Feels like a coming of age [P]

Sitting amongst the foliage atop the training tower, he silently admired the presence of the wild life. Recently he had became capable of manipulating wood.. An ability that the male whom had created this garden had possessed. It was a weird feeling, really.. He felt more at peace with nature and with himself.. Perhaps he no longer felt the need to exercise his power over people to become content with whom he is. Maybe he was not a tyrant at all, but simply a boy that had been walking down a path blinding him with fog. Sitting in the middle of the garden he gazed off from the training tower, his ANBU having been dismissed for the day. A shark needs time to gather it's thoughts and truly decide which path it wished to swim down, perhaps this was one of those moments.

It may seem that Youta would spend her days here, at the training towers. That was not true, she would train in the garden at her house a lot. And still, from time to day, the Chuunin would go where it is lively, where people had the atmosphere of guts and devotion to training. She would sort of feed on that, to find the strength, she would join the flow and train with the rest of them when it was the hardest. And it would seem she had hit another dead end in her training, her attempt to rediscover Yozora's famed Flashblade technique. The idea seemed rather simple and at this point Youta was strong enough to perform it, but she lacked something else for the trick.

So having left her seclusion the girl would be in the thick of it, at the training towers. And she would not even have started her training when she would sense a familiar chakra, that of Xyxer's. Youta would pinpoint it to the top of the nearby tower. This seems somewhat familiar, but not nostalgic. The last time she had encountered Xyxer here, she in the fields below and him at the top of the tower, he had injured her to the brink of death. But this time would be different, hopefully. Looking down into the tower's shadow she would enter the door inside and find her way up to the top. There she would find something unexpected. She had not been on the top of this specific tower, it would seem, or else she would have remembered. On the top was a garden with grass and all kinds of flowers, bushes and trees. There were wooden tables and stools and even a small pool that was etched into the roof with wood. Walking past hanging vines Youta would start looking for Xyxer.

Not exactly disguising his exact location, Xyxer was teeming on the edge of the roof with the river flowing behind him, or whatever weird thing Rin had forged. Gazing through the hedges to admire his small kingdom, he almost felt sorry when he realised what he would have to do in order to maintain his own sanity. However, he had noticed a peculiar figure.. the one of Youta entering the bottom of the tower and then leading all the way up via her chakra. For a man that had once crippled her and threatened to remove her hands in public, she certainly seemed to have grown a liking or curiosity for Xyxer. Regardless, when he heard her soft footsteps on the frosty grass, he lifted one hand up to allow his location to be found whilst speaking, "Hail, Youta. What brings you up to these parts? To admire the view as well, no?"

Making soft steps on the grass of the mysterious roof garden, Youta would spot Xyxer as he greeted her and asked what brought her up here. Taking a moment to look around she would note to herself that the view he mentioned was indeed something. She would not come all the way up here all that much, so had rather forgotten how the village looks from above. And being above most of it, yet between trees and vines, in ambient of water flowing, it was a unique atmosphere. "Not really, though I have to admit the view is something." She would say, taking the moment in. Then she would continue "No, I came here because I sensed you. I wanted to talk to you about Yozora. You knew her, right? I wonder if you had fought with her side by side, if there were any tricks you may have picked up. I am trying to learn her style in hopes of carrying her legacy, but I seem to have hit a dead end." All of it would be true and she really did hope that Xyxer may have noticed some detail that would allow Youta to move on. Youta trusted the Kage, despite their previous conflicts and it may all have been true, but it was not honest, for some reason. This Youta would not notice herself as it was buried deeper than her conscious mind could reach at that moment.

"I once stood atop the walls of Tengakure, ready to face impending doom with her by my side. You could say we were allies, heck.. perhaps even friends. I did allow her to use a power only known to me, after all." As he spoke, he slid his hand down into the front pocket of his loose pants, made so that he could hide the movements of his muscles inside of his clothes, and revealed a small book. Of course, this would easily be recognisable to the girl if she was as infatuated with Yozora as she claimed to be. It was of course, the Bladedancer book. Xyxer was quite a leech, you could say.. He learned the techniques of others and thrived where they never could. Of course, the early death of Yozora was the reason why Xyxer was currently the most accomplished fighter of this style, perhaps this girl was to be the one that changed all of that.. Regardless, he tapped the book and spoke briefly, putting it down by his side on a piece of the granite that remained of the roof, warmed by his mere presence and chakra as to preserve the books condition. "I am the demon in this, you know. We indeed were good friends, and as such.. her passing came as a great shock, and indeed I could not allow her legacy to remain unknown. So yes, I do know one of her techniques.. Have you heard of Flashblade, perhaps?" Speaking of that, he revealed a piece of kit again.. A merely simple kunai fashioned with a wire around it's hilt so that he could keep a hold on it. Pausing for a few seconds so that Youta could prepare herself, he merely threw the weapon behind himself, utilising the Flashblade technique. However he understood that she would have difficulty tracking this particular movement as it was indeed, a very fast move. It would aim to go towards her forehead and poke it, however, with such finesse that the metal would merely send a cold shock throughout the body of Youta as she realised what would have happened without even blood being drawn before it was summoned back into the arsenal of Xyxer immediately. That was of course, if she could not dodge. "I assume you will wish to learn this, right? But.. Any shinobi knows that techniques are only swapped in exchanges. What can you offer me, young, wise Youta?" The Kage with the red and blue eye questioned.

145+95/2 +110 = 230 Speed

Although Yozora had not mentioned Xyxer ever to her student, it would be understandable. Being her ANBU captain, her direct boss, she was probably not even allowed to speak of him. Which is why Youta did not feel surprised to hear that they defended the village side by side. In fact, she had counted on that and hoped that the man knew something about her master's style that he would be willing to share. What did surprise her though, was when he pulled out a book that she would immediately recognize, for it was a copy of the same book she spend hours reading each day, it was her master's swordighting manual and a sort of autobiography, the Bladedancer. After revealing that he was the one Yozora labeled as the Demon in one of the fights in the book, Xyxer would then imply something that would be even more surprising. He inquired if she knew the techniques named Flashblade, which Youta knew was a backbone of the abilities Yozora explained in her book. In fact, it was a whole separate style from the Singing Blade and was something that Youta had been trying to figure out for months now.

So, with her eyes quite widened she would follow the Tenkage's movements as he took out a kunai. She expected a demonstration, based on where this was going. But she did not expect it to be thrown at her, as with a sudden blur of motion the kunai would be sent straight at her head at speeds far beyond that at which she could avoid being hit. However the cold blade would not sink into her flesh and bone, but merely touch her skin, before a wire she had not noticed earlier would pull it back into Xyxer's hand. And she realized that was the demonstration, she knew what the technique was, and even the principles on which it worked, more or less. But seeing its overwhelming speed first hand was something different. Still somewhat shocked she would hear the man speak. Of course he knew she would want to learn this and because of that he would ask what technique could she offer in return. Well, Youta had only one technique that she considered just worth putting in front. Getting out of the shock with a small cough, the Chuunin would gently put her right hand on Shigure's hilt "If you know Flashblade, then no doubt you also know about Singing Blade and its uses. This is a technique of my own design that is based on Yozora's illusionary swordplay style. It is, of course, nothing like Flashblade, but it is the best I can offer right now." After finishing those words she would unsheathe the katana she had previously gripped and with that the chakra imbued sound would flood the top of the tower. Guided at Xyxer, it would make him see a short vision in which he was immediately slashed and maimed several times, before the vision faded Youta would put the sword back in its sheathe and then explain a bit more. If she knew anything about her own technique, then it would be that Xyxer would now feel a weak, but nonetheless stinging pain inside his body, as if the damage he had taken in the vision was partially real. "The vision itself is maybe a bit terrifying at best, but it causes one to physically weaken and with repeated uses even somebody as strong as you would eventually succumb and die from the strain on their body. So how about it, worth a trade?" The girl would smile, as she put her own offer on the table.

Nodding his head at the offer, he would shake off the feeling the genjutsu ahd put him under.. When he was in pain, he became hungry. How could a man of marble sculpt himself into a god if they did not possess enough mass for it? And well.. he was pretty hungry. "I'll teach you, and I will accept your trade as long as a promise of a further jutsu is also offered. I will go fetch some dumplings, do you wish to indulge in them before and after our training, too?" He paused for asecond before dropping down from the roof and running down the wall with chakra sticking him to the surface of it. He was sure hungry.

[Exit]

Returning with flecks of blood splattered across his face, Xyxer had been gone for quite a while, he knew. But he also knew that questioning an insane man on their location was a very rude thing to do that is provokative to their inner demon. Holding a clear plastic container with five dumplings, he opened it and removed three before handing the remaining ones to Youta. "I hope I was not away too long."

It would seem Xyxer was impressed enough. He would agree to the trade, on the condition that Youta would offer one more technique later on, which she was fine with. But then he asked if she wanted any dumplings because he was going to get some and then dropped off the tower to the shops below. Youta would wait several minutes before looking over the edge. Her sensory, not her chakra vision could pick up Xyxer. Which meant, that either he left her there, or something more important came along and... he left her. Sighing somewhat frustrated the girl tried to remember as much as she could from his use of the technique. Maybe there was something to be learned from only this much training. She would take the book and look for clues, while making her way towards the exit, however as she was about to enter and take the staircase down, she would detect the man's chakra once more. He appeared on the roof again, holding a pack of dumplings, his face also partially covered in blood, a detail that Youta chose to overlook.

She would not say a word as she took he pack, only frown slightly, then note. "Well, you were gone quite a bit. I was about to leave." And though she was quite unhappy with him making her wait like that, she was relieved that she may yet learn the technique from him.

Altar was out and about, seeking the Tenkage Xyxer. Thus far, he had come up empty handed. It was strange that he couldn't find the man running the village, inside of said village. However, he had one last stop. The training towers had a garden sitting atop them, and Altar in a last ditch effort had decided to go see if Xyxer was enjoying the view. He needed to talk to the Tenkage for one specific reason. He had a mission set in his mind.

A short while back, in his near death state after jumping off the top of the towers he was now approaching, Altar had heard a very distinct voice in his head, telling him in the most riddle-induced way possible, that he was ready to fully commit to the Yuumei. The voice had given him instruction on where to go and what to do, and Altar felt it was necessary to do as such.

After reaching the top of the towers, Altar saw two people. One was Xyxer, the person he had been searching for. The next was unexpected. Youta? Altar would freeze midstep as he saw her, a million things shooting through his mind. However, he would force himself to calm down, regaining composure. He had only been shaken for about a half of a second, but it would've still been noticeable if watching him close enough.

"Xyxer, there you are. I'm not even gonna ask about who's blood is so nicely decorating your face. I need a favor, if you could spare me one." Altar would say, taking a few steps towards the pair, stopping a few meters away from them. Once within that range, Altar would turn to Youta, showing a small smile. "Hey, Youta. Good to see you"