An alarm clock blared, and a pale hand soon fell to silence it. 11 year old Jane Shepard felt groggy, and in no fit state to get out of bed. But nonetheless, she still threw the covers off herself. And plodded to her dresser. Dragging her feet every step of the way, she picked a shirt and pair of pants at random. And pulled them on. As bleary eyed as she was. She couldn't let her tiredness affect her.
She had a race to win.
She threw on her jacket and bag, and rushed out of the door. Now what was the fastest way to the school? She picked the quickest available route and ran with it. Jumping, climbing, ducking and weaving along rooftops, streets and alleys. Insofar as she could tell she was making good time. And there was no way he had gotten up as early as she had, he was probably still asleep! Yes, this time Jane Shepard would be victorious! She just had to round this corner and...!
She skidded to a halt, totally dumbfounded. How the heck did he DO it? It was five a.m. And yet here he was, fresh as daisies and bright as a button.
"You gotta be kidding me!"
She groaned, as she made her way toward him, and slumped against the wall he was leaning against.
"How the heck do you do it Matt?"
Matthew looked a tad confused at the inquiry, and chuckled a little.
"What do you mean Jane?"
She smacked her forehead in exasperation.
"I mean how do you always manage to beat me here? I woke up at four o'clock today just so I could get here first!"
Matthew rubbed his head awkwardly, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
"Aw jeez really? I'm sorry, I didn't know you were taking it that seriously. "
He stopped then, as a confused expression crossed over his face. And then came back and camped there. He looked over at Jane, an eyebrow raised in question.
"Why do you take it so seriously anyways?"
She huffed and crossed her arms, as if the answer was obvious.
"I have a reputation to keep up! No matter what it is, I always win. What would people think if I lost at something?"
Matt laughed at that, as he began making his way toward the school's double doored entrance.
"I don't know, maybe they would think you're a normal person? You shouldn't expect to do everything perfectly the first time."
Shepard only shook her head obstinately as she followed, her face set in a decided expression. She moved up alongside him and matched his pace. He pulled one of the doors open and let her through before stepping in himself, rubbing his hands to dispel the autumnal early morning chill. And brushing his his dark hair out of his amethyst colored eyes.
They made their way to their usual morning hangout, the heater room in the basement. Here is where they spent most of their free time, talking and socializing with their other friends. Since everybody there was at just about the top of their class anyway the teachers gave them quite a bit of leeway. So long as they kept their attendance to the necessary standards. There was no real limitation to the time they could spend there.
Apparently one of their other friends, a shy and oftentimes quiet girl. Had beaten them here. She was reclining against the heater, taking a seat on top of some cushions a few of the others had brought to make the place more hospitable and homey. Talitha was her name, she was sweet, gentle. And didn't seem to have a mean bone in her body. She sat up as they approached, giving a small wave of greeting.
"Hey Jane, Matt! You're here already? Usually at this time nobody's here but me."
Matt deposited his bag on the floor. Before depositing himself in a bean bag chair. Jane simply grunted.
"I was trying to beat him-"
She pointed an almost accusatory finger at Matthew.
"-Here! I don't know how he even does it! I swear it's like there's two of him!"
Actually, it's pretty much exactly like that.
I loved shadow clones, those in a combination with the body flicker technique. And I had a patented way to mess with my best friend, with absolute impunity. And she didn't suspect a thing, i know i might be reproached for using such amazing abilities for such petty things. But honestly seeing that expression on her face was enough for me to dismiss any sort of scolding or argument against it.
Merlin's training had transformed me in the last five years, from a bumbling fool who could barely shape his chakra at all. Into something extraordinary, don't get me wrong though. I sweated and bled, and occasionally cried. But I persevered, compared to Merlin I was still pretty much nothing. Against pretty much everyone else however….
I was an assassin of the highest order.
After studying up on pretty much every spec ops group, of every race ever recorded. I could say with confidence and certainty that I could outperform any of them. Mind you, those conclusions only come from what I was able to find that was publicly available. The Asari were tight lipped about the strengths and weaknesses of their huntresses and commandos. And I had a hard time finding anything at all about STG. But races like the turians and batarians simply loved to advertise their military prowess for all to see. Training regimens, weapons training, hand to hand combat styles. It was all there, and open to the public. It was if they were saying:
"look how fucking awesome we are!"
To anyone who cared to look. It was all easily memorized, and I would be sure some poor Turian schmuck would be made to pay for their species' bravado one day. In so many interesting little ways. My lightning manipulation was damn near perfect, and I was adept in the manipulation of the other four elements. And my Rinnegan had developed nicely, the deva path was easy, the others were a more definite challenge however. I had a limited mastery of the asura and preta paths. But the others had thus far eluded my understanding, it was frustrating. I already had control of three of the paths. And not having control of the last three was….
Vexing, to say the least. The closest feeling I could compare it to, would be trying to remember something. A word or a phrase, or a conversation. Having it sit at the tip of your tongue, and at the forefront of your thoughts. And yet still being unable to grasp it, it was driving me absolutely crazy. As were many other things, namely my home-life.
Now before you assume it has anything to do with a possible conflict with my dad, let me just say that wasn't the case. To put it bluntly, I was bored. Really, really bored. I had a genius level intellect, and abilities and powers beyond the understanding of everyone else. And yet I could do nothing. Nothing but sit and simmer, and it was maddening.
While my history teacher droned on, I began to weigh my options. Perhaps I could exercise my skill on the local criminal population? Not really sensible though, the worst the colony had to deal with was drunks that the local constabulary had to clear out at the end of each passing weekend. So unless I wanted any extra experience in dealing with drunks, I might as well think of something else to do in between my training sessions with Merlin. But then again, my activities didn't have to be limited specifically to the colony.
After all, I would need a strong financial base. Once I did finally leave Mindoir.
Barla von was used to getting calls and messages at odd hours. After all, money was what made the world turn, every single one of them. And in a day he probably moved more credits (illegal or otherwise) than most could ever dream of laying their hands on. He had just been retiring to his bed, when the call came in. There was no caller ID, no face on the screen, and the voice was distorted. So all in all, a fairly common caller, Barla shifted in his chair as he got comfortable, and prepared to discuss things with his newest client.
"Well hello there, and how might I help you?"
"In a variety of ways Mr von, starting with giving my credits a nice quiet, clandestine place to sit and accumulate."
Von smiled beneath his suit, he liked this kind of client. Straight to the point. He intertwined his fingers silently as he spoke again.
"I think I can arrange something, sir or madame. At what time can these credits be expected to cross my desk?"
His holo-top chimed silently as a new message from an anonymous (and untraceable) sender scrolled across its screen, and a relatively large amount of credits were funneled through to him. About fifteen thousand, all in all.
"Right now, Mr von. And I would prefer that this account's existence be exclusively between me and you."
Barla leaned forward in his chair as he began to rapidly type a new account, smiling inwardly as numbers and official documents danced under his fingers, and flitted silently beneath his eyes. As a new account began to take shape. He finished quickly, and dropped the account silently into his most secure folder.
"Might I ask why you are going to such measures?"
The unknown individual took a little while before he/she answered.
"I have… plans for the future. Plans that require an exceedingly strong financial base. Rest assured I will be making regular deposits."
Von nodded as he began to sit up in his chair. Preparing to make the finishing touches."
"I will of course require a name."
"Very well, Rikudo will suffice for now."
Vons brow raised as his fingers silently flew across the keyboard and input the new identity.
"An odd choice of name."
"I suspect its meaning is lost on you volus, but in any case I thank you for your discretion."
The connection cut, and Von was left sitting silently in his chair, wondering to whom he had just spoken.
It had been no easy feat to gather that much money and keep it a secret, and I had nearly been caught on more than one occasion. It was mostly pirated from the omni-tools of hapless tourists, accrued in amounts of about 15 credits a person. I was rarely audacious enough to take anything more than that, it was a slow going process. But it was my best way of making money while I was still too young to get a paying job, it was all part of a greater plan. To prepare the colony for the attack as best as I could. And to do it, would require quite a lot of planning, time and effort. But money was only the first part of my plan, for the other parts I would require a more subtle and elegant art. Something I had been agonizing and slaving over for the better part of a year.
The sealing arts, the most complex multifaceted art Merlin had ever attempted to teach me; With varying levels of success.
"NO! Do it again!"
"What?! Why?!"
"That last mark was off!"
I grit my teeth in exasperation, as Merlin bent his wizened form over my shoulder, inspecting my work. His brand of sealing, which consisted of different runes, shapes and unique symbols and hieroglyphs. Was most likely several orders of magnitude less difficult than the Fuuinjutsu employed by the shinobi of the elemental nations, something for which I was infinitely grateful. Though learning the subtle arts of western style sealing still presented its own set of issues, the most basic runes had to be painstakingly done.
Even the slightest mistake could make the whole thing useless; that being said however. Judging from the complex nature of the seals shown in Naruto, the style I was learning was much less complex. Much less effort was expended to achieve essentially the same results, as the far more complicated sealing arrays displayed by Naruto canon. Merlin shook his head, as he waved his hand and the runes disappeared from the paper leaving the paper completely blank again.
"For what purpose did you wish to learn this from me?"
He said as I sat up, turning to him as I dusted myself off. My ego and my temper decidedly ruffled.
"I have a plan of sorts, but I need to learn this to make it work."
Merlin nodded, raising his eyebrows as he gave me a more appraising look.
"What exactly does this plan entail?"
I tapped my finger to my nose and smirked, as I stepped into our sparring ring, a well worn patch of bare earth and rocks within my dreamscape.
"Wouldn't you like to know old man, but right now it's nothing more than a concept. More along the lines of an idea, than a plan."
Merlin disrobed, revealing a simple sleeveless cotton tunic beneath. His biceps and other wiry muscles rippling beneath his skin despite his advanced age. As he set himself into a loose offensive stance, beckoning me to take the first move.
"I suppose I'll just have to beat it out of you."
I smirked as I charged my body with chakra. And flickered out of sight, to reappear suddenly on his left side. My kick snapped out to catch him in the stomach, only to be intercepted by his forearm. I disengaged before he could exploit the opening, backflipping away as he charged forward to press his advantage, launching into a flurry of punches that I only barely managed to dodge. We exchanged blows at a furious pace both trying to find an opening in the other's guard. At this point anyone watching without a rinnegan or sharingan would have seen only imperceptible blurs, we occasionally slowed to humanly traceable speeds to exchange a few quick blows before we blurred out of sight again. Both of us trying to find an opening in the other's guard. Merlin had the definite advantage of experience on his side, and the limits of old age posed no hindrance to a man who had devoted his life to the sage arts. But he wasn't as fast as me, I had the advantage of a smaller lighter frame. Thanks to my young age, though my currently small frame afforded me less strength. It was in short, a stalemate. Neither of us seemed to have a decided advantage over the other. Though as I dodged a swift right hook aimed to knock me out, I internally considered that the only reason I hadn't yet lost was because we had been sticking strictly to hand to hand combat. If I dared to escalate the battle by using elemental techniques, then that would give Merlin license to use his techniques. And then my defeat was all but assured, if I wanted to win using jutsu. It would have to be something that could leave him sufficiently subdued and (and this was the important bit.) Leave him incapable of recovering.
But there was nothing I could do that could trap him, at least for long. He could casually shrug off any earth or water imprisonment techniques I could throw at him, through the simple one time use of a moderately powerful Almighty push.
But wait a second,
Earth and water?
I suddenly smirked, I had a plan. This probably wasn't going to work. but at this point I was willing to try anything. For this I needed a serious amount of concentration, something that I didn't exactly have in spades at that particular moment. I dodged, ducked and weaved, doing everything in my power to stay out of the path of Merlins offensive onslaught. I could just feel it within reach, I just needed a little time….
There was an explosion of stars across my vision as one of Merlin's fists finally made contact. Cold cocking me, I flew back a good fifteen feet. Before rolling head over heels onto the ground, dazed and bruised. I steadily rose to my feet, trying to get my bearings, merlin was already charging towards me. Looking to put me down and end the fight, I frantically charged my chakra into the technique. Focusing as hard as I could on the balance of the two chakras I was using, I shut my eyes tightly as I prepared myself for Merlin's blow.
It never came.
I dared to open my eyes, and surveyed an unexpected scene. The ground had been torn up from a single point. A trunk of wood and vines had exploded out of the ground. And Merlin was thoroughly tangled in it. Struggling in vain to disentangle himself from vines with the tensile strength of steel. I smirked in self satisfaction as the old goat glowered at me through the tangle of vines and wood.
"It seems you have finally beaten me whelp."
He said as he relaxed in his awkward bindings, I grinned.
"I guess I have old man, I guess I have. "
Merlin nodded as he stretched out one of his hands until it made contact with the main trunk, and his Rinnegan flared a glowing amethyst. The plantlife instantly began to wither and die, decaying at speed until there was nothing left but dry desiccated remains. The vines that bound merlin crumbled to ash around his limbs. And he fell to the ground. Landing lightly on his feet, he brushed himself off.
"Er- what was that exactly?"
"The preta path, one of my old apprentices tried something like that once. Tried to cocoon me in the trunk of an oak tree, if memory serves."
Merlin said grumpily as he walked away from the sparring ground. Stretching his stiff aching muscles. The old man was pissed at me for beating him but I couldn't have cared less. I had used Wood style, friggin' wood style!
So damn awesome.