you where to go? That could send you the right or wrong way in any situation. It's up to you to decide what path you take and what voice you listen to." Kazuki yawned in his mind. "Yeah, ok. That makes some sense I suppose. But what am I supposed to do here?" The voice's retort seemed to slap Kazuki back into life and reality as it was given."Again, idiot! What did you learn back in your academy days that you so rigorously memorized? You draw energy from two places every time you use your chakra. Now what are those two places, BOY!?" Kazuki answered in a ready but slightly intimidated voice."Your mind and your body.......Of course!" It came to him. If his body was the physical part of him then the mind was the spiritual part of him. Focusing his energies, he focused on causing his chakra to weave out of himself forming strings and then a web. The bird was on to him now. It darted around Kazuki's still body, attempting to avoid the strings of chakra trying to ensnare it. Using his chakra threads Kazuki built a wall of chakra and walled off an area around himself and kept doing this until his body was surrounded by his chakra "box". The bird was trapped within the box searching for an exit. Kazuki casually lashed out with a string of chakra catching the bird's right leg. The bird thrashed violently as more strings latched onto it, haltering its movements. The chakra box closed into the the bird until it was just a small bird sized box of chakra. Kazuki smiled, realized what he had just done, and grabbed the chakra box with his right hand. He turned back to the dragon man. He nodded again and walked to the Kazuki. He took the chakra box and with a quick motion, shoved the box into Kazuki's chest. Kazuki saw white again.

When he opened his eyes the snow beginning to fall back on him. He shook off the dirt on himself and looked around. The area was the same but the fierce cold had returned and snow was entering the area, already covering the ground back up with its blanket. Kazuki smiled. Whatever he had done, he had done right. He could feel it. He noticed a pool of water that had already started to freeze back over and noticed his reflection. He looked the same but he had one new feature. His eyes were now glowing exactly like the dragon man's had. His pupils had disappeared, now only his yellow iris remained. He deactivated his Carsing eye and his eye returned to normal, green iris with a black pupil again. His smile broadened. Now he was sure he had done it right. He reactivated his Carsing eye, admiring his new eyes, and headed for Ichi's shelter. He wondered how everyone else was doing.
Training complete!-1189+1406=2595/2500

Can a Nightmare...

~*Gatsuei-anei*~ Vs. Yuzuki

Gatsuei only wished that she was having as much luck as the others seemed to be having, she was utterly getting her a** handed to her by Yuzuki.
Another blow came from her right and impacted her heavily into to opposing direction, she skidded and danced off the snow like a stone being skipped across a lake or pond by and expert thrower. Her skipping came to an abrupt stop as she came into contact with a large rock frozen into the earth. Her momentum redirected her skywards. Gatsuei only had time to register Yuzuki before she had reappeared behind her in a sudden blur, the eyes under the mask widened while her iris’ and pupils shrank to expose her level of sick and twisted enjoyment of this one sided blood sport. Gatsuei just couldn’t keep up with her sinister rival, Yuzuki was just that much faster, stronger and more solid than she was. No matter how much she tried to ramp up the speed, no matter how much more power she tried to put into her blows she just couldn’t land any damage against the White Demon. Gatsuei spent more time off balance, her vision rapidly alternating between sky and snow and the occasional rock or cliff face before Yuzuki continued to play pinball with her. Everything hurt, everything felt broken and out of place, she was still exhausted from her spiritual cleansing and she was emotionally drained as well. Poor Gatsuei just had nothing left that was keeping her going besides a stubborn determination to not give into the Yang of her personality. Was the Evil in her really that much stronger than what she wanted to be? She refused to believe it, though right now the evidence was being stacked against her as the brutal beating continued. With a kick to the back, she found herself once more defying gravity in time to feel and impact in her gut and a quick rush to the ground. Dazed and shaking off the stunned sensation of her body she saw Yuzuki land with a violent impact right in front of her, the cracked stone that she was laying on stood erect from the blow to the ground. Gatsuei only had time to widen her eyes before Yuzuki’s lower leg into her stomach, smashing her thought the stone that gravity crucified her too and rolling to a gentle stop in the cold snow. A few of the stone fragments that she was once laying on rolled to a heavy stop not far from her head. Yuzuki flipped onto the remaining bottom half of he vertical stone that once held Gatsuei. The White Demon raised her mask to get a better look at her prey, that damned smile still stretched across her face as she watched Gatsuei struggle to stand.
”Have you ever wondered?” Yuzuki asked as she started to slowly moved towards Gatsuei. “Have you ever given it a thought?”
Gatsuei was still trying to regain her senses through her concussion and numerous internal and external bodily trama. Yuzuki’s words held little sense to her befuddled mind.
”Have you ever wondered how this world went to hell so quickly in such a short period of time? It was because it was created by fools, just like you.” Yuzuki walked pasted Gatsuei and over to the lip of the mountain that over looked the scenery that would normally be breath taking and scenic, but all Yuzuki saw was a waste of a world gone to hell, a place were nothing but the weak and foolish spawned and mass produced like a plague, a virus to all and a true destroyer of worlds. “People like you, you don’t see what needs to be seen, you see only what you want to see, feel only what you want to feel and then if something doesn‘t come into line with what you want, you condemn it. That useless fool the Raikage was weak, Chiyu was a fool and Kazin was just plain pathetic, they all thought this world was held together because of happy thoughts and the joyous thoughts of children. This world is shaped by heroes, and heroes are counted by the level of their body count: if you kill 1 man, you’re a murderer, 10 you‘re a monster, 100 you’re a hero, if you kill a thousand you’re a conqueror. That is what people what and desire, to be able to have a justification to kill and maim others so that those numbers work for them. Every dream and Nindo that I‘ve heard, every single one of them; requires conflict in order to stay alive. People want to protect others from conflict and death, they want to put themselves in the thick of battle in order to prove their worth so that they can be respect by their peers and test the level of their abilities. I am one of few who actually hear this call out for conflict, for violence so intense that it boarders on the beautiful. When I become an immortal, I will give them what they want, I will make them feel alive by bathing this world in conflict and help the people of the world achieve their own individual dreams. They will reveal in the glory of chaos and anarchy. They will feel alive and be able to attempt to achieve their dreams and Nindo‘s. Is this not the way of an immortal? To go and make sure that the world is happy? To sacrifice the needs of the few to make sure that the needs of the many are satiated? You know this to be true, so why do you resist becoming one with me? The way of the ninja is all about conflict. War is the reason that we are trained and breed, without such a reason, we wouldn‘t be trained at all.”
”…your wrong… that‘s not why a ninja is trained at all.” Gatsuei replied straining to push herself up to her knees. Yuzuki looked over with a rather annoyed look on her face, Gatsuei continued regardless. ”We are trained so that we can protect those who can’t protect themselves like we can. We‘re trained, not as a weapon of destruction and death, but an instrument to defend and repel those who would go out and seek to harm those we love, or hold precious to us. When we strike, it is to make sure that those who are close to us aren’t hurt, we make ourselves stronger as Shinobi so that when something does come that we are prepared for it. The Nindo‘s and goals of others who want to be stronger, tougher, faster and more respected, they seek those things because they want the others who look to them to know that they are reliable, and in that regard, that they are precious enough to that person that they are willign to sacrifice a great many things to ensure that they don‘t come to harm. That - that is the bonds and connections that a ninja‘s brotherhood holds… and I won‘t let you destroy that.”
”Gatsuei-anei…. Do you ever stop and think before you start rambling? Do you honestly now think that conflict will just stop as soon as we all join hands and sing ‘Lets be friends?’ Humans crave this conflict, humans desire this conflict and there is nothing that any amount of hand-holding and cheek kissing that will replace that irrevocable truth. Human kind does not want Peace, Peace is an ideal that we wish to strive for, a Goal that we can all find in common, but we don‘t know what to do with once it is achieved. The reason we want conflict is because it gives us a purpose and goal to strive for, we strive for Peace, but we don‘t want to possess it. Once we get it, we have no where to go after that fact alone scares humans. We are creatures that use conflict as a means to better ourselves. To make ourselves stronger. This and this alone is why Peace is a waking dream and nothing more. We are creatures of domination, it is that simple.”
”Your right, human beings are a sad concept. We‘re sad because we are so lost. That‘s why we need wisdom in order to properly move forwards. Just because we‘re lost and confused… that‘s no reason to give up on humanity. You can‘t just give up on something because you don‘t like it, you can‘t just destroy something because it isn‘t going your way, you need to actually put effort into fixing things before you use that as a last resort…” Gatsuei‘s head snapped up and she glared at Yuzuki through her mask. ”Immortal or not, I have that power to shape this world as I see fit and I won‘t give into my own fears and insecurities anymore!”



Yuzuki’s face mirrored the twisted and contorted rage that was displayed on her mask, which she pulled down over her face. Yuzuki kicked off and viciously launched a kick that caught under the jaw of Gatsuei, who in turn was once more launched into the side of the mountain. Yuzuki, frenzied by the slight that Gatsuei had inflicted upon her with her own sudden revaluation. She launched herself into a follow up attack with rage that bordered on madness, she was interrupted from her soon to be barrage by a heeled foot that connected under her chin. She could feel the crunching of bone as many of her teeth loosened from the impact, her feet came off the ground. She soon found her ankles begin grabbed by Gatsuei before she spun her adversary around thrice and letting her got in the direction of a tree. Yuzuki impacted hard but regained herself quickly enough to deflect an attempt by the other to pierce her throat with her bladed weapons. Yuzuki rolled under the blow and attempted to counter attack, finding that Gatsuei parried her blow with the armour of her other gauntlet. Yuzuki pushed off the tree and flipped over the head of her opponent to get herself out of the corner. Gatsuei twisted her body and swept low with her blades, using the momentum of her counterbalancing leg to add power and spin her around and help her regain her height for the next follow through. Yuzuki cart wheeled over the intended attack and back-flipped to put some distance between herself and the newly invigorated Gatsuei. Where was this power coming from? It made no sense… Yuzuki was the dominant persona, and she was the one who thrived in conflict, so how was she doing this? It made no sense, but she wasn’t to lose to an inferior side of herself like this, she had to save the world through conflict and destruction! Yuzuki threw herself into the fray with mindless abandon and wicked ferocity. Gatsuei was right there, glaring with determination at her opponent, they both wound up and lashed out with lightning quick reflexes, Gatsuei was mirror her speed now, the blur of the attacks and the numerous sparks that were coming off from the metal of her weapons started to rapidly heat the air, the spark ignited around then briefly causing a slight fire in the midst of their battle, only to be fanned out by the rate of the wind current that was being disrupted by the two combatants. Finally the pair broke off and circled each other before lashing out again, Yuzuki thrust out with her right arm only to have it hooked by Gatsuei’s left elbow, she felt her rival roll over her back and then her weight shift as she was thrown into the side of the mountain with a surprising about of force. The mountain trembled, as if complaining about the amount of abuse it was facing at the hands of the duellers. The trembles became rumbles as the amount of fierce abuse that the two had put on the top of the snow became an avalanche. The pair looked up as the large gathering of snow, trees and rocks barrelled down upon them with fury that only nature could provide. Yuzuki ran up the side of the mountain and Gatsuei bounded into the trees to get above the rushing snow, once the majority of the height passed by Gatsuei jumped onto the still moving snow before it totally engulfed the tree she had been on and headed towards Yuzuki, who was also heading towards her in order to continue with their little duel. They ran up the snow, chakra gracing the bottoms of their feet to make sure they didn’t get swallowed up in the snow as it rumbled by. Bounding on top of rolling obstacles and flipping over the odd chunks that would have given under their weight and either tripped them up or slowed them down, the girls wove around each other, lashing out and parrying when the opportunities present itself. They climbed further up the mountain to hopefully get away from any snow that their future actions might dislodge. Gatsuei came in with a low sweep of her foot and Yuzuki twisted around the blow, switching her feet with the palms of her hands, counter striking with a series of bicycle kicks and walking forwards with her hands she quickly reverse the situation and with a twisting of her momentum brought her legs whipping around and knocking Gatsuei’s legs out from under her. Gatsuei was feeling the strain, and exhaustion was being to weigh heavily on her body once more. She wasn’t going to be able to keep this up much longer. Her muscles burned and eventually a well placed kicked in her solar plexus was all that was needed to bring her down on her back once more. Gatsuei was breathing heavily, though Yuzuki seemed to have plenty of gas left. As if conflict itself revitalized her.
“Do you know what separates the beast that is goaded into battle, and the handler in control? And I’m not talking about obvious stuff… form, ability and power… if they are the same then why does one lead the way into battle and why is the other the tool or instrument that carries the other victory? So what is the characteristic that distinguishes these beings?” Yuzuki asked as she walked calmly over to Gatsuei. She grabbed a first full of hair and pulled up so that Gatsuei was eye to eye with her.
”…It’s instinct, in order for these beings to get stronger and gain power they need to develop a killer instinct and that instinct is only developed in battle, they must developed and insatiable thirst to seek out and engage in battle they must live to mercilessly crush, shred and slice their enemies, this thirst for power isn’t a unnatural desires, in fact it makes up the essence of our beings, the needed to dominate and slaughter is in the deeps part of our body, lurking in our most basic and cardinal of desires. You don’t have that instinct, you try and defeat your enemies with logic and reason, you don’t tap into those pure base instincts deep within you core waiting to be released ,and the simple matter is that it doesn’t matter… your weak!” Yuzuki tossed Gatsuei high into the air by her hair, she waited till she was coming back down before she unleashed another vicious one sided beating on the girl. When she finally let Gatsuei return back down on the snow again, she planted the heel of her boot in to the center of her chest. Gatsuei gave a strangled gasp for air upon impact.
“I won’t put up with that, you understand? I refuse to play second banana to someone who is weaker than me, who’s uncertainty and hesitation will end up getting us both cut to pieces, if your unwilling to insert your strength and retain the dominate, I’ll kill your right now and take your place as the dominant soul.”

Gatsuei was at a loss of what to do, she wouldn’t give in and simply let this White Demon take her over, but she came into this fight with a handicap and that handicap was taking its toll. She couldn’t keep going like this, she needed to find away to overcome Yuzuki, but her body was well past it’s limit and that last push seemed like it took what was left in her, totally out of her. The only thing that she could do was weather the hardship for now until she came up with something. Even if she did have his instinct that Yuzuki was talking about, she didn’t have the energy to tap into it and use it to her full potential. This was bad, but still… she was far too stubborn to just let Yuzuki take over again. She didn’t see that as the answer, she understood the point of view, but she felt that it was wrong, and that this path was the one that was best for her. Yuzuki removed her boot from Gatsuei’s chest and took a few steps back in a moral victory. Yuzuki knew that she had all but won this. Her opponent couldn’t stubbornly hold out forever, and she was only just getting warmed up. Yuzuki began to channel the chakra. She would finish this with the band that it deserves. Lets see… Greater Dragon Fire jutsu should be a fine way to end this, and very appropriate too.
Gatsuei closed her eyes for a moment, desperately trying to think of a way to get out of this. She cleared her fears and negative emotions again, they were only a hindrance on her now. That’s when she heard it, a tortured screaming coming from where Yuzuki was. Gatsuei pushed herself up with a great effort and looked at her opponent, only to find her leering down at her with that damned twisted smile on her face. But if it wasn’t her screaming, then what. Gatsuei’s eyes fell to the chakra being gathered in her opponent had. Was… that what was crying out? Yuzuki was oblivious, only drawing in more and more, the tormented cries building into screams.
“You can hear that, can’t you, little Moon?“ Gatsuei heard her Paw-paws voice in her ear and felt his massive hand on her shoulder, a wave of calm washed over her and she could feel herself renewing her resolve with his voice and touch. “When two individuals who don’t trust one another fight together, their individual strength is diminished. Those who only fight alone cannot understand this. Do you trust in your Paw-paw and your friends?” Gatsuei nodded and found her shaky stance again. ”Chakra is very much like that as well, it is one with us, and Yuzuki doesn‘t understand that domination is far different from working with chakra. Forcing chakra to do your bidding is never going to allow the jutsu you try and mould to achieve its full potential. Just as humans need to work together with their fellow Shinobi, so too, must ninja work together with their chakra, they need to harmonize with it in order to achieve the results that they were going for. Chakra may not be classified as a living thing, but it still understands when it is being abused and when it is being worked with. Do you trust me, Little Moon?”
Yes Paw-paw… I understand.” Gatsuei closed her eyes and concentrated she began to gather chakra to make her own Greater Dragon Fire Jutsu, she felt the chakra all around her, and although she couldn‘t tap into that per say, she eased it out of her body and let it flow naturally, she let the feeling wash over her body and through every strand of her being. It gathered far more quickly and easily, naturally as though it was second nature now instead of actually struggling with it like she use to do before. Gatsuei felt that burning feeling in the pit of he stomach, far more intense than it was before, she weaved the chakra together with great care, and the rest of it happened with almost unnatural speed. She opened her eyes to see that herself and Yuzuki‘s chakra was evenly gathered. Yuzuki‘s chakra networks with filled with a venomous shade of green, her chakra was that deep blue that she possessed before. Gatsuei‘s eyes narrowed in determination, while Yuzuki‘s face contorted into it‘s sinister smile. ”One more thing Little Moon… you must be a balance to Yuzuki. Counter her style and techniques, you are wearing yourself out faster by miming her abilities and strengths. Yin and Yang are in a constant flow because they offset and compliment each other. Yang is fast and unyielding and Yin is malleable and slow. Don‘t think that you need to be faster to beat her, you need to offset her to balance out. You must be the River when your opponent is the Mountain, and the Mountain when you opponent is like the River.
”I won‘t lose!”
”Then little Moonshadow… I‘ll lone you my strength. Give her the ‘ol What-Ho!” Paw-paw‘s booming laughter filled Gatsuei‘s head, his hand came down and clipped her on the back, sending a wave of pain through her body, making her stiffen. ”Woops! Sorry!! Anyway, here she comes!”
Gatsuei opened her eyes and raised her two fingers to the sides of her mouth after pulling up her mask to expose it. She filled her lungs with air and exhaled, the Azure blue flame that made up her jutsu poured from her mouth and took the shape of the dragon it was meant to be, Yuzuki had matched her timing, though her dragon looked far more sinister with its balefire appearance and bellowing roar. The two of them crashed into each other and danced skywards, interweaving with each other as they cancelled one another out. Into the preverbal flames of War, Gatsuei launched herself inside the maelstrom of fire and brimstone, when the flames parted she found Yuzuki had taken the same tactic thought the difference between them was that Yuzuki clearly wasn’t expecting it. Gatsuei made contact with her face, cracking the mask and separating the jaw of the mask in a shower of splinters. Yuzuki rolled along the ground till she flipped herself right side up again, she saw Gatsuei coming at her, once more seemingly finding some sort of energy and pulling it out of her to defy her and delay the inevitable. Yuzuki lashed out, but to her surprise Gatsuei had chanced tactics, she seemed to glide gracefully out of the way of the blow. She tried again, and again, and again, but she couldn’t manage to land any blows, they were either dodged or deflected before she would fluidly move out of the way or even out of reach. Yuzuki’s frustration built and she tried to pick up on her speed. Gatsuei rolled with the blows and took a lot of the energy out of them, making them all but worthless when she did manage to hit their marks. Yuzuki howled in frustration and kept pushing her back up to the top of the mountain, Gatsuei rolled with blows, and gave gentle caresses that made way to gapping wounds along her opponents body. The tables had turned now, Gatsuei was using her element of Yin to her advantage and gradually wearing out her opponent. Gatsuei closed her eyes and felt the waves and motions of the Chakra around her, using her new second sight to help guide her actions and body response. Infuriating Yuzuki even more into a reckless abandonment and more labour inducing violence. There was no pattern that the other could see, Gatsuei was reacting only to her movements and then waiting for an opening that was occurring more and more on Yuzuki as she slipped further and further into a frenzied fog. The conflict continued high on the mountain, Gatsuei could sense it, she could sense Yuzuki getting closer and closer to her limits as she patiently waited. She no longer saw flaw in using her brains as well as her instincts, she was understanding a lot more as she sensed the world around her with a new appreciation. The sun was setting, and Yuzuki’s breaths were laboured and exhausted, Gatsuei wasn’t fairing that much better, but at least now they were on a more even par, Yuzuki suddenly kicked away from the conflict. Gatsuei took charge at that moment, becoming the mountain while Yuzuki became the river. She lashed out with inner strength and conviction towards her new goals, no longer would she simply give into the temptations of what was obvious and straight forwards. She would find her own path, not matter how difficult it would be, no matter what sacrificed were going to have to be made, she would give the people of the world what they desired more, and this time, she would actively seek out to understand what that was and help them reach it with their own hands. She was going to be a Sheppard in a dark world, and she would help those whom she was entrusted to find their own way into the light. She vowed with her immortality that she would always be at humanity side, watching over them and waiting for when she was needed. She wasn’t alone anymore, and she would continue to work on expanding that inner circle of friends and allies as they too, worked on expanding theirs. They were all linked, everyone shared a common goal even though they had different ways of obtaining it. The time was right, Gatsuei had knocked Yuzuki off balance and spun on her heel, she took careful aim and thrust her hand into her opponent, impaling her on her arm up to her elbow.

The whole world froze around them for a spit second. Their eyes met and the pained look on Yuzuki’s face told Gatsuei that she knew that she was beaten at last. Gatsuei pulled her arm out of Yuzuki and let the White demon fall to her knees. Her body leaned back limply and her head tilted back.
”Damn chicky… that was good. You know, I haven‘t felt that alive sense I unleashed the Shakaku. But I can‘t help but wonder why you didn‘t just sever my life energy? You do know that you haven‘t killed me, right? I‘ll be back to retake the dominance of our body again.”
”I have no intention of killing you, Yuzuki.” Gatsuei replied slowly, closing her eyes. ”You and I, we are two sides of the same coin, to kill you would be to kill me. Sure, I don‘t like you, you’re a terrible part of myself that caused me to do some aweful things. But that is apart of me too. I came here to achieve balance, and killing you would disrupt that balance I was hoping to achieve. You are my Yang, the Evil to my Good, the Masculine to my Feminine… there would be no sense in ending you. I‘m sure that Quingfu would agree with me.”
”Tsk. Fine, have it your way. But like I said before I will be back to be the dominant, when you realize what the world is truly like, and your despair and hatred bring you down once more. I‘ll be waiting to crush you and put you back in chains were you belong, back into the submissive aspect of my persona…” Yuzuki started to break down, white flecks of energy started to break off of her, consuming her utterly as the last of her grip on this world weakened, taking her back where she belonged.
Gatsuei smiled and looked up as the darkness was starting to bathe the land. ”And when that day comes, I will have friends who will remind me of who I really am, and be there for me till I can get back up on my feet once more.”
”Feh… whatever you say, you’re the boss… for now,” Yuzuki‘s voice drifted into nothing as soft breeze took what was left of her away.
Gatsuei stood alone on the mountain top, she couldn‘t move… at least not without the help of gravity… she came to rest on her back staring up at the stars that were starting to poke out of the darkness of the night, the moon was full tonight and she had a nice, undisturbed front row few of it. She felt… lighter… she felt like she accomplished something monumental, if not for others, for herself. It was hard to face yourself and learn who you really are, and still try and be someone who you want to be. She pulled her mask off and let it rest on her chest. She won, but the victory almost seemed a little high, everything was broken, she was exhausted physically and mentally and she could barely keep her eyes open. ”Ugh… how am I going to get back to camp?…” Prince Charming, maybe? Okay, so she wouldn‘t rely on little girls fantasies to get her back down the mountain, hopefully in time to meet up with the others and go home. She wasn‘t sure how long she had been gone, her sense of time was warped being in that place and cleansing her main chakra points. Gatsuei felt safe though, her eyes were starting to blur and her eyelids were becoming more and more attracted to each other. Maybe a quick nap before she made her way down the mountain again…. Here‘s to hoping that a blizzard didn‘t come and bury her alive in the process.