Welcome to Gaia! ::

A hesitant grin floated upon Tatsuya's face as he listened to the Immortal's answer, if he deemed himself worthy? It took a moment for Tatsuya to reflect on everything, but it took even shorter for him to think about what Hiyo would have done in the situation. He would already be inside the tower and preparing, so it appeared that he was going to participate.

"I'm in."

There was a dash of confidence in his voice as he spoke before he continued through the gate along with several of the other participants, with Aoiro in tow. This was it, this was what his life had been leading up to, this was why he had suffered through so many trials, this was why he followed in his brother's footsteps. Everything was leading to what he was about to face, and to be honest, he was excited!

Moonlight Wandering

How did you get here and when did it start

An innocent child with a thorn in his heart

As Akeru was trying to focus her mind, she couldn't help the beeling of butterflies in her stomach. She didn't liket his feeling of nervousness, she knew it was natural, what was going to be the biggest fight she had ever been in was about to happen, and even if her side was victorious the chances of her not surviving would be high. However she knew she of all people had to be perfectly calm. Genjutsu required pinpoint control, letting your emotions get out of control could give an enemy the opening they needed to slip out of a genjutsu and kill you or someone you were trying to protect. Akeru tried to calm herself, to see the worse possible fate she could suffer and accept it so she wouldn't be afraid if the time did come.

As she was concentrating, Tsukiko spoke to her, breaking her concentration. Akeru couldn't help but sigh as she looked towards the other jonin.

"Talk to me for a minute? Why, what's on your mind?"

Akeru figured that she was probably nervous herself, but Akeru wondered why she would tell her about it. Maybe it was something else?

Akeru Theme: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon

((Last Location: Outside the tower
Next Location: - ))

When Akeru heard what Tsukiko had to say, she couldn't help but facepalm. She was thinking of going inside now? Aside from Akeru's personal belief that Tsukiko wasn't cut out to be a Jonin, much less an immortal, she thought that the girl wasn't thinking clearly when making her decision.

"Okay, let me get this straight. You don't want to fight to protect Ichi anymore, now you want to join him in becoming immortal so you can, what, be together forever?"

It was easy to see from Akeru's face that she was ticked off. She had told Tsukiko about her views on relationships and her severe disapproval of them in general, but it didn't stem from that. More than her personal thought on a woman "in love", Akeru just found Tsukiko's reasonings disgraceful.

"Wanting to protect Ichi, wanting to stay with Ichi forever, what the hell is wrong with you, girl? We are about to fight in what might be the largest and most important battle of our lifetimes, and the thing that's going through your mind is that if your boyfriend becomes immortal he'll be sad when you die!? You once told me that you aren't some lovestruck genin, now I'm starting to think you lied."

Akeru then folded her arms, looking out towards where the enemies would likely come from. She had half a mind to leave what she said at that, but she did realize the tension in the air had gotten to her and she was being a bit harsher than she needed to be without being helpful. She sighed, this was what happened when you let emotions control you. She calmed herself down and continued speaking.

"Listen, I understand that you love Ichi. But you're a ninja, a Jonin, you have responsibilities besides him. This battle is an important one, one that we can't afford to lose. That guy said that the trials to become an immortal are dangerous and could cost you your life. Ichi and the others are there, risking themselves to protect us, all the people they love, teir lands, everything. And us out here, we're going to be up against who knows what, possibly fighting a battle we can't win to buy them enough time to finish their training. We too are risking our lives for the people inside, for our homes, and for the people we love. You trying to become an immortal solely to be able to stay with Ichi is selfishness unbecoming of any ninja, let alone a jonin. If you believe in yourself and want to risk yourself to gain the power to defend everything you cherish, then go inside. If you want to fight protect your friends even if it costs you your own life, stay out here. If you're here for any other reason, go home. I'm sorry if that's a bit harsh but you have to get your priorities straight or you're only going to get yourself or someone else killed."

Akeru Theme: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon

((Last Location: Outside the tower
Next Location: - ))

As Tsukiko continued to talk, Akeru could only sigh. There seriously seemed to be something wrong in this girl's head or something.

"What? Why do you want me to hit you? Alright seriously, Tsukiko, what the hell's up with you, this isn't the best time for this..."

Akeru Theme: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon

((Last Location: Outside the tower
Next Location: - ))

"Umm...okay. Well that's certainly...interesting... So you need to be physically abused in order to be kept in line. I'm sure that makes you perfect wife material for someone equally deranged..."

Akeru didn't seem to get ready to hit Kiko at all, instead she folded her arms and turned away from the girl. She began speaking, sounding calm as she did.

"I may be disapproving of relationships in general, but it isn't like they fill me with rage or something. I learned not to let thing effect me, to be in control of myself, something that Ichi had to learn on a much greater scale. He had to learn to control a demon inside of him, the least you could do is learn to control your own emotions and actions. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hit you because you need it to keep yourself in control..."

It looked as if Akeru wasn't going to do anything, but then out of nowhere she turned around and delivered a powerful blow directed right towards Tsukiko's cheek.

"I'm going to do it because you're a damn idiot! Your Kage made you a jonin, start acting like it was something you deserved!

Akeru Theme: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon

((Last Location: Outside the tower
Next Location: - ))

Ryumon Tensa
"Know that the way of the shinobi should be one of love for his family and people...Know too that the way of the shinobi is terribly harsh..."

Ryumon only raised an eyebrow.....
"You're gonna make a good mother one day....scary but good...." he said giving her a gentle nudge with his elbow....

"You've already got the big sister thing down" he added with a smile as he walked after Tsukiko.

"Wait up! Pueberty hasn't hit my legs yet ...." he joked

With the others having gone into the tower to attempt the training to become immortals and with the enemies yet to appear on the horizon, Akeru found herself in a state of relative calm. Though it wasn't a calm that put her at ease, it was the calm before the storm and she knew it. She didn't know if she was prepared for this just yet, but she didn't have time to doubt herself. She needed to be mentally ready and she knew the physical would follow suit.

Akeru closed her eyes, closing off the rest of the world and travelling to the training ground she called her mind. She knew that there were enough people around her that she wouldn't be caught unaware when the enemies did appear. She was placing trust in the hands of people who she didn't know, people who most likely thought themselves too weak to survive the training to become an immortal. In the past that would have been something unthinkable to her, but she just took it as a sign that she was growing, something that would hopefully continue after this battle. The alternative, being dead, didn't sound very appeasing.

As Akeru stood in her mental training ground, she simulated the feel of an opponent in front of her, of her casting a genjutsu and effecting the opponent's mind. It was something she had perfected long ago, her lack of willing test subjects for genjutsu experimentation the cause of developing the skill. As she fed a simulation of her chakra into the mind, she began trying to manipulate it a certain way, trying to reach for a certain effect.

"In this fight where the enemy will be numerous, remiving enemies from the battle quickly will be of great importance. And while completely disableing an opponent will be much too difficult to do, trapping them will be much easier. And even easier than that will be making them believe they are trapped. If they come up against a wall that they can't see or sense but can feel, it might confuse them enough that they become useless in battle. Now, how to create the effect?"

Many people knew Akeru for her attitude and for her skill, but few knew just how intelligent she was. While most people had teachers to show them techniques and help them learn them, there had been extremely few instances of that happening in Akeru's life. She was forced to learn the extremely difficult art of weaving illusions by herself, mostly through trial and error. Througout the years, she had learned all of the major points in the brain and what interfering with the chakra flow would accomplish in those points, and she memorized it all, using different combinations to create different effects. She might not have been considered a 'genius', but it was a fitting term. Not many others could master something so complex and difficult on their own.

"When one comes up against a wall, their body is halted even though their motor control is not. I have to simulate that, the fact that control isn't lost while in fact stopping control. And then there's also the feel of coming against a solid force, and the pain from hitting into it to quickly. And I have to balance all of these things, fire them all off in a perfect sequence so that the target feels as if they are running into a solid wall when in truth there is nothing there. Well, that should be a piece of cake... *sigh*... Alright Akeru, no complaining here, I just have to do it. Now, lets start with the motor controls..."

Akeru knew that to get the feel of the invisible wall she was trying to create perfect, she needed to be able to feel it herself, which meant she would have to cast the genjutsu on herself. It wasn't something she enjoyed doing, considering her own natural weakness to genjutsu and the amount of chakra it took to use the Cross State of her tenraigan to break herself out of one. Back when she was a genin, doing such was her primary choice when practicing genjutsu, it was pretty much either that or try it out on unsuspecting passers by. And while it was always fun at the time to force unsuspecting people into illusions, it wasn't a good thing when she didn't get it right on the first try. They would often get angry at her, extremely angry. It was probably one of the main reasons she was never too popular with the other genin. But when it came to casting genjutsu on herself, it became much worse. There were many times she cast the genjutsu incorrectly and left herself asleep or paralyzed for days before someone came around to help her. And if there would have been nobody to help her, she could have very well died of starvation or dehydration.

Akeru knew that the solution for how to avoid a repeat of the problems she had training iwhen she was younger was a simple one, just get it right the first time. It was something more easily said that done, but with her expert knowledge of the ins and outs of chakra flow in the brain it was far from impossible. First, Akeru let her chakra seep into her own mind, moving through the narrow passageways until she got to the secion that controlled her motor control. This was probably the simplest part, just halting movement at the right time. Akeru moved her hand forward gently, as if reaching for a wall she knew was there but couldn't see. Once she interfered with the chakra flow, she felt her hand stop, though it didn't feel as if she came against a wall yet, it simply felt like something was holding it back. It required another slight alteration in the motor control, this time in the signal being recieved in the brain before another was sent to the muscles to move them. The slight change now gave her the sensation that she was continuing to push her arm forward and yet some force was pushing it back.

Now, while continuing to influence the motor controls, Akeru then tunneled more of her chakra into her own sensory system. This part would be far mor difficult, as she had to simulate the feel of coming up against a flat object. She began to activate the sensory nerves in her outstretched hand, trigering them in the correct sequence to make the surace feel as if it was flat when she was really touching air. She knew the way the brain worked, it always assumed things were flat unless given other sensory information to the contrary, so Akeru knew she didn't have to do everything perfectly, she just had to do it good enough that her mind, and in relation an opponent's mind, would not detect any information contradicting the idea that the hand was against something flat. It took a few chances to activate each of the nerves in perfect sequence, but eventually she was able to do it.

Being able to accomplish the two tasks she set out for herself seperately, Akeru knew that she still wasn't done. Now came the most dificult part, accomplishing both goals, stopping movement and imparting the feel of coming up against a wall. Now Akeru had the extremely tough job of doing both at the same time, balancing both actions so that the halting of the movement coincided with the feeling of a wall, imparting the sense that one had really come up against a wall. Akeru attempted to move her hand forward again and was able to halt her movement and create the feeling both at the right time. Akeru, closing her eyes, swore it felt just as if she was touching a real wall. That meant the mechanics of the illusion were set. The rest of it was just visual flare, something to make the trapped opponent actually thing they were trapped. Actually making a shine as from a transparent wall that coincided with where the "wall" was to be placed would help the opponent visualize what wasn't there. She could easily let her opponent see her create these "walls" all around them and then have them disappear. All they would need to do was walk into one and they would get the idea they were trapped. The visual illusion itself was childs play, something Akeru could do in her sleep

"Heh, that actually wasn't as tough as I thought. Maybe I should try to pick a few extra skills, maybe focus a little more on taijutsu? Learning how to use my chain was much more of a challenge than mastering genjutsu, I think. Well, let me not speak to soon, I haven't 'mastered' anything yet..."

Akeru knew she was far from being done with this technique. She had only completed the basics of the technique, it had only been applied to her hand. She needed to be able to make her opponent feel as if they came against a wall with every body part if the illusion was to be complete, which meant there was much more to do. She began the process over moving to make sure that an opponent would feel as if they were against an invisible wall no matter how they came up against said wall. It took Akeru a bit of extra time, but she was able to complete the illusion without much problems, thanks to the fact that she already had the main part of it down.

Even with all this, Akeru still wasn't satisfied. She knew that their enemies would be sending their best against the forces gathered at the tower, and she couldn't expect them not to have a few people skilled in genjutsu themselves. A single enemy knowing the genjutsu release could quite easily thwart the benefit her new technique could give. She needed to truly master this technique, to utilize the special abilities of her chakra network to thwart opponent's attempts to defeat it with techniques such as the genjutsu release.

Even though Akeru could not use the genjutsu release herself, she knew about it quite well. If it wasn't for her chakra network preventing it from being effective when she used it, it would be a technique she knew and used often. However, she was screwed over by the same bloodline that gave her an unnatural talent for genjutsu. It made her think, if her chakra network prevented her from using her genjutsu release because she was at the center of it, that had to mean it was possible for her to use her network in order to prevent others from using it in a similar fasion.

Akeru knew that in using the genjutsu release, someone forced their own chakra against the chakra causing an illusion, disrupting it and the illusion. However her chakra network created a web of pathways that chakra could take to reach her. In essence, it multiplied the effects of any genjutsu reaching her, it was similar to being attacked from all sides. She could block one or two attacks, but not all of them. The cross state of her tenraigan litterally shut down the flow of chakra through her network, meaning that nobody could be effected by genjutsu, and that was the only way to protect herself, since shuting down one pathway didnt work when it split into multiple other ones and reached you from all sides. But while this was a problem she had to deal with, it could also become one for her enemy if she could manipulate her chakra network in the right way. When using her technique, she would have to put the enemy in the same situation she was in, to surround them with her chakra network and let them be connected to it multiple times. That would give them the same weakness she had, that the genjutsu release wouldn't be effective. It would technically give them the same strength as her as well, but that didn't matter if they didn't know how to use it. Her ability was one of a kind, she was the only remaining Sukami she knew of. Besides, even if she did go up against some long lost sibling, they would already have their own chakra network making the genjutsu release useless. Nobody else would be able to make use of the benefit of being connected to her chakra network, so there was no downside to using this. It would be her own personal method of defeating the genjutsu release.

Akeru knew that this idea of hers would be useless unless used in conjunction with a genjutsu, since warping the structure of her chakra network would interfere with her ability to cast genjutsu. So Akeru chose the genjutsu she had just been working on, not only was it freshest in her mind but it also would allow her to trap enemies and keep them trapped. Akeru went through the process of casting the genjutsu again, but this time she altered her chakra network so that she surrounded where she imagined her opponent would be standing. It was a challenge to keep the control over the technique that she needed while altering her chakra network and the path that the chakra took, but after some time she was able to get the hang of it. She practice it over and over, each time feeling what it felt like to alter her chakra network and use the genjutsu in conjunction. It was an extremely difficult process, but she picked it up relatively quickly.

Once Akeru was pleased with her results, she let herself relax. She opened her eyes, returning from the training ground in her head. As she looked around things were still calm, plenty of people were still on edge, but it didn't look like anything had started yet. Akeru breathed a calming sigh, just being able to take her mind off the situation for a while and train had done wonders for here nerve. She then continued to rest, sitting comfortably as she waited for battle to be upon her. She still didn't feel anywhere near her maximum potential, she still knew that there was a good chance she wouldn't survive, but she at least felt a little more ready.

Akeru Theme: Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon

False Prison Technique - B Rank Genjutsu: 1501/1500 - Technique Learned -
Technique Upgrade - cannot be dispelled by kai: 1000/1000 - Technique Learned -

((Last Location: Outside the tower
Next Location: - ))

Kyanseru Uchiha

We must avoid....

It was hard to tell exactly what had happened, The Daimyo and the Leader of the group they were with had been talking to each other; and then something had happened, everything had gone..... black, it was hard to move; it was as though he was standing in nothing. Pure darkness, it didn't hurt.... Didn't feel cold, warm, sharp, dull,.... nothing; just nothing.... The feeling of utter emptiness seemed to continue until finally the world seemed to simply 'continue' to exist. They had gone from standing int there camp; and now he was standing in formation with a large number of Ninja from the 'sound' Village.

As he looked around moving his eyes there seemed to be nothing wrong; however the moment he attempted to move his limbs out of formation; his entire body seemed to instantly fall asleep and remain standing in place.... He didn't know what it was that had happened but whatever it was he was going to be forced along for this ride whether he liked it or not, after all somebody; he guessed either the Otokage of the Daimyo; had forcibly taken control of his body.

....Unnecessary bloodshed