The Pretender (Private)

[Toraono Kuro]

"Why shatter? Why would the seal be shattered? It's not like the seal is a solid glass object and breaks into peices."<i></i> Sousuke had questioned. This was something of an unprecedented event.

Kuro breathed in deep as he did a quick check of his alternate forms before he explained. "I say shattered because that is how it felt within me, they did not fully disappear. It felt as if they had been cracked then broken down into base components. In other words they no longer function the way they had and the dark chakra they maintained has become residual and less profound. My ability to manipulate dark chakra has not left me so I am not truly suffering just I am less powerful in combat and my alternate bodies can no longer assume a demonic form, they simply can't maintain enough dark chakra without a cursed seal."

Kuro would then place the mechanical leg Sousuke had constructed on the soul forge. He watched as Dr. Daibatsu worked on it. There was some mechanical work to be done, and within a few moments Kuro was back in action. He was kicking at the air showing that he was no less quicker than before.

"No problem with the leg I see. Everything is working well enough."<i></i> Sousuke observed.

Mouko Kuro grinned before he addressed Sousuke... "Actually this limb you designed for me was reinforced with original ancient seal works, chakra crystals streamlined by chakra output and regulation, then integrated and embedded into my actual vat grown flesh that was intermeshed with the mechanical settings of the prosthetic limb. This way only if it is severely damaged would it appear to be anything other than a natural leg. I even used some of your specialized seal designs in the same way I would fashion a cursed seal into flesh and now my prosthetic limb is not only capable of funneling chakra it is also capable of defensive barriers by channeling the residual dark chakra that was once housed in my seals. With this new limb I am actually far more capable as a defensive counter striker. If Kyojin Kuro ever loses a limb, I will definitely make use of your designs again to make sure that the new limb is even more capable than the original limb lost and try to make it stronger than the one I have now."

"I never condoned the use of Cursed Seals, but where did you get yours form?"<i></i> He would inquire. Kuro was capable of making his own cursed seals, but it took him a long amount of time to acquire the ability to produce another one. It was entirely possible that Kazuki was providing them to him, but there was also the possibility of others as well.

" My primary guardian seal was placed upon me in utero as I was damaging my mother with my rampant dark chakra output at six months. So my father had a sage apply a Heaven's seal upon me before I was even born. The residual effect was my mother can now manipulate dark chakra and control me as she wills but then again all mothers can do that to their sons."

Kuro was capable of seeing them, but Sousuke was not. That was a concern to the Kazekage. "So now what ... you're just going to seemingly walk this up, or just train up now?"<i></i>

" Actually I have a great deal of genetically passed down combat instinct so my lessons come easier than most but that doesn't stop me from having to go through trial and error before the instincts kick in. As far as the loss of dark chakra enhancements they were emergency failsafes that can readily be replaced with better equipment and your enhanced technology. It won't happen overnight and I won't be able to telepathically speak with those whom receive equipment or bio-prosthetics but as it is all that we can do to adjust to the changes in our world I am happy it is not a true loss. Besides why make more monsters when we can make machines. There is a far more controllable future there."

Kuro would indeed miss his seals but if everyone was at a loss for them then the playing field was still even.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

For having lost quite a bit of power, Kuro did not seem to ... he wasn't angry about it. He just seemed to be fine about it. In this Sousuke had learned a few more things about his older spiritual brother. It was true that most mothers had the ability to control their children, but Lady Azame had a far more literal way of doing it. Seemingly Kuro too had a surprisingly difficult way of coming into the world, and thus required seals before he was born. The image of a very pregnant Lady Azame came to mind, and it was something for Sousuke to picture. She was ... quite a bit taller than most women ... and was very fit. While pregnancy was a normal thing, Sousuke just could not really put the picture together in his head.

Kuro also went on to describe that his abilities would not come to a complete stop. Sousuke's technology would come to play a part in all of this. "Machines is the future. Even then, I still have to deal with mysticism."<i></i> Sousuke seemed to very much dislike the notion of the unknown. He would have to deal with it in time, and someday have a grand battle of technology versus 'magick or sorcery'. "Speaking of monsters there will come a time when we will have to fight against the Sovereign. They will not be as easily beaten. Nor do I think the most of them will be like Urufuu. Who ... I will never understand him."<i></i> Sousuke never quite understood the exile. He was casted out, but he should have asked for help. Sousuke knew his father would have tried to help Urufuu in what ways he could. Was it pride? "Urufuu is dead now. Perhaps for the best."<i></i>

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro nodded to himself as his brother brought up the Sovereign, they were living amalgams of Ancients infused into human vessels. Which meant that he himself and Sousuke for that matter should be more than their equal yet they were not. Something was off about their capacity. It was as if their energies burned brighter than those of Suna and that alone gave Kuro reason for pause. "I am of the opinion that when next the Jashinist bastard appears he will do so in a manner that I am neither around nor truly free to engage him. He seems to have developed a complex for you alone. So I must ask you to call upon me when next you face him if I do not find him first. There are a great many things I must do to him in order to make sure he is no longer a threat to anyone ever again. Please promise me you will allow me to aid you. Too often you have went off without so much as a simply emergency coordinate or destination so that I may find you if need be and I have never managed to be there for you when I should. Would you allow me this one boon?"<i></i> Kuro was truly serious in his request, he could not risk losing Sousuke not as a brother or a Sennin.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"Shouki enjoys involving me in his games because I actually play them. Unfortunately I am in a position where I have to play them, for the good the of the village. Curiously Shouki let me back in without a fight, well not a physical one. It was a fight of words and minds."<i></i> Sousuke explained. It was a strange thing really. Perhaps Shouki had gotten bored, and really wanted to see what Sousuke could do. Sousuke didn't allow Kuro to help him when he fought Shouki physically for the second time. It was ... complicated. Shiori's son as it were needed to be looked after. Sousuke entrusted that to him, and somehow he was lost. Her son that was. Sousuke exhaled. Kuro begged him to let him know the next time when they fought Shouki. See the problem with losing to Shouki was what would occur afterwards. Torture. Sousuke did not wish that upon anyone. He tried to save Shiori from it, and what happened? His intentions were good but ... because of how things unfolded - this is where it all went.

"Alright. I will call you the next time I engage Shouki, or have reason to suspect him being involved in a matter."<i></i> He would finally say. "I know what needs to be done Kuro. I get it. Next time we fight Shouki he's going to be destroyed in ways ... perhaps ways that even you might think ill of me for doing."<i></i> Sousuke would indeed allow it. Kuro still remained a little too confident, but some people just naturally had it. Sousuke was on the other end of the spectrum. He was not a man of great pride. He had facts. He was a Takahashi, a clan that had served the Sunahoshi. They were and would always be King's Men. Mother Suna was not the goddess they believed her to be. That too was a problem. Mikaboshi had been cheated by the First Men. Again another cold and disheartening fact. He was a simple mortal man who lived amongst gods, demons, and monsters. He was perhaps too far flawed to be human, but that is what he was.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro would release a sigh of relief he did not know he had as he explained "Thank you Kazekage, you have no idea what a relief that is to me, you see after your seventeenth birthday I lost the ability to track your aura. At first I thought I had lost the capacity because I had stopped being Anbu and took up teaching but I noticed I could indeed track other auras, it became a problem for me because when you weren't around you would always come back beat up or damaged and mother would look to me for answers as to why her youngest was being injured. That was when I discovered the truth about the soulforge and what had been done to keep you from becoming a wraith. This soulforge is one of seven, they were used by the Ancients to forge weapons, items, and mold the life essence of beings into other things. They inadvertently created other races by fusing the life essences of mortals with their own elemental creations. Mother used this very soulforge to transfer the soul of her youngest son into you. Now and then his soul empowers you and when he does I can briefly sense you. Now however you have taken up power beyond Tsume's. Your power I cannot track, your spirit I cannot surmise beyond something hollow and unyielding. That is why I wanted to use one the sacred weapons that your Great Great Great Grandfather Takahashi Sansuni Haoh along with your technical schematics and Dr. Daibatsu's medical and engineering knowledge of prosthetics to recreate a proper bio synthetic limb to replace your missing arm." Kuro paced around the mighty massive device as he spoke of Sousuke's lineage from heart...

You will be the next battlesmith of the Takahashi Clan Sousuke, like the legendary Takahashi Sansuni Haoh, the maker of fine weapons and armor, the master of elemental seals and the 6th Battlesmith. Takahashi Sansuni Haoh stood at an impressive six feet and four inches. His right side was checkered with myriad scars from flames and blades that had bitten into his flesh either while he created them or while he trained and or fought off those wielding his blessed weapons against him. He wore elemental armor. His ancient black obsidian laced armor has been kept as a sacred treasure in a vault near this very chamber. True battle smith armor is like a second skin, it heightens the wielder's strength, speed, mind, and spirit to frightening levels. Your Great Great Great Grandfather learned many of his techniques from my mother’s clan in Iron Country. He mastered those forgotten abilities and used what he learned from all over the world to create his own techniques which would be found in basic forms within the Journeyman’s Hall, and within the Oracle’s chronicles. However with the loss of the last Oracle, there is no one who can teach me how to read the sacred chronicles so it falls to you. Sousuke, you can become the 7th Battlesmith, you can forge weapons both powerful and reinforced by science. You can use science to beat Shouki and I will be there to insure you are unhindered in your efforts.”<i></i>

WC 520
MFT

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke looked at his mechanical arm. His digits curled together to form a fist. In the battle with Barynx the arm had been devoured but that was not a problem. He was able to make another one. "Wouldn't feel right."<i></i> He stated. There was a pause. He had grown so used to the arm, its make, and its inhuman colour scheme. His metallic finger tips clacked against the palm. "Have to learn from my mistakes and be reminded of them."<i></i>

Kuro then detailed grand father, but his great great great one. Sousuke did not know the full details of the man. The picture Kuro painted was ... well, he made his grandfather seem more like a hulking super human more than anything else. A cunning brute maybe? The thing that did not make sense was ... that he was the 6th one? Where were the others? This was Ancient History. "Who were the others? Were they Ancients?"<i></i> He next inquired. There was a lineage to be had here. What came before Hoah mattered to Sousuke.

Alot of what Kuro was proposing was something Sousuke had already worked on or had acheived. His armour was very much a second skin as it were. Kuro was not present at the time, but he had explained this concept to the former medic from Mist - Kendori Shuu. "Shouki, has a habit of returning. Next time I face him - he will find himself in different place. He may find himself in places, or a very dark one for that matter."<i></i> Sousuke did however find himself at odds with more what Kuro said. "Fuu isn't lost so much as ... reprogrammed really. She claims to be the last Oracle but that order has been restored. At least in Sungakure anyways. She gave me the idea to restore it, but we can do so much more than that."<i></i>

 

[Toraono Kuro]

Kuro sat down upon the dais and looked up to his little brother as he spoke of how to finish rebuilding the oracles. "Well, that is a pure relief. I have spent so much of my time and efforts trying to seek her out I did not think she had already explained or given method to how to bring the actual groundwork together. Our libraries have gaping holes in them which I am certain have much to do with the Daimyo and his efforts. I have laid so many innocents to rest that I have begun a second mausoleum and with nearly two generations of Sunans wiped out by blatant attacks I know I no longer have a tensei jutsu to bring anyone who was willing to return from the pure realm back. I even researched the lineage of Djinn. Many interesting results for discussion on that subject, and we still have our own dark kin to deal with. If you can guide me on how to resurrect a new and improved order of oracles then please do so. As far as your predecessors many left to find or recreate forges of their own and no they were not ancients at all. They were simply strong willed men capable of dragging forth the true power of earth, bone, and metal from the furthest reaches of their beings. Your fire-forged steel for example... did you ever finish the experiment to make the metal chakra conductive instead of chakra responsive? According to journals unearthed by Dr. Daibatsu your predecessors had found those methods and hundreds more. Yet portions of that knowledge are missing, leaving us only clues and examples. Now I can look beyond personal pain and despair knowing we can one day rise beyond war, treachery, and miscommunication. This knowledge you possess innately is one of my four pillars of hope."<i></i>


Kuro would explain what he had found and pieced together. No Ancients were part of the true blood of the Takahashi as far as his research had turned up.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

"I don't think you quite get the..."<i></i> It seemed that Kuro grew needy of Fuu? No. He thought she was necessary. "Kuro. I'm a Journeyman. Last time I checked you were doing works as an Oracle. I can build the structures, and all the libraries but it is your place to fill them with all your findings be it family histories, techniques, languages, theories. You don't need Fuu or Michi to do that. Are there holes in history? Yes. Are they all because of the Daimyo? No."<i></i> Sousuke was trying to give his brother a shove of sorts here. "She gave me the idea yes, but we don't need her methods of techniques. Are they effective? Yes, but we can develop our own which will surpass hers."<i></i> Kuro had good reason to be downtrodden but Sousuke was giving it a solid effort to try and restore his Sennin's good faith. "You're not alone as an Oracle. You do have Kyuji who has proven to be most resourceful. Harupia too would be an able hand to help you."<i></i>

Kuro had inquired whether or not Sousuke had conducted any new research on the matter of fire forged steel and conduction. The Kazekage would shake his head no. Instead Sousuke would show Kuro exactly what he had been up to. "I've been trying to figure out lately how to re-create the older crafts. Creating a new Primus armour. Creating new weapons. If the Daimyo's men and women are being empowered by Ancients, then using anti-Ancient weaponry will be effective against them."<i></i> Sungakure had grown very close to Ancients. It was an unsettling feeling really. Ancients were the sworn enemy of man. Sousuke had worked with Mikaboshi. Yet to have had his family be infiltrated by Mother Suna was something of a higher annoyance. Mikaboshi did not kill his family, she did. Mother Suna betrayed what she was meant to be. It was a rather frustrating fact, that one's belief structure was shattered and so crushed. Yet Sousuke had to work past it all. The revelation of the destruction of the old religion had untold damage to be wrought and that ... ... ... fool of a woman could not put aside what she wanted and do what was the best for others. Sousuke had put aside what he wanted for the realm, which constituted of many lives. Kuro was very much willing to sacrifice himself for Sousuke, but equally Sousuke was ready to sacrifice himself for Kuro.

 

[Toraono Kuro]

"I understand that I don't truly need her I simply wanted to ensure that we did not relive old mistakes in trying to recreate what has been lost and no not all of our losses are the Daimyo's fault. We have had many disasters, thefts, and simple losses. What I am concerned about is that he WIPED out the original order and then took the last known Oracle and used then abused her as breeding stock and a spy. I would simply like her input on how things used to be so I could have a basis instead of making up a theory and using technological advancements in storage and protection along with a mix of age old sorcery. I want to know how they did it in the first place. I don't want to theorize from legends, however I will if I have to."<i></i> Kuro listened to Sousuke's thoughts on anti-ancient weaponry and a pit opened in the base of his stomach. Nearly all the anti-ancient weaponry had been forged by the ancients themselves. Specifically Homura and Fuujin. "Brother, we already have anti ancient weaponry sitting in vaults waiting upon wielders. The next Lord of the Toraono Clan whom I will train to replace me already wields a sacred weapon of his own. If you need the schematics of the improved weapons and armors you need only talk to mother she would be honored to teach you her mastery of the soul-forge."<i></i>