Searching for answers

[mercy]

Chapter I

Part II

It has been five days since I had last left Kumogakure to head towards the Land of the Rain. My nightmares attacked me these past nights and so, after the second night, I had refused sleep and at night time today I will, yet again, refuse sleep. It was the simple fact that my nightmares were not your ordinary type of nightmares. They were illusions almost, and real enough that I woke up with blood spilled from my lips or from parts of my body where I was attacked in my dreams. It was only my body being built through the years of hard training as a Shinobi , that kept me going—that and my indomitable mind—as I trudged on forward. . .

I was in Konoha, but on the borderline to the Land of the Rain. There, I stood, as I remarked how close I was to the land. It had started to rain—heavily at that too—and while it was in my best interest to not get wet, it was impossible for me to stay dry once I had entered the land. My black cloak that manned my body and my black hood that covered my face served only to keep me warm, however temporary. It had no defense against the pounding waters as I soon found myself cold—not from the wind, no, rather it was from the ever-constant waters that screamed their fury upon my being. 

Even though it has been almost year and some months, I highly doubt that my grandfather had changed the location of the dojo and his house. My old man was very traditional and always like things to stay in their place, never moving and never changing (well, I suspect that women would be a pardon to this mentality), and to that end, he always hated the dynamics of an ever-changing society. This, I would assume, was why he liked the land of the Rain: for its ever constant rain that shouted from the heavens above. From my perspective, though, it was because he, like me, tried to escape his past and the curse of inflicted upon our heritage. 

Alas, it was this curse that I struggled with daily as I set about my activities. My nightmares were the result of my resistance to this curse, and my punishment for not actively taking the precaution to eliminate it. I had always thought myself (like most people of my age) an indomitable figure that no set of powers could overcome or stand up to. It was an ideal, really, to have a spirit so irreparable that once set free could subjugate a single village of considerable standing if my supreme authority so wished.

[mercy]

Yet, there existed a hatred that dwelled within the energy bound to my body. It was this hatred that my grandfather and I ferociously resisted and while my old man was an old man indeed, I was young. Although my old man’s body was not frail and bony like most men of his age due to him being a former shinobi and of high standing within our clan, my body was not yet touched by the hands of time. My old man believed that I could overcome the curse that has raged our ancestors and boils in our blood. I thought so too, but on my own. I was naïve to think that I was bigger than this so called “curse”—this curse that has defeated many of my people who possessed strength and power much greater than my own time and time again. And so, that was objective of visiting my grandfather. I had hoped in some way, that he would help me despite ignoring him for so long, pursuing my duty in the world of shinobi.

Swiss! My head pulled back in a quick and robust way as a kunai flew right before my very eyes. It landed into the tree, buried deep in the bark of lumber. I stopped, almost immediately and turned around in the direction where that came from, and almost immediately afterwards several kunais were thrown from all directions. They came fast—faster than the average kunai thrown. Instinctively my hand would reach behind my body for my tanto blade, my fiery chakra imbued within the soul of that short, shiny metal. My body would quickly rotate into a spinning motion as my blade stood out. Fire released from it, devouring the kunais that were imbued with wind (that was the only description I could up with for the faster-than-average throwing of a kunai). After the smoke cleared, I stood there, waiting for the enemy to show up. 

“You can hide, but if you don’t stop attacking me, I am going to come after you!” I said to the unknown enemy or enemies. Suddenly, a voice came out from the woods and one that I had recognized almost immediately, “Mokushi?! Is that you?” My hands reached out to put down my hood as my face was fully visible to the person who spoke out. My dark raven locks quickly became drenched as the waters would make it to my face, and going around the opaque shades covering my eyes and finally dripping off my chin before hitting the ground. Out from the darkness of the woods, came a boy and a girl, both of my age, their eyes squinting to affirm my stature and appearance to their memory. 

I walked up to them as I unleashed a smile from my face. I spoke, “Jigoku and Chika! How have you been?” I was stopped immediately in my tracks in response to a long sword that touched my neck. My eyes followed the blade to see it belonging to a man of tall stature, his eyes narrowed with distrust. He must have been a new addition to my grandfather’s group of trainees for I knew not who he was nor did I ever come across his face in my memory. Still, for a student of my old man to point his blade at me was foolhardy indeed, but I was not one to get so riled up over such petty matters. I spoke quite calmly, “Excuse me sir, please point your blade somewhere else before you get hurt.”

[mercy]

“HAH! You have nerve boy! I don’t know who you are, but you come into our land, speak to our leaders as if you’re their equal, and tell him to back down? I have never seen a person so dumb.” I looked up from where the voice came to see three girls and two boys with arrows pointed at me. There were indeed many others who had pointed their arrows at me, ready to strike me down. A laugh escaped my lips as I quickly moved my head back, my right leg shifting upwards to strike the tall boy’s helm of the blade. It went up into the air as my body would become a blur, appearing suddenly behind him. My tanto blade pressed well against his thick neck as my left leg tripped his posture into a bending position. 

“I dare you all to release your arrows.” Despite the threat I had made to them, a smile had still rested on my lips. They had all managed to slip by my awareness and were already ready to attack should I have been hostile from the start. It was just like my grandfather to have trained them so, but there was one thing that I had to address directly to the two people that stood there, unmoving since the start of the whole charade, “So, leaders huh, what happened to my old man?”

Chika responded albeit firmly—unlike the girl I had come to know about a year ago, “Master is doing well. We’ll take you to him. Cease fire! This is the grandson of our master”. However, Jigoku pointed at the boy whom I held hostage and spoke harshly, “Release him before we go.” I chuckled and did so but with my tanto blade pointed at his back. “Get me to my old man. I don’t trust a single one of you and you two out all people should know that very well. Should any of you attack, I’ll kill him.” My blade cut open the clothing at his back to make my point. The warriors above hissed as they almost released their arrows but stopped as soon as I drew blood from man in front of me. He let out a painful grunt as I spoke, “I’m serious. Attack and he dies. You call me dumb? Come down here and say it again to my face. I dare you.” 

I remained unamused to their hostile banter as they took me to my old man. We had this tension ever since we were all toddlers. When we arrived at the place, it was pretty much the same, only that the dojo had been rebuilt into something finer. It was of a larger size than the previous time that I had come here, and I suppose that was due to the large influx of members that my grandfather had taken up under his wing. We entered the dojo, where they all opened up path for me and there on the other side sat my old man. His eyes were closed; body sat upright cladded in clothes fitted for a dojo master. Other than that, he looked pretty much the same as before. I walked up to him but stopped when I stood ten feet away and sat down. My eyes behind the opaque shades stared at him, waiting patiently for who knows what. The rest of the members stood in their spots, unmoving and silent in their disposition. 

THUNK!! That was the last sound I heard before my consciousness escaped my mind and I went spiraling towards that sweet abyss…

[mercy]

Mokushi, wake up! There’s a clown in front of you!!! 

I immediately woke up and punched whoever stood beside me on my left, presuming in all honesty that it was a clown. After a deep painful moan had rushed into the air along with laughter and a banter of snicker snicker and “ha ha”, my mind had come into its full form of consciousness. After a group dragged away the unlucky fellow away from wherever I sat, I had become all too keenly aware of my surroundings. The first thing I did was touch my face only to be relieved to feel my opaque shades hiding my eyes as my grandfather sat on a chair right next to me—on my right—his face worn by the attacks of time. 

There was no one in the room now, except for my grandfather and myself, as we remained in our positions and said nothing to each other for quite some time. I let out a long exhale, and turned to look at my old man but he would take hold of the first words of our conversation. “You look like shit, my boy.” I stifled a laugh as I replied, “You’re the one to talk. Your face looks like it has been beaten repeatedly!” My finger moved to the traces of the many wrinkles that encompassed his face to further emphasis my point. We let out a laugh, and for a moment there we escaped the cold harsh reality that was our curse—our heritage.

After some time had passed, my grandfather shifted into a more serious mode as he knew very well why, after a year and a half, I decided to show up. “How bad is it?” he said, and to which I replied, “The nightmares act as if they are real. I wake up with blood spilled from where I was wounded in my dreams. I wake up insane and dazed as if I have become a monster unleashed. One time, I woke up with three dead bodies surrounding me—it was then that I decided, that I must come and see you”. My old man suddenly looked worried, his hand stroking his beard. “I hoped that it wouldn’t have to come down to this. While I applaud you for your resistance against your awakening for quite a long time, it seems that you must allow it happen.  However,” he paused, taking a moment to think before he continued, “it seems that you must defeat your past. Your subconscious drains your chakra and enforces illusions to prevent your awakening. When you sleep, you are slipping into illusions that are real enough to cause you damage in the real world.”

As I listened, I became increasingly interested in his theory. I spoke appealing to my curiosity, “So, how do I get out of it?” My grandfather sighed before he took his cane and bonked it on my head. “Weren’t you listening?! You must defeat your past! I will use the Sharingan to take you directly to your illusions. There, you will defeat each and every illusion. Should you come out of it alive, the next thing for you to do would be to awaken your Sharingan.”Rubbing my head to ease the pain from the cane attack, I chuckled. “So, in the end, I must start my path to depravity. Fate, it seems, has a very cruel way of doing things eh?” And so, the following day, I was to be summoned where I will undergo the series of five illusions that prevented me from awakening my Sharingan—and robbed me of my precious sleep and sanity.   

[mercy]

I stood in a great hall, large enough to seat all of my old man’s students. The hall was fairly empty for many of them went about their training, duties, and errands. Only the disciples and apparently a group of five that went by the name of “leaders” were present. Among them stood Jigoku and Chika as well as the boy who pointed his blade at me when I had arrived to this land that knows no sun. His eyes narrowed at my appearance and I showed no care for it. I had bigger things to worry about. My grandfather sat on a chair that was placed in front of a huge wall made of concrete earth. The nine disciples along with the five leaders stood in an orderly line in front of their master. Their master then spoke, upon my arrival.

“Since my eyes are not as good as they used to be, these students of mine will be providing you chakra to pull you out of the illusions if you are present in a death situation. They will notice it and pull you out right away.” I interjected my grandfather, saying, “I assume that you also will be able to tell as well? I don’t trust these guys—I never did, and I never will.” They had started to speak out against my statement but were immediately silenced by a raise of their master’s hand. I chuckled at how obedient they were, as I made a tsk tsk sound much to their chagrin. My old man, however, spoke firmly this time, “You don’t have a choice, Ikasama. While I will be able to sense your chakra, it is they who have the strength and will to pull you out should you need it. These illusions are powerful. I myself went into your dreams while you were sleeping and I detected such a powerful darkness deep within these illusions. You must not underestimate this. It will devour you the second you let down your guard.”

His Sharingan was visible in his eyes to make his point. When he was like this, I knew not to object and keep my mouth shut. From the group of the leaders, a girl spoke, “You may be a shinobi, but here, we all trust each other. We will not betray you. You have my word.” I, in all honesty and out of whatever respect I had found from the deepest gutter of my soul, tried not to laugh out loud at her words. It had indeed helped that my old man was very serious, for his aura casted a net that held down the feelings of indifference that I so strongly felt towards these people. I only nodded and bow my head towards her, hoping that she would take as a sign of thanks. All the other people who had known from before stared in aghast at my recent action. The girl, however, merely smiled and my grandfather clapped his hands—the sound reverberating to the walls, seemingly encompassing the vastness of it all.

“Without further ado, take off your shades and sit down.” I did so and my grandfather walked up to me. My hazel oculi watched as the zodiacs dance with his hands. His right hand slammed down on the floor in front of me as writings of an ancient language that escaped my knowledge formed around me. At each vertex that ended the formed web of this high level fuuinjutsu, stood the disciples and the leaders. Chakra emanated from the bodies as it streamed towards me, each piece of their energy forming within and around me—like a great fire that burned on with fierce passion. The three-tomoe scarlet dye spun on and on in the eyes of my old man as I felt as if I was being warped into it. Suddenly I was falling and voices that were both familiar and unfamiliar within my mind swirled all around me…

[mercy]

Illusion 1: Hellfire

Upon entering the dark place, there exists an ever-constant drone.  No one knows where it comes from, but some have theorized that it is a collaborative sound of the dead, who wander through this place unseen. However, their souls can form into illusions of concrete bodies that take the shape of those who had dared to venture here but have been unlucky to escape this place. They join them, their spirits ever doomed to insanity, darkness, and an eternity of wading in the waters of hell. They too take the shape of their victims, forgetting their former bodies—or even worse, their former faces. When they take the bodies of their prey, their faces become not of their victims but rather a disfigured and dismantled face that takes a brown-reddish shade. Their eyeballs are gone; their empty sockets are instead filled with a yellow sticky glob. What this glob is, no one has ever found out for no one has ever escaped before to test it.  

The waters are pure black, mixed with the thickness of rotten tar that gives it its putrid smell and thick stagnant appearance. It is known, however, that individuals can swim in it, just more power and more effort is put into the ability of the arms to push through this water—if indeed, it can be called that. Sitting on the vast water that envelopes this entire place are many ships that are the evidence of past travelers who have been unfortunate enough to find this place but never got the chance to see the sun again. Indeed, they do not move, attached to the sticky surface of tar, their positions remain ever still. This does not mean that the ships cannot be moved for all objects if given the input of energy can do work that acted upon the force that guides it.

In the center of it all lies boulders that come up with sharp ridges and form like the jaws a great shark—only much, much larger in comparison. The mammoth promontory gives off a reddish-brown color as well as a reddish fiery light inside. It gives of the impression that there might be lava, or something related to fire down there. Some, in the past, have made in inside to see the inner-workings of the stonework but oh, woe unto them! For they never made it out. Their ships are closer to the stonework, untouched for the dead do not dare go near that place. What, you ask, could be inside that scares even these grotesque creatures of the undying? Wouldn't you like to know…?

The clouds above are thicker than your average day-to-day clouds. They remain still their hazy appearance, clouding the sun for generations to come and generations to go. The result is a blue light that is able to pierce through the thick clouds and give this place it’s only source of light. This is where the dead roam through the histories of an ancient past, where no man shall ever venture lest he be willing to give up all his sanity and his vanity for the pure sake of surviving this place. This hellish land, this illusion of darkness that long clouded the skies and drastically changed the climate of things and its inhabitants. 

[mercy]

I LEAPED OUT OF THE PUTRID WATER almost immediately swimming towards the nearest shore that I could find. Once my hand had felt land, I reached up to it, gasping for air. I landed on my back as alabaster hands reached for my eyes to wipe away the slimy guck that plopped upon them. I did this for quite some time until I could see and my eyes cleared, I stood up amazed at scenery that unfolded before me. “What is this place…?” 

My hands instinctively reached up for my eyes to see if my shades were there. Upon finding them absence from my face, it had a felt weird indeed but this was to be expected since my eyes were unseen from the opaque lenses. With hazel oculi I gazed on the massive jaw-like figure that seems to radiate a reddish-glowing hue from its stomach. I could only deduce that was the place where my task to defeat this illusion would take on its inception. 

I looked around, gathering some idea or some image that described this place. My eyes would then rest on a ship that nearby, and my body immediately moved towards it. As I reached near it, however, various shapes that escaped my familiarity formed around me, their unknown entities moving towards me with such speeds as my hands came together to spell the zodiacs. Chakra swelled within me as I imbued within it my fiery nature, and expelled it with such a force that it blew all that dared to venture within a 5 meter radius towards me. My legs leaped into air before finally landing on the ship.

My hands would continue to form as my earthen brethren that lied at the bottom of this disgusting swamp rose to my call. The ship would move steadily albeit slowly as clones created in my image was sent to deal with ghouls of hell. Creatures of the skies rained down on me as I fought them with the aid of my earthen brethren. I had been most fortunate of Mother Gaia as she pulled me up to the shorelines that carved the pathway to that jaw-like mountain. I immediately got off and ran towards the huge gate that was blocked by lava. Using my earth chakra, I summoned an earth wall for the purpose of lifting me to the air as well as blocking the ghouls who attempted to take my life.

[mercy]

Upon getting to air, I jumped a considerable distance, and using my earthen clones to further help my cause. Arriving on the platoon, I stood before a massive army of ghouls, and drone-like shinobis who had fallen oh, so far from grace. It seemed like they were trying to protect a gate that led to the inside of the massive cave. Almost immediately, I ran towards them, weaving an illusion as a means of my escape. Soon, they all dropped to the ground as if some unbearable weight had slammed onto their shoulders. I leaped into the sky as fire escaped my lips to burn them all to this forsaken ground.  Once my feet touched the ground, I jumped into the small opening of the gate and then quickly shut it behind me. All the ghouls had disappeared then, much to my confusion and to my satisfaction simultaneously.

WHO GOES THERE?! The loud voice boomed through the inner canvas where I stood, my attention ripped from whatever my mind was on to that very voice. My stance shifted in a defense position almost immediately as my eyes searched vigilantly for the source. From out of the streams of fires that lined the inner walls as well as the floors that took on a molten red hue appeared a lone man that stood almost 7 feet tall. His face was pale and his eyes displayed a stark gray color. He slowly walked out of the fires, his body remaining unscathed by the licking flames. He was clothed in a black suit with a black tie and a black dress shirt—all neatly framed and pressed as if he was attending a formal dinner or something of similar activity.

I stood aghast at the conflicting appearances between the tall man that stood before me and the ghouls of hell that dragged their feet in the muddy waters. I stood befuddled at the deep powerful voice of this man compared to the ever-constant droning voices that screamed of their eternal insanity. I mustered up, at last, the courage to find my voice and to which I used to reply to his previous question albeit I was still shaken and deaf from the former booming voice vibrating off these thick walls, “I am Mokushi. I seek to break this illusion.”

The man chuckled at my response, noticing the obvious constant shudder that escaped my shoulders. He snapped his fingers and almost immediately a chair had appeared behind him and to which he took the time to sit down. He spoke, the vibration in his voice tuned down but still loud enough to be heard from where I stood, “Yes, I know who you are, Ikasama.” He took the extra pause to let the impact of my real name known to his knowledge take its effect on me before continuing, “and by ‘breaking this illusion’ you mean you wish to seek out the darkness concerning our heritage. Hm?” He hummed, as if amused by his own words. I replied, “Kind of, I just want the nightmares to stop.”

[mercy]

“Nightmares? Surely, you jest? These nightmares as you call them are the result of manifestations of the darkness that has plagued our clan for years and years. This goes back even before your grandfather’s time, and his grandfather as well. Many of our people have tried time and again to break the curse, and alas, have failed. Fortunate are the few who manage to break it and roam free of their depravity. This darkness has finally broke through the illusions that your grandfather casted to protect your so-called “white wings”. I, however, am glad that you finally grown a pair of balls to take on the challenge.” He took a long pause, closing his eyes as he breathed in the stagnant air. When he opened them, I felt a powerful dark chakra unleash into the air. The very walls themselves cracked a bit as the flames behind him hissed and danced wildly. In his eyes held the Sharingan, pure and true to our ancestors as their design were vastly different than the norm. It was the Mangekyou Sharingan that cursed his eyes. My body trembled as a certain instinct gripped me to the floor upon which I stood. 

This instinct, this feeling, this moment—I understood it. It was fear. He chuckled at my reaction, speaking, and “This is the darkness your grandfather strongly believes that you will overcome. You stand there wetting your pants upon the mere gaze on these cursed eyes of mine yet you are adamant in your pursuit of defeating the darkness that has taken over oh, so many and pulled them down into this path of depravity—their minds forever insane. Alas, that is your grandfather’s wish… but, my boy, what do you wish? You say that you just want your nightmares to end, but is that true? What do you hope to get out of this journey?”

His words struck a chord inside me as my mind began to reel. My thoughts were at all once and suddenly fragmented. It was as if my goals that were set prior to the Land of the Rain had been taken and someone very quickly stomped on it. I closed my eyes to first calm down my breathing as my thoughts slowly formed one by one. Strings attached to an invisible and vast figurine beyond my own comprehension had been cut, the very nature of my discourse was, at best, in the process of getting straighten out. Still, it was a process that was just beginning as my mind tried to wrap around the questions asked by this mysterious man.

Did I come to my grandfather’s place just to get rid of my nightmares? Did I enter this illusion with the hopes of defeating it? Am I to accept a deposition of which boldly proclaims its acceptance of such a whimsical answer? Who am I to fight against the darkness that has consumed even the founding fathers of the clan? Who am I to defy my heritage’s birthright and walk the path I want to walk?

[mercy]

Those thoughts ran through my head again and again! It continued until I finally looked up at the man’s eyes and said, “…I don’t know what my answer is…”I paused, before speaking again, “but, I hope to find my answer on this journey.” The old man chuckled for a bit as his eyes went back to the gray color, his hand rising in the air. Upon such a gesture, the flames behind him vanished into thin air. What lay behind him was a vast door with a demonic face and ancient writings all over it. What stood before it, however, looked like three ghouls. These ghouls, I could tell, were different than what I had recently experienced outside of this mountain. 

“To get out of this illusion, go through the gate—if you can that is!” he chuckled as he slowly vanished into the air, leaving his final words that hung in the thick, stagnant air, “Young Uchiha, what will become of your path…?” I stood there as the words stuck to my mind. What will become of your path…? That was the question I struggled with day by day. If I wanted answers, this was the place to start. My body shifted into a bending position as the three ghouls who stood almost as tall as the man who had just vanished. They let out a deafening roar, the sound waves pushing me back slightly. Chakra flared up and ready to go, I unleashed a series of hand seals and the result was four clones spawned from the earth. The two clones went ahead as they zigzagged their way towards the ghouls. 

From a distance of roughly 25 meters I watched as one of the ghouls quickly appeared behind the two clones, its massive right hand lined with sharp pristine claws and manned with barbed wire swung down on the two clones. The clones, unfortunately, did not have enough time to react as they were soon smashed into the ground, their bodies no longer recognized. They are fast and strong! I have to be careful… I muttered but as soon as I had, the other two ghouls appeared above me, their descent ravine. My last two clones and I slipped into the ground, travelling as fast as we could towards the gate. We could feel their chakra and were surprised that they did not move from their positions at all. 

From the surface, did we appear, the clones almost immediately forming a solid 30ft tall earth wall that was twice as thick as well. My eyes scanned the large gate that stationed before me. My hands sought to open it, dancing with the zodiacs. I very quickly became disheartened when the door did not budge when I blew fire against or when I struck it down with the power of my earthen brethren. The stone tall wall shattered in an instant as one of the three ghouls smashed my two clones. The third ghoul came straight for me. Picking me up with its barbed wired hand, it threw me across the other side of the room. My body smashed into the wall as I let out a painful shout. Pain signals slithered all over as blood oozed out of a few places near my mouth, upper right corner of my face, and left arm. I trembled at their power as I realized, in that moment, just how futile it was to try to escape them.

[mercy]

The door, it seemed, would only open if the ghouls were wholly defeated and I stood at their downfall. But how, I wondered, could I with my limited knowledge of the world around me, my limited resources and the insignificancy that was obvious in my power? I knew then, that I had to think outside the box. I looked carefully at my enemies, their faceless appearances and grotesque bodies moving around like a large gorilla. They, unlike their peers, did not make single sound. They remained unknown to my mentality, ever dwelling in the darkness of subconsciousness—oh, and the totality of their ever-present aura!

This however, only made my resolve stronger. A thing smirk cracked through my lips as my hand opened up, moving slightly away from my body. From the depths of my imagination, my tanto blade showed up, my hand grasping around it. My shades, however, refused to show up on my eyes. Strange as that may be, I had no time to think about it. Two of the ghouls came at me with blinding speeds, my body instinctively alert to their movements. My hand seals danced and fire escaped from my mouth, hitting the ground. A white-hot flame streamlined through the ground, as one would block it, the other moving forward to attack me. My blade in my hand, I quickly spun in rapid circles, fire circling around me as it temporarily held back the ghoul. It was my turn to attack.

 

The first thing I would was cast a string of illusions upon all three ghouls and once successful, they would be looking a mirages—their bodies (including the third ghoul as well) moving at such speeds to take down the mirages only to see them again and again! Meanwhile, I, being on the far left side of the inner mountain, created four rock clones, and each of them manned their bodies with the earth armor blessed by Gaia. I too donned this armor, my hands moving rapidly as my breath became sparse. Out of my mouth came the reddish flame that burned hotter than normal, piercing the grounds upon which they stood. All four clones performed the same set of hand seals, positioning themselves in such a way that when the rocky walls rose, it formed a nice squared box that trapped the ghouls. 

They would then jump into the box, their bodies hardened and ready to fight. I stood on one of the tall walls as I blew a white flame that burst through the ground, melting it. The ground below them collapsed and as they fell into the lava below, I released the illusions they were bound to. The ghouls made not a sound as their bodies sank into the lava, their eyeless presence staring at me. It was, to be honest, quite creepy. 

[mercy]

My eyes looked at the door, waiting for it to be opened. Since the first time I had attempted to open the door failed, I was under the assumption that the door was to be opened if and only if the ghouls were killed. I walked up to it, as I braced myself for the next illusion…however, despite recent actions, the door did not crack. Suddenly, behind me the square earth wall that stood mighty exploded instantly. I turned around to dodge the pieces of boulder that came my way. Out of the lava, the three ghouls resurfaced slowly, their bodies melting away. It revealed a yellow glob that had very quickly become their entities. Fluids were constantly circulating within the glob as I could see a bluish liquid pumping through what seemed to be an organ. 

Several realizations hit me when I saw their bodies. The first was that I could potentially end this match by destroying the organ that this blue liquid pumped through. The second was that I could control the illusion around me by injecting my own chakra into it. Thus, I remained where I stood, my body shifting into a crouching stance. My hands clapped together as my chakra released into the air before solidifying into what seemed like a thousand blades all pointed at the three ghouls that stood before me with their yellowish bodies and their eyeless stares ever present on my conscience. They rushed at me, their claws large and menacing. I released the blades towards them as they did battle. Yellow, blue and greenish liquids of various kinds splattered all over as I moved back to avoid contact with them. They had been in lava and I did not know whatever substance they had in them.

 

Upon seeing them gone from my sight, I let out a breath of relief. Suddenly, I heard sounds that were discerned to be someone clapping. Immediately, my attention was directed towards its source only to find out that it was the tall man clothed in an all-black suit, his short black hair and stark dark eyes stood where the ghouls had previously stood. He had formerly appeared before the start of battle, and upon my eyes finally recognizing him; he chuckled a bit before getting ready to talk. “Splendid! You managed to defeat my ghouls. No one has ever made it past the first stage. Each illusion is darker and more dangerous than the previous. They will test you to your limits. The question is not can you defeat these illusions? The question is will you make it with your sanity intact?” He smiled and snapped his fingers. The large gate behind me opened, a chilly wind escaped it. It touched my skin and I almost froze with terror. What…. What is this?! I slowly turned around to face the large opened door whose entrance was darkness and full of abyss. The cold that escaped it chilled me to bone as fear gripped my very body to its spot.

I struggled to move but I couldn’t. Heavy sweat slithered all over my body, as my raven locks dripped it down to hot floor. For a moment, I could not tell if the sweat was from being in a very hot place or from the cold wind that felt like the sweep of Death’s bone-shattering breath. But oh, how I knew in the deepest corners of my heart that it was surly the latter. “Hehehe, this shows how weak your will is. You cannot even move against a whiff from the second stage that gently touches your hair. It seems that I was wrong…” The man spoke, as I mustered up the strength to turn around see him. He was gone by then as I felt fury rush through my body. I was not angry because he said those words, no, I was angry because it was true.

[mercy]

Mokushi, we’re pulling you out.

The words smashed across my head as I suddenly felt my body warped upwards…

I was back into reality as I stood up, my face boiling with rage. However, before I could channel such feelings into words or actions, my body almost immediately collapsed, my consciousness rapidly escaping me as I fell downwards yet again. When I woke up, I found myself strapped to the bed, my grandfather sitting next to me. I looked at the strappings and then at him, and to which he replied, “My students thought it was best to keep you down until you remain calm. Most of the new ones are terrified of you and were afraid of what you might do to them should you awake from your slumber. You got to stop torturing my students, Ikasama—it has taken a toll on how they approach you.” 

I sighed at his speech, my head plumping back on the pillow. I spoke, “Okay, I get it. Can you tell me why you removed me from the illusion? I thought I was supposed to go through it all before coming back or I would have to start over? Who came up with the idea to pull me out of the illusion?” My grandfather was silent for some time before responding, “I ordered it. Your chakra levels were depleting fast. It has come to my attention that you are lacking in many areas. While you excel at Ninjutsu and Genjutsu, at your level, should you be in a battle that extends for a long period of time, you exhaust yourself much quicker and render yourself unable to continue.”

I thought back to the man’s comment upon seeing how I could not move at all back there. I responded to my old man’s words, “No. it was because my will is weak. I could not move because I was scared not because I was out of chakra.” My old man bonked his cane on my big toe and I yelled out in pain, “ouch! What was that for?!” The old man replied while stroking his beard, “You have very little confidence in your abilities—and I suppose that is partly my fault. I made you grow up as a shinobi and not my student. I forced you to be exposed to the many dangers out there causing you doubt in your abilities from time to time.” He paused, and then got up to unite the strappings that held me down before speaking again, “It’s time you learned how to fight with your fists and feet in a more elegant way rather than whoring out your chakra with bombards of Ninjutsu. Follow me.”

[Etherion]

mercy 117

[mercy]

Goken (Strong Fist)

Rank: D

Range: -

Type: Passive

Handseals: -

Chakra Consumption: Low

Strong Fist is a Taijutsu style, the purpose of which is to cause extreme forms of external damage to a target, alongside breaking as many bones as possible. It is the exact opposite of the Gentle Fist, which is used exclusively by the Hyuuga clan. This style of fighting involves smashing your opponent and is generally used only by extremely physically powerful and dominating shinobi.

Note: For a Low increment of chakra, Goken practitioners can marginally raise the destructive force of any standard attack (non-jutsu) they perform; each strike will have a 10% chance to break the target’s bones. This cannot stack with the Goken Tier 3 Mastery, Tekken.

“Slap it.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Slap the water!”

I sat down before one of the leaders with a fairly-sized bucket of water. It had come to my grandfather’s attention that I possessed no distinct skill in the elegance of Taijutsu. Another issue that he wanted to address was my apparent dislike towards his students and his students mixed feelings of fear and skepticism of me. He scolded me earlier, wanting me to become more humble towards his students and to watch carefully the aura that I give off when around them. Still, this leader that stood in front of me was the same leader who had spoken to me earlier—the girl that had stated we all trusts each other. They live in a fairyland protected by my grandfather’s reputation whereas I live in the harsh conditions of cruel reality that is the world of shinobi. I should slap the mess of out her for saying that to me…

Nevertheless, she stood fearless before me, determined to, in her words, “better understand me and in turn, get me to understand her and her friends...” blah blah blah. And now, here I sat on this wooden floor with a bucket of water in front of me, and she wanted me to…slap it? “You’re crazier than I thought.” I mused, and proceeded to slap the water with my right hand. “Again!!” she said, and again I did. “Again!!” and again my open-palmed hand slapped the water, bits of water escaping from the bucket, leaping into the air before making their final descent to the floor.

“Again!!” she stated for the third time and again I hit the water for fourth time. I did not understand what was going on but I was silent before her. I had watched her fight earlier against three of the lower ranking students. With one hand, she took them all down and within the span time of ten seconds. While I neither care nor did I trust these students, I was always impressed by how skilled they were. I was even more impressed by how well my grandfather could teach; passing down the skills upon which he transcended his vast knowledge accumulated over the years. 

I slapped the water again, for what seemed to me to be the twentieth time. I sighed, as the female leader said, “Again!!” and again I did. Only this time, when she spoke, she added a few more things to say, “So, why do you hide your eyes? Your hazel color is pretty rare to see these days.” I slapped the water again, giving no response. My grandfather told me to obey the leaders but I was under no obligation to make a conversation with her. Quite to the contrary, I became increasingly aware of the flexibility that my body was now possessing. All at once, I had understood what this mechanism was trying to do. I sought the leader’s insight, “This is to help me move my body… by slapping the water I become instinctively alert to my surroundings, able to generate the fluidity of my body. Correct?” a smile cracked my lips upon seeing her eyes widen.