A Desert Flower [P, Flashback]

A young, ten year old Akira was having the time of his life. His uncle had allowed him to accompany him on an excursion just outside the village’s desert walls. Well, he considered the man an uncle, he was actually just a shinobi who happened to be in the same clan as Akira and adopted the boy, so to speak. He was in his stages as a Special Jonin, and member of the Jishaku clan and was undertaking a simple patrol mission. He wanted to take his adoptive nephew along to give him the experience of what a real, higher-level mission was like. Akira was still in his initial training in the academy, but had long ago learned to utilize his Chakra for assistance in jumping and enhancing his muscles and reflexes. Though he wasn’t as quick as his uncle and he fell behind now and again, he was able to follow behind him slowly.

He was working on learning the basics of nature parkour to help him get around easier when outside of the village, though there wasn’t much to work with in the desert unless they stopped in one of the many oasis’ outside the main walls of the village. He had it down good enough to climb a tree but not stop on the side or to hang upside down from a branch without losing his balance. As they traveled through the small oasis of what seemed to his younger self to be giant trees around the compound, he took every chance to test his skills. His uncle, of course, when he wasn’t checking out the desert forest for anything out of the ordinary, he would give Akira tips and help him to improve his forms and technique with climbing or getting a better grip on things.

The mission they were on was a simple delivery to the only other town that was close enough to the village. But, there were a lot of potential dangers there, so Akira was instructed to stay close. While it was his uncle’s job to protect him and complete the delivery for his father, he also was in charge of making sure Akira learned all he needed to learn as he went. He could hardly believe he was on a real mission with his uncle outside of the clan’s compound. He had never left it in his entire life, certainly not this far out anyways! His tone would soon shift though, the course of the mission giving him a much needed reality check. His stoic uncle kept his cool about him though, so it was no surprise that the man was a special envoy of his father and a member of their special guard unit around the compound. It was when his uncle thought he heard a sound that he told Akira to climb the tree and stay put while he checked it out that the real trouble started that night. He climbed the tree and pouted as his uncle took off into the forest to see what the noise he had heard was. Now, Akira wasn’t the most patient child at this point, so he decided to follow after his uncle and see what he was chasing. As he ran through the forest, following the sound he thought was his uncle, he found himself suddenly in front of a large cliff face, in front of a small, frightened rabbit.

TWC: 569 [claiming tree climbing and water walking]

Looking across the training field at his uncle, he would think of how his training had progressed in the last few weeks. He had learned a lot more about how to defend himself and how to manipulate his chakra in a more advanced fashion and even learned a few fighting techniques that would definitely help him out if he ever got into a situation like that again. Secondly, he had begun to show Akira the basics of sensing nature around him and finding edible herbs and plants that could be poisonous for when he eventually will show him how to become a survivalist. Tonight marked one month before he was scheduled to take on a rigorous exam with the ninja of the clan to officially rejoin the clan he was technically born into. Waiting for him to begin their sparring match he would mentally prepare himself, preparing stratagems that his uncle had taught him that worked most of the time. He  also prepared backup plans though, as those would be important. He slowly raised his hand into the air before dropping it swiftly shouting, “Hajime!” he dashed forwards throwing a right handed punch directly towards his uncle's face. He sidestepped Akira's fist and delivered a roundhouse to his back, sending him plummeting to the ground. But he wasn’t done yet, he performed a handspring and got right back up. 

Flying through the air, he decided to go with a technique that he had mastered to the point that he could do it in his sleep, he threw a small flash ball at his uncle to blind him for a moment to get into position. He didn’t appear to move until the explosion happened and suddenly he was standing next to Akira. The only way you could tell he was even near the explosion was the fact he was slightly blinking his eyes.

[several weeks later]

After completing his final chore of the day he ran as fast as he could back to his house in the clan's compound and into the hidden training field below. There he waited patiently for his uncle to come walking into the training field. He would immediately begin to tell Akira about the technique he would be learning as he was not one to beat around the bush, “Tonight, you will be learning how to use the wind release effectively in combat. It is an ancient strategy passed along in the lines of the Jishaku clan that earned us the moniker, “Winds of the Desert”. But, that doesn’t mean that one has to be ancient to learn the ways of the old winds. In combat, one must take any advantage you can get to come out alive. Victory is second to survival.” 

He would then pull out a few small black pellets from his pocket. He would make sure Akira could see them clearly before slamming them onto the ground. Almost instantly an immensely thick, white mist appeared and covered the entirety of the training field. Akira was totally unable to see through it due to all of the smoke laced in the very mist itself. It would take him quite some time to force himself to see through it.

He saw the way that the mist gathered in his throat interacted with the air he drew in and when he started to exhale when the mist originated and how the ebb and flow of his breathing to push out the massive wave of mist reminded him of both the tides and a heartbeat. It was surely an amazing sight to take in as it wasn’t every night that you watch a strategy for the first time and just understand its inner workings as he was right now. It was then his uncle flew through some hand signs and sent a blast of wind forwards to disperse the mist. After explaining what he needed to do, his uncle left Akira to his own devices to practice using it. Now this wasn’t to say that he would be perfect at the utilization of this his first try, no, it would take him the next two weeks to get it to an adequate level for use in any actual situations.

He spent the next week before his quote unquote final exams in hard training. It wasn’t until the evening before the exam that he allowed himself to rest and mentally prepare for the difficulty to come. His father and his uncle had trained him well and he at least counted on his own mind to not do anything to cause him to fail, so he didn’t need to worry about that.

TWC: 2,034 [774/2,000 for magnet release]

It was now the night for his final examination. It was really more of a proficiency in survival Exam. In this, two randomly selected contenders will be put into an arena where they battle it out, the last one standing usually gets a lot of points to their score, but it’s possible the loser could outperform them with better strategy, or better usage of techniques. It’s all about showing that you are physically and mentally ready to be given the privilege of responsibility and proving to his clansmen that he could take care of himself. His opponent was someone from the branch side of the clan, his cousin, Hyō Jishaku. The boy was known as one of the premier sword users in the branch side of the clan. But, he didn’t count on Akira’s knowledge of survival techniques or wind release. Red eyes peering into pearly teal eyes. Brute force would be useless in this battle, it would be pure mind versus mind. The battle started off rather dull, with two fighting in pure hand to hand bouts spread out as they jumped in and out of the shrubbery of the designated exam area. But the moment it became a more strategy based battle, Akira began to shine. Akira used his skill at climbing trees to get away from his opponent and move to a hidden area where he could plan an ambush where he least expected it. The night was on his side as the only light was from the moon or the lanterns scattered through the oasis. 

Pulling out a few of the black pellets that his uncle had taught him about, Akira would cause a heavy mist to begin forming after tossing a handful down from his leafy perch, but his opponent attacked him before he could finalize his plan. It was no bother though, as he managed to find a broken stick  that he jabbed into the boy's arm. Now robbed of his freedom of movement, his opponent stood helpless as Akira pulled out a small knife and held it to his throat. The examiners clapped and sent them out so they could deliberate. It took a few hours, but finally it came back and Akira had passed, getting twice as many points as he had actually needed to qualify. He was proud of himself, but was ready to tackle any opportunity that came along to grow stronger. This opportunity was on its way, in the form of specialized training under his uncle who had mastered the use of their clan’s unique fighting style as well as the use of a variety of weapons.  But, until that was finalized, he started training himself harder; so he could be at a higher level once he left than he would be normally, that way he could grow even farther! He had a lot to work on though, namely mastering his hand to hand skills and working on actually improving his physical strength, speed and endurance which he has yet to do. But, that could wait until he finished celebrating with his family.

TWC: 2,548 [1,288/2,000 for magnet release]

In the months following his training sessions with his uncle, he had gained permission to go on a training journey with his uncle, who is the only other member of his clan, other than their grandfather, to have learned all of their elemental jutsu, and even the magnet release techniques and actually mastered them. Their journey had no real time limit, so they didn't push themselves too hard in rushing through things. No, they took their sweet time, and would practice each lesson or technique until they had it mastered. It was nearly a year into this trip that Akira was able to achieve what could be considered a base understanding of herbology and finding the right plants for the right jobs. He was training with his uncle in a highly dangerous place. You see, they lived within the center of the country, which was much larger than one may realize if they think the country is small compared to some others in the world. There were many places one could go to train such as the Mountain oasiss or, where they currently were, the Sea at the edge of the central desert area. There were numerous spires of rock sticking out from the ocean that was surrounded and filled with perpetual storms at all times. These spikes were close enough that one could fight on top of them, and that is exactly the scene someone would see should they approach Akira and his uncle.

They were doing a no-holds-barred hand to hand match atop the pointed spires. Every now and then, lightning would flash or even strike where they were standing, they had to move or die in that scenario. Their eyes almost seem to be glowing in the darkness caused by the sheer amount of focus in their eyes. A large storm blotted out the light that was attempting to break through the dark clouds above them. It was quite something to be somewhat keeping up with a master of combat such as his uncle, but by no means had he improved that much in just a year. He knew his uncle was just taking it easy on him until he reached a point in his training that the man would really be able to let loose. His uncle had of course shown him the use of weaponry such as swords and kunai, but had even began to teach him the use of Earth Release to prepare him for their clan’s kekkei genkai. To be sure, there was a high variety of skills he would hope to have at least a basic understanding in before he returned to his home compound with the rest of his family. And he knew that his clansmen were counting on his uncle to teach him all he needed to know to survive any attacks or attempted kidnappings that might happen in the future as they were a well known, wealthy clan and that was a rather common occurrence for their children to be used against them as leverage.

He had to keep moving, Kageru was unrelenting when it came to training. He didn't let up for a moment, his teal green eyes set in a deadly, stone cold stare. He knew just as well as Akira, this training was important. He had stated numerous times that he felt like some unforeseen change was coming to their clan, that it would shake them all to the core. So that's why he agreed to take his nephew training for an undisclosed amount of time, because he had been the first in decades to have been born to the main clan and then had to worry about being kidnapped so brazenly. Akira dodged another flurry of punches, using rather unusual acrobatics to keep from being punched or falling to his death, or even worse, being impaled. He managed to vault over the man and land on a nearby spire, sending a flurry of blows at his uncle turned sensei. The man easily dodged, vanishing in a burst of speed, he reappeared lodging his foot into Akira's abdomen. Hell, this man was much more difficult than any sensei he had in the past. But, he could also tell that he was improving much faster now than he ever had before.

TWC: 3,262 [2002/2000 claiming magnet release]

He dodged another flurry of punches and took a few kicks. He was having such a hard time keeping up with his uncle. It was obviously a losing battle, but it was training. He always took his training seriously. It was at that moment, it became that much harder for him. A thick mist formed after a bolt of lightning struck the ocean below them. It was now extremely difficult to see, even with the sun starting to shine through. His uncle however seemed to be having absolutely no trouble bursting through the thick mist at any moment from any direction. He also kept a sharp eye out in case his uncle was using the clone jutsu he had been taught in their recent days of training. It was a simple jutsu but could be used to its full effect in a thick mist like this. As his uncle attacked so mercilessly, he did note that some of the attacks he dodged didn't displace the mist so those must be clones sent to distract him. It was truly a difficult task to even prepare a block now, much less to dodge. He was getting hit more and more, unable to react in time to do anything but take hits. It was most definitely something he was having a hard time with. But, at this point, he simply pushed more focus to his eyes and kept pushing through. Even if he didn't have the ability to dodge or block, he wouldn't give up! He kept his senses on high alert until he was able to hear an approach, but his uncle was still moving too fast once he located him for Akira to be able to block.

He performed the Kawarimi technique to dodge his uncles attack, but when he moved to counter attack he was kicked hard in the face, but the onslaught didn't end there, he was continuously kicked and punched before a final uppercut almost sent him plummeting to his doom. But the final punch seemed to slow just before it was too late, he guessed that it was his uncle letting up on him a bit, seeing that he was unable to react in time, but once he dodged and counter-attacked, he realized he had actually learned to predict his uncles attack pattern. His mind spun rapidly, taking in all of the sensory information and instantly forming it all into a cohesive tactics guide in his mind. His uncle sent a punch, but he dodged and even was able to block the counter punch before he renewed his attack. The fight ended when his uncle decided to get serious, but the fact he was pushing the man a bit was enough to keep Akira's morale very high. He had successfully matured his battle tactics and would continue to train with it every night on his trip. But, their journey had only just begun. He still had a lot to learn before he was ready to return to the village.

TWC: 3,764 [claiming body replacement technique and clone technique]

It had been two years since he first left on his training trip and Akira was growing stronger with each passing week. He had mastered the use of wind release, earth release and was highly proficient in the use of the wooden staff his uncle had given him. He had also gotten a sword, which his uncle had trained him in the use of. All in all it had been a rather eventful, but bountiful few years of training, but it was about to get a hell of a lot more interesting. Kageru, who still had connections to the clan and was able to communicate with them via specially trained messenger birds, was able to garner a mission to put down a rather large group of insurgent guerrilla fighters that had been attacking and ransacking the deliveries of precious metals that had been ordered by the clan. Apparently, they had someone on the inside that was able to give them the schedules of the delivery carts that allowed them to set up the perfect ambushes. This led to many things being done by the clan to stop them, but they simply didn't have the resources to keep sending guards after this group. So, it fell to Akira and Kageru. They had tracked them to the great white sakura oasis, where the trees had grown thick with white sakura petals that looked like a sea of white flowers if viewed from above.

Apparently, the group they were hunting for had started to call this oasis home and somehow would attack any group of merchant travelers that entered without warning, or without cause. They entered, but found no one, until suddenly, the leaves above them exploded downwards. The insurgents appeared, covered up head to toe in desert tan garb. Kageru drew his blade before getting into a stance to fight them should they rush him. What he didn't count on was them hitting him with some sort of genjutsu that weakened his mental fortitude and made him think that they had his infant son and wife in captivity. They yelled at him, ordering him to capture the heir of the Jishaku clan or they would kill his small family. Of course, he had no choice and instantly started attacking his nephew and trying to capture him. But, he did know it was just the thing to be doing at that time. Akira for his part was lucky to dodge the initial strike from his uncle, but instantly could tell there was some issue here. He found himself on the defensive as the man attacked him. He wondered why he was attacking before it hit him, he must be under some sort of duress. But it was something that would not be so easily defeated as he was a strong person. Meaning that either they had something on him, or they had infected him with some sort of jutsu to infect his mind.

He drew his sword and blocked a slash from his uncle, his mind spinning wildly. He was having somewhat of a hard time getting the upper hand, but it was only after the slightest slip from his uncle that he managed to get some breathing room. The man had overextended his reach and slipped on some of the pure white sands that they were fighting in. Of course, this proved he was somehow unconsciously fighting back against the most powerful genjutsu known to Akira, but he was. Though it only happened for a moment as Akira found himself fighting back harder than he thought he was capable of earlier, though he quickly realized it was because now he was fighting to kill, not holding back out of love for his uncle. How could this be you ask? How can he love someone too much to fight them fully one second and then fight to kill the next? He had realized that the only way he would survive this was to fight his uncle with the intent to kill. He supposed that at this point, that was the lesson his uncle had wanted to teach him, but he wasn’t able to dwell on it as the man attacked him relentlessly.

He blocked another strike, but this one snapped his blade in two, though it left a sharp, jagged edge. He decided to use the final basic ninjutsu his uncle had taught him, the transformation technique to make himself look like his uncle's wife, this gave him the slightest advantage as the man hesitated in the middle of a strike. He moved ever so slightly to the right. His uncle's blade jabbed through his shoulder, while his blade, or what was left of it, found its way into the man's heart. Looking into the man's eyes as he died is a vision Akira will never forget, even long after he became a true ninja. His eyes streamed with tears of blood as the jutsu that had been coursing through his uncle’s blood had intermingled on his own. The moment this happened, his mind started to feel strange as the technique coursed through his own veins. It seemed as though his uncle’s body phased through him and hit the ground. His vision seemed to burn red with rage as he turned to look at the ones who caused this. The bastards that had caused all this simply sat with bated breaths, they had never expected something like this to happen, their poison never should have worked on a person of that level. But, it had. And there would be hell to pay. A single man tried to run away. He saw what was coming, but he didn't make it far before a knife blade pierced his skull.

TWC: 4,718 [claiming transformation technique]

The moment that man hit the ground, all hell broke loose, blades seemingly falling all around but no one was in more pain than the one controlling the blades. Even after all the insurgents had been killed a hundred times over, he continued to stab them over and over again with his golden sand blades. Broken inside. He stood slowly, His eyes bleeding, blackened blood even dripping from the corners of his lips from the overdose of poison, "I am the Bone of my Sword, Steel is my Body and Fire is my Blood. I who has created over a Thousand Blades, Unaware of Loss, Nor aware of Gain. I have withstood Pain to create Weapons, Only to become the weapon myself. I have no Regrets. This is the only Path my eyes can see. My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works" His words drifted over the wind and carried for what seemed like miles as he shouted them out. His voice broken, agony spilling into each syllable. He was a truly broken man, but he knew that he would need to get to work getting the poison out of his system, and taking precautions to avoid infection. He pulled out a pouch filled with different herbs and potions he had created that might help his body deal with the poison he was unfamiliar with. They were out there in different oasised areas, but he would need to look for them to replenish his stock.

A lone man stumbled through the white sand on the outskirts of Sunagakure. As he walked, it was obvious he was exhausted and wounded, but he kept moving. He had to get back to the clan compound to pass on the information on his training trip for the last few years and the tragic fate of his uncle. He also needed to finish his uncle's last wishes, which was to deliver his ashes to his wife and son. He stumbled through the gates, the guards rushing to catch him as he collapsed from exhaustion. They recognized him of course; even after all this time. He hadn't changed too much, even after all these years. His hair had grown out and his eyes grew harsher, his muscles gained more tone. It was clear that he had been training profusely in his time out of the compound and away from the clan, but that is what to expect from someone training with a ninja that was as powerful and well known as his uncle had been. They rushed the boy to the hospital and sent a message out to his uncle’s family, his aunt rushing to meet them at the hospital. She would no doubt take over looking after him, she was a worrier after all.

While he was unconscious and the doctors were checking him over, he was dreaming. Strange dreams from his past. "...The man spoke with a voice that made Akira have to bite back vomit that worked its way up in his throat, “You are the son of the clan head from the Jishaku, aren't you? I bet i can get a nice little ransom for your head.” He finished speaking with a lecherous grin spread across his face. He began to advance towards Akira, lifting the ax as he did before swinging it vertically, aiming to take off or incapacitate one of his arms. He managed to dodge to the side and throw one of his knife at his back. It stuck into his armored vest, but seemed to do little damage to him. “Leave me alone, you big bastard! I’m trained and I will kill you!” He said in his best attempt at being intimidating. The man laughed hard and removed the knife from his back. “You? A threat of any kind? Don’t make me laugh brat. Now come here and I won't have to gut you like swine!” He rushed forwards again, now aiming blind slashes at Akira's torso. He did his best to dodge most of the swings but one or two nicked him on his shoulder and across his back. He was now bleeding a little, his black hair getting soaked with blood. He knew he had to think of something or this would be the end for him.

Suddenly, as his ax was poised to end Akira's life, the world seemed to slow to a halt and his senses seemed like they were running on high. He could see the beads of sweat and dried blood on the man's face and the way his muscles were tensing and contracting. He knew exactly where his ax was going to hit and he knew exactly where to move to dodge it. He rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding the ax. He could hear an echo of his uncle’s voice in his mind, “Survival takes precedence. Victory and morals are secondary to survival.” Whipping out a senbon he jammed it into his Achilles tendon. This caused the man to yell out in pain as he fell backwards. Akira pulled out a second senbon, stabbing it into his femoral artery, the bastard's blood splattered everywhere from the force. But he wasn’t done yet. The man was now lying back, leaning on the trunk of the tree, his eyes full of fear. “What the hell are you, red eyed demon?” He said in a voice that was shaking. Akira stood, slowly, not used to what was happening, before he stabbed the man in the throat with a knife. Before anything else could happen, he passed out from the unusual Chakra drain from his newly activated sharingan. Luckily, his uncle found him not long after. " That had been a nightmare based on that first conflict he had experienced in his life… that first time he had to deal with anything difficult or scary. That first trauma.

Finally, his memories caught up to the present, he woke up with a start, a bandage over his head. It would seem that they had found his note and delivered the ashes while he was in a mini coma. It would only be a matter of time before he heard from them about what exactly had transpired and why he returned alone, but he hoped that he would have ample time to rest before then. The stress he could feel from the events of his life the last few years was crazy and emotional, he could feel that he had grown in strength far more in the last weeks than he had in the past months and years combined. The struggles he had gone through had truly made a difference in his life, mentally, physically and spiritually.

He stood from his bed, the bandages around his head being the only thing that really denoted his being in the hospital. It was clear that he had healed from his wounds and was returned to the clan’s compound fully. He was eager to get back out and see how the clan had changed in his absence, in addition to continued training with his weapons and body. He could feel that his mind wasn’t yet as powerful as it had the potential to be, but he would need to become stronger physically before it could grow anymore. But, he would keep working, he was on a growth spurt and he wouldn't let it slow down now just because he was back in the clan compound. He was tired from his travels and the stay in the hospital, but after a brief time of rest he would be back onto the training field to get back into the swing of things, he was eager to continue growing and making his uncle proud. He would honor the man's memory by growing as strong as he could, he wanted to make him proud, not to mention his father, mother and grandfather. He would become the strongest his family had ever seen, no doubt about it.

Akira stood from his bed. It was time to get back to training, he had been working on some light training the last few nights, learning a couple strategies his uncle has named after the elements due to the way they worked, Lightning was next on his list. It wouldn't be easy, but he figured it would be easier to learn than the water strategy had been. He had struggled for weeks with that, so he hoped to get this down in a single day. He arrived at the training ground early, there was no one else there, so he would be able to train on his own. He sat down to meditate on the properties of lightning. It was interesting to him to think about the various elements and the ways he could find to convert them into strategies. Wind was the last one he learned, and it revolves around using one’s own momentum to keep a fight flowing in the proper direction and using your enemies' weight and attacks against them. It also had to do with sudden changes of movement and strategies to keep the enemy guessing. He had a very logical and scientific mind, looking at the strategy of lightning as what it was scientifically, hitting fast and hard and then guiding the body quickly like lightning strikes. That is how his training would begin and how it would progress for the next several hours. Him working to create fast movements that struck with precision and then move them about through the use of his weapons and limbs. It was a struggle for a while, but by the time midnight rolled around he had managed to get it down on a basic level.

As he worked on his training, he felt that he may have reached an impasse, but he would fight through it. He wouldn't allow his body to keep him from achieving his goals, he had so much left to accomplish, learning a simple element should be child's play for us. Pushing and pushing, he would look at his hands until finally, a spark of an idea appeared. He had finally managed to come up with an idea for lightning involving leaping back and forth while striking. It wouldn't be long now before he was ready to take on other tasks such as learning real techniques or learning more about his own skills and potential. He had many things to do and plenty of time to get them done. He spent several more minutes thinking of ways to move like Lightning, but he then put it into practice by leaping and moving quickly to strike with swords and knives on the dummies around him. They didn't explode or anything, but he managed to leave several cuts and slash marks on a couple of them. Obviously it didn't have the refinement that one gained through a practiced technique, but he wouldn't worry about that too much, he would learn more about its use in due time.

For his next task, he would work on improving on the strength of his perception of the world around him. He hadn't trained it much since he had returned, so it would be important to work on strengthening it. He focused on it, hearing birds chirping and his vision sharpening as things came into focus. He could feel his breaths going in, out, in, out, in, out. He could see for a great distance in all directions around him in his peripherals, but he could feel that he could increase this distance and the focus, in addition to the way or the strength that the eyes put out when he is using them. He looked into the distance, he could see a short way into the clan compound from the training ground, but he put more focus into it than he usually did and he noticed that it increased a bit, but was blurry, so he kept pushing more and more focus into it. The ability to see a decent distance was something that all members of his clan seemed to have, but it was not something he focussed on for the most part, having found more enjoyment with herbs and plants at a young age, so it was something he had put on the back shelf of his training schedule. But, he would make up for that lack of focus now. He could feel his eyes straining, but he kept pushing.

Pushing through the pain he was feeling, he felt a block. It was as though he was on the verge of being able to increase the strength of his vision and focus, but he couldn't push past it. He kept shoving the proverbial sight through his ocular coils, but it wouldn't pass the block. That is, until he let out an agonizing shout, blood spilled from the corners of his eyes and he was suddenly able to see what felt like over half the compound in all directions. Of course this was impossible, but it was in the feeling of it. He tried to make his body perfect but that wasn’t possible if he pushed too far and too hard. His body was shaking, his vision was going from blurry to clear back and forth. He took a moment, calmed his breath and prepared his body to stand. He stood slowly, and his vision was slowly returning to him. He was amazed at the clarity and distance he now had access to. It would seem all he lacked now was learning some of his more difficult clan techniques that relied on one's body being in very good shape both physically and mentally. He personally tried not to rely on the clan for too much, but he knew that they would prove increasingly useful as time went on, he had plenty of time left tonight to train though, so he would keep up the good work.

After a few more hours of training, Akira would return to his house, tired, exhausted, but grinning. He had improved yet again tonight and was ready to begin the final phase of his training with the clan. The phase that only his grandfather would be able to help him achieve. The man was truly the strongest in the clan and would be the only one who could train him in the next level of his evolution, known only as corded scythe. None in the clan had ever seen it, those who claim they had, had only caught a glimpse or seen the results of its use. The only person to have ever achieved it was his own grandfather, the previous clan head. He would approach the man soon to begin his training. He wondered how his grandfather had achieved it, but he supposed he would find that out from the man as soon as he approached him. The elder of the clan did enjoy spinning yarns as it were, so it would be no surprise that he would tell his grandson such tales once he learned of his increasing knowledge base. But, tonight, his training had been completed, so it was time to rest until he was ready to go at it again.

TWC: 7,242