Lunar Prayer [Private/Daki]

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

If the battle with that other shinobi had shown Shigeru anything it was that he could not control his power by himself any longer. He simply didn’t have the strength to fight against the roiling fire inside his body that threatened to all but consume his very being. When he had attempted before to fight against his very own chakra, his chakra had very much beaten him back soundly and without struggle. Simply put, Shigeru wasn’t strong enough to fight. That knowledge crushed him almost completely. Even now as the world around him was preparing for a long night of slumber, Shigeru only tossed and turned in his small home. He felt almost like he no longer belonged in this part of the village any longer. If he couldn’t control his own strength, didn’t he just deserve to be thrown out with the trash? This question pressed against his temples as he vainly tried to fall asleep to no avail. This was clearly not working.

Sighing to himself, Shigeru got up from his sleeping position and begrudgingly made his way to his small kitchen. Within, Shigeru made himself a quick cup of something akin to coffee, though it never truly tasted that way, and as the bitter liquid burned his throat, Shigeru decided that he would take a walk through the forest. That place had always brought him solace in the past, and now Shigeru needed it to bring him strength. Soon after his bad beans, Shigeru was out his door and walking along the empty streets of Kumogakure. Once it got late enough the villagers stopped coming out, even though it wasn’t true dark. However, this day, Shigeru was happy that there was no one to see him in his sorry state. The walk was lonely, though, without those interactions, and Shigeru was left feeling incomplete as he approached the entrance to the great forest that he frequented the most.

Looking up, as he always did, Shigeru stood for a moment and just marveled at the beauty of the forest. In the waxing moonlight, the whole place had a beautiful hue that gave it the sense of some otherworldly kingdom, one not so attached to the problems that Shigeru faced now. Happy to run from his troubles, Shigeru walked into the forest. It wasn’t long before the comforting closeness of the forest became cloying to his soul. Here in this place, one laid themselves bare for the world, because being alone made being open so much easier. So Shigeru cried a little, though that was not the true emotion he was feeling. Frustration. Yes that was it. As Shigeru walked deeper into the forest, he beat his hands against the great trunks that did little but thud in response. How could he be so weak? How could he not control the very power that dwelled inside of him? It was his power, was it not? His hands beat harder, the wood biting against his fist. He needed to control his own power, and to do that he needed more power; how would he attain such power? A cry of frustration tore from Shigeru’s lips, one riddled with desperation and fear for the future.

Loathing his own incompetence, Shigeru proceeded deeper into the woods, so deep that the moon itself had been blotted out leaving only the heady darkness to befriend the weary travelers below. Shigeru did not care, for the darkness was his friend. His whole life darkness had been there, and his whole life Shigeru had made friends with the darkness he could so easily drive back. Why not befriend something when you know the key to defeating it? The darkness couldn’t harm him, so he instead chose to embrace that. Now, in this forest, Shigeru did not feel as if he could drive that darkness back. Instead the darkness bared its fangs against Shigeru, driving him to the ground, the weight of his powerlessness keeping him down. Atlas himself had no greater weight placed upon him, and even he could not move from his burden. So Shigeru sat there on his knees in the forest that wished for nothing more than him to disappear.

“Why can’t I just be stronger? My village needs me! I need the strength to help them! Why can’t I just get stronger! I will do whatever it takes!” Shigeru cried out to no one in particular, the only one with him was the forest after all. There would be no rallying cry to his need. Nothing would come to grant him power. He would sit here and the forest would swallow him up.

 

[Rega]

Rega made her home in the great forest, a rather tidy and cement-fortified bunker in the middle of nowhere that her mentor, former captain Daki, had left for her, and given that all the air shafts were cleverly obscured, she rarely had to worry about hearing another soul… But alas, the popularity of the forest seemed to be increasing of late. ”Geez, do I gotta kill some folk just to make this place respectably spooky again?!”

Following the footsteps with only her nightgown and toolkit on, the delver of the dead ways manifested through the earth with her beloved Inner Earth Reflection Lure jutsu, before finding the source and following it a short way with the help of a crystal eye. Much to her surprise, it was a young ninja, griping and moaning about his weaknesses while punching poor defenseless trees. She studied him silently for a moment, before deciding to be playful and manipulate some of the flora and fauna to attempt to ensnare his legs. Her demonic aura emanated heavily yet without any obvious focal point, adding to the ambiance. Meanwhile, from ever so slightly below the earth, she made her voice out into something as dark and sinister as the young woman could manage, which still fell fairly solidly on the unthreateningly feminine side. ”Foolish mortal, thou hast troubled the forest with concerns such as these?! What is the concern of one man when it is merely the same doubts they each carry! For your foolishness, I shall swallow you into myself and make you into fertilizer so that I might devour all of your kind! OOooooOOOOOOooOOOOH!”

Regardless of her jutsu actually binding the lad or not, she ended her performance by phasing up out of the earth, massive hammers first, before revealing the source of the disturbance to be merely a shinobi in her mid-twenties. ”Or at least that is the kind of crap that’s s’posed to ensure I get a good night’s sleep out here. Seriously, kid, have you ever sat down and told this to any of your fellow ninja? We’ve got a million ways to get stronger, and shortcuts galore. If you really want power to protect folk, you’re going to have to suffer a few failures before you can be strong enough to guarantee it...”

Marked For Training, Word Count :: 381

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Shigeru was so engrossed in his own thoughts and emotions that he didn’t even notice the vines slowly wrapping around him. In fact, until he was totally bound, Shigeru wasn’t able to perceive that he was in any danger. However, once the vines had him tight, Shigeru felt like he was being suffocated. The feeling of something wrapped around him was such pressure, he almost couldn’t handle it. Calling on his fire chakra, Shigeru attempted to summon his cloak of flames, but instead his chakra bit against him, causing him physical and apparent pain. Cringing, Shigeru was almost not aware of the words being spoken to him, but he also totally was.

Looking up, Shigeru noted that the woman in front of him was an odd figure indeed. However, the nuance of the situation was lost on him, and Shigeru could only barely interpret the meaning of her words. Tell someone? How could you tell someone of a strange power locked inside of them? How could you form words for something so inhuman? Who would even care? Wouldn’t they just put him down for his uniqueness? All these questions and more boiled over Shigeru, and inside of him, Shigeru could only feel the pain and unfairness of his situation. It was all too much!

“Tell me. How do you tell someone that you have a Fire inside you that only wants to consume you? How do you then tell them you can’t even physically control that? How do you get stronger and protect people when you have no control?” Almost as if to accentuate his point, the chakra inside of his body exploded outwards in a tiny explosion, melting the vines off of him. This was not intended by Shigeru, so he was left shaking his head at the sheer irony of it all. “See? I can’t even make it do what I want anymore. How can I possibly give myself more strength without the use of my chakra?”

WC: 329
[Marked for Training]

 

[Rega]

Ah, the glory of youth, and believing that you are a special snowflake unique in all the world... Rega sighed as she heard the student complain about his inability to quell the pyromaniac within. She'd dealt with a student only months ago with a similar problem, and once on gate duty even saw another girl spontaneously combust due to inability to regulate. By this point in time, a yawn was all she could muster at his literally fiery outburst, before she placed a hand on his shoulder and manifested her dark heritage simultaneously. Incorporeal hands emanated from her body, reaching out in all directions and letting out unpleasant howls, as her skin blackened and seemed to warp and twist. Before the yawn was over, her aura had grown more intense, before she smiled and everything stopped, like a bad dream. "We all have our demons, buttercup. Every shinobi worth their salt has either traded away a pinch of their humanity for power or have had it perverted without ever being given a choice, like myself. My ranks would understand, the med-nin core deal with it all the time, and the main branch... um... well, they're delicate snowflakes who mean well, I'm sure... Point is, your chakra is power, and your drawbacks can be controlled, you merely need discipline and knowledge. What seems to get at you isn't the inability to muscle through challengers to your wards, but the inability to specialize on your budding flame because you know it could burn so good."

Fidgeting with her tool belt and letting it drop to the ground with an obnoxiously heavy thud, the pajamaed ANBU captain rummaged through tools several sizes too big for her demure frame before finally drawing out a very peculiar arm attachment with a joyous squeal. "Ah, there's thumper! Now, I just need to hunt something with copious amounts of blood, and I can remedy your little power problem so that sparking fires is merely your parlor trick for birthday parties! Say, you don't have any adverse reactions to deer meat, do you?" Equipping the six-inch nail distribution weapon to her lean, bare arm, it clicked with a loaded round while she willed her crystal eye to begin scouting the area thoroughly for sleeping wildlife.

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Shigeru watched the woman as she transformed into something completely different than what she was before. Though this should have shocked him completely, leaving his broken mind on the forest floor in a mangled bloody heap, the woman’s transformation seemed to reify the idea that she could provide needed strength to Shigeru. Inside of him, he could feel the fire biting at him, and once again he had to literally fight to keep his limbs from moving on their own. This was his problem. How could explain that to this strange woman? He had always been friends with the fire, but now things seemed to be working against him in the strongest of ways. How could he tell her that the glory of battle did not scare him? How could he tell her that he longed to once again unleash the fury of his flames on his opponents? He did not fear it, and he had not lost his ability to specialize; instead, his flames had somehow grown in strength while his body had weakened. How could he explain this all to her? “I don’t think you have pegged me right so far, Ms. Scary Arms.” Oh no… could he really be doing this? “I’m not frustrated that I have a power locked inside of me, but instead I’m completely pissed that for some reason I can no longer choose who I burn to cinders anymore. For some reason my chakra can overpower my bodies very will to move. Your vines would never have touched me if I could have burned them away on contact. Instead I had to wait until my very chakra decided it wanted to burn away the vines. That is my problem. If I can’t control my own fire, how can I help anything?” Well, he had probably just kicked away the one person who could help him, but once that lady started talking, the fire had boiled Shigeru’s emotions over; leaving him with only a lengthy rebuttal left.

However, it seemed as if she moved on quickly, and grabbed a strange apparatus from her toolkit. Shigeru had a fleeting thought that she may be using this nail contraption to somehow impale his own incompetence to him. However, she seemed to have a different use for it, and then she said something almost incoherent about thumpers and deer meat. “No, I’m not allergic to meat of any kind. But why do you ask?”

 

[Rega]

All she needed to hear came off of those barely legal lips, and her grip on the situation tightened. This child had tasted his first hint of power, but had yet to be humbled by a superior properly. Perhaps he burned his cat or his parents or something, it was hard to tell, but his attitude was frustrating to say the least. This child asked for strength, but he was not mature enough to play with the matches that lit his pathetic soul aflame. Having been schooled in the Enjeru-style ANBU artes, she knew all too well how to remedy what ails this boy… though she doubted that he’d appreciate it very much in the long run.

Thumper clicked as the last few bolts were loaded, and she grabbed Tic-Tac firmly before readying a combat stance. ”You think your flames are so hot, lad? And you doubt the words of your sagely elders while showing such disrespect, no less… I think it is about time you were given a taste of what true strength feels like. Don’t worry, I won’t threaten your life, but when I’m done with you, your flames will be more capable of killing you than anyone else unless you give up your vanity and your ego. Should you endure and progress, you’ll be stronger for your efforts to be sure, but you cannot begin to excel until you first learn humility and respect! Brace yourself, boy!”

Her hammer seemed to levitate into her hands, as if to display the powers that were at the girl’s command. The aura of bloodlust and terror once again washed over the battlefield that was her normally secluded forest home, and her eyes shined in the darkness with something more monster than human. While the power of a dojutsu had always eluded her, the taint of what bound her family inside her petit figure was always ready to display itself…

Marked For Training, B-Mod Summons, get! Word Count :: 319

 

[Kaen]

[col]

Rega:
HP 30,000 - 2052 = 27,948 HP
CP: 48,000 - 1804 - 1452 - 4807 = 39,937 CP
AP: 10 - 3 - 7 = 10 AP next round
Status:|

Shigeru:
HP 22,800 - 1424(backlash) = 21,376 HP
CP 31,941 - 476 - 2805 - 468 = 28,192 CP
AP 8 - 2 - 3 - 2 = 9 AP next round
Status:[/col]

~Shiggy activates duelist, targeting Rega [0 Sec]
~Shiggy uses "Heat wave" [1.875 Sec]
~Shiggy uses "Dragon Flame Bomb" Special action-Great dragon fire-affinity moves Focus+feint used (Hit, Crit, Crit, Hit)[5.625 Sec]
~Rega uses "Flock of shadows" "Dragon Flame Bomb" Dodged, two clones have entered the battlefield [5.625 Sec]
~"Daunting Presence" Active, Shiggy is -2 Dodge for remainder of round
~Shiggy cannot differentiate between clones and Rega
~Shiggy uses "Fireball" Expanded - special action "Mythical Phoenix Fire" - (Hit) (did not hit rega, hit clone #2) [8.125 Sec]
~Clone #2 dispersed [8.125 Sec]
~Rega Combos "Corpse Soil" with "Impure World Resurrection" (10 Corpses rise from the ground along with "Mother Person")
~Clone #1 Disperses
~Round end

[OOC Anything that enters the battlefield enters in the time sequence that they came in at, Rega's Corpse's couldn't make any actions due to coming in at 10 Seconds (the end of the round)]

 

[Rega]

The still of the dark, silent night was quickly disturbed by a torrent of deadly fire from the young emo type. Reacting to the battle aura of the ANBU, he seemed to be quick with destructive force, but like many of those from the lesser branches, it was all blind rage and untrained evocation. ”I can see why you have such doubts about yourself. You have a fair bit of strength, but you really are a bigger threat to yourself and kumogakure than your enemies. Such terrible discipline… never fear, lost child, for elder creepy forest lady is here to take good care of you~”

Shifting about with the grace fitting of a captain of the ninja police, she somehow managed to evade the flames and fool the young fellow while drawing forth a terrifying army from the ground. Savage appendages of the underworld emerged, surrounding a woman with quite a similar build to the aggressive hammer fiend. The tendrils unwound, and the woman stood menacingly as the haughty lass spoke out once more. ”You’re so lucky! Not many get a chance to see my kin so close, but since you’re having such a hard time keeping track of your primary target that you’ll also get to see my family learning style… You should have a fondness for it. Trial by fire.”

With that, the woman once again readied herself for battle, now eager to show her own proficiency for violence as her chakra built up and her small army responded with a terrible cacophony of squeals and roars, the voices of her siblings reaching out from the earth as if to escape their fate in the next world. The elder Gateru, however, was silent and staring intently at the young boy, judging him with eyes that had seen past the veil cast over the mortal coil. Her aura was completely different than that of her daughter, calming and bright, yet pervasive.

Marked for Training, Word Count :: 322

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

The flames escaped out of Shigeru faster than he could stop them or even attempt to stop them. He did not want to hurt this person, whether or not she had attempted to bind him or not. However, Shigeru had absolutely no control over the fire that bursted out of himself, and it showed in how well those flames were directed. If Shigeru had been in control, he may have had the ability to guide his jutsu to a more reasonable area to provide a more positive result. Though, it wouldn’t matter. As the flames receded, Shigeru felt a modicum of control return to himself. Maybe he would be able to burn down all these weird things that had sprouted up out of the craziness. If only for a second, Shigeru thought of how he had gotten himself into such a strange situation, but that feeling was overridden by the words of the woman. Trial by Fire and her kin? Clearly this was going to be rough for Shigeru.

Mentally, he calmed himself, his wild fire would either pay off this round or it would be the end of him. With a few sets of handseals, Shigeru felt the strength of his inner will building once again. Maybe all he had needed was a good battle, though he knew this wouldn’t end there, no way no how. “I feel honored to meet you in battle. I’m about to heat things up though!”

[Sending Actions]

 

[Kaen]

[col]

Rega:
HP: 27,948 - 22,996 = 4,952 HP
CP: 39,937 - 6,106 = 33,831 CP
AP: 10 - 3 - .5 - 3 - 2 - .5 = 11 AP NR
Status: Afire, Bleed R1

Mother:
HP: 18,900 - 8,429 = 10,471 HP
CP: 14,400 - 2,902 = 11,498 CP
AP: 4 - .5 - 3 = 4.5 AP NR
Status: Afire, Bleed R1

Sand Clone:
CP: 19,200
AP: 4.3
Status:|

Shigeru:
HP: 21,376 - 2000 -3449(Backlash) = 15,927 HP
CP: 28,192 - 13,744 + 639 = 15,087 CP
AP 9 - 3 - 3 - 3 = 8 AP NR
Status: All felt up[/col]

~Rega targeted Shiggy with her "Duelist" ability [0 Sec]
~Mother targeted Shiggy with her "Duelist" ability [0 Sec]
~Mother activates Earth Style's After Quake stance [1.25 Sec]
~Shiggy uses an expanded firestorm targeting Rega and "Mother" (@Rega-Negated, @Mother- Crit, Hit, Hit, Miss, Set Afire, Bleeding rank 1) [3.33 Sec]
~Rega used "Shinra tensei" reflexively and negated Shiggy's Firestorm that targeted her [3.33 Sec]
~Rega entered " Earth Style's Gaia Veil stance" [3.83 Sec]
~Corpse #1 tries to grab Shiggy (Hit, -2 Dodge) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #2 tries to grab Shiggy (Miss) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #3 tries to grab Shiggy (Hit, -1 Dodge) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #4 tries to grab Shiggy (Hit, -1 Dodge) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #5 tries to grab Shiggy (Hit, -1 Dodge) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #6 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #7 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #8 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #9 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #10 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Rega creates an 'Expanded Sand clone" [6.83 Sec]
~Shiggy uses an expanded firestorm targeting Rega and "Mother" (@Rega- Hit, Hit, Miss, Miss, Burned, @Mother- Negated) [7.5 Sec]
~Mother used "Shinra tensei" reflexively and negated Shiggy's Firestorm that targeted her [7.5 Sec]
~Shiggy Combos "Dragon flame bomb" Targeting Rega (Crit, Set Afire, Bleeding Rank 1) [7.5 Sec]
~Rega activates "Active Camo" [8.83 Sec]
~Rega enter Projectile Style's Interception stance [9.33 Sec]
~Corpse #6 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #7 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #8 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #9 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #10 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [10 Sec]
~Sand clone wanted to use a jutsu, but ran out of time
~Round end

 

[Rega]

The young man’s flames lit up the darkness of the night, and the playful Black Aces captain reveled in dancing about the daunting pyre, using her mother’s aide to push the flame back into the abyss and readying herself to manage the final blow. The tentacles danced about the ground, ignoring the blaze and finding their target as they kept him sharply in place, while her body double… didn’t really do much, for some reason or another. It was made of sand and she was still toying with the element, so this could not be helped too quickly, but it at least did seem to be resilient. Why wouldn’t it be? These childish embers were just begging to be snuffed out by the strength of the earth beneath it!

It was almost boring, playing so close to to the fire, that she hesitated to do anything too malicious just yet, satisfied with just coaxing the boy’s chakra out and watching him harm himself… until one stray blast got too close for comfort. The flame twisted and spun, and perhaps lulled by her sense of superiority, she failed to realize that she worked herself right into the corona, screaming out as the blast nearly knocked her out in a single moment! The dance of playful delight was over as she felt her body roast in the flames, almost prompting her to manifest the full of her dark power. Struggling to maintain her control, she was determined to not let this very costly and painful blunder undermine the point of her provocation, but dear god Shinbatsu did it sting! ”Well, it seems you do know something of combat… very well then, playtime is over. Now, darling, it is time to put you to bed and end this farce. Enough of your puny flames!”

Marked for Training, Word Count :: 301

 

[Kaen]

[col]

Rega:
HP:9,263 - 5362(Afire) - 300(Bleed) + 1,260 + 4,250 = 9,111 HP
CP: 33,831 - 390 - 756 - 300 = 32,385
AP:11 - 1 - 1.5 - 2.5 - 1.5 = 11 AP NR
Status: Bleed R1, Stealthed

Mother:
HP:10,471 - 189(Bleed) = 10,282 HP
CP: 11,498 - 2750 = 8,748 CP
AP: 4.5 - 3 - 0.75 - 0.75 = 4 AP NR
Status:Bleed R1

Sand Clone:
CP: 19,200 - 800 = 18,400 CP
AP: 4.3 - 2.5 = 4.3 AP NR
Status:|

Shigeru:
HP:15,927 - 650 - 1200 = 14,077 HP
CP: 15,087
AP 8 - 0.5 - 0.5 - 0.5 - 0.5 = 8 AP NR
Status: All felt up
On the defense
Necrofied!
Bound
Coffin HP: 2000 - 150 - 150 - 1200 = 500 HP[/col]

~Rega and mother are bleeding, Damage Taken [0 Sec]
~Rega is afire, Damage taken [0 Sec]
~Rega attempts to Quckdraws a smoke bomb, but the item wasn't there... [0 Sec]
~Shiggy Enters Defensive style (Max Dodge) [0.63 Sec]
~Rega attempts to enter stealth, Success! (Now in stealth) [0.91 Sec]
~Rega uses "Critical Exposure" with scorn of the lich (Necrosis) (Shiggy Suppressed) [2.27 Sec]
~Rega Combos Crit Exp with a Jutsu expanded "Force Blast", Hit, Hit, Miss, Necrosis secondary successful. [2.27 Sec]
~Corpse #2 Tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #6 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #7 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #8 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #9 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Corpse #10 tries to hit Shiggy (Hit) [5 Sec]
~Sand Clone uses "Sand Coffin" on Shiggy, Hit. [5.81 Sec]
~Rega uses "Mystical Hand" Targeting herself. [5.9 Seconds]
~Rega puts her flames out [6.81 Sec]
~Rega Goes to grab a few things, but finds that they are not in her packs or scrolls... [5.9 Seconds]
~Mother uses "Regeneration" Targeting Rega. [6.66 Sec]
~Mother swipes at Shiggy, Hits coffin [8.32 Sec]
~Mother swipes at Shiggy, Hits coffin[9.98 Sec]
~Corpse #2 Tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #6 tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #7 tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #8 tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #9 tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Corpse #10 tries to hit Shiggy (Hits sand coffin instead) [10 Sec]
~Round end

[OOC, Fixed the damage to account for Shiggy's Firestorms being negated, also, According to the information you sent me via PM, you neither had a smoke bomb or Chakra pills in your pack.]

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

The flames had been too strong. It was something that Shigeru knew would happen if he let himself over to the thrall of battle, but in the end, this stranger wanted a fight, Shigeru had to fight. Even as the strange person summoned crazy things from the earth below, Shigeru tapped into that inner fire that kept him burning since he had discovered it. Touching this strength was something he had not attempted since his run-in with Kubashi. Since that trying time all he had done was train in Taijutsu and done a small smattering of his ninjutsu. Even against that fight against the giant ninja-guy, Shigeru had only moderately touched his inner resevior of chakra for a single jutsu, and that small attempt at control nearly cost Shigeru his life. This attempt at his chakra, Shigeru dove straight in, pulling out all that painful and wild chakra that had been just fighting to release itself.

At first, the chakra came slowly, and his opponent quickly got out of the way. This was a moderate annoyance for the boy on fire. What did he care if this woman dodged his strikes? Fire grows and expands, consumes what it touches, and all it cares for is reaching farther. Though this woman was quick, she could not evade the fire forever, and as Shigeru gave himself over to the flame, his body exploded with that power. Never before had he felt such heat radiate from his body, and even as the handseals formed, fire flew from Shigeru’s body and descended over the forest. Though the trees were resilient to the flame, they were no match for the sheer scorching heat that Shigeru under his control. The woman and her creations, though, did their best to fend off the flames. From their hands some kind of force appeared which seemed to negate the flames, rendering them into nothingness.

Seeing this act, Shigeru was filled to the brim with unimaginable rage and heat. As his blood boiled, the very ground around him became singed, small fires appearing at his feet. Though the outward fire was gone, Shigeru summoned his fire from within and unleashed it upon the woman. The flames came out as a giant column of flame that rose up into the air and came crashing down on the woman. In that moment, Shigeru was once again one with his fire, and he could feel the surge of heat and battle rushing through his veins. Oh what a feeling! Though it did not last long enough for Shigeru to truly enjoy it. In just a matter of moments after that, Shigeru felt the flames constrict against him again, this time they locked him in place. A matter of moments after that, Shigeru crumpled to the ground, unable to move once more.

Inside of him, Shigeru battled against the flames, but he could make no headway. All he wanted was to stand up and face his opponent head on, but he couldn’t even bring himself to move a muscle. No longer did he have the strength to beat back the flames, and they kept him down. It was incredibly painful. The heat that normally gave him warmth and comfort was instead blistering his very soul. In that moment, Shigeru was helpless, and the woman took advantage of that. Though she might think it was just an act, after her onslaught of attacks it would become clear to her that Shigeru could not move at all. His body took a beating from all the techniques that the woman threw at him, and in the end he felt himself wrapped up by a coffin of sand, though the inside layer became brittle due to the heat.

Coughing up blood, Shigeru attempted to fight against the binding, but found himself without the energy to fight against it. How could he have gotten himself into this situation again? Every time now that he wanted to use his own strength, his very essence fought against him. What kind of life would it be for a shinobi who couldn’t use simple ninjutsu? Stupid Kubashi and his stupid curse thing. What a horrid thing to do to a person with so little as a few words. All Shigeru could do was wait in his coffin of sand for this woman to pass judgement upon him.

WC: 724 MFT

 

[Rega]

As her body faded into shadows, the kunoichi held her tongue as she patted out the flames and reviewed the damage done to her favorite pajamas. There would be no peep show for this demented pyromaniac, she thought to herself as her optic camouflage kicked in just in time to hide her virtually naked body, which was a fair bit less alluring with the numerous burn wounds. Even with her control of chakra and enhanced durability befitting a ninja master, the misfortune she had against the boy left the caress of the night air a painful endeavor against her raw skin. She reached into her bag for something in her supplies that might help her out, but she hadn’t prepared her satchel very well prior to investigating the noise above.

Thankfully, as she tended to her wounds after one last burst of force to negate the flames of her prey, her summons seemed to finish the task of sealing the young man. Rega was not aware that he was trying to end combat by no longer throwing fireballs in her direction due to internal rage and crybabydom, but it didn’t matter to her either way as the sand and dirt mixed with the tendrils to create a rather tense cocoon that would leave the poor lad in a much less than comfortable position. ”I guess lordgod Shinbatsu might smile upon anyone once, but now you’re in my care and you won’t be going anywhere until I’ve had my fill of you, little man. There will be no second miracle this night~”

She came partially out of stealth, letting the refraction of the nature around her shield her body from view as she started to draw out needles and a blade from her satchel. This boy was a problem, and as a sage and a sister to a doctor, she fancied herself a problem solver above all other things! The tendrils slithered through the sand and began to poke and prod at the boy beneath, as her mother and the clone made of sand began doing a series of hand seals not familiar to those outside of her family line. ”Don’t bother trying to scream now, in a few moments we will be isolated from the world in my own private shrine, dedicated to lordgod Shinbatsu… but it’d be problematic if you choked on the earth on the way out there!”

With a set of her own seals, they all sunk through the earth, through an untraceable route toward a laboratory in the forest that she used for her experiments. Being something of a kind-hearted ANBU, she usually didn’t experiment on humans unless they were approaching death’s door already, but this kid needed a booster shot of humble pie, and she knew just how to give it to him. When next he woke up, it would be on the outskirts of town, completely nude and with a tingling sensation all over his back, where the sign of Tarus was freshly marked not on his back, but under it… under the skin, and his chakra would burn with a new level of unyielding intensity.

Marked for Training, Given weekly seal Lunar to Shiggy, Word Count :: 524

 

[Shimatsu Shigeru]

Though Shigeru was mostly out of it due to his own flames and the woman’s jutsu, there remained a bit of consciousness within the boy that allowed him to remember a little bit of what was happening, though not much. They started above-ground, Shigeru knew that; the two had done battle up there for a short while. After Shigeru had succumbed to the strength of his flames, he had been trapped in a prison of sand by the woman. She had preceded to show him some of her strength, which Shigeru was not all-too happy about. However, the woman started talking and Shigeru was barely aware of them slowly sinking into the ground. In his haze of pain and fire, Shigeru had assumed that this was a crazed dream.

In this dream-haze, Shigeru saw himself in some kind of laboratory. Instantly, the woman stripped him of his burned and tattered clothes, something he himself had done to her with her own clothes and his flames. Though he could not grasp the exact process, Shigeru watched as the woman bombarded his body with chakra which manifested itself as a sort of seal. Though a second one was to come as the lady prepared her deadly spell once more, Shigeru felt the effects of the first seal immediately. Though he would never say that the feeling was beautiful or transcendent, in that first instant when the seal was placed on his body, Shigeru felt absolutely more powerful. Pure strength radiated from the seal and it made the flames within abate somewhat. The seal filled him with a different sense of warmth than he was used to, though Shigeru embraced it as he blacked out once more.

WC: 284 MFT {Taking the Lunar Seal}

 

[Rega]

It wasn’t enough that Rega had lifted up the curtain on the boy’s innards and exposed his flesh like a soaking wet blanket upon her laboratory wall. It wasn’t enough that she had etched upon him in intricate glyphs the fruits of her labors in human enhancement experimentation. No, these were things she did to herself just out of curiosity and a drive to make mad science a little less mad and a little more personal. After all, this was going to make the boy significantly stronger, if more unstable, and force him to fight with the rage that came out of his every sweaty emo pore while he tried to think of new fun ways to describe himself as not yet a perfect martyr.

Something about his attitude and frustratingly good fortune with that single stray attack irked Rega down to her core. She wanted to help, after all he was a warrior of Kumogakure and deserved to be boosted up to the highest echelon of defender possible… But wrath must also be appeased and the unconscious and quite unpained lad, whose exposed innards were carefully managed by her mother’s expert care so that he did not expire or drain out from blood loss while she painted on the inside of his skin in deer blood, must be made to suffer, if only a little.

Upon his walk of shame, he’d likely discover the first seal on his body as it manifested, branding him as a carrier of strength unleashed within his body. The second, however, would take another hour or two, he’d likely have stolen clothes and made his way back into town without having ever noticed the not quite so artistic addition to his forehead… A picture of a floppy dong, peeing down his nose, done in washable ink and saved in Rega’s snapshot jutsu likely for all time. Or until she was bored with it.

Marked for training, thread left, Astral Seal given to Shigster prime using the free weekly Dark Sage seal, Word Count :: 319