Past memories

[Zao]

Part 1: Tracking Skills


The sun had already set as darkness began to completely envelop the thick forest of what was formerly Dragon country. This part of the land was now considered as part of the so-called grand fire nation. Spoils of the war between the big five and other major powers that decided the other countries would become their battle grounds. It was this environment in which a young teenager had been thrust into and expected to adapt or perish in the times when a shaky peace was attempted to be laid out and allow for the ninja nations to stabilize and consolidate their new lands.

Like many, Hoka was caught in the war becoming an orphan and at only the age of fourteen he had to find someone to rely upon in order to grow and survive. For him it was a group of soldiers that found him and took the boy under their wing, so to speak. While it wouldn't be right to call the group saints by any means they were not truly bad men either. Having been members of the military before the war the group found themselves without a shogun or army and in the end had banded together to survive in the volatile world that wished to recover from the death and fighting. In this violent world, soldiers like themselves only had a few useful skill sets that they could put to use, leading them to become the hunters of men, bounty hunters, or sometimes they were called mercenaries.

The title was enough to cause most to label such a group as just hired killers who saw others a simple Ryo targets. This group still had their discipline and morals from their lives as soldiers and attempted to teach that to their young apprentice. Ever mission they decided to take was scrutinized and they were not the type to take on assassination missions without good reasons behind the mission itself that would be of benefit for the people of that area.

Out in the woods this evening Hoka was following behind another and more senior member of the mercenary unit known as Chu. The man was a shorter fellow with brown curly hair, despite his slightly out of shape looking figure the man was a veteran swordsman who hailed from Waterfall country. But today was not a combative mission, at least not yet, as the pair were moving as a slow pace that helped to mask the sounds of their moment as the middle-aged ex-soldier paused and squared down slightly. The slender teenager stopped a little behind him and peered down with only the moonlight filtering through the thin canopy above to assist in their search. "Kid, can you tell what this is?"

"Um, well..." The soft voice of the kid traveled between the short distance of the two as he leaned over a bit more attempting to see what the experienced tracker in front of him had spotted. The rays of soft light that hit the ground revealed a foot sized marking in the long blades of grass, they had been flatted somewhat, and all the blades of grass were pushed in the same direction. "Is that a foot track?" Finally, after a handful of seconds had passed Hoka responded and looked to the pudgy man to see his reaction or if there was a change in his facial features. "Heh, guess you at least aren't as dense as Jirou." His older comrade couldn't help but shake his head a little and gave a gentle laugh to himself in the moment as his response did confirm what the youth had been thinking.

Standing up a bit the older man lifted his left hand and used it to pull back some of the low hanging branches nearby and in doing so it allowed for more of the moon's rays to illuminate the undergrowth here as one could see more tracks in the area. "And what do these tracks tell us, Hoka?" This was without a doubt a good learning moment and the aged tracker took his time with the young recruit that had been tailing along with him on this outing, as he understood that one needed to be well rounded in order to survive in this harsh lifestyle and with that, he waited to hear the kid's next answer. "They all look to be the same size and going in the same direction?" It was meant to be a declarative statement but came out in more of a questioning phrase to his mentor as he shifted his sharp gaze back and forth from the tracks that led deeper into the wood line and the man who still held back the low branch. "Indeed, the pairing of the tracks and the fact that they aren't deeper tells us that it is indeed a single target and that the clarity of the prints demonstrate that we don't have a secondary target attempting to walk in the same tracks to conceal their presence."

Pausing for a moment to ensure that the boy understood, which he eventually gave a nod of confirmation to Chu and the middle-aged man simply smiled and continued as he squatted down and motioned for Hoka to do the same to further investigate the tracks and what they could tell. "The grass is evenly pressed down, showing us that the one who passed through was taking their time and moving slowly, not appearing to be in a rush which means they probably aren't trying to escape which we can then be led to believe that they haven't discovered us trailing them. Secondly, the size of the foot is most normally relevant to the height and weight of the target. With the foot being around nine inches and only sunken into the soft ground here less than two centimeters, that tells me that our target is only around a hundred and fifty pounds and around five foot, eight inches tall." Hoka paused and tried to rack his brain at what he'd just been told by the old tracker, could these footprints really tell someone so much about the person who had made them?

"I know what you're thinking but understand this isn't just something you figure out overnight. I've been tracking both men and beast for nearly two decades, a craft that I learned from my father and the same from him, having learned it from his father, as well. " This helped in allowing things to make a bit more sense, this information was something that had been learned through more than one generation worth of hard work and investigation that was then passed on to the next generation and now he was the newest generation. "Fighting others takes skill, yes. No one can deny that, but without the ability to locate and track down targets, we'd be some pretty poor fellows in the trade we are in." Chu couldn't help but let out a lighthearted laugh as he stood back up quietly and gently released the bent branch in his hand before turning himself back to the young man who was still crouched down studying the imprints that led further ahead. "We have a lead that about five kilometers from here is where our target has set up a shelter to operate out of..." The old man paused for a few moments as he let his right-hand fall onto the shoulder of his young comrade causing for Hoka to break out of his state of concentration with a slight jerk. "I'll let you take the lead from here and see how you do, don't worry, I won't let us go too far off course."


1278 words

[Zao]

Part 2: Archery Skills

Hoka had been with the group for only a few weeks at this point, having slowly began to learn from the other five men that operated within the bounty hunter unit that he'd been brought into after being picked up from what was left over after the spillage of war had destroyed a good portion of his hometown. The men hadn't necessarily taken pity on the young teenager, more so they were able to see the fight within his eyes, and it led to the leader of the group deciding to take him along with them. On this day the sky was nigh cloudless, with the sun still rising towards the middle point in the sky above as the black-haired youth prepared to leave his temporary room. Within the one room living space, the tanned skinned boy was seated at a table and upon it was a long-recurved bow and around twenty decently crafted arrows. This was one of the items that the boy had brought with him from his former life before becoming part of this bounty hunter group, it was the main tool he used as a kid and as a young teenager alongside his father to hunt in the forest in order to put food on the table for the family.

It was from his old man that Hoka had learned the basics of using the boy, becoming decently adept in employing the weapon system to hit targets at twenty to thirty meters, nothing too shabby but true archers were known to easily hit such targets at over a hundred meters with pinpoint accuracy in their shots. He'd even seen his father easily take down a deer at sixty meters before which had been a crazy shot for the boy to witness. Inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling the large breath the black haired youth stored away the arrows into a quiver after inspecting each of them for straightness and cracks, though they were mainly used for practice as he had more expensively made arrows for actual hunting it had become a kind of ritual that he'd developed from the habit of actions that his father had. With the arrows secured in the black leather quiver, it was strapped across his body allowing for the quiver itself to fall down along his left hip and upper right leg where he used a thin strap that ran around the quiver body itself to secure it to his upper thigh preventing the quiver and its contents from bouncing around to much during his movements.

Lastly, the slender hands of the hunter that showed the signs of constantly training and work reached out and took a firm grasp on the center grip of the bow, glancing up and down as each inch of the weapon was inspected and the fingertips of the other hands ran along the braided bow string created from the long leg tendon of a rare beast. Strong yet flexible, it had served him and his father well on a number of hunts and today he would begin using this long-range weapon once again. Exhaling slowly one more he placed the bow onto under the right arm and against his body before turning to leave, the walk he was on didn't take to long and after exiting the temporary lodging he would arrive at a manmade clearing. During their time here a bald man with blue eyes by the same of Sanzo had took the time to clear out the area and had multiple targets that ranged from as close as ten meters to out to over a hundred meters and even some that extended into the edge of the forest that the boy wasn't even aware of just yet. Approaching the bald man lifted his glove covered hands in a half wave to acknowledge the boy's arrival now.

In front of the old man was a giant English style long bow, it stood nearly the same height as the man himself who was near six feet, one of the ends of the boy was resting on the grass between Sanzo's feet and the other hand of the man rested on the end closest to his face. The sight caused for Hoka to tilt his head slightly, never had he seen such a tall or thickly made bow, but if anyone could use such a thing it was the muscular fight before him, though his chest wasn't too big the man's arms, shoulders, and back were almost oversized compared to the rest of his body. "Good, you're finally here boy." The bald man flashed a smile that showed he was missing a few teeth, most likely from a rough lifestyle of fighting and drinking, based on what Hoka knew of the unit's archer. "We're going to start from the basics. Draw the bow back for me." Hoka wasn't sure what the man meant, he knew how to use a bow and had a number of successful hunts as a kid alongside his father but did as he was told to do.

Fixing his feet and sliding them around shoulder width apart the kid brought up the bow straighten his left arm and then with his fingertip of the right hand gave a hard, straight pull back until the bow and strength reached their limits. "Hmm." Still leaning against his bow, the hairless man took a step forward and used the ground side end of the bow and started to instantly make corrections without much in the way of why. "Move the back foot back two inches here," "Straighten your posture, your upper back is being allowed to curve in, stack your lats to help you hold the string back...it isn't all in the arms, you know?" For around two minutes the man would make a small adjustment before then step back and take a second to observe before doing the same thing again. Hoka couldn't help but get a little frustrated as he was getting corrected on things but there was no 'why' being given and each time the man would smack the part of his body that needed correcting with the end of his long bow, slowly the right arm was beginning to shake slightly from holding back the bow string over time. "Only a minute and a half in and your already getting tired?" Sanzo cocked an eyebrow up as he spoke, "Sometimes you may need to hold the show for several minutes to get the perfect opportunity to finally release that arrow to kill your target.

As he spoke the man gave the boy a decent smack on his right bicep and should simultaneously be due to the curve in the bow, "Don't move after I've corrected you." It was irritating to say the least, but he tried to trust the man who was one of the units who'd taken him in. "Can you see the target at the edge of the tree line? It's about two hundred meters away from us and is only eighteen inches wide, the normal width of a human's shoulders." Hoka looked out and could barely make out the white disk in the distance hanging on a tree, it seemed like a small dot honestly to him. "Yes, just barely." Sanzo shook his head and pulled out a single arrow and then pulled the bow into a full draw after knocking the arrow, his stance was perfect, like he'd done it thousands of time and within only a few seconds the arrow left the bow at a speed that he actually lost track of its flight path and only a second later the sound of the metal disk being hit had already reached the boy's ears. "I'll be teaching you from today forward what the true spirit of an archer is, as long as you don't quit and with my teaching style, you'll be able to become an accomplished bowman in time."



Words: 1322

[Zao]

Part 3: Two a days.

Almost dull looking eyes opened up as the young man slowly pulled back his dark hood revealing deep raven hue spikes of hair, a gesture that he only made when off doing his own thing away from the mercenary unit or training. His clothing lacked any sort of symbol that could identify him or his allegiance as he slowly walked through a opening between two large wall revealing a large courtyard like area. The rate of march was just faster than a casual pace, but each step appeared to be almost methodical and calculated entered into one of the handful of training area’s set up within the current residence for the unit, used to shield the eyes of outsiders from witnessing the full extent of the members and their abilities.

A few short moments later the two men stood on the opposite side of the dirt floored training area as Hoka as each slowly removed a short sword from an unseen sheath within their long cloaks. The older and more experienced of the two men's hands moved as a pair of short, bladed katanas that fell from the end of each sleeve before being grasped by either hand. Beneath the half face mask, the figure's right corner of his mouth curled just slightly upwards. Then there was a single word that escaped his unseen lips in a voice that belonged to a middle-aged man…

“Begin…”

Without hesitation the pair of red-haired opponents moved with great speed, splitting off to either side before each mimicking the other through attacking with a single sweeping strike. Both of the man’s arms pushed out to each side as he reversed the grip upon the katana in his dominate right hand causing the blade to point downward to the ground. Two clangs of what sounded of metal against metal rang out as he blocked the duo directional attack. He pushed back off his feet, on the defensive as the pair followed not letting him create a gap to form a counterattack. But even on the defensive Hoka's experience in such dangerous situations gave him quite the edge from having fought side-by-side with the older men of the unit.

‘My turn…’

One moved ahead of the other attempting a stabbing style attack to the left side, even while back peddling and on the defense the man was able to counter with his full strength as he moved to the side ever so slightly. The attack missed his side as the man came down with a powerful elbow strike onto the masked man’s wrist fracturing the attacker’s wrist easily causing the man to draw back his hand in pain while losing his weapon. The other thought this would be an opening as he to perform a stab-like thrust which was aimed at the man’s exposed right side.

Still on the defensive the man used his reverse gripped kunai to parry the blade with surprising strength off to the right and away from him. This surprising strength sent the opponent off balance before he felt the quick and painful strike of the dull side of a katana blade impact along the hand's fingers. The strike powerful enough to break the four fingers on that hand causing this man to also lose his weapon. Each of the katana within the young mercenary's hands then fell to the ground, allowing for each weapon to fall tip first into the bare earth below their feet as they ended up sticking into the ground and remaining standing. This training session only emphasized his ability to attack while on the defense or while not in a set stance at full speed and power, something that had taken him years to the awareness and abilities to do. A single mocking word flowed into the training area toward his fellow clansmen before Kiri’s Black Reaper turned and walked away without any further acknowledgement toward his sparring partners or their injuries.

“Are they just weak or have I finally begun to grow stronger?" Hoka could only mumble to himself as he gave a gentle bow of of his head and turned his thoughts inward at the moment. Each member of the group that had become his second family had tried to train them, each in their own way, and it would seem that he was beginning to adapt the styles into his own form as his body became stronger to support this. It wasn't long before he was back at it again as he moved to a different spot to train some more that day. The midday sun burned through the once cloud filled sky on this afternoon, shining down upon a long-range style training area that spanning a couple hundred yards. A series of five targets could be see placed out down range, each consecutive target further then the last. His first target was a little over twenty-five meters, an easy shot really. With a flash of hand and arm movements the bow was removed from its quick release holster upon his back and the right hand had drawn an arrow from the right shoulder sheath before placing the knock perfectly on the string as the bow was drawn with little to no noise. Full draw was achieved as aiming for such a close shot was child’s play for the more experienced archer at this point as Hoka let the arrow fly. It felt like an instant before the hand-crafted arrow sunk nicely into the center inch and a half round dot on the first target.

‘Easy enough.’

The next target was much the same as he drew back another of the hand-crafted arrows, steadying himself as his breath control was utterly perfect. Once more with little more than a whisper a deadly arrow flew through the air at amazing speed striking another perfect shot. This continued until the man came to his last target which was outside the normal range of his bow. He drew back once more, only this time taking longer to focus on the target and judge its distance and how the trajectory of the arrow would need to be in order to hit the target. After several seconds the man finally released the slender arrow as it would travel for more than a few seconds before finally impacting. It was over a foot low. The young man scoffed somewhat at himself but also knew it wasn’t a shot he would have the time to take in combat.

With methodical precision the soldier strung another arrow and focused once more on the task at hand. His form, his breathing…every aspect of archery skill was at its peak another the focus and aiming took a little longer this time before the drawn projectile was released at great velocity. This time striking the outer of the three ringed target. An improvement to many but nothing more than a terrible waste of an arrow for the mercenary. Two shots later, after several long moments of concentration that one would never be able to obtain in any sort of kinetic combat, another arrow was released to cut through the tiny ripples of heat waves that were slowly rising from the ground on his hot summer day. There was then a solid plunk of metal stabbing into wood. A perfect shot…to bad one could only use it for petty games or gambles. Though which two could serve a purpose of attracting a few young women. Perhaps it wasn’t a complete waste, shaking his head he still couldn't help but let a small smile form on his lips as he just nodded to himself. Every repetition was just another way to slowly improve himself, perhaps one day he'd even reach the level of the groups master archer.


1290 words

[Zao]

Part 4: Moving Target Practice


“Ready…”

The singular word spoken came out rather cold as the black hooded man stood in his full clad battle gear, making him look more like some type of shinobi slash soldier hybrid as he was readied for this training session, the full weight of all the weaponry that he carried could be felt by the man for the first time in a week. He had been enjoying some time to himself to rest and refit after having just returned from a long mission outside the borders of the land the mercenary unit was calling their temporary home. But the time to rest was passed and the shinobi must return to his training regimen and the first matter on his agenda this morning was a long session of projectile training through a course that he had designed himself. One that had literally taken the last three days to prepare and construct just for the run today and it had one focus. Letting the man retrain his ability to track and engage a moving target with great precision. To be able to predict where the target would be ahead of time and effectively shoot where they would be in the next second or two. Something he had been losing touch on lately with taking out targets who didn’t even know he was there, knowing that not all targets would be such an easy task. Or at least he hoped not.

‘Let’s begin!’

With a burst of speed, the dark cloaked figure sprinted into the edge of the wood line, a single shuriken was already in his left hand as he spun around a large tree before releasing the weapon toward a small rope off to the left. The weapon flew with great precision and easily sliced through the thin rope activating three pendulum style targets to the man’s direct front, the first about six meters away and the others about six meters past one another. As the targets started to swing from right to left, gloved hands tucked themselves momentarily into the dark coat and reappeared with three shuriken within each. The left was the first to be released as two of the three managed to just barely hit the target as it swings back to the right then the right hand released its shuriken at the second target of which only one hit. The man’s hidden mouth twisted slightly with disgust at allowing himself to let his training slip to this.

‘Shit…’

The third target was a bit further and just as quickly as he had drawn the shuriken the long dark bow was drawn and an arrow nocked in the string as it was being pulled to full draw. Then without a sound the arrow cut through the air with amazing speed surging past the first two targets as it hit the third, but just barely on the outer edge. A terrible shot in Hoka's thoughts as he restrung the bow behind him with his left hand and continued to move. The course was similar in design throughout and integrated stationary targets into mix just to keep the man thinking. Slowly but surely as he proceeded through each set of obstacles and targets, the archer's ability to predict where the target would be and aim continues to increase. After a full half hour had passed a sweaty reaper paused behind an old tree for a brief rest as he checked his remaining weapons with the last set of targets just ahead. Able to put out of his thoughts the shots that weren't quite up to par, understanding that after the arrow had left the bow or the shuriken or kunai had left his hand, there wasn't anything that he could do to change it and instead could only prepare himself for follow one attacks.

‘Hmm, two shuriken, one kunai, and one arrow. This will be interesting…’

A smirk could be seen on the young man’s face as his boyish looks could be seen through his half face mask and the hood had been removed partway through the training session, soaking wet hair and a sweat drenched face explained the reasoning without the need for words. But the look on the hunter's face said it all, the training was able to prove to himself the tremendous amount of growth and advancement that he'd made in the last six months under the tutelage of his fellow mercenaries, it was the kind of stuff the young merc lived for. To become a better killing machine. In a blur of black that swished through trees like a snake winding its way through any obstacles before him, the man moved and not purposely tripped a trigger wire he had honestly forgotten about setting up the previous day as a good-sized log swung down from the side. Twisting his body and pushed away from the tree as the large trap slammed into the trunk of the older tree sending splinters into the air. From his left side two kunai shot down from above as the man drew his remaining kunai and deflected one to the left and with a rapid slash, the other off to the right side right after.

It was finally in that moment that from the right side his vision caught the first glimpse of his first two targets one moved down a zip line from left to right and was about to disappear behind move trees. Without a moment's hesitation the kunai was thrown with the perfect amount of lead, striking a well-aimed shot onto the target just before it disappeared from view. But he didn’t have time to rest as the familiar sound of a burning exploding tag caught his well-trained ears.

‘Well fuck!’

The tall, lanky man dove to the side as a small explosion shrouded the immediate area with dust. He had forgotten that he had placed an explosion tag on the kunai but luckily this time he managed to escape with only slightly more than a few scratches and some burnt clothing. A few tendrils of smoke twisted off his dark coat as he rolled to his feet, remaining hunched over slightly catching his breath for a short moment. Looking up a target swung down from above causing him to drop onto his back to avoid being struck in the face by it as he withdrew both remain shuriken and launched them at the target as it passed and swung upwards. Both striking with great accuracy. Rolling to the side he slowly brought himself to his feet now and removed his bow and remaining arrow drawing it back gently into its full draw length. Off in the distance was the target as it began to move in a serpentine like pattern back and forth with some up and down movement as well. But like everything else in nature, it moved in a pattern that only took a second for Hoka to take and an predict its next turn.

At that moment he released the drawn arrow watching it fly past other tree’s and through a small opening in some leave just as the moving target came into view again. A bull’s-eye. Without waiting a second more the man collapsed down onto his back side and used each arm to support his upper torso as his head looked up at the rays of light escaping through the filtering tree leaves above. Before he sighed and remembered something…cussing to himself at the thought of what was to come next even though he was in such a worn-out state…

“God damn it…I have to pick all this shit up now.”


Words: 1270

[Zao]

Part 5: Honing his aim.


Today was yet another day for Hoka as he prepared all of his normal belonging that he used for training, even having bought a few extra projectile weapons before he was on the move towards the training range which had set up near the outskirts of the medium sized village that his unit was residing within while awaiting some information on their next targets. The village was located in the lower portion northern portion of what use to be Dragon country before it was taken over by the Leaf village during the great war, a place that was located close to foothills of a small mountain range that seemed to surround the village area on three sided, with only the south end of the village not encompassed by the mountain range

But today had a more specific purpose, it was for Hoka to experiment on how to counter one of the largest flaws to a long range taijutsu user and that style of combat. That being when the target was good at utilizing cover which in turn would make it truly difficult to make use of all of your long-range skills, rending such a support type more or less, useless. Yet, the young-looking man knew from his experience up to this point of working with the merc unit that almost every situation could be over come through keeping a calm head and looking for a method around what is ever stopping you from proceeding. Hoka was without his normal dark coat, but all his weaponry was in its proper place and visible as he warmed up with a few shuriken tosses that sent the spinning metal stars across the range with ease. But then his sharp eyes slowly narrowed onto a couple of the target that were partially covered by a few pieces of wood, it was time to start working on how to bypass cover that a target might be using to hide from one's projectiles.

‘It’s all about the trajectory, now just to put this into some actual training.’

It was about finding the proper angle of trajectory in or to ‘throw over’ the obstacle in between you and the target. But as easy as it sounds most of what a long-range fighter knows how to do is to hit the target in the open with great accuracy, not how to hit the target that they can’t see completely or maybe not at all. Yet, like any ninja or perhaps more so than most, Hoka knew that you had to adapt to survive in this world and this was no exception to that rule of life. The weak died and the strong survived…he was not weak. Moving back a few paces the man withdrew another shuriken and with a powerful throw the weapon streaked just above the piece of cover and slammed into the exposed portion of the target. He believed that learning this technique would be best to first use a more easily thrown and manipulated weapon at first then it could be expanded to the others.

‘Again…’

This time he threw the weapon from a lower arm position, causing it to arch just slightly as it came down, but its aim was just a bit low as it actually skipped off the top of the obstacle part of the target. It might have looked like a failed attempt, but it was actually progress in the narrow eyes of the minor country bounty hunter as he had already taken up another throwing star in between the finger and thumb of the gloved right hand. The next throw was of similar result, but the third throw managed to hit just below the top of the cover board on the actual target. So, it could actually be done, to hit a target that was using cover against the hunter. Though only a small success, it still helped to instill more confidence in the young mercenary and caused for a casual smirk formed underneath the half face mask he was wearing to hide how truly young he was. With each shuriken thrown the man began to slowly creep the impacts further and further down behind the piece of cover and closer to the actual center of the target itself.

‘Not bad, but I can do better than this.’

He would continue to improve on finding the perfect arch to use to defeat the target’s cover. Next the man moved to the other side of his range to a series of three targets and three small boulders about a meter high and about half a meter in width. Pulling on a wire next to his left foot the first target moved from its current position about three meters to the right settling in behind the first of the three rocks. This would require more of an arch then the previous targets. Picturing this in his mind a shuriken was withdrawn from the right hip pouch before the arm moved in an uppercut fashion releasing the shuriken in a high trajectory arch. The weapon peaked at around ten feet before it turned downward in its deliberate arch and passed by the rock missing it by only an inch before it hit the target knocking it down. But there was one more test that the teenager had in mind and began to prepare his thoughts and body for it next.

‘This will be harder…’

With the pull of another wire a second target began to swing like a pendulum at each end of its swing it was behind one of the other two rocks. Hitting a moving target behind cover, what a task this would have been for Hoka from when he had first started his tutelage under the unit's master archer, though the man who taught him was as well versed with a bow as he was shuriken and throwing knifes and before he began to learn how to ‘arch’ his shots onto targets behind cover. But this was still a rather difficult task to perform for even the now experienced projectile user, and he exhaled slowly and narrowed the dark gaze onto the task at hand. Taking his time the man withdrew a shuriken in each hand this time and lowered his stance slightly and brought each arm across his body with the right one in front of the left. Inhaling and exhaling slowly, even before launching the two projectiles he had already mapped out what the trajectories of each weapon should have been.

With nothing else to do, the muscles in each arm had tensed up as he prepared to throw each of the throwing stars, the fingers on each of the small metal stars shifting ever so slightly in preparation. Then with a powerful arching throw of each arm they were released, the right throwing star being released then a fraction of a second later, the second shuriken was also released in a similar arching fashion though it was apparent that each of the edged weapons had been aimed toward a different target. The target swung behind the right boulder just as the first shuriken sunk below its top edge slamming into the moving target near the bull’s eye, missing the red scoring ring by about three inches. Meanwhile, the other shuriken that had been curving through the warm afternoon air as its intended target then moved left toward the middle rock the second shuriken closed in. The result was the same as the first, almost perfect, but not quite pinpoint accuracy

‘Almost up to par, still not anywhere close to the old man's level of power or accuracy but I'm finally starting to close the gap between the two of us..’


1283 Words

[Zao]

Part 6: Strength Training Part 1/4

Through the thick morning mist that surrounded the countryside, the soft sound of hard soled sandals of a well-built young man could be heard as the muscular figure slowly appeared as his wide frame shoulders seemed to push aside the gentle mist. This first thing one would notice would be the long, messy spikes of hair that were rather unkept atop the man's head and the set of budging arms that grew from the very worn looking grey jounin vest. A set of almost glowing purple eyes held a deep firmness to them now gazed out through the thin mist layer that held on with its grip due to the sun in the east having just started to rise above the horizon. Hoka preferred to train far away from it as his body was slowly reaching an apex and the monstrous strength contained within it was capable of damaging much more than simple whatever the target might be if he wasn’t careful. Though there was also another reason which was the bounty hunter preferred to keep his true strength a secret from others, this was something that was not unique to Hoka as many people thought this way, the surprise when one experienced it first-hand. "This place never changes..." The words rolled off the man's hidden tongue and into the crisp morning air now as he arrived at a small clearing that appeared to have been man made and had only two things within it.

"I will surpass them all. One day I will need to demonstrate to them what true strength is...the strength of true warrior and demonstrate to them all of the instruments of death that I've created." The words were spoken aloud but in a soft voice to himself as a few casual steps carried him the last couple of meters to stand directly in the center of the cleared off area now. Arriving at the center area one could see a pair of small piles that was dark black in color and upon closer examination one could tell that pile was actually a heavy looking length of chains that the raven-haired reaper of men knelt down in between. Taking a few moments the man first picked up the pile of chain on the left side of him and wrapped it around the left arm before then turning to the pile on the right before doing the same to the right arm. Each length of chain was wrapped several times around arm to the point that it covered from the first knuckle of the hand to just last the bend in the elbow for both arms. Though it was hard to tell from simply looking at what appeared to be a set of ordinary chains these were actually specially crafted on order from the young man himself as each weight nearly twice as much as his own body weight and by simply wearing them in this fashion it increased his weight to nearly five times normal.

"A little weight, this should help me warm up..." The teenaged man smiled behind his dark mask now, having worn these in the past as a young boy and now as a young man to train with, one had been hard to move quickly with but over time his muscular strength had shown explosive growth leading him to the point where he was nearly what he thought was most like at the absolute peak possible for his body. Each arm curled upward like he was doing a bicep curl as he easily lifted the weight chains causing for his biceps to bulge slightly and for the veins to become visible in the biceps. The bandaged fingers of both hands were curled into a fist grasping the ends of each chain now as he began to increase his movements speed from a walk into a run as the slope of the mountain went from the gentle rolling aspect near the foot of the mountains where they came down to meet the lake to a slight incline. Though this was a simple warm up that the teenaged taijutsu specialist who would normally do on his training days but today would be a much more intense session as he had created a special strength centered circuit for him to complete today that would test even his amazing amount of strength through a series of challenges. It didn't take long for the man to make it almost a kilometer into the run before the additional weight was already starting to become a slight nuisance as he felt the drag in each of the muscles from the forearms all the way up to his shoulders and even into his traps as well. Though it was a dull pain this was going to be a truly long and excoriating training session so the muscular man began to prepare himself mentally for the physical strain and challenges that awaited him now as he sped up his jog slightly now as letting a determined look to appear upon the scarred face, a few droplets of sweat were already becoming visible upon his brow while others were hidden beneath the flak jacket that currently covered his bare chest underneath.

"My muscles are starting to fatigue a bit; it's going to be another painful day. It feels like almost already starting to get old sometimes..." As he continued on the man spoke aloud to keep him motivated as the grip of his fist tightened once more and the arms were brought up slightly allowing him to swing them easier as the raven-haired man continued his run. About two kilometers in he came to another small clearing that held a single chain that was identical to the pair which had awaited Hoka’s arrival at the training area at the base of the mountain side. Shaking his head lightly the muscular figure bent down to retrieve this third chain now and then proceeded to securely wrap the black chain across his chest from the left shoulder to the right hip. The extra weight wasn't too bad, but the addition weight was instantly felt in the man's legs as he looked forward just past the little flat area in which he stood to see the first real obstacle in today's training. Those eerie purple\ irises stared out at a series of what looked like man-made pedestals or more properly named columns that had been erected by the bounty hunter himself that spanned a wide gorge that almost appeared to be man made through sheer brute force. There was a total of ten separate columns that one had to leap to and from in order to cross the approximately hundred-meter gap between the clearing and the next clearing that was visible through the faint layer of mist that was being burnt off by the continuously rising sun at the man's back. Taking a bit of a running shot at the first one that was only about twelve meters away, what would have probably been an easy jump for most shinobi, but he was not a shinobi which made the feat even more impressive as the man pushed off at the last step about two feet from the sheer drop of about fifty meters into the air. Each of the man’s arms spread out as if to help him maintain the proper amount of balance as he landed right foot first upon the tall column which rocked slightly under his increased weight....one down.


Words: 1245

[Zao]

Part 6: Strength and Stamina Training Part 2/4


This was one of the longer jumps but the maroon haired man had the advantage of being able to take a running start to increase the leaping distance. Exhaling slowly the man stood up and took in the distance to the next column and made mental calculations of how much strength he would need to use in order to land on the only two-meter-wide platform top. Hesitating for only a couple seconds the man bent down allowing his finger tips to touch the shifting rocks surface as the chains slide down the forearms slightly with a gentle rattle of metal before he pushed off with close to his maximum strength causing the column that he had been standing on to be literally crushed under the sheer force of the man’s strength and be sent toppling over as he floated through the air again. The calculations had been almost spot-on as he landed just a hair shy of the center mark of this rock landing pad sliding a few feet past center line which made the rock column shift slightly to one side before Hoka quickly stepped back in order to be perfectly centered on the rock allowing for it to return to being straight up and down. The next pad was just a little bit further away and he knew that it would take almost his full strength, due to the drastic increase in weight from the three chains, to be able to make it all the way to the landing point now. This time the man took nearly ten seconds to prepare himself as the first two jumps had forced him to use up a bit of strength in his legs as the muscles in the upper legs, mainly the quads were staring to build up a little lactic acid within them.

Slowing his slightly elevated heart rate now, the Jounin made the next leap once more with the same result for the pillar he had been previously standing upon now as it was reduced to a pile of broken rubble and debris that plummeted down fifty meters below as he stretched out his chained arms again. His strange purple eyes widened now as he realized that he had overestimated the strength need for the jump which had been just a meter or so shorter than the previous one he twisted his body in midair despite the resistance put on the body from the three weighted chains. Then each of the arms passed by each thigh and removed a kunai before driving each down tip first as if they were climbing spikes into the hard stone grasping for anything they could reach allowing them to sprawl out and grab each side of the platform's edges stopping him from sliding clear off the edge and into what would have been a critical fall. Though this time he wouldn't be able to take any time in preparing for the next jump as the column of rocks upon which the top stone was resting had already began to tilt past the point of no return and judgement had to be made on the fly this time as it started to fall in the general direction of the next target stone. Flexing not only his tiring legs but also the two arms he waited for only a few seconds as the column began to finally fall before then leaping more upwards than outwards as he managed to leap just high enough to find himself atop the next stone column. With a relieved look upon his normally overconfident face he dropped down into a seated position and allowed for the arms to relax completely for a close to a minute as he gathered himself physically and mentally to continue now.

After about two minutes worth of time had slowly passed the still slightly panting man exhaled slowly closing his lavender hue eyes, a stern look now over taking his face as the man pushed up from the ground using both arms and both legs in what looked like a well-practiced movement now before each eye lid fluttered open revealing an almost piercing gaze. An unrivaled look of determination soon found its way onto the man's face as he crouched lower before leaping forward now, each stone on this side of the gorge was closer allowing for the tiring man to reserve some much-needed strength as he made it to the last stone in only a couple of minutes before, he came to a stop from consecutive leaps. Now the muscular man lifted his gaze to the rock face ahead of him with the small ledge that was only four or five meters in width and on this resting ledge was a single blade chain coiled up in a pile upon the rocky ground waiting for the man to retrieve it. Shaking his head lightly the man made the five meter last jump with ease landing as easily as he could give the amount of weight that was currently added on to his body and even with the soft landing a meter's worth of the ledge broke of and fell into the gorge behind him now as the jounin stepped forward as if not even seeming to notice the small rock slide the landing had caused. Walking over to the chain the man once against knelt down on his left knee to retrieve the coil of chain before slinging this chain in the opposite direction cross body to the last chain before the man bound it securely immediately feeling the weight on his body increase before he stood up with each leg shaking slightly now.

It was then that the hunter of men forcibly lifted his head now to begin the ascent up at the sheer cliff face that was the second obstacle on this course with his body now weighted down with a fourth heavy black chain, the rules for this part of the course was simple in that he had to just climb up without using chakra. Without any hesitation in the giant of a man made movement now to the face as he only had to make three steps forward before his long stride allowed him to within reach of the rock face before each weighted arm reached up to grab a hand hold on their appropriate side now and aided the tiring legs in beginning the ascent upwards the appeared to be a few hundred meters up to the next resting stop and what looked to be the top of the cliff face itself. From the back side of the man, one would be able to see the small streams of sweat that began in the muscular upper back and shoulder before descending down the into the grey flak jacket on the man’s back as they continuously relaxed and contracted in order to allow the man to steadily pull himself upwards with his arms and legs. About halfway up he could feel his hand strength starting to fade already which caused the man to begin to focus on secure hand and foot holds knowing that a fall from the nearly hundred and fifty meters that he was would probably kill even him if he wasn't able to stop or slow his descent in some manner. Slightly frustrated the man's left hand clinched slightly in anger as the man's enormous level of strength came back to bit him in the ass as the hand hold was instantly shattered into dust and small rocks because of it. With such a level of strength the man still needs to learn how to regulate it for the situation but sometime when he got angry or simply wasn’t thinking about it, he was just like any other person and needed to let off a bit of steam...sadly now wasn't the place or time to do such a thing.



Words: 1312

[Zao]

Part 6: Strength and Stamina Training Part 3/4


"God dammit!" The sudden explosion of rock caused his left foot to slip which in turn caused the other to slip but the right arm was luckily already in a finger hold that was a crack running diagonally in the rock face and the man's body hung from just those four fingers. His fingers rapidly began to weaken and even started to slip as he scrambled to adjust his body and regain control before after a few tense seconds the hand and foot managed to find their way into finger and toe holds surrounding the man and stabilize the bounty hunter allowing for him to regain composure with the proper foot and hand placement. ‘Fall from here and it’s over...perhaps another day.' Laughing quietly in his head as the almost deadly fall had filled his body with a much-needed shot of adrenalin that came with a moment of renewed strength and vigor that he didn't waste a single moment of. Using the surge of stamina and strength the sweat drenched man started to climb once more as the last fifty meters of cliff face seemed to almost fly by him before he used both chains wrapped hands to grasp the ledge above him and pull himself up and over the ledge rolling on his side before ending up on his back. The short locks of black hair were messily scattered upon his had covered with dirt and small rocks as he stared up at the bright blue sky which only held a few white clouds this morning. A breeze that would have normally been almost warm struck the man's damp body sending a slight chill across the man's hot skin as he forced himself to set up now through the use of his chained arms despite wishing to simply lay there in order to save and rebuild some of his arm strength. As he did so the young man saw that the trail he had ended up on wound itself up into the wood line of the forest and setting right at the edge of the wood line was a small black pile. Shaking his head he even cursed lightly, "I must have been fucking drunk when I set this shit up..." before forcing himself back into a standing position before slowly advancing over to the pile that lay waiting for its owner as once more he knelt finding a black set of leg weights which he attached one at a time to each of the legs before standing up very slowly.

Now all the man’s limbed had some form of weight wrapped securely around each of them along with the two that he had spilt between his muscular arms coming into a total of four chains and two leg weights. Both the arms and the legs were already fatigued and seemed to be pulled a bit towards the ground by gravity pulling upon the weights themselves as the man had to actively fight back in order to keep them each from dropping straight down now. Mustering his strength the man cleared the burning pain of the tired muscles across nearly the entirety of his body now and began to move placing one foot in front of the other in a slow walk that soon sped up to a slow jog but was nowhere close to the original pace Kasai had been moving after picking up the first two initial chains at the beginning. The next leg of the course wound around the hill side in a back-and-forth pattern that if ran in a straight line would have probably only of been around five to six hundred meters in length but with all the twist and turns and up and down hill along the way it stretched the run itself out to nearly three kilometers now. On the last steep straight away of the run the man finally had to break down into a fast-walking pace pumping each arm with every step as his breathing was labored and barely able to maintain the arms at waist level now due to muscle fatigue as the arms truly were beginning to grow closer and closer to their absolute limit. Despite his current state the man never had the thought of quitting or dropping any of the weight, to grow stronger one had to face a certain amount of adversity and then surpass it or they would fail and begin to take steps backwards...this was something that the swordsman would never allow for himself to do even it if killed him right here and now.

This was the type of determination and resolve that was needed to truly push past one's limits in order to establish new ones, until one was finally able to stand at the apex. Finally, the man would take the last step placing him over the incline and once more he found himself in a small clearing that led into a narrow ravine but in front of the entrance to the ravine was a series of three stones that formed a line blocking the pathway. Each stone grew larger as it got closer to the entrance and had been placed there specifically to serve as an additional obstacle, resting for a few minutes to stead his breathing and allow some muscle recovery the man then walked forward toward the first boulder like stone which was about two meters in height as he reached outward with each hand grasping onto the rock. Using only the muscles within his upper body the man twisted the stone to the right side with a powerful maneuver that caused for the stone to roll a few meters off to the side now and reveal the next stone that was closer to three meters in diameter. For this stone the man stepped off to the left side of the stone and bent down as he searched for a place to grip the stone close to the ground now as each tail pushed into the direction in an arch style pattern with the bent legs. Then in complete unison the man pushed upward with the legs and tails while pulling upwards with both bulging arms now as the stone started to move very slowly forcing the man to continue constantly straining for several seconds before the large rock finally broke loose and rolled out of the way. Now came a rock that was nearly five meters in diameter and one that had been hard for even the man at peak strength to move into this position and now he was currently far from that as he could already feel small micro tears forming in the muscles across his entire body and even in the muscles of his five tails too.

"Guess there is only one thing I can do with this stone, since moving it in my condition is straight out of the question. Oh well..." A faint glimpse of a smirk appeared on the sweaty shinobi's face now that had been revealed about halfway through the torn face mask as the right corner of Hoka’s mouth slowly lifted realizing that the only method for dealing with the obstacle was the old fashion, direct way. Drawing back the chain wrapped right hand the man rushed forward the three meters that separated the man and the giant boulder before delivering a powerful haymaker style of strike directly onto the surface of the stone. Though the rock cracked and cratered in around the place of impact the overall structure of the rock remained in-phased as the taijutsu user began a powerful assault of left and right handed punched that rained down with enough force that each had more than enough strength that if one was to take the strike directly it would most likely be able to take the life of the foe. After a series of nearly twelve consecutive punches the rock spilt into three large pieces that fell down now creating a gap to walk into the ravine through as each arm fell down to either side now. Droplets of blood dripped down from the knuckles of each hand as they slowly began for form a tiny pool under each arm as the man's chest heaved heavily up and down and his arms from the finger tips up to the shoulder ached with sharp pains now. But the man only began to shake his head lightly side to side and laugh because of what he saw just past the destroyed boulder was another pile of black chain, he had forgotten placing it there and its appearance now struck a bit of pain in the man's heart like a velvet dagger now. Yet, there was no quit to be found in the man's piercing blue eyes that retained a constant gaze upon the chain as each footstep was a forced moment as he made it over to the chain and dropped down onto both knees.


Words: 1489

[Zao]

Part 6: Strength and Stamina Training Part 4/4



It took a few minutes for the bloody hands to fumble with the thick chain before it was finally grasped it completely and lifted it up over his head and placed the chain onto his shoulders allowing for the ends to hang down across the chains crisscrossed upon his chest now. With the chain in place, he started to slowly walk forward with each step proving to more and more of challenge, not quite able to muster the strength to jog any more at this point and instead simply focused on just continuing to move forward. There was only one more obstacle to finish after this one, but the question was not so much on if he could complete the obstacle as it was if he would be able to force his body to make it to the location of the obstacle seeing the condition that the mid ranked hunter was currently in. There were no words of motivation or thoughts to keep the man's mentally positive about the training as this point as nearly his whole back was being wrecked with a pain that could be considered a seven to eight out of ten if one had to put the pain on a scale for a medic shinobi. Pain was simply weakness leaving the body, in Hoka’s view on life anyways, weakness that needed to be forced out from the body in order to allow the needed growth to occur now as the man trudged up and up now taking nearly half an hour before he was able to walk the five hundred meter trek up the mountain side pathway that snaked up through the ravine. The slope and terrain truly not being that difficult at all, but the previous training obstacles and events stacked on top of the six heavy chains that the man had affixed to his body were what made the slow walk a grueling one without a doubt. Finally thought, the raven haired teenager managed to reach what he thought was the top of the hill now only to find that there was a final clearing with a false peak which revealed the actually top of the small mountain that he had been working to reach the top all morning as the sun was already pushing into its mid-day position which didn't help the man's body at all now as the morning mist had been completely burned away.

"I really could use a drink right about now...dammit there is another chain" Those last two words would crush anyone's dream of finishing such a challenging training session as them directly in front of the man's black bandaged feet was a finally black chain coiled up neatly in a small pile. Unable to take a single knee the simply fell forward onto both knees the stiff fingers of the still bloody and dirty fingers slowly began to go to work around the chain until both hands had a grasp on the chain now. It took all the strength that the large, muscular mercenary could in order to simply lift himself from the ground into a shaky standing position now before his glowing golden eyes slowly traced the ground from between his bandaged feet up to the beginning of the trail before finally landing on the summit. "Only one choice, up to the top, I left my sake up there, fuck...." At the top the man had staged some medical gear along with much needed food and water and even a small bottle of high tier's sake, but this was the only place along the training course that any of the aforementioned items could be located because Hoka did not believe in rewarding failure. One had to succeed in order to be reward and this even more true for himself in this moment as there was no way for him to ever push his body to the apex if he simply quit or stopped when he was tired. A long exhale filtered through the raven-haired man's nostrils now as he took his first step feeling the foot actually sink in a tiny bit into the soil that covered the rocky terrain of the mountain trail.

One slow and tiny step after another began to carry the man forward and off the short, flat clearing and onto the actual first step of uphill slope that caused the man to almost slip and fall barely able to maintain any semblance of balance at this point as the both arms hang down completely at each side were his arms hanging almost limb at each side as a length of chain they held hovered only a few inches off the deck like they could give out at any moment and drop the said chain. Twenty steps in the man was slouched over as arms and upper body had given out near completely which now caused for the chains attempting to slide off the mercenary to be dragged through the soft dirt path creating a set of drag marks that were about two inches wide and one to two inch deep and that lead from a short way up the path to where the man himself was. Each step was as struggle as both the man's legs were almost completely shot at this point as the man had to call forth every ounce of will power and strength in order to keep pushing his body past his limits now. But about halfway up the sloping path now the man collapsed onto his hands and knees causing him to pause for a moment and it was at that moment he discovered that he didn't even have the energy to stand and yet this alone would not be enough to stop the swordsman from moving forward. Even on his hands and knees the man continued the grueling and agonizing journey one small handprint at a time as each clawed finger dug into the mixture of soft soil and rocks scraping his way up the towards the summit.

Even slower than walking with the chains from each limb now actually dragging behind the man continuing to slow his progress to that which could have easily been comparable to that of a snail. Nearly thirty minutes later a single bloodied hand with a black chain wrapped around its arm could be seen as it shot up over the last portion of the hill side and touched down on the soil of the summit as the dirty fingers dug once more into the dirt as a tired looking smile could be found upon Kasa’s face that was able to lift just enough to see over the lip and onto the flattened off area of the summit itself. "Ahhhhh!" Letting out a deep roar that reverberated down the mountainside itself, originating from deep within the man's chest, it echoed down to the shoreline and was so loud that people how lived at the base of the mountain range would have been able to faintly hear it now. Summoning the last bit of strength that he had been saving for this moment the man forced himself to actually stand and take a step upon the summit before reaching upwards as if trying to grasp the clouds above him in the sky with both arms before then slamming them down against the earth. The impact actually formed a tremendous crater for each arm and within each of the meter deep craters were links of black chain as the man was free from some of the binds and able to stand, though the action itself had used up every scrap of strength as he almost passed out. Falling forward he managed to twist his body allowing for it to land upon his back now as each limb spread out on the ground around him now, completely exhausted but an accomplished smile was resting upon the man's dirty and scarred face was completely visible as the half face mask had been torn off completely somewhere along the way...though despite all this the man didn’t care about anything else but a sip of the amazing sake.



Words: 1352

[Zao]

Part 7: Sword vs Sword

A dark clothed man with a grey flak upon his upper torso slowly walked through a large, open field as blood dripped from the dark bandaging that was wrapped around each hand and run up to the elbow of either arm. After a few steps the man's golden eyes swept across the field now to reveal the death and destruction that was the signs of a battlefield now. Numerous bodies lay scattered about the area as the sound of arrows cutting through the air, metal clashing against metal, and even the sounds of hand-to-hand combat drifted into the man's ears. Far from home the man had found himself in the middle of a type of civil war in this minor country as three separate group fought for control of the country and its natural resources. In the end it simply boiled down to the money that two of the parties were after while the third party simply wanted their homeland back and how did Hoka fit into this situation. He was actually a fourth party in this current scenario as he had simply been wondering throughout the neighboring countries after a mission had forced him to travel many countries from home in the end to successfully complete the assigned task in the end. Yet, he was simply a man with a thirst for violence and battle, it was bread into the mercenary from before the time they could walk, and Hoka was a perfect example of that type of mind set.

'This smell, I feel so at home here...now to continue.' In truth the man had not even drawn his weapon and instead was relying simply on his hand-to-hand skills to deal with each incoming threat no matter the style of attacker or the weapons they wielded. Treating this like a form of training for himself and even holding back on his monstrous strength in order to allow those attacking him to at least no die from a single blow. Quickly his masked face tightened as he felt the rapid approach of someone from his left side as he quickly turned his head and dodged just to the right with a simple sidestep as a flash of steel left a long cut in the worn grey flak upon his upper torso. It had been a tremendously fast thrust of a long but slender blade now forcing the man to actually move at his normal speed for just a moment before he lifted his left knee upwards at an angle in order to deliver a powerful knee strike to the assailant's stomach which caused for his body to actually halt midair before being launched backwards. The man was more surprised than injured as the swordsman rolled backwards to a distance of around ten meters from the giant, black headed man now lifting his sinister gaze to take in the large man who towered over him in size. Only a twisted smile could be seen as collected himself and moved into a stance that appeared to be one used in generating power and speed through thrusting style attacks. "Just die for me, I have a lot of money to collect from the heads of those beneath out feet!" This raven-haired man was obviously some type of ronin or something who was simply here to benefit off the internal conflict and one seasoned enough to be able to instantly identify the mercenary as a ninja from just a single exchange.

"Come little one, let us play for a bit..."A cold, whisper like voice seemed to drift out from behind the half face mask that hid the face of , just the tone behind the words were enough to cause a hint of fear to rise up within the foe as he watched the shinobi carefully. In what seemed like a rather relaxed manner the man had finally opted to pull his weapon as the left hand reached up and over the shoulder to grasp hole of the World Breaker's hilt now and with what seemed like a simple, light tug the weapon was released from its sheath/holster and pulled in front of him as its true size went on display. Hoka hadn't been able to get a strong judgement of the man's true abilities from a simple assassination style attack and wished to push this other man until he crumbled while holding back his strength despite still utilizing the large zanbato. Though suddenly the slender man's figure turned into a blur as he rapidly advanced towards the warrior without regard for fighting a shinobi which told the Reaper that this man had most likely clashed against shinobi a number of times to feel comfortable doing so instead of running away. But even the veteran shinobi was amazed at the sheer acceleration the man was able to generate in such a short distance as for anyone else on the battlefield the black-haired swordsman would have disappeared from their sight.

Yet, the younger man was far from any simple rookie as he tracked the man's movements but it still caused for his eyes to narrow just a bit as he stepped back with the left foot and dropped the tip of the large weapon as he pushed the near impossibly fast thrust off to the right side as the two blades grinded against one another creating a series of sparks. The friction between the blades tore at the bandaging the had been concealing the zanbato style weapon Hoka wielded now as a row of curved hooks were revealed from beneath the wrapping. Parrying the impressive thrust the fighter moved with the direction of the parry as he brought a round house kick around with his left leg that followed closely behind the swordsman aimed to strike directly against the lower spine of the unnamed mane. Yet all it hit was a few flowing locks of black hair as the man had rolled to the side before throwing a backwards stab that landed firmly against the broad side of the zanbato now pushing back again Hoka who staggered back slightly being caught on a single leg and slightly off balance. He mentally applauded the man's instincts because if he had allowed for himself to be hit or for the large man to get within reach of him this duel would have instantly been over. Even a fool could see the muscles that were chiseled into the man's arm and if that was any sign as to what the loose clothing or flak concealed then if he was able to grab you then death was the only logical expectation for that person. 'Interesting, I don't think I've ever fought someone with this type of sword style. Maybe I can learn a couple things from this merc...' With a gentle smile upon his unseen lips the man mused to himself about the strange type of swordsmanship this black-haired foreigner used and hoped to be able to draw out even more of the man's techniques so that he could continue to observe his movements.

"Let's not stop now!" As Hoka spoke the excitement could not be completely concealed by the masked shinobi, it wasn't everyday one was able to meet a decent swordsman outside of his home village who was known for their famous sword users. Without a moment of hesitation, he rapidly advanced but it was easy to tell that while he held the great advantage in strength this foe held the advantage in speed without a doubt, this was shaping up to be just the type of thing Hoka had been searching for. No matter how many people he had already killed while moving through the bloody battlefield that the duo was currently fighting upon, this man before him was the sole thing that mattered anymore to the giant swordsman. With a powerful over hand single of the mighty weapon the tiny foe was forced to dodge backwards allowing for the bandaged zanbato to forcefully slam into the earth with such sheer force that it caused a tremor to radiate outwards from the point of impact while the impact area was pushed downward forming a two-meter-wide crater. For the first time in this brief exchange the target's bright blue eyes opened wide when he was able to see a small demonstration of the level of strength of that he had challenged now. But they quickly narrowed as the larger young man whisper like voice drifted through the air towards him now. "I had thought that you just possessed some speed but when I forced your movement that time, I could see that more than the speed you have is that your footwork alone was near perfect, I must applaud you for that but sadly I still must kill you..."

Words: 1462

[Zao]

Part 8: Three versus One


It was like a cold bucket of water had just been dropped onto the ronin's head as the soft whisper of a voice somehow managed to carry such killer intent, it felt like such a tone of voice should have belonged to a monster who had climbed over mountains of corpses before. To someone who felt nothing when taking the life of another, it was as if the lives of others could be compared to simply stepping on a random bug to the giant man. Hoka had been observing every single movement of the man's body during the last exchange and every moment was so refined that it actually was able to surprise the seasoned shinobi but what he noticed the most was the exquisite footwork that somehow allowed for the man to surpass his normal speed for a brief period of time. He had heard of such a thing when wondering, some like to call them movement techniques. Slowly the mercenary withdrew the blade of his large weapon from its earthen resting place pulling with it rocks and dirt as the last foot of the previously bandaged weapon had it's bandaging torn free to reveal rows of curved hooks that lined the weapon. Any of them would shred a target as it struck and was pulled across which would create grievous wounds of mangled flesh. A single strike along might not kill someone, but it would definitely limit their fighting potential and start the process of bleeding out and in some cases those that were injured but managed to survive would become crippled. It was truly a demon amongst the normal weapons out there but its design and size perfect fit Kiri's Black mercenary with his own massive size and demeanor.

The first though in the man's head was that he now knew who this strange shinobi was, the samurai had heard tales of a large swordsman who worked with a well-known mercenary unit though never in his life would he have expected to ever encounter that same myth this far from Dragon country. With a pale face the man instantly turned tail and began to run but he didn't plan on fleeing completely as he held the katana in his right hand the left hand lifted up to his lips and soon after a series of three long, loud whistles cut through the carnage on the battlefield that surrounded them falling upon the ears of three other men who were dressed in a similar fashion to the ronin. Each of them had come here in search of 'work' as mercenaries for hire a word had traveled to them in a neighboring country about the internal strife and conflict that was boiling up and the need of temporary soldiers. Having worked for many years with one another the trio of men who were engaged currently in minor conflicts knew that if their comrade Shino had used their signal for help then he must be in true mortal danger but all three wondered who in this backwater country could pose that much of a threat to him or any of them. It wasn't like they were in a country that had a shinobi village or even a minor village. Instantly the three rapidly worked to deal with the current targets before then breaking contact and swiftly traveling to the nearby location of the whistle signal were they found the long black haired man with fear present in his blue eyes as he could only let out a sigh of relieve when his blue gaze fell upon the three who had linked up waiting for him.

"Shino, what's the problem?" The larger of the three and the actual leader of the group spoke out first as he stepped forward towards his comrade now allowing one to see his shirtless body that was stained with blood and sweat from the previous clashes but not a speck could be found in his shoulder length blonde locks. Their comrade came to a sliding stop across the upturned earth of the battlefield now spinning around in a hundred and eight degree turn which allowed for him to face the direction from which he had been running now as his right hand fell upon the sheathed katana which had been returned to his sheath while running. His set of bright blue eyes didn't dare turn away as he spoke in a hurried manner to his comrade. "The Ghost is here!" There was no hiding the hint of fear in his voice as he spouted the near mythical Mist village assassin's name to the others causing for their faces to pale slightly, but it only lasted a moment as Shino responded quickly to the others reinforcing his role as the strongest member and leader of the tiny band of ronin. "It's just one man and with the four of us even a shinobi would be at a strong disadvantage. While it's true that we might die if we face him, if we kill him the amount of money we could get for his body would allow for us to live a good life for some time." A slightly grin could be seen growing on the man's clean-shaven face now as the thumb of the left hand pressed against the hand guard of the long-bladed sword popping it free just slightly from the sheath that cuddled its blade tightly.

Though the sudden glimpse of strength that came from their leader's words almost instantly faded as a creeping mist slowly began to cover a portion of the battlefield that included their current position. All four men tensed up as Shino barked for them to guard one another now as they were almost back-to-back forming a circle for three hundred and sixty degrees of protection. This was a strong formation that allowed for the person being attacked to instantly be reinforced from either side quickly to turn a one-on-one encounter into a three on one encounter that was drastically in their favor. But the seconds passed and nothing came for them, only the occasional sound of battle from a distance echoed in through the thick mist that surrounded them as they were a bit unsure what to do. "How interesting..." Two simple words caused each of the four to immediately freeze...those two words whereas faint as a whisper in the mist but it had not come from outside but inside of their defensive circle. A pair of words that barely were able to slip through the half face mask worn by Hoka as he stood with one hand on the hilt of his weapon that was currently diagonally placed across his back. His movements had been extra cautious and his skills in stealth were put on full display, but his words had been directed at the team work these four possessed just based on their practiced formation, it was easy to tell these men had been working together for some time and had probably killed their fair share.

A powerful, black bandaged hand clenched around the back of the blonde swordsman's head with such force that his eyes bulged from his head before rolling back into the sockets, seeing this the two behind the mercenary launched arching attacks that landed solidly upon the massive zanbato which didn't move an inch from the two impacts. The remaining man on the front left of Hoka could tell that he had an opening and turned to attack with a powerful thrusting attack which the large man made an easy target for. But as the attack pieced straight into the worn looking grey flak jacket it immediately stopped as it struck a armored chest plate that had been concealed by the flak and now the man reacted by performing a powerful spin utilizing the flat side of his thick weapon to cleave a three hundred and sixty degree area around him which knocked the two men behind him flying away several meters and the other man managed to duck and roll away by the skin of his teeth. Sadly, the other man still remained in the vice grip of the mercenary now as he gave a hard squeeze allowing for each of the other three to hear the skull being crushed in against the brain as blood flowed from every opening on the head now. The swordsman's arms went limp along with the rest of his body, just like that their leader had been killed right before their eyes. This man truly was the ruthless mercenary of legend, his body count totaling more than all theirs put together...with what appeared to be a simple flick of the wrist the body of the now deceased man was tossed aside like a sack of trash landing with a sickening thud on the ground next two some other corpses that he had personally been responsible for...perhaps it was karma for the blonde headed man.


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[Zao]

Part 8: Continued



'That man dodged me again; his body control is amazing. These other two seem to be a tier below the black-haired man, I should get rid of them so I can get back to studying his man's movement techniques...' Hoka truly didn't care that these men had been here killing to their hearts content for the name of money or fame. The amount of blood shed here or the number of innocent slain didn't weight on the man's mind nor his consciousness, he was a mercenary and was trained to be a simple tool from birth and it just so happened that he had taken an interest in the my before him disregarding any of the other warriors within the area for the time behind. "Let us exchange some pointer, young one...." Once more his whisper like voice, the voice of death itself for those that had the terrible fate to ever be on the receiving end of the Ghost's voice, spread out from behind the dark mask into the continuously lingering mist now as he simply stepped forward toward his target appearing to completely disregard the other two as they were still trying to find their footing once more. They had been swept away with ease and had one of their comrades killed without a second thought but instead of fleeing like normal people would have done they instead had always wished to die a warrior's death upon the battlefield. They didn't even cling to a hope of survival against such an opponent but instead the pair moved rapidly forwards as their movements became completely identical, it had been hard to notice before but if one looked closely, they would have been able to tell that the two men were twin brothers. Both with a love of the sword from the age they were able to hold one they had always been together and as such had developed a style of swordsmanship that relied on their ability to think like one another.

'What a pleasant surprise...' Sensing their approach the man spun around with his lavender eyes shifting to the left corner as he turned to the left, analyzing their movements and sword strikes as a flurry of steel was sent raining down all around him from two separate side as it actually forced the man to use his sword to defend against the sword strikes. Each strike creating a small shower of sparks as nearly the entire bandaging which had previously concealed the unique weapon had been completely torn asunder revealing the weapon and its shredding capable hook blades that had been aligned in a series of rows along the wide zanbatos blade. 'These two work in near perfect unison, their berserk style of attacking is keeping me on the defensive and if the third joins in they might even be able to suppress me if I continue to hold back...let's just see how long they can keep this frenzy pace up.' It was true that the Ghost was personally concealing a decent chunk of the true amount of strength he could wield in order to better observe each of their styles and taijutsu techniques and abilities in order to look for new insights for himself to utilize to improve his own style of fighting. Anything from the type of footwork that a person used to the way one gripped their weapon or the angle of attack, all of this and more could be used to slightly alter one's personal style of combat or even copy directly techniques from another style retrofitting them to work properly in a different style. All of these were ways to slowly improve one's own fighting ability and their personal fighting style, only through real combat was one able to see the strengths and flaws with their own skill and make improvements. Though this method was obviously a very risky one, to a true warrior there was no other way to accomplish this unless they were willing to put their life on the line.

One could never allow for themselves to grow stagnant as a warrior, once that trend started it was hard to reverse and slowly but surely their skills would begin to dull even without them noticing until the day that they tasted the cold steel of their opponent in an untimely death. Thus, one always needed to be striving to improve their body, mind, spirit, and style in an attempt to reach utter perfection as a fighter. The dark-haired fighter was truly the only one that actually brought any interest to the golden eyes of the Toukai now as he was forced to dodge back from every other attack launched by the man and his frenzied partner. While the other swordsman wasn't bad it would be easy to say that his moves were simply average at best and the mercenary pondered on if he should have killed this one instead of the one who seemed to be the leader of the trio. Sighing lightly to himself it was a bit late to consider that as he stepped forward to meet the fellow swordsmen head on delivering a powerful sweeping blow force the heavy sword wielder to block out right. A terrible decision against someone as strong as Hoka who followed through with a bit more force than he had been exerting through the fight so far sending the brown headed man flying off over ten meters away before he came crashing down into the earth uncontrollably. "Don't just stand there...that's how you die, kid." Unseen smile found itself upon the massive man's mouth now, despite being unseen because of the face mask he wore, as the whisper like words slipped through the air between the remaining swordsman and himself now. The fear was now more present in the young man's eyes than ever before as he realized for the first time that despite their best attempts to suppress the 'Ghost' he had simply been biding his time and even holding back most likely. Did he simply wish to toy with them and allow for them to build up their confidence before brutally ripping it away?

It was the words from Hoka that snapped the fighter out of the blank trance he had entered seeing his comrade in arms knocked away like a tiny insect leaving on himself to face the growing monster in front of him, he had heard the 'myths' about the man from the well-known mercenary group, but they had led him to believe that they were highly exaggerated but how was he to have known that they weren't able to describe the true strength of this monster. The lumbering mercenary allowed for the serrated weapon to be lifted with one arm as the large weapon pointed its rounded tip towards the man now as if calling him out. "Fight to survive or die like a coward..." The words flowed from the masked shinobi's mouth towards the single remaining swordsman as it seemed to pierce straight into the man's soul as the blades within either hand had their tips fall until each just barely touched the blood-soaked ground of the battlefield. Those truly were the only choices that he had right now, either he fought for even the faintest of chances to survive or laid down like some type of coward and let someone simply take his life as easy as stepping on an ant. But he was not an ant! Hoka watched on for a few moments as the man's eyes went from despair to something different as if some type of resolve had come over the man or perhaps a moment of clarity now as he suddenly launched himself against the masked Ghost now in an all-out assault that was even faster and more ferocious than before somehow.



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[Zao]

Part 9: The end



While the experienced swordsman's foot work and movements were above part for even a highly experienced taijutsu user this man actually was able to suppress him on his own now as a small cut appeared on his right shoulder, right bicep, and the outside of his left thigh. Despite holding back some while fighting the crazed swordsman now, he felt that if they had been on the same level of speed and strength then he would definitely be in some serious trouble and would need to resort to the abilities of the power within him to deal with that level of threat. But it was just this kind of pressure that men like the mercenary truly needed to be able to not only feel alive but to actually build up experience that would sooner or later lead to breakthroughs in either the body physically or their skill in wielding their weapon of choice. The small wounds did nothing to actually harm the man but instead they gave him the feeling of being alive for once! "Is this the best you can muster? I think it's almost time to end out fight...!" The mercenary spoke out loud without regard for the fact that they were intertwined in battle as the clashing of the dual swords against his own continuously shot out displays of sparks as the other man was careful with each strike to keep the swords from becoming entangled within the reverse curved blades on the World Breaker. It was in that moment that this stranger seemed to have some sort of breakthrough or epiphany with his sword style now as it became increasingly more fluid between its offensive and defensive attacks that at one point Hoka couldn't tell the different between the two as they pushed back and forth against one another at a rapid pace.

Hoka's face tightened as a series of small wounds started to appear upon his left leg, forearms, and finally on the right side of his face as the shallow cut separated the mask from his face as it fell off to one side revealing the scarred face of the swordsman. The swords moved in such a fashion that being able to reliably predict their movements was even a challenge for the experienced jounin, this was something he had seen very rarely within the clashes with other swordsmen, especially outside the village. For the first time he now reached up with his strong hand, the right hand, allowing for it to grasps the worn looking hilt of the weapon along with the left hand as he planned to finally fight with his full potential now despite still refraining from unleashing his completely strength upon the boy. Such would be complete over kill and wouldn't allow for him to continue observing the man's movements and sword style like he wished to do but he couldn't let this continue without offering a little something in return for what the man had managed to do to him. Through sheer force the man turned a slashing attack into a thrust by switching grips mid strike as the weapon drove down toward the slender fighter's right side as the man attempted to dodge. Yet, the reversed curved blades only had to barely strike their target to fillet open the upper portion of the right arm rendering it completely unable to move let along wield a sword as the dual sword style of the young man was now forced down to a single blade. What would this man do now...would he continue fighting, attempt to flee, or simply accept his approaching death with some form of honor?

Without even missing a beat the right arm dropped the sword as the man kicked the side of the blade causing it to twirl before striking it again sending it careening tip first at Hoka as it drove itself into the left bicep of the man before coming to a stop sticking three inches out the inside of the thick bicep of the muscular man. Instead of a crying out in pain the young man simply started to laugh quietly before it grew into almost a roar of laughter as he held the massive zanbato with the left hand still and reached underneath to slowly remove the punctured swords before letting it fall to the ground afterwards. "So, you still have some fight in you after all, good...good." The man was once more completely stunned by the massive 'Ghost' man who towered over him now lifting the large weapon high into the air as if preparing to swing down one final time to end his life. But even now he couldn't move for the first time and simply smiled awaiting his death at the hands of this monster, a death worth of a swordsman now yet it never came. Slowly he came back to reality to realize the beast of a man was now where to be seen with the only evidence that he was even there was a dark piece of cloth that had been part of the half face mask he had been wearing that now lay upon the dark red earth soaking up blood....he had been spared as a result of giving the swordsman some new insights that would help grow his own swords and fighting styles. Though who was to say if the injured dark-haired man would be able to make it off the battlefield alive, that was another story.

This was due to the battles there were unfolding around him, while being wrapped up in his own life and death encounter, the other members of the mercenary unit that he belonged to were also fighting toe-to-toe with others. Taking the weapon into his good arm after tying some bandaging around the injured right bicep through his left hand and teeth, the black-haired warrior let a smile form on his lips suppressing the pain that was radiating from each of his wounds. Now that he'd dealt with this danger he would be able to move more freely across the battlefield to assist his fellow brethren. Bending at the knees and letting out a long breath of air he propelled himself forward and with a swing of the long-bladed sword from left to right he was able to bisect a enemy as his surprise attack caught the man unable to block as the two blades in his hands were entangled with those of Chu, a rogue like fighter that had taught Hoka about using multiple weapons at once to overwhelm opponents. The man could only see his world flipping on its side and in the next moment the lifeless eyes were staring upwards at the darkening skies as the rain was coming. With only a simple nod between the two mercenaries the each looked in an opposite direction and in the next moment both were seen sprinting off at the top speed that could muster in order to assist other members.

Now with both of them free on the field of slaughter to assist, the tide of the original battle was quickly turned and those that were able to escape from the area quickly did while the other members of the unit alongside Hoka and Chu mopped up the stragglers who had been to injured to run away. Soon the group of six bloody men of different shapes, sizes, and ages stood in a circle in the middle of a number of deceased fighters, 'Well, you didn't die kid, good job.' The leader of the group didn't say it outload, but his words were communicated through the smile on his face and look in his eye as he glanced over to Hoke and gave him proud nod.


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