Hop on board or get out of the way [Katya/Tarot]

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Three days had passed since Hiruzen had cleared out a small fraction of terrain of outlaws and claimed it as his own. In that time, he had installed several walls in the underground base he had built, creating five rooms within the original ten by ten space. Though his creation was quite sturdy and would not easily collapse, the extra walls would all serve to bear a lot of weight in case the time came when they really needed to. Using roughly ten by seven meters for his living area, study, armory and bedroom, he still had quite a lot of space left that he did not really use. This was in fact quite beneficial for him, for if someone was to bust in through the front door, they would first walk into the empty space and give Hiruzen enough time to recognize and prepare himself to deal with the problem. With the finished rooms, he had also taken the time to deal with the issue of vision, putting up several torches throughout the building and a fairly large brazier in the empty hall. Having already used it several times to spit-roast meat and to boil water, the room that had seen the most action up to this point was his study. If one was to walk into the place, the first thing they would see would be a stone desk, a rather uncomfortable chair and walls covered by maps of various regions of the world. From each map there were red wires connected to nails that have been pushed in the wall, pinned to a picture from a book or a piece of text.

One of the walls had been fashioned into a book case that held a lot of history books, books with unproven theories and old diaries and journals, though none written by him. That was because the journal Hiruzen was keeping was on his desk. Working on it several times a week, his journal was one of his most important possessions as it recorded all of the things he had done and all of the things he was working on. Having collected all of his belongings that had been in the lightning and in the iron temple and storing them all in the small space, he had finally seen just how much work he had been putting into what had started as a quest he had gotten from two old men. Following up on a request from other people, he had worked hard to decipher walls of text in various temples that made no sense on their own, but seemed to make rather elaborate instructions when they were all put together properly. Thanks to the abilities bestowed upon him by his Sharingan and his Hermit chakra, the young Uchiha had managed to find out more than any other person would in a lifetime. Though it might seem like it to outsiders, the seemingly random travels he had been doing had been about more than to increase the jutsu and techniques he had at his disposal. After all, he had retrieved valuable information from his travels to the land of fire, the land of iron, the land of snow and the land of lightning. Having increased his knowledge on most earthly things, he knew that some day, all of that would die with him.

After a busy morning of working in his study, the Uchiha had set out to a nearby town for some bread, raw chicken, candy and even some dried meat rations such as jerky. On his way back to his home with his wares hidden under his cloak, the dark haired man was looking the same as always. Wearing his cloak to cover his black, high collared and short sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, black slacks, black boots, fingerless black gloves and green sash around his waist, it would be roughly three kilometers before he got back to his underground home. Being in no rush as he walked through the rather barren wasteland filled with large rocks and small canyons, he could see the forest up in the distance already. Breaking off a small piece of bread and bringing it to his mouth, he was lucky that the last shinobi he turned in at the Hidden Leaf had brought up enough money for him to live like a king for well over a year, or like a duke for even longer. Since he did not get out of his new home much, was not one for wasting money and did not go out when he did not have to, he was certain that he would last for years without having to do any work. That said, he was not much for being bored, so when he was done working on his studies, chances were that he would just head out in order to bring in thieves, thugs, murderers and even rogue shinobi. Due to the things he had done, the people in high positions that felt wronged by him and the people he had taken down made for people knowing him quite well, especially when in the land of lightning.

Even though most people knew that he was a rogue shinobi that had abandoned the Hidden Cloud, he had not done anything to hurt anyone from the place in the process. As such, most of the civilians he ran into when purchasing groceries from nearby towns did not care enough to report it to the authorities, at least until he started causing trouble for them. It also worked well with the larger criminal organizations that knew him well enough to issue a "Run on sight" for every member due to his unrivaled power in battle. Reputation was a powerful thing, one that had done a lot of bad things for him in the past, but worked out rather well for him in the present. No one really bothered him anymore, giving him free reign to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.

Posts : 65

The smell of blood forced Galateia‘s eyes open. Almost instantly the events of yesterday flashed back in her mind. The smell of blood and death on her just made it all worse. Last night she decided to sneak away from her Jiangshi-looking companion in the middle of the night and explore the nearby small town. What followed was a horrible chain of events – a man tried to recruit her to his criminal organization and when Galateia turned him down he put a million ryo bounty on her head, with a million extra if she suffered before she died. Things escalated from there until Galateia end up sitting by the same tree in another person’s blood soaked clothes and the man responsible for the outrage was left cut in half in the town square.

Galateia took off the pink sweater and tore the silk dress off of her and slowly walked to the nearby mountain river to wash the blood off of her hair and skin. It wasn’t her blood, it was the blood of a killer who took a life of a good warrior whom Galateia admired greatly. That caused her to go out of control and murder a man in the middle of the town square, she’s probably wanted again… Still, with the criminal mastermind dead there’s probably no one to pay up the million ryo bounty on her head anymore so at least the criminals will stop hunting her.

Galateia washed the dress in the same river and then put it back on, torn up in several places – she desperately needed new clothes and money. In the past she had made some money selling deer she hunted down, maybe she could do some more of that, with Aoi being there to properly count the money she wouldn’t get ripped off by evil men in bowties and funny moustaches like in the past… “I guess that boy really could get useful… More useful than just entertainment.” Galateia thought to herself as she dipped her head underwater and started thinking about the next course of action.

She had some more deer left after the one she hunted down yesterday, it would be at least enough to buy her new clothes and she could hunt some more to feed them both. The warrior didn’t really care about what Aoi ate but since she couldn’t eat the whole deer by herself she commonly took care of food for both of them so it was her sort of de facto job to supply food for the two of them. Just when that was all done and decided the girl went off to hunt some deers, with her speed and agility and powerful swing she could definitely get some meat in an hour or two.

“Hey, I’m back. We’ll be dropping those in the town nearby, I need new clothes…” Galateia announced loudly as she returned to the small camp that the two had set up last night. She didn’t really know why she thought it needed to announce their actions, didn’t she say that this boy was just a pest who tagged along? Maybe she was slowly getting used to his company and started getting dependant on his “tracking” for entertainment? Anyways, after announcing the plan for the day the warrior picked up the few things that she had and left for the town.

It was really dangerous for her to come back so soon after what she had done the last night. People will be on the edge and they will point fingers at her but she didn’t care, she just didn’t want to walk around the forest half naked or with clothes stinking of people gut. “I’ll give ya 2500 ryo for a single deer, missy.” the local butcher waved his hands when the lady warrior dropped the two dead deer on his stand. The girl turned back at Aoi, had he decided to tag along to verify if it was a fair price. Most likely it was, the people in this town were all scared of her after the stunt she pulled yesterday. Security force are more and more likely to attack her at any moment so it wasn’t a very good idea to stay around too long.

It was then that Galateia noticed a tall and strange looking figure, it was a cloaked man who definitely stood out from the casual crowd of townsfolk. Even among the few fighters that the village had he looked on an entirely different league. “I kinda want to fight that guy…” Galateia mumbled out to Aoi smiling to him. “Could you keep your eye on him for a while while I change?” she asked as the warrior ran inside a small clothes shop and bought the usual simple white shirt, the cheapest kind of clothing but she made sure to stack up on them knowing the amount of fighting she’s been doing.

Galateia changed almost in an instant, after she ran out the girl asked the butcher just where did the cloaked man go. “I don’t really recommend picking trouble with him, girl. You’re a wanted criminal around here, there’s still that million ryo bounty floating around and that man is “Strider”, he is one of the best bounty hunters in the world. You’re basically asking to get killed…” Galateia’s face changed into surprised one, her emotions were always crystal clear like a child’s. “Ehhhhh!!! He’s THAT strong?! Now I totally have to fight him!” Galateia yelled out.

“Hey! Isnt’ that girl?/Yes… She killed Noriyuki-san yesterday…/ I’d heard she also killed another wealthy businessman in a nearby town, Okano-san!/ Oh so SHE’S the one who did that?/ How long will she be around causing trouble for our peaceful town?!” the talk was reaching the girl’s ears from each side. To be honest she deserved all of it, she did kill those two businessmen who on the front were just that – wealthy people. Still, to Galateia they had it coming, she killed them because they were “Aku” in the “Aku-Soku-Zan”. They were people she decided to kill, people who offended her “Heart of the Sword” and the warrior’s code.

Right as she turned the corner that the butcher instructed her to turn to reach the man she shouted out just to alert the man. “Strider! I want to fight you! I’ve heard you’re pretty strong and I just want to have some fun fighting someone incredibly strong, so please fight me!” she yelled out and bowed to the ground asking the cloaked stranger to honor her with a fight. Sure, she could’ve just lunged at him but that wouldn’t have been Galateia’s way, it wasn’t the way of honorable combat, her opponent had to know that he was in a fight and had to have time to set his weapons up the way he preferred.

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

As well developed as his senses were, he could already tell that there was a rather small chakra signature approaching him that did not seem to leave any really strong vibrations in the earth, meaning the one coming up to him was most likely a girl, things he figured out even before a voice called out to him. Turning his head to look over his shoulder when someone called him Strider, he wondered whether this person also knew his real name or if she was just another person that had heard of the people he took in for money under that alias. When the girl caught up to him and started talking about what she wanted, he was somewhat impressed that a girl her age wanted to fight someone like him, knowing that he had taken down some rather dangerous men. That said, if she had known him by his real name and knew of his reputation within the Hidden Cloud, she would most likely already have reconsidered, so that was at least one question answered without having to ask. Since she stated that she wanted to fight someone really powerful, it made him wonder if she even knew what she was asking for. Though it was clear to pretty much everyone in this situation that Hiruzen would hold himself back a lot, he was not really against giving the kid a chance to prove herself. While he did not often fight people for no reason, no one ever really came up to him while asking for a spar either. In a way, she was lucky that he was rather bored, or he would most likely not have accepted.

"Fine, but not here. I don't want to fight this close to a village and spook them too much. Besides, these people have been rather kind to me, so I don't want to risk them calling out to the authorities as that would most likely be a bad thing for the both of us.".

Once he was done talking, he broke off another piece of bread and held it in the girl's face while he continued walking to see if she was hungry or not. Since the bread was fresh, it was still a little bit warm, which was exactly how Hiruzen liked it and was also the reason why he stopped by the town so early. That said, it was also so that the amount of people that might worry about his presence was at a low point due to the majority of them still being in bed. Whether the girl would take it or not, he himself took a piece of bread and started slowly working his way through it. As a shinobi and as a man, he had to eat quite a bit in order to keep his body in a good shape. Ever since he ceased living in the village several years ago, he had left a lot of luxury behind him, the luxury that was reserved for the founding clans. Back at his former home, he ate hijiki salad, yakitori and ramen every other day, depending on what he really wanted. Since he had only finished building his new home a few days ago, he was still settling into this new way of life. A life where he had to do his own groceries, pay out of his own pocket with money he worked hard for and living in a place no one really knew existed other than himself. Once they were little over a kilometer away from the town and almost two kilometers away from his own home, he believed that it was about time for them to start doing what the girl had asked for. Taking off his coat and placing his groceries inside of it, he looked at the girl before setting a demand of his own.

"Before we start, I want to know your name. My name is Hiruzen of the Uchiha clan, and the first move is yours kid. Come at me whenever you are ready and don't hold back.".

Having already done a quick assessment when she walked up to him, he already knew that she was light, had a fairly tall stature and did not possess a really large chakra pool from what he could sense at least. From that, he figured that she was most likely the kind of person that either moved around really fast or had the capacity to evade a lot of attacks without any real effort. Instantly handing her the first move before the fight started, he wrapped his groceries in his cloak and tossed them aside gently so they would not be harmed by the spar. Showing the sword that was hanging from his waist, he did not make any attempt at reaching for it at all. After all, he was skilled in the art of Iaido, which revolved around drawing, cutting and placing the blade back in it's scabbard. Now, whether he would even use his sword was entirely up to the girl and how well she could handle herself in battle. If he believed drawing his sword was too much for the kid to handle, he would just leave it where it was now and continue doing everything with his own two hands.

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Posts : 45

Aoi was sleeping heavily on a bed of leaves, unlike Galateia, he was not one who could sleep well in an upright position. He had done so the night they had first met and regretted it ever since. When he had awoke, his spine was so stiff and cramped he had to float around like a hunchback for the entire next day. In addition, the girl had taken to wandering off in the early hours of the morning while Aoi was still asleep. Quite often this lead her to getting in trouble. Most recently it had resulted in her having a massive bounty placed on her head. When Aoi had finally caught up, the incident was over and she was covered in blood wearing someone else's clothes. Galateia had been too exhausted to continue elaborating and nearly fell asleep on the spot while Aoi set up the campsite. After making his bed, he too had fallen asleep. When he had finally awoken, Galateia was, once again, nowhere to be seen. Sighing softly, he flipped through his most familiar handseals and began to levitate off his bed. Rubbing his eyes, he began to float towards the tree where Teia had been sleeping.

The girl never made any attempt to hide her tracks nor her presence, tracking her was a simple task. Even now, he had already picked up her trail. Heavy footprints in the soil and several broken branches from where she bulldozed through a bush. Judging from the direction she was heading, the girl was bathing in the nearby river. Aoi would have followed, but he noticed she had left a few personal belongings behind. She would be back. As such, he was left with the task of cleaning up the camp. Just as he began however, Teia called out to him in a manner she had never done before. 'Hey, I'm back.' Three simple words were enough to give Aoi pause. Galateia had never returned after sneaking off and he had never expected her to. Turning, the girl was carrying some recently killed deer on her back, stating they were heading into town. Indeed, she did need new clothes. Her current attire was not someone one could fight in. She may have washed them, but the blood stains were still visible. Finding himself smiling, Aoi nodded and dumped some dirt on the fire pit as the two headed to town.

The people of the town were not exactly what one could call welcoming. The moment Teia stepped into view, the crowds hushed and darted to the sides allowing the two passage. In hushed voices, they whispered with one another. Seems the incident Teia had caused the other day was not just going to fade away in the minds of these people. Thankfully, the same fear that caused people to back away also forced the store owner to deal with them fairly. Teia was not one to understand the value of money and was often ripped off when Aoi was not around. Aoi simply nodded that the price was fair enough and the butcher went off to get the money. Teia stepped outside, not wanting to stay in one place too long while Aoi waited for the butcher. Once outside, something caught her eye and the girl's entire mood lit up like a blazing fire. Even from this distance, Aoi knew what she said and what the grin she flashed him meant. She had found a new playmate and, judging by how much she was beaming, they were quite strong. Retrieving the money, Teia pointed out the target while she ran off to a nearby store. Her main objective was still a new set of clothes. How she kept her mind so straight with a strong opponent nearby surprised Aoi, but he did what he was told.

Hovering up to the maximum height he could sustain, he watched as the man, cloaked heavily to make identifying him impossible, browsed the stands. Teia was barely gone two minutes when her voice suddenly rang out from the shop, halting many of the civilians passing by outside. Several of them grumbling about her presence. Hearing this, Aoi felt himself getting angry, a very rare emotion for him. He wanted to drop down and freeze the tongues of the bastards bad mouthing Teia. They had no idea who she was and had no right to judge her so unfairly. Once Teia exited the shop, Aoi floated over and pointed out the man's current location. She wasted no time darting off and declaring a challenge right there in the middle of the street. Meanwhile, Aoi lowered his height so he could hide within the crowds, not a difficult task for him, even when he was floating Aoi was a rather tiny person.

The man, dubbed Strider, reacted rather slowly yet accepted her challenge so long as they took the fight to a more appropriate location. There was no way Teia would deny this, it meant less people getting in the way of the fight, the two made their way out of the village. Aoi following behind as best he could. They had moved at least a good kilometer before Strider halted the march. They had come into a rocky clearing, at least twenty meters wide with small rocks scattered about. Lowering himself, Aoi took cover behind one of the larger rocks at the edge of the clearing. From here he could observe the fight safely. This would be the first time he got to witness Galateia in a real fight, he just hoped she wasn't going to get herself killed.

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Posts : 65

The man called Strider looked rather uninterested in Galateia‘s challenge. He did agree with it but to Teia it raised questions, how could someone described to be so strong not be completely captured by a thought of an upcoming battle. The old man told the warrior that he was one of the best bounty hunters and even when a possible bounty presented itself and asked him for a battle he still looked like he’d rather read a book or something. Who even reads books instead of fighting? It takes the girl ages to get through a single paragraph while the excitement of battle captures her instantly. Why would one read of battles instead of living them?

Still, Strider accepted her challenge with the condition that they move away from the village. Galateia started frantically nodding and jumping in her place from excitement. She looked much like a child being told that she can play with her toys once she gets back home, the journey was still ahead yet one didn’t have to be a genius to know what the child was thinking of the whole way. She felt a little bit sad that the mighty Strider cared little of fighting her and she hoped that she could somehow reignite that lost flame in him.

Right after agreeing with Galateia’s challenge the man calmly broke off a piece of bread and handed some to her. The girl took it and ate it with a bit of hesitation as she didn’t really understand what did that gesture mean. Maybe he thought of her as the constantly hungry kind of fighter and wanted her at full strength during the battle so that his time that could have been spent “Strider-ing” was not wasted. Galateia wasn’t really that dependant on food but she was definitely going to give the battle her all. Just the prospect of getting to fight someone like that was enough to hype the girl to no end.

Despite the girl not being one of much patience she held rather well following Strider away from the town. She respected the man’s will, his wish to not inflict harm on the town and viewed it as a condition of the battle, had she acted up and tried to hasten him he may have cancelled their battle at all which the girl would have hated much more than just taking longer to fight this man. Right after their short trip was finished Strider started to get ready, this was the first sign to the girl that he viewed the battle seriously. He also introduced himself as Hiruzen of the Uchiha clan, knowing how people described him, his heritage explained a lot of his supposed skill.

The girl jumped up erratically just to calm down her impatience to fight as she stretched her hands out. “I’m Galateia. Don’t worry, Hiruzen, I would never dare to dishonor you by holding back!” she replied with energy as she took a fighting stance. Galateia did see the sword on his waist but Hiruzen’s stance did not imply that he will use it, at least not for now. It reminded her a lot of Tsume – an old man who used to be a protector of the Daimyo in his youth who also honored the young hothead with a battle but crushed her almost effortlessly. There was a reason for which the girl didn't mention her clan but those were mostly her own issues and she took no pride in her clan so she couldn't wear its name as proudly as Hiruzen.

“His stance… I can’t tell if he’s going to use sword drawing techniques or naked blade or thrusting… I can’t tell anything about his kenjutsu so if he’ll pull his sword he’ll be surprising me. Either way, no matter how fast he is he won’t pull a quick draw in that stance, battojutsu requires proper footwork.” the warrior thought for a moment as she reached slowly for the handle of her own sword and got into a charging stance. Sure, Galateia was a complete idiot about pretty much anything and her way of thought was the first way to losing her head but as far as anything battle related went – she was above her peers in intelligence and execution.

Galateia’s eyes changed from her casual excited about everything mode to a calmer and more concentrated expression as she took a couple of moments to prepare herself, get her excited and pumped breathing to calm down a bit. Not for a second did the girl think of the outcome, she never did, what mattered was not winning or losing, it was that she did not dishonor herself by not fighting her absolute best. Obviously she had no interest in killing Hiruzen if it ever got to that, someone of that sort of skill and presence would have been a fun opponent to challenge in the future.

“He told me to not hold back but he himself doesn’t even deem me worthy to show me his blade… Maybe he’s just like the old man – maybe he’s judging my strength quite fairly but that would only means one thing. That I have still ways to grow, in that case, I absolutely cannot die here!” Galateia closed her eyes for the moment and let them shoot open as she charged towards Hiruzen with all the speed she could muster up. She wasn’t that dumb and straightforward though. Galateia also had an inner talent of telling an ordinary bandit from someone like old man Tsume or Hiruzen – a seasoned fighter. There was no way she’d rush straight at them yelling out loud.

Right when there was just about enough distance for an ordinary katana’s reach Galateia shot her foot in her way and stopped her charge, using the strength left in her body to flip her body sideways and pulling out three kunai from her pouch using one hand. Galateia was quite skilled enough to be able to swordwield her sword with one hand. The girl didn’t throw the kunai out in mid air however, she waited until she landed to do that and then used her own burst of speed that her training granted her to dash behind her opponent and try to assault him from two fronts, one – the kunai flying straight at him, the second – Galateia using her long sword for a strike at Hiruzen’s knees from the other side right at the trajectory of the incoming kunai.

The girl had predicted the possibility of Hiruzen moving out of the way leaving her kunai flying right at her, it was a tough thing to pull off but someone of his skill could probably do it. If that happened the warrior wanted to swing at the right trajectory to automatically deflect them if her opponent moved just in the right way.

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Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Interestingly enough, it seemed that the girl was in fact fast enough to not only make an attempt at catching him off guard, but also setting up a two-part attack with seemingly little effort. Unfortunately for her, the speed at which Hiruzen's brain and eyes worked was beyond anything she could come up with. Knowing the basics of what the girl was trying to pull, he moved towards the Kunai as soon as they were tossed at him before lifting himself off of the ground for a completely horizontal forward spin. While performing this spin, the three Kunai just barely passed by him, continuing their linear movement toward the girl that had tossed them in the first place. When her blade came down and slammed the kunai down before they could do any harm, Hiruzen's feet already came to the ground again. All in all, his perceptive and extra-perceptive skills together with his evasive talent made him one incredibly tough target to pin down and hit. Even without the Sharingan, his perceptive skills were well above those of the other shinobi that walked on the same planet as him, even though he still felt like he could still do better if he just trained enough. Whether he was right in assuming that he could or not, that was something to think about at a later time. Right now, he stood a small two meters away from the girl that had just taken down the attack she had tossed at him with her own weapon. Believing himself to be entitled to give her some pointers during the spar, he did not hold his tongue.

"Not bad, though I suggest not burning through your energy this fast. If you fight someone like me, you need to conserve your energy and strike when there are no evasive options available anymore. Right now, I can evade anything you throw at me because I have all the freedom in the world needed to do so. This area provides solid footing in every direction I might want to go, so if you rush through your chakra, you'll have tired yourself out before you can even lay a finger on me.".

Instructing the girl on how to deal with someone like him that could see through her attacks while planning his next couple of moves while she was still working through her first, it would only do so much to benefit her. He had years of training and experience backing him up, things that made him quite cocky, though he really had every right to be. As far as fights went, no one had ever really managed to hit him before the fight had been ended by his hand. For him, it made fights rather plain and boring, which was why he had started earning money by taking in wanted fugitives. The money was a nice bonus, though it was really about finding people that might be able to put up a decent fight and make things hard on him. When he gave the girl pointers on how to fight him without burning all of her energy in very little time, it was not because he felt the need to really help her become stronger or more skilled. Though it was implied, the main reason why he pointed out the flaws in her fighting style was because he wanted her to be able to beat him or at least make things a little bit harder. If she went through all of her energy before he could break a sweat, there would not have been a whole lot of fun in fighting her. At the height of his extra-sensory abilities, he was sure that he sensed yet another person nearby, though he had not seen him yet or even sensed any vibrations in the soil. That was why he thought it best to just deal with the girl before worrying about anything else. After all, he would know when someone got close enough to actually deal any damage.

Posts : 65

Just as the girl had predicted, the man dodged her attack leaving her exposed to her own kunai. Had she not predicted such an outcome and swung just at the right angle she could‘ve drawn the first blood from herself which would have been just embarrassing. Judging from the dodge that the man pulled he possessed incredible agility and also saw exactly what the warrior was pulling off somewhat in time to properly create a mean to avoid it and dodge the attack. He also felt cocky enough to give her hints and pointers. Teia had fought fighters who dwarfed her in skill but she was never properly trained, everyone just used the gap in skill to crush her the instant she made a mistake.

Upon being scolded for wasting energy too much the girl laughed out and scratched her head. “Sorry, I just got a bit excited. Haven’t fought someone as fun as you in a while… Didn't you just tell me to not hold anything back though?” in reality Galateia was disappointed in her own strength. She really felt bad that Hiruzen didn’t just use the gap in perception and speed to beat her with everything he had. Galateia was used to a whole different model of combat – the model her father used to impose: death upon first mistake. That meant that she had to throw everything out so that her opponent had no openings to kill her.

The girl felt a lot of things. She felt overjoyed about this battle, her excitement was through the roof. She also felt weak and angry at both Hiruzen and herself. He told her to not hold back and yet he barely even viewed this as a fight, he just stood around and threw pointers at her. Then again, he has taken a defensive stance where he just avoids whatever she throws without even fighting back. That was the easiest way to fight, the world’s strongest sword couldn’t penetrate the world’s toughest shield. There were so many options to defend against any particular kind of attack, maybe it was an emotional struggle, maybe his opponent’s gave up their attempts after being played for a while.

“I’m really sad though… That you aren’t enjoying this a little bit. I’ll do my best to make it at least a little bit more enjoyable, Hiruzen.” Galateia smiled as her face returned back to the casual fighting mood. She still wore that faint smile that was barely distinguishable, one that loved combat as much as Galateia did could not hide the excitement after getting to tangle with one of the best. Still, her fighting face differed very much from the casual “look at me I’m wearing my pants on my head” face.

After finishing voicing her dissatisfaction of the other side’s rather bored reaction to the battle the warrior lunged forward. She was somewhat ready to try a head-on assault right now, not a simple sword attack, but something less attempting to poke a reaction out of her opponent and more of an actual attack. Galateia sheathed the sword halfway but kept her arm on the handle. She was well aware of the sword drawing techniques but she knew that her opponent did not deem her worthy to see his sword, that meant that he may have decided to get even more arrogant and try to fight her up close with something sloppy like catching her blade.

Right when Galateia closed up the distance to Hiruzen to about claymore’s reach she stopped and made a pair of handseals making five simple Academy clones, the girl has never before tried to use so many different techniques in a battle. Both because she had no need to and because she didn’t try so hard to entertain her opponent before. She has never faced a swordsman taught in the path of the sword who didn’t enjoy fighting, who didn’t share her artistic views on the path of combat and did not share her “Heart of Sword”. Someone who viewed fighting as as much of a chore as one saw mopping the floor.

The clones quickly surrounded Hiruzen and Galateia used her speed and agility and natural deceptiveness as a somewhat trained Yoruma assassin to mix into the circle of five with all five of them striking at once. However everything was not that simple, before the actual strike happened the clones also followed Galateia’s example of quickly dashing behind the opponent with each moving in a different trajectory making the clones and the real one mix around like they were cups with a nut hiding under one of them.

With all this confusion Galateia just wanted to provide some amount of confusion and sense of entertainment for Hiruzen, that still was not all of her assault – she didn’t even listen to the man’s advice and spent a ridiculous amount of energy on trying to entertain him. She knew that in order to look strong and to prove to the man worthy enough to see his sword she had to throw everything at him and she had just promised to him to not hold back several moments ago.

As the mixed up clones each also performed the technique which made one martial artist nickname Galateia “the Silver Sunshine”, each clone jumped forward rolling in the air with their sword above their head and each of them chose different trajectories forcing the opponent to make split second judgments, if Hiruzen had any moments of underestimation or where his mind floated to anything else but the fight here and now his mind may not have been in the right place to correctly follow the exchanging clones and even if he did, maybe he’ll at least be forced to use his sword for once or at least enjoy the battle a little bit more.

Once the real Galateia landed on the ground she wanted to jump up and keep fighting, her body stopped though. Something caused it to stay in place for just a moment and it was then that she realized just how out of breath she was. Galateia has never fought someone with this much attempt to impress and entertain them, she barely ever had to use a single technique in her battles, usually she could handle her challengers with just her sword handling alone. This man was on a completely different league from the usual bounty hunters around here and not wasting his time may have required an amount of strength which Galateia did not yet possess.

The warrior drove her sword into the ground and stood back up, breathing heavily and huffing to catch up with all the air she’s been missing and with happy and satisfied eyes she looked at Hiruzen just to see how did he manage to deal with this complicated combination of techniques.

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Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Proving to him that she had heard everything that he had told her, it was not hard to figure out that she was not entirely happy when she apologized about not making it fun for him. When he had agreed to spar with the girl, he had already set his mind to the fact that it would most likely not become any fun at all, so there was very little to apologize for. Closing the mediocre distance between them, she kept one hand on her sword, though she did not draw it to attack him yet. What ticked him off a bit was when the girl completely ignored what he had told her and started burning chakra like crazy. Making several clones, he could tell very easily that the clones she used were not tangible and had no means of attacking by judging the hand seals she used. In a way, it made the fight similar to the one he had had with a shinobi that used the hidden mist in collaboration with untouchable clones made out of vapor. Though he had more chakra to spend and might have had more jutsu in his arsenal due to the age difference between the man and the woman, neither of them would get very far when trying out such techniques on him. While it was rather amusing to see her try this hard to get him to have to try, he did not enjoy it when people went against his wishes.

Feeling the urge to let out a long and drawn out sigh, he kept his attention on the fight instead. Both his chakra sensory abilities as well as the ability to track vibrations in the soil made the need to even use his eyes to see almost non-existent. Whenever she touched the ground, his senses would register it. Whenever she moved around or merely stood still, his chakra sensing abilities would register it. As such, there was no way in hell that the girl would ever catch him off guard no matter how much chakra she would spend on trying to do so. To a man that considered himself to be the closest thing there was to a perfect shinobi, he would never allow something as trivial as arrogance get him killed. Using his eyes to keep his eyes on the girl that still radiated chakra and established contact with the earth, he just counted down the seconds until the girl seemed to feel like she had waited a sufficient amount of time to let the confusion sink in. When the time for the attack finally came, he had already planned for a sneak attack, though the concept of a full-on assault was not off the table yet. It was not uncommon for people to first distract someone before going in with a full on assault with brute force, though it was generally the sneak attack that took the prize in these situations.

That was when she jumped into the air, meaning there were no longer any vibrations to be felt in the soil for Hiruzen to sense. Wielding her sword for the attack, he completely ignored the fake clones and kept his eyes locked on the true shinobi that was right in front of him. Watching as she spun around while rotating the blade in a way that was like a buzz saw attempting to crash into him. There was no doubt in his mind that such a technique would deal a lot of damage and would most likely kill someone shortly after establishing contact, though it left a lot to be desired. There were a lot of weaknesses for him to exploit if this had been a real fight to the death. Seeing as it was not, he waited just long enough before moving to the side with a few elegant hops. Judging by the amount of momentum the girl built up by spinning so fast, the only hope of dealing true damage was if she managed to hit a limb or straight up knocked someone on the head to try and cleave them. The downside of this much momentum was the fact that she would never be able to break off in time to re-angle herself and her point of impact. As such, Hiruzen did not need a lot of time, just a lot of timing in order to make it look like she had only barely missed him. Again creating a distance equal to when he had last made a bit of distance, he stood a mere two meters away from her at the time when her blade crashed into the ground.

"Your assault was admirable for a young shinobi such as yourself, though there were some rather obvious flaws to exploit. Your clones weigh nothing and are intangible, allowing people to see through the ruse rather quickly. I suggest attacking sooner next time and not giving people the time to figure out which is the real you. As for your final attack, it carried a lot of force, but lacked finesse. Unless you manage to distract someone long enough for you to hit them with it, you'll be getting yourself killed with it someday.".

Again the Uchiha left some pointers for her to work on, things that would allow her to improve. It was after all through trial and error that one got to take a good look at oneself in order to improve what was faulty. Looking on to see just how much her attacks had worn her down, he did not expect a whole lot more from her at this point. She had given all she had, and when one had taken everything there was to give, there was no point in hoping for more. With a faint smile on his face, he just waited while the girl used her sword as a crutch in order to lift herself up to her feet again. To him, it was good to see that someone that went down raised themselves back off of the floor like a warrior. In a way, it made him almost feel bad for making it look so easy to evade every single attack and pretty much pierce every tactic she came up with. Still, he had enjoyed seeing the attacks she had come up with as they had been original enough for Hiruzen to not already know the technique's mechanics right from the start. He was certain that when a kid like her got proper guidance, she could turn herself into a force to be reckoned with. For now though, it was best not to say or do anything until the time came that she was done catching her breath.

Posts : 65

Galateia lifted her eyes and looked at Hiruzen as he explained once again what he thought of her attack giving her advice. She was a fool. Not for challenging the man, that was her code, that was how warriors lived: challenge any strong opponent and don’t look at how strong they were, give them all you have to not dishonor them. Hiruzen appeared to have a katana at his side and yet he knew nothing of bushido. Even if he did, that meant that he wished to dishonor Galateia by not taking her seriously. She was a fool for thinking that the man would fight her with all of his strength.

“You told me that you’d fight me…” Galateia said as she ran out of air, forcing her to huff for a couple of moments before continuing, “You told me to not hold back… Even if I would never have in the first place…” the girl pushed off the sword and straightened her body before sheathing it back and getting into fighting stance again. Even if Hiruzen did not honor bushido, she will, “Heart of Sword” didn’t allow to surrender until one could still fight and the girl felt like she could still do a move or two before passing out.

“It made me happy…” she said as Galateia leaned in for another charge, “Because the old butcher told me you were one of the best…” Galateia grunted out as her body shot forward, being pushed by nothing else but sheer force of will. Every part of her body told her to stop moving, told her that she couldn’t move anymore and it hurt to even try to move. After the girl finished her charge at Hiruzen using nothing but her natural skill and speed she kept going “So I was excited because I got to fight the best… Even if I’d have died I’d have died against the best…” as the girl finally fully regained her breath she shouted out into the air to overcome that pain.

“QUICKBLADE!”

Galateia would have gotten close to her opponent, so close in fact that if he would have started to dodge only after she got close to him and began her attack the wide reach of her Claymore may have still tagged him with a scratch. The warrior didn’t care about it anymore, she had a warrior’s code to uphold and she had to do it for the both sides of the battle. As the girl swung her blade wildly, with all the strength and speed her tired body could muster up she continued her speech, her tone was rough, her voice was affected by pain and her intense desire to just pass out. Right about after the combination of strikes was finished, Galateia would've thrown the last kick she had it in her putting all the strength she had in it.

“But then you held back… You barely even fought me… So all I have now is nothing… You’ve taken both our honors away… Yours for holding back, and mine for not getting to fight you… For losing not to Hiruzen but…” she couldn’t finish that sentence as her attack ended and she fell forward. Galateia stabbed her claymore into the ground and held to the tip of it firmly. Her body could no longer stand straight but she desperately held to the sword so that technically she didn’t “fall down”. Her chest was almost torn apart from the desire to breathe but no amount of breaths Galateia took was enough.

“Finesse… I don’t even know… What… That word even means…” she uttered some more words as the girl kept clinging to her blade. She was on the verge of passing out, it was only due to her willpower that she kept conscious at all. With each passing moment Galateia’s mind tried to convince her to close her eyes and rest but the girl just didn’t want to. The girl felt the blood flow in her grip getting weaker, her tired hands started slipping from the hilt. She tried holding some more but eventually they slipped to the guard of the sword. Try as much as Galateia may have she was stuck like this, no amount of willpower would’ve helped her stand up now – this was her limit, her bodily limit.

“I came at you with all I had… Because I did not wish to offend your honor… A warrior shouldn’t face anything but the best of their opponent’s abilities… But now… I have no honor myself… Because you held back…” tears started running from the girl’s eyes as she realized that she couldn’t stand up and fight anymore. She felt like a fat person who couldn’t eat anymore cake for breakfast, she wanted to just keep fighting but she literally couldn’t, that was all that her body was capable of. Why did Hiruzen not fight her? Why did he treat her like some child?

Galateia’s body started to become really heavy, her head completely weighed down bumping into the blade of the sword and opening a small cut on her forehead causing both blood and tears to run down her face. No! Galateia won’t give up! She won’t slip down the sword and fall down unless Hiruzen takes her down and claims his victory, Galateia won’t be losing to Nothing, if she will fall down, she’ll only fall because the best pushed her down. The girl’s mind started to feel floaty, it started to feel like it was almost about to separate from her weakened body. And yet she kept holding on…

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Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Everything the girl tossed at him from this point on was, as expected, nothing to be proud of at all. For some reason, the girl believed that Hiruzen had just now lost his honor for not going all out against her when it was in fact the other way around. If he had gone all out against her, she would have been torn to shreds before she would even have time to react or enjoy the fight, and afterwards, she'd have died a senseless death. Claiming that she had wanted to to fight the best so badly that she would have been willing to die against "the best", he wondered what kind of messed up childhood she had lived through. Hiruzen had been pushed to become stronger, he had lost his family and his friends when they bought his life in exchange for their own and had even been feared as a demon shortly before he left the village. There was a reason why the higher ups praised him as one of the strongest and most promising shinobi in the village, because he had lost everyone he cared about and was not willing to let anyone be stronger than him. At the time, he cared a lot about the people in the village and went through a lot to see to their safety, even though they did not trust him or even want him anywhere close to them. Still, the betrayal he felt had made him into the man he was today. Had he not been through those painful events, he would never have become this powerful and would never have been able to meet so many people or learn so many new things about the world.

"You asked if it was okay for you to fight me, I never said that I would fight back. The fact that you do not recognize the name Hiruzen goes to show that you have not been in this country long enough to hear the rumors tied to it. Those that call me Strider know of my exploits as a bounty hunter, but not of what I am capable of as a Shinobi.".

When she suddenly shouted out the word Quickblade, she started cutting and slicing her large blade at him rapidly, though the attacks were nowhere near fast enough to catch the man that could see everything off guard. That paired with the fact that she had already depleted her chakra reservoir by going against his advice became evident by how heavy her breathing had become. Gently stepping to the right, the left, bending backward or hopping up slightly to evade the moving blade, not a single cut was placed on his body. When a high paced kick came at him, Hiruzen used the fact that she would most likely refrain from cutting her own leg off in the process to dodge straight back in the same linear pattern. With her final attack having resulted in nothing, she collapsed because she had wandered up all the way to the limits of what she was capable of. Though it was in fact a rather potent technique that seemed to rely heavily on physical strength and skill to give it it's power, it was not the kind of move Hiruzen would use. In Ninjutsu, the flashier a technique was, the better it would be as it struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. When it came to the art of weaponry, he believed that the techniques he used should be simple and refined enough to do what they were meant to do in as little time as possible. For him, Iaido did just that. Now that it seemed like the girl was finally done, he could finally approach and talk to her.

"Are you done? because I have something to tell you about honor. The dishonorable thing would be for me to have gone all out against you. After all, what kind of adult would go all out against mere children?".

When he said children, he implied the other one that had been hiding on the side of the battlefield. Letting his eyes wander in his direction, they quickly moved back to the girl that seemed like she was going to slip out of consciousness any second now. Hiruzen knew a lot about honor, enough to know that the concept was different for everyone. For her, honor meant not holding back against anyone. For the monks, honor meant not fighting anyone at all and possibly dying in the process. For samurai, honor meant fighting without resorting to tricks such as ninjutsu. For Hiruzen, honor meant fighting the way he had to in order to take down his opponent in a way that allowed him to enjoy himself without making anyone suffer. As of right now, he could tell that the girl was suffering both physically and mentally. Had she followed his advice, she would have done a whole lot better, though her own stubborn attitude had pushed her into the sorry state she was in now. Approaching her, he looked down on her, showing her the crimson gaze of the Sharingan that he had not even used once in their little spar. Without it, he had already evaded every single one of what he believed to be her strongest moves. Had he used his Sharingan, he would have been able to beat her even more easily and make her feel even worse in the process. Before the strain she foolishly placed upon herself would force her to pass out, there was one last thing he wanted to say to her.

"Honor is not something you can control for other people. It is not up to you to tell me that my honor is gone for not fighting you with all I had, not could you offend my honor unless I allowed you to, though if you wish to see your own honor fade because you lost to someone you knew you could not defeat, than that is you failing yourself. Now, sleep.".

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Posts : 45

It was clear from the outset that Teia was far outmatched. Her speed and power was impressive, yet Strider, no Hiruzen, was able to read her every move. After her first attack, Aoi knew what the outcome would be. Hiruzen's dodge was simple, effortless and flawless in execution. To the untrained eye, one might have thought that he had just barely avoided the attacks. Aoi however, could see the skill that was involved. For someone to be able to dodge an attack that calmly and in a manner that turned the opponent's attack on themselves, they had to be extremely skilled and experienced in combat. Something Teia, for all her love of fighting, was not. She had an innate talent and was physically gifted yes, but Aoi could see it in her moves, she was young and impatient. While he admired her headstrong manner, it made her far too stubborn and inflexible in battle. Back in the bar, this had caused her to nearly kill several men because they were not fighting in the manner she believed in. Here it was a similar situation. Teia was trying to force her belief of honour onto Hiruzen and wished for him to fight with all he had. His refusal was angering her and further blinding her attacks. When Teia made her last, desperate swing, even Aoi could feel the pent up frustration in her blade.

All throughout the fight, Hiruzen was calmly trying to give Galateia advice, praising her where she excelled and condemning her attitude. When Teia was finally exhausted, she stabbed her sword into the ground, using it as a brace and desperately held on while she poured her heart out. Then, she started to cry. Aoi had never seen Teia cry before. He had always seen her as this strong if dumb girl who was always moving forward in life. Yet now, she was so weak, so vulnerable. For a moment, she nearly fell, but there was still some spark in Teia that kept her standing. She wanted an answer from Hiruzen and he gave one. His first words however, sparked a burning rage in Aoi, even more than what he had felt back in the town. The villagers had talked behind her back, but he was kicking her while she was down. Personally, Aoi had no concept of honour, but if it meant so much to Teia, he had no right to disgrace her like this. He wanted to hurt this man, freeze his flesh and shatter him over the ground.

It was when Hiruzen uttered the word 'children' that Aoi snapped back to his senses. His hands had unconsciously going through handseals and was but a moment from unleashing an attack of his own. "No, calm down. You don't have a chance against this man. Right now he has no intention of killing, do not entice him." Exhaling quietly, Aoi relaxed his hands. "He must have known of my presence from the start of the fight, but when did he first learn of it? Back in town? No, not possible. There was too much distance and too many people. It must have been during the walk. I was careless." Even without fighting himself, Aoi was faced with his own weakness. Since leaving Kirigakure, he had not once worked on further training himself. Before now, strength was never something he needed nor wanted. Yet now, seeing Galateia as she was, Aoi found a reason to have strength. Strength to help her when she could not help herself. Strength to support her. Strength enough that she would call him friend.

Stepping out from behind the boulder, Aoi pulled his hat down over his face. Concealing his identity was rather pointless considering this man would not know him. It was to hide the small amount of range that still burned in his blue eyes. Oddly enough, Aoi was not floating, but walking towards the two with his hands in his pockets. Using his Fairy Wings jutsu was not a good option right now. He needed his full concentration in case things got out of hand and he needed to make a speedy retreat. Silently, he stood several meters away from Hiruzen and behind Galateia. In the worse case scenario, he could use his puppetry strings to grab Teia and pull her away before creating a distraction so they could escape.

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Posts : 65

Listening to what Hiruzen had to say, Galateia couldn’t say she understood him. He claimed to have agreed with her fighting him but never having meant to fight back. Why would one do that? Why would one just make another person fight them without responding in any way, the girl just couldn’t understand that. He suggested that perhaps her attempt to fight him was due to her inexperience and lack of knowledge of his name. The girl wanted to tell him that he was wrong, she knew EXACTLY how outmatched she was, that was the point. She just wanted to fight a strong opponent and she would have fought God of War himself if she had to. Just like she kept fighting her father as a child, despite the man showing her no mercy or recognition.

Galateia wanted to keep talking but she just couldn’t, she had no strength left to talk. All she could do was to keep holding to her sword and breathe. In a way she was forced to listen Hiruzen belittle everything she stood for. Part of the warrior just wanted to stand up and keep going, even the most optimistic and ignorant parts of the girl’s brain told her that was impossible. She just kept gripping that blade and would continue to do so until she felt like she could move again.

“He’s nothing like that old man… He is much more like my father than Tsume… He follows no code at all, he’s just like all ninja.”

Galateia realized after seeing his crimson eyes of Sharingan. So far the girl had only been utterly defeated by two people in her life: thousands of times by her father who kept leaving the girl in worse and worse condition each day trying to beat and stab her “Heart of Sword” out of her and old man Tsume who used to be a samurai protecting the Daimyo in his youth. The two men were both powerful but each used their power in different ways. How could one wielding a katana like Hiruzen be so oblivious to bushido? It didn’t matter.

Contrary to her fight with Tsume, despite the outcome being the same, Galateia didn’t want to grow stronger and challenge Hiruzen again. A man who sees honor as something he himself defines is no better than a bandit challenging her to a battle with his entire group and calling it “honor”. If a man could decide when his honor was lost no man’s honor would be lost. Every cutthroat and every bandit would be the definitions of honor in their own eyes. Galateia didn’t want to fight a man like Hiruzen again unless she was defending her own ideals, there was no fun to be had in fighting a man who defines his own honor.

It was quite amazing what willpower could achieve. Galateia actually now challenged her body to remain conscious, just because Hiruzen told her to sleep. She wanted to prove to herself that a man who knows nothing of “Heart of Sword” has nothing to teach her and is no master of hers. The girl kept focused at the small puddle of her own blood and tears on the ground with an occasional drop falling down and increasing it. What a pathetic fight, she didn’t even get close to dying, a wound like the cut on her forehead will heal in one or two days with barely a scar remaining after a week. Months from now who knows, maybe no memory of this battle will remain… A waste of a powerful opponent like Hiruzen…

The girl could hear the grass rustling, it must’ve been Aoi behind her. She completely forgot that the boy even existed, but why wasn’t he floating? Did the Jiangshi lose his wings? Galateia managed to speak up again, her voice was weaker and softer than previously but at least she could once again talk. “Sorry, Aoi, I think I lost… Oh well… I’m glad you didn’t interfere though, thank you for letting me enjoy it for a while. I’ll be hanging around for just an hour longer, then I’ll try to catch us some food… Just let me catch my breath again… I hope that spirits didn’t take your wings because of me, don’t worry, you’ll fly and eat flesh like a good Jiangshi again soon, I promise… Even if I have to beat down God of Death himself.”

Galateia finally decided to stand up, she tightened her grip and pushed her body forward but the sheer weight of her own body was too much on her tired muscles so the girl just fell on her butt and remained sitting. It appeared as if she was stuck this way for a while. She had to regain her strength soon though, what if she will regain her desire to fight tomorrow and won’t be in top shape? The girl tried to grab her sword and pull it out of the ground but it didn’t budge. This reminded Teia so much of every time her father beat her around and she was too broken and beaten to do things, like unable to clean her own room from all of her blood because she couldn’t see properly over the swelling in her eye…

“Do we still have something to drink?” Galateia asked turning back at Aoi, drinking something usually helped her with her mood and her strength, she didn’t expect any miracles but at least she wanted to get back at it. She had to get back at fighting strength for the next time someone will wish to cash in on her head or when she will get hungry and will need to kill an animal. Passing out must’ve been the better option… Knowing she was so weak and powerless at the moment and having to deal with all the pain and exhaustion in her body felt disgusting.

Every couple of moments the girl checked if her hands recovered enough to pull the sword out yet but it probably won’t be until at least an hour or two later that she can even stand properly. Teia’s been beaten even worse before, she just about had a warrior instinct about those things. Still, most of her beatings came in the form of actual beatings, not being worn off her feet…

Age : 32 Posts : 1178

Just as he had sensed, it did not take long before a young boy stepped into the fray after he had called them children. Without a doubt, the boy had figured out that he had already been found out so there was really no point in hiding anymore. Looking on to see how the boy seemed to spark something in the girl, she spoke to him like he was some kind of inhuman being. Refusing to go down, Hiruzen felt like knocking the kid out cold, though he figured such an action would not make them all that happy. In his opinion, it would have been for the best if the kid just took a nap already in order to regain her chakra, but if she wanted to continue being stubborn and foolish, than that was on her. Shrugging his throat, he deactivated his Sharingan now that his point had been made. He could tell that the kid did not understand what he was trying to tell her, though that was to be expected from her. After all, there was nothing so stupid, ignorant and foolish as a child. Though people always believed children were sweet and refreshing because of their honesty, Hiruzen could not be bothered with them because they never knew when to give up and let things rest. When they got old enough to reach his age without dying, they would come to realize that something like honor was not decided by one person but by themselves. Almost everyone ranging from a cutthroat to a bandit had their own code they lived by and decided on for themselves.

Those that went through life without honor were what he considered to be trash, just like the people that believed that they could decide when someone lost their honor because they did something they personally did not enjoy. It was not the way the world worked, even though many of the people that held seats of power in the world believe that it did. Hiruzen hated it when people had that attitude that made them believe they had the right to decide what kind of code people should live by while claiming every other way was wrong by default. Not wishing to spend another moment with people so childish and ignorant, Hiruzen picked up his groceries and put his coat back on before leaving without saying a word. At first, he had wanted to help these kids get better so their chances of survival might rise. Right now, he could not care less if they were both incinerated where they stood. Though it might seem cruel when one considered the fact that he had not even spoken to the other kid yet, he could tell by the look in his eyes that he would back up the girl no matter what he said. As such, things would only get worse if he chose to stay around. Seeing as the girl had already started ignoring him by treating the situation like he had gone up in smoke, chances were that they would just piss him off and make an enemy out of him. Right now, he decided to just ignore their presence as opposed to taking offense to the way he was being treated.

They had come to him with a request that he had answered with kindness. He had allowed the girl to fight him as had been requested and he had even shown great levels of restraint so as to not physically harm the girl. The pain inflicted upon her both physically and mentally had been caused by her hand, though from the looks he was getting by both the boy and the girl, he could tell that they blamed him for it none the less. It was because of encounters like these that Hiruzen had chosen to leave the Hidden Cloud village in order to become a wanderer. From what he had seen, humanity in itself was nothing more than trash with only a select few being able to rise above it and become something better. Having met only a few people that could go on without judging or imposing their will on others, Hiruzen knew that it was by far the best decision to stick to his own company and nothing else. When he was on his own, he would not be judged by anyone other than himself, which was exactly how things were supposed to be. Taking his groceries back home, it was about time for him to start cooking and rationing his food for the coming three days. Shrugging off the encounter with the kids as just another bad day, he would spend the rest of his day cooking and studying in his room. If today had done anything for him, it had reminded him of why he should not try to help people unless he could benefit from it. Leaving the kids behind them, he hoped that he would not run into them again.

Exit Thread

Posts : 45

For a moment, Aoi allowed himself to look Hiruzen in the eyes. What he saw was the sinister red glare of the Sharingan. "The Sharingan. It's a good thing he didn't fight back." Aoi had been given some information when he was younger regarding the more prominent clans in the world, the Uchiha among them. Their calling card was the Sharingan. Piercing blood red eyes with multiple tomoe-like irises orbiting the center. The extent of their abilities were unknown to him as all clans had their secrets, but the Uchiha were one of the clans he was taught to exercise extreme caution against. Pulling his hat back down, he looked back to Galateia as she struggled to stay on her feet. She had been grateful that he had not interfered with her fight. Even when she was so thoroughly defeated, she had somehow still found a bit of enjoyment from it. Hiruzen did not stick around much longer. He simply turned to pick up his bags and wandered off into the trees.

Somehow, Teia found some last reserve of strength and tried to stand upright. Her body however, could not support her anymore and she fell to the ground but at least managed to remain sitting. When she asked for a drink Aoi was able to produce a jug of water. It wasn't anything special, just something he carried around for rations. He walked over and gently placed it by Teia's side. As he stood, Aoi patted Teia on her shoulder. "You rest up, I'll do the hunting today." With that, Aoi flipped through his hand seals and began floating once again. Moving off into the trees, he began searching for a meal. He hoped to find a deer or two, they could take off their share and hopefully pawn whatever was left back to the town. If not, perhaps turn it into jerky and take it on the road. According to Teia, she hoped to be on her feet again within an hour, that was Aoi's timeline. Once she could walk again, there was no way that girl would stay in once spot. He had to get back before she got another one of her urges and ran off again looking for another fight.

It took a good twenty minutes before Aoi was able to pick an animal trail. Likely Teia's screaming and attacks had scared off any wildlife that had been nearby. Whatever had come through here had been a good size. The bushes in this area had been trampled through, his theory of a spooked animal was looking more accurate. Following the trail was rather simple. By floating above it, he could clearly see the trail the animal had left behind. After another ten minutes, he spotted his prey. Two bucks grazing near a small pond. "Let's make this quick." Gently lowering himself to the ground, Aoi raised his hands as strings of chakra began to grow from his fingertips. These strings moved towards the pouch on his back and removed six kunai and four shuriken. Cutting that in half, it was three kunai and two shuriken per buck. He needed a killing blow form the start, otherwise his prey would easily escape him.

With his weapons floating above his head, Aoi took aim and with a flick of his wrist, the weapons fired. The first volley hit the buck right in the neck, the shuriken slicing deep through the flesh and it fell to the ground with barely a yelp. The second one was not as lucky. Being slightly further back, it was able to react to its brethren falling but unable to avoid the hit. The weapons struck deep into its left front leg. The buck attempted to run, but with only three legs it quickly fell to the ground and struggled to escape.

Emerging from his hiding place, Aoi approached the struggling deer and pulled back on his chakra strings, removing the weapons from the dead deer. He pulled one into his hand while allowing the rest to fall to the ground. With that last kunai, he raised it and threw it into the back of the deer's skull. In an instant, the beast seized up and fell limp. Gathering up his weapons, he used some nearby leaves to wipe off the blood so as to prevent rusting before returning them to the kit. Now he just had to bring these deer back to Teia. Unlike the swordswoman, Aoi did not have the physical strength to lift these creatures and carry them back. His only choice was a rather sadistic one. Forming the chakra strings again, Aoi attached them to the dead beasts limbs and back, pulling them onto their feet. He was then able to march them forward. They continued to bleed with each step, leaving quite the mess as the match continued but it was the only way.

It would have taken about twenty minutes to return to the clearing. There, he marched the deer into the open before releasing his strings and letting them fall limp on the ground. Emerging from the trees himself, he hoped Teia was still there. If she was, he would nod to her and say "I brought dinner. If you're strong enough, could you clean it while I start the fire?". Aoi would then begin snapping off branches from the nearest tree to use as kindling.

Once the fire was going and the two had their fill of meat, the two could be on their way. Whether they returned to the village or simply remained on the spot for the night would be up to Galateia. If she was able to move on her own and if she even wanted to. Either way, she was not shaking him off tonight.

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Jutsu Used:

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Chakra Remaining: 58/70

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[Exit]

Posts : 65

Luckily for Galateia, Aoi indeed did have some water to drink and placed the jug near her. He also suggested that she rested up and that he’ll take care of the food which made the girl feel weird. Why would he do that? Why would he give her food that he had hunted? It was entirely different when Galateia hunted the food and Aoi ate with her – she just couldn’t handle the entire animal by herself so she let the boy fill up his gut rations too. Jiangshi had to fill up on guts to stay healthy after all…

Galateia lifted her knee up just to support her elbow, which in terms supported her head that weighed down due to her painful and tired neck. She lost. She lost to a man that she disagreed with. Did that mean she was wrong? Did that mean that her entire life, her code of honor, her way of approaching things was wrong? It was easy losing to someone like Tsume, someone who shared her views but stronger. How could one lose to someone different than they were and remain intact?

The warrior finally started to feel her tired legs again, she rubbed the thigh that still felt numb and wiped her tears away. It was just the same as it was losing to Father. Every day the girl used to challenge her father trying to prove to him that her “Heart of Sword” was a great way of life and every time she was stabbed in the back and left to die. The man defended the same ninja lifestyle without honor and code that Hiruzen seemingly upheld, they were both ninja, they were both nothing more than glorified flashy cutthroats.

The girl was not one to take losing lightly. She was already working with finding a way to counter a technique of her another rival. Hiruzen didn’t feel like her rival, he was similar to Aoi in a way, Galateia acknowledged their strength but she didn’t feel like fighting them – it just wasn’t fun. Why should she deal with spirit magic fighting Aoi, why should she deal with Hiruzen’s self-defined honor code when fighting him? Fights like that provided no enjoyment, the man himself looked rather sad and depressed about fighting and dealing with her in general which was odd.

There were things about the Uchiha she could not understand. He was strong but he didn’t enjoy fighting, what was the point of acquiring power then? Why did he fight if he didn’t like it? Why did he feel like he was the one defining honor, what gave him the power to decide over what was fair and what wasn’t? He didn’t really act like a cheater so Galateia didn’t hate him and wasn’t angry at him, she just didn’t understand that man and it made her even more confused than anything else in her life did.

It was about then that Aoi returned with some dead meat, asking if the girl had enough strength to tend to it before he got the fire ready. Galateia nodded as she took up the meat and started skinning it and removing weird tasting areas like ones with too much fat leaving only the tastiest parts of the muscle intact. While the girl helped Aoi prepare the food she did not eat, she just couldn’t. This wasn’t her food to eat. This boy caught it, if he wanted to sell it tomorrow then so it would have been. Galateia just grinned with an embarrassed expression on her face.

“I’m sorry, I drank all the water… You can sell some of the meat and buy some tomorrow. I’ll be walking tomorrow, I promise, if anyone tries to kill us, I’ll fight them, I call dibs.” Galateia actually regained her ability to stand and staggered to a tree slightly further away from the fire, just like she did every night, the girl sat by the tree, curled her arms around her chest and relaxed trying to get some sleep. Losing did hurt both her pride and her feelings, Galateia was really competitive and losing to anyone meant a great deal to her. It was even worse knowing that this defeat was probably definitive, she will not rematch Hiruzen because fighting him is just not fun anymore. He is strong but he doesn’t fight back or enjoys fighting, he refuses to fight his opponents for real stealing them of something he promised to them by agreeing to fight them in the first place.

Losing hurt…

[EXIT]