Team Twelve 3:
Tsume's story
Once more, the two fighters met on the training ground. The clearing was secluded, the midday sun beating down. This was not particularly important to either swordsman, as they faced eachother. One with a smirk, the other with a determined frown.
"Ready to lose?" The one with a smirk asked.
"Always talk, talk, talk," the other replied flatly. "Fight already, Andoryuu." The other fighter winced. He preferred to go by his surname, a fact that the smirking fighter enjoyed to taunt him with.
"Fine," the smirking one replied, taking his stance. An instant later and their blades clashed.
Even in a village with ninja who shared their bodies with bugs, with white eyes that could see through anything, and talking dogs, there are shinobi that are sufficiently unusual to warrant a second glance. Unusual in not their weirdness, but how weird they have made something that should otherwise be normal.
Take swords, for instance. For most ninja, swords were restricted to katanas or short swords. Assasinations and close-range fighting were the order of the day for the elite ranks of the shinobi, the ANBU, and overly large or flashy weapons were a hinderance.
Which brings us to the Tsume family. They were an unusual mix of scholar and warrior. Many were blacksmiths and engineers, ever designing better and more advanced weapons and defenses of steel. Others were physicists, analyzing chakra and using it as a medium by which to examine the fabric of creation. But all of them, were swordsmen/women in some way.
Rapiers and other light sabre-like weapons were used by the scholars and gentlemen, katanas by the members of the family that became ANBU, and for the regular warriors, any number of swords, from massive zanbatos (designed to chop right through horses) to small daggers. Tsume meant "talon", and their love of bladed weapons wielded like the claws of a beast suited them.
But even they had their limits. Like in handing over the family sword to a eight year old boy.
Andoryuu Tsume was the eldest of two brothers, the other being Benji. He had messy brown hair and a bright smile. His mother was in ANBU, while his father was a blacksmith. They were, by all accounts, very happy together.
However, Andoryuu accidentally interfered in one of his mother's assassinations. They had gone to Wave country under the guise of a family vacation, so that Rei (his mother) could take out a crooked merchant selling Konoha secrets when he'd been in their employ.
It was bad luck that Andoryuu happened to be passing the alley, out on his own without permission, when he spotted his mom cornering the target and his bodyguards. He happily called out to her, distracting her long enough for the bodyguards to strike and kill her.
The merchant left the child alive, simply thanking him with a sadistic laugh, leaving Andoryuu to sob over his mother's corpse.
Two years later, at the traditional choosing of the weapon ceremony all members of the Tsume family went through, Andoryuu was led into the armory. He put his hand on every weapon there, searching for one that would synch with his chakra. And he chose the Gensho Tsurugi, the first sword made by the Tsume family.
This seemed at first an accident. The Gensho Tsurugi was a zanbato, that included the provision to summon additional swords for the wielder's use. The first was the largest, a massive sword, easily six feet long and a hundred pounds in weight. It was imbued with a massive amount of chakra, allowing it's wielder to perform devastating attacks with it, ranged and otherwise. However, unlike other swords that linked their chakra to their user's, if the one bonded to the Gensho Tsurugi were to be out of a certain range of their sword, they would soon go into a coma, and die.
It's creator had been a powerful ninja and skilled blacksmith, whose fame and ability carried him many places, far from his comparitively lower class family. When they sent him a message requesting his aid in a dispute with a local daimyo, he ignored it, figuring they could handle it themselves. He returned two months later, to find that the daimyo had slaughtered his entire family for their refusal to fight alongside him in battle. That young warrior, in his grief and guilt, took parts of the six swords his family members had wielded, reforged them, and created the Tsurugi and it's supplementary swords, and used it to slay the daimyo and his entire army. Single-handedly.
In the end, even though he rebuilt his family and brought them to Konoha, his sword was to be a reminder to him of the price he paid for his pride. After he died, the sword only chose those who had suffered great loss. Thus it made sense for the young Andoryuu to have been bonded to the Tsurugi. His guilt over his mother's death called out to the sword, and the sword answered. To act as both a means to prevent it from happening again, and a grim reminder of what he had lost.
Even with a special harness, the eight year old could barely drag himself to school with the Gensho Tsurugi strapped to his back. He was teased for it, and pityed, but he kept going. He trained with the sword until he could wield it like another part of his body, then added the second of six swords. He learned how to wield both at the same time by the time he turned fourteen, an impressive feat given the difficulty of wielding them.
And though he was just a child, and in the wrong place at the wrong time, Andoryuu, called Tsume, still sees his mother every time he lifts his sword. Like now.
"Die!" He shouts, slashing for his younger brother. Benji deflects it with his sleek katana, a smirk on his round features as he leaps up and aims a kick for his brother's head.
"C'mon Ryuu, this the best you can do?" He taunts, the older brother barely shifting his head out of the way of the strike. Benji adjusted his leap, bending forward and rolling behind him. Tsume swung around, cursing as he jabbed furiously after his smaller, nimbler brother. Benji avoided or blocked every blow, his smirk still on his face.
"What's the matter, big brother? Too slow?" He laughed, backflipping once more as Tsume tried to crush him with a hammer blow from the Tsurugi. "My Murasame is too fast for an oaf like you!"
Benji had chosen the Murasame two years ago, and with him it seemed a natural fit. While tall and had rounded features, Benji could wield the blade like a breath of wind the moment he picked it up. Tsume cursed again, leaping above his little brother in an effort to strike him. Benji leapt away once more, shaking his head at such an obvious attack.
"Honestly big brother, what were you thinking? Ken Jutsu: Hiaburi Ken!" His katana burst into flames as Benji charged, now on the offensive. Tsume blocked every swift strike with some effort, moving backwards. Benji grinned. This was the part where he always beat his big brother-He was just too slow with that massive sword. He backflipped right over him, ready to bring the blade to Andoryuu's neck and have him yield once more...
"Tsurugi Jutsu: Bushin Shuuha!" Benji looked up just in time to see Andoryuu above him, swing his sword and unleashing a massive wave of crackling blue energy. The younger brother, surprised, managed to get out of the way just before it connected, but was blown off his feet by the blast as it hit the ground. Benji found himself on his back... And a huge sword under his chin. Above him, Tsume managed not to smirk. A lot.
"Yield?" His little brother glared back, and sighed.
"Yield."
Translations:
Gensho Tsurugi - Literally, First Sword
Murasame - Passing Shower/Rain
Ken Jutsu: Hiaburi Ken - Sword Technique: Burning to Death Blade
(Basically converts chakra to fire that surrounds a sword and makes it ultra hot)
Tsurugi Jutsu: Bushin Shuuha - Sword Technique: War God Wave
(Uses the sword to project a wave of destructive chakra. Sent with a swing of the sword.)
This character is based on several people, including myself. But he's not an SI, or a Mary Sue. I just decided to present a different version of the anime guy with a big-ass sword. R&R