13 Years Ago...

[HotelBravo]

The time when this occurred is before Asuka became a shinobi. Before Iwagakure’s invasion of Sunagakure. Asuka was 14 years old, and was on the verge of her birthday.

”Get up girl.” It was the voice of her father, he stood above her gently rocking her awake. Asuka groggily rose from her sleeping bag on the hard ground and took in the sight around her. The Countryside that would one day become the Lightning Empire. It was custom that the Ichiguro would perform a coming of age ceremony for Asuka once she turned 15, but before then her father had decided to take her on a pilgrimage to some of the sacred temples that the Nomadic Ichiguro used to maintain in the time long past. This was a spiritual journey as much as it was one that was educational, and it was an uncomfortable one as well. The entirety of the trip would last 75 days, and on the 76th day was her birthday. They had to complete everything and make their way back to the capital in time for the coming of age ceremony.

”I don’t even want to be a shinobi, why do we have to get up early every morning and do these exercises?” Asuka asked. In her youth she simply could not see the benefits of waking up so early in the morning to hone skills and hone muscle that she would not only never need, but was never going to use. Why should she learn to be a shinobi? It was true that her family’s claim to fame in the world was its secret technique to utilize the Denjiton element. She hadn’t ever bothered learning the element. What she wanted to do with her life had nothing to do with the shinobi life. Shinobi were constantly risking their lives on suicide missions. Asuka had seen the numbers, 89% of all shinobi were KIA. That was short for Killed in Action. Each level of mission also had its own individual numbers of deaths. While E and D ranks were uncommon, C rank missions had a death ratio of 2%, but that number skyrocketed at B rank. It was exponential when it came to A and S ranks.

A rank missions had a 50% death ratio and S rank were even higher! It was close to 80%. If you went on an S rank mission you could practically guarantee that you weren’t going to be coming home, and Asuka had never been interested in that kind of future. She wanted an education! A real education. Not whatever this was.

”Does it really need to be said? Our family is infamous for the Denjiton chakra type. This means that it is incredibly vital that you are in good condition to avoid outsiders that want the technique from attempting to harm or kidnap you. The other nations would kill to get their hands on your chakra or even just your corpse so that they could obtain our clan’s secret technique.” He began to explain. ”I’ve already told you how dangerous it is, why do I have to keep repeating myself about this everytime you are feeling lazy?”

”That’s the part I don’t get though. Why would I ever leave the capital? I’ve already looked into the statistics. Kumogakure isn’t likely to make additional enemies in the future, it is situated in an excellent location for trade - its safe, the walls are defended, so really this is all unnecessary.” She had looked at the numbers and was quite sure that she didn’t need all this extra effort. A few extra minutes of sleep would do her wonders and she would be able to take on the world even without any of this ridiculous training. What did a woman need this kind of work out for anyway? She would be a mom and a business owner, both were respectable for women. Sometimes she just couldn’t understand that old man.

”What about if you ever have to leave the village on business? Did you think of that?”

The obvious answer was no, and Asuka began to pull inwards with her body language. She shrunk down to defend her little ego that was bruised by her own lack of foresight as she considered her father’s words. He was right after all - she would likely have to leave the village on business if she wanted her work to succeed. The man, seeing no further argument lead her through the daily ritual.

She followed her father in a series of stretches, he claimed that getting limber was important especially before any work out. He also made sure to become limber with their chakra system. It was an exercise in control essentially, but it was important to make sure the chakra network was expanded to allow for easy flowing of chakra. It was such a strange phenomenon. The chakra network was necessary to life, but it was also a tool and a weapon. What purpose did it serve in the body? It was almost as if it was one of humans' own intrinsic weapons, but hadn’t it existed long before mankind had learned how to use it? Some people, in fact many people, went their whole lives without learning how to manipulate their own chakra.

They both sat in a meditative pose, seated with their legs extended because crossing the legs or kneeling actually did limit the blood and chakra flow to a degree. It was better to lay down, but she had fallen asleep doing this exercise in the past in that position and had gotten berated by her father, so now they did this just sitting up. Breathe in, and then when you breathe out, push the chakra through the network. After a few sets her father decided to bring the meat of the training for the day out. ”Okay, lets begin today’s training.” Her father moved to his feet and extended a hand down to her. She took it to her own feet.
1021 / 1000 +1 Chakra Pool

[HotelBravo]

”To expand your chakra pool there are two methods. The first is through using chakra constantly. The other is from concentrating chakra in your core which is done through meditation. Since we don’t have time to meditate and gather chakra into a core and compress it, we’ll use the other method which is through use of chakra.” Her father began to put their small camp away. Rolling the sleeping bag and storing the other equipment. Asuka followed suit, but putting her own equipment away and settling her back onto her shoulders at the same time that her father did his. ”So, we’re going to just be using jutsu the entire way while we travel? Is that what you’re implying by packing up the camp?” She asked as the weight of the pack settled on her shoulders. Her father gave her a wink in response.

”Just so.” Was the answer that came from her father. ”But this one is going to be a bit different. I’m going to place a fuuinjutsu on your belly that will absorb your chakra and keep you at low capacity. While this is happening you will need to focus on maintaining a jutsu. You need to be careful so you don’t fully empty your reserves, but just enough so that your inner chakra will develop the capacity for additional chakra. You see, your body will develop that which is broken down. This applies to muscles as well as to the spiritual nature of chakra. The more you use it the more chakra you are able to hold naturally. Lift up your shirt.” He instructed. He began forming a number of handseals while Asuka obediently lifted her shirt to reveal her navel. He slammed his palm against her belly, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She felt the lines of the seal begin to form and complete as they spread across her skin. It felt like lines of fire burning the seal into her very flesh. She collapsed to the ground and curled up around her burning stomach. She cried out in pain and in agony, but after the brief moment she felt the seal complete and immediate relief passed over her.

She could feel the seal going to work. It felt nauseating. It was like donating blood, you could feel your life being sucked out of you by a foreign parasite. Chakra was the life, just as much as blood was. Asuka wiped the cold sweat from her brow as she got back onto her feet. ”Oh wow. I /really/ do not like this.” She made sure to express her complaint. She lifted up her shirt and looked down at her belly button to see the black lines drawn in spikey like pattern. It reminded her of taps that were put into trees to obtain syrup from them. She let her shirt fall back into place and gave her father a look of incredulity. He gave a short shrug back in response. Alright, enough of that. Time to go. the man said.

Their journey continued across the paths that the old Ishiguro Nomads used to travel. Asuka felt like the trip was much more draining than it had been before, but she knew that this was actually the result of the seal. Everything felt so much more taxing. She had even taken for granted the fact that they had been taking shortcuts via just walking up sheer cliff sides on their journey, but suddenly with barely a drip of chakra to herself she found that her ability to walk on the walls was incredibly perilous. She could slip at any moment. Her first time slipping her father had caught her by the arm. He pulled her into his arms and cradled her until they arrived at a horizontal surface. She took a short break, while he had tied a rope around each other's waists. If she slipped and fell the rope would catch her. [color=#red]No more slipping. If you slip you’re just going to have to climb back up on your own now.[/color] He told her.

Asuka took a deep drink of water and wiped the excess from her lips. She was too out of breath to argue. She stowed away her canteen, and they were soon on their way up and around the mountain. She actually felt her heart flutter once she they had finally arrived at the little mountain village that was the objective for today. It was such a small town that it didn’t warrant a name, the people here just called it - the town - . Asuka had never been so grateful to see civilization. The buildings in this small town were made from wood gathered from the mountain side. It was a rugged yet hospitable looking place. The people out and about in the town couldn’t help but look at what the cat had dragged in - the two travelers who had foregone the road and just walked up the sheer cliff to reach their destination.

Small towns didn’t always have rooms, but it seemed that one of the local businesses did have a room that they could stay at for the night and hot water to bathe themselves in. ”We are extremely thankful for your generosity.” Asuka’s father had thanked the aging owner and placed a bag of ryo in the man’s hands. ”It’s not a problem at all, here is your key - please enjoy your stay in our small town.” The man returned a humble bow after accepting the patronage. Asuka was the first to use the hot water. It felt like elixir on her worn down muscles. She surprised to learn how much more she used her muscles when she wasn’t able to access her chakra. As she bathed her fingers traced that damn seal on her navel. Should she bother asking to remove it? That maniac of a father would likely say no.

Asuka didn’t hate being a woman, but right now she knew that the old man was wishing she had been born a son.

1033/1000 +1 chakra Pool

[HotelBravo]

To Asuka the bed might as well have been made of clouds after all the traveling that they had done already. She had gotten used to sleeping on the cold ground with its rocks and roots and uneven terrain. It might have just been a futon but it felt like ambrosia to her body. It was strange kind of soreness to have one’s chakra pool so thoroughly taxed as it had been for the entirety of a day. It was a very physical and yet spiritual exhaustion. She had been able to ignore the sensation while traveling but now that she was resting she could feel the soreness in her chakra pool. It was such an uncomfortable and foreign feeling that it honestly made her feel sick. So she laid on her futon for the remaining period of the day. Her father eventually came to check on her, he removed the seal on her stomach to give her relief from her taxation of her chakra pool and she sighed with relief. Finally. She was able to drift off into sleep shortly after. In the morning, Asuka found herself awoken by the smell of breakfast and found herself mindlessly drawn to it. The older couple that ran the shop were busy cooking and her father was already seated at the table.

”Good Morning Young Miss!” The old store owner called. ”Please take a seat, food will be ready momentarily.” Asuka bowed gratefully to the pair of them and sat next to her father. She couldn’t help but smile at the small talk between the old man and his wife as they discussed the situation of their grandkids, and their grown children. Asuka found herself day dreaming and wishing for the same. It was cute. It would be so cute to grow old with the man of her dreams and be a cute little house wife and running an antique store in a quaint little village. This is what she wanted out of life. The slow life. She smiled dreamily.

”Asuka. Asuka! Are you awake?” Her father waved his hand in front of her eyes and she snapped back to consciousness, realizing now that she had been half asleep. She yawned and stretched. ”Alright I’m awake now.” She answered.

”How are you feeling?” He asked as the older couple arrived at the table and began to set dishes out in front of them. A plate with a lemon wedge and a fish. A bowl of rice. Miso soup with tofu. It was a simple and humble meal, but Asuka was starving like she had never been before. ”Itadakimasu!” Asuak cried out before breaking her chopsticks into two and began to dig in with little hesitation. A little bit of fish and a shovel full of rice, and finally the edge had been taken off. She sighed with relief as the pain in her stomach grew still under the weight of food. Fuel for further training. ”To be honest, I am exhausted in ways I didn’t know were even possible.” She answered him. ”I have never felt my literal chakra pool feeling…sore… It isn’t a pleasant feeling.”

Itadakimasu. Her father pressed his hands together then snapped his chopsticks in two as well. ”Soreness is a good sign. Working out ones chakra pool is a bit odd. Most people don’t go for this training method and instead go for, but the results really do speak for themself. It takes shinobi years to develop their chakra pool into something useful. You’re usually just stuck with what you were born with plus a little bit extra, but with this technique you can escape that limitation.” The older couple took a seat across from Asuka and her father.

”You’re training quite hard, are you shinobi then?” The older man clapped his hands together. ”Itadakimasu.” He said before digging into his own meal. His wife followed suit.

”I am, my daughter isn’t.”

”I’m more interested in starting my own shop. Like the both of you! Would you be willing to share with me any tips on how to get started?” Asuka asked with a genuine interest. The old man gave a hearty laugh.

”You praise me too much! I am quite surprised at your question. Why wouldn’t you want to become a shinobi like your father? It’s an honorable trade, and it seems your father is quite skilled after all? It seems like the best advice I could give you would be to learn the skills of your father. Thats what I did. My own family has been running this store for generations. When I was a boy I learned from my father how to tend the store. It is only unfortunately that my own children decided to move to the Kumogakure no Sato ” The old man bowed his head and tended to his own breakfast giving his wife a remorseful look. ”I don’t know who will take care of us when we are no longer able to run the shop since all of our children are gone. It is my most solemn wish that I could have passed this on to one of my sons.” He held his wife’s hand and squeezed it.

Asuka felt the wind taken out of her sails to a degree. She looked at her father, and it felt like the man could see what she was thinking. He placed his palm upon her head and patted it. ”Don’t worry about it too much.” She was worried though. She wanted to help these people from the bottom of her heart. A shinobi couldn’t do that kind of thing, but a woman of power and influence could. She swore in her hear that as soon as she got her own business up and running she would take care of these two even though she owed them nothing, and her stay here had been paid for by her own father.

1030/1000 +1 Chakra control

[HotelBravo]

Asuka and her father finished their meal and headed back to their rooms to pack their things for the next leg of the journey. Asuka was sorry to go, but she knew that in the moment she wouldn’t be able to relieve the old couple of their problems. She would need to finish this whole coming of age ceremony first and then she would be able to start her own business. Only after then could she ensure their future. The door to her room slid open and her father stepped in. It seemed he was already prepared. He set his pack on the floor and wordlessly began to help her with her own pack. ”How are you feeling daughter?.”

Yes. Like I said, My chakra itself is sore. I’ve never done anything like that before. Can’t we take a day off? I could probably make it to the next town but I just don’t have it in me to do more of that chakra training Asauka finished packing and slung her pack over her back. Her father walked over to her and gave her a hug and she made a face an amused expression. ”What was that for?” she asked, pulling away from him.

”Just proud father thoughts. I was just reminded of how much you’ve grown. In any case you are right, we will avoid putting any additional undue stress on your chakra system today. Alright, lets head off to our next destination. No seal and no chakra training, try to take it easy.” The pair made their way downstairs through the stair of the old couple. They bowed and waved their farewell as they proceeded to leave the small mountain town. ”Did you wish that I had been born a boy?” Asuka asked her father as they began their journey. The thoughts about the dreams of the old man wishing that he had a son that could inherit his store. After wallowing in her thoughts for a moment she looked up when she realized that her father hadn’t spoken.

The journey began to wind down the opposite side of the mountain. They were taking the road as to avoid using any chakra when one took the Ninja’s pathway down the mountain instead. ”What is this now?” The man chuckled, clearly he was avoiding the question. Asuka wouldn’t let this go though. It was another egg to crack, a mystery to solve. A problem to unlock. ”You treat me like you wish I was a boy. You are constantly forcing me to train and go on these camping trips, instead of letting me follow my mother’s career path instead. If you didn’t wish for a son what is the reasoning behind this?”

”Daughter, all father’s want a son. That doesn’t mean that I disparage you for being a young woman. I think I would possibly be less strict on a son. The truth is, I can see that we are going to be living through tumultuous times in the years ahead. I want you safe during this time, and the only way I can think of ensuring your safety is by making sure you are prepared. I am a shinobi, and that means I will be called to fight, and if necessary, die. If that happens -”

Asuka stopped in her tracks. ”For as strict as you are? I don’t see how that is possible? That won’t happen, not to you. You’re too skilled.” She put on a brave face but in her heart she felt the sting. There was something… fear? Fear that he was right, and that one day he would be gone? She couldn’t imagine a world where she was all alone without her father to help her. ”You think I’m that good do you?”

”Of course I do, nobody could ever beat you.” She gave a soft and playful punch to his shoulder. The truth of it was that she would never be able to beat him not even in a million years, and she couldn’t even imagine that anyone else could ever envision doing the same. At least, if they knew him, they would know that he wouldn’t be someone who would be so easily defeated. He gave a rueful smile and gestured for her to keep walking. ”Believe it or not, I’m not the best, although most cautious, now that's a title I think I can safely claim.”

The remainder of the journey down the mountain was down in abject silence. Asuka mulled over what her father had told her about being safe and the wars that were to cross the the land. How much did he know and how did he know it? It was within reason that as a jounin of Kumogakure no sato that her father would be privy to state secrets, but what he had just revealed to her made her scared. There was a beauty in ignorance. A type of peace that one had without ever knowing, and once lost could never be obtained again. Ignorance is bliss. Thats why they said it. The price of knowledge is the weight of responsibility.

Once they reached the bottom of the mountain they continued until nightfall. Her father found a suitable camping ground and they rolled out their sleeping bags. She shivered in the night as she climbed into her own sleeping bag. Her father insisted that they not use fire. While it protected them from wild animals and the cold, one thing it did not protect someone from were enemies in the countryside. This was the foolish side of his paranoia. Every night it was training to be on guard against unseen unknown enemies. Her father didn’t even sleep, he just pulled close to cuddle together with her and keep her warm and shield her from the wind. He would keep watch, but then when would he ever sleep? He was a man with endless energy and infinite caution. The idea that he could be defeated was so foreign, that despite hearing from his own mouth Asuka still couldn’t believe it.

1030/1000 +1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

They got up the following morning and though her chakra pool was still sore the seal was placed back onto Asuka. She could already feel its draining effects as they put up camp and made their way over to the next town. It seemed an ordinary small town much like any other they had been through before. Asuka was looking around at the architecture, inspecting the differences between the style used here and the preferences from the mountain town they had left not even a few days ago. Suddenly someone bumped into her. She stumbled and struggled to catch her feet being exhausted from the travel and the effects of the seal draining her chakra. ”Watch where you’re going girl.” the man sneered before continuing on his way without another word. Asuka leaned forward and braced herself on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She watched the man disappear wordlessly into the town. ”So rude!” She complained. Her father narrowed his eyes for a moment then turned to help her stand straight up.

”Very rude.” He agreed. ”Come on, why don’t we go get something to eat?” Asuka followed wordlessly. They wandered around to the main town plaza and found a restaurant accepting guests. Asuka and her father sat down at a table. They placed an order for a simple meal. Rice, Miso Soup, and broiled fish. Asuka dug in without a second thought. She finished in short order and her father was soon after. Their entire meal had been silent, being very frugal and practical people they had spared no time for talk while they had eaten.

”Did you enjoy the meal customer?” The Waiter came over to take the plates and bowls away. ”Quite. Can we get the check please?” The Waiter bowed. Soon after the waiter brought a small wooden plaque with the price written on it. ”Asuka, the money please?” He opened his hand and held it out to her. She rolled her eyes and reached into her bag searching for the coin purse. She paused with realization as she discovered it was not there. Where did it go? She began to search through her bag and backpack and then it hit her. ”Well?”

”That guy from the street who bumped into me! He must have stolen the money!” She looked at her father in horror. Why didn’t he stop them? He surely would have seen this whole thing happen right? The man folded his arms and nodded, ”I agree, that was likely the case - but what do we do now?” He asked her in returned. I’m going to hunt the little bastard -

Language.

Asuka sighed and started again. ”Then I’m going to hunt that little /WEASEL/ down and string him up until he hands over the money.” Asuka stood up from her seat and was about to head out the door when the waiter stepped in front of her.

”I’m sorry Customer, but you must pay for your meal before you leave.”

”The thing is, I don’t have the money - a thief stole all of my money and -” She began to tell them. She was cut off by her father. ”I apologize sincerely, would you be willing to accept my daughter as payment?” Asuka stamped her feet and turned and look at her father with an incredulous look. This man! What the hell was he doing? ”You can keep her here as collateral while I go obtain our money.” the waiter looked unsure of themselves. They called the owner over and her father gave him the same pitch.

”No! Take him instead! He is a skilled shinobi - and can keep the restaurant safe! I’ll get the payment and be back with the money.” Asuka pleaded her case to the restaurant’s owner. The man rubbed his beard in thought while he considered the options. ”Hmm…Shinobi are quite expensive. Agreed. The man will work for me, for free until he pays off both of your meals.” The owner clapped his hands together as he came to the conclusion. I hope you know what you are doing, daughter. I don’t want to work here for the rest of my life.

”Just leave it to me!” She proudly thumped her chest and went on the hunt. Only shortly after being on the hunt for such a brief period of time she quickly began to run out of steam. The seal was still on her belly and was absorbing her stamina and chakra. She was already out of breath after a short patrol around the village. Damn. How was she going to do this with this seal on? She really should have asked her father to remove the sealing jutsu before she had left. It was because she was feeling energized by her full stomach that she had forgotten about the drawbacks.

”Huh? Thats the guy!” Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the man who had robbed her slipping into an alley way. She leapt down from the roof she had climbed up and began to follow him. The man was being careful, making sure no one was tracking him by taking a variety of paths before finally he left town on a dirt road to a home some distance away. It was already getting dark. He thought he would get rid of her huh? She approached the home and was about to knock on the door when she paused, realizing how thin the walls and door was that she was able to easily hear what was being said inside. She crouched down and pressed her ear against the door and listened carefully to what was being said on the other side.



1000/1000 +1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

”Son, welcome home.” She heard a voice call through the other side. ”Were you able to get the medicine?” Asuka hadn’t been paying attention before, but once the woman on the other side mentioned medicine she recognized the sound of weakness in her voice. A sick mother living with her son in this… Asuka looked the meager hovel over and took appreciation at its dingey quality. It had been repaired with all manner of scraps whose quality varied. Asuka looked at a loose board that was nearby where she had pressed her ear against the building and tested her kunai against the bottom of it. The material was weak and brittle, crumbling under the pressure instead of resisting. Her kunai didn’t even cut it - it just fell apart from any kind of resistance. They were honestly living like this?

It tugged on her heart strings more than she wanted to admit, but she had her own struggle - she had just abandoned her father to the mercy of the store owner from before. She had to get the money back, but how could she take the money from a man who was simply trying to take care of his sick mother? All the fire she had felt was now gone. What was she going to do now? She didn’t want this poor man’s mother to suffer. Look at this hovel, and listen to the sound of those coughs. This woman didn’t deserve to suffer. It seemed that even theives had someone who loved them. How could she possibly face her father without getting the money back? She needed to figure something out. She steeled her resolve and stepped up to the front door. Her hand hesitated at a knock before gaining steel and she knocked.

”Oh my, we have a guest?” The voice of the woman asked.

”Just stay right there ma, you just need to rest, I’ll get the door.” The thief said. The man went to the door and opened it just a sliver. ”What!? You?” It seemed that he did recognize Asuka from earlier. She foldered her arms and glowered at him. ”Come outside and lets have a chat.” She told him.

”Was that a woman’s voice? Who is it?” Asuka could hear the Thief's mother asking.

”It’s no one ma, just a girl I’m dating.” He answered. He held up his hands in a begging sign and then pressed his fingers to his lips asking for her silence. Asuka sighed and gave in - nodding her agreement. He stepped out of the building and closed the door behind him. He lowered his voice. ”You followed me?”

”I think at this point that should be obvious, no?” Asuka taunted. ”You stole our money. I want it back” Asuka took a step towards the young man. He didn’t seem much older than her now that she got a chance to look him over. He scratched his head and seemed uncomfortable. Asuka narrowed her eyes - good. He deserved to be.

”Look, its not that easy for me to just give you the money back. I need the money so I can get medicine for my Ma.” He started to explain. He made a pleading gesture with his hands. ”Every little bit counts. I was thinking of taking this stuff back to the Casino and winning enough to double the money. With that much I should be able to pay for her medicine.”

”That seems needlessly risky to me. Asuka considered the merits of his plan. While some people won, it wasn’t people like this boy, and usually Casinos frowned at shinobis given their jutsu and sleight of hand could sometimes be faster than mortal eyes could see. ”Look, I’m sorry that this has happened to you, and I’m sorry that your mother is suffering but I need that money back, or else my Father will be stuck working for that Store until the end of his days.”

”I can’t afford to compromise either.” The thief reached into his pocket and drew a dagger and drew it from its sheath. Asuka scoffed at him. His grip was too tight, and he didn’t have good balance either.

”Pfft - do you even know how to use that thing?” she mocked him. The Thief scowled and charged at her. He lunged with the knife, but she took control of his arm, locking his wrist and elbow. He was bigger than her and a man so he had the strength advantage, but she had technique. She focused her chakra through the restrictor seal and - oof - pain flooded her nervous system and she lost her grip and pulled away from the thief, her hand hovering over her belly.

”I’ll teach you!” He lunged again, but this time Asuka was ready for the pain. She flashed her hand in a series of seals and unleashed a Jikiton technique. She winced as she focused her chakra despite the seal draining her chakra. The Jutsu threatened to evaporate as it suffocated on lack of chakra but she pushed her limits further and forced more chakra into the jutsu. It felt like it took an eternity for the jutsu to spring to life, and only at the last minute did the dagger fly from the thief’s hand and into her own. The thief lost his balance as his grip caused the dagger’s sudden change in direction to pull him off center. As he collapsed on the ground his hands had slipped from the dagger, and Asuka held it to his throat triumphantly. ”It seems like its time you become Inured to defeat Mr. Thief. Now, we were talking about the money, yes? I won’t let you bilk me again.”

”W-wait - ” the man stammered. ”I’ll get the money. If you were a shinobi you should have started with that earlier!”

1000/1000 +1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

”Quit stalling, hurry up and give me my money.” Asuka demanded.

”A-Alright, Alright - I got your money r-right here!” The Thief reached into his shirt. ”But - what If I told you I had a way we both can get what we want?” As he asked his question Asuka put pressure from the blade against his throat. The held up his hands peaceably. ”Now hold on - This one is decent.”

”Fine. Start Talking. I’m running out of patience with you.”

”Now, you’re a shinobi, and you have the jutsu that lets you control metal, like how you controlled my dagger earlier right? So, picture this - I go to the casino and use the money to gamble on the roulette wheel - now hold on hold on this is going somewhere. Then! You use your magnet jutsu to control the ball on the roulette to guarantee that we are doubling the money. Then, We can earn enough to pay for my Ma’s medicine, and you can get enough money to pay off your debt - What do you think? We got a deal?” The thief offered his hand to Asuka. She looked him over - he was mangey, poorly dressed, poorly groomed. Everything about him told her that he was not the kind of man who would keep his word, but she had lost her own mother at a young age and when she thought of a poor sick mother coughing and dying on her sick bed when all she needed was some medicine to turn things around, Asuka couldn’t bring herself to say no.

”Damn. This goes against everything I believe.” Asuka said aloud. She pulled the Dagger away from the man’s neck and offered him a hand instead. Once he was back on his feet, she flipped the dagger around and handed it back to him. She had just one concern, which she left unsaid. Despite the soundness of the man’s plan in Asuka’s eyes, the fatal flaw was Asuka herself. The seal that she had that was draining her chakra pool away meant that she wouldn’t be able to use her jutsu for long. If things didn’t go just right and she had to push herself, she wouldn’t be able to manage it.

”Cough - Cough - Son?” The door to the hovel opened and the weak woman who was the thiefs mother was looking outside at the pair of them. ”Oh! A girl! Why didn’t you say that you had a friend? Please come in!” The smile on the woman’s face was just so absolutely genuine that it melted Asuka’s heart. This woman was truly a diamond in the rough. The thief met Asuka’s eye and with a single glance she understood his entire meaning. ‘Play along’. It said.

”Yes mother, this is my girlfriend - ” He stuttered as he got to the part where he was supposed to introduce her name.

”Asuka” She added helpfully while internally cursing the Thief. She would play her part for this sweet little woman, but damn her son. Like hell she would ever date him, but seeing the woman’s face light up with joy was almost enough for her to forgive all the sins that he had committed against her to this point.

”Come in! Come in! Both of you! It is getting late too - you should stay the night Asuka, my dear!” The woman said excitedly. Asuka wanted to protest but she just couldn’t find it in her heart to do so. She let herself be ushered into the tiny hut with the thief. The lad insisted that his poor sick mother return to her sick bed so that she could rest, but she just couldn’t do so when there was a guest. Suddenly Asuka was on the receiving end of a whole lot of guilt.

”I can’t believe that my son has a woman. I’m so relieved that someone will take care of him even after I die.” The relief on her first twisted Asuka’s heart even more. ”Here dear, have you had anything to eat?”

Despite the fact that she had indeed eaten earlier she accepted the meager bowl of rice that was served to her by the thief’s mother. She held the bowl, steam formed in wispy misty clouds over it. She let herself be entertained about the boy’s childhood. Asuka listened to the stories of what had made the man who was here before her today. As a boy his father was a soldier and died fighting for his country. She explained how she had gotten sick and had to quit working. How their lives slowly fell apart and forced them to hide in this hovel.

Finally, she was worn out and the old woman was laid back in her sick bed and the thief glanced at Asuka apologetically. ”sorry about that. We missed our chance with the Casino today, but they should be open tomorrow, and we can enact our plan at that time. Also, I don’t have a spare bed or any blankets, so you’re just going have to rest by the fire if you want to stay here for the night.”

Asuka waved him away with her hand. She been camping enough with her father and on enough survival exercises to be able to handle a little chill without a blanket. The fact that this place any kind of walls and a reef over head was downl right comfortable as a result.

What she was worried about was the chakra seal that was on her belly, eating away at her chakra pool. It was true that putting her system under duress had made her feel as though she could use it a lot more than she could before, but when under another layer of stress she had to hope that she would be able to manage somehow.

+1 chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

That night, the thief slept with his body curled around the money pouch, to prevent Asuka from stealing it back from him before his odd plan could be enacted. She considered the prospect, but ultimately she really did want to help the Thief’s mother. She deserved a far better son that the man she got, but Asuka had to admit that he did care in his own way. She watched how he would get up frequently in the night to care for the poor woman’s needs. A worthless son would have left his own mother to suffer. At least it wasn’t greed that brought this young man to a life of crime - but those skills with pickpocketing weren’t the skills of a man who only started this business recently. He was skilled if he could pick pocket shinobi like her father. When the morning came he gave his mother a kiss on the forehead. “We’re off to work, Ma, we’ll be back later. Take it easy okay? I have water and the food nearby for you.”

The woman looked grateful, but she was too weak to speak. She patted him on the hand before she drifted back to the world of dreams. Asuka and the thief spent a moment ensuring the woman was comfortable before they both left the hovel.

”Before this gets too far, I’m not actually a shinobi.” Asuka admitted to the man. He paused and gave her an incredulous look.

”How did you steal my dagger right out of my hand then? I know a jutsu when I see one. “

”That’s because it was a jutsu. I’m training to become one, but I haven’t become one officially.” Asuka admitted.

”Look, it doesn’t matter if you are a real shinobi or not. All that matters that you can manipulate the metal roulette ball when we start gambling. I’ll make a call with the dealer, and we need the ball to end up where I called. Make it look natural as you can, otherwise we might get caught.”

Asuka didn’t want a part of this, she much rather do this fair and square, but she couldn’t help but think of that sick woman laying in her sick bed - the thought that they might get caught was also very… exhilarating. It was a challenge, and she had never been one to back down from a challenge. With this she set her resolve and followed the thief back into town. They made their way straight to the casino the moment the place opened, and from there straight to the roulette wheel.

”Back to lose your money again, huh thief?” The Roulette Wheel’s staffer asked. ”Well, its not my business how you want to spend what you stole of the streets. What’ll it be?”

So - he had been trying this gamble for sometime and had been losing each time. Asuka wondered if he had just done things normally if he would have been able to saved money for the medicine that his mother needed. ”Call it.” Asuka told him.

The man gulped down his fear and approached, setting the money pouch on the table, and pulling out the coins and stacking them all into neat stacks, he passed them to the dealer, who turned the coins into colored chips instead. ”Place your bets.” the dealer said, as he pushed the coins towards the thief. Asuka could see a malicious look in the mans eyes, that she didn’t all that much appreciate. Its too bad that she would be the one to win everything. As the Dealer had been distracted by the money, she had quickly formed a number of hand seals to activate her jutsu, then she continued to channel it with a loose grasp on the metal around her. She contracted on the ball.

She could feel her chakra straining against the draw of the jutsu and the seal on her belly growing hot as it devoured her chakra. Her chakra coils felt sore from all the draw occurring at the sametime. Steady even breaths. As long as she didn’t panic she wouldn’t be able to lose. She gasped as the thief went all in on a single number. This guy! He was being WAY too obvious about this. The Dealer spun the roulette and the ball - the gentle clack of the ball rolling against the walls of the roulette.

Everyone was waiting with their breath held, but Asuka was putting in work. She had to make sure that the ball landed on this number that they had betted without revealing that she was manipulating the results. She had control of the ball the entire time, and was the one moving it about in accordance to her will. She had to make it look real.

The roulette began to slow. She had to time this just right. Keep the Ball’s momentum and match up it up with the slowing of the wheel. As the wheel came to a stop, she directed the ball into the roulette onto the number that the thief had betted on just a moment before. The Dealer had been watching the her and the thief the entire time until he had heard the wheel come to rest. He looked down into the wheel and gasped. ”Th-thats 35 to 1 odds.” He stuttered in shock. He placed the marker on the bet on the table and began to pull out additional chips and pushed them towards the thief.

The thief for his part clap his hands and rubbed them together, a greedy smile crossed his lips as he gazed over the rewards. Asuka grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side. ”That’s enough! We’ve got way more than enough money for her medicine now, lets cash out and leave.” Asuka hissed into his ear.

+1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

The thief turned away from the table and glared at Asuka. ”With your help I can get more than just the medicine for my mother, I could afford an entirely new home, and a new bed. Just think about the quality of life that I can afford for her? She’ll just get sick again living in that dump.” He turned back to the table and placed another bet on the table. The roulette wheel spun and the dealer called off any additional bets. Asuka didn’t have much time but she had to make she didn’t lose her portion of the prize at the very least, so once again she made sure that she sphere landed in the right slot.

”A-again!?” the Dealer exclaimed.He then began to wear a suspicious expression. Nobody was this lucky. Nobody. He waived to the floor manager who approached the table. The man examined the situation. ”I Congratulate you on your luck sir. Would you care to go one more round?” The manager asked.

The thief was ignorant of the ploy. ”No!” Asuka hissed to him. ”Look, I can’t keep doing this. They are onto you already. Just cash out. Lets G.O.” Asuka insisted to the thief in a hushed whisper. She could see now that his greed had gotten the better of him. Why did she ever think she could trust a man so greedy? ”At least make it believable. Don’t bet everything on one number. Spread the bets out, so you can lose a little, but gain more.”

He didn’t listen. He went all in on a specific number again. Asuka slapped her face. Her chakra had already been drained to near exhaustion from the strain of the jutsu and the seal. She dropped her technique and panted at having lost everything. The roulette inevitably fell on some other number, and the Thief lost all of his money, including the money that had belonged to Asuka’s father. The floor manager’s smile widened at seeing how much the thief had lost. ”It seems you certainly weren’t cheating, but now that you lost everything, how do you intend to pay off the debts you accrued? As I recall your loans from the house are due.”

”I can pay, I just need a little more time.” the thief stammered. Asuka took a step back from him. He was in debt to teh casino? WHY!? Why had she ever trusted this man in the first place? He was a thief and a cheat. Was his mother even sick? If she was this rotten good for nothing son had spent their last ryo and only hope at getting any medicine. Now the security guards were approaching and taking the thief by the shoulders.

Should she help him? She was completely out of stamina at this point. It seemed that she was premature in her thoughts, as the young thief was able to slip out of the grasp of the two men grabbing him and slipped out of the building and into the street. ”That little snot. Follow him! Someone call the shinobi - time for him to pay off his debt.”

The dealer gestured to her. ”The girl was with him sir.”

The manager walked over to her and examined Asuka. ”I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, but you do seem… familiar.”

It was then, that Asuka’s father arrived, escorted by one of the security guards from earlier that had ran off to fetch ‘the shinobi’.

”Asuka… I’m really disappointed to see you here.” He stated, a pained expression was on his face. ”Am I here for her? She is my daughter you know.”

The Manager snapped his fingers. ”Ah! The resemblance makes a lot more sense now, but no, not for her. A Young man was in here earlier and lost at the roulette wheel. He owes considerable debts to the Gambling House and those debts have come due. We will have either our money back, or his head. Please go see to it.”

Her father nodded to the manager and then looked to Asuka once again. ”We’re going to have a chat later. That restaurant was owned by the Casino, so they have me collecting debts to pay off my own.” He explained. Then, with a burst of speed he vanished from sight.

Asuka was guided to a chair and told to take a seat by the manager to wait for her father to return. She sat as she fumed at the thief for not listening to her. He could have gotten away with everything if he had just listened to her, why hadn’t he listened to her? As it had done since she had met the thief, she turned her thoughts to that poor woman - the mother of the thief. She didn’t deserve such a son. He let himself be blinded by greed when he was trying to take care of his loved one. Asuka couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that the thief likely dug the hole that he and his mother were now living in.

Wait a minute. She suddenly recalled the command of the manager - it was to kill the man or retrieve the money wasn’t it? No! If he was dead, who would take care of the old woman? She needed to stop her father before it was too late! She bolted up right to the shock of the security guard watching her. He lunged for her, but she ducked beneath it and sprinted for the exit. Time was short. Her father was the most powerful shinobi she knew, and there was no way that the thief would elude him for long. The only trouble was…. They both were currently eluding her!




+1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

She needed to stop them before her father killed that stupid thief and left that mother without someone to care for her. As Asuka navigated the streets, it was plain and simple that they were no where to be seen. She needed to figure out some other strategy to track them down, and fast! Her eyes glanced to the buildings and an idea sparked. She could get a better view of things if she had some elevation! The only challenge is that she had not yet recovered her chakra from earlier. She would need to make sure to measure and carefully control her chakra with precision to pull off the wall walking jutsu. She started with a running start and leapt to try and cover as much wall as she could with her first contact with the wall.

She drew the chakra from her chakra pool and flooded her chakra coils in her legs and into her feet allowing her to stick to the otherwise sheer surface of the wall. She then proceeded to scale the rest of the building until she reached the top. Once upon the top of the wall she glanced around the horizon line of the city looking for some kind of clue. If her father was chasing someone down, he would likely do it from some kind of elevation. Her effort had paid off! There he was. In the distance he was speeding across building to building - and it was doubtless that the thief was nearby. She gasped when she saw him jump down from the building. ”Father! Don’t do it! Please!” She raised her voice to as high as it could go hoping to catch the man’s ears.

Asuka filled with desperation as she used her chakra to enhance her body to help her cross from roof to roof. Please be in time, please be in time, please be in time! She repeated the mantra in her head - but each second mattered. She knew more than anyone how strong her father was. He was one of the strongest ninjas in the world after all. He was a complete master of the Denjiton style and was a capable swordsman. He was fast - she had been a witness on many occasions just how fast he could be. It was exactly why each second that it took her felt like small eternities. She felt like she was running through molasses despite moving faster than she had ever moved in her life before.

After painfully too long she at the rooftop that she had seen her father jump down from - she searched the street with a fervor. There! The situation was-!? The Thief had grabbed a woman was currently using her as a hostage while her father had cornered him. ”Please! Let her go!” Asuka called from the top of the building. Having heard her voice, her father looked up at Asuka.

”I thought I told you to stay put?” He reprimanded her. Asuka gasped as the Thief released the hostage and charged at her father with the dagger. She knew how strong and fast her father was. That small window where he had turned to look at her wasn’t the opportunity that the thief had thought it was. With a swift handseal, the Jikiton chakra from her father took control of the dagger. The thief stumbled at the sudden loss of control of the weapon and fell chest first into the dagger’s point as it had turned to face.

”Nooo!” Asuka jumped down from the building and down to the ground. She knelt at the Thief’s side. The man was already reaching his final moments. He had a regretful look on his face as he looked up at Asuka.

”I-I should have listened…My-mother…please…” He was gone. Death entered his eyes, and life was driven from his body. Asuka gave out mournful wail. Why did any of this have to happen? This man had been so stupid and hard headed! Why didn’t he listen to her? He should have listened to her! He should have listened to his mother and he should have done things the right way! If he wasn’t so consumed with greed he never would have ended up in this situation!

”Idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Please - your mother what? Who will take care of her now that you’re dead!? You absolute idiot!” Asuka hit the corpse as hard as she could. There was no reaction. He was dead. Her father stepped beside her and wrapped his hands around her shoulders.

”I’m sorry you had to see this daughter, but this is what it means to be a shinobi. You chose to give my services to the restaurant and they were owned by the casino. To pay off my debt, I was required to take this man’s life. If you had just gotten the money back this thief would likely not be dead now. You are much too soft hearted Asuka. Much much too soft hearted my dearest daughter.” He leaned his head onto the the back of her shoulder while she looked down at the blood covering her hands and upon the body of the thief.

After she had some time to collect her thoughts and get over the initial shock, she cleaned herself up and headed to the outskirts of town with her father. She knocked on the door of the small hovel where the sick woman lived, but there was no answer. Eventually Asuka built up the courage to open the door to enter the hovel and investigate. She found the sick woman within - she had succumbed to her illness. She had had already shed all the tears she had left.

She stepped outside of the hovel and revealed the truth of what happened to the woman to her father. He returned with a somber nod before igniting the shanty hovel with a single spark which jumped from the tip of his finger onto the building. They stood and watched until it was nothing more but ash, and the sun had gone down.





+1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

It wasn’t long after that it was time for us to continue on our journey. The pilgrimage was a sacred part of coming of age to the Ishiguro clan, and my father hadn’t let Asuka forget it. That was the purpose of this whole journey, but lately it had begun to feel like torture. A rift had formed between herself and her father after the events with the thief. She didn’t actually know if she was mad at the man for what he had done in bringing about the thief’s demise. Or perhaps it was simply that it was unfair to blame him for what the thief had done to himself. The Thief had gotten everything he had needed, but the boy had been much too greedy. In his greed he had decided to fight against a professional shinobi. Asuka had known that her father was a killer by trade and that if she followed his path, she would become a killer as well. She had loved her father and wanted nothing more than to be like him - only… now she wasn’t so sure of that fact.

The days grew so long now that they passed them in silence. The only times that they spoke to each other were when they were communicating places to rest, times to eat, and when it was time to go. She didn’t even care where they were traveling to at this point. IT seemed like it didn’t matter to her anymore. The journey was not exactly an easy one either. The burden placed on her from the seal her father had given her to throttle her chakra had forced her to be more conscious with how she used her own chakra. Chakra usage was something that one did all the time, whether or not they were aware of it. Chakra was a simple fact of life and was necessary to survive. The body converted food into energy and the energy from the chakra networks fed the body and its muscles. When one was under such heavy exertion by performing a forced march every single day, the toil and strain were easily felt. It was not unlike wearing training weights for extended periods of time

She had to be conscious of what she did with her chakra because her body felt like it was starving. Measured and controlled amounts of chakra had to be sent to all of her limbs throughout the day to continue to power her during the day. That night she rolled out her sleeping bag while her father made a perimeter with some kind of jutsu. She was too tired to care what kind. She all but collapsed upon it and gasped for breath. Despite the starving sensation - she knew she wasn’t actually hungry. Eating more wasn’t going to resolve this issue. It was the damn seal that was on her belly. She cleared the sweat from her forehead as she cursed the direct path that her father and charted. When they started this journey, walking up walls to ignore mountain paths and just take the most direct route possible through the rocky terrain had sounded like a great idea. Then all of a sudden with this chakra seal on her - the whole entire damn time - it felt much akin to suffocating. She had to have precise control over her chakra otherwise she would simply just fall to her death.

Lovely.

She needed to calm down. Breath.

Her father returned from whatever he was doing and stood over her. She rolled to one side as to better to ignore him, but after a minute she could still see his moonlit shadow falling over her. She sighed, groaned, and decided to swallow the bitter pill. She sat up and faced him. ”Well? Aren’t you going to say something? Or are you determined to stand over me like a creepy horror show monster?” The words came out much harsher than she had intended. Her tone was sharp and full of ice water, and as she looked into the man who she loved most in all the world she could see the hurt. She wanted to immediately tell him that she hadn’t meant it - but it was too late to take the words back.

”Why don’t we have a campfire tonight?” He asked in a soft voice. Normally he was against campfires. The man was paranoid beyond compare when it came to such things - but while the campfires would keep the beasts at bay and the cold from your fingers it would not keep enemy shinobi away. In fact, it was a weakness, and it attracted them. This entire journey, whenever they had to sleep outdoors it had always been miserable, the only light would be stars and that provided by the moon - and the stars.

Asuka noticed only now how he had held a bundle of gathered sticks in her arms, cradled like a newborn child. She gave him a shallow smile and nodded. He set the pile down and set up a formation of tinder and with a quick seal a spark from a fire jutsu lit the wood into a roaring campfire. There was no lie in the relief that Asuka felt from the controlled warmth spreading from the campfire. She moved her sleeping bag about as close as she dared and hovered her hands over the dancing flames. It felt like she was melting. Thank the kami some relief.

She had been trained how to ignore the weather and sleep in the cold without a fire by her father, but there was nothing that could compare to the power of man’s ingenuity when it came to levels of comfort. Her father sat down beside her and he wrapped his arms over her shoulders. It felt… safe. Warm. She rested her head against his chest and cried. For all this time, he had treated her like she was a shinobi and forced her to live such a spartan lifestyle - but Asuka wasn’t a shinobi. Not yet. And in this moment, thirteen years ago she could never imagine herself being the kind of person that her father was. She was learning though. She knew whati t meant to be a shinobi and she had likely lived a far more demanding experience than most genin would ever dream of.

But tonight, at this moment she wasn’t a shinobi. She was just a daughter who needed the comfort of her father’s safe arms. So she cried. She shed tears for the thief and his mother, tears that days ago she hadn’t been able to cry. Tears that she hadn’t allowed herself to cry. Tonight she was just a girl.




1124 /1000 +1 Chakra control

[HotelBravo]

The next morning, Asuka awoke, still cradled in her father’s arms. She had cried herself to sleep the day before and now she felt more the fool for having done soy. She wiped her eyes, puffy from the day before and began to get up for their usual routine. The camp had already been taken care of. She saw another version of her father walking around. He paused and waved before dispersing into a splash of water. A water clone, she realized. Heh ad made his clones take care of the camp so that she could sleep just a bit more today.

”Finally awake? Here lay down for a second.” He instructed. She laid back down and the father stood over her forming a handseal. ”Lift up your shirt.” She lifted her shirt to reveal her belly and the restrictor seal on her stomach that he had placed several days ago. ”I’m going to remove the seal.” Chakra flooded into the man’s finger tips until it began to glow. He then pressed his palm against her palm and she felt a wave of chakra thrust violently from his palm like a shockwave. She groaned under the suddenly dull pain, but soon after she felt a rush. Chakra began to flood her tenketsu network. It felt much like cool water flooding the desert on a hot day. She closed her eyes and let the sensation wash over her. Every breath was full of life. It had felt like she hadn’t been fully awake until now. What had she been doing all this time? With all the chakra in her veins it truly felt like she was alive.

”Holy… It feels like I can breathe again.” She took a moment to enjoy the sense of relief. It was such an odd thing, that prior to this, she hadn’t exactly felt constrained. Maybe she had just gotten used to it and dealing with the limited chakra leaking out from the seal, but now that her chakra was full in her coils again - ambrosia. Pure Ambrosia.

”Feels better?”

”You have no idea. By the Kami.” Asuka let her shirt drop and got to her feet. She felt alive. Powerful. Good. She stretched the soreness from the previous days out of her body before rolling up the equipment and getting ready for the day of travel ahead. About midway through her preparations she was paused by her father. He procured a set of circular discs that had been marked with targets on them. He tossed the discs into the air and then with his off hand threw shuriken which pinned them into the nearby trees in random spots.

”Asuka, why don’t you try using some jutsu and striking the targets that I just set up?” He asked, but it wasn’t really an ask. He wouldn’t leave her alone until she complied - but feeling how she was feeling she couldn’t help but agree with the old man for once. She formed a series of handseals and a ball of lightning crackled to life between her fingers. Her chakra took on the properties of a lightning as the jutsu began to eat at the chakra and take upon itself emergent properties of its own. The lightning twitched and danced in palm of her hand as it fed on the lightning aspected chakra emitting from her tenketsu. This was power. Everything felt so much more precise than it had in the past. Could it really have been from the strict control training she had been doing with that seal? It was hard to believe that such results were possible.

She danced the ball lightning around her fingers before splitting into five different spheres. Then all at once she launched all five of the spheres at a different target. She never would have been able to do such a thing before all this. The training had certainly paid off, but if she hadn’t had this restriction on she might have been able to save that stupid thief and his mother. The idea of them both continued to haunt her. All sense of joy drowned in the despair she felt in that moment. The smile faded from her face and was replaced with frustration.

”Still caught up on what happened to that thief I see?” Her father mused. He walked over and hugged her. ”You aren’t responsible for everyone in the world, Asuka. The world isn’t such a perfect place that one can share hope and happiness wherever you go. The reason being simply put, there are only a finite amount of resources in the world. This means that by our very natures, everything we do must be transactional in nature. WE must trade for the resources that we don’t have, and the ones that we need. This is the center of all conflict in our world, and until someone can remove need from humans you will always need to work within this system. So the best that we can do is to support Kumogakure. Our homes and family are in Kumogakure so this means that its in our best interest also to defend and protect things that we have gathered. I’m sure you don’t understand it now but in the future after you've had a chance to explore the world I don’t doubt that you will come to agree with my point of view. Now, come on. We got another long day ahead of us.”

Asuka wasn’t in the mood to lecture, but then few people are when they are on the receiving end of a lecture. The remainder of the camp was packed up and the targets were retrieved. Asuka buried their campsite after dousing the embers with some water. There. Now they were ready to continue. Her father took lead and she followed as per normal, not knowing wither to where she was



1000/1000 +1 Chakra Control

[HotelBravo]

sd

The next few days of travel felt much lighter and easier than the travel ever had. With the seal released she was easily able to scale the mountains and the odd sheer cliff paths that her father was taking. Her precision in her control of her chakra had increased her over all stamina as well. This meant that they traveled much farther than they had in any of the previous days. They made a stop at another small town where her father purchased several days worth of supplies. Then the arduous hike had begun. The next portion of their journey had them travel to a nearby mountain and begin a path that only a shinobi could follow. Using the wall walking technique, her father began to lead a path that was straight up, and avoided any of the mountain trails. It was not a simple climb. At certain portions they would pause on a ledge so that Asuka could catch her breath and acclimate to the new elevation. As she greedily inhaled oxygen she’d look to her father and his steel gaze as he ever looked upward, and had a calculating look in his eyes. A hard life had made a man that might as well have been made out of steel himself.

Did she really want to be the kind of person that he was? Unbending Steel? For all her failures there were few people that she admired most in all the world. She had always adored her father and loved when he came home from his months long absences away on missions afield that took him far from home. There was no doubt that he had killed people, he had told her so. Had she not enjoyed the tales of his adventures as a girl? Those adventures seemed so much different now that she was on just such a one. She had seen him first hand kill someone she was actively trying to help. She still loved her father, but it put a doubt about whether or not she wanted to be him in her heart.

The first night into their journey they finally camped up there on the mountains in what would have been an otherwise inaccessible cave. There was no wood up here to make fire, so all they could do was wrap themselves up in their sleeping bags and share their warmth. A fire was unnecessary anyway. As she let herself be cradled in her father’s arms, she could feel the warmth and safety of it. Regardless of how dauntless the could was, her father burned bright. She might as well have been sitting next to a fire. The following morning the climb continued, although Asuka’s pace slowed as she struggled against her own endurance.

At the summit she found it hard to breathe, The air here was very thin. The world seemed to be spinning and everything in it felt slippery as if they were made with a waxy substance that the gaze of her eyes just slipped off of while she tried to look at them. She controlled her breathing with careful breaths as she tried take everything in. Before her was a massive cavern and within there was a temple. Her father grabbed her arm and lead her forward, towards the temple inside of the cave. She stumbled as she was being lead, her feet felt so heavy and she wanted nothing more than to take a nap. A Sharp slap from her father brought her back from the brink of passing out.

”Concentrate! Circle your chakra through your body and into your muscles and brain.” He commanded. Asuka nodded and began to circulate her chakra, and slowly things started coming into perspective. Her chakra fed her body and supplemented for the lack of oxygen that she was breathing. She was powering her body using her own spiritual energy - her chakra.

”This is the Temple of the Dragon Statue., A Place of spiritual trials.” Her father explained. So it all started to make sense. A Place where one had to use their spiritual energy to survive, this was the place to test one’s spirit. Who could have built a place like this? They must have been inhuman to climb up here and build this temple in the cavern on top of a mountain. The place was completely seamless as well - this told Asuka that this place was not quarried. It was made from a singular jutsu. That meant that the creator of this place was an extremely skilled master of chakra. Perhaps a jounin? Someone like her father perhaps? Or maybe even the man himself?

How else could he have discovered this place? It wasn’t like one just climbed a mountain and stumbled on Ancient Dragon Temples on accident. Had he created this place for her? She examined the weathering of the place and determined that this couldn’t be true. This place was older than either her or even her father. ”Approach the Dragon statue and your trial will begin.” Her father said. She looked at him as a critique would. She judged the quality of his expression to see if he was serious or was he making up a joke, or was it something else entirely.

His face was about as stoney as the Dragon’s that sat before the steps of the temple. She sighed, and walked towards the dragon. The Temple was huge, but the Dragon Statue was big too. It was about as large as a house. As she approached, she fell herself fall under the statue’s shadow. Once at the dragons feet, she looked up at the dragons eyes and found the statue was STARING back at her. It hadn’t moved at all, but she knew it in her gut. The Statue’s eyes began to glow red.

”Welcome Little Ichiguro, to the Temple of the Dragon Statue. I am but the first of many.”



1000/1000 +1 chakra pool