The Long Road [Solo]

Another day in the Village Hidden in the Clouds. And honestly it seemed as if Akira was fitting in rather well. He still lived in the temple which had been cleaned up before he occupied it and he had actually become a fully fledged Kumogakure Jounin. Flak Jacket, headband - everything. The band around his arm showing his allegiance to this village. Something he felt rarely proud to show but he figured in this case that it was worth it. 

He remembered seeing something however. Something in the basement of the temple. The doors were locked and he didn't have the courage to go and explore it entirely. But for some reason, some strange essence - a strange energy if you will, drew him in. It was a very very familiar energy. Not neccessarily a bright one, nor a sinister one. More of a complete void in terms of energy.

Not really remembering of what this sort of aura reminded him of. Akira got out of bed and vowed to see what was below the temple itself via one of the hidden paths in the temple. Seemed as if that part of the temple was hidden to people and was only known by the members of whatever clan inhabited this structure. 

He knew he could recognize this clan sigil. But he couldn't recall for the life of him which clan wore it. But it felt as if it hit close to home. He remembered that this place was an old clan shrine but he wondered what this sepulcher had within it. As he had heard voices emanating from it ever since he started living here. Obviously, dead shit isn't supposed to talk to you but the way voices so eerily emanated from the depths couldn't help but cause a stir within Akira's curiosity. 

Making his way downstairs he figured he'd start the day by preparing himself some breakfast. Knowing Akira's gargantuan appetite. He wondered what on earth he was gonna make. It would've been tough to decide at this point since he had recently done some shopping at the store. He had the choice of grilled mackerel, onigiri rice balls or perhaps even some good old fashioned pancakes. Miso soup was also a very nutritious way to start one's day. He usually just went out and paid to eat his food but Akira was a good chef so he figured he'd try making his own hearty breakfast.

Stepping into the kitchen he immediately fired up the rice cooker. The grill and started to pull out all the essentials for pancakes. Seemed as if this morning Akira wasn't skipping any calories. He wanted to accomplish something truly special. And for that a good energizing breakfast was essential as otherwise he wouldn't be able to keep up the entire morning. He had gotten a decent night's sleep after making sure Coco got home safely the day before. A very strange story involving cats. And he may have felt the slightest bit of a crush forming for the Rain Village woman he had met. But he dismissed it, of course it wasn't a crush. It was just a bunch of strategic bits of flattery! Oh what was he saying, he thought he was cute. And his face couldn't help but flush a light shade of pink as he finally admitted defeat to his feelings. It was a little crush he was sure. But it'd pass he thought. Who knew perhaps they wouldn't even see eachother afterwards. She didn't mention anything about it, so.

Oh crap he found himself daydreaming about her! He quickly snapped himself out of it and focused on his food...His food! He could smell burning pancakes as he groaned, scraping off the charred flour, egg and buttermilk mixture into the nearest bin and starting the stack again. Such a let up. He usually didn't mess up too often in the kitchen but he wasn't going to let the slightest female-induced distraction stop him from cooking up a fine morningmeal. Best believe he was going to take that shit into strike and dish up the fattest breakfast ever devised by one man.

His arms a flurry as he seemed to manipulate different appliances at once. The hotplate to cook the pancakes, a griddle to grill the salmon. And a rice cooker to cook the rice, quickly stuffing them with fresh salmon and rolling them into little balls. Using the most of his ninja abilities to get the cooking done as quickly and efficiently as possible. He then served a massive stack of pancakes on a plate, throwing a small tab of butter on top of it and dousing the whole thing in maple syrup. Before placing his grilled mackeral on some steamed rice and greens. And there he had it, breakfast. He was quite pleased with his culinary skills at this point. And now it was time to eat. And at this point it looked more like a discovery channel section than a clean, refreshing breakfast. There was no taking it slow here. Akira wharfed down the bulk of his food with massive forkfuls of pancake along with chopsticks deftly picking up grilled fish and rice, cramming it whole into his mouth. While there seemed to be about enough food to feed 5 people on this table. But this was just your standard breakfast for this man. The Shinkou Clan's saviour. The man who will rise up and lead the clan one day.


But right now this man was fully immersed in the joys of his breakfast. He was going absolutely ham on it and in the space of about 4 minutes the gargantuan platter of food was done. He felt very satisfied indeed, slugging down a glass of chocolate milk before heading to the bathroom. Funnily enough this place had both a bath 'room' and a bath 'house', unsure why but it was likely for privacy's sake. He quickly undressed himself and got the shower running, giving himself a quick wash to wake him up. Especially after an absolutely gargantuan breakfast.

Stepping out of the shower he started to dry himself off. So what was he gonna get up to today? He didn't really know, but he figured he should probably just learn a new technique like pretty much everyone else does when they train. But he had absolutely no clue on what he wanted to learn. But he really wanted to learn something involving his bloodline or clan element. Something that would get him closer to achieving his goal of becoming leader of the Shinkou clan. But where was he going to learn them from? His father had only left so many things behind for him to learn with. A bunch of scrolls, diaries, books and what not. His father could be considered a sort of 'jutsu engineer' with his immense chakra and knowledge of manipulating that energy to form devastating techniques.

He needed to get in contact with someone, or something in order to get a glimpse of what he could learn and how he would go about learning it. But what? Or who? He had absolutely no idea. But it was then. The voice returned. "A...Kira..." He could hear it whisper to him. And he wasn't going insane yet, it felt distant, but if one focused their hearing enough, they'd hear it. And by this point he was really interested. But first the dishes had to be done...Or maybe not? He only needed to explore, he'd only take an hour at most, right? He would never get lost for that long. 

So he got up, he was already dressed in his ninja attire, with his katana sheathed just slightly above his hip. It was pretty long, at over 3 feet it was pretty much your standard sized katana. Only it seemed to be of a completely different nature to any other Katana made, as if it was infused with some sort of mysterious energy. And it was. This was Hazama Shinkou's sword, a man who was said to be one of the Shinkou's most powerful warriors. Unfortunately Akira didn't know much about him apart from his shrine. Apparently he was in a battle in the location where the shrine was, or something like that anyway. That was all he really gathered from reading whatever literature he could scavange while at the temple he currently lived at. Funny that they didn't have much info on him even though, y'know. It was kinda HIS shrine. He actually saw it as pretty disrespectful. Especially to someone whom Akira assumed was his ancestor. He didn't see any other possible way he'd be able to obtain one of his swords other than some form of inheritance thing. Seemed to make sense to him anyway.

He quickly made his way towards the sepulcher. Which seemed to have a chain and lock around the door, along with a few...spell tags on them. Funny, you'd only put those on something cursed. Suddenly the thoughts of "This is perhaps not a good idea." started to ricochet through his head. But nah, he was gonna man up, and with one swift slash of his Katana, the lock and chain snapped right off the door, Yuumei-infused Titanium slicing through the cast-iron like a hot knife through butter. Especially with the aid of a serrated blade. Very slightly serrated in any case, just to make sure the blade caused as much damage when slashing a target, also to make the mold of any wind infusion techs look like a sawblade rather than a standard, pointed shape. He loved this sword, and had it ever since the sword was taller than him. 

He then pushed open the door to the sepulchur. Yet he couldn't see anything apart from the dome shaped tomb that was inside, which he assumed contained Hazama Shinkou's remains. But what was odd was a plaque on the dome, which had a handprint carved into it. Almost inviting the touch, and Akira was not a man to resist temptations. But once he placed his hand on that carving he got the shock of his life as a spectral figure appeared, wearing what looked like ancestral armor, with a helmet. This man was Hazama Shinkou, the blue (although he couldn't tell since he was a ghost) armor and the many swords. It was him. "What the fuck?" Akira exclaimed at whoever the hell just appeared. "What the hell are you looking at kid? Never seen a ghost before?" The spectre angrily questioned. "Well...No, actually..." Akira responded somewhat meekly, how did one talk to their ancestors anyway, but he assumed it was respectfully in any case so he wasn't gonna muck about, he might be a ghost but he wasn't sure what he could do. "Oh..." The ghost responded. "Well, here I am then, get used to it!" The ghost snapped at him, Hazama seemed to have quite the attitude. "Who are you anyway, invadin' my tomb and shit?" He questioned. "Uh...Akira. Akira Shinkou." He gave the correct answer. "Akira...You're Kawada's son huh!" He recalled. "Kawada?..." Akira repeated, unsure of the name. "Oh god." Hazama groaned. "Kawada. Kawada Shinkou, YOUR DAD." Hazama continued. "That was his name?" Akira asked. "YES." He replied. "And I'm basically your granddad. Greetings." Hazama spoke with a grin. "You also have Moshin. I see." He spoke, pointing to the sword. "Oh...The sword. Yeah I got it. Only thing I can remember really." Akira spoke bluntly. "Yeah, I don't know what happened on your end, whether your parents are dead or not. I wouldn't know anyway cause I'm not at peace yet, hence why I'm a ghost." Hazama clarified. Stroking a lock of hair away from his eyepatch. "I had to pass something onto my ancestor. And here you are. Been waitin for ya. Just about 18 years!" Hazama spoke with a smirk. "WHICH MEANS YA LATE YOU FOOL!!" He cussed, giving Akira a swift karate chop to the head, which he felt. "Owwww!!" He groaned. This ghost was not messing around it seemed.

"Alright. So. I'm going to teach you something. A jutsu. One of the clan's most powerful ones, can't let my grandson lose out to the rest of the Shinkou rabble, eh?" He said. "This jutsu, plus a load of other stuff I gotta teach you will one day make you strong. Shit, you might even surpass me." He grinned. "You even look a lot like me, your mother would be disappointed!"

He chuckled, seeing his grandson brought him more joy than his old dead soul would've liked to admit. Seems his spectral form didn't take the shape of an old man however, instead it was the Hazama in his prime, late twenties with armor, swords and eyepatch. "So, Oji-chan, how did I end up in Iwa?" Akira asked. "Ah, I can answer that. Basically you got adopted. You'd like to think you were born in Iwa huh? Nah, your mother was from there however. But your father and me? Kumogakure no Sato through and through!" Hazama explained. "Yeah but. Why was I put up for adoption?" He asked solemnly. "Ugh. I didn't plan for it to be an intervention. Look, the River family promised you a nice home. Before this shrine was born the Shinkou had hardly any footing in Kumo, the plan was that you'd go to Iwa, be raised by a rich family. And come back to be the saviour of the clan. Stupid huh?" Hazama scoffed. 

"Yeah...You're telling me..." Akira whimpered. "So where are my parents?" He asked. "Can't say. It's not that I don't want to, but I literally have no clue. Last thing I heard they went to the Abyss Village. You've been there right?" Hazama asked. "...No?..." Akira responded cluelessly, an immediate courtesy of Hazama arrived in due time straight afterwards. "You're a Shinkou...And you haven't been to the Abyss village!?" He roared.

"Not as if you left anything behind for me to find it!" Akira shouted back, taming Hazama only slightly. "Yeah...You're right. I sorta  ghosted off I guess. (haha.)"

"But that doesn't matter now! You'll go once you get stronger. As there's a throne you need to take. To honor this family and this branch of the Shinkou clan!" He spoke motivatingly. "So there's others!?" He asked. "Yeah. I can't remember where but last time I checked a lot of them were in Tengakure." He responded, floating to the ground to walk on his feet.

"So. Akira-chan. Have you heard about the Inhaling Maw technique?" Hazama questioned. "Inhaling...Maw?..." He tutted, trying to remember exactly what that was. He definitely remembered hearing the name before...Ah! "That was the jutsu Hiruko used to attempt to destroy Konoha, right?" He quoted straight from a history lesson. "I don't like the fact you used an outsider as an example but...Yes. That technique was taken from a Shinkou clan member. I however, know the jutsu." He gloated, giving Akira a good glance of the markings on his hands that allowed him to absorb and fire out chakra. "It's one of the most powerful techniques this clan has. And today, you're gonna learn it. But not here..." Hazama spoke, his eyes shifting side to side. "Then where!?" Akira pushed, determined to see how he'd learn a technique of such power and magnitude. It surely wouldn't come easy to him. "Akira, look into my eyes." Hazama merely directed, and he did. His eyes then started to glow a deep shade of blue, and with that. Akira was placed within a Genjutsu.

Everything was pitch black. With absolute silence. Not even white noise, it felt as if he was sleeping, his body lifeless, nothing appearing. It felt like this for hours, but in his current state he could not complain. But he gradually began to hear voices. Voices, people talking? No...Louder, less pronounced. No...No! These were people screaming! 

Akira woke up, but he was not in the shrine. He was...Well...Where was he? He knew he was sitting in grass, wearing...Armor? Weird, he didn't have armor on when he came in here? Not this kind of armor anyway, the armor he had on came with a full helmet and everything. With relief, he still had his sword, and his consciousness. Everything felt realistic. The blades of grass on his fingertips, the dew of the grass on the back of his neck. "Akira! AKIRA! No time to take a nap!" A familiar voice boomed, and it was Hazama. This time in the flesh, canning his spectral appearance. "Ojichan! Where are we!?" He asked. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHERE ARE WE!? THIS IS THE ABYSS VILLAGE!" He spoke, looking around, this place looked as if it was built on the side of a cliff. He could also hear roaring. What was that coming from? "C'mon! No time!" Hazama merely urged. "Help me get this god damned gate open!" He ordered, as he was seen trying to kick down a wooden gate which had burning villagers inside it. "Akira! On 3! Slice the door! 1! 2! 3!" He hollered, Akira slicing the door on 3, they both had the exact same sword, only Hazama's looked a lot less battered and the wooden sheath had worn out a lot less. "So what's going on!?" Akira shouted as he helped the people out of the burning building. "Fucking attacks! Clansmen!" He answered, seems as if...Hold on! This must've been during a Shinobi World War! 

"Igloo nin!" Hazama noted. Pointing to a group of rather heavily dressed individuals with all sorts of weapons from spears to harpoon guns. Very strange. "We have to fight!" Hazama clarified, unsheathing another 2 swords and holding them in one hand. Almost akin to a claw. Akira hadn't seen this sort of Kenjutsu before. But it was Hazama's way it seems. He charged the Igloo nin and at the same time so did Akira, delivering a swift slash to the abdomen of one of their ninja as well as a second to decapitate one of the shinobi attempting to flank him, his head falling clean off with the blade's sharpness. Despite it being slightly jagged it could easily cut a bullet or even a human hair in two. So it had no issue slicing through the flesh, veins and bone of the man's neck. His head dropped to the floor and rolled away. into the undergrowth. Akira had gotten good at kenjutsu rather quickly, and even found himself able to engage multiple enemies at once. That was always good training. 

Nonetheless Hazama quickly unsheathed a second sword and stabbed two shinobi at once, before spinning around to bisect another in a scissor-like slash, carving the man clean in two. Before he shouted. "Twin Dragon Cyclone!!" And with that he slashed both of his katanas forward, producing a series of lightning-infused chakra blades which shredded any nin it came into contact with into ribbons. Hazama was really quite powerful. His eyes certainly recognizeable. They were like his own, only at the same time. very, very different. As if he had managed to transcent the Meigan stage that Akira was on. Hazama seemed to be what the Shinkou were truly capable of as ninja. His eyes deepened to a dark shade of red. Putting some of the Igloo nin into a powerful genjutsu which judging by the screams they emitted, was a very powerful and torturous one. Hazama went through them all one by one however, killing about 10 of them and so quickly too, using only two swords he was able to cause this much carnage on the battlefield. 

"Ryujin Flash!" He hollered, making one powerful slash which cut down dozens of trees as it went past, literally killing a mob of ninjas attempting to ambush their position. Akira felt kind of useless here since he was just picking off everyone who even came close to posing a threat to them. But it seemed that's just how good he was at protecting people, something Akira also wanted to do so he felt he could relate to his now-deceased grandfather in that respect. He wanted to protect his clan, in fact that was the reason his soul was not put to rest. Because he did not want his direct descendant and grandson Akira to navigate this cruel, treacherous road unguided. And he was going to help him obtain a jutsu of serious power. The Inhaling Maw technique. Speaking of which, he was unsure how exactly he was going to learn it in the middle of a battle. A very strange place to be learning a technique which he figured required an awful lot of practice. But it wasn't his choice that he ended up here. He was whisked over here by simply looking into the eyes of Hazama's ghost.

"Ojichan! Where are we going!?" Akira hollered over the sounds of battle, the general orchestra of death, flying metal and bloodcurdling screams of anguish. Seemed as if that was the order of the day here. "We're headed to the Sacred Shrine! You've gotta hold an artefact!" He spoke, strange way to obtain a jutsu but he couldn't really say no as that seemed to be the only way that he'd actually be able to learn the jutsu. So off to the shrine it was it seemed. Akira cut through a bunch of ninja in his path before forming a bunch of one-handed seals. "RAITON!! KAMI TOKKOU!!!!" He hollered, firing an incredibly powerful bolt of lightning which pretty much skewered about 5 or six Igloo-nin dressed in white. The precise nature of the Godslayer ability meant he managed to hit all of them center mass, and since it was more of a long-range piercing jutsu it had no issues slicing right through and impaling whoever stood behind the first ninja. God he loved this sort of collateral damage. The kind which pays off by letting you kill more enemies in the process. 


Akira parried an incoming sword slash before pulling down on the man's arm and rolling over his back so he was behind him, stabbing him in his ribcage which would puncture his ribs, lungs and heart all at once. The killing blow would be easy, the tip of his blade graced the man's neck, slicing open a few major arteries, sending blood spurting in all directions. Not exactly a clean kill but one which required a lot of skill and expertise to perform. Swinging back to parry a blade coming to his left, Akira performed two quick slashes which were parried, however the swordsman on the other end seemed to be too shocked by the speed at which Akira swung the blade and didn't prepare himself for a slash at the man's legs. Cutting them clean off before he finished the job with a swift stab to the forehead. Yeah it was definitely a grim way to die by that was how it was it seemed. Besides, now that he thought about it it was very unlikely that his grandfather was still alive. Chances are he wasn't even killing real people. Infact, now that he thought about it. He definitely wasn't. Akira and Hazama cut their way through the Igloo nin until they arrived at the Sacred Shrine, a monstrous black shrine with gold trimmings. A very interesting color but good luck charms littered the place. Hazama busted the door open and sliced every Igloo-nin holding the place down with swift justice. "Akira! Put this on!" He hollered, throwing him a white mask which Akira caught instinctively with his right hand. What was this thing? It had a sort of strange dragon feel to it. With an extended muzzle, a few horns and some sharp teeth. Funny. What was also interesting was the fact that he could not see through the holes in the masks when he looked into them from the front. Nonetheless without any further hassle he placed the mask on his head and instantly everything fadd to black.

Nothing but darkness filled his surroundings. A very very strange feeling to see nothing at all despite being fully conscious, he also could not hear anything. This felt like it lasted for hours, just complete silence, he couldn't even speak it was merely just the noise of pure, deafening silence which was inside this empty void accompanying him.

Until suddenly, something faded into view. And it was a place which he distinctively remembered...Yomi... And there she was, right in front of him. Izanami. "So you've come this far, finally...Akira-kun..." She smiled, for the first time he managed to see her smile. He didn't quite know how to react, obviously he was very, very confused by all of this. Who wouldn't be? He was basically tripping balls as if he had done a few grams of mushrooms prior to walking around. Then he felt control of his body and got up. "Izanami?...What's the deal?..." He groaned, his head groaned and his vision felt fuzzy as if he was looking at white noise from a TV the entire time. A very grim feeling but Izanami was quick to respond, so he tried to get himself back in gear. "You will fight the being which will watch over you from here on out." She smiled, almost sorrow in her eyes. "I thought that was what you did..." Akira spoke meekly. "Not for much longer. I have taught you everything. Now you must meet...RYUJIN!" She hollered, the scenery changing from what was quite literally Yomi into a sort of rocky island platform surrounded by raging seas. Akira knew he was only having visions but he didn't expect the situation to change so rapidly, but here he was. Waves, actual fucking waves of water crashed into the side of the platform, soaking some of Akira's clothes. He could feel the sea...He could feel it stir...Something was within it, something waiting to present itself, and finally, he revealed himself. A large serpentine dragon with five-digit hands with small arms. Ryujin came out of the water with an earth-shattering roar which instantly summon rain clouds, which caused a violent rainstorm and intensified the already raging seas on which Akira's little platform floated on. "BEHOLD! I AM RYUJIN! OWATATSUMI! THE POWER OF THE OCEAN! NOW WHO DARES CHALLENGE ME!" He roared, his mouth barely moving when he talked, yet spoke perfect Japanese. Akira merely widened his eyes and gritted his teeth, unsheathing his sword . He wanted a challenge, he was going to get it. 

"YOU!? YOU WISH TO CHALLENGE ME!?" The dragon almost laughed, its' gargantuan size meaning that. Akira's Yuumei had reached its' most powerful point. This dragon seemed to be as large as a skyscraper. Its' maw seemingly capable of devouring entire lands. This was Ryujin, the Power of the Sea. The raging winds, the crashing waves. 

"FOOL! I WILL DECIMATE YOU!" He roared at Akira, sending a shockwave his way. Akira jumped out of the way with determination. Landing on the dragon's tail. But he was having none of it, and swatted him straight back to the platform, where he landed with a splat. He picked...or rather scraped himself off the floor, this thing was MASSIVE, how was he going to beat it!? "I am so not in the mood for this..." Akira seethed. Unsheathing the sword once again and swiftly jumping forward. The dragon reacting instantly. "LIGHTNING BURIAL!" Ryujin roared, blasting out an absolutely gargantuan ray of lightning, Akira spinning in mid air to avoid it but once it hit the platform, the entire thing exploded, sending an electrical current through the water, of which Ryujin was not harmed by. Akira meanwhile landed on a floating platform and prepared an attack. Placing his blade to the side. He had to do this, he had to channel all he had. His will, his drive and his determination all culminated to this one moment. He wasn't going to be beaten.

Owatatsumi, meanwhile decided that he didn't want some kid. Especially Hazama's descendant taking control of him. Or at least that's not how he felt, he felt more as if Akira was not yet worthy of such power.  Akira rushed forward, channelling Lightning chakra into his sword and striking Ryujin straight in the forehead. But the blade did not pierce, nor did it snap. It just sort of stopped with a "ting", Ryujin laughed and threw Akira straight off his head, sending him smashing through one of the stone platforms and into the sea. But as he fell into it with pretty much the loudest splash imaginable for a Human being. Another large stone platform raised. How was Akira going to do it? He literally saw no way. Until he looked at his palms, two faint dragon symbols were embedded into each one. Was this?...The Seal of Inhaling Maw? "NOW. I WILL ANNHILATE YOUR PATHETIC HUMAN EXISTANCE" Ryujin screeched, lolling his head back to charge up one absolutely gargantuan lightning blast. Akira looked scared, but he gritted his teeth and put his index finger and thumb of each hand together. "LIGHTNING GOD FURY" Ryujin almost screamed, forming an absolutely gigantic ray of lightning chakra several times larger than the one which destroyed the previous platform. Akira responded "MEITON! KYUKETSUKO!!!" And with that a small ball appeared between his fingers, which seemed to absorb this gargantuan ray of lightning, seemingly not taking its' gargantuan size into account. But as he absorbed it, Akira felt pain, severe, severe pain. As if he was being electrocuted from the inside out, but he could not release  the jutsu or else he'd die...But...The pain gradually turned into power. What was once electrocution became infusion, became control. Akira's eyes glowed blue as he held his sword, channeling the chakra he had just absorbed into his sword, Ryujin looked exhausted, obviously expecting the massive blast to have killed Akira, but at the same time, Ryujin gave a subtle, yet monstrous grin. He had done it. He had learned the jutsu. Akira struck forward, his blade turning into a gigantic wyvern-like chakra dragon, he then planted the blade straight into Ryujin's head. Causing him to roar in pain and also causing a gigantic explosion.

After the explosion had settled down, Ryujin sat there out of breath, seemingly in a less sinister form. "You have done it. Very well. Now gaze into my eyes. We will converse once you have rested." Ryujin spoke, activating his Meigan, two massive orb-like Meigan eyes for a dragon.

"Rest?...Huh?" Akira wondered, but by then, he had already awoken. Back in the sepulcher. "Hazama?..." Akira questioned. But he was nowhere to be seen. Akira looked at his hands, the two dragon seals were there. He had done it.

5143words

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