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To move with the Soul!
An exercise Chakra!
DC:14
Description: Move about for a day of training using only chakra! (Similar to how Kinimaru did)
Chakra: +4
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 89/100

The chakra within his coils seemed…alive, most of the time. It seemed as though everything that it was composed of was life itself, the shadow of his own existence, the product of his own being. Like a flowing river it continued to flow always, running like a constantly shifting stream towards the beginning of the cycle once more. He wasn’t all that surprised as he’d finished the story and the mysterious Ahiru insisted that she had to go. He’d once more almost expected it. And, rather than heading off along the shore or insisting he take her back up the cliff, she merely headed out towards the shifting water, swimming off into the mist until she was beyond sight. He supposed that he should have had one or two concerns or things to say about that, but he couldn’t really find himself bothered. He was both sure that she was going to be fine, and untroubled by the fact she had to leave. It seemed that it was the girl’s destiny to mysteriously appear and disappear from his life. He had other concerns.

He turned round and faced the cliff that was looming before him, the village back at the top. His chakra controlled limbs took him forward as he conducted himself towards the stone wall. Slowly but surely he turned his head up towards the top of the cliff. It seemed far taller with the prospect of tackling it without using surface walking, his chakra the only asset he would have if his training was to be worth anything. With a slight hint of trepidation, he reached up his hand and took hold of the rock face. The stone was slick with the spray of the sea, the salt from the many years caked to the rock even as he steadily made his way unto the bottom of the rock face. The chakra filling his coils, bending his limbs as they forced themselves to cling tightly to the rock face, his body feeling light, even as his chakra felt strained. This was much more difficult then merely walking or posing. This was going to be a true test of his ability, a harsh task before all his previously mediocre ones. If nothing else it would strengthen his chakra immensely, and even more so it would be a force which pushed him to his limits.

Slowly but surely he began to make his way up the rock face, his hands occasionally giving a brief slip as he made a poor grab or met an ill handhold. It soon became rather clear to him that this was not going to be a mere climb straight up, but that he was going to have to scale back and forth if was going to be able to get anywhere. Many of the makeshift ways up the cliff side were roughly hewn and difficult to grasp, and even more seemed to lead a path up, only to end up going nowhere at all. The Fact of the matter was that despite his hard fought efforts adjusting himself to this state, he was finally putting himself into a task that would have been challenging even if he hadn’t merely been using his chakra. It was a true test of the abilities merely because he had moved on from merely preforming stretches or mere everyday tasks, but rather utilizing his chakra to force his body through more complex and challenging movements. His body didn’t seem to be exerting itself at all…that was one of the biggest differences from preforming the task regularly. His body wasn’t heating up, his heart rate wasn’t quickening, and his muscles felt completely relaxed…but his chakra was having to pick up all the extra slack. Despite his steady heart beat and calm façade, he was still facing a harsh internal struggle with the strain of the task, at a few points unable to keep going, falling off the rock face. Luckily, of course, the water was below on the few occasions that he wasn’t able to catch himself with his surface walking, but for the most part he was able to catch himself before falling that far. After all, even if Ninja had a propensity for falling from great heights, that only extended so far. He needed to be careful to watch just how reckless he was with his positioning. As he got higher and higher he would have to be less reluctant to rely on his ability to stick himself to the wall of the cliff. His chakra seemed to push against the walls of his coils now as he continued strain himself. He was a little terrified to think of the fact that some people were capable of fighting a true ninja battle in this state. That they’re chakra was strong enough to sustain them in full on battle against an opponent not working under the same restrictions. The idea was purely unbelievable….and yet in this wide world he ninja…in this world where a persons soul could be made manifest into power, it was well within the realm of possibility. That was what it meant to bare witness to the unstoppable power of humanity. This was what it meant to harvest the power within one’s self and set it to one’s will.

When he really got down to it…was the power of humanity limited at all…? There were legends of unreal proportions, that depicted Ninja who could call forth the gods themselves as their slaves, ninja who could lay waste to whole villages with a single hand gesture…

If such power truly did exist…if it was truly possible that all such potential rested within the human core, then what did it mean for him? He continued to push himself to what seemed to be his own limits, and yet every time he surpassed them, continued to grow. Would there even come a time when he proved unable to continue to pass those limits? If he truly someday found a way to become immortal, to take on the life force of a spirit, then would he just continue to grow and grow and grow until he too could lay waste to nations in a single night? Until he became one of those figures of legend as well? He wondered just how he would feel about that. He was not born to rule his fellow man, he understood this about himself. He was free spirit, a wild card, a rogue agent, by mere fact of design or origin. His chakra, the nature of his element, all these things painted a clear picture, not even taking into consideration his own motives and behavior, which backed up the story even more so. The entire purpose of his existence was to be free of a true presence domineering over his actions. He desired to be himself in all things, and learn all that he could of the world to sate his ever growing curiosity about it all. His chakra was nothing more than the result of that, wasn’t it?

The fusion of this desire and it’s reflection upon the world around him. He continued to struggle his way up the cliff as these thoughts circled their way around his subconscious, the climb up engulfing him as he forced his chakra to serve him, to continue to support him. No, that didn’t sound right. His chakra too seemed almost a free spirit to itself. It was more moving in consensus with him, his shadow, a part of him… he didn’t need to force anything while controlling it… no more then he needed to manipulate his own finger. This, surely, as he used his chakra to move his body, was the ultimate proof of this… it was merely another facet of himself…just another piece of his greater whole.

This understanding was just another part of the climb up though, as he continued to press forward. This was the destiny that had been determined by his will, this was the path that his free will had set for itself. This was where his quest for knowledge was leading him towards. The hand holds grew more difficult, and he was having to grow more and more cautious as he climbed higher and higher up the cliff… but he pressed on.

To move with the Soul!
An exercise Chakra!
DC:14
Description: Move about for a day of training using only chakra! (Similar to how Kinimaru did)
Chakra: +4
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 98/100

Byakuran’s chakra still filled his coils, keeping him in an almost stasis like meditation as the energy frothed and surged through his system. His training seemed to be continuing even now, his mind sunk into a strange vision as it had been not so long ago when he’d been intentionally meditating… though this time it was far deeper then it had been before.

Byakuran was back walking along a road, a thick overpowering mist converged around him, obscuring all even a few feet away from his person.

The only thing that he could see was the Dog that stood at his side, as always, it’s own hair raised as it growled at the surrounding space. The Dog’s nose sniffed at the air, turning it’s gaze towards Byakuran.

“I don’t like it here…it’s dangerous. You should leave. Such dreams and foolish misbegotten visions are meaningless… you need only to grow stronger to survive…need only grow stronger so that you can defeat your enemies.” The canine’s voice once more seemed…familiar, and as Byakuran began to consider the matter, he realize why. It was because he was because the voice from the dog, just as it had always been, was his own.

“But if I turn back now I may never know what lies beyond the mist… I’ll never be able to reach my destination.”

The dog seemed to snort in derision. “Then just follow close to me, my nose and efficient cunning and teeth can guide us through this situation, I can get us down the right path. There is no reason to investigate the other way. Turn away from that which will only make you suffer…you need not pay so steep a price. That road is only for the lucky and the strong, and we have yet to truly lay claim to either of those traits…”

“Then perhaps we will be able to claim the somewhere down the way, if we don’t take this path now, then we may never get a second chance… it is wise to be cautious, but sometimes one must take the bird in hand while you can.”

The dog seemed, for just a moment, to be a faded vision of Byakuran himself, though with a cold, almost heartless, gaze. “Yes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush…but what happens when there is a chance that the bird in hand is poisonous…is it then not better to have two potentially close at hand, rather than a potentially deadly one in hand?” the dog seemed look back towards the mist up ahead. “That path will bring you suffering…mark me. It would be far better to forsake it now before it is even begun.”

Byakuran’s eyes followed those of the dog, the mist slowly clearing despite the fact that he still couldn’t see what lay down the path they were discussing, one of two at a fork in the road. He understood the dog, somehow, understood perfectly what he meant and even admitted that he was probably right. But still something called him down the other path, beckoned him to traverse it regardless of risk or prior design. It was as though there was something so amazing down this other road that it was worth sacrificing common sense and planning. The black haired traverler’s pack hung behind him, and remembered the tools the magician had given him. The tools which were now a part of him. He recalled all to well that the same mist that now surrounded him had been at the side of the magician, the man who it seemed had seen all and knew the secrets of the universe… it became oddly clear to him that the Magician had taken this same path.
That the magician had walked this road. Yes, he would take this path, and he would see at last what it was the mist held.

There was a strange power in the truth of his actions, an overwhelming confidence in all that he had done thus far now… and what he was about to do. He stepped forward, the dog following him down the path without question, though it was clearly against his better judgment. The Dog was the more cautious as they took a few steps down the path…and the mist vanished altogether.

A large willow tree stood by the side of the road, it’s branches extending out over the edge of the path as it’s faded drooping greens hung low like a curtain. Still, despite this branches curtain like nature, it was suddenly very apparent to Byakuran and the dog both that a figure was standing at the base of the tree, looking up at it with a small, admiring smile. By first glance it might have been a young man with an oddly fair face, but while the jacket and more heavy travel clothing did well to conceal her figure, closer examination proved the individual to be rather apparently female. The girl’s hair tucked up underneath a cap it was difficult to tell, but she even seemed to have rather long locks of it. Turning about to face him with a rather…serene, look on her face, the girl gave a welcoming smile.

“Hello there.” The girl said in a surprisingly gentle voice for her road worn appearance.

“Hello.” Byakuran’s face seemed almost frozen in a look of curiosity.

There was an odd feeling in the air as the girl hinted back to the tree. “I was just admiring this tree here. It’s unusual to see a willow in these parts. I was thinking of taking a rest here for a while.” She slowly turned back to him.

“Oh…that’s right. I suppose you’re a traveler too. Would you care to rest with me and swap tales of the road…?” the words were strange, but in the vision, in the dream brought up by his chakra, they didn’t seem so. He felt as though he’d stepped into the pages of a book, as though he was walking through a story…

“Certainly. I’m weary myself.”

The girl was…strange. He got the feeling that he had met her before, but he just couldn’t place it… it was as though… but perhaps he was just imagining it. Yes…he was probably just imagining it. Memories were tricky things at the best of times, and here in this chakra induced vision, it was even a trickier thing. It was, for example, difficult to remember just long he had been sitting there under the willow as the girl and he began to speak. They spoke of the travels they had been through, the troubles they had faced, the things they had learned along the way and all the people they had encountered. They spoke of ideas, of truths, of lies. They spoke for what seemed an eternity on the universe and the stars, on the the earth and it’s caverns, on the ocean and it’s tides. On humanity it’s ever changing, yet unchanging, nature. It seemed very plausible that they may just go on talking forever, Byakuran never awakening from this strange vision as he continued to sit there beneath the willow, the green and lushness of the dreamscape around them setting a calming, fairy tale mood about everything. When the subject of freedom was brought up, Byakuran made clear his views on the matter. That he was free as the shape of the water, ever shifting and changing based upon his situation, yet never truly being confined by it. He could be as light as air, as menacing a heavy fog, as wrathful as a tsunami or the crushing waves during a hurricane…as gentle and calm as the ripples in a pond…

That was freedom, that was how he intended to live his life.

The girl? She wished to be free as well. To soar like the winds, to blow in whatever whimsical direction she wished, yet she also wished to be resolute when she needed…as firm as the mountains roots and as everlasting as they sky.

Byakuran agreed with all these points, and listened all the closer, when the girl utter thus. “A king may move a person… a parent, claim a child. But remember that even when those who move you be kings or…people of power…your soul is in your keeping alone. You cannot stand before the mirror and say, but I was told by others to do thus…because…that will never enough.” The girl smiled looking off into the distance, her eyes still strangely dull and soft at the same time. The eyes seemed so weathered for someone who couldn’t be any older then himself. “Say…I never asked your name…?”

“It’s…” Byakuran had started to say, “Byakuran” but for some reason, the words wouldn’t come. Instead, within the dream like haze, he said “[The Fool].”

The girl nodded, as though she took nothing more from this name then the fact it was a name, it’s meaning otherwise apparently completely lost on her…or irrelevant in this strange meditation. “I see.” She held out a hand for him to shake, her smile unwavered. “I’m [The Lover]. It’s nice to meet you.”
Byakuran accepted the hand, shaking it with a strange fascination. “Yes…”

“Say,” the girl inquired as though the idea had just occurred to her. “it seems to me like we’re heading in the same direction, would you mind if we traveled together for a while? The road is always easier with two than one.”
Byakuran accepted the offer, without even occurring upon the idea that he might have refused.

Trial by Chakra!
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 9/10

There was a harsh power radiating from the boy’s skin as he suddenly rose up, his chakra still coursing around him as he conducted his movements with it, the trauma of his recent fall still bubbling within him as he whipped about glancing at his surroundings. The scene around him was certainly not what he had anticipated. He’d expected, if he ever woke up at all after a fall like that, that he’d be floating in the water at the base of the cliff, but instead he found himself in what seemed to be a cave of some sort. Due to the nearby water that seemed to dip down into darkness, he would assume that he was still somewhere near the shoreline, however there was a rather resounding question as to how he had gotten from the surface of the water outside, which is where he assumed he would have been had he truly survived the fall unscathed, to the interior of this rather dark cave.

In fact, due to the fact that he could barely see any light from the water below, he would guess that he was actually someone deeper in a series of caves along the cliff’s base, directly under the village itself. A about 100 or so feet of rock separated him from the village of course, at a guess, but even so it was a little interesting to to know such caves were here.

Now of course, he called them caves, but they didn’t really seem to fit the term. He more seemed to be in a stone bubble at the was large enough for him to sit up in, but not stand. It was more a tiny grotto than a true cave. The only problem with this was, if it indeed WAS just a tiny bubble, where all the fresh air was coming from? Glancing about as his chakra still continued to pulse around him defensively, it’s state of over overdrive still initiated as he examined his surroundings. There seemed to be a rather small tunnel on one side of the grotto, leading up a slow slope till it seemed to reach a small sliver of sunlight in the distance, but there was no telling how long the shaft was from where he was seated, and it was only the light of his chakra that currently illuminated the dark cavern.

How had he gotten here? The question burned in his mind even as his chakra continued to surge around him, it’s aura faintly visible as it continued to struggle and strain itself after his near death experience, as though he had actually entered into a state of overdrive, his chakra writhing and frothing beyond his control and entering the realm of pure charge. The chakra itself was coursing and surging throughout his body and across the surface of his skin as though it was fighting to keep the air itself away from him. This was the power of his chakra…this was the light of his soul. In a way it felt almost unbelievable. He was positively overflowing with the chakra inside him, though the state of it seemed to be straining him even so. It felt like his body was twelve…no, 20 times it’s normal weight, even so much as sitting up straight was a next to impossible chore. The pain that his body was feeling with every move seemed to be almost too much for him to handle. It was as though someone had pushed too much power inside of his body, as though saving himself from his near death experience had awoken chakra inside him he had no idea that he’d possessed…and yet at the same time wasn’t prepared for. Was his body then, even now, trying to absorb and process the new chakra that it had awakened within itself, was this pain, this agony, his body attempting the reign in this new power? He fought to move his arm, ever so slightly, the pressure of this state forcing him to cringe and fall back to the ground, flat on his back. His body once more seemed to seer with a wave of pain as the chakra within him seemed to fluctuate, the aura across the surface of his skin seeming to shudder and furl. This…this was unreal. It felt like his own power was tearing at him from the inside. Was this the price that his survival had given to him…?

He once more attempted to sit up, the muscles in his body protesting as the chakra that seemed to have enveloped his body pressed down upon him, the attempt making him cringe and cry out in pain. The power seemed once more to redouble it’s efforts to rip him apart as the pain returned. Even if it was his body trying to harness and accustom itself to the new levels of energy it had obtained too quickly, it was unbelievably painful. Though no permanent damage was being done, it was the process itself that seemed to be causing such agony. Growth was pain…growth caused pain, and that surely was what this was, only on an entirely different level. His once more attempted to move, this time starting small, twitching his fingers individually.

He seemed to be able to pull it off, but the pain was still immense. All this, however, led him to wonder, what on earth had brought him hear. He could tell that he was probably still not far from the base of the cliff, the village was most likely right on top of him, but who had brought him here and why? Had his chakra somehow managed to do so? How? Chakra didn’t possess that level of awareness as far as he knew. It would have had to have been a person… but who…? He let the issue fade in the back of his mind for a moment. It didn’t matter. He couldn’t do anything with that information at the moment now anyway, with the mind numbing pain that he experiencing and his chakra once more seemed to set forth another wave of crushing weight over his frame. Power…such power he didn’t even think that he could fully perceive it all yet. The sleeping chakra within him was stirred to life from his training and it seemed to be frothing and boiling inside him as his own body and soul struggled to keep it under control. He knew now that there was no way he was going to be able to fully move and act again until this chakra was fully brought into back under the control of his system, slowly but surely digesting and acclimating itself to it until he was once more more or less normal. He didn’t even know if he would be able to use this immense chakra that was building inside him for some time, the shock of it into his system taking a bit to dissipate, even after it was acclimated. And as it was it wasn’t seeming very likely it would grow acclimated very soon. This was like having boiling water poured inside him, like the power within him was burning him up from within. He couldn’t reach up to grab his forehead to check, but he suspected he might have a slight fever, and the eight gates that were separated across his body seemed like they were the most painful points in the entire system.

The power of the ninja was ancient and powerful. For countless years and generations the villages of the world had gone to battle with one another, despite distant alliances and friendships that one by one grew and faded away. The world of the shinobi was one of power and intrigue, battle and subterfuge. It was a world were power and one’s ability to use it was everything. It was the same for life, it was the same for his clan, and it was the same now. The weak would always bow to the strong. It was the just the way things were, it was the way they would always be. Dreams of a utopia of equaility, dreams of a world where all were on even footing and every soul who walked the earth was the same as his brother… these were the visions of dreamers and the dreams of visionaries… they could never be put into reality. That was just the way things were. Even as he lay here suffering the from the power within him growing accustomed to his body…or perhaps vice versa, he knew somehow that this was his destiny, and that he would come out unscathed from the others side. He just needed to endure this trial as he had all others that he had faced. He doubted that he would be in any position to use this power soon after he attained it…but eventually, eventually, this power and the wisdom that he learned from this endeavor would come to him…awaken within him. So he continued to suffer through this trial, continued to force himself through the wrath of the wall of pain that was currently engulfing his seemingly thin and weak frame. This was going to be his struggle to attain a power greater than any that he’d suspected himself to be capapble of…a power enough to truly take his place a ninja… eventually…

Trial by Chakra!
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 10/10

Another surge of pain shot through his body as he flinched and writhed, the chakra that was a still coursing over the surface of his body convulsing and frothing like the patterns light formed when cast to the bottom of a pool of water. The shadows and darkness of the cave continued to offer him little solace as he merely continued to twitch and suffer through the process, his chakra continuously integrating itself into his system…only for the pain to increase every time…it was only escalating, getting harder and harder, the chakra integration process apparently only just beginning. He wasn’t being pushed to the point where he couldn’t endure it, just yet, but even so the thought of moving from where he now lay was a near impossibility, the slightest of gesture’s now causing him excruciating pain. There wasn’t going to be any relief from this…there wasn’t going to be any slow subsiding….until the process itself had run it’s course. It was only going to get worse and worse…until he finally managed to bring it all under his control. Until he managed to master the power that his near death experience had brought out of him….had awakened within him. The entire time that he was sitting there suffering his way through it all, his mind seemed to be sinking into fevered dreams, fevered thoughts and flashes of understanding as he continued to bear himself against the pain of this…training. He supposed he would call it that. This was the most grueling and painful training that he had ever face, but in the end he supposed that was what it was.

This was training for not only his ability to succeed as a shinobi, but as a warrior. He needed this power if he was going to excel and become as truly great as he desired. He needed this power if he was going to be able to crush his clan… he tried to give a small, knowing smile, but the effort caused him to once more twinge in pain. It was by no means an easy thing….this transformation, as he supposed he would call it, this metamorphosis, but by the end of it, if he was truly able to harness this power inside him, if he was truly able to make it his own… the possibilities, the heights to which his power would increase… he would be able to start reaching for new heights…to be able to take hold of his own destiny and start learning new more powerful techniques. He might even at last prove himself worthy of the title of squire… the title that the shinobi world outside his own family would recognize as chuunin. Those things would be almost immediately in his grasp if he was able to truly bring this power that was tearing him apart under his control, if he was able harness it and use it’s raw might for his own purposes.

This chakra was born of him, of his desire to persevere and continue on despite the trials put before him…it was his power by right, he just needed to harness it, to bring it into himself once more and adapt himself to it…to take hold of it and through it his goals. With this level of chakra he would be more than capable of long sustained fights… even more so, he would be capable of using far more powerful jutsu then the few select one’s that he had managed to master thus far. It was a mark of just how far he was willing to go, it was a suffering that he would make his way through no matter how painful it was… it was something that even as the pain seemed to renew itself in a shuddering wave that he endured, clenching his teeth and trying hard not to cry out. The chakra felt like it was ripping apart his own coils, as though it was expanding them by force…but he could endure…he could make his way through it. It was just something that he would have to do…it was just something that he would have to bear… after all, unlike all the trials that he had put himself through before now, this time, he didn’t even have the option of turning and running away… this trial was begun…and it would end only when he had passed it, integrated the chakra… or he was dead. Those were the only two outcomes that lay before him at this point… no others.

Another drop of cold water fell on his face from the cave ceiling above and he felt as though it was an oasis in the desert. The fever that this state of chakra overload had brought about was likewise making the experience all the more trying. He suspected of course that it was merely his body’s natural reaction to the process, as though it felt as though it had to fight off foreign invaders, and that it would likely subside when the process was complete, but even so it was causing the state of his body to fell that much more agonizing….

The weight one his very bones seemed like he was at the bottom of the ocean, as though the entirety of the sea’s pressure was bearing down on him, crushing his very being into nothing under it’s weight. This power… compared to what he could current wield… this was something else entirely.
If he truly was able to master this might within himself.

His thoughts drifted away in the state of agony, his thoughts drifting away into nothing but vague impressions and fevered dreams.
It was like he had been stricken with a deadly virus, and his body was fighting to cope with it for everything that it had…

Byakuran though, Byakuran was merely drifting away as the pain and the fever became all to much, his figure completely still as his mind seemed to drift away into the nothingness of his mind’s darkest corners… he dreamed…he dreamed a horrible dream…

It was fitting perhaps. He wasn’t a Maboroshi after all, he was destined to sometimes have unpleasant dreams, and what was more he himself always his most unpleasant dreams when he wasn’t feeling well…and this was nothing if not that.

He was standing in a snowy field….the darkness of the night gripping to him fast as he shivered slightly in the chilling winds… the moon above seemed pale ad lifeless amidst the field of white… Byakuran could feel nothing in the cold…couldn’t feel the bite of the snow now the burn of the frigid wind against his skin… it had all faded as the suffering he was feeling beyond the dream seemed to take hold in it’s place. Byakuran felt as though he might never be free of this pain every again, as though he would never be able to escape it… that was when he saw the figure in the distance.

It was a like a faded phantom at first, a ghost upon this frigid winter night…but the closer he looked the more it seemed less likely…the more…solid, the figure seemed to become. It appeared, at first glance, a man in a western style long coat and hat, bespeaking perhaps that he had somehow been whisked back to the lands his clan had spent their exile in…but no… at further glance…the man didn’t seem like anything of this world, let alone something from that distant land.

The figure’s flesh was white and withered, his eyes surrounded by a tangible darkness that framed their own pale and piercing gaze horrifically, his open mouth revealed crooked and decayed teeth that seemed to have large unsightly holes in the, their remaining edges sharp and cracked. All about his body, iron spikes seemed to be driven into him, and about his long pale and spindly fingers, black thread seemed to be tightly woven, digging into his flesh. The man, just from looking at him, should have been in as much pain as Byakuran himself was, yet he showed no trace of it…no sign of suffering as he looked at Byakuran, the figure somehow having closed the distance between them at some point to a mere ten feet…

“Who are you…?” the question came from Byakuran, though it didn’t feel as though it was he who had asked it. It was more as thought the question itself had needed to be asked, and it had merely worked through Byakuran to do so. The horrific sight of the man’s face seemed to grow even more so as the figure looked Byakuran in the eyes, his own unblinking soulless orbs unmoving as they seemed to inspect Byakuran, the question taking some time to sink into the air as the figure merely waited, and watched, as though he was currently sorting through his introduction, organizing it in a way that he would be truly understood… that the gravitas of this figure’s answer would be truly received…

Then the figure spoke…

Trial by Chakra!
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 9/10

The years Byakuran had spent in a state of agony due to his Kekke genkai were very similar to this current state, at least from the perspective of never truly being able to be at peace, being in a state of continuous suffering, but at the same time there had been something that was different about that time in his life, different…and apart from pain. There had been a complete sense of oneness that he’d felt with the world around him in those days, a heightened awareness and connectedness that removed the barrier between himself and the rest of the world. Listening to the heart beats of those around him, listening to the sound of a distant needle hitting the floor.

These vibrations and noises, now only available to him when he synchronized with his second self, were a small blessing in the face of all that agony. And just like the knowledge that when he was finished with this current trial he would be much stronger for it, those noises had given him hope…hope for a future when he didn’t have to suffer any longer, and that there was a world where this pain wasn’t all encompassing. More so, even than that, however, it gave him a far greater piece of wisdom. It broke down the walls that separated him from all other things, it broke down the wall that seemed to keep him from becoming one with the entirety of the world around him. The world, existence, humanity… they were all connected…all roots to the same giant tree, all connected at their base, at their origin… in that sense there really was no separation between them…that was a mere illusion perpetuated by the minds and souls of humanity. Byakuran, even though he put great store in himself and who he was, would not forget, as he clan did, that deep down all human’s were the same…they were all equal…there were no true walls separating them… as such, it was all the more important, in his mind, to never truly let go of one’s true self either.

Despite being one with all things, that didn’t mean that one couldn’t be one’s self as well. Despite being a off shoot of the great tree and all others it’s roots had sprung…he was a tree in his own right…whatever bonds connected all things, and he had no choice but to grow into the place that he had emerged into the sunlight… to expand and grow until, just maybe, he outgrew all that had come before. In a way, becoming the tallest and greatest of all, despite the interconnectedness of all things….was an even greater achievement.

The fevered dreams continued to weave across Byakuran’s mind as the chakra continued to froth and writhe across the surface of his form, the cave’s darkness illuminated by it’s deceptively cleansing light. Thoughts seemed to drift in and out of existence like transient snowflakes, the pain keeping conheasive thoughts from truly forming. Thoughts of the world, of memories, of the past. Things that danced across the surface of his subconscious, questions about life, the universe, and everything. It was as though the pain had forced him into a state of deep, yet unrestful, meditation. He thought about his home, about what indeed he should consider his home, he thought about the possibility of friends, of what it truly meant to be a Shinobi, of what it meant to be able to walk tall upon the face of the earth. He wondered just what had led his own clan down their current path…what had corrupted the so to the point where they believed themselves to be as gods to the rest of mankind. Had it merely been a case of arrogance? Had they just forgotten what was truly important when looking at the world around them? Had they been blinded by their own power? Had it been fear? Had they been so terrified of the world around them and a day when they might be vulnerable that they convinced themselves that such a day could never come? How ironic, if it was the latter, that it was that very attitude that had gotten them exiled, that had left them, in the end, vulnerable. He supposed that man really did meet his destiny on his way to avoid it.

As his consciousness danced back and forth between then line of dream and waking for what seemed the hundredth time, he faded once more into a dream, the pain dulled by the distance of unconsciousness. He dreamed, for a change, of pleasant things, as though his mind to trying desperately to stave off the pain of the chakra being assimilated into his system. He dreamed of far away lands and crystal clear waters, he dreamed of swimming through the ocean deep, the light from above such that paradise of the ocean floor was as clear as day. He dreamed of forests deeper than any he had ever seen before, forests native to the land of fire and it’s massive foliage. He dreamed of walking through a peaceful garden that, vaguely, resembled the one’s they put him in as a child, the bright flowers and bright sun a rather stark contrast to his clan’s own sympathies. He dreamed of a time when he didn’t need to be afraid anymore… of a time when he didn’t need to fight… he dreamed of a time when, despite his love for battle which seemed to be ingrained into him, when he wouldn’t need to fight for his very own survival.

But…Byakuran seemed to jump back to consciousness. No… such a time would not come without him fighting for it. He wouldn’t allow himself to sink into that line of thought. Dreaming was all well and good, but it was meaningless if you weren’t willing to fight for it. He had his motivation, he had his means. He just needed to fight…to be stronger. If he managed to attain that…if he managed to attain that level of power… then and only then could he have his dream…have what he desired. The world was a place where you had to take what you wanted… and those who weren’t strong enough to take what they wanted…didn’t receive it. That was the way of the world of shinobi.

So he would continue to fight until he couldn’t fight anymore, he would continue to push forward until he reached the pinnacle of his powers. And this was just one more step in that journey… this was just one more…
Suddenly, a wave of pain seemed to strike him as he was jolted into full consciousness, the pain of absorbing the chakra seeing to have increased two fold.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Byakuran face twisted as all attempts to keep on airs of control were lost to the pain, his dignity gone as he merely was forced to scream and squirm as the power that was slowly integrating itself into his system tore him apart from the inside. He couldn’t even begin to fight it, the harder he fought the more the pain escalated, there was no way to know how long this was going to take or how long it had already taken. It was as though time in this place had merely sunk away into nothingness as he was left with nothing but this agony. The chakra around his body seemed to have receded into him, the glow lost now as the chakra had at last taken the battle within him completely, the result of this being that the dim light that had previously lit the cave was now gone. Now all he had was his senses, his enhanced ability to hear and perceive the world around him via vibrations.

With every drop of water he could see the caves small interior, the tiny cavern having stood there within the base of the cliff for who knew how long… but at the same time almost seeming as though it had been carved out intentionally…

Had he been able to bite back the pain for even a moment he might have taken note of this, tried to discern who might have made this cave and for what purpose, but he was completely unable, there was no fighting back against this pain…their was only the chance to survive, only the chance to endure. He wondered if this was what it might feel to someone who had tried to open too many of their inner gates… if this was what might occur… he didn’t know who they did it… didn’t know how there existed ninja out there who could take this pain and move more than an inch. All he could do was try to persist…try to make it through this trial as he had all those before it… his spirit was what was being tested now… and he couldn’t afford to be found wanting. Not now… not after everything he still needed to do to reach his goals… not after everything he still felt himself capable of… he needed to…keep going…

Trial by Chakra! (part 4 )
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 10/10


Trial by Chakra! (part 5 )
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 3/10


Byakuran's sanity was still barely holding on amidst the torrent of pain...the overwhelming battle he was facing with his own spirit. It was like having his body ripped apart, and the agony was only getting worse and worse. Was he going to die here? Ripped apart by his own spirit? He rejected that possibility with all his being, this power he was now absorbing WAS that rejection, that will to keep living. This was a battle of attrition. His body fighting to come to terms with the power of his own chakra. he could feel it slowly, ever so slowly integrating itself within him...but it wasn't fast enough. He was still having to pit himself against his own weakness... he was still having to slowly overcome his body's frailty. He didn't feel weak. He hadn't before all this, ont he contrary, after his constitution training he had felt strong...but he was forced to face the harsh truth of the matter...that he wasn't going to be able to face the world and the challenges it had in store for him if he continued to let himself be cast back down by everything that it faced him with. He couldn't afford to just endure...because the others of the world had obviously endured as well and they would have most certainly had to endure more than he had during his lifetime... he would have to push passed everything that was thrown at him and do more than just endure... he would have to overcome and master what headed his way.

He would have to own his pain...this pain. he would have to become it's master if he was to ever wield it as he chakra. This was the power that he was going to use to win all the battles that followed after him. This was the power that he was going to have to use to overcome his enemies...and if he couldn't overcome it...then what right did he have to use it on his enemies? What right did he have to use it at all! so he would master this pain...this power, and he would make it his own. He would rule it and with it he would destroy those who he faced...he would crush those that stood against him...

The cave seemed...so quiet, beyond his pain. So silent now, beyond his suffering. The cool water dripping on his forehead was like an oasis in the desert to him. It was....a small relief as he lay there no longer having the energy to thrash about, though the blankness in his eyes seemed to give the impression he was dead. The chakra...the pain, the stress his body was under...it was just proving to much. He was fighting still, but no longer in a way that could be seen from the outside. His mind was still just a blank slate as he fought off unconsciousness...fought to stay awake and battle against the chakra, force it into his system. He battled and struggled and raged from within, his heart and spirit fighting the battle his mind no longer could.

The conflict within him was one greater than any that he had faced....greater than any that he could have imagined he'd face. His own life force, his own chakra, at war with his body...his very coils and gates, fighting to keep it under control, fighting to keep it controlled within him. He wondered if this was similar to what it felt like to open the eight gates, somewhere at the back of his mind where thoughts could still form. He was trapped here...he couldn't move beyond this last fortification of his mind. He wasn't able to move his body anymore for the pain, wasn't able to properly consciously think. There was no escaping this darkness... it was, in a way, the opposite now, of the trial he had faced when trying to get his kekke genkai under control. This rather than his surroundings being so intense that he couldn't escape the pain...this time the pain was so intense it was obscuring his surroundings. trapping him within himself, walling him in with agony. This was a trial...it was a true test to see if he was willing to live. A true test to see if he was able to rise above it a grasp his destiny. To see if he could live...

because deep down that was what Byakuran wanted. he just wanted to be able to live his life. He wanted to be free from his clan, free from his obligation to others...if he helped others he wanted it to be because he willed it so. If he fought against others he wanted it to be because he wanted to fight them. If he so much as got up in the morning, he wanted it to be on his own terms, and not someone else's. And the only way for him to do that was power...it was the only way that he could possibly seize that freedom. If not he would always be overshadowed by others, just as he was now. He would always be beaten back by the strong... he needed to surpass them, to be greater than them. To be able to stand tall and completely take what he desired...or he would always be the weakling, the one at the bottom of the barrel...the mere stepping stone for others interests. That was the way of the world. Only the strong prevailed. He had to rise up and become one of them or he would never be able to be himself...he would always merely be the pawn of others. These thoughts came alive within him, rising within him like a tide slightly climbing the shore, like a wave building in pressure and strength. Like the ocean welling up into a tsunami. This was the power of his spirit... this was the power of his determination. And whether it was dark or light, he didn't care. He would see it through. This power would help him see it through. He would destroy his foes no matter the cost... he would seek out his enemies and crush them wherever they were. For all who tried to bend him to their will were his enemies, all who tried to stifle him and control him were his foes. To manipulate someone without their knowledge...that was skill, that was cunning, but to forcible bend someone to your will, to make them obey you through threat of force...that was...unforgivable. It was the ultimate blow to a person. To take away their will, was far worse than taking away their life.

It was robbing them of something more precious than life... it was robbing them of the person that they were. It was robbing them of all that they had had to endure to become who they were, and it was robbing them of what they might yet become if left on their own path. It was stealing their present, their past, and their future. It was stealing everything that they were... and compared to that life was meaningless. So Byakuran would live, but he would live to be free. He was not some aimless coward who only wanted to live for livings sake. He wanted to prevail so as to be himself...so as to grasp his future and truly live the life that he was living. He wanted to see the world beyond this cave and beyond Kiri. He wanted to see everything there was to see and know everything their was to know. He wanted to feel everything their was to feel...wanted to be able to truly sense the world and hear it's music....he wanted to know the world as it was, as it would be, and as it had been. All this was burning within and whirling within him. A tide of emotions and desires that fueled the chakra that was tearing him apart. It was like his soul had become to strong for his body, and his body was fighting to keep up. That was what was causing this, he realized. His soul had grown to fast for his body...at last, at last there was some sign that all he was was growing...was expanding...that he truly was getting stronger. If he managed to complete this ...horrible trial...then he would stand a man of great power...it might take him some time to truly adapt himself to this greatness that was swallowing him...for him to be able to truly understand what it was that he was learning now...but in the end it would be the event of his life...the moment that he was first able to truly wield the power of his soul, the shadow of his existence... the power that was his and his alone.

Yes...his hand twitched as his blank eyes seemed to get life back in them. yes...this power it was.

"Do you hear me!!!" His body began to move once more as he pushed him from the stone of the floor. "DO YOU HEAR ME CHAKRA!!!" the chakra flowed forth around him with greater ferocity as he forced it back into his veins with greater intensity. "You are MINE chakra!!! You will serve me!!! YOU WILL BE THE SWORD WHICH CUTS MY ENEMIES! THE SHIELD THAT GUARDS ALL I WOULD PROTECT!!! THE ALL POWERFUL WAVE WHICH CLEANSES ALL I WOULD SEE CLEANSED!!!" The radical power of his chakra was flaring up yet again, the light filling the cave as he once more began to thrash about, his body actually beginning to spurt small bits of blood from his skin as the chakra forced itself inside at it's master call. This was ripping him apart, it was pushing him to his limits...

But it was working.

Trial by Chakra! (part 5 )
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 10/10


Trial by Chakra!(part 6 )
A battle of the soul!
DC:10 above current chakra
Description: Endure the intensity of the new chakra born with you! Integrate this new power into yourself...or perish!
Roll: 10 or above
Train: 3/10


It felt suddenly very cool all around him. Byakuran’s fever, for he was sure he still had one, settling slightly as the feeling of water flowing up around him on all sides slowly began to creep up from the floor of the cave. It was slow at first, gradual, as earlier when even a drop of the water from the cave celling was enough to feel as though he was bathing in an oasis in the desert. But the fact of the matter was that this time the effect was far more real. Far more real, and as Byakuran opened his eyes, slowly, ever so painstakingly, turning his head to the side, he was able to see the truth of the sensation.

The tide pool in the middle of the wave was overflowing, bit by bit, the water coming into the small cavern as it was pushed in by the great sea outside. It was the tide coming in, and thus flooding the caved with the excess water as outside the day was waning on as it must, solid proof that time was indeed passing here in this strange place. This strange place that he had somehow wound up after falling from the cliff. He was still wondering about that, now that the pain from the chakra absorption was waning, and the process of assimilating was merely becoming more exhausting than painful. How had he wound up here in this place? How he had come to be here when the last he could recall he had fallen from the cliff. He had possibly been saved by the on rush of this new chakra, yet fell deep enough in the water to be washed up here? Wouldn’t that be something. He had it been Ahiru who had brought him here? She had been around and he supposed that she most likely would have saved him had she seen him about to drown…but why take him here to this cave?

The only other explanations all sounded just a tad bit on the ridiculous side.
The entire collection of answers that came to mind seemed to get more and more outlandish. Had someone other than Ahiru actually just stumbled upon him floating in the water and decided to bring him here? And a creature from the sea gotten hold of him and for some reason just decided to drop him off here instead of eat him? Had it just been pure coincidence of the tides washing him up in the strange cavern? He couldn’t really think of anyone in particular who might have happened upon him at the bottom of the cliff if indeed Ahiru had gotten off somewhere, but then again it was an awfully big village and her certainly hadn’t met everyone around, especially considering his particular tendency to steer clear of popular company. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what might be going through someone from the villages head for them to drop him off in this cave, but then again as an Otobe he knew rather well that most everyone could be more than a little…odd. Odd, was a very diplomatic way of saying “mildly unwell in the head.” And Ninja certainly did seem to have a propensity for the quality. He supposed that made sense. Despite his own taking to the work, not everyone had a particular affinity for the work, and it did take something a particularly special mind set to deal with it without breaking entirely. He believed the expression was “Give an inch so you don’t lose a mile. “ They allowed themselves to go a little mad, in order to avoid the whole kit and kaboottle, as it were. But even considering his co-workers rather eccentric tendencies he still didn’t see the logic, or even pseudo logic, in rescuing someone just to throw them in a tide cave. Well…HE might do it just for the amusement of laughing at someone’s reaction, but that would assume that someone was in here watching him, and as it was looking right now, and truth be told there wasn’t really much room in here to speak of. He supposed another possibility was that he was actually under a Genjutsu, and that there was indeed someone watching him, but that would just border on the paranoia and besides it would be nearly impossible, no, impossible, to put him under a genjutsu while there was this much active chakra running through his system. So then what was the answer? What was the solution? There had to be some sort of explanation as to how he got here…

But he supposed that that was the least of his problems at the moment, given the fact that in a just a little bit more time this cave would be underwater, and though he had the ability to hold his breath for an incomparably long time, he was no Hoshigaki, he couldn’t breath underwater.

Barely, suffering all the while, he began to push himself up from the floor, his eyes forcing themselves open as the water continued to climb up all around him. There was only one way out of the cave that was immediately apparent to him, and it was the tunnel that led out he’d spotted when he had first arrived, the tunnel by which he was presumably getting his air. The trickle of light which barely illuminated the cave as his guide, Byakuran began to crawl, slowly yet surely, from where he lay the pain from the chakra integrating into his system rising yet again. Movement definitely irritated the process, and the fever he had wasn’t making things any less difficult. His muscles strained against him, his head was pounding, and his skin would occasionally seemed to stab with pain as the chakra running through his system made an attempt to escape to relieve the pressure in his coils. He was still able to strive forward though, he was still able to crawl, even if it was only crawling, through the steadily rising water towards the tunnel that seemed to lead up. The stone passage was small, and if he hadn’t been crawling there was no way that he would have been able to pass through it had he not been crawling anyway, so it wasn’t as degrading as it might have been. As he reached the start of an incline, he was granted brief chance to stop and rest, his body coming to a halt as the water’s advance was slowed by it having to fill up the chamber behind him, his body now laying on the slope the slim passage up. The light coming from the tunnel, now that he was inside it, seemed very distant, so much so that he could barely hear the echo of the sea from outside. Wherever he was he was very deep in the rock face, and the exit he was heading towards would actually be some ways up. Still, even though the opening at the end might not be large enough for him to fit through, this was good news. It meant as soon as he absorbed all his chakra and integrated the increase into his system he’d be able to wait out the tide if need be, escaping down the water below and back out through the ocean.

He lay there still now, the water’s advance and rise slowed greatly as he had a chance to relax again, bearing through the pain and strain he was putting on his body. This was probably an insane undertaking. Not to mention the irony of it taking place so close to his 14th birthday. He might be facing his end the day before he saw his fourteenth year. The sheer anti-climax would have struck him as funny if…no, no it was still funny. He gave a slight laugh and immediately regretted it as pain shot through him. The water had begun to climb up to the level it was dangerous again, signaling it was time for him to keep going, the chakra in his body burning as he began to lurch forward on inch at a time, the passage slick, but not difficult to traverse. It would have been effortless had he been able to use his chakra…but the act of absorbing all this new power made even moving difficult, let alone using his chakra. Still…this was the prelude...this was the trial, the hard part, so to speak. He just had to keep going…and he’d be fine…

It was becoming easier and easier to move, and yet more and more painful.

As though the chakra in his system was falling easier to contain and control…but as a result the processes speeding up made it all the more a task and torment to see it through. As with everything, it would seem, this had it’s price. But Byakuran was willing to pay that price. He was willing to struggle if it mean that he would be able to use this amazing power in the end. If it meant that he could seize the wheel of his destiny with his own hands. One of his dreams when he was younger was a wish that he could command the tides…and now…now with this power that was in his grasp.