Chapter 12: The Festival at Kateri
"Alright! It's time for another first!" Shoryu cried, suddenly wrenching his way out of the group and towards one of the many stalls crammed together. It had taken them only a few hours upon rising early to reach Kateri, and in just a few short days its population had nearly tripled with the immense mass of people who'd travelled far and wide for the imminent festival. The bruises and the heavy load had given him much less trouble on the ramble back through grassy planes, partly because they'd began to heal and partly because he'd gotten so used to the pain that he'd forgotten all about them.
He'd never seen so many people gathered together in one place. Stalls selling foods from all over the land stood opposite gift stores and merchandise shops that came with a hefty sum. The excitable cheers of infants coupled with the roar of early drunkards filled the streets, and occasionally a firework would go off before the big display scheduled for later at night. Shoryu fought his way through a mass of people and ducked under a multi-coloured tartan banner, walking past a fire breathing street performer (clearly practiced in the fire style of ninjutsu) as he made towards the small restaurant, comprised of only a single bar and a few stools on which to sit.
A cheerful woman beamed at him over the counter and she took the boy's order with a bow. Shoryu was so excited for his meal that he didn't even notice his squad follow him in until Ayako took a seat beside him.
"Ramen?" she quizzed, giving him a strange look as she peered around the stall. "You've never had ramen before? You're really sheltered huh? What's so special about ramen anyway? It doesn't really seem like something to get this excited about."
Shoryu tore away his fascinated gaze from the woman frying his noodles to offer his explanation. "Well they say the Sixth Hokage lived almost exclusively on a diet of ramen. I can't believe I've never tried it before! Who knows? Maybe the secret to his success lies at the bottom of the bowl."
"The Sixth Hokage?" asked Kazuya. "Wasn't he the ninja who-"
"-Saved the world, yeah." Shoryu replied, eagerly awaiting his meal.
"And he only ate ramen?" checked Kazuya.
"So they say."
"That doesn't seem very healthy. He sounds like an idiot to me."
"Hey!" Shoryu seized a pair of chopsticks and pointed them threateningly at his comrade. "Don't disrespect the Sixth Hokage! If it weren't for him we'd all be under the evil Madara Uchiha's Infinite Tsukuyomi and wander around under genjutsu as mindless slaves for all eternity!"
Kazuya, unsure of whether or not his partner was entirely serious as he brandished the sticks with a forced scowl, eventually put a hand to his protected forehead. "I'm sure that story has no doubt been dramatized over the ages. By now it's probably been altered so much that it's just a fairy tale."
"It's not a fairy tale! It happened! There's proof of it and everything!" Shoryu insisted, though his debate was short lived as a steaming bowl of barbeque pork ramen was presented before him. Immediately he forgot all about his altercation with Kazuya and tucked in, pinching a large twist of noodles between his chopsticks and gorging himself with a helping too big for his own mouth.
Eventually his teammates gave in and ordered themselves a bowl each whilst Shoryu stuffed his face. As enjoyable as the meal was, he should've realised that there was no way the simple concoction of noodles and pork would live up to his ridiculously high expectations. In spite of this he continued to smile and act like it was the greatest thing he'd ever tasted in his entire life, because he felt that to admit it to himself would be an insult to the Sixth Hokage. When he'd finished his dinner he paid up and waited patiently for the others to do so before they left.
Getting lost in Kateri would've been easy if they didn't have Reizo as a guide. The town was so huge and the streets were so packed that navigating it alone would be a nightmare. Fully grown adults who stood a whole head above each of the teens would block off their view and drown them amidst the crowd, ensuring they couldn't see the next stall or the names of any streets. Finally they came to an area far less crammed, where a whole range of acrobats flipped around and obvious con artists would set challenges for eager passers-by. They dared them to guess the value of a playing card, the amount of stones in a jar or which cup had the egg concealed beneath it.
Deception was part of a ninja's job, and as a result even Shoryu could see that half of these 'fair' challenges were won by a sleight of hand or some odd reverse psychology. They were cunning though; they had the whole crowd fooled and sometimes they would even lose on purpose just to convince others that they were legit. One act however, was very different from the rest: A girl sat in an empty ring as a queue of just three people lined up to face her.
She was tall and brown-haired; incredibly beautiful with large green eyes and voluptuous curves. She couldn't have been any older than eighteen, and like Ayako, her gentle appearance didn't at all seem befitting of the metallic plate fixed to the band around her arm. Unlike the familiar symbol of the cloud that he was used to though, one that looked like a distorted 'I' took its place. This girl was clearly from the Land of Wind, hailing from the Hidden Sand Village. Shoryu had never seen this kind of ninja in person before.
"Step right up everybody!" Shoryu was suddenly alerted to the presence of a plump announcer in his mid-forties advertising the girl. "It's the beautiful, smart and talented Kamiko Honami! The Hidden Sand's hidden prodigy! Master of Taijutsu! Fifty thousand ryo to whoever can land a single blow - and it's just a mere hundred to challenge her!"
This at least seemed authentic – Shoryu didn't suppose one could simply fake being good at hand to hand combat. The others shared his interest, as all four suddenly stopped as the announcer carried on his rant. 'Unbeaten,' 'incredible' and 'unstoppable' were some of the adjectives he used. Shoryu thought she didn't look like any of those; she just sat there quietly, meekly lowering her head in embarrassment.
"YOU!" roared the announcer, suddenly pointing an accusing finger towards the group, specifically to Reizo. "You look strong! And you're a local ninja! Care to test your mettle against Kamiko Honami?"
As over a dozen eyes turned to the man Reizo held up his hands in protest. "Look, with all due respect I'm a Jonin, and I've probably got five years and eighty pounds on her – it wouldn't be a fair fight. I wouldn't want to rob you of your money."
"She is also a Jonin!" bellowed the man. "Think of this as a practice bout to promote peace between our countries!"
The hard, encouraging stares of the nearby crowd forced Reizo into a corner. On the one hand he didn't want to hurt this delicate woman, but his pride slowly began to win him over, especially with Shoryu and Ayako egging him on by his side. "Alright you're on," he said, resigning himself to the stage. "Taijutsu isn't exactly my forte but this shouldn't be too hard."
"Good man!"
The crowd separated to form a path as Reizo strode to the front of the queue and into the circular ring. He paid up the one hundred ryo and the girl got to her feet, falling into a stance without flaws or openings.
"We're never gonna be able to follow this fight properly," Shoryu muttered unfairly. "You've seen how fast he moves, even without the Raikyogan. It'll be over before we know what's happened!"
Ayako let out a disappointed sigh in realising that Shoryu was right. Kazuya meanwhile had no intention of missing the fight. He'd seen the technique only a few times, but the sight of Kazuya weaving those odd hand signs told Shoryu that he'd get another look at the samurai's signature dojutsu. His digits twisted and interlocked with each other, contorting like the elusive movements of a puppeteer until ten signs had been successfully executed. Kazuya's hands suddenly separated as he clasped his hands on the shoulders of Shoryu and Ayako.
"Vortex Shift: Time Slow Jutsu."
Shoryu had never felt so sick in his life. His head spun and throbbed like a blow to the temple as Kazuya's eyes twisted into a spiral pattern and the entire world slowed down around him. The people of the town walked at a snail's pace and the cheers of the crowd deepened in a comically drawn out pitch. The flags baring countless symbols flapped deliberately against the wind, and every drop of water trickling off a nearby fountain could be heard, making Shoryu mistake it for sudden rain at first.
The boy clutched his stomach and only barely managed to stay on his feet, swallowing back down a small mouthful of hot vomit.
"Don't move about so much, and don't speak too loud," Kazuya muttered. "If you move and draw attention to yourselves you'll just look like a blur making noises like a sped up record to anyone else."
Ayako replied under her breath, "I didn't even know you could project this onto other people."
"It's impractical since I have to keep physical contact," Kazuya said. Shoryu suddenly noticed the samurai's hand still clamped on his shoulder. "And it drains my chakra considerably. Watch, it's about to start."
Finally shaking off the bursting headache and pit in his stomach, Shoryu flipped his eyes back over to the fight. Whilst they looked sluggish to him now, Reizo's movements were quicker than any other. A booming roar cried over the chatter to announce the start of the fight as right away all three saw that something was wrong; something that defied the laws of physics. Kamiko Honami moved at regular speeds to the eyes of Kazuya's dojutsu.
When all others, even Reizo, had fallen into slow motion, Kamiko Honami looked to be moving comfortably as she eased into a block from Reizo's precise strike. To the people watching she must've moved as nothing more than a series of hazy impressions. Their sensei might've had an easier time tracking her speeds, but being able to see an attack and being able to block it were two different things. Kamiko swung a fist with more power than her slender form should've allowed before launching into a pair of turning kicks.
Each move missed Reizo by only a hair's breadth as he fell back on his instincts and dodged like his life depended on it. Since throwing the very first punch the Jonin hadn't had a single opportunity to go back on the offensive with the younger girl pressuring him back.
"How is she doing that?" Ayako asked, "It's like she's using the same technique as Kazuya, but her eyes haven't changed!"
After staring in silent awe at the battle before him, Kazuya finally spoke. "It's no trick. . ." he revealed, still unbelieving of the scene his spiral eyes presented to him. "She really is that fast. She could even be faster than sensei when he uses his Raikyogan."
"Faster than that? Without a kekkei genkai or anything?" Shoryu couldn't believe his ears.
"It's very possible."
Even Shoryu noticed the look of panic on Reizo whenever a swift blow came within an inch of his face. He used every step of the arena to hop to safety as punches and kicks streamed his way in a relentless barrage. Finally though, Reizo could've sworn he saw an opening in Kamiko's defence. He swung back into close-quarters as fast as his body would allow and aimed a fist straight for the girl's clavicle.
Even as he threw the punch Reizo scolded himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kamiko's right foot hook behind his damaged heel and sweep him right off his feet. There had been no opening; she'd lured him into attacking, knowing that she'd get her move in first. The twinge of pain to Reizo's heel was accompanied by that of his back slamming into the ground before he could even comprehend what she'd done.
Kamiko rapped the Jonin softly on the chest to win the match before extending her hand and helping him back to his feet, where she politely took to patting the dust from his back. He was moments away from telling her it was unnecessary before she spun him around again and shook his hand with a pleasant smile.
"Sorry about that. I had to resort to more extreme measures to win; you're probably the toughest I've ever sparred with."
"I must say I'm impressed. I underestimated you," Reizo admitted, swallowing his pride. "I had no idea the Hidden Sand harboured such talent. Perhaps the Land of Lightning is getting sloppy."
Kamiko bowed graciously and extended a finger to the sky as a thought hit her. "Well the Chunin exams are next month. I guess we'll see about that when they come around."
"I suppose we will." Reizo grinned with his competitive attitude back in full force and shook her hand again before returning back towards Squad Thirteen.
As Shoryu found himself whizzing back into real-time he noticed that commoners were still queuing up to fight Kamiko despite an incredibly powerful ninja losing. He supposed the fifty thousand ryo reward for beating her was too great an opportunity to miss out on. He still couldn't believe it though; that a fully grown man, the greatest ninja he'd ever met with a physique almost entirely made up of corded muscle, had been bested by a girl half his size. Shoryu looked from his sensei and then back to her to compare the difference again before he noticed something.
A simple tattoo had been inked into her right arm, the shape of twin crescents of different sizes arching towards each other in a shade of dark violet. He'd seen it somewhere before; in fact it was on the tip of his tongue as he stared curiously at it. To his dismay though, Kamiko turned to obscure his view of it and announced she was going off for a break. Before he had time to ponder any further on the brief glimpse he'd caught of the marking, Reizo interrupted them.
"Whew!" he announced. "That was a good fight – I have to say, I didn't think she'd be that good! Even if I could use my spear, the Raikyogan and my jutsu she'd still probably give me a run for my money."
"Sensei, she was inhumanly fast. We watched move her at normal speeds under ten hand signs of my jutsu," informed Kazuya, trying to impress the gravity of the situation on the older man.
"Really?" Reizo spared a casual glance backward. "I'm not surprised. She obviously had a few Inner Gates open. My guess is that she's learned to break her body's chakra receptors on the fly without anyone noticing; it's incredible for a girl of her age. I can't say for certain how many she had opened though – it could be anywhere between two and six."
Ayako remained confused. "Inner Gates?" she asked.
"Limiters in the body that restrict how much chakra you can generate. There are eight of them in total," Kazuya explained.
"You seem to know a lot Kazuya, can you open any?" quizzed Reizo.
"Two." Kazuya held up a pair of fingers that looked like an unintentional peace sign. "Any more than that and it disrupts my concentration."
Shoryu nodded and thoughtfully assessed Kazuya's latest revelation. It made sense in a way; if what he said the previous night about maintaining stillness of the mind during battle was true, then the act of forcefully opening the body's valves of chakra would no doubt break that stillness. As a result, opening the third Gate of Life would probably hinder his performance rather than aiding it.
"Impressive," Reizo said. He turned back to the ring, but Kamiko was already long gone, along with that strange tattoo that Shoryu was so interested in. "At any rate that girl is one of a kind. I know ninja who have trained in Taijutsu for twice as many years as she's been living and come nowhere close to her level. Either she's got an extraordinary amount of natural talent or some kind of mutation."
"Like a kekkei genkai?" said Ayako.
"Perhaps, but then again I've never heard of a kekkei genkai that amplifies Taijutsu – it's generally a discipline that requires, well, discipline."
After a few wild speculations from Squad Thirteen Reizo concluded that there were ninja in the world with powers still beyond their understanding; it wasn't a real explanation, but it was the best he could offer as they strolled through the masses of foreign folk. Shoryu curtly announced that he was off to train just outside the town and Reizo gave his blessing, reminding him to not burn himself out too much and meet them later in the evening so he could practice with Kazuya.
A day ago such a command would provoke fear and dread from Shoryu. This time though, he found that excitement overwhelmed him. Maybe it was the perfectionist side of him that he'd inherited from his mother, but for as long as he could remember Shoryu had strived towards becoming being a ninja who could attack from any distance and adapt to any situation, and since his kenjutsu had always been rather lacking in comparison to his other disciplines he'd never quite grasped being an all-rounder. He knew that with just a few more sessions from Kazuya he could train and expand upon what he'd learned to make his swordsmanship on the same level as the others.
Months had passed since Shoryu had proved himself the weakest of Squad Thirteen by losing to both Ayako and Kazuya. Even back then however, Reizo had still told him that he was the most versatile; he had a pair of swords for close range, wind jutsu for mid-range and his trusty windmill shuriken if he wanted to attack from afar. Ayako meanwhile had very little skill in Taijutsu to defend herself up close, and Kazuya's Cryo Blast didn't extend far enough to be called a long range attack.
As much as his kenjutsu had improved since yesterday though, this progress paled in comparison to the Wind Slash stream he'd been trying so desperately to perfect. Ayako had confessed to him earlier that she'd managed six seconds on the stream technique and a glimpse of Kazuya's training told him that the samurai had accomplished seven. Shoryu meanwhile was still in the lead with a whole eight seconds of sustaining the complex jutsu.
'Whichever of you can make it to ten seconds, being steady and controlled without stopping once, will get my fee for this C-Rank assignment on top of their own.' - Reizo had said those very words to them less than a week ago. Tomorrow afternoon they'd arrive back in the Village Hidden in the Clouds, meaning Shoryu had all of tonight and the stoppage breaks of tomorrow to add another two seconds to his stream's duration.
Easy, he told himself, and it really would be. Shoryu had managed to regulate his chakra so precisely now that even eight seconds holding the jutsu wasn't enough to tire him out. The tricky part was the extra challenge he'd set for himself: putting what he'd learned together with a powerful phenomenon he'd discovered whilst building the fire. The boy made several cuts on his fingers with his holstered shuriken, and after lacing a few hand signs together he suddenly palmed the grass beneath him with his scabbing right hand.
"Summoning Jutsu!" he cried, as from the wave of mist his impact created the recognisable cry of the dragon he'd hatched squealed in joy.
"You ready to get to work little guy?" Shoryu asked.
"Cha!" was the extent of the dragon's reply. Even the incomprehensible babble was made understandable by the happy expression on the tiny thing. Shoryu suspected the poor creature was just happy to see the light of day as he began more and more to believe Reizo's theory about him being the last one left. It must've been pretty lonely wherever he came from, so regular visits to Shoryu were the highlight of his day.
The hour had just struck seven when Shoryu met up with Reizo and Ayako at the base of Kateri's enormous clock right at the centre of the city. His face and clothes were covered in ash, and the corners of his brown eyebrows had been burned black by some kind of flame. In spite of this, Shoryu walked normally, showing few signs of fatigue and even less signs of knowing that he looked like a failed chimney sweeper.
Ayako arched an eyebrow as she asked the obvious question. "What happened to you?"
"Huh?" Seeing that she examined his face with that look of confusion, Shoryu raised a hand and dabbed his soot stained face with a single index finger. His own eyebrows shot up when he saw the ash he'd smudged off; apparently he'd failed to see what a mess he looked like. "Oh, must've been the dragon," he realised, and proceeded to rub it off with the edge of his shirt.
"What, did you two fall out or something?" Kazuya's voice suddenly drifted through the crowds behind him as he returned from his own training session. "Don't tell me you got your ass kicked by that little thing?"
"You wish," Shoryu scoffed.
"Ready to go then?"
"Sure."
Almost as soon as Kazuya had arrived he'd taken off again without even acknowledging the other two members of his squad with Shoryu in tow, leaving Ayako and Reizo with perplexed expressions as they watched the two boys disappear into the city. What they'd just witnessed had been a complete breakthrough; after months of forcefully trying to get them to cooperate, the two had reached civil – almost friendly terms with each other when no one had been looking. Was it something to do with last night's training?
"Umm, is it just me or do those two seem to be getting along a lot better?" said the bemused girl, needing a confirmation of the unbelievable scene she'd just witnessed. Normally Kazuya would've treated this as a chore, but his tone reflected no malice or bitterness this time. Shoryu on the other hand would've replied with a snappy one-liner and gone along with a show of forced enthusiasm, only this time it seemed genuine.
"I think you might be right there," Reizo observed.
With a smile on his face Shoryu marched after the distant samurai, eventually catching up to him and deciding to walk at his side rather than six steps behind. The two made their way through town and soon found themselves leaving the crowds and all the noise of the festival behind as they reached the outskirts. Under the late red sun they trekked over fertile grass half a mile stray of the main road.
Eventually Kazuya stopped, hopped up and down to test the ground and deemed this location appropriate. Once again Shoryu found himself quietly wondering what kind of criteria Kazuya used to determine how suitable a training ground was; after all this particular stretch of grass looked no different to him than the twenty minutes' worth of field they'd just crossed. What puzzled him most though was the absence of a tree; normally Kazuya would snap off branches for them to spar with, but here there wasn't a single tree in sight.
"We'll use our own weapons today," he decided, answering Shoryu's question. "You can perform the Blocking Jutsu right?" Kazuya didn't even give the boy time to answer before he thrust the covered sword of his clan's founder into the boy's hands. Carefully unsheathing it, Shoryu pulled off four hand signs, moulded his chakra and expelled it onto each blade before withdrawing his own pair and repeating the process. Even without being told Shoryu quickly handed back the double edged sword and took his stance a few paces away, twirling his left blade into a backhand style as instructed.
This earned him an analytical stare from the samurai as Kazuya studied Shoryu's pose like a food critic would to a plate of fish. Eventually he gave a grunt of approval, finding no flaws or openings in his guard much to Shoryu's delight. He'd practiced hard on what he'd learned the previous day to make sure he forgot nothing – he'd hate to waste time going over what he already knew when more progress could be made.
For the first hour Kazuya taught the boy the basics of his clan's method of parrying. Blocking an opponent's move was vital, but doing so whilst putting oneself in a decent position to strike back could tip a match in their favour, turning a defensive manoeuvre into an offensive one. First Kazuya demonstrated his own by asking Shoryu to come at him. As soon as he swung his first attack, the blade was batted aside and in a simple flourish Kazuya had twenty inches of tempered steel pressed to Shoryu's neck, pinning him with a simple tap to his throat that would've opened it right up if the Blocking Jutsu hadn't been in play.
As he tried his best to learn the move for himself Shoryu realised how heavy his real swords were in comparison to the sticks he'd been using for the last two sessions. Most times he failed were purely because he couldn't swing them fast enough to counter the samurai's lightning-fast movements, and apparently Kazuya slowed himself down to give Shoryu a chance. However that wasn't the only thing that hindered his concentration; something still dominated his thoughts more than training, and apparently Kazuya could see this.
"You're distracted," he said - it wasn't a question. "What's on your mind?"
Shoryu suddenly snapped from his deep session of thinking and looked back up at Kazuya. "Huh?" he said.
The samurai rolled his eyes. "Look, I couldn't care less what it's about, but until you get it out of your system you can't hope to keep up."
"Oh," Shoryu supposed; he had a point after all. Shoryu continued as he began to remove his jacket from the warmth of exercise. "It's nothing really; just something that's been bothering me."
"Which is?" Kazuya snapped.
"Well, it's this tattoo," he confessed. A look of bewilderment from Kazuya provoked him into elaborating. "On Kamiko I mean – it was on her arm, right here." Shoryu pointed. "I swear I've seen it before. It's on the tip of my tongue but I just can't get it out."
"What did it look like?"
"A marking - like a clan insignia. It was like this purple, curved, sharp symbol, if that makes any sense at all."
Kazuya thought for a few moments and let his eyes wander, double-checking how ridiculous his partner had sounded in knowing that the same symbol had been staring him right in the face for almost a week. "You mean like that symbol right there?" he muttered, pointing to the jacket of Shoryu's father.
Shoryu's head snapped around faster than any sword to the downed coat he'd just placed a moment ago. There it was: the odd insignia stitched onto Shoichi's combat jacket; it was the same mark that their suicidal clone friend seemed to recognise, and the same mark etched into Kamiko's arm. He'd been raking his brain and going mad for the last five hours trying to think where he'd remembered it from when all he had to do was simply look down. With it hugging so close to his chest at all times he rarely looked at it. Kazuya on the other hand would've seen it every time he looked Shoryu's way.
"That's it!" he cried, pointing at the jacket with a finger shaking in excitement. "That's the same symbol!"
"Are you sure?" Kazuya's eyes narrowed.
"Without a doubt – I'm positive. I just can't believe I didn't see it before! Thanks Kazuya."
Kazuya shrugged off the exclamation of gratitude and diverted their discussion to what it all meant. "Maybe she and your father were a part of the same clan then? Perhaps you're related? Actually. . ." His brain took over as he momentarily strained himself to remember what Kamiko looked like. "Brown hair? Green eyes? That's way too much of a coincidence – you're definitely related."
Shoryu suddenly lost the power of speech as it felt like another piece of some grand puzzle was revealed to him. The idea that he actually had any family left on his father's side was news to him; when he'd asked about the emblem before he set off, his mother had told him that Shoichi, his father, had only briefly mentioned brothers and sisters – maybe Kamiko was the daughter of one of them. Then with a shake of his head Shoryu remembered one important fact and refuted the idea.
"But she's from the Land of Wind!" he pointed out. "How could I have relatives that far out? My father was a Hidden Cloud ninja!"
Kazuya shrugged. "Just because you're from different countries doesn't mean you can't be related. Maybe your family were separated at birth, or they could have just liked different climates for all you know."
Shoryu bit his lip as he realised what Kazuya said was very true. "In that case I've got to go back and find her," he decided, picking up the jacket. "She might know something about the rest of my family."
"Forget it Shoryu, she would've finished her act by now. You really think you could find her amidst all those thousands of people? And that's assuming she stayed for the festival - she could be well on her way back to the Village Hidden in the Sand by now."
Shoryu cursed; Kazuya was right again. Finding her a second time would be like finding a needle in a haystack. She was long gone – if only he'd realised sooner he could've questioned her about that mark. Well he'd got it memorized now; if ever he saw it again he'd be ready. For now at least, there was no use crying over spilt milk.
And so the pair continued their training, with Shoryu now no longer distracted by the familiarity of the symbol driving him insane. As swords danced over fresh fields of grass he banished the thought of Kamiko from his mind; speculating was pointless with so little information to go on, so he diverted all his attention to his kenjutsu, finally getting a grasp on the effective technique of a parry.
After finally mastering it Kazuya taught him all about different combinations and how to execute them with as little unnecessary movement as possible. The fine subtleties of a follow-through assault were initially wasted on Shoryu for the first half hour. His strikes were slow and clumsy to Kazuya's eyes, and any time he swung for a second attack his arm arched far enough for the samurai to exploit the opening and attack back.
Eventually though, his speed increased, his footwork and timing grew in precision and he found enough power to attack without flailing about so much. Just a few seconds after Kazuya labelled him as being 'hopeless' he managed to string together five successive strikes whilst showing the boy no quarter in which to retaliate. Kazuya couldn't help but smile at this: apparently the key to Shoryu's strength was to antagonise him.
Many ninja and even the samurai of his village had their senses dulled from anger and frustration at being mocked. Shoryu on the other hand was the exact reverse: being a cool-headed cynic meant that his temper was always under control, and so taunting him only served to make him more focused and determined.
Night had fallen and the stars were alight by the time Shoryu was judged as passable at combination attacks. In Kazuya's lessons there were no time limits or curfews, they'd retire only when they got the job done. Shoryu had even resorted to summoning the dragon to light a fire in order to see their battle. Once the session was over the boy hit the deck beside the fire, almost bashing himself with his swords as he dramatically fell. As soon as he'd caught his breath Kazuya joined him by the blaze, and Shoryu did the honours of releasing the Blocking Jutsu on his blade.
For a while the two sat in silence. Occasionally Shoryu took a gulp of water and threw patches of grass onto the fire. He didn't want to go back to the town just yet; staying out here under the stars and looking reflectively up at the void was enough after a hard day's work to satisfy him. He was perfectly content with remaining here in silence for the remainder of the night, yet to his utmost surprise, Kazuya eventually spoke.
"Thank you Shoryu," he said.
Baffled, Shoryu turned his way. Did Kazuya just say what he thought? "What's with that? If anything I should be thanking you! You're the one training me after all."
"Mm." Kazuya looked off into the distance, staring right past Shoryu and gazing to the south. Sorrow filled his deep hazel eyes as he continued. "It might surprise you to hear this, but like you, I don't actually have a sparring partner back home. . . So thanks for doing this."
"Seriously?" asked Shoryu. "How come? I figured people would be practically lining up to train with you."
Sadly, Kazuya shook his head. "People are afraid of what will happen if they hurt me. I can't walk down the streets of my own village without people bowing and sparing offerings. It might sound like fun, but it's maddening. I've done nothing to earn their respect."
"Why do they do that?" was Shoryu's next question.
Kazuya answered, "I'm to be the next Taisho of my village. People don't harm the future Taisho."
"Taisho?" asked the boy. He'd heard the term before but its meaning escaped him. He presumed, "Is that like the samurai version of a Kage?"
"Of sorts. . . Like the Kage, the Taisho is the highest rank a samurai can attain, and often they are considered the strongest of their village. . ." Kazuya paused to find the right words. "However. . . A Taisho isn't elected or chosen in any way; it's a hereditary position, passed down through the generations to the eldest son."
"Wait, so you're the great, great, great grandson or something of your clan's founder? That's why you have his sword right?" Shoryu put the pieces together, but apparently not in the right order.
"Not quite," Kazuya shook his head again. "Like all samurai with the ice style, I am descended from Yamamoto Takashi, but my ancestry traces back to his youngest son, so my branch isn't exactly first in line. The current Taisho and his wife are in their forties now, and they sired five daughters whilst his wife was able to reproduce. It's tradition that the position of Taisho can only be inherited by a man, so they looked for other candidates in young males of the clan to decide a future leader. Since I had my father's dojutsu, I suppose I was the obvious choice."
"I see," replied Shoryu. "And what about the eldest daughter of the current Taisho; what happens to her?"
"She and I are to be married. Our only common ancestry is almost twenty generations passed though, so we share only a small slither of blood. . . The way of the samurai is similar to the shinobi in one respect: you have to earn your status. The position of Taisho is passed down to the eldest son, but in the rare case that the eldest fails to prove his strength the youngest challenges him to the death for the position. Pressure is placed on upcoming Taisho to perform great deeds, and even more is placed on me since I'm not the legitimate heir."
"So what exactly are these great deeds you have to perform then? Give me an example." Shoryu asked, interested now that Kazuya was finally starting to open up.
"It depends on the situation of the village at the time. If military strength is weak the clansmen want to see a powerful leader; if relationships with the allied villages or the shinobi are failing they'll want to see a delegate with strong negotiating skills. If on the other hand the village's prosperity and wealth is at risk, the future Taisho, in this case me, is expected to find some other means of supplying the village's income."
Finally everything made sense to Shoryu as the cogs turned in his mind; everything about Kazuya from the way he acted to his reasons for being here was made clear. "So that's why you came to the Cloud Village," Shoryu calculated. This time it wasn't a question; he'd worked it all out for himself. "Your own village is failing and there's only so much samurai can make from farming, so you joined the shinobi to send the money you make from missions back home."
"Precisely," answered Kazuya. He averted his gaze from the south and switched his usual serious tone to one far more casual. "I can tell you this though: the samurai aren't exactly well versed on the income of a shinobi. Trying to make them understand the fact that a newly appointed Genin can only earn so much is like trying to make a shinobi grasp the concept of honour."
At this Shoryu couldn't help but laugh. It was the first time he'd ever heard Kazuya tell any kind of joke, and it wasn't even a very good one, but even so it earned a chuckle from the boy.
"So I pleaded and pleaded to Reizo to give us a C-Rank mission, and here we are right now."
Shoryu suddenly remembered the look of positive delight on Kazuya's face as soon as they'd received their orders for this mission. He didn't need the money for himself; he just needed enough to appease his clansmen until he climbed further up the ranks. For the second time in a today the words of his sensei came flooding back into memory: 'I'll tell you what: if either of you refuse to do this, the stream challenge will be called off - I'll keep the money for myself.' It made sense to him now; he'd long since wondered why on earth Kazuya had decided to train him in the first place, and here was his answer. Reizo had made a point of insisting that if they refused to spar together he'd deny all three of them the chance at earning extra money. Kazuya needed anything he could get hold of.
Another ten seconds of awkward silence passed. "Why tell me all this?" Shoryu said at last. It was a fair point – Reizo clearly knew a little already and Ayako was completely in the dark, so of all people, why tell Shoryu?
Kazuya only sighed as he placed both hands behind his head and rowed back onto the ground. "Because I had to get it off my chest. . ." he revealed. "And because you're probably the closest thing I've got to a friend."
With Shoryu left stricken in a still face of astonishment, his eventual retort was cut off as a lone missile streaked up into the sky, reaching its highest point and blossoming over the sky with and explosion of countless crimson sparks. Half a dozen more fireworks followed with their own blasts of all different shapes and sizes, transforming the sky into a chaotic black palette complete with every colour of the rainbow intersecting and cutting across one another. Fireworks at the Village Hidden in the Clouds were reserved for only very special occasions, meaning Shoryu had only ever seen just a dismal few in action; these on the other hand were spectacular. The only giant display at the village was reserved for whenever a new Kage was chosen, and the tenth had been elected decades before his birth.
"Like hell I am," Shoryu said with a grin, mimicking Kazuya's speech from the previous night.
"Don't push it." Kazuya suddenly got to his feet, his stand unintentionally pronounced by a loud bang and a great bloom of azure silhouetting his form. "Anyway I'm off to train."
"Cool, see you," said Shoryu, never taking his eyes off the magnificent climax of the festival in the distance. When the great display finally began to simmer he reflected that training might not be such a bad idea. He knew instinctively that if he went all out for just another hour or two he could make it to ten seconds of the stream technique.
Two Hours Later
"Reizo-sensei! Reizo-sensei!" Shoryu cried. Having ran around the entirety of the village for the best part of thirty minutes he finally found their small encampment, where Ayako was already in bed and only the Jonin remained awake. He too seemed about to retire until Shoryu came bursting into the firelight, waving his arms and frantically crying out.
"I did it! I reached ten seconds!" he announced.
Reizo didn't speak until Shoryu had finally reached him and caught his breath. They still had until afternoon of the next day to pass ten seconds, but of all three candidates Reizo had always suspected Shoryu would do best in this exercise. "It's about time too. Let's see it then," he said.
Shoryu cleared his throat and began to execute hand signs, ignoring his sensei's confused stare at the fact that the seals he produced weren't for the Air Slash. The opening of the tent suddenly rustled and Ayako emerged, still in her night gown having been awoken by Shoryu's yelling. The boy grinned; a bigger audience to impress was one thing, but the opportunity to amaze Ayako was another he wouldn't pass up.
Since his hands were already bloodied from practicing, Shoryu neglected the section where he cut his fingers and immediately slapped his hand to his back rather than the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!" he cried, as a puff of smoke later the dragon popped his inquisitive stare over Shoryu's right shoulder.
"Uh, Shoryu," started Reizo. "This is a test of the stream technique, not the summoning jutsu."
"I know, I know, just watch! It's awesome! You ready little guy?" The boy was barely able to keep his focus as his time had finally arrived, but with a shake of his head he concentrated every last ounce of his attention on his hands, blocking out the warm, impatient breath of the dragon blowing in his ear. "One. . ." He threw the first hand sign, the sign of the dog.
"Two. . ." As his fingers intertwined for the second seal - ironically that of the dragon - he heard the tiny beast on his shoulder suck in a lungful of air. Timing was everything with this jutsu, but if executed correctly he could generate force beyond his regular limits.
"Three!" he cried, finally showing the wind-governing sign of the bird and focusing chakra into the tips of his fingers, making it as thin and sharp as possible as the dragon's cheeks began to bulge like an oversized water balloon about to burst.
"Wind Style: Flaming Air Slash Stream!"
Simultaneously both wind chakra and naturally generated flame were suddenly expelled from two separate points, colliding at a point dangerously close to Shoryu's raised fingertips and releasing a torrent of countless blazing arcs of wind. Visualising the waterfall, Shoryu kept his chakra to a minimum and let out a steady stream as the dragon on his shoulder continued its prolonged exhale. Reizo tipped up an hourglass and began the countdown, watching as the bladed tongues of curved flames licked away at the ground with a roar like an active volcano.
"That's incredible!" said Ayako. Shoryu would've probably enjoyed the compliment if he was able to hear it over the immense sound of his jutsu. "How's he doing it Reizo-sensei?" she asked, turning to the Jonin.
"By being much smarter than I gave him credit for: he knows that as it is, his dragon's size means it can't fight by physical means and it can only shoot a very small flame - it's impractical for combat. However, by taking advantage of the elemental cycle and using his own wind nature he's managed to make it practical. You ever sprayed aerosol onto a lighter? It's the same concept – if you blast a flame with enough wind then its mass increases, it doesn't even have to be a flammable substance – he's quite literally setting his Air Slash on fire," Reizo observed. He watched the shadows dance along with the flecks of heat before turning his head back to the hourglass. "Keep it up Shoryu! That's seven seconds!"
With renewed vigour Shoryu smoothed over his chakra and kept the stream going at a much steadier pace. Now that he'd mastered it, streaming was easy; he reckoned that even fifteen or twenty seconds wouldn't be too much of a stretch.
"Eight!"
Shoryu saved a sideways glance at the dragon to check how it was holding up. The creature grew short of breath, but another two seconds would be nothing; his main concern was the boy he saw out of the corner of his eye. Illuminated only by the blaze of his jutsu, Kazuya strode back towards the camp.
"Nine!" Reizo yelled.
For the longest second of his life Shoryu reconsidered as his mind went back to their previous conversation just a few hours ago. He'd worked out that the only reason Kazuya had even decided to train him in the first place was because of the chance to win Reizo's fee from the stream test, to present back to his clan if only to get them off his back for a few days. Shoryu had so much to thank him for the skills he'd acquired in such a short space of time, and robbing him of that chance would hardly be the best way to show his gratitude. He'd been so excited by the prospect of mastering the Flaming Air Slash and the stream technique that he'd forgotten about Kazuya completely.
He had to make it look convincing though; Kazuya would misinterpret his actions if he knew Shoryu had messed up on purpose. Finally, the boy spared a finale glance to his comrade and took a deep sigh as he prepared to take a dive.
"Whoa!" he yelped, suddenly pouring more chakra into his hand sign. At once it ignited in a billowing mass of flame that plumed up like a mushroom and engulfed the boy's face with an ashen cloud of asphyxiating black smoke. The soft croak of the dragon coughing beside him sounded in his ear, and once the dust cleared he rubbed his bloodshot eyes clear to a view of Reizo, holding up the hourglass as the final grain of sand fell into the lower chamber.
"Almost," said the Jonin. "But not quite – that was nine and a half seconds. I suppose I can let you off for that last half-second."
"No!" Shoryu's mouth acted on its own as Reizo shot him an odd look. "I mean – it's not fair really is it? I didn't make it to ten seconds in the end did I? I suppose I couldn't do it after all! I'll come back tomorrow and try it again!"
Whilst Ayako appeared confused, Shoryu could've sworn he saw a slight grin spread across Reizo's lips. In that moment he knew that Reizo had seen right through him – the Jonin recognised that Shoryu had taken a dive on purpose purely to give Kazuya a chance at winning the money. He judged that the pair's hatred for each other had turned into friendly rivalry overnight, and as such he saw no reason to put that fragile bond at risk just for the sake of being fair.
"Suit yourself then, I'll see you tomorrow," he said at last, retreating into the tent and leaving the smiling boy to himself as Kazuya walked into the camp.
.
Author's Notes: Taking a break from rioting and looting to post fanfiction! Nah I'm joking, those kids out on the streets are scumbags - I hope they all get forcefully bummed in jail.
This is the last chapter that focuses on the egg mission (chapter 13 will start with them returning to the village). Also I thought you guys might appreciate the nod to continuity with the 'Sixth Hokage' debate at the beginning. Anyway the plot thickens again. That mark has made another appearance and it seems Shoryu has some kind of a family member. Kamiko (上子) literally means 'Superior Child' – bit of an egotistical name to call your daughter but I can reveal to you that her mum was/is a bit of a bitch.
The biggest revelation though is naturally from Kazuya, which pretty much explains everything about him. To put it into perspective, the 'Taisho' is Mifune's rank in the current series, it means 'General'. I added the idea that the position is hereditary for myself since we don't know much about it yet and I wanted to distinguish it from the Kage. I originally planned to do Kazuya's segment as a flashback but I thought I could develop the relationship between the two by having him describe it - this chapter was one of those dialogue heavy ones so writing it was a bit of a pain, but finally Shoryu and Kazuya are starting to act more like bros (that's short for brothers, not lovers :P).
Basically Kazuya resents many of his people because they treat him with respect he hasn't yet deserved. In that sense he's almost like Konohamaru, but to be honest I think it makes a bit more sense for Kazuya to have it because he's a samurai and obsessed with honour and stuff. No one likes Konohamaru anyway =D
And before you guys make a comment about incest on Kazuya being betrothed to his distant relative, I'll say again that their only common ancestry is almost 20 generations away - a lot of people in the real world end up marrying people far closer in line to them than that and they never know it. Just remember folks, Aragorn and Arwen from Lord of the Rings are actually first cousins. . . 39 times removed. Fun fact!
Oh yeah and the drawing of Reizo is finally online so you can go and check that out on my account if you want, he looks pretty badass and more intimidating than any of the others. Someone's clearly just managed to cut his face so he looks like he's about to annihilate them. I also posted something else on there two chapters ago but I kept forgetting to include it in this section: it's a chart I made in Excel of all the jutsu I've created, however trivial or briefly they appeared.
The chart includes the rank of the jutsu from D to S and their type. I plan to update it every time a new jutsu is introduced, so for example this week I updated it with the Flaming Air Slash. I also put the stream technique there – I know it's not technically something I made, but a number of fighters in Naruto use ninjutsu with 'stream' on the end and it's not recorded in any official databases, so I gave it a rank and put it in there. As it stands there is currently only one A rank (Daimyo Raikyogan) and zero S ranks, so hopefully this will grow as the ninja get stronger and the scale of the battles get larger. Kazuya's dojutsu is the only one that's missing - its rank hasn't been revealed yet because we haven't seen its full potential.