Welcome to Gaia! ::

Saru, with her new Hitae-ate in hand, watched the new untarnished steel plate glimmer in the sun. Today was the start of Her REAL training, the training that would test her resolve as a nin. Trying to find a place to mount her Hitae-ate nowhere seemed appropriate, so instead she tied the banner of her country to her Sash. An excitement was bubbling in her veins, and turning to the gates she smiled. She knew just the place to go to to test her strength.

[[Exit Post: To Lightning Country]]

While looking around, Takeshi started to take in the surrounding scenery. There really wasn't much to this place, just the giant shogi board in the center of a small-ish field. Then he heard Cruxis's voice, quickly turning he looked over and saw him just standing there. He asked if they couldn't catch him yet, which was starting to get on Takeshi's nerve slightly. All he wanted to do was to get know these two, but it seemed that Cruxis had no intention of that. Then he turned into a slight blur then re-appeared in another area of the shogi board. He looked over to Rissa and smiled lightly before looking back over to Cruxis "Hey Rissa... it looks like there won't be any talking for a bit... If you wanna join in on the fun he wants to have then be my guest" He really didn't want this to take too long but knew that this might be the only training he would get with his injury. Without warning, Takeshi flung together several hand seals and then was covered with smoke only to be surrounded by 9 clones of himself once the smoke cleared. Takeshi gave a slight nod and watched as all of his clones ran over to Cruxis and surrounded him. "It would have been easier just to say you wanted to train.... you know that right?"

((OOC: Sorry, tired))

Rissa blinked as Takeshi sent out clones. From her vantage point she could see the clones surround Cruxis, and then Cruxis admit that he was fake. Rissa blinked. Had Takeshi noticed and she not...? It was a bit disturbing that she hadn't, which she could only take to be due to her lack of training. She'd need to amend that.

The next think Rissa knew, Cruxis was actually much closer to them then they had thought, and Takeshi's clones had become victims of pranks. Rissa couldn't help cracking a small smile, giggling a bit at the sight. “Sorry Takeshi... But he got you there.” She said in between little giggles, smiling. After a few moments, she got down from the Shogi piece, landing near Takeshi and Crusxis, smiling softly all the while.

“To new friends, and good humor.” Rissa smiled, before taking the mug and sipping a bit. She held the flask out to Takeshi then, giving a light smile. When they parted ways, she'd be going for some last minute late night training, in the small park near her house. Apparently, she needed to train more than she thought judging from her reactions to her surroundings lately. Still, for now, their company was nice, and she was enjoying having some friends with her.

Well the hotseat hadn't been fully successful, but that was alright; he'd stopped a possible fight with a fellow ninja and made a pretty girl giggle; which had been his main intent. Takeshi's question was dark, all things considered within Cruxis's past; and while he doubted that he really would have beaten him to the point of severe injury; the Kaguya could have easily subdued him had the prank gone on any longer. Well, if he wanted an honest answer Cruxis could answer that as well, taking the flask he converted the liquid again to pumpkin juice, a personal preference of his when he needed to think before responding to Takeshi's question. "I never truly wanted to become a Shinobi... it was more or less forced upon me.", the long story of it was that the country couldn't have someone with chakra channeling talent run loose without proper training, it was a recipe for a missing-nin, particularly with Cruxis's use of his powers beforehand, "My dad died of illness; it was only my mother and me for a few months before an assassin came and told her she'd been marked - before killing her. I don't know how I survived... I've reviewed the events so many times it's not even funny - and my only hazarded guess was a fraction of what I am manifested that night; I used Genjutsu to literally become shadow.... After that, I was on my own and used my power to pickpocket to get by until I had I tried to pickpocket the wrong guy."
Cruxis had found out from the man in jail that his father had really been poisoned, and upon his death his words to take care of his son had been interpreted as his wife being pregnant; thus the having been marked; all to eliminate the possible emergence of a new bloodline... That was the other part of why Cruxis must have survived; the assassin had never been looking for anyone except his mother. After the incident Cruxis had traveled for about three years pick pocketing and performing to survive; typically the latter, though resorting to pickpocketing when he had to eat. However his mistake was attempting to steal from a man known as Beilborg, whom had self titled himself as the lord of fallen warriors. From what Cruxis had been told afterwards, Beilborg specialized in corpse-related Jutsus, bringing forth long buried corpses from below the ground - which many considered to be his personal supply that traveled beneath him. "The man was a missing-nin named Beilborg, who specialized in using corpses in jutsu. Well as you can imagine when one tries to steal from someone he has to restock his corpses eventually. I was about to get turned into one myself when a jounin flung some white fire at the guy and I saw just how rudimentary my self-taught techniques were.
Beilborg was able to raise a wall of corpses which launched outwards into attacks from behind his defense; while the jounin obliterated the corpses with whire fire one by one before the wall was mostly used up, then flashed in from nowhere and subdued him. After that, the jounin took me directly to the Raikage, who told me flat out that I could either become a shinobi, or lose a hand for pickpocketing."
Cruxis had never been the most avid student in the academy, mind you; his love of pranks carried over into the academy, much to the dismay of his fellow students and professors. How the Kage had come to allow him to stay was a mystery, but he must have seen something in the young gennin to force him to complete his ninja training... And with the promise to meet the man who killed his mother once he graduated, Cruxis had formed a plan to obliterate the assassin's mental capacity; but had wound up with more questions than answers in the process. Why had the man and his organisation been attempting to eliminate new bloodlines before they could establish; were there others at large, did the know about Cruxis, and would he have to prepare to defend against an attack soon?

Rissa noted he was in better spirits, though others had claimed Cruxis wore a mask hiding a very depraved future. The way Cruxis saw it he could hold in respect where he'd come from, and still hold an optimism for what was to come. It was the fact that he could not learn from his father that still held some distress. Tomas Ichtaca had been a master bard, but was also an expert at board games, particularly stones, knowing an opponent's moves before they made them. When asked, he'd explained that they both possessed the Ryuugan, though his had been far more advanced than Cruxis's early stages, who at the time could only see colors in greater detail when active. It was only recently that Cruxis had begun his ability to glean brief images of the past in his eyesight, and even then without knowing exactly what he was looking for, he could only garner cryptic guesses as to just what the images meant. His father had defined it as an eye that made the passage of time a direction one could look in; that is to say he could see time as it affects all things - what had come before, what is, and what may be. The finely detailed colors and emphasizing of present details were the first of its abilities; bringing the present into greater focus. Gleaning into the past of a focus was its second power; bringing forth images within the past; though with people this often was simply stated in cryptic symbols. The greatest of its abilities his father had demonstrated allowed a few seconds' glimpse into what had yet to pass, allowing prediction of maneuvers before they could happen, and byfar the most difficult ability to master; due to it seeing the many stems of the possible future - and thus forcing one to analyze hundreds of possibilities in an instant before choosing which of the paths would lead to success. Cruxis could not fathom it, and upon its father's warnings had vowed not to seek out the powers but to let them come naturally to him when his body and mind were both ready for the task. When he needed the power most was when it would come to him.
Rissa's reasons were admirable, seeking to prevent death rather than cause it; a feeling he could sympathize with having chosen to let his mother's assassin live with a broken mind over killing him. In all honestly the world might be better off if killing were not a first resort; and Cruxis himself despised anyone who would put the lives of others below their own personal goals. But even Takeshi seemed like a person who could understand that, using bare hands to fight opponents always had seemed the means of non-lethality in Cruxis's opinion and so the response of a militant family surprised him slightly. "That's pretty impressive though," Cruxis replied to Takeshi without a missed beat, "following your family's tradition that is! I wish I knew more about my own traditions, though I know enough about the traveling trade, most of it was simply through whatever anyone was willing to teach me. You're lucky to have that support behind you to learn from."

It seemed they all had their own reasons to why they wanted to be Shinobi. Cruxis had had a hard life, and been given little choice, Takeshi was from a more militant family, while Rissa herself just wanted to live up to the promise between her and her mother... Or at least the one she had made at her mother's funeral. Compared to what most would think, Rissa wasn't really bitter over her mother's death. She knew someone had killed her, but she also understood it had been their job to do so. It was because of this that she did not blame the person. The day of her mother's funeral, she had promised, to not hold malice against this person... That she would work her hardest to prevent deaths other's would be forced to cause.

She really needed to stop this reminiscing.. It would have her in a horrible mood, and that would break her second promise... The one she had made only earlier today at the Pillar. No more tears. She had promised to not be a burden to anyone, and that included her emotional state as well. She was fine with that. After all, with any luck, she'd be more than a little help to her friends and fellow shinobi.
“You're lucky Takeshi, to have family willing to teach you things about Shinobi. My Dad would much rather see me at home then out in the field. He hates the idea of me being a ninja.” She chuckled a bit, shaking her head and sighing a bit, glancing between the two with a soft, half-smile.

Cruxis should have known, or at least he could have gotten the gist that there was more than Takeshi had first wanted to tell; either through basic empathy or through the Ryuugan, though the latter he would never use due to a vow to not intrude on anyone's past without their permission. "Im sorry, I didn't know..." was his first reaction. He could understand the pain of losing a parent for Rissa, but he could never imagine someone just giving up on life entirely. Perhaps it was because he was young, he had fled terrors, been used as a human yo-yo once, and had nearly been inflicted with a blight of the undead; but he'd always remained determined to learn from his mistakes and experiences; to push ahead despite the circumstances. "I'm sorry for your village Takeshi. I don't want to forget either, I agree that it would be a dishonor to their memory to forget them and give up... Hey, as long as I'm allowed to help watch your back, I'll try harder; I won't let them suffer another death from you at least."
He didn't know if Notwen would take on the offer, or even if the team was already full. But so long as he was training with Takeshi it was the least he could offer. Making a decision, Cruxis activated his Ryuugan in order to offer a viewing for Takeshi; when suddenly he collapsed, a viewing he'd not intended seemed to have already triggered.
Bleeding, Three weary eyes, the lingering word 'b*****d...' in the air
There were more coming, but Cruxis forced his eyes shut; the sudden snap to the present, the reaction caused his body to rack with an intense series of shivers.
"I'm sorry..." he murmured, "I didn't intend that to happen... Someone has suffered... or will suffer... Or is suffering...", he made a swift handseal before cloaking the trio with a quick genjutsu; "Alright, I've put up a perception filter... Basically anyone who passes will know we're here, but they won't want to know we're here; which triggers the mind to make us forgettable very fast... ", the perception filter was his very first technique, what had saved his life years ago; though he had not recognized what it was at the time. "I trust you both with this, so let me explain briefly... My eyes can see time as it affects things; that is to say I can get glimpses of the past, though I don't always know how far back it was, or even what it is - even if I know what I'm looking for. It affects the present by bringing it into greater detail, colors sharpen, fine details come into focus; things like that... And occasionally flashes of what I will one day see... I don't know what's happening mind you, but this is one of the few times it's happened outside of my control... "
He could feel most of his chakra fluctuating still, it had been a high level ability, perhaps the first glimpse of his father's future vision technique... But which possible path was it? Could it be avoided? Did the three eyes refer to Notwen?
'And of course, how long until you're driven insane from these visions?', the voice whispered, causing Cruxis to release his perception filter in order to concentrate.
'What is happening?' he demanded, standing up as he completed the release and spoke to Takeshi and Rissa; "The filter is off now... I just didn't want anyone overhearing about what I can see. I'm fine now."
'You've gotten better at holding multiple focuses; very good. Now then if you want a straight answer, I advise you ask politely instead of outright demanding an answer from me.'
'Fine then, please tell me what is happening; why did I have that vision? Is Notwen in danger?'
'Your powers are starting to develop. Notwen may or may not be in danger; though it is nothing you can intervene on. It is out of your power to handle; that much I can tell you outright.'
'Fine then... what should I do then. Just twiddle my thumbs while Notwen-sensei might be killed?'
'I doubt he'll die; I imagine he's stubborn enough to at least take one down with him. Whats important is that you train so that you don't end up a victim. Hidden Cloud is a more populated village and that leaves possibility for people to want to reduce its population. We'll leave it at that. Don't wind up a number in the body count.'
'Noted.'
'Oh and speaking of bodies; watch out for that necromancer. He might be appearing sooner or later. It's bound to be a Thriller of a time.'
'At least I know where I get my puns from... Take it as it comes I suppose; off with you now, I have to at least pretend I've not gone stark raving mad yet.'