Training Push (Lonely)

[Zao]

From within the dense jungle the foxlike shinobi broke through the thick undergrowth before him as he seemed to have finally given way to a clearing, though one was able to almost immediate that this clearing was not some natural formation within the center of the harsh jungle environment. 'Finally...' Hisato couldn't help but to unconsciously let out a relief as the last two days and nights had been nothing be a truly hellish experience within the deep jungles of Star country as everything within them seemed to fall above him on the food chain as he'd been pursued by giant snakes that size of large spirit summons, huge insects that were the same size or larger than himself, very intelligent pack hunting dinosaurs that had tracked him a hand full of times and on two occasions nearly led him into an ambush that could have taken his life. But all those aside his heart was still bounding as there was a faint rumble that rolled through the very ground, he was standing upon causing for him to look over his shoulder back into the darkness created within the triple canopy jungle of the Ancient Rest area. This was because he could feel the minor earthquake like shaking that passed through the ground to him with each step the massive creature took as he could faintly make out its shadowy outline within the jungle a few hundred meters behind him, the boy wasn't sure on the exact size but he'd crossed paths briefly twice and in one account it managed to snap up one of those human sized dinosaurs with one bite that had been chasing him. Hisato felt that it was sheer luck that instead of him it had been the Dino chasing him down for lunch that day, but if he had to guess it stood well over fifteen meters tall and seemed to be the apex predator of the region he found himself in but for now it had halted and seemed to be gazing out from within the jungle towards the youth who took a few steps back leading him a little bit further from the edge of the treelined he had just exited a few moment ago. His back was toward a massive fort like creation that had been placed here by a coordinated effort of many different countries in order to establish at least a semblance of a safe spot to rest within once one managed to pass to the central area of the crater. 'Hitachi-san must be in there...' Anyone would have been a bit sour at the fact that their master had just left them to fend for themselves in such a dangerous maze of death filled with out those prehistoric create that each had the strength to kill a normal human. This place really wasn't one that normal people should venture into. He had thought that the older Tsukino would at least come out to greet him after managing to survive and make it to this point, shaking his head as he gazed back at the dark jungle that surrounded this safe haven area, he quickly advanced towards one of the shut gates which opened slowly to reveal a tall, muscular fellow with five silver tails who looked down with a smirk on his face. "Look at that, this is the second time that you haven't died. What luck you have." The large man had a deep voice as he spoke out and laughed lightly before waving with one of his hands to hurry up before turning around and starting to walk away, though he had a look of approval for his young dagger being able to survive and make it to the central area safe point. The massive iron gates were sealed behind the single tailed fox ninja as he looked around seeing the powerful looking walls that stretched thirty or forty meters into the air and had a number of watch towers that were manned with a security detail. He hadn't been able to tell from the outside, but this really was a well-constructed fortress area that spanned about six hundred meters across with a number of gated off layers that could be used to fall back from layer to layer if one of the outer sections was breached. He sighed in amazement as he quickened his pace to keep up with the long-legged Tsukino ahead of him.

A short while later after passing through two different checkpoint areas with large gates just like the first one on the exterior wall had, a number of samurai looking figures were paired with more muscular looking barbarians at each gate in groups numbering as high as eight who guarded the area. As they had been walking the third blade had pointed out to the young dagger that within the confines of the fortress all acts of violence were forbidden. As everything outside the gates was trying to kill them there was an ironclad law within that made this area a true safe space, if someone wished to break that law they would be punished with the sentence of death. Thus, very few had ever tried to get away with injuring or killing another within the confines of the war fort. Finally, the duo passed into the fourth layer of the fortress area and retired too appeared to be a standalone building but as Hitachi led the youth into their new home for the time being he discovered that there was another Kiri shinobi already there, but he didn't recognize them as being from the Swordsmen nor had he seen this older man who had a mixture of salt and pepper hair with a long beard that was braided together stretching down to his chest. "Greeting, old man." The old man smirked at the younger shinobi's greeting and simply nodded before traversing his dark eyes to the young man next to the tall swordsman, "So this is your dagger now?" Hitachi to at this point looked over to see Hisato and then back to the old man who was still seated on a small sitting pillow in a position which was similar to a lotus position that monks might use to meditate on the Buddha. "Not bad. He should rest before we start." The old man, known as Juu, spoke again and then seemed to relax and close his eyes as if he was about to fall asleep as Hisato blurted out, "Start what?" Hitachi only smiled but didn't speak directly about what the two older Kiri-nin had in mind, but it was obvious that it had something to do with him and it was already starting to irritate him with just the brief interaction. Huffing a bit, he left the room and found an empty bedroom to rest in as he locked the door behind him, not wanting to be awakened by any of those two's plans and almost immediately passed out with his crystalline blade in his hand as he slept. It felt like a short nap, but the young man had already slept long enough for the sun that had been rising when he had arrived to no have already set behind the tall canopy of the gigantic trees which hid the truly terrifying beasts within its dark void. Without warning the young man instantly set up from his slumber, the nigh invisible blade slashed out in an arch as it swished past a shadow in the unlit room but the figure it had attacked easily dodged the blade. "So, you've finally decided to get up? You've been asleep over ten hours at this point." The voice was truly unfamiliar as the black robed Tsukino pointed the razor thin exotic blade towards whoever it was speaking to him, just then the shadow lit a small candle revealing the old beard covered face of the man who had introduced himself as Juu and was a companion of his master, the third blade Hitachi. "What do you want old man, I could have killed you there." This response from the apprehensive young man only made the older Kiri-nin laugh out loud before shaking his head, "With what skill would you have killed me? Even though that blade is unique everything you could use against me would still be unable to shake my foundation. " Shaking his head lightly from side to side he then took a step back and turned around walking over to unlock the still locked door before walking out leaving the door open allowing for the light from the main room to flood into his bedroom now.

"Who the fuck is this dude?" Though he spoke the question aloud it was more so to himself than directed at any one person now as he gathered himself and after sheathing the razor then blade the youth exited his room and joined the two older Kiri-nin at the small table, seating himself on the opposing side of Juu and to the left of Hitachi now. There weren't to many words spoke as the group of shinobi sat quietly and ate some ramen which had an odd dark meat in it that he'd never tasted before. It actually wasn't too bad and had a big game like taste similar to venison as he could only conclude that it must be local meat from the beasts that prowled the jungle outside the strong city walls. Finally, after the meal was finished the older Tsukino was the first to speak now as he glanced first at his old friend and then back towards his young dagger. "I have invited my old teammate Juu to help train your mind just as I have been training your body." Hisato looked over and gave both the old men a questioning look but didn't interrupt as Hitachi gestured with his hand towards the aged man across from them. "Indeed, my friend says that you actually have some talent in the illusionary arts. Only a handful of shinobi have truly been able to learn the subtle arts and then intertwin them into a true fighting style. The mass of muscle beside you is a powerful fighter but has no talent in genjutsu." Juu didn't mind taking a quick stab at his old friend who simply shook his head back in return to the jesting now before the old man continued. "We will train your mind and your ability to resist genjutsu to allow your own path to be broadened in the future. Let's go ahead and get started then shall we." Without beating around the bush, the man's wrinkled fingers twisted into a series of seals before he pointed out towards the young man's forehead. "Stay put." Just as Hisato was about to rise and say something in rebuttal to the old man chains burst from the floor of the around him and started to wrap around his lower body. Instinctively he drew his thin bladed sword and slashed down planning to slice through these strange chains as he struggled against them with all his strength, but his strike seemed to simply bounce off the blades without affecting them in the slightest. 'These aren't real?!' It was in that moment that he realized that he'd been entrapped within an illusion from the old man with just the point of his finger. "These chains..." Finally, he managed to shift the focus of his dull grey eyes onto the old man across from him who simply smiled back at him letting him know that his thoughts were indeed correct. Hisato quickly formed a hand seal and used the 'KAI' technique to send a pulse of his chakra throughout his entire body in order to attempt to break the technique, the end result was the chains instantly disappeared and the youth no longer found himself restrained as he rose with a frowning face. But that face quickly turned into a smirk as he sheathed his sword in one fluid motion now and returned to the previous seat he was setting at. "I'm intrigued, I've never really met anyone who was talented in illusions..." This could be just the thing that he was looking for as he needed to improve his own personal strength alongside his genjutsu, he needed to establish a firm foundation in the latter and that was something that this old man might actually be able to help him with.

This was indeed a wonderous occasion for the youth as he couldn't help but smile from ear to ear as he took a deeper look at the old, bearded man who set across from him. "Well, I do know a few tricks. But..." He paused to stroke his rough beard in thought as he glanced over to the third blade who just nodded and got up, only needing a few steps to move across the room with his long stride before exiting the room out onto the dirty streets leaving the two alone for a while. "Hah, little Hitachi has always been a unique one. Anyways..." The older man refocused his attention on the black furred Tsukino setting across from him once more as he began to speak to him once more, "...I'll need to test your will power to see just what level I can push you too." As he spoke an inky glow started to form around his outline as it spread out into the air around him almost like it was smoke twisting and twirling around itself. "Let's chat somewhere else." The words triggered a unique type of genjutsu that warped the reality around them as the environment seemed to blur and when it came back into focus the two shinobi appeared to be outside. But Hisato was able to quickly realize that this wasn't the dark jungles outside the fortress that they had previously been in, no he was very familiar with this type of foliage and environment, that was because it was a training area he'd used before inside the Mist village "What?!" Of course, he was able to rationalize that he had been pulled into some strange form of illusion by just the old man's words but as he looked upwards just above the mist about ten meters off the ground were hundreds of swords that seemed to just be hanging there in space, almost as if they were frozen in time. The sheer number of them caused for the ninja's heart to clench with fear, if all those blades were to descend at once he'd have no chance at all to survive and would be turned into a human pin cushion. Across from him in the misty environment standing about ten or so meters from the youth appeared the unarmed old man who shook his head seeing the kid in a state of shock. "This is better, no?" He laughed lightly to himself as he raised a single hand and with his index finger made a come here motion, the jester held a bit of mockery at the youth as if saying that he wouldn't even need to draw a weapon to defend against the boy and his low level of insight. "Alright old man, try not to die in one strike." Though his heart still held a hint of fear due to the uncertainty of things he would not shy away or back down from this old guy as his left hand reached up and drew his sword now settling down into aggressive stance before launching himself forward with great speed that his body seemed to blur from sight, wishing to show off the large gains from his relentless training schedule. And yet, it was like his speed didn't matter and as he took only his third step a shooting pain entered the left thigh that he was about to use to explode forth causing him to studder as he fell with his next step.

All his opponent had done was point downward a second before and now as Hisato looked down to see what had happened to his leg his eyes nearly came out of their sockets as he found that a sword had plunged all the way through his leg from the inside of the thigh punching out the outer thigh, sinking all the way up to the hand guard before it had stopped. When?! How?! Was this part of the illusion? Before he could speak another blade slammed down into his hand and pinned the right hand into the ground sending another wave of pain recking through the youth's body. A strange, evil sounding laughter leaked from the old man's body that seemed to be almost cloaked in black smoke at the moment to the point that one could only see the whites of his eyes and his white teeth as he laughed and pointed two fingers towards the earth and two additional swords disappeared and stabbed down from above one pinning the right leg to the ground straight through the right calf and the other pinned the left hand to the ground as Hisato lost his grip upon the crystalline blade that he prided himself in. He couldn't move his arms or legs as the old man just shook his head, an eerie smirk on his lips as he started to casually take one step at a time forward before flicking his hand causing a sword to appear out of nowhere in front of Hisato and plunge into his left shoulder and then another casual wave of his hand the strange foe sent another stabbing through the right shoulder. The pain from being stabbed constantly couldn't be held in anymore as he let out a blood curdling scream before his head fell forwards as the youth couldn't hold it up as the pain racked his body from head to toe. "Welcome to my world, but you can call it hell if you wish." The stranger's words seemed to calm, almost as though they were being spoken warmly to the bleeding genin as he could barely move his finger, Jun formed his right hand as though he was gripping a sword causing one to appear within the fingers of his right hand before he stabbed the child before him in the stomach until the blade pushed just barely out of the lower back causing another shriek of pain to leap from the swordsman's lips, especially as the old man turned the blade one hundred and eighty degrees allowing for the cutting edge to face upwards as he readjusted his grip before slowly starting to drag it upwards. Blood spilled from the abdominal wound and Hisato himself choaked up a mouthful of blood that he spat out upon the muddy ground that was starting to become stained with the Kiri-nin's crimson life essence now. He felt weaker and weaker, to the point that it was all that he was able to accomplish just to hold his eyes open and keep himself from blacking out at this point as the old man just smiled softly again and let go of the blade that remained stuck in the boy's stomach and reached out to gently pat him on the head between his sagging black furred fox ears. "Not bad kid, I'm surprised you haven't passed out yet. Let me go ahead and end this pain for you." With a wave of his left hand now another blade appeared from out of thin air and with a precision stab the blade was plunged right into Hisato's left upper chest and directly into the center of his heart, nearly cleaving the heart in two halves as the boy passed out from the pain.

His eyes snapped open, and he was back int the dimly lit room seated across from the old man who was still warmly smiling at him, 'What kind of fucked up guy is he to be smiling at me like that after what he just did?!' Even though it had only been a genjutsu the mental trauma he suffered caused for him to reach out needing both hands to keep from falling flat on his face as he coughed up a handful of blood onto the thatch floor mat, he was seated upon. "It was only an illusion...but..." The youth's breathing was labored, and his mind was splitting while his body was still registering the faint phantom pains from where his body had been stabbed in that illusionary world that the fellow Kiri shinobi had pulled his mind into. This was his first time truly being on the receiving end of a genjutsu of such power that its effects continued to linger on after the illusion itself had ended. If this had been a real encounter then Hisato wouldn't have even been able to raise his sword to defend or fight back making him an easy kill for the opponent, luckily that wasn't the case, but he still needed a few moments to recover, finally drawing his breathing under control as he managed to lean back and choak back a hint of the metallic taste of blood that was still in the back of his mouth. "Jeeze, that was a bit much, asshole." A hint of a smirk managed to form on the boy's lips as he shot out a set of rather unpleasant words shaking his head. It honestly took all he could muster in terms of sheer will power to not collapse onto the floor next to him and become an embarrassment to himself and his teacher the third blade of the Swordsmen. "Not too bad kid, most people pass out after having suffered such arduous torture, it would seem that not only do you have some gumption about yourself, but you've been the target of some rather harsh physical training, too."

The old man one more stroked his pointed beard, his dull eyes scanning over the youth before him as the hint of a smile cracked on the corners of his lips causing for the wrinkles that came with his age to appear slightly upon his face. He couldn't help but let out a light praise for this kid that his young friend Hitachi had brought to him, at first he had simple offered to help train the youth out of a debt that he owed the swordsman who had saved his life on a handful of different occasions that occurred during the conflict driven great war as he traveled alongside Hitachi and other Mist shinobi who pushed deep into fire country and even entered the gates of their most revered enemy, Konoha! He was able to see that even though the youth before him held a great deal of talent in the arts of swordsmanship, otherwise Hitachi would not have bothered to train this kid, that perhaps he held an equal level of skill in the illusionary arts which in itself was something rare and unique. Very few more so than casually dabbled in the art as it was very difficult to master and progress in plus if one failed to entrap a target in their illusions then most were not that physically strong and would need to resort back to either long range physical or ninjtusu combat to keep them from closing the gap. But for the boy in front of him who was also skilled in close combat and sword arts it would make him a rather dangerous foe to be placed up against who was able to use illusions to supplement his already impressive taijutsu and kenjutsu, judging from what the older Tsukino had told him when he'd brought up the conversation of having this old man help out a bit. Instead of helping out, he too wished to bring this boy under his wing as a type of apprenticeship so that he could begin to finally pass down some of his self-developed illusion techniques so that he could truly begin to test the aptitude that Hisato possess, in hopes that he possessed the ability to learn the most complex of illusions that very few had ever touched upon the level of Warp genjutsu. But he could tell that Tsukino youth had only trained on his own with no guidance into the art field, without any real guiding posts to follow it was difficult to have to stumble one's way through the dark and make advancements. Yet, if he had the old genjutsu expert to guide and help answer the questions that he had then his road of progression would not only be much smoother but also allow for him to advance much more quickly than his current pace.

"Let us continue to see just how much you've steeled your mental capacities." With just those words the old man's wrinkled hand lifted from the cup of tea that he'd just placed back down on the table and the single index finger extended towards the youth's forehead. On the other side of the table the youth was soaked in sweat from just the experience of the last genjutsu technique, but he knew that this would be the quickest way for him to increase his own mental fortitude. Doing so would strength his mind against enemy illusions and also steel his mind to be able to make quick, tough decision in the future combat missions he would undoubtedly be placed in as an up-and-coming dagger. Even one day the man would need to strike down his own family member and master in order to ascend into his position among the grand Seven. Without moving or resisting the old man's touch he felt the gentle tap upon his forehead but to him nothing happened, unlike the last genjutsu that instantly warped him into a strange realm of the creator's own imagination. "Were you just fucking with me right then?" Already a bit pissed off from being exposed to the last technique Hisato couldn't help but allow a bit of his frustrations out at the wrinkled old man who only smiled and went back to drinking his tea. Shaking his head the swordsman in training placed his sweaty hands on the table and used it as a means to stand up now as he needed some fresh air at the moment, even if it wasn't outside in the dangerous forest at least out of this room. But before he managed to stand completely up a cyan blue crystal rapier thrust out of the corner of his eye, its aim was directly into the side of Hisato's head as he managed to push off the short table just in time as the blade rushed in front of his eyes leaving a laceration across the bridge of his nose.

"This!" His back slammed into the cold stone floor, nearly taking his breath away as droplets of his own crimson life essence trickled into his right eye forcing him to close it slightly while the blade that was thrust out earlier from above him withdrew rapidly as a second was launched from the muscular man's left arm stabbing straight down at his chest this time as though he wished to pin the 'genin' directly to the stone floor he was laying upon in that moment. Out of almost instinct alone he kicked the table that he had previously seated upon as the old man seemed to only put his hand against it gently causing it to barely move from the kick as he used the force of his legs pushing against the furniture to slide across the floor dodging the downward thrust that easily sliced into the hard stone floor. Allowing for the momentum to carry him now the swordsman rolled backwards and then as his feet touched the floor, he kicked off creating more space as his left hand rapidly withdrew his own crystalline sword from its sheath over his left shoulder in the moment. Two tapping sounds were heard, this was each of the soles of the boy's sandals making contact with the stone wall of the room furthest from the two men, the large Hitachi wielding two of his seven blades and the old man who was smiling as he sipped on his tea against with one hand on the teacup. Drip, drip. Off the tip of the Kiri-nin's injured nose blood slowly dripped down onto the floor, the sound unheard by most but the two Tsukino would be able to hear a literal pin drop. Hisato was able to fully assess that both attacks from his mentor were made without holding back in the least, each move filled will killer intent to the point that if he hadn't managed to escape the wrath of either then he would be cadaver on the cold floor of this isolated room. Dull grey eyes scanned left to right and back rapidly as he took in the room and the tiny fighting space that he found himself in against the silver devil.

The opponent was far more experienced when it came to kenjutsu or taijutsu, just from having been a shinobi longer and not to mention that he also had five more swords that he could use against Hisato if he really wanted to fight at one hundred percent of his true capabilities. Meanwhile, the genin only had his single blade for the time being, perhaps this was telling him that if he didn't die in this forsaken place in the middle of this weird ass country that he should probably attempt to mimic his teacher and put into practice the user of multiple swords. Something up unto this point he really hadn't even put in his mind as he was still trying to perfect and master the use of a single blade incorporated with his own illusionary style of swordsmanship. Guess it was no or never. Drawing in a deep breath the man expanded his lungs and his mind sharpened and his finely toned muscles expanded slightly now and as he exhaled that same breath he let loose a 'Kiai!, the powerful yell expanding from his open mouth caused the older Tsukino to flinch back slightly as Hisato launched himself with strength above what he had perceived from the boy's abilities earlier as the slash came almost to quick for him to react as he raised his blade up to blade. The two crystalline blades clashed, and Hitachi was the one who was pushed back as the colliding blade made a droning sound as the two men separated now, Hitachi raising an eyebrow as he was not only overpowered just slightly but his speed had dropped, did it have something to do with the kiai-like yell from the kid? Forming hand seals with his right hand only, the shinobi slide backwards after the collision as his sandals touched down on the dirty floor, he couldn't give the man any time to gather himself or draw more swords at this point and went straight into back into the attack on his master.

The boy's body appeared to divide into three Hisato's now as one came straight at the man, one came to the left, and the other from the right as it appeared from Hitachi's point of view that he was being attacked from three sides at once. But not even this was enough to push the man into a corner as the illusion only effected the sight of the man, his other senses especially hearing was tuned well above that of any normal fighter and suddenly two blades were draw by two of his snow-white tails as they slashed out to the left and right sides passing cleaning through the two illusions as if they were simply air. The pair of swords in the man's hands slashed and thrusted simultaneously as one parried the slash and the second pierced right through his lack of a guard and directly into the boy's chest. Despite his advantage in speed and strength he was still overwhelmed in numbers and from the man's fighting experience. The blow was a fatal one as he felt his vision dimming and his sword finally slip from his hand as he was still hanging in the air, impaled by Hitachi's sword at this point. Just as his eyes closed for the final time, they suddenly reopened to reveal him seated across from the old man and his master seated beside him just like before. 'An illusion? But it felt so real...' His wide-open eyes looked across at the old man who only smile and spoke. "Now you know, little friend."


Word count = 5420/4000 = +13 Will Power