Chapter 22: Sage Training Begins
It wasn't until the next day, when Ryosuke and Team 13 were all wide awake, that Valora called them together. Standing in front of them in her usual kimono, she looked at them all and smiled, her eyes finally resting on Ryosuke, "In order for Ryosuke to undergo my sage training, he will need to be in a rather "special" environment in order to do so," she explained. Ryosuke raised an eyebrow, with the others looking at each other and then at Valora in confusion. Flashing them a fanged grin, she nudged her foot at her summoning scroll which lay open at her feet. "In order for him to do this training, he will need to come with me to my realm. It is there that he will undergo his special training."
Hearing this, Ryosuke, Anko and Lukyo widened their eyes, while Namito just whistled, "Well shit, not something everyone gets to experience," he exclaimed, making the others nod. Ryosuke looked at his team and at Kazama, who had been sat at his desk watching the exchange, and then at his pendant, which he now held in his hand. Thoughts of Karina entered his mind, her temper, her laugh, her smile, he wanted to hear and see them again. Clenching the pendant in his hand, he nodded at Valora, his determination to rescue Karina still burning bright, "I'll go to hell and back if it means I'll be able to rescue Karina," he stated, earning smiles from those around him.
Namito shook his head and stepped forward, "I'm coming too, I wanna be there to help Ryo if he needs it and I want to see your realm too," he said, followed by Anko and Lukyo who also wanted to come. Lukyo looked at Valora and held his hand up, "If it is okay Lady Valora, after I have seen it, can I be summoned back here. I wish to learn more about this village, it is rather interesting," he asked, getting a nod from Valora. She then summoned a horse sized black dragon, who stood at attention in front of her, "Lady Valora, what is it that you wish of me?"
Valora looked at the dragon and smiled, pointing at Lukyo, "When I notify you, I would like for you to summon this boy back to this room from our realm, understood?" The dragon understood her orders and nodded. Valora then turned to Ryosuke and her smiled dropped, "I'm going back to my realm to prepare the reverse summoning, better quickly make any preparations you have to make now before it happens," she explained, getting nods of understanding from Team 13. After Valora disappeared, Kazama turned to Ryosuke, worry clear on his face.
"Ryosuke, it is not too late to turn back from this training, you may indeed lose your very life," he advised the youth, who shook his head and walked to the window, staring down at the village with a solemn look on his face. "I couldn't protect her Kazama, because I was weak she remains an Akatsuki pawn. She isn't the only friend I almost lost due to my weakness either," he stated, making Team 13 look down, knowing just who he was on about. Kazama walked to Ryosuke's side and put his hand on the boy's shoulder softly, "You mean your friend Gaara, don't you?"
Ryosuke nodded in confirmation and sighed, "I was too weak to fight against Orochimaru and because of it Gaara grew up believing I had abandoned him, that I had betrayed him. Due to that, I almost lost him to...to his hatred inside," he explained, having not told Kazama about the Tailed Beast Shukaku. Kazama opened his mouth to say something, but Ryosuke shook his head and clenched his fists, "I'll never let that happen again, I swear it. I will not let those I love and care about suffer because of my weakness, I will get more power and I will protect those that are important to me until the very last breath leaves my lungs."
Kazama smiled and laughed, surprising those in the room and making them look at him, but he merely shook his head and smiled at Ryosuke, "Forgive me for laughing but I could not help it. You sounded just like your father when he was your age, he wanted nothing more than to protect those he cared about also," Kazama explained, moving to his desk and sitting down, looking at Lord Sora's picture as he did.
Finally, Kazama looked at Ryosuke and smiled, "I wish you luck with your sage training Ryosuke. Lady Valora won't make it easy though," he pointed out, making Ryosuke nod. Taking a deep breath as he felt the pull of being summoned, Ryosuke bowed to Kazama, making the man's eyes widen as Ryosuke stood up. "Thank you for telling me about my parents, I promise I WILL make them and this village proud. I will be a ninja worthy of the name Tengoku," he stated with his usual grin as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
When the smoke cleared, they found themselves in the realm that Ryosuke had appeared in when he first signed Valora's contract. Standing at the entrance to her cave, Valora waved at them and beckoned them over, laughing at their surprised looks as Team 13 looked around at their surroundings. With one last giggle, Valora swept her arm to the side and, "Welcome...to Ryukeun Valley. My realm and, "With this she changed into her true form, causing Team 13 to gaze up at her body in awe, "the realm of dragons."
Surrounding the cave were 5 areas of the realm, all connected to the middle area where the cave dwelt. To the north was an area where constant lightning storms were raging, the clouds as black as Valora herself. To the northeast was a mountainous area where earthquakes constantly shook the ground, the ground unstable due to the quakes. To the southeast was an area comprised of water save for a few bits of land poking out of the waters, with whirlpools churning the water. To the southwest was an area of land where tornados the size of the Hokage Monument were raging and twisting, each with a chunk of land floating in the middle of the tornado's. To the northwest was an area of land where lava flowed in rivers from a large volcano, with the random geyser of fire bursting from the rivers.
After seeing the glory of Ryukeun Valley, Lukyo soon felt the pull of being summoned back to the Tengokukage's office. Pushing his glasses up his nose, he looked at his friends and smiled, "This is where I go back guys, I hope your training proves fruitful Ryosuke." Turning to Valora, he bowed low, "Thank you Lady Valora for allowing me to see the glory of your realm, it was truly an honor." Valora giggled at his manners and waved one of her clawed feet, "I am glad that you find my realm so pleasant," she stated.
Saying one last goodbye to his friends, Lukyo disappeared in a puff of smoke back to the Tengokukage's office. Valora then looked at Ryoskue and snorted smoke out of one nostril as she bent her head down to look him in the eye, "Now I will warn you Ryosuke, this training will NOT be easy. You will be learning to harness Nature Chakra by absorbing pure chakra of the 5 natures, understand?" she asked him.
Ryosuke nodded, his fists clenching ad his determination never wavering. With that, Valora lead them to the first area that Ryosuke would be training in: The Lightning area. Turning to the Ninja with a serious look, she motioned at the middle of the storm, where a small circle with various burn marks on the ground around it could be seen. "That is the spot where you will sit down cross legged and meditate to gather Pure Lightning Chakra," she explained.
Ryosuke was about to run over to the spot, but was stopped by Valora who gave him a solemn look, "You need to maintain focus and control or the nature chakra will give you immense pain as you will slowly turn into a mindless beast," she warned, making Ryosuke gulp and Namito look at him in worry. "Be careful Ryo. While it would be awesome to be a dragon, you won't be any good to anyone if you're mindless, including Karina," he warned, making Ryosuke nod.
With a deep breath, Ryosuke ran straight into the storm, jumping left and right to avoid bolts of lightning as they hit the earth. Eventually reaching the spot, out of breath, Ryosuke sat down and crossed his legs. After maintaining his breathing, Ryosuke put his knuckles together and closed his eyes, focusing on drawing in the pure lightning chakra. After a minute or so, a bolt of lightning struck the ground near him and his concentration was broken, his arm going black like Valora's, making him yell out in pain until he took deep breaths and managed to maintain his focus.
"This is gonna be harder than I thought," he thought as he closed his eyes again, trying to concentrate once more. Multiple times the lightning broke his focus, but he managed to regain his concentration each time. While Ryosuke was doing this, Anko and Namito were standing outside the storm, watching and hoping for a good outcome. Namito turned to Anko with a worried look, "is he gonna be alright? He can do this right?" he asked his sensei, who just shook her head, not knowing herself but hoping nonetheleess.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Fire Country, three people wearing the black robes of the akatsuki members were walking down a road, the left one of them carrying the body of a monk from the Fire Temple over his shoulder. The one carrying the monk was wearing a hood and mask that only showed his green pupiless eyes underneath a headband bearing a sign of an arrow pointing down being the symbol for the Hidden in the Waterfalls but with a scratch going through the symbol.
The one walking on the right was a man with grey hair that was slicked back to his neck and had purple eyes. The right side of his cloak was undone, revealing his right arm and the right side of his chest. Around his neck was a headband that hand the symbol of 3 lines in a row leaning towards the right being the symbol of the Village Hidden in Hot Water and in his hand was a long red scythe with 3 blades poking from the top.
In the middle of these 2 was Karina, her Leaf Village headband around her forehead with a scratch across the symbol and her normally covered eye now uncovered. With an irritated growl, the man with the scythe looked at the man carrying the monks corpse, "Fuck sake, why do we have to do this Kakazu? Can't we just leave this corpse somewhere to rot?" With a sigh of annoyance, Kakazu looked at his partner, "This corpse is a cash cow, Hidan. The Akatsuki needs money for our operations and this will get us 30 million. Now shut up before I kill you," he warned.
Karina rolled her emotionless eyes at her companions bickering and pointed at a building that they were coming up to, "Is that the place we are going to Kakazu?" she asked her companion who nodded. "I will take the body in there while you stay out here and babysit Hidan," Kakazu explained, earning a "fuck you" from Hidan. Sitting on a rock outside of the building, Karina watched Kakazu go in while Hidan paced while he waited. After a while, Kakazu eventually came out, much to Hidan's displeasure, "You took your fucking time Kakazu," he growled out.
Before Kakazu could respond, shuriken flew at him, which he jumped to avoid. The three of them looked at the source to find Asuma Sarutobi, Shikamaru Nara, Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, the latter two carrying two long curved kunai like swords each. Upon seeing Karina with the Akatsuki members, Izumo and Kotetsu's eyes widened, disbelief evident in them, "N..no...you've got to be kidding me," Kotetsu stammered out. "K..Karina...please..please tell me you haven't betrayed the Leaf?" Izumo asked the woman.
Karina just snorted and stared the two of them down, "I'm done with that pathetic village, I already killed one of it's star Chunin: that annoying Ryosuke brat," she stated, making Kotetsu shake his head. "He lives Karina and he is out there getting stronger so he can bring you back," he cried out, making Karina snort again. "That brat can try, but I belong to the Akatsuki now, I'll take care of him when he comes for me."
Kakazu looked at Asuma and chuckled, "Well well, Azuma of the Leaf. You have a 35 million bounty on your head, another cash cow falls into my path. Hidan, try not to kill this one, he is worth more alive," he ordered his partner who just groaned in response and swung his scythe at the ready. Asuma looked at Izumo and Kotetsu as he prepared his trench knives, "You guys handle Karina and Hidan. Shikamaru and I will handle Kakazu," he ordered, getting nods from Izumo and Kotetsu who jumped down to face Karina and Hidan.
Kotetsu looked at Karina as he held up his weapons, "It isn't too late to return Karina, Lady Tsunade will still overlook this. It would also make Ryosuke happy if you returned," he pleaded with her. Getting a look of irritation, Karina threw a wave of shuriken at Kotetsu, deflected by Izumo, "ENOUGH! I'm sick of hearing about that weakling. If I see him again i'll cut out and show to him his still beating heart," she warned making Izumo flinch at her words and Hidan raise an eyebrow, "Her brainwashing must be letting some emotions bleed through," he thought.
Having had enough of their talk, Karina rushed forward, kunai raised, and took a slash at Kotetsu, which he blocked as Izumo tried a punch from behind. Karina spun while her kunai was locked with Kotetsu's blade and grabbed Izumo's wrist. She then spun her other wrist and grabbed Kotetsu's wrist, proceeding to throw them both away. After landing on their feet, both ninja then ran at her, with Izumo doing handsigns and taking a deep breath, "Water style: Starch Syrup Capturing Field" with that he let out his breath and spat transparent syrup to the floor at Karina's feet.
Knowing full well of the technique, Karina sent chakra to her feet and used it to jump into the air, out of range of Kotetsu's Conch Shell Mace which he had just unsealed to attack with. Flipping over Kotetsu, she grabbed his mace and wrenched it out of his hands, swinging it and catching both of them with it, sending them rolling across the ground where they landed on their knees. Panting from the bruise on their chests, Kotetsu looked at Izumo, "You know what I think?" he asked his friend who looked at him," What?". Kotetsu looked back at Karina and gulped, "I think she was holding back on us all this time," he explained to Izumo, who looked at Karina and gulped also, "Kotetsu...We're fucked."
Back at Ryukeu Valley, Ryosuke was now meditating in the Earth area, the ground shaking around him as he continued to concentrate on gathering pure earth chakra. Having already managed to gather Lightning, water and fire, his features had started to change slightly, having obtained small silver markings appearing on his chin and the bottom of his cheeks and on his head two small black horns had started to grow. From where he was sat against Valora's mountain, Namito watched Ryosuke, proud of how his friend was coming along. Anko smiled at her student, thinking how far he had come from some brat who didn't let anyone in to someone who was learning to use Sage Mode.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ryouske dropped his pose and opened his eyes, both of them now having small slits going vertically down through the pupils. Standing up, he made his way over to where the others were, wiping his bare chest, the fire area was exceedingly hot, and stood in front of Valora, "That's earth done," he stated. Valora took her eyes up form Ryosuke's bare chest and smiled a fanged smile, "Good. Once you have drawn in wind, you will be able to move onto the final step and then you will be a sage," she explained, feeling oddly proud of the boy also.
Nodding, Ryosuke headed to the wind area for the final intake of pure chakra. Taking a deep breath, he jumped into the largest of the tornados and proceeded to spin until, as he neared the platform in the middle, he awkwardly manoeuvred himself over to it and grabbed the edge, pulling himself up, trying to maintain his balance. Once on the platform, Ryosuke once again got into the meditative pose and began drawing in the pure wind chakra.
After a while, he dropped the pose, having managed to draw in the pure wind chakra. Jumping off the platform, he spin around in the tornado until he was able to break out of the side and land on the ground next to Namito, panting heavily. Namito grinned and thumped Ryosuke's back, "Well done, now you just have to do the final step and you will have done it," he exclaimed with Anko rolling her eyes. "Easy Namito, the hard part isn't done yet, he still has the final step," she explained to her energetic student.
Valora motioned for Ryosuke to sit down in front of her, which he did so, and proceeded to explain the final step, "OK. So now that you have drawn in the pure chakra, you now have to combine them to create Nature chakra and enter Sage Mode. Bear in mind this is the most difficult part of the training, if you don't have absolute focus then you will become a mindless dragon and I will have to put you down I'm afraid," she warned.
Taking the last deep breath of his training, Ryosuke closed his eyes and began to focus, concentrating on creating the Nature chakra. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours as Valora, Anko and Namito watched the teen, hoping that he would be able to succeed. After what seemed to be 10 hours, Ryosuke finally opened his eyes, revealing they now had full length slits going down through them. His horns had also now grown fully, extending backwards form his temples and black in colour, while on his face were longer silver tribal markings.
Namito grinned and held up a peace sign, "Yea, you did it bro. You mastered Sage Mode," he exclaimed, energetic and proud of his friend while Anko whistled at his new features, "Pretty cool look kid," she stated. Raising her eyebrow, Anko continued to look at him, "How do we know that you did it though?" Valora smirked and motioned to Ryouske, "Those new abilities you are feeling inside you, show them one," she advised. Just as Ryouske was focusing to use one of them, Namito spoke up once more, "So does this mean you're ready to face Karina?" he asked.
Ryouske just smirked as something appeared behind him, earning gasps from Anko and Namito. Upon Ryouske concentrating, a pair of large, black dragon wings had appeared from his back, his eyes never leaving the other 3, "More than ready, time to bring her home," he stated.
And finally done. This chapter took ages cos of work and life just getting in the way but thankfully finally done. Next chapter is Karina Vs Ryosuke, the rematch.
As always, feel free to let me know what you think but please keep it respectful.
This is HaramKing666 signing off. Stay pervy everyone.