The Epic Tale of Inka

[Ace Trainer]

The boy hit the ground running. He had descending from a building and the moment his left foot hit the ground, his right was in stride. It seemed almost as if he was running for his life, the speed he was using, the quick, rapid turns he was taking once he was on the streets. The way he weaved through the maze of the village indicated he was running from something. It was almost like he was in danger. But the one was fact that seemed to contradict any suggestion that he was running in fear.

The grin on his face was contagious. That was really the only word to describe it. It was full, ear it ear, and seemed to resonate throughout every feature on his face. His eyes bright blue sparkled with such glee that it was intoxicating. Oh to be young and free like this, many dreamed of it. But Inka? Oh, Inka was living it. Still the question remained where he was going. He didn't look back behind him at any point, so it was impossible to tell if he was being chased. Despite the fact that it was only about 8 in the morning, Inka was doused in sweat from his run, and was still going. It was going to be a hot day, just like every other in Sunagakure no Sato. The large sand wall that was currently blocking the sun on it's rise shone a magnificent gold from the light bouncing off it's surface. Oh yeah, Sunagakure was just 'beautiful.'. Unfortunately, while Inka had been taking in the beautiful of his village, he had gotten confused, and taken a wrong turn. He was now in a dead end. Back to the wall, he sighed, "You win", he put his hands in the air and feigned forfeiture.

Another figure seemed to fall from the sky, and appear at the opening to the alley way. Before Inka could react, seals were being formed an a huge ball of fire came flying down the alley. Inka was caught off guard, his eyes opened wide. His hands shot down to his mouth and the ball of fire disappearing to Inka's gullet, he had eaten the whole thing. He let out a huge grin, and smoke floated out of his nostrils, "Time for breakfast, eh Sensei?", Inka asked. The man who, to anyone else, appeared to have just attempted to murder Inka, laughed and nodded, "Well I'm hungry for real food, yes. If you'd like to accompany me.", Inka nodded, and as the man jumped up into the sky, Inka followed.

It took them only minutes to arrive at the small shoppe they'd be having breakfast at, and Inka followed the special jounin obediently as he was lead into the shop and took his seat. The waitress was quick to come and serve them, she took his sensei's order, than looked at him patiently. The Yuusha didn't understand at first, and then laughed, "I know, I've already got my food.", he pulled out his lighter and flipped it open, lifting the flame with his tongue and swallowing it. The woman nodded in understanding and scurried off.

"So what'd ya wanna talk about today, eh?", he asked, turning the flame on and off, eating it like candy.

"Well, Inka, its time we started taking your training very seriously."

Inka cocked a brow, immediately confused, "Eh? I thought we were.", he retorted, "I'm always serious about training, sensei."

The special jounin smiled at his young mentee, "Yes, but there are rumours going about. The village is looking for a young shinobi to take up a very important role, and your name happens to be in the mix of suggestions.", he explained.

Inka slammed both his hands on the table, "EHHHH!? MY NAME? WHATS THIS ROLE?", he shouted, he was standing on the chair at this point, the excitement filling him.

His mentor laughed a big hearty laugh. Inka never thought much about it, but hearing him laugh always reminded him how big his sensei was. Daian was a pretty large guy, his broad shoulders and wide chest made him very physically imposing. His short buzzed hair, and his standard shinobi outfit made him seem very professional as far as shinobi go. He likely had a low body fat percentage, and it was evident he put a high value in physical capability. More than likely his role as Inka's mentor was chosen because Inka's clan typically called for a lot of taijutsu, which this man was surely capable of. However, another contributing factor had to be his inherently nice demeanor. He seemed like a very nice guy, constantly nodding and smiling to the waitress when she came by and thanking her. He had a calmness about him, which is why despite his humongous body, he wasn't in the least bit intimidating. "Yes, your name. Unfortunately, the exact details of the role were not in the rumour mill, only that it was important. Your name was suggested by your clan, so your clan elders may know more details, but your parents have told me that you have the full support of them, and the clan, and they implore that I convince you to take the task of getting the role seriously, beginning with your training."

That left Inka confused again, "Eh? Have you been telling them I'm not taking it seriously? I take all my training seriously. But yes, sensei, yes yes yes. Please teach me everything I need to know to do this!", he had clasp his hands together at this point and was shaking his hands at the teacher, begging him.

Daian grinned him and nodded, "Good, I'm glad we're taking this seriously.", his food had been dropped off, so he began eating at this point. "I can't teach you much about your clan, you'll have to train that stuff on your own. But I will teach you all I can about taijutsu and close quarters combat. The point being that you combine my taijutsu brilliance, and the best your clan has to offer, to be a wrecking ball. You have the spirit to be a stunning close quarters combatant, quite honestly. You're a stunning fighter, and you've got a flare about you.", he chuckled at his own joke.

Inka smiled happily at the compliment, "I do what I can, sensei. So is that all? I wanna start training. Or is there more...eh??", he was laid back in his seat at this point, though he was captivated by the conversation. It was clear he had something else on his mind. It must of been the news he had just received, that he had been hand picked for a small group of people to compete for some sort of role. The others might not even know that they were in the running. They wouldn't know that they needed to be on their best. They wouldn't know that failure wasn't an option. They wouldn't know that they had to be as strong as possible.

But Inka knew.

Yes, Inka knew. Inka had an advantage over anyone who didn't know that something was happening. Inka could win this race, whatever race it was. Did he want the prize? Oh yes, Inka wanted anything and everything. Inka would be strong, he would be the strongest. And this opportunity, whatever it was, would give it to him. The special jounin smiled at Inka again, very clearly reading into everything that was being thought in Inka's head. "There is something else, you are correct.", he said.

Inka perked up instantly, "Ehh? Something else! What is it sensei??", he demanded.

"Well, being as your training regime is about to take a huge pick up. We're put in a formal training request with the village. There will be no missions for you, no meetings Your schedule will be strictly upheld by myself. You will get very few breaks. For the next 3 months, you are expect to prime yourself to be the best. You will be given chuunin opponents, you will be given genin opponents, animal opponents. Anything and everything you can. You will be primed to be the very best, Inka.", he started to finish up his plate. "That's all though. So once I finish, we will begin our training.", he smiled and took a big bite.

Inka nodded. So he was done being a shinobi of sunagakure for 3 months and take on a full training schedule. He loved it. It was perfect. Sure, he didn't get to go on missions, which was unfortunate. But, he got to be trained constantly, for those 3 months. It would be great. It would be fantastic. Yes, Inka was excited.

[Ace Trainer]

Taijutsu Stat Training

[Ace Trainer]

Inka's training had been intense...too intense even. He was at a physical breaking point almost every day. His sensei had been unrelenting, hammering into him everything he knew to ensure that Inka would be at his very best. Yes, Inka would struggle, and struggle a lot. It wasn't easy training, not at all. Inka sat on the roof of the building he had just been training in. The suna was setting in the distance. When he had last been outside when the sun hadn't even been up yet. He had been training all day, evident by the bruises covering his entire body. His exhausted expression, and over-all defeated posture made it clear that Inka had pretty much had the shit beaten out of him all day.

It had only been a week at this point. And it had probably been the hardest training Inka had ever experienced. It wasn't like the exhaustion of all his chakra when he was training a ninjutsu. No, this was like he had the spirit to keep going, but his body just couldn't keep going. He sighed, and pushed himself up to his feet. Only to be barreled down by a body. He fell off the roof, the body pinned against him. Instinct set in, and he adjusted himself, hitting the ground in a graceful land. He turned to see who had ran into him. He wanted to shout, obviously annoyed. But he couldn't muster the energy. So with a defeat look, Inka set his eyes on the girl that had hit him.

Oh my lord. Inka was in love instantly. She looked lost, her eyes wide and wild as she tried to figure out what had just happened. Finally, the panicked look on her face relaxed, and she slowly stood up from the ground. Wiping the dirt off of her kimono, her eyebrows slowly came together in confusion, "Where did you come from?", she said obviously lost. Finally on her feet, and her mind back on what was going on. She pulled her clothes straight, and started adjusting her hair. It was long, hanging down to her butt in a pulled back pony tail. She had to adjust a few stray strands, pushing them behind her ear. Her kimono was an eventide color, transitioning from a light blue at her chest, down to a deep orange at her knees. Her vibrant blue eyes were locked onto Inka's, still confused on what was going on.

"Well uh, I was sitting on the roof. And...right as I was standing up, you hit me. And you uhm...you pushed me off the end. And we fell off. Why are you asking me anyways, eh?", Inka was probably even more confused than she was. She hit him! Yet she was asking what he was doing? He wanted to be mad at her. But, for one, he was too tired to be that mad. And two...wow she was stunning. Like, absolutely breath taking. She was probably a year or two older than him, evident by the fact that puberty had clearly already started to take effect for her. She was taller than him by like an inch or two, and she was wearing flats, so, it wasn't even that she had shoes to give her height. No, she was naturally taller than him. Realizing his attraction to her almost immediately, this frustrated him. Something told him girls didn't like boys that wee shorter than them.

"OH!", she responded. Her face immediately flushed pink and she grabbed his hand, yanking him down, bending over in front of him, "I"m so sorry! I was just doing some training! i didn't realize! Oh! I'm so sorry! Oh. Oh. Ohhh.", she was on the verge of tears. Her face was bright pink, and she was bowing to him, yanking his body down, clearly showing how apologetic she was. An additionally, giving him a very fabulous view of her breasts. Noticing this turned Inka bright pink as well. His eyes shooting all over the place to do everything to avoid looking at them. Finally she let go, and Inka kept his eyes in the sky, not able to even look her in the face.

"Ehhh? Don't worry about it. It's okay. Really.", he scratched the back of his head and slowly brought his eyes down, looking at her. It was like electricity. Did she feel the same sensation he did? Because he was enamored. In that instant, she stole his heart. Their eyes locked and everything melted away. It was just the two of them in this moment to Inka, he didn't know what to think, to say. Everything had just stopped...and wow. It was something else. "So what were you doing training up there anyways, eh?", he asked, trying to get something going. Anything going.

"Oh, well, my teacher told me to run a lot to increase my stamina. Oh! You have bruises all over your face! Did I do that!", it seemed that she too had been doing her best to avoid looking at Inka too much. Inka realized this, but told himself it was likely out of embarassment, not this attraction he had to her. No, Inka knew immediately that this girl was way out of his league. "I'm so sorry! Oh! How could I have done this to someone!", she was flush pink again. It seemed this girl was quite the drama queen.

Shaking his head, Inka laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of his head some more, "No, that wasn't you. I've been on a heavy training schedule and these are just fruits of my labor, I've got them all over my body.", he insisted. Doing his best not to make her start crying again. No, Inka did not want to see her cry.

"WHAT! All over!? What kind of training are you doing?"

"Just a lot of taijutsu training, physical limits stuff.", he was trying to use his tone to insist it was nothing important.

"Oh! I'm a medic! Please, come to our unit, I can fix up your bruises right quick. Its the least I can do for pushing you off a roof!", she grabbed his shoulder and shoved him, pushing him in the other direction to get going to her unit where she would be able to treat him. They had only met, and Inka was already getting a little TLC. He couldn't help but grin at the thought as the girl continued to shove him in the direction she wanted him to go. Maybe he could consider this their first date? Who knew, he didn't even know her name yet.

"Eh? Whats your name anyways?", he asked as she guided him around a corner.

"Oh! I haven't even told you that. Tenrai, Masayume at your sevice, Medic Extraordinaire!", she fist bumped. It was clearly she had a love for what she did, which made her even more fantastic in Inka's eyes. SHe might as well have been wearing a halo and wings, because she was an angel, sent straight down from the Kazekage. "Oh! And whats yours?"

"Eh, I don't have a title or nothin'. Yuusha, Inka.", he said.

'OH! A YUUSHA! YOU CAN EAT DIRT!", she exclaimed. "I don't see Yuusha very often, your compound is outside the village, isn't it?

"Eh? No, not dirt. I eat fire, But yeah, it is. We don't live inside the village, we live in a small oasis a few miles out."

"Fire!? No way! Show me!"

Inka laughed, people who weren't used to seeing Yuusha were usually like this. Taking out his lighter, he ignited it, watching her eyes get wide as they locked onto the lighter. Putting out his tongue, he placed it between the lighter ,and the actual flame, and just pulled it in. And just like that, it was gone.

"Oh wow!", she exclaimed, she was clearly impressed, and Inka couldn't help but blush knowing he could do something to amaze this girl that he thought was just the bees knees.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka had met the love of his life today. No doubt the most incredible gift the Kazekage could ever grant to him. She was funny and smart, a medic, she liked to smile, she blushed a lot. And boy was she beautiful. Inka sat on the table, his shirt off, and body tense to make him look as muscular as possible. He was trying not to blush, but the young kunoichi was standing opposite of him across the room, looking at him curiously, placing gloves on. She had knocked him off of a roof, and sent both of them tumbling down about two stories to the ground. What was going to be a brief sorry because a short little trip to her aide station when she noticed the bruises all over his body. As a way to say sorry to him, she was going to heal him up nice and quick.

It was night time, probably about 8 o'clock, 8:30, and Inka knew he'd be up bright and early at 0400, with just enough time to piss, and eat a bowl a cereal before his mentor, Gaian, came bursting through the door, dragging him off to the village to do more training. Sure, he had a agreed to this. Sure, the clan was counting on him. And sure, this training was all for him. And sure, he enjoyed getting stronger. But maybe Inka hadn't really realized how much he enjoyed just not caring about anything. He trained hard enough on a normal day, this though? This was insanity.

He kept his eyes on the ground, too embarrassed by his shirtlessness to look at her too much, especially since he was absolutely smitten by this young woman. "Are you nervous?", she asked as she turned around, noticing how tense he was. "You've never been treated through Iijutsu before, huh? It's painless, I promise.", she reassured him.

Inka smiled, laughing at himself for it, "No no, I'm not nervous. Though, you're right. I've never had it before. But I'm never scared of anything.", he asserted. She giggled, nodding.

"Good."

"So you're a medic?", he asked, unable to stop the stupid questino from escaping his lips once he realized how dumb it was.

"Oh, No, actually. I'm a genjutsu user. I just like to lure injured people into this aide station so I can torture their minds unsuspectingly.", she shot back at him, "Yes, I am, silly. My mom is one of Sunagakure's top botanists. She acts as the correspondent between the lead botanist and the green house she's in charge of, so she's pretty familiar when iijutsu. I just followed her foot steps."

"So you want to take your mom's job one day?", he asked.

"Oh no no no. I want to be the head botanist in all of Sunagakure, the current one works side by side with Kazekage-sama himself. After I get that job, I'm hoping Kazekage will choose me as his predecessor.", she was blushing at this point, Masayume wasn't one to tell everyone her dreams, so she turned her back to him again so he couldn't see her embarrassment.

"Ehh? You wanna be Kazekage? That's pretty cool. I just wanna be an official bannin for the village. I don't care too much about becoming Kazekage. That's a lot of responsibility you know?", he was impressed though. This girl he was smitten by had high hopes, he found that very endearing...and very enticing. He continued to sit there, trying to look at strong as possible as she continued to prepare everything for his treatment. Finally, she began to walk over.

"Alright, so I just need you to relax, okay? Breath like you normally would. It's not going to hurt at all.", and with that, she did a quick chain of hand seals, and her hands glowed with the faintest hint of green. She slowly began to massage his shoulder, and he could feel warmth penetrating his skin and almost immediately he began to feel better. Wow, this medic stuff was cool business. She seemed to be concentrating, so Inka said nothing to distract her, simply trying to appear tough and cool and good looking while she did her work. She worked slowly, and he could feel her calm breaths against his neck as she worked very close to ensure to got every bruise. He couldn't help but grin, trying his best to hide it. She was concentrating very closely, and likely wouldn't notice. She worked her way across his back, then down it. Then moved around his body, getting his chest. As she reached his abdomen, she paused, looking up at him in the eyes, blushing deeply.

Oh, young love. Inka quickly looked away, also blushing, trying his best to hide it. So she backed away and smiled, "All done...OH! Your eye!", she took his chin in one hand, and place her palm over his eye, slowly kneading the tissue around his orbits. Soon enough, his black eye was gone, and she backed away again, smiling at her handy work. "Oh! I think you look rather dashing now!", she said with a grin. How she loved being a medic!

Inka jumped to his feet, flexing, reaching, stretching and jumping to test out his healed wounds. His parents often made him heal on his own, Yuusha scarred so easily afterall that they were taught to just ignore injuries. A medic? Wow! This was incredible. He needed to see Masayume more often, if not for her beautiful face, for her fantastic medical skills, "Ehhh! This is incredible. Iijutsu wow! You're amazing Masayume!", he exclaimed in awe.

She looked down at her feet, blushing again. Inka didn't seem to understand that she was as equally enamored with him and he was with her. So it was lost on him when she looked at the ground, "Oh! Inka, why are you covered in so many scars by the way? I tried to heal them but they wouldn't go away. You have them all over your stomach and arms.", she seemed embarassed by the question because she wouldn't look him in the eyes.

"Ehh? They wouldn't? That's weird. I dunno, everyone in my clan has scars. Little cuts and scrapes and they just scar forever. That's why our older clan members will use war paint. Cause we get scars everywhere! Eventually it makes us super ugly.", he laughed, starting to redress himself.

"Oh! That's really weird. But so is eating fire, huh?", she giggled.

"Ehhh? Eating fire isn't weird.", Inka seemed offended by her comment, and she immediately broke his gaze. But he laughed, and though he wouldn't notice, she let out a big sigh of relief. She didn't want to upset him. Looking at the clock on the wall though, she suddenly got panicked.

"Oh! I have to go! Are you training again tomorrow? Come back here, same time! I'll heal you again!", she said excited. Suddenly, she grabbed Inka and hugged him.

Oh man. Inka's world stopped, he didn't hug her back at first, completely thrown off by what was happening. First she asked him to come back tomorrow! That meant she wanted to see him again, which MAN that was awesome. But even more, she hugged him. He was completely confused. He didn't understand what was happening at first. But slowly it all came together, he lifted his hands, returning the hug in an awkward way since she was hugging around his arms, and he tried to take in as much of the moment as he could. As quickly as time stopped, however, it resumed, and she released. Her face was a deep hue of red as she realize what she had done was absolutely ridiculous, "Oh...Uhm, sorry. See you tomorrow if you want!", and before she could embarass herself any more, she was running out of the aid station and disappearing into the night.

Inka walked slow, trying to figure out what was going on. Wow.


Tonight had been incredible.

[Ace Trainer]

The mentor had become quite accustomed to waking Inka up by slapping him on the shoulder, or leg, or face, or wherever Inka was bruised, and laughing when the young genin awoke in a yelp of pain. This morning, however, as a special jounin walked into his room, he laid eyes on a sleeping Yuusha that was not covered in bruises. For the first time since their training had began, Inka looked totally uninjured. His brow scrunched together in confusion. What had this little genin done? Exitting the room, he went into the bathroom, filling a small bucket up with water and returning to throw the ice cold water on the genin.

"EH!", Inka shouted, jumping out of the bed and dancing in the cold water. Gaian stood, leaning against the doorway, bucket in hand, watching Inka dance. As he calmed down, he looked at Gaian, rather confused, [color=red"Ehhhh? What was that all about? Normally you just punch me or something. Was this really necessary, eh?"[/color], he began wiping himself all, and quickly removed all the linen from his bed, tossing it in the hamper. He was clearly frustrated with his mentor, and kept looking at him, daggers in his eyes. Gaian, however, simply looked at him, genuinely confused by Inka's lack of injuries, "Ehh? I got something on my face? Why you looking at me all weird?", quite honestly, Inka had forgotten all about last night. Not out of absentmindedness, but because he was a little more concerned with the ice cold water that had been thrown all over him. Inka was not a fan of water, for obvious reasons. Walking around the room, he slowly got dressed and put together, finally stopping in front of Gaian and returning the look, "EH? Whats up?", he asked, the anger fading in place of confusion.

"Why aren't you all bruised up like you have been?", Gaian asked suspiciously.

Then it all came flooding back to him, and Inka was immediately blushing, filled with warmth as the memory of Masayume filled his brain. Oh she was so wonderful. She was so cool. Oh...Masayume...he remembered her face, her body, her gentle hands kneading his muscles, repairing his injuries. His brain turned to mush at the thought, and even more, she had invited him back. Oh he was so excited.

"Ah...I see. You met a girl.", Gaian said assessing the genin before him. Patting Inka on the shoulder paternally, Gaian turned away and walked into the kitchen. Brewing himself a cup of coffee, he sat down at the table, waiting for the young genin to snap back to and join him in the small kitchen. Inka seemed a little lost as he finished getting ready and finally found his way to Gaian, he smiled and Gaian, who returned no emotion, "So tell me about her.", he insisted.

Initially, Inka wanted to gush. He wanted to talk for days about how beautiful she was and wonderful she was and how he was absolutely transfixed by her and he couldn't imagine his life without her now that he had spent just one evening with her. But the way Gaian was looking at him concerned him. It wasn't very telling, which was unlike Gaian. While Gaian was always interested in all aspects of Inka's life, as any good mentor would, Inka didn't like the way Gaian was asking about this. It almost seemed as if he was waiting to criticize Inka, or tell him something Inka didn't want to hear. It created a level of discomfort, a sort of thickness or staleness in the air that Inka met with dislike. His eyes thinned and he cautiously walked the rest of the way into the kitchen and sat across from Gaian. "Is there something wrong, sempai?", Inka asked.

Gaian's emotionless face slowly gathered some, a small smile creeping onto his face, that same paternal look. "Well...it's just poor timing. Go on, tell me about her.", he insisted. He took a sip of his coffee, continuing to watch the young shinobi. Inka had a very close relationship with his parents, he loved them and spent a lot of time with them. But his relationship with Gaian was different, while Gaian was a father figure, Inka respected him in a different way. Inka's father was a friend, a leader, a mentor, a confidante. Gaian was a teacher, a guide. Their relationship was close, but professional. So while Gaian would certainly have his reasons for delving into Inka's more personal matters, it sometimes left Inka somewhat confused.

"Well...she's a medic,", he had decided he'd keep the personal details out, he'd tell Gaian the main stuff, "She's a genin like me. She's an aspiring botanist for Sunagakure, so she takes her job as a shinobi very seriously. We just kind of ran into each other and she uh....healed me.", he face went deep red at this point. Indicating that Inka had certainly felt a level of intimacy in that moment that he didn't really want to share with Gaian. The feelings he had for Masayume were new and exciting to him, and she was glorious. "She uhh, she asked a little bit about my training, and, we just talked a little bit...she smiled and laughed a lot. She had a gorgeous smile..and such bright eyes. She's a little bit older than me, more experienced shinobi. She's strong...she's great...", he hadn't even meant for it to come out like this. But, the more he talked about her, the more he fawned over her. He was so in love with her, she was so amazing. So incredible. The more he talked about her, the more he obsessed over her. Over how stunning and breath taking he was. She was great, she was perfect for him. And it showed on Inka's face, in his voice, in the way he carried himself.

"So she's all that and a bag of chips, eh?"

Inka smiled, and nodded, he was a love struck little kid and Masayume had absolutely stolen his heart, "She really is,", he insisted, "I'm going to see her every day after training. She'll heal me up, cause she promised, and ehhh, I'll probably show her what I learned that day so she knows he's not healin' me for nothing", he seemed to be making that last bit up, he would need to show her what he learned to impress her, though.

"So what's her name, when do I meet her?"

Inka was taken aback, he brow scrunched together as he literally seemed to be pushed back in surprise, "EHhh? Why do you want ot meet her? You don't need to...", Inka knew while Gaian had his best interest, Gaian was focused on training, he could tell that the two of them meeting each other would be bad for Inka's budding love. Fortunately for Inka, Gaian smiled light, and made a soft thinking sound from his throat as Inka finished eating.

"I see...very well, its time to start training.", Gaian insisted, standing up. He gave Inka one final look, made that quiet thinking sound again, and stood up to head outside to start training. Inka let out a soft sigh of relief, but he knew Gaian would push for it again soon.

[Ace Trainer]

Wit Training, 1000 words.

Inka walked into the dojo as he did every other day. But unlike all the other day he came in, the dojo wasn't well lit and full of people. It was empty, aside from a few candles set around the walls, and a checkers board in the center of the room. Thinning his eyes to adjust to the light, he realized that his mentor, Gaian was sitting opposite of the checkers board, waiting for him patiently. "Ehhh, whats going on?", he asked confused.

"We're going to do some more training today, Inka. But this time, it's training of the mind. I have a style I want you to learn. I think it will benefit you greatly in the long run. But you'll have to focus your mind for it. So we're going to play a game of checkers.", Gaian explained, "So if you could take a seat? I'm assuming you know the rules, right?'.

Inka looked very confused, "Ehh? A new style? Can you tell me about it? Eh? Eh?" he was moving forward to take the seat, but quite honestly Inka was more excited to do more training of jutsu. Not play silly boardgames. He had never been very good at stuff like this, so the idea of having to sit around and do it all day? Well, that didn't seem like much fun.

"No, not until after. Now, typically when doing training like this we'd light a unique incense that would distract your brain a little, but since it's your first time. We'll just play. You can go ahead and make the first move whenever you're ready.", Gaian explain. He knew Inka wouldn't like this kind of training, and it'd be rather rude to say that he wasn't going to light the incense because Inka was a bit of a moron. So, for now, he'd just humor the boy and train his mind as best he could.

Finally, Inka sat and began analyzing the board. Gaian was smart, but it was just a game of checkers, right? Couldn't be too hard.

"Alright, Twenty Four to Thirty One", he said, moving the point.

"Fourty Seven to Thirty Eight.", Gaian quickly replied, "Oh, and we're playing fast. So think fast. 5 seconds for each move, or you lose."

Inka's eyes got wide in panic, he didn't tell him that part! "Ehh..okay, okay, fifteen to twenty four.", he said hurriedly, moving the piece.

"Ah, Fourty one to Thirty Four."

"Eighteen to Twenty five."

"Fifty six to fourty seven."

"Okay, okay, uh, Thirty One to Fourty.", it seemed Inka was already struggling to keep up.

"Heh, Thirty Eight to Thirty One. Keep your mind focused kid."

Twenty Four to Thirty Eight....and then Thirty Eight to Fifty Six. How's that for focused?", Inka said with a smirk.

"Alright, alright, Fifty to Fourty One. I won't tease you anymore then."

"Twenty Two to Thirty One. Eh, if you need to distract me to win, then by all means"

Forty Three to Thirty Six, and don't get cocky. Contain your mind, focus it., he scolded.

"Twenty Five to Fourty Three."

"Fifty Two to Thirty Four."

Eleven to Eighteen"

Sixty One to Fifty Two."

Eighteen to Twenty Five, this is going to go on forever, eh?", Inka groaned

"Focus, Fifty Two to Fourty Three. You need to focus your mind, think again, plan everything."

"Nine to Eighteen, I know, I know."

Fifty Nine to Fifty Two."

"Two to Nine'

"Already?", Gaian said with a laugh, Thirty Six to Twenty Seven'

"Eighteen to Thirty Six...and Thirty Six to Fifty. Looks like I'm closing in."

"Don't get cocky, Fifty Seven to Fourty Three."

"Don't give me a reason, twenty to twenty nine."

"Fourty Five to Thirty Six

Thirteen to Twenty Two

"Thirty Four to Twenty Seven, looks like a close match wouldn't you say?'

"Four to Eleven, you tell me to focus, and then talk to me, eh?"

"That's what it's all about, being able to turn out the distractions, fifty four to fourty five, and focus on the game. Focus on the future."

Eleven to Eighteen, was all Inka said, almost as if he was ignoring Gaian.

"Twenty Seven to Twenty, you have to immerse yourself in everything. Let the present be automatic, so you can focus on the future. On the next move."

"Eighteen to Twenty Seven."

"Don't let any distractions get to you. Your body and mind are separate. Thirty Six to Eighteen. Your body doing what the mind has programmed."

Nine to Twenty Seven."

"Immerse yourself in the game, Sixty Three to Fifty Four."

Twenty Nine to Thirty Eight

"Twenty to Eleven."

Thirty Eight to Fourty Seven."

Fourty Three to Thirty Six."

Fourty Seven to Sixty One."

Thirty Six to Eighteen, just dancing aroudn at this point, aren't we?"

"Sixty One to Fourty Three."

"So sure you've won, are you? Eleven to Four."

Inka was in an almost trancelike state, his eyes darting around the board, watching each piece, his body acting almost reflexively after Gaian made a move. Inka had taken in every word Gaian had said, and applied it. He was somewhere else now, his mind focused on something entirely different. "Fifty Six to Sixty Three."

Fourty One to Thirty Four."

Fourty Three to Fifty Two

Fourty Five to Thirty Six."

"Twenty Five to Fourty Three."

"Thirty Six to Twenty Seven,"

Fifty two to Fourty Five, I think I won Sempai.", Inka finally said.

Huh? Why do you say that, Four to Eleven."

"Ehh, Well, i've been paying attention, Fourty Five to THirty Six, you're mostly dancing around now."

Twenty Seven to Twenty, so what? I can still win."

"Probably not, Thirty Six to Twenty Seven. I have quite a few more pieces than you. Any time you'd get close to one of mine, I'd just set it up so I can jump you after."

"Oh really? Eighteen to Nine."

I mean, I guess you could win...Twenty Seven to Thirteen. But I'd have to make quite a few mistakes."

"And you're not going to? Eleven to Eighteen."

"It's not very likely, Fourty three to Fifty. No."

Gaian stood stretching out his arms, "Very well then, I'll declare you the winner. You better not have been lying.", he said with a smirk.

Inka looked at him confused, "Ehhhh! You think I'd lie! That's not very nice senpai.", Inka retorted, faking offense.

"Really though Inka, take what you've learned today to heart. You must always think, not just act. Look ahead, anticipate, expect. Learn to let your body act on what it already knows, so you can always be ahead of your opponent. That's very important for taijutsu users.", he instructed. "You have to be smart to be strong. It's a law of the land."

Inka nodded in understanding, and though it likely wasn't true, he felt like his brain was a little bit bigger. "So training now!Eh? EEEH???", he said in excitement.

1149/1000

[Ace Trainer]

SpoilerShow

Rustling Leaves
E-rank Ninjutsu
By channeling a little bit of chakra to his throat after a brief set of hand seals, Inka can mask his voice. When he whispers, anyone within 2 feet of him will hear his voice. While to anyone beyond that range, unless they have advanced hearing, will only be able to make out the sound of leaves being rustled.

Inka sat on the ground as he had been instructed, and waited as Gaian gathered all the supplies he needed. Which was really just a cup of tea and a scroll. Inka was never the patient type, especially when it came to the idea of new jutsu. He was always excited and ready to learn. But Gaian was slow, cautious, and ever vigilant, he was a details kind of guy. Despite their close relationship, their personalities had a tendency to clash. By time Gaian was ready, and had sat opposite of Inka, Inka was practically twitching in impatience, "So are you ready?", he asked excitedly.

The teacher smiled lightly, and as he was about to nod yes, realized he had forgotten something, "Ah..not quite. Uhh...Li! Come here would you? Go stand uh..right there.", he pointed to about 15 feet off to their left. Inka looked at him confused, but waited, excited. "Okay, now I'm ready.", he began unrolling a scroll between them. As it unrolled, it was revealed Inka would be learning a new ninpou. "So this is the technique you're learning today. It's a stealth technique meant to mask your voice to people who may be in close proximity.", he smiled, "Everything you need to know to do it is on this scroll, so go ahead and read. And then we'll give it a shot.", Gaian insisted.

Inka leaned forward, looking over the scroll. The technique seemed simple enough. Some chakra in his throat, some hand seals, and viola, rustling leaves for a voice. It couldn't be too hard, right? Well, first was the hand seals. Reading over the scroll a few more times, just to make sure that he got them right, he figured he'd give it a shot. "Alright, I'm going to try.", he said out loud. Focusing his chakra on his throat, he began weaving the hand seals. It was simple enough, just, jutsu. He was good at those, right? He focused his chakra into the seals, focusing on each one as he did. Finally finished, he felt the surge of chakra to his throat. Oh man! He got it right! He was sure of it. "Can you hear me, senpai?", he asked.

But from his mouth, all that came out was the sound of rustling leaves, "A little less chakra..", Gaian instructed. Inka was quickly to follow, slowly lessening the amount of chakra in his mouth. Breathing slow, he could do this! It wouldn't be that hard, right?

He focused again, and spoke once more, "How about this?", he asked. It was almost as if his voice was mixed in with the leaves now. He could hear it clear, but there was a slight rustling overature.

"Oii, Li! Can you hear what he said?", Gaian asked. It seemed Gaian understood him, so now it was to see if anyone else could hear him at a distance. The young shinobi just shook his head. It seemed that Li couldn't hear him. Gaian motioned for Li to get closer, and Li moved closer, "Keep talking, Inka.", he instructed. Inka began reciting some stuff under his breath, as Li moved closer. But, there was only the sound of rustling leaves until Gaian gave him the signal to stop. "Looks like you got it, kid.", Gaian praised. Inka got another one.

555/500

[Ace Trainer]

SpoilerShow

*[Stop]
E Rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisite: Senses Open used.
A standard jutsu for the Skitter Step. After completing the hand seal, the user returns back to their normal state compared to the "Senses Open" state. This can't be used in the same post as Senses Open.

Inka was looking around, his eyes wide in suspicion as Gaian moved around the room collecting what he needed for this portion of the training. He had just taught Inka how to do Senses Open, the foundation for the skitter step style. Unfortunately, until Inka learned to shut it off, he iwas stuck in this state. "Ehh, everything is so intense!", he exclaimed. The tapping of his foot caused him to glance down every couple of seconds, only to jerk back up and search the room for the source of a flash of light, or a small creak. Oh man, this was just a new sensation for him,

"Alright Inka, I got the scrolls. Now, this technique is relatively easy to do."

"uh huh."

Gaian's face ticked with annoyance, "You're going to do the same seal, and then flood chakra into your brain to basically instigate the opposite effect."

Right."

Gaian flinched in annoyance again.

"Something wrong senpai?", Inka asked.

"Just listen. So you're going to flood your brain with chakra, and replace your sensory blocks so bring you back to normal."

"Got it.", Gaian stood, reaching to tap Inka in the shoulder encouragingly but Inka flinched out the way, looking ait Gaian confused. "Eh? Ok. I'll start.", he jumped to his feet, performing the seal and immediately flooding his head with chakra. Unfortunately, Li coughed off to the corner, causing Inka to snap his head in that direction breaking Inka's concentration. It was going to be hard to train like this if there were all these distractions.

He closed his eyes again and made the seal once more, focusing his chakra into his brain. Trying to slow down his senses and return them to normal. However, there it was again, some sort of distraction! The sound of someone trying to be quiet, but unfortunately failing to evade the genin's enhanced senses. He snapped to it, "EHH? So loud! Why is everyone making so much noise. I'm trying to concentrate.", Inka protested. He had never had this much trouble learning a jutsu before. He had always trained clan jutsu, which he had been a natural at. Dealing with a whole new style though? Well, it was certainly proving to be difficult.

Everyone stopped, practically holding their breath to just watch Inka. It would be better to just let him learn the jutsu and turn off his Skitter, than to try and sneak around someone who was using jutsu to prevent people sneaking around. Gaian smirked, and waving an encouraging hand. Despite being 20 feet from Gaian, Inka still dodged out of the way like Gaian had thrown something. It was already becoming near automatic, so at least that was going on. It seemed Inka was naturally attuned to using something like Skitter Step.

He closed his eyes again, acting quick. Then again, everything Inka did at this point was quick, he was so hyped after all. Placing his hands together, he made the seal and flooded his brain with chakra, trying to refill the sensory locks and bring his brain back to normal. Suddenly he felt everything in him relax. It almost seemed like the world slowed down as he used the jutsu and deactivated his skitter. He smiled, "Ehhh, senpai! What's next then!", he celebrated. It seemed Inka had made it.

552/500

[Ace Trainer]

SpoilerShow

[color=orangered]Flaming Kunai[/color]
D-rank Ninjutsu
The user will do a series of hand seals and then immediately throw a kunai. The kunai will ignite as its flies through the air. If it kunai strikes flesh, it causes first degree burns from the heating of the metal, but can't cause clothes to catch on fire unless it remains lodged in the victim. If the kunai becomes lodged in anything flammable, the flames will cause it to ignite.

Inka stood in the small room he had been given for training. Since having been sealed, he hadn't gotten to do much of anything. He'd wake up at home, and immediately be sent to this training room. The only times he was allowed to leave were under Gaian's order. Food was brought to him during the day, and then at 10 at night he was escorted home to go to sleep. He had been given little opportunity to do much of anything, let alone go see Masayume. Gaian had promised him, however, that if he learned one last jutsu, he'd be released for the day, and Inka knew exactly what he would do with the time. Vitalized with the promise of freedom, Inka sat on the ground, a scroll to his left, a pile of kunai to his right, and a straw target 30 feet in front of him. He didn't even feel the need to stand up, he could learn this sitting, and it would certainly be more comfortable.

Taking the scroll in his hands, he looked over the details. It was pretty straight forward, a quick set of seals, then just charge the kunai with the chakra and release. It was fast paced, but Inka was sure he could figure it out. He'd slow it down first, do the seals slowly so he could get the chakra control right, and then grab the kunai and release it quickly. Pointing at the seals on the scroll a few times, just to make sure he memorized them right, Inka put the scroll down. He closed his eyes, slowly controlling his breathing, centering his mind, and focusing his chakra. He could feel the chakra activating in his stomach, spreading to his arms and into his hands.

He began the series of hand seals, the chakra dancing inside him with each consecutive seal. He felt the heat of the upcoming fire forming in his finger tips. Despite the desire to be confident, Sakki tried to keep himself focused, trying to do everything right the first time around. As he formed the final seal he held it for a moment, taking in a final breath before releasing the seal. His hand shot down to the pile of kunai, grabbing one and immediately releasing it, throwing it at the straw dummy. The kunai sliced through the air, lighting itself on fire as it flew. However, as it struck the dummy, the fire extinguished itself, setting nothing on fire. It would surely have singed the straw, but that wasn't a fire, nor what Inka wanted from the technique.

With a disappointed sigh, he leaned over and picked the scroll back up, inspecting the contents of it, trying to see what exactly he did wrong. With a frustrated cringe on his face, he placed the scroll back down. Sure he could get it this time around, he picked up a kunai, placing the handle in his mouth. With the metal in mouth, and the fire of success driving him, Inka began the hand seals again. Slowly weaving the seals he surged the chakra through his body into his hands, he focused on each different seal, trying to drive the fire into the chakra. Giving direction to the chakra, he envisioned the jutsu as it should be, hoping for everything to work out.

Finally the last seal came and Inka snapped to action, grabbing the kunai from his teeth and flicking his wrist, launching the kunai through the air. Just like before it sliced through the air, igniting itself like a coment through the air. Finally it slammed into the straw dummy and set the straw aflame. Inka pumped his fist in confidence, he had done it! Walking over to the straw man, he grabbed the flames, stuffing them into his mouth, eating them all. He had done it, and his accomplishment had been topped off by a success dinner. With his pride in mind, Inka happily turned back to the dummy, off to find Gaian so he could leave.

He hesitated as he passed the pile of kunai however, and wanted to make sure he got it right. Leaning over and picking up a kunai, placing it in his mouth again, he quickly wove the seals. Chakra surged into his hands, grabbing the kunai out his teeth he tossed it with all his strength. The jutsu was a success, lighting the kunai, and consequently the straw man, on fire. He smiled, yes, he had learned this jutsu.

It was time for freedom.

756/700

[Ace Trainer]

Indeed, Inka has been promised that if he learned this jutsu, he'd be free to go. Finally, after what had felt like years of doing nothing but meditation and training, Inka was being given freedom. The conversation had been simple...
"So Inka, I know this training regime you've been on has been tough, but you've got one more you need to learn.', Gaian couldn't help but grin as the young genin's eyes got wide in excitement. "After you've got it done though...you'll be done with this level of intensity. We'll release you to begin assimilating back to normal life...and getting you qualified to do the chuunin exams.", Inka immediately began jumping in excitement.

"Freedom? Exams?! Ehh!! I couldn't be happier! This is great, whats the jutsu going to be, eh!?", Inka couldn't have been happier, he just wanted to learn the jutsu.
"Listen, you need to understand. Your position as a genma host is a huge secret. There are very few people in the village that know. And those that do are sworn to secrecy. If you're not going to be here at all times like you have been, you're going to need to be able to keep that secret secure.", Gaian warned.
"Yeah yeah yeah! Com'mon! Lets train, eh!?", Inka insisted.
"Promise me after you train this jutsu, and you're released, you're going to be responsible with your new abilities.", Gaian said very sternly.
With a heavy sigh, Inka affirmed his mentor, "EHh? Okay, yes, I promise sensei.".

Inka had trained hard, and mastered the jutsu, he had been thrilled to learn it and began stretching, he was ready to go. Noticing that at some point during his training Gaian had slipped out, Inka looked around curiously. Weird, he must have gone out of the room. With only one entrance, Inka shrugged, and approached the door. Weird situation, but Inka wasn't one to over think. As he reached for the handle, a strange feeling overwhelmed him, and he soon realized that the door was locked.

"Eh?", was all he muttered out as he tugged on the door once, twice, thrice more, yielding no result. He then began knocking on the door, calling out, "Sensei??? Ehh!? Sensei!!! Where are youoouuuuu", he called out. Though confused, Inka was still happy, excited over his upcoming freedom. Suddenly, his ears twitched and his head snapped to the right.

He had heard something

He had heard a creak, he was sure of it.

Shaking his head, he tried to ignore it. He had been a regular user of skitter step, and had been told this would be part of the style, that he'd get little blips every once in a while that weren't right. But something in the back of his head didn't feel right.

He's left you here

He closed his eyes, focusing his attention on the door, wiggling the handle if he could to try and figure out why it wasn't opening. Why had he been locked in here. Backing away from the door, he knew what he'd try to do, he'd ram into the door and try and break it down.

Its not going to work

He burst forward with all his might, slamming his body into the door to no avail. It didn't even budge. Giving up, Inka fell to the ground, sighing, He closed his eyes, only to immediately jump back to attention when he heard the sound of foot steps again. But there was nothing around him.

What was going on?

"I just wanna leave, eh?", Inka said out loud, not entirely sure who he'd be talking to.

They lied.

There was that voice in the back of his head again. Inka did his best to ignore it, though, looking around the room. Was there any other way to get out? No way to escape? Why did they lock him in here in the first place? Who was it that locked him in? Why did Gaian leave him? He didn't understand. While Inka wanted to believe there was a reason for everything, parts of him were indeed beginning to panic. It didn't make sense as to why he was stuck in here. He began taking deep breaths, he heard the foot steps again.

"Focus, eh? It's just the skitter. Focus.", he closed his eyes, trying to ignore the sound of foot steps that kept echoing into his ears. From the left, then the right, in front of him, behind him. The sounds weren't real. Blips. False alarms. Nothing.

"Tihihihihi" a high pitched laugh echoed through the room, this time it wasn't in his head. He could hear in coming from in front of him, bouncing off the walls. Inka's eyes flashed open, only to be met with a mirror image of himself again. Inka immediately jumped to his feet, his eyes thinning as he assessed the body in front of him. "They've left you, you know.", the double insisted.

Inka remained silent, shaking his head to make sure he wasn't seeing anything. Gaian hadn't warned him of skitter step doing anything like this. Unlike his first encounter with this genma, when he was joyfully ignorant of what was going on, Inka had already started to panic. And his confusion only seemed to feed to the panic he was experiencing. Gaian had abandoned him and now some sort of weird bunshin had appeared from no where and start talking to him.

"You don't even know who I am, do you.", the double asked. Inka, unsure of what to do, simply shook his head no.

In a flash the double was suddenly immediately in front of him, his hand on Inka chin, pinching his cheeks together, _{"I'm your new God you little brat."}, the high pitched voice was suddenly in gone in lieu of a deeper, angrier voice.

He released then released Inka, taking a step back. Inka fell to the ground, noticing only in that instant that he had in fact been lifted from the ground and slammed against the wall. He rubbed the back of his head, noticing a small bit of blood from an apparent gash on his hands. "Now listen, and listen closely. Your sensei has abandoned you. They've decided you're no good. That's why you're hear alone. He's leaving you to die. You suspected that already, yes?"

He had. When the paranoia first set it, that had been his first thought, if only for a second. Inka would realize that the genma had access to his thought, which was the only reason he knew that. Inka wasn't smart enough to put two and two together though, not while he was in the middle of a freak out the genma was taking advantage of.

"No you're wrong...", Inka insisted, though the doubt in his eyes was clear.

The genma began brushing off his clothes from the little 'scuffle', and turning his back on the genin, "Am I? What have you done that's so great since you've gotten me? Learned a few jutsu? Have you been able to tap into any of my other power? The last little host could.", the genma insisted again, smirking as he turned to face Inka, his arms crossed behind his back. "But you're not as good as him. You can see it in Gaian's eyes, can't you, the pity?"

Inka fell to the ground, cupping his hands over his ears. The genma simply walked up to him though grabbing him by the hair, lifting him into the air. Despite appearing to be just like Inka, it was clear that this double was so much more. "That feeling? That doubt...? Tihihihihi, that's reality little host.", he swung Inka by the hair, throwing him clear across the room, the genins body slamming into the walls as he fell to the floor in a crumpled state, "You're WORTHLESS

WORTHLESS TRASH, THAT SHOULD BE KILLED. MURDERED. ABANDONED. YOU'RE NOTHING. NO ONE LOVES YOU. YOUR SENSEI? YOUR MOTHER? YOUR FATHER?'

The genma had launched himself at Inka, slamming his foot into the genins body, kicking and thrashing into him repeatedly. Inka was simply on the floor in fetal position, taking the kicks, murmeriing under his breath, _{"No...no...no.."}

Finally, the kicking stopped, and the genma leaned over to Inka, whispering one final word, "Masayume?"

That set Inka off, he rolled onto all four, now shouting, gradually louder and louder, "NO! NO! NO! NO NO NO!, though it wouldn't be visible, a force seemed to lash through the room. Energy surged from Inka's body as he seemed to switch from destroyed to complete panic. He stood to his feet, stumbling to the center of the room where the energy seemed to just lash from his body, slamming into the walls of the room, lashing against the doors, as if a hurricane was going off.

The second inka, the temporary body of the genma simply stood and laughing, "Kihihihihihihihi...", the body slowly fading into nothingness with the voice.

Inka had unlocked form one.

1520/1000

[Ace Trainer]

The pile of scrolls and kunai that had been left for Inka to use had been thrown all over the room, unrolled and ragged from the force of his chakra. The entire room sounded like the inside of a drum, the force of the chakra slamming against the walls causing a booming sound to echo through the room. Inka was simply rolled into his arms on the floor, moaning in a mixture of anger and sadness, completely out of control of his abilities. Finally the door swung open and three shinobi rushed into the room.

Almost instantly their bodies went limp, all three of them collapsing onto the ground. Their eyes darted around and panic clearly set in. Why couldn't they move their arms and legs? A shout came from the other side of the door way, "No one go in! The chakra from the soul genma will paralyze you if it hits you!", Gaian's voice would echo.

Inka's head shot up at the sound of Gaian's voice and his eyes fell onto the three shinobi that had mistakenly gotten caught in his energy. Inka's body moved without control as the feral instinct took over him. He launched himself full force at the three shinobi, slamming his foot into the gut of one, sending him flying into the wall. He fell on top of the second, dropping his knee into the shinobi's stomach who immediately heaved in pain.

"Go! Go! Go!", Gaian's voice would shout.

Two shinobi would leap through the door, each grabbing one of Inka's arms and bashing him forward onto the floor. Their knees on his back, they would find it would be of no use to stop him however as he let out an angry roar, "GET OFF OF ME!!", he shouted. Energy would whip out of his body again, lashing into the two shinobi. They would fall to the side, their entire bodies falling limp like the others. Inka would lift himself up in push up position, climbing to his knees and grabbing the heads of the two shinobi, slamming thm together as the shinobi fell unconscious.

Inka would not be stopped.

The genma's power would not be stopped.

"Sensei you bastard!! You abandoned mee!!", Inka would roar. Shit, this would only get worse.

Gaian sighed, he would be the next to go in there. These shinobi would only be fodder, and the unlocked Inka would surely be a match for them considering they couldn't even get a handle on them. The jounin let out a heavy sigh, drawing a fuuinjutsu on a tag and directing two chuunin into the room, making the same move as the previous had done.

Inka was facing the door this time, however, and as the chuunin darted in to tackle the angered jinchuurinki, they would find that he was prepared for them. Stepping to the left around the first, he shoved his elbow into the chuunin back, forcing him into the ground where he stepped on the chuunins head. The other jumped at him as well, and Inka simply held a hand forward, a pulse of energy flying forward into the chuunin's body. The chuunin would fall limp on the ground, and Inka would roar once more, "That's the best you've got sensei!?".

Without Inka's characteristic 'eh', it was very obvious that he wasn't in control.

Without hesitation, Gaian signalled three more chuunin to shoot into the room. The first two would take the same maneuver's of the previous two, while the third jumped into the air, clinging to the ceiling and crawling along the ceiling to position himself above Inka. The two chuunin shot forward at the jinchuurinki, sealing as they did so. Inka seemed unphased, however, roaring once more and rushing forward to meet them. He extended both his arms, clotheslining both the chuunin as they flipped over his arms, slamming their backs into the ground and losing consciousness. However, the one on the ceiling quickly dropping down on the jinchuurinki and slamming his knees into Ink'as back, forcing him down to the ground.

Gaian shot through the doorway, shooting forward at Inka and slapping the tag onto the back of his head.

"Inka focus!", Gaian muttered through gritted teeth as the pulsating energy from Inka's body surged through hi. It seemed the tag was subduing the power to some legnth however as Gaian wasn't being paralyzed by it, nor was the chuunin who had pinned down Inka. "Focus on my voice! You need to take control! This is your body!", the jounin demanded.

Inka squirmed against the forces holding him down, trying to push up against the weight of the two shinobi, "You abandoned me", the genin fought out.

"No! I was there, the whole time! We just wanted to see how you'd react. You were safe the whole time, we knew what was happening.", Gaian insisted.

"You betrayed me!!", Inka roared once more, his body pushing even hard, slowly lifting off the ground, resulting in even more force coming down from the two shinobi.

"I didn't! You know you can trust me Inka! Come back to us. Take control and we can talk.", Gaian insisted once more.

The genin collapsed on the ground, the energy seemed to die down just a little as the genin simply laid on the ground.

The mirror loomed over Inka's body as he stared forward at it. In the reflection, again, was the dark individual that was serving as the representation of the soul genma. "I don't think he meant to upset me."

The reflection just laughed at him...

"I want my body back, I can control it. I trust Gaian-sensei.", Inka insisted.

The laughter continued.

"GIve me my body back!", Inka shouted. His fist slamming into the mirror.

Cracks scattered from his fist, etching along the surface of the mirror until it finally exploded, glass falling from above him. Inka covered his head, but would receive no cut from the falling glass.

Inka would open his eyes to find himself back in the room with all the chuunin he had laid waste to. The energy had died down and Gaian was cautiously releasing Inka, signalling for the chuunin on his back to do the same, "You did good, Inka.", Gaian reassured the genin.

Inka groaned, slowly pushing his body up and getting back onto his knees, looking around at the destroyed training room, "Eh? I did this?", he asked in unease. Gaian nodded, and Inka frowned even more, "I don't think I like this power...", he said with a heavy sigh.

Gaian smiled at Inka, ruffling his hair, simultaneously signalling for the chuunin to help his fallen brothers and exit the room.

"You've got a lot to learn about the genma. But you're doing well so far, in terms of mastering them.", Gaian's reassured him. "Let me teach you a little, and then this time I promise I'll let you go.", Gaian insisted.

Inka nodded cautiously, staring at his hands. These hands had done all this?

What sort of power did he weild?

1193/1000

[Ace Trainer]

Ah! Finally! The heat of the sun beating down on Inka’s skin had never been so energizing. After weeks of being rushed off into that cellar before the sun was up, and weeks of not getting to leave until the sun was down, Inka was finally getting to experience the warmth of sunlight on his body. He hadn’t realized how much he had missed the sun until he had felt it. What had just happened with Gaian had been a little traumatic, so he was happy to finally be out in the freedom of the world and not having to deal with all the stress of being in that pitch white room.

He thought back to that fight he had just had, screaming at his teacher, attacking the different shinobi. He hadn’t really been able to stop himself; it had been something like an out of body experience. He could see what was happening, and what he was doing, but he couldn’t get in control of his body to stop. It was so strange, so upsetting. He was getting tense just thinking about it. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath.

Breath was life.

But now he was free, and he knew exactly where he was going. To see Masayume. It had been literal months since he had seen her. Just before he had gotten sealed, she had gotten promoted to chuunin, and left on a medical expedition with her team for 3 weeks. Two days before she was scheduled to get back, the messenger had shown up at his door saying he had been chosen, and whisked him away to be sealed.
Afterwards, 18 days in the hospital was spent mostly unconscious. And the day he regained consciousness, they took him out to the training room, where he spent the following six weeks, training and attempting to master these new powers he had been given. The curve had been steep, and he caught on pretty quickly, faster than the batch of previous hosts who had all proven to be incredible failures at mastering the soul genma.
He was educated to some length on the history of the genma, it’s power, and the hosts before him that had fallen to its authority.
Thinking back, Inka felt like they had been trying to scare him with these stories, a feeling he had ignored earlier. Now that he realized how easily the genma could take control of him he was starting to think maybe they had been right. The genma was strong, very, very strong, and while that power was impressive, it was something he should rightfully be afraid of, too. He had gotten plenty of ideas of what he could do with the genma’s powers. Things he was certain would be possible with enough training. But what about the repurcussions? What would it do to him as a person? Would the genma eventually corrupt his mind as it had done to those before him? Tearing him apart mentally to the point where the village would be forced to take action against him?

He could only hope not.
Shaking his head, he returned his focus to the mission ahead of him. Masayume. Masayume would hopefully be home, he’d get to see her bright shining face, he’d hug her for the first time, and they’d get to spend the afternoon together.

Inka’s training regimen had been reduced, but he wouldn’t get many full afternoons like this in the coming months, so he planned on spending every minute of it with Masayume. His heart fluttered at the very idea of being around her again, it had been so long and he had missed her so much. He could see her house in the distance, at least, what he thought was her house. Quite honestly, he had only seen it once, and he wasn’t entirely sure this was the right one. That thought only seemed to worsen his embarrassment, however, as he thought about how silly he would look, waiting for a young woman, nervous and sweaty, and then an old man answers the door, leaving Inka dumbfounded.

Once again he shook his head, trying to berrid himself of the thought as he focused on the positives. He had the right house, he was sure of it. He needed to focus, here he was, literal minutes away from seeing Masayume, the person who made him happiest in the world. What was there to be worried or nervous about? He needed to get excited.

Taking another deep breath, Inka walked forward, taking long powerful, confident strides as he made his way forward. Quickly approaching her house, he grew more and more excited. He knew what he'd do, he'd knock on the door and her parents would answer. They'd greet him happily, knowing that his presence would make their daughter happy (who would surely have been down in the dumps having not seen Inka for almost 3 months), and welcome him in. He'd happily deny, saying he'd like to take her out for a lunch, and they'd smile to each other and close the door as they went to fetch their daughter. He'd wait, his nervous now overwhelmed with excitement, and as the sound of her footsteps echoed through the house walls, Inka would catch her in his arms as she swung the door open, jumping in glee upon seeeing him.

He'd swing her around in pure ectasy, and then put her down. They'd blush nervously, and he'd work up all the courage he needed to ask her if she'd go to lunch with him (of course she would say yes). And then they'd walk off to get lunch.

At least, that's what was supposed to happen. Unfortunately, it seemed destiny had other plans. Just as Inka was about to approach the doorstep, the familiar swish of rapid movement filled the air. Despite not having his sense open, Inka had come to realize that his extitsential sensory ability has certainly increased. With the soft sound of a landing behind him, Inka sighed, not even bothering to turn around, "What now, eh?", he asked in disappointment. He knew what this meant, it meant he'd have to go back to do more training. His freedom had been relinquished. The simple fact that someone had arrived just before he was going to meet up with Masayume confirmed that.
"Gaian requests you return to the compound. It seems he has news of the chuunin exams he would like to share with you.", the shinobi muttered.
"Ehh you got here quick, were you following me."
"I do only as instructed, jinchuurinki-sama."
"Ehh, can't you just give me the news. It's just about me waiting longer, eh?", Inka insisted, he just wanted time with Masayume.
"Unfortunately, Jinchuurinki-sama, I was not told to pass information on, only to request you return."
"Ehh, request? So I can deny it, yeah?'
"I don't think you can, jinchuurinki-sama. The request is only a formality."
"What about my day of freedom? I've been training non-stop.", Inka groaned.
"Unfortunately, jinchuurinki-sama, this is more important. Part of the responsibility of being a host is taking village matters over personal matters.", the shinobi spoke very quietly, and his garb covered almost all his skin, making him difficult to identify.
"Ehhh, that's not much fun. Wish they had told me that before I got sealed. Not that I had much choice, eh? Being a host isn't much fun, yanno.". The shinobi seemed to winc every time Inka spoke, likely because Inka seemed to be making no attempt to quiet his voice when speaking of this secret matters.
"Well, jinchuurinki-sama, you're still needed for this matter concerning the chuunin exams.", the man insisted.
Inka groaned, looking back at Masayume's house, "Ehhhhh..", he groaned, "Fine, lets go."
He let out a heavy sigh, and turned to the shinobi, waiting for him to lead the way back.

[Ace Trainer]

"EEEH! What is it now Gaian-sensei? I was going to see Masayume-chaaaaaan.", Inka groaned. "I better be taking the stupid chuunin exams if you dragged me back, eh. Am I?", Inka was not happy to be back in this training room. That much was made clear. Gaian set eyes on him and held out a hand, beckoning him forward, Inka reluctantly following the direction of his teacher. Looking behind him, he had noticed a group of shinobi accumulating behind him. He didn't really recognize any of them, but, perhaps that was on purpose. He immediately became on edge, however. All these shinobi in the room with Sunagakure's biggest secret likely wasn't very good.

"Relax, Inka. Nothing is about to happen.", Gaian attempted to reassure him. Inka atempted to visibly relax, but he was still very much on edge as his eyes counted 15 shinobi, all of varying ranks. "Aside from the council, Akio-san, and Akio-san's mentor. This is every individual in the village that knows what you are. Some of these shinobi just know you aren't normal, but not what you are exactly. You are a very very very big secret..

Inka groaned, "EHhh why are you telling me this, I know. I thought we were talking about the chuunin exams.", Inka insisted.

"We are. You've been selected to take the chuunin exams. I've been consulting with Akio-san's mentor and with the council and we feel you're ready to be tested.", he began to explain, "You've been paired up with another shinobi that will act as your genma guardian, and being as all three of you have met the requirements to take the exam, we feel that perhaps you should take them."

Inka's eyes got wide.

"However, being a chuunin means you're going to be exposed to more things, and be around more people. It won't be small missions with just you and I, you're going to be under a lot of pressure to train with a lot of people, meet a lot of people, do a lot of missions.And that means you're going to be at risk of revealing who you are...what you are. Your status as jinchuurinki is the most important secret the village has, and it needs to stay that way.", It felt almost as if Gaian was scolding him, the way he was talking.

"Eeeh, this is nothing new, sensei. Why are you telling me all this?", he insisted

"Including Masayume, you can't tell her either. Make up excuses for your eyes, make up excuses for your disappearance. She doesn't get to know the truth.". Ah, that was why. Gaian was worried about Inka's sort-of-girlfriend. "I'm not going to recommend you for the chuunin exams unless you can give me your word you won't put your secret at risk.", Gaian insisted.

Inka nodded, "I understand"

"Your exam will be proctored by some of the jounin here, that are aware of your status. Its not unusual for the chuunin exams to be a private affair, but yours will be extremely private, there will be absolutely 0 spectators...", Gaian explained. Inka gave an uneasy look, what were things like these, geez. Shouldn't everyone be happy and bragging about having such a wonderful host? Maybe they doubted him. Why didn't they want more people to know about how great he was, really? Inka shook his head, ignoring the thoughts and returning his attention to Gaian.

"Okay okay, no telling anyone. I get it, eh? Can we just move on with our lives now?", Inka persisted. He just wanted to go see Masayume. "You're going to take the chuunin exam in 5 hours. Perhaps you should go home and prepare.", Gaian corrected. Inka let out a frustrated groan, but he knew thatr Gaian's 'suggestion' was more of an order. Once more, Masayume would have to wait.

[Ace Trainer]

Fire Release:Boost
D-rank Ninjutsu
Prerequisites: Having ingested fire in the past 2 posts
When the user is about to throw a punch, they will cause a jet of fire to burst from their elbow, pushing their fist forward with additional force. This additional force gives them +1 strength for the punch, but due to the shift in balance, gives them a temporary -1 taijutsu. Once the punch lands the fire extinguishes itself.

It was time for more training, it was always time for more training. Looking over the scrolls that had been given to him, Inka had to be honest that he was impressed with the idea for the jutsu. It was certainly a good technique, and would provide a needed boost if he was ever afraid of being overwhelmed. Despite how tired he was of training new jutsu, Inka realized the value in this technique and knew he'd need to learn it, too.

He had a very specific process for learning this stuff, so with everything else going on in the back of his mind, Inka decided it was time to focus. He sat down on the floor, munching on little flames from the top of his lighter as he reviewed the scroll. He had to look at each individual point, commiting them to memory, and review the process over and over again, doing everything he could to commit all of it into his brain so that he'd be able to recall it in a split second. He had to create the memory first, and then he'd add in the muscle memory portion of it.

Focusing them into his memory one last time with a final glance over the scroll, Inka rolled it back up, placing it in the pile, and pushing himself to his feet. Next he needed to get the chakra focus down. It shouldn't bee too hard, he was pretty good at his clan jutsu, and he had a pretty solid hold on using the techniques. Unlike normal jutsu, there weren't seals to focus chakra for this. It was all about the rapid release of chakra. Unfortunately, that meant he didn't have the seals to guide the chakra for him. Although his chakra control was superb, random release of chakra was never easy.

[Ace Trainer]

Finally, finally finally finally. The time had come for Inka to meet back up with Masayume. He was filled to the brim with excitement as he dashed fulled speed towards her home. Inka would not be stopped this time. He had been promoted to chuunin just two days ago, and now it was time to spend time with Masayume, he would not let this moment escape them. As he rounded the corner, he could see Masayume on the roof, her feet swinging back and forth off the edge as she stared off into the sky, seemingly unaware of her beloved approached. He attempted to shout her name, but he only got out an unintelligible moan, groan, grunt that barely elevated beyond a whisper. He jumped into the air, kicked off the nearest wall, and propelled himself forward. "MASAYUME!", he shouted, grabbing her shoulder and pinning her to the roof, his body flush against hers, absolute terror...then excitement coming over her face.

"I...In...Inka?", Masayume managed to mutter.

"Yume-chan.", Inka whispered.

The pair hadn't spent much time together, especially with their 4 months apart. But the 15 year old girl and 14 year old boy were the defintion of young love. They had grown together quickly, and their hearts appeared to beat to a single rhythm. "I thought you didnt want me anymore...", Masayume whimpered, tears welling up in her eyes. Inka was taken aback at first, but his hands quickly cupped her cheeks, his thumbs wiping the tears.

"I'm sorry. The village needed me. Needed us. We have both been busy. I thought about you every day..", the boy promised.

"You're different.", Masayume suddenly said. She still seemed to be in shock, her dark blue hair trembled with her whole shaking body, and her hands were clinging to Inka's shirt so tightly that her fists had turned white. "Your eyes....your nails. Whats going on?", she asked.

Inka pulled back, "Hihihihihi. She's already noticed.", the voice echoed in Inka's head. was on his knees, eyes level with Masayuume who had managed to sit up at this point, their faces still inches away from each other. "I made some changes to myself for Kazekage-sama, I promise I'm still the same.", Inka insisted. "Changes that take you away from her.", the high pitched voice echoed,

"Kazekage-sama? Is that where you have been?", she asked. She seemed hesitant, these changes about Inka were certainly strange. He had a different presence about him too, she couldn't quite put a finger on it but his aura didn't seem right. "Are you okay?", she asked.

"Yes! Stop being nosey!", the worded snapped out of Inka's mouth like a spring before he could stop them, He immediately softened his expression, reaching out to her, I'm sorry.", he rebutted.

Her expression was shocked...and hurt. She could tell something wasn't right, and it was clear Inka was lying to her about it. This was a bad start to their reunion, that much was clear. But she refused to let this be ruined! Inka was back! And they were both chuunin now! He needed to spend time with her, she needed to check on his injuries, they needed to do things together to make up for all the time they lost. "Com'mon, lets go to my office, I want to check out your wounds and then we can go get a bite to eat or something, kay!", the tears in the corner of her eyes seemed to vanish as Masayume forced a smile, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet. If Inka had something to hide, she'd let him hide it, she was just happy to have her love back,

Inka looked up at her, a solemn smile forming on his face, even after snapping at her she was still looking forward to spending time with him, how could he not love a girl like that? "Okay, lets go.", he said.

---

The trip had been short, but it felt like mere seconds now that they were together. The distress that had been between them appeared to vanish as they got back to giggling and laughing with each other. The mere company of each other was enough to wipe away the greatest of pains. Now in Masayume's office, Inka undressed short of his underwear, and the aspiring medic inspected his body diligently. Inka had never seen Masayume short of her shinobi uniform, and they had yet to even share a kiss, yet here Inka stood nearly butt naked, and it didn't seem to bother them one bit. To them, this was strictly business, even if they were in love.

"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, Inka-san what have you been doing you're covered in so many more scars than before!", Masayume panicked. Inka frowned, he couldn't be honest with her about what had happened.

"Just training.", well, that was the truth after all. Inka spied himself in the mirror, locking his black eyes with himself, the wave of shame from his dishonesty sweeping over him. How could he lie to someone he loved so much, so easily? Dirty liar.", the voice scolded.

"Training?!", the medic said in frustration, "Inka some of these wounds are more than training. This is more than a high susceptibility to the formation of scar tissue, you have major wounds here that are indicative of high end medical treatment. What kind of training have you been doing??", she complained.

Inka shrugged, "Just training with Gaian sensei, on the new jutsu Kazekage-sama picked me for.", boy it was easy to lie. He almost had pride in it, it just came so naturally. His ears perked up, there was someone outside, "Someone's coming.", Inka warned her. Right after, there was a knock at the door. Masayume pulled the curtain around Inka and skipped to the door. He heard heer whispering, and he peaked around the curtain, eyeing whoever she was talking to. "Eeeh, who is that???", Inka insisted. Masayume ignored him, whispered, nodding, and then waving off the intruder, "Ehh? I asked a question", Inka insisted.

Masayume looked at him curiously, but just smiled, pulling the curtain open again and handing Inka his clothes, "Just another shinobi in my medical squad. He had a question, and I answered it. Why are you being so weird?"

"I'm not being weird.", he snapped back.

"Just get dressed, lets go eat!", Masayume exclaimed, electing to ignore Inka's weird behavior in the favor of spending a great time with her love.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka sat in the center of the barren room, legs crossed, eyes closed. His back erect keeping him in a meditative state as energy flowed through the various pools that locked away most of his power. This was the life of a shinobi, concentration, meditation, growth, and power, stirring around. Inka had grown so much in recent months, recent years, yet it all still seemed so foreign. He remembered doing so little. He had fallen in love 3 years ago, to a sweet young woman named Masayume. But the light had other plans for him, and as violently as the hearts of young Inka and Yume had come together, they were just as quickly torn apart. Now, years down the road, Inka was fortunate if he got to see his love for an hour once a week. Often a month would pass before they got to see each other, their correspondences being limited to letters delivered by the guards Inka had somewhat transformed into his personal entourage of servants. But surely even these letters were screened by the village, inspected, and altered to the favor of the Kazekage. He had noticed spots in the letters that seemed unfamiliar, or changes in her tone that seemed unlike the girl he loved so much. In the fore of Inka's mind he accounted this to the fact that she had grown much like he did, but in the back, where the hums of the soul genma was ever present, Inka knew it was the meddling of the villages theocracy.

And that's what brought Inka to his meditation today. The Soul Genma was no ally of his, an enemy of the village and of Inka's pure intentions, the Soul Genma was corruption in its rawest form, and Inka was well aware of that. The unfamiliar words that so often slipped from his subconscious onto his tongue reminded Inka constantly that his mind had been marked by an asterisk detonating "subject to change" at the whim of the beast sealed within him.

But today, Inka wove the white flag of surrender, he meditated, focusing on the corruption in the back of his mind pulling it to the front. Inka's most dangerous enemy, and most powerful ally, lay within the depths of his own despair, and he was sure he could make a treaty.

Slowly the room around him melted away into black as the inside turned to the outside. Three black suns sat in the sky above him, one directly above like high noon, one to the east, presumably rising, and one to the west, setting. The deep orange sky was cloudless, and fused with jagged mountains in the distant. Inka found himself sitting in a boat, rocking down a river of purple water towards an undisclosed location. Around him small island floated in the river, but their surface was reflective of the orange sky, mirrors that told no stories.

"Ehh..", Inka's eyes opened as he looked around, standing in the boat, his shifting weight seemed to have no impact on the boats balance. "This is all inside me.", Inka said with a sigh.

"Hi hi hi hi hi.", the laugh echoed behind him, and Inka quickly turned around, faced with a version of himself. The only difference was that this version of him had black skin, and eyes that seemed to pierce into him. "Welcome.", he clone called out. "To what do I owe the pleasure.", he asked.

Inka cocked his head to the side, "Eehh? Very friendly today.", he responded. He was used to the Soul Genma's taunting and goading. This non-chalant entry into his domain had been a cautious trip that Inka had expected to be met with anger, not a jovial host welcoming an old friend into his home.

" Hi hi hi hi hi. I know you bring good tidings, and have no malcontent in your trip today. I relish your visitation with the tidings I'm expecting from you.", the soul genma spoke. Reaching forward, he held out a hand, a friendly handshake to welcome a comrade. "Formalities, you know me only as genma. I tell you today my name is Shishire, Shishire no Shigenma. I am the soul genma, the ferrier of souls from one life to the next.". The clones wide smile and joyous mood left Inka off balance, but it seemed genuine.

"Shishire..", Inka tested the name.

"Indeed."

"You know why I am here today then, Shigenma? Eh?", Inka asked. He ignored the genma's hand, who shrugged in a very exaggerated manner before tucking them behind his back. "I don't trust our village.", Inka finally spoke.

"Hi hi, right you are not to.", the clones voice was high pitched, and came off like three voices in synchrony, coming from the heavens, despite the body before him moving and acting as if it was talking. "But do you trust what you call the Light? The Sun?", he genma asked. Genma believed in no gods. Experts divined many explanations, and would argue among themselves as to what you would call the theology of spirits from another realm. The most widely regarded belief was that spirits came from another realm and that the concept of theology and higher powers was something unique to the human experience, not something unique to high level thinking, thus spirits simply did not buy into religion. The Soul Genma would be the first to mimic this theory if ask his own theological beliefs, not that anyone ever had.

The shared bond between the soul genma and Inka, however, meant that Inka had a natural intuition of these things, and hearing the genma ask him about his own religious beliefs caught him off guard. He knew that 'Shishire' was playing to his perceived weaknesses, and likely even if Inka were to try and play along, conscious of this, he'd still end up manipulated. Weighing the odds, however, Inka came to the unappealing conclusion that it was likely better to be manipulated by a force within him, than an external force.

"Eh? Of course I do. I was chosen for you be the Light, I trust her with all my heart. Only she knows the path I am meant to walk on.". The laughter echoed all around him once more, and Inka simply pouted, "The Light can be trusted, but she is being represented by false disciples that are using her name to maintain control.", Inka continued, "They are always watching, under the pretense of Her word. But I don't believe in it. They are heretics, that have made grabs for power.", Inka stated. "But that means I am not safe finding allies outside my own mind.", Inka's point was finally made.

The Soul Genma was well aware Inka was here for this. It was a fortunate side effect of being sealed within the boy, he was made privvy to Inka's most well kept secrets, and the favor was not returned. Perhaps that's why it was so easy to manipulate Inka, and perhaps that's why Inka, who knew that the genma was trying to control him to an extent, was still so easily influenced by his other half's ways. "So you come to me, because the enemy of your enemy is your friend, correct?", the genma asked.

Inka simply nodded, and the soul genma responded with another high pitched laughter. He threw his head back, laughing jovially into the orange sky at the plight of poor Inka. "Special Jounin Sestuya, Inka vs the Village Hidden in the Sand.", the genma said almost mockingly. "I can get behind it.", he finally said. Sitting on the edge of the boat, the black skinned boy reached down into the purple waters, running his finger through it, light shone out, as if a door had been opened to another world, only to vanish the moment he lifted his fingers.

"I will help you, boy. We are two beings forced together by circumstance, and we make convenient allies. Our interests more easily align when we work together, and I will concede to that. I have as much to gain from shielding you from the villages duplicity as you do, so you can consider yourself in possession of a new ally. You'll be doing most of the leg work, though.", the genma said with a shrug.

"You're granted a few advantages by our camaraderie, however. One, as a genma, and as you my jinchuurinki, I am able to converse with other spirits sealed within jinchuurinki as well. In those jinchuurinki's, you may find allies, such as that boy Akio.", the soul genma suggested. Consciously, the soul genma had absolutely no intent of working alongside the disaster of a spirit that was the Creation Genma. To Shishire, that genma was a bit of a joke, a disgrace to the powers that they shared a millennia ago. But he was well aware of Inka's waning trust of Akio, and his own intentions depended greatly on Inka's lack of external allies.

"Akio...", Inka simply responded, saying no more. Inka's trust in Akio was strained by the unending optimism that seemed to control Akio's disposition. The strain of a relationship between the village and hosts that was pushing Inka away only seemed to encourage Akio to do better, something Inka had becoming increasingly aware of.

"Additionally, you have comrades in the dead. Your village authorizes you to hunt missing ninja. They will be valuable, and they will work with you once they are dead. And your conversations never have to leave the depths of your mind.", the genma nodded at Inka. "Hunt missing ninja, Inka, that is the key to what you want. ", the genma reassured him.

Standing, the genma was balanced on the nose of the boat, though he seemed completely unaware of it. "This will be a good alliance.", the clone said, and with a snap of his fingers, Inka's world went black.

He woke on his floor, laying on his back, not in the meditative stance had entered in. Letting out a heavy sigh, a single word escaped his lips as he came to terms with what he had just agreed to...

"Shishire.."

[Ace Trainer]

Inka had spent some time away from his genma. The goading and prodding sat in the fore of his mind still, and he had gone into form plenty of times when he could feel the fingers of the genma (if that's what you would call them) slipping into his brain though. But it wasn't out of any disinterest in the genma, no, if anything Inka would have liked to spend more time learning about the Genma and the many little quirks and secrets it held within its mind. But, Inka had business to attend to, and appearances to keep up. His interactions with the council had made him grow cautious and concerned about how they would view him spending to much time in the depths of his own mind.

Of course, he knew Shishire was more than aware of this, even if they didn't meet in the jagged world the genma owned in Inka's mind, he could still feel the shadow of the Genma's presence in every thought he had. It was like his thoughts all had weight on them, giving them a certain sort of depth that he felt unfamiliar with. He'd grown used to it, though, and as unusual as it felt still, he tried not to worry about it.

But today was different, Inka had been doing research and had a task to accomplish, and he needed the knowledge of the genma to help him accomplish it.

He sat in the center of the same room he used for his training. The wide, open white room that he'd been locked into those years ago, the room he had assault Gaian in and unlocked his potential as a host, the room he'd done all his training in through the time. Crossing his legs, Inka closed his eyes, breathing rhythmically as the buzz of the room slowly faded away to the distant sound of fire. An uncomfortable buzz filled his ears and the scent of brimstone filled his nose.

Opening his eyes, Inka slowly rose, in the distance he could see the three black suns sitting on the horizon. The sky was a deep orange red color, with jagged mountains in the distance creating an uncomfortable landscape that could only be described as dead. He stood on a rock as black as night, that was floating on a river of deep purple fluid that seemed to be exuding heat.

He looked around, wondering where his host was. Inspecting the landscape as he tried to determine his location. As he turned, his jumped, gasping. Behind him, only about 2 feet of distance between them, the genma stood in his clone body of Inka.

"Hihihi", it would laugh.

"Hello Shishire...", Inka said, nodding his head respectfully.

"Hello boy.", it would respond condescendingly.

"I've come to ask you questions about the limitations of our ability.", Inka would inquired.

The genma's wide toothy grin would fade, "My ability", it corrected sternly. "So you're going to follow through with this? I know why you're here.", it practically spat.

The world would fly by them, and before Inka realized it, he would find himself inside a large room. It looked almost like a church, but the walls were thick and awkward looking, as if they were constructed out of dead wood. The genma who had stood mere feet in front of him was now across the room, sitting on a large throne, his legs crossed.

"So you have the answers I need then.", Inka would conclude, taking a few steps forward. Even at this point in his training, Inka wasn't entirely sure how much power the genma expressed over him, especially within his own realm. Could the genma kill him? Probably not, but he wondered if, in a battle of wills, the genma could overtake his body. "It's all hypothetical at this point."

The genma's eyes thinned, "Don't lie to me boy, you've already made your decision. You are just waiting to here from me, 'Yes, it can be done.' and then you'll be on your merry way.", Shishire seethed.

Inka frowned, looking at his feet. He had become very good at manipulating people, but standing before the genma still intimidated him and made him doubt that skill, "At the end of the day, you're a tool for the Sun, and I intend to utilize you as such.", he mustered up, saying it with enough fortitude that he actually sounded like he meant it.

"Hi Hi hi Hi Hi!"

"You're precious Sun, yes, the Light that grants life to your world. I am just a tool of 'hers' and you, her chosen disciple, will utilize me to bring her word throughout the world and rid it of darkness! I'm sure!", the genma said giddily. "Very well, you have your questions, ask!", he kicked his legs up, sitting with one crossed over the other, his arms spread out on the arm rests of his throne.

Inka frowned, taking two more steps forward and looking directly at the Genma, "I know I can interact with my own soul. Am I able to break it into multiple parts? To possibly extend my own life by containing parts of my soul outside of my body?" it was a simple question. Conceivably, if Inka could keep a part of his soul outside his body, he could always occupy a different body if his own body came too damaged to repair.

The genma's eyes thinned, and he nodded slowly, "Indeed, that is possible.", he responded slowly.

Inka paused, breathing in before speaking, measuring his words, "Can you tell me more?", he would finally ask.

The Soul Genma cocked it's head to the side. Inka found it strange to talk to a being that occupied a body identical to his own. However, despite being a mirror image of himself, when Inka looked at the fake the Shigenma used as a skin, he could tell something was off about it. A sinister, evil energy flowed from it. An indistinguishable energy that seemed to permeate the psyche the more time you spent around it. "They are called Hitodama.", the genma would begin.

"They are souls, or parts of souls, contained within the mortal realm for a variety of reasons, though those who do it intentionally often do it for safe keeping. When a Hitodama is made on accident, over time it will become lost, and eventually wander the human realm until extinguished. When made intentionally, they can stored, and indeed, extend your life. Though they do come at a cost...", the genma would warn.

"Eh...I guessed as much...", Inka thought out loud.

"A fractured soul is still connected by forces you will never understand, boy. Breaking off a piece of your soul and separating it from the rest of you will not keep it pure if you commit evils to your own soul. It will become as corrupt and disfigured as the true soul, regardless of the distance between the two.", this seemed like a warning too, but Inka nodded knowingly.

"I was hoping that would be the case.", he responded.

The genma feigned surprise. He was in Inka's head, he was more than aware of what Inka intended, and quite honestly, he hoped the boy succeeded in his plans, or at least, part of them. However, if Inka knew that well..he probably wouldn't play along. Balking at the boy, he leaned forward, "Well? Speak, tell me what you intend to do instead of stalking around it like the coward boy you are.", spit flew from the beasts mouth, the entire room practically shaking with his anger.

"I want to make one of these...Hitodama you call them, and store it for safe keeping. If my body was to die, I have disciples that can return the Hitodama to my body, or any body, and let my soul occupy it. ", the plan seemed simply enough, but Inka knew that wasn't the part that angered the Shigenma. "Then I want to take our souls and merge them together, so that I can have your power.", Inka finally said, his voice dropping in elevation as he did so.

The genma leaned back in his throne, glaring at the boy, "It won't work.", the genma warned, "My soul is one thousand times greater than yours, it contains power unimaginable to you. If you do what you're planning to, my soul will envelope and consume your soul with ease. You will vanish to nothingness and I'll gain your body.", he smirked with this. This he truly believed, but he knew Inka would reject the claim, the cocky boy.

Inka frowned, looking at his hands, "I was worried about that. . .", he mused. Honestly, it made sense, spirit or otherwise, Shishire was one of the greatest being to ever live...could Inka truly usurp it's power and take it as his own? "But I have faith, Shishire...", Inka said, taking another step forward.

The genma stood, his eyes wide in anger, "You don't have the right to call me by that name your traitorous scum.", the genma seethed.

"Just by your anger I can tell, you don't want this to happen. You don't think that you'll win out. If you did, you wouldn't warn me, you'd let me go on my merry way.", Inka was getting confident.

Shishire, on the other hand, seemed to be losing his cool. He stormed forward, "You filthy human!", his voice rose well beyond the volume a body could reach. The whole world shook as the genma tore through the room, grabbing Inka by the neck.

"You will not take my power! You will not desecrate my body! I am the KING OF THE UNDEAD I AM DEATH INCARNATE I AM THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY ON LIFE I AM THE BEGINNING, THE END, ALL OF IT I AM THE GOD TO YOUR WORLD, TO YOUR LIFE. I AM YOUR SUN, I AM THE DARKNESS. I AM EVERYTHING YOU EVER BELIEVED AND YOU WILL NOT SPEAK TO ME AS SOME LOWLY SPIRIT FOR YOU TO TOY WITH

The world would shake more and more violently with each word, the Soul genmas body growing in size as the world finally shattered away like glass, leaving them floating in nothingness, Inka seized by the neck by the giant genma. He held onto the enormous fingers that choked the air out of his lungs, wide eyed with fear.

Finally, the giant genma threw Inka back, and he found himself thrown against a wall. For a moment, all was black, and as his opened his eyes he found himself back within the strange throne room, the soul genma sitting back on his throne, tapping his fingers against the arm rest impatiently, his chest rising and falling heavily as his breath seemed to chill the room.

Inka struggling to his feet, finally standing. The vast distance between them seemed like nothing as the Soul genma glared into Inka's mind. "You have no power over me.


I am inevitable."

Inka ran both hands through his hair, and then smiled, "Eh, we'll just see then.", and with that, the world melted away.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka approached his home, two guards standing in front of the door of the special jounin's house. Nodding towards them both, they stepped off to the side, "The body is inside?", he muttered. The guard to the left simply nodded, and Inka nodded back as if to say thank you before pushing through the door.


Sure enough, in the first room of his home, laid out in the center of the room was the corpse of Takahashi, Shinji. Killed only hours prior to this moment, his corpse likely hadn't even started decomposing yet. Inka would have to remember to take motions to ensure that didn't happen. Looking at the body, he inspected the laceration on the neck that Inka had created, running a single finger over the wound surrounded by dry blood.

Looking up to the face, he pulled the eyelids back, looking into the dulled, dead eyes of the corpse. Patting it on the head, he continued to pace around the body, inspecting and detailing each part of the ragged body. To think that in only a few moment, this man would be standing before Inka once again, breathing...and living for all intents and purposes. If only for a brief time.

Sighing, he supposed his was ready. Placing a hand on the forehead of the body once more, he lifted it, and began his hand seals. In his hands a white orb would form, and Inka would push it down into the corpse. The body would glow for a moment, and the eyes Inka had pryed open only moments earlier would flood with an inky black color before they started blinking.

Shinji shot up in his place, sitting up. He looked around quickly, taking in his surrounding. Attempting to speak, he produced no sound, and would place his hand to his neck to feel the wound that Inka had created, a memory that had occurred only moment ago for him, closing on its own.


"Boy. Tell me where I am.", he'd finally produce, his voice hoarse.

Inka's eyes would thin as he inspected the missing ninja once again, watching as the body adapted back to life. As the soul took hold of the container it had just been separated from. Finally, he'd look up at Shinji's eyes, watching them as they stared back at Inka with a mix of contempt, anger, and confusion.

Met with silence, Shinji moved as if he was about to lunge at Inka, only to be stopped in his tracks as Inka raised a single hand.

"Can't attack me. It's against the rules.", Inka said with a shrug. "You're in my great village of Sunagakure no Sato.", he informed the missing ninja. "I am the Soul Genma host. I took your life, and your soul, and now I've brought you back from the dead...temporarily. To see your wounds repaired, and to speak with you.".

Shinji's eyes closed as his body relaxed, more or less accepting what had happened, he took a moment. Inka would soon realize he was praying.

"There is no need to pray to Her. She speaks to you through me. I am Her chosen Disciple. I am the one who will bask this world in Her Light, and you have been chosen to help me. ", Inka informed Shinji. His voice this time was uncharacteristically soft.

But Shinji just laughed under his breath, "She has no chosen disciple. Man has sinned far too much, She has turned her back to us and left us for the Dark to be consumed. You're nothing but a heretic like the rest of them. False believers that use Her Light to justify the means to your own ends." His response was harsh, but it was sincere. It was very close to being in line with what Inka himself believed. Except for one small detail.

"She has given us one last chance, Takahashi, Shinji. Through my power, I am enlightened. Through my power, I reach beyond even the Dark and grant Her Light to all of those who ask for it. She has elected to give Her faith to a single individual, in the hopes that I may redeem mankind and bring us back to Her Light..."

"And She has brought you to me. She empowered me to take your life, and empowered me to give it back to you. She is shining Her Light on you now."

Shinji's face seemed only to reflect more anger...and pity. Once again he moved to lung at Inka, who stopped him with only a single finger this time. "Just as quickly as I can bring you into the light...", he stepped forward, his hand glowing white. He drive his fist into the chest of Shinji, grabbing his soul. Shinji's eyes fell down onto Inka's arm, as he was forced to stand still, unable to move or resist, "I can send you back to the Dark."

Inka withdrew he hand, and turned his back to Shinji, walking over and leaning against the wall. "Stand., he commanded, and Shinji stood. "Do you truly believe that for all you have done for Her, she hasn't noticed? That She hasn't taken note? That She doesn't want you to be able to deliver Her Light? I am Her chosen Disciple! I will lead this world to Her warm embrace. I will break apart the Darkness that has infected the hearts of men and women alike and allow the entire world to bathe in the Light that She has so graciously given us for life! I am the border between life and death and she has made me the border between Light and Dark! Do not betray the mission you have sacrificed everything in life for! You are chosen just as I am! She has granted to freedom for your fealty, are you going to forsake Her Takahashi, Shinji?"

Shinji stood, listening to it all, and as the words soaked in, he knew Inka was right. If there was anything that he had been searching for in his years, anything that he had hoped for in his time in which he questioned the village and it's leadership, this moment was it. And so he dropped to one knee, and bowed his head. Not because Inka compelled him to, but because he knew it was right. Inka was the chosen Disciple of the Sun, and Shinji would not question him.

"Then ask only how I can serve.", he said obediently.

Inka smiled, and reached out, placing a hand on Shinji's shoulder "Then now all we're looking for is more believers who wish to bring forth the advent of a better world. But first, we have to go meet with the council, you are a missing ninja after all. I will return, Takhashi, Shinji, as will your mind.", and with that, Inka performed a single hand seal, and the body fell limp to the ground, once again nothing more than a mere corpse.

[Ace Trainer]

Being chosen by forces larger than yourself...well, its never straight forward. Inka was chosen first by the council, though he'd say otherwise, then he was chosen by the Sun to be her disciple. He never really understood the plans he was put in. He just kind of went with his intuition. He was sure the council was unhappy with the path he had taken. And really, he trusted that anything he did was part of the plan the Sun had for him.

But now, Inka was making the choice.

He was choosing Shishire this time. He was choosing Shishire's soul. And he was sure about one thing, Shishire was not happy about it.

It was going to happen one way or another, though, and it wasn't really Shishire's point to make. The genma was all but powerless while he was inside Inka. His power was channeled through Inka, and limited by Inka. He could do nothing without Inka's approval. And soon, he would be nothing. But that meant one final meeting with the great beast. One final go at monster within.

So in the center of the room, Inka sat, his eyes closed, legs crossed, preparing to face off a beast that was once considered a God.

---

There were no orange skies. No dark mountains in the distance. No Gothic church. No purple waters flowing. No rocks. No landscape.

Just darkness. Complete darkness, endless, with no sort of boundaries or limitations. There was nothing to be seen, except for one thing.

A single being stood opposite of Inka. Perhaps 20 feet between them, though the exact distance was hard to discern without any sort of reference. The being stood with his arms crossed. He looked like Inka, the chosen form Shishire seemed to defer to when he was calmest. Though his eyes were dark, his sclera black as the resurrected souls all shared.

"Welcome back, boy.", the genma hissed.

"Hello Shishire.", Inka said with confidence.

The two stared at each other for what seemed like eternity.

"Why even come." Shishire stated. It was a question, but he said it so flatly, with so much venom in his voice that it was just a straight statement. He was clear in what he felt though. He knew what Inka was doing. He knew what would come of it. And he knew that he would win, even if Inka didn't. But, he needed Inka to buy it, and that meant playing along.

The question really was why did Inka come. Why meet with Shishire if he was going to conquer his mind anyways?

"I'm not sure."

Shishire scowled.

"What will happen when I do it?"

The scowl deepened. "If you live?"

"I know I'm not going to die."

"I don't have to tell you this but the soul is so much more than your mind.", Shishire began. "Its your essence. Your being. Souls are forces of energy that transcend mortality. That transcend even myself as their gatekeeper. I suppose mine is unique, as the gatekeeper. When you manipulate my soul you are going to be manipulating the soul of a...they call us an Essential Force. There are others like me...not for souls. But for the other energies that make up the universe...s.", the world they were in seemed to compress for a moment and Shishire's body fell back into a throne, sitting in it with his legs crossed.

"When you do it. Your soul will be expanded. You will be exposed to truths that no man should be aware of. The birth of the worlds and the universes. You'll lay witness to creation. You'll be made keeper of knowledges that mankind could not imagine."

Inka smiled simply, he liked the sound of it.

"You won't retain any of it. What you're doing will fracture your soul...destroy it. You will die.", Shishire warned.

"Your concern is heartwarming, but only reassures me that I know what I'm doing, that you don't want me to do it."

"THEN GET OUT. GO.", the genma unleashed. His rage was like heat that shot forward enveloping Inka. "YOU VILE CHILD. KILL YOURSELF. FREE ME FROM THIS CAGE. WHEN I FERRY YOUR SOUL KNOW THAT YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY IN DARKNESS.", his body seemed to be growing. The heat that enveloped Inka only getting hotter.

"EXPERIMENT YOU FOOLISH CHILD. I CANNOT WAIT TO HAVE YOUR SOUL IN MY GRASP.", Shishire bellowed.

and the world vanished.

---

Inka's eyes flashed open.

It was time.

The aura enveloped his body as quickly as he decided. He remained in his seated position. The black chakra swelling around his body, compressing to his skin and putting him into his forms.

"Good luck Shishire.", Inka would mutter.

His hands would fly into a flurry of seals.

[/big]

SpoilerShow

Soul Bind: Spiritual Convergence
S-rank Shijutsu
Prerequisite: Host must be in Form 3 or higher, 40 Ninjutsu, 40 Control.
Doing a series of hand seals, and placing their one hand directly on a spirit(or a fuuin containing a spirit), and the other on the heart of his target, Inka is able to pull both souls from the spirit and body, then clasp his hands together, merging the souls. This process is a Control vs Control battle, those who elect to have the process done to them can elect to not resist, allowing it to go without any problem, and last forever. Should the target have less control than the user, but are resisting it, the combined souls will remain merged for a post duration equal to the difference between the target and user. Should the target have equal to or more than control than the user, the technique will fail. If the technique is successful, it functions similarly to a spirit possession. The target remains in full control of their body, and typically undergoes some physical changes and gains stat boosts or access to a jutsu style based on the spirit they’ve been bound with. Due to the nature of this binding, those with a mastery stat will retain it, and can continue to grow and develop their skill. Those who do not resist this technique, and allow their Soul to be bound with a spirit forever are able to enter and exit their spirit state at will.

His hands seemed to guide themselves, Inka's eyes glowing bright white as if he was in some sort of trance. He placed his hand over his heart, his other hand over his stomach, and felt the surge of energy as his soul channeled through his hands. The soul of Shishire's ripping through his stomach and surging through his body.

"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Then there was nothing.

---

There was nothingness. Not the black like Inka had just witnessed with Shishire. Not white. Just...nothingness. A sort of empty darkness that had nothing to it.

The Beginning

Inka's mind seemed tangently aware that this was the birth of it all. He couldn't process. He couldn't think. But he was aware. He was acting as witness. Bearing witness to creation, a process he truly could not comprehend.

Then, from that nothing, came something. A figure. Shapeless, but defined. Vague, but understood. It had no body, but there was a form that his body seemed incapable of comprehending. It was bathed in light, but, there was no light or anything to illuminate. Perhaps it was simply beyond being understood.

Its limbs? Arms? Wings? Spread. And in that instant. It all came to be. They were bubbles. They filled the nothingness like a swarm. Hundreds..perhaps thousands of them populating into this nothingness and giving it truth. In that moment, Inka watched reality come to be.

Come forth. For I am the Creator.

And the flow of the bubbles stopped at the sound of the Creator. The flow they had ended. And they seemed to bow to her command. They encircled him, and before it the largest bubble rested within the spread of her shapeless extensions that seemed to act as its hands. Then they flexed, and the bubbles rested, falling to what seemed to be the ground. Was there a ground? Inka couldn't tell. There was a bottom to this reality....sort of. There was no defined limits, but recognizable boundaries. It was incomprehensible to him, but he still understood.

Was there time in this place? Inka felt as if an eternity had passed...but it seemed like it had only been minutes. He had no thoughts, but his mind was racing. This was so distant to him conceptually that he couldn't fully wrap he head around it despite his efforts. Was he even trying? He felt an internal narrative within him as he attempted to understand, but he couldn't actively control it or guide his thoughts. This was far more surreal than Shishire could have described.

Perhaps an eternity did pass. Maybe two. But eventually, the stillness within the nothing was interrupted by the Creator as she stirred.

Reality is necessary.

And as such, Reality sprang forward. As formless as the Creator, Reality knelt before the Creator on a single knee. The bubbles surrounding them both filled with small, gentle lights within the bubbles.

Spirituality is necessary.

And as such, Spirituality sprang forward. As formless as both Reality and the Creator. Spirituality knelt before the Creator on a single knee. Within the bubbles, the lights grew bright, shifting in colors and gaining intensity.

Mortality is necessary.

And as such Mortality sprang forward. As formless as Reality, Spirituality and the Creator. Mortality knelt before the Creator on a single knee. Slowly, the bubbles would begin to pop, new ones soon populating into the air following them. The light filling them, and coming to be.

Serve your purpose.

The creator commanded. And with that, it was gone. The three shapeless beings left in her stead remained knelt.

First the form known as Reality stood. It made no sound. Beyond standing, made no motion. And from it, all that there was come forward. Inka became suddenly aware of reality within the bubbles. They weren't bubbles. They were universes. Realms. They were each individual realities. From Reality came actuality. And from within, Inka felt as if he felt a second click. Then two. Then three. Time had begun. Then Inka felt form come forward. The nothingness vanished and was replaced by definition. They were in some sort of room now. The bubbles swirled and twisted on lines that had came forward. As they reached the end of the lines, they popped, and a new bubble formed.

With Reality, came Time and Space. And from there, Reality vanished.

Within the center of the mobile that Reality had created with the bubbles, Spirituality now stood.

With Space now existing, Spirituality had more form than ever. She was clearly a woman. Long, raven black hair, fair skin, and a button nose. Inka could recognize her beauty, but could not think how beautiful she was. She was young, but old. She had long arms, and long fingers on them that she slowly lifted. From the ground of the room they were in, Spirituality brought forward an blue Ether that enveloped all of the bubbles save the one that sat in the center of the mobile.

Spirituality's long fingers enveloped the bubble for only a moment before Mortality suddenly stood.

As he stood, Spirituality vanished as if she had been forced away, and Mortality grasped the bubble in the center. He lifted it, raising it above all the other bubbles at the top of the mobile. His body seemed to grow as he did, was he 10 feet tall? 100? 1000? His sized seemed limitless. And as quickly as he grew, he shrunk. With his hands, he quickly plucked from the bubble above him, pulling strings out of the bubble. Five in total.

He held the strings out in an open palm, then finally blew out on it. The strings flew forward, and as they floated in the air, they change to birds. They would fly, encircling the mobile of bubbles.

Mortality held out a single hand, and the first bird landed.

Soul.

A second hand

Body

A third hand.

Life

A fourth hand.

Mind

And a fifth hand.

Death


You are my forces. Essential to what I divine. You will protect this realm from Her. From Her Ether. You will set forth. You will create. And you will destroy. You will maintain this reality, for it is mine. And you will never allow Her or the Ether to touch it.

And with that, Mortality vanished. The birds remained, flying around the single bubble he had named his own. The blue ether licking at the air surrounding it, repelled by the forces that Mortality had named Essential.

Without thought. Without consciousness. Inka knew. Inka had just witnessed the birth of the...world? The universe? Of reality? Of....everything? He did not understand. But he knew so much.

---

Inka felt a surge of energy through his body. He felt transcendence course through him as he watched the world fly by. As quickly as the story of creation had unfolded before him, he felt as if he was witnessing all of history. Information moved through him with such potency, such depth that he felt incapable of actually comprehending what was playing out before him. Yet he understood it all. He knew, he divined the information so thoroughly that he could feel his entire world view shifting.

And as quickly as it started, it stopped.

Inka stood now, in a shadow. Towering above him, at limitless heights, stood Shishire himself.

"Hello my friend.", Inka called out.

"You know you're done, right?", Shishire responded. The statement seemed like something that would be drenched in the normal condescending smugness that Shishire spoke with. But instead, there was a touch of humility in the otherwise flat tone he carried.

"I thought as much."

"As am I.", he admitted.

Inka frowned, "I thought as much."

"After what you have witnessed. You are no longer a mere mortal, you understand that, right? You have seen knowledge man does not think even exists. You have witnessed what I have witnessed for all my existence. All the knowledge I am beholden to, is.."

Inka cut him off, "Is now mine."

"You're still processing. Ask what you need to."

"What he named essential forces. You said you were one of them."

"I am...and I am not. I am a Gatekeeper to the Essential Force of Soul. I ferry Souls, the energy they are made up. From the Mortal Realm into the Afterlife. My mother, Spirituality, shaped me from Soul Energy, in order to siphon power from Mortality. We share a...complex dynamic.", it was the abridged story. Inka had a feeling he would understand soon enough.

"You lack your normal rage, Shishire.", Inka mused.

"I come in many forms, many iterations. For you, this is death. For me...rebirth.", the genma responded.

"But I'm not dying...", Inka said in a way that seemed to convey understanding. "Not traditionally, at least.", a little bit of confidence was welling up in his voice.

"I won't be taking your soul, no. Nor you taking mine. A new soul will be formed. A rare occurrence..."

"I won't really be me anymore. you won't be you.", Inka said with understanding.

"I'll exist...tangently. In the overworld. Beyond your reach as a mortal. But at the same time your soul will be partially comprised of mine. Your being will be something of a Demigod, though your mortality will be maintained. Your soul will be fractured. You will have far more control over your soul than anyone would have over their own, or you would have over any one elses. How do I put this in a way your mortal mind will understand...", Shishire's voice displayed patience, understanding. It seemed that the Shishire that spoke from his soul, as the Gate Keeper, was far different from the Shishire that sat within Inka as the genma.

"I have a feeling I'll understand regardless."

"I focus on your humanity...it makes the transition easier. Imagine souls as glasses of water. All human souls are relatively equitable. There is only enough water for that glass, and your glass can only hold the water it currently has. Put different water in the glass, and it will leak out, albeit slowly, but eventually it will. My vessel, as the Gate Keeper, is more of a pitcher. You're dumping some of the water out of your glass, and using my water from my pitcher to refill. It won't leak...but its not quite right. It makes your water impure, and thus, improper. It will adversely effect your glass, it will make your glass easier to break...but unique. "

"I'll remain human.", Inka said with a nod.

"Yes. And, as an extension of that, I get to taste humanity. To be honest with you, I wasn't entirely sure how much control I'd have. But, a vessel in the human realm is convenient nonetheless. Spirituality, as it is, does still wish entry to the mortal realm.", Shishire said in a tone that conveyed some level of trickery was at play here.

"Its been a pleasure, Gate Keeper.", Inka said, watching as his hands slowly began to fade.

"Worry not. Our new soul will know none of the truth. Your mission as the Sun's Disciple has not ended yet."

"Maybe that's what worries me.", Inka said. And from that, Inka faded.

---

Inka's bodies eyes flashed open. The white lining in the iris seemed to swirl around the pupil, slowly filling it until the iris glowed with a full silvery shine. The body pulled each hand away and held them out in front of them. Blinking slowly, absorbing its surrounding.

Standing, the body took a deep breath, feeling the air fill its lungs as if it had taken in it's first breath of air. Its hands relaxed at it's side and it seemed almost robotic as it looked around the room, eventually wandering to the door and opening it. The sun struck the skin of the body almost instantly, and the light enveloped him, the heat sinking into the body slowly. It was as if life was being breathed into it.

To Inka's core, only one thing had truly defined him. He was the disciple to the Sun.

"I am Inka.", he said with a breath.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka sat on the floor, legs crossed, humming under his breath. The way his vocal chords felt was...strange. His body didn't feel quite right. Perhaps a byproduct of this new soul adjusting to a vessel not designed for it. He had this tangent feeling all over himself, as if someone was brushing him with a feather. It wasn't uncomfortable, nor was it pleasant, just a strange sensation that...was. Inka placed his hands on his chest, a gentle glow permeating from his hands and sinking into his clothing as his eyes flashed white, the black sclera disappearing into the white light.

The world around him melted away, and Inka found himself in an empty realm.

---

The large throne Shishire had so often postured himself in looked different empty. The metal engravings no longer shadowed by his body showed that the throne was designed to almost wrap around the body, with gentle shifts in its thickness to mimick the human form. The room was dark, with long shadows cast through the shattered windows and broken rooms. The decrepit presence of the throne room betrayed the dead state of Inka's own being. Honestly, it felt even more hollow without Shishire himself about present in it. Inka noticed so much more about the room now, and he couldn't help but wonder where this setting came from.

Surely it had some point of origination. Shishire had something about him that gave Inka a hint of nostalgia, everything about the ancient being had purpose, meaning, motivation. This room was no exception. Inka walked, slowly, his footsteps echoing against the walls, filling the room with even more solitude as it became deafeningly obvious that Inka was on his own.

In some strange way, Inka missed Shishire.

He continued to walk until he came to a door. Pushing it open, it creaked, and revealed a large room in its own right. Inka had never had the opportunity to explore before, Shishire hadn't exactly been...welcoming. Through all their talks and bouts, Inka had learned everything he knew about Shishire and his abilities through reading between the lines, things Shishire subtly let on, and a lot of guesswork. So now, where he was, being able to explore and act freely well, it was a change of pace. He walked into the room to be shown a library. Illuminated by a ray of light descending directly into the center of the room, the shelves went far into the sky, farther than Inka could see. His eyes thinned as he tried to see the top, but he couldn't discern it.

He scanned at eye level instead, his fingers running along the spines of books. He felt himself being called. Half his soul had an insurmountable amount of knowledge contained within it that seemed to almost speak to him. He felt tinges of energy willing him in certain directions.

Finally, it was like a spark as he touched one of the books. Pulling it from the shelf, he flipped it open. The words made no sense. The letters were contorted and strange, a language Inka had never laid eyes on before. He flipped through the pages, hoping to find something that made sense, but nothing did. It was all gibberish.

Until he stopped on one page, with a single word standing out to him.

Hitodama

---

Inka's eyes came to a close, and his hands fell to his side, he repeated the word only once, "Hitodama", and it had meaning. It was strange, how it worked. This knowledged was contained within him, but it seemed inaccessible, locked away due to his own mortality. Perhaps Shishire had told him about it once and he just didn't remember? But Inka knew for sure that his mortality was the limiting factor in this situations. Truly an upsetting concept considering Inka didn't even subscribe to true mortality anymore. Being a Kojikogu had alleviated that...restriction...to him.

But now Inka faced a new problem. His soul didn't fit his body proper. Perhaps it was too volatile given its unique state, or perhaps it was simply not meant to be. But Inka needed to downsize in some capacity. He needed to calm all this intensity in him.

Hitodama was the answer to that. Now it was just a matter of how he was going to do it.

Inka had found that, in matters of his own soul, general fuckery was not as simple as he'd like it to be. Or at least, not as straightforward. He had all his memories from before the combining of his soul with Shishire's but the memories felt distant and surreal. Almost as if he was witness to them, not the one who experienced them. They were surely his memories, but, they were the memories of this body, not of this soul. That was something he hadn't really expected or anticipated. He knew that his previous self had anticipated some shift, but he expected that he'd still be a singular being with some dieification in effect. Instead, Inka felt he was truly another being separate from who he was previous.

The creation of a Hitodama was intimidating for this reason. He felt some intuitive sense that creating a Hitodama was not going to be as straightforward as separating a part of his soul and putting it back into his body. On some level, he knew that there was going to be a side-effect to this that he couldn't fully anticipate. Something that would cause some categorical shift in him would surely occur, and unlike his willingness to through caution to the wind, Inka now had a little more hesitation to his actions. He was something just short of a Demi-God now, he sat in the role of virtually one of the most powerful and important beings in the world. He was, for all intents and purposes, the ferrier of souls, the grand decider, the mover to the afterlife, the escort for the damned.

He felt it, too. Parts of his conscious were not present. They were there, but absent, in a distant place not something Inka could full comprehend. He spent moments focusing on it, trying to recall those parts of his being that were preoccupied but only felt his mind numb as he did so. Perhaps these were just things mortals were not meant to experience.

But it was time, Inka knew he was on a timeline, that was for sure. Perhaps, again, it should be chalked up to intuition, but Inka was very much aware that what he had done would not go unnoticed, and would not go without a response. Especially with that tool Akihito at the reigns of his life. Once again the white chakra began to envelope Inka's hands, coming off of him like smoke, wisping off his hands and into the air. With a dramatic flush, he began sealing, his fingers weaving in and out of each other to form the various signs to instruct his chakra. Finally, he finished, and thrust his hands into his very own chest.

His head fell backwards, his mouth open, light seemingly escaping his throat as his hand slowly began to move out of chest. To an onlooker, Inka's hands would be empty, but to Inka, the blue light that tugged from within his body was bright and briliant. Finally, it gave way, and sprang from it's form into a flame, resting in Inka's palm.

He neck relaxed, his head falling back forward, and his free hand came to the hand holding the flame, cupping his hands together.

Inka blinked a few times. He felt...normal. Nothing drastic had changed in him, at least. Not yet. He inspected the soul in his hand. It seemed so timid, so tame. Hardly the soul of a near demi-god, at least. He felt the power over his own life in such a way that it felt...wrong. With a simple clasping of his hands together Inka could extinguish this flame in his hand and destroy a part of his very own being. Inka could force this flame into anything around him, into the wall, into a vase, into a kunai, and it sit their stagnate, frozen in time. He felt a strange fascination with his own ability, surely we all had a constant control over our own existence, but never in such a...supreme way.

Then...suddenly, perhaps the very change that Inka had been so afraid of, happened. The blue flame in his hand slowly darkened, turning black. And as quickly as he had any other time, Inka's world faded away, and he soon found himself sitting in the throne room once again.

---

In front of him, a face Inka felt so familiar, yet, so unlike itself.

Shishire.

"Hello boy.", the body sneered. It was Inka's own body, with the piercing black eyes, the dark skin, the features that seemed so sinister, yet not in any way unlike Inka's own.

"Shishire?"

"In the flesh...or so to speak. How do you like Godhood?", he asked with a smirk.

"Haven't had much time to experience it...I thought you were....me? Gone? I'm surely you now."

"Yes and no. You don't remember it, but I told you, I am a greater force than you can comprehend. You assimilated our souls, getting rid of the bits that didn't suit your means, and smooshing the rest together like wet sand on a beach. But, souls are peculiar things. I'm as much a part of you as you are of me. This form I currently occupy is now the only form I can take.", Shishire explained. In truth, Inka was a bit surprised Shishire had chosen this body, so this made sense. He had surely expected Shishire to assume his more monstrous form in his first encounter with Inka following the betrayal.

"You've split your soul in two. So, the part of the soul that remained is most like your true self. While the part of the soul that you removed is most like my true self. But we still retain parts of each other. My mind...is foggy. I have a vast amount of knowledge that I recognize I can't actively access. I'm limited to the knowledge your own soul is aware of. But...as the conversation makes clear, I can pull bits relevant to our experience. If you split your own self again, you'd end up with a half more like your current self, and a half more like your past self. And depending on which you split, so on, and so forth. Same is true for this soul that you have of mine. If you split me enough...perhaps I'd be able to reobtain my original form, but that portion of your soul would likely be so minuscule it'd fizzle without our support.", 'Shishire' explained.

Inka now realized, this wasn't Shishire. Just as much as he wasn't truly Inka. This was an aspect of his soul, that presented most like half of his being, the half contributed by Shishire. It seemed almost unfair, because this portion of his soul, though lesser than his own, had access to information on a subconscious level that Inka couldn't seem to actively recall. Perhaps it was just divine intervention, or how things fell.

If Inka was 1/2 Inka, and 1/2 Shishire, his two new souls were 3/4 Inka 1/4 Shishire, and 3/4 Shishire 1/4 Inka. It was the most straightforward way to look at it, and while surely it was more intricate than his mind was making sense of.

"I almost think I prefer this.", Inka mused out loud. Now aware that Shishire was only a deviation of himself, he felt almost strange talking to Shishire about this. "I should be able to mute you...but leave you an occupant in myself. Surely your presence would offer...an advantage. Am I able to leave you in control?", Inka asked. Again, the question was mostly rhetorical, after all he was talking to himself.

"You could leave yourself in a suspended state like you want to do with the archer. Leave half your soul in control of your body, take guidance from the other half. ", Shishire's self noted from the comfort of the chair.

"You'd be rather dull company though. Given what you've already done to yourself...your body truly could sit at rest for months on end until you needed action. You don't have to partake in the nuances of mortality anymore.", this conversation felt particularly strange when both sides were a byproduct of Inka's own mind.

"Alright. That's a solid plan.", he nodded.

And the world returned.

---

Inspecting the flame in his hands, Inka thrust it back into his chest with a single movement. A rough, ugh escaping his mouth as he did so.

He felt strange. More like himself, a small smile on his face.

"Almost there. Just need Shinji now.", Inka's plans were almost done.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka felt more like his old self. A little more upbeat, at least. With a quick series of seals, another blue flame would form in Inka's hand, and he'd flick it up, the soul flying through the ceiling into the room above him. Soon, several steps would be heard, slow but purposeful. Inka waited patiently as they grew further away, then closer. Finally, the approached behind, and Inka stood to his feet to greet the newcomer.

"Shinji.", Inka said with a smile.

"Setsuya-san.", Shinji replied with a short bow of his head.

"We're going to train a little, eh? I gotta fiddle around a bit.", Inka said with a shrug.

"I see.", and without seemingly meaning to, Shinji extended an arm. The look of discomfort on his face revealed that it was by Inka's will, not his own. Inka responded by reaching out a hand of his own, and shaking Shinji's.

"I'm sorry to tell you this but you're not going to like it."
"More indiscretions, it seems."
"I imagine Mikado-san would prefer you whole. And its not to say I don't trust you but..."
"It is understood." Shinji responded.

Inka released his hand, "Soul looks good, eh!", he clasped his hands together, "Time to train! This should be painless for you, honestly, Shinji-san. So don't worry to much, eh?"

Taking a few steps back, Inka closed his eyes, forming a single tiger seal and slowly pushing his arms forward. As he did so, he seemed to almost hum. Though he produced no actual sound, there seemed to be some sort of distortion coming from him. Slowly from his hands the milky white smoke-like chakra would begin to dissipate into the air, coating his hands. His eyes stayed closed, his focus sharp. Surely 4 years ago Inka would have never displayed the sort of aptitude for jutsu creation as he did now. His instictive ability to latch onto jutsu concepts unmatched in many ways, especially when it came to soul jutsu.

Slowly he began to open the palms of his hands, rotating his wrists as his did so so that his hands woulds separate and be side by side with the palms facing out towards Shinji. Shinji stood in silence, with his hands hanging by his side. Inka would tell him if he needed to do anything..or force him to do it.

Finally, Inka pushed both his hands forward, and the white chakra surged forward at Shinji, enveloping his neck, then forcing itself down his throat. Shinji remained silent, but the lock of shock on his face slowly faded, as the chakra calmed, and Inka dropped his hands. Approaching Shinji, he took only a few steps before Shinji slowly began to lower his body, kneeling before his master.

"You may speak."
"I have no words."
"Good.", Inka said with a smile.

Sealing once more, his pressed his palm to his own chest. And the smile that had formed on his face only minutes before, faded away.

Slowly, Inka lowered himself to the ground, crossed legged. Now, Inka sat within his own mind.

Edo Tensei
D-rank Shijutsu
A passive technique Inka applies to all his resurrections. When Inka revives a person, they will be devoid of their personality. While they'll have access to their memories, it will be only be active recall. This doesn't limit their capacity to function in any way, but removes their susceptibility to jutsu that target things like fear, deception, emotional manipulation, and so forth. The resurrections will still always act to Inka's intents, as they are typically required to do. Inka can consciously choose to return the personality to any resurrection he wants by kai-ing them similar to a genjutsu. While in this state, the resurrections are merely a blank slate designed for and capable only of combat operations.

[Ace Trainer]

Inka's body sat in the middle of the room, legs crossed, staring blankly at the wall opposite of him. He wasn't in a trance, his eyes were open, he blinked, was breathing normally. Just..void of any sort of response. That'd likely be because Inka wasn't exactly..home.

Within his mind, Inka sat on a throne. Leaning forward in the royal seat, his elbows rested on his thighs, his hands clasped together, supporting his chin. His index fingers tapped the knuckles they rested of rhythmically, as he seemed to be deep in concentration. "Our limits are going to be tested.", he said out loud, not looking up from his concentrated stare. "They were always going to be.", the dark counterpart retorted. While Inka has natually tan features, this version of his body had dark skin, blackened nails, and the black sclera reminiscent of the Soul genma resurrections. "Yes but this is different. Going to need to make sure I've got access to everything.", he closed his eyes, and the walls of the empty church would seem to shift. The grey slate growing and expanding, as large, metal doors would be revealed.

"There is a world of information we need to gather.", he said.

Pushing off the throne, he motioned towards the eastern wall of the decrepit church, his second soul following. They stood by side in front of the first door. There were 8 in front of them.

"You're going to need to adapt.", the dark soul instructed. Inka nodded, indicating his understanding, "We're going to see just how far this body and our soul can be pushed.", Inka nodded, walking forward and approaching the first door.

"Here it goes.", he said. Pushing the door open, he was introduced to an open, empty room, with a single book laying on the floor. The roof of this part of the church had fallen open, allowing rays of 'light' to break through, the orange sky visible through the rafters. The duo would approach the book, the second soul leaning over to pick it up

"Jibou", it read out loud.

"Abandonment.", Inka translated.

Reaching out, Inka took the book from the other souls hands. Did it matter? They shared a single mind, after all. This was simply Inka's personality. Opening the book, Inka's eyes filled with light as information was injected into his mind. "This is the next step to the Light.", the second soul would say. As the light faded from Inka's eyes, he nodded, "Indeed."

Inka would press his hands together with the book between them, it disappearing into air. "Souls don't have to be bound to their original bodies.", he said, his voice trailing.

"You've already made this body a simple container. It's not far fetched to presume you could treat it like any other.", his follower mused out loud. These were two voices expressing the same train of thought. Conversation made it easier for Inka to process.

"Surely, this body must present some inherent value to the soul.", he wondered. Could he so easily occupy Shinji's corpse? Or any other? "I don't think its quite as simple as that. I think more so Souls have an inherent value to the body. A body is meant for a single soul. But...a non-living container...should be able to be occupied by any soul.", the lesser continued. Inka nodded understandingly.

"Faux bodies will suffice, but a true one will not. Presumeably, I have no need for a true body. I could shed it at any time.", he pondered, turning to face his counterpart face on. "I should look into producing a body in a similar fashion as I do for lesser souls. Surely with my own soul acting as the medium, it should be able to be done with quite a bit of ease.", he mused.

The other Inka nodded, but, began to smile. "This is the right track to be thinking on. But, there's one thing you need to starting delving into to get there.", he said. Inka raised a brow, it was so curious that parts of his soul had a deeper understanding of it's own nuances than him. "Meaning..?", prompting himself to continue? How asinine.

"What happens to a soul without a body? Can it occupy? Observe? Interact? We understand...well, just about everything there is to understand about manipulating souls. That is easy enough. Moving them, manipulating them, returning them. But, our final step in this area, to become truly competent, especially given the changes we've made....is to understand the experience.", Inka nodded in understanding. The words he was saying did more than convey an idea, it seemed to open the information in Inka's mind, and he truly understood. He was already just a soul, he had done that when he ate the Genma and shed his bodies natural function. By reducing it to a dead container, Inka had seperated the link between the two. But, he had remained in the container. He hadn't seen the world from the perspective of a soul yet. He didn't understand what his limits would be if he discarded a body completely. He would need to understand this state first if he wanted to utilize it."[/color]