Tales of Hoshigakure: Takeo Gaiden [Solo]

Takeo moved his body to the left. A sword that was set to cut him in two sailed past his form. He shook is head. Honestly, these guys were just the worst. Like he'd seen people that had sucked in melee combat. For real he'd seen some pretty shitty fighters during his time. These guys were the worst though. Like how they had even managed to get the drop on him in the first place he'd never know. It was probably because he was drunk. Yeah, that was likely it. Also the fact that he didn't actively check his surroundings that much anymore. A result of Hoshigakure being a lame place to be a shinobi in. Everyone was a normal person mostly, so when it came to fighting there was no one that was really fun to go up against. Takeo truly meant that. Like he'd gone up against children that were better fighters than the people he had met here. Literal five years old who could handle a sword better than these lot. Wait that came out slightly wrong. Like an actual sword, that cuts people. You people are sick.

So anyway yeah, Takeo was fighting some people while drunk. Not the first time this had happened to be honest, likely not the last either. He blamed Geraint, it was always Geraint. That mammoth of a man could drink an elephant under the table honestly. And then he'd be able to drink the elephant's weight in alcohol after that. Even then, Takeo was fairly sure that would serve to make the man buzzed. So back to the fight, yeah the fight don't forget about that. Takeo stepped backwards, a fist that was about to connect with his cheek skimming past the front of his face. He rolled his eyes. These people were slow, like super slow. The slowest of the slow. Literally the slowest people alive today. He'd never seen someone so low in a fight before. And Takeo had fought a lot of people during his time. He was pretty sure that a snail would be faster than this person who had just tried to punch him. A snail with like Parkinsons and was paralysed from the shell down. That was the type of slowness he was dealing with right about now. Of course Takeo was a fast guy, like super fast. Perhaps in another life he was known as Speedy Gonzales. That was the level of fast Takeo was. Like he could run around the world and come back before this guy finished swinging his arm. That was the speed difference between the two of them.

Now this fight should have been over in several seconds. But well...Takeo was bored. So he decided to humour both himself and the snail fighters. There were two of them. They were in their twenties, or maybe a bit below that. They were young, like they probably didn't even have hair that wasn't on their head yet. Takeo was pretty sure they probably still breastfed from their mother. Like they were that young. Or they had some sick fetish. Of course it didn't matter if they did or didn't. Takeo was not the type of person to judge people based on their sexual tastes. Nor did he judge based on their orientation. He wasn't saying that they were a bunch of homosexuals either. No he was pretty sure these blokes, did he just assume their gender? Takeo frowned. He was mentally crossing a lot of lines with these assumptions. How dare he assume the gender of the assailants.

Now Takeo should have politely inquired as to their gender before the fight had begun. But quite honestly the young man wasn't entirely bothered with it. Takeo wasn't really a chivalrous person. Suffice to say he would hit a girl. He was all about that gender quality and stuff. Heck, he'd even cut off the limbs of a young girl before. That was how much about equality Takeo was. Thinking back on it, the circumstances were quite odd.

It had been when Takeo had arrived back into Tengakure. He remembered that as he arrived back at his home, awaiting his loving family, he heard screams. Takeo had rushed forward, intent on saving his family from the people who had broke into his home. Did he mention that someone had rudely kicked his door in? Yeah what a bunch of pricks right? Like for real who in their right mind would do something like that. You literally could have knocked and nothing bad would have happened. But nooo, the person saw fit to try and kick his door down like some fucking action hero. Well it was unfortunate news for Rambo that day. Because superhero Takeo was on the case. So long story short he fucked up Haru and Youta and nearly killed the both of them. It was a dark day.

But everyone got better folks, and that's what matters in the end. So back to the current situation yes? Takeo stepped to the right. He was currently in an alleyway during the middle of the night. It was kind of hard to see, also to move around. So at least it kept things somewhat interesting. The young man smirked slightly, angling his body out of the way of the amateur swing of the sword from his foe. Moving his right hand upwards, he'd move to grip onto the sword hand of the fighter. Doing so successfully due to his superior speed he'd move in closer. The young man was surprisingly strong, that made things at least somewhat interesting. Didn't matter though, Takeo was still superior in every single way.

His right fist moved upwards, colliding against the jaw of the man. His head snapped backwards from the force, and Takeo felt his body give way. Letting go of the man's wrist, he watched as the man dropped to the floor. A one hit ko, that was pretty lame. The guy had talked a lot of smack before the fight had begun. Something about how he'd rip Takeo's head off and then do weird things to his mother. Takeo hadn't really been paying attention, so didn't know the exact details. Regardless, Takeo was very disappointed in what just happened. So much so that he took a moment to stare down at the guy in disbelief.

"Are you serious? Like come on, come the fuck oooon man. You talked so much, and this is what happens? Are you serious right now. I could get a better fight against fucking Haru than this. God you're so lame. I'm so disappointed right now. You have no idea how disappointed I am. This is like the time where I didn't get a giant ass birthday cake for my 10th birthday, or a bike. You know how much I wanted that cake? Like so muc- oh there's still one of you left."

As if on cue, the fist of the other man flew into the corner of Takeo's vision. He sighed. If only these guys weren't slow as balls then this wouldn't be such a bore. Takeo crouched down to examine the downed swordsman. As such the fist of the other brawler type guy flew overhead uselessly. "You know I'm starting to wonder if you guys are actually even trying." Takeo said with a frown, poking the man who had punched in the side of the cheek with his finger. "C'mon, wake up."

Takeo slapped his cheek slightly. The man stirred awake, looking towards him groggily. "Oh, he's up. Awesome. Get up and grab your sword I need to practice something." The man didn't quite seem to understand what he was going on about, but understood enough to register that he really wanted to cut up Takeo. The white haired shinobi hopped back a step as the man swung wildly. "Awesome, finally. Now keep very still." Takeo said, his hands moving up in front of him. Now to these two slow fellows, it would just look like his hands were a blur of motion. But to those with a sharper reaction time, they would see that Takeo was going through several different movements of the hands. Of course, normal folk still wouldn't find any meaning to this strange occurance. Now a shinobi would of course understand. Takeo was performing a set of hand seals. People who knew Takeo might be shocked. Was he really doing hand seals? Had the man ever actually used them in his entire lifetime? Truth be told, Takeo had no idea if he had or not. But recently he had taken to not using them at all. He wasn't a fan of hand seals you see, far to slow for his liking. So for what reason was he using them now? Well it's quite simple dear viewer..I mean reader. By using hand seals in order to perform this jutsu, he'd get a better handle on how to control his chakra when using said jutsu. Thus, the end result would be that Takeo would not have to use hand seals eventually when using the jutsu. Genius is it not?

So there Takeo was, performing a set of hand seals. Five to be exact, between four and six if you weren't being exact. They went as followed. Tiger, a favourite of Takeo due to it's simple nature. It allowed for quick and easy usage of jutsu due to the non-complex movement of the hands. Snake, another decent hand seal. In usage with Tiger the movement required of the hands and fingers are rather small. Speed was the name of the game here folks. The third one may surprise some people. If you guessed it was Tiger, then congratulations. Yes the fan favourite is back, Tiger was the third hand seal. The fourth was Snake also. You may have sensed a pattern here reader. Finally, this was ended up with another Tiger hand seal. Yes the fan favourite was brought in three times for a cameo. Now that's fan service people. Takeo was a crowd pleaser. As you can see the amount of effort to perform this jutsu was minimal, that was the original plan for Takeo upon creating it. While it's original usage was designed to be without hand seals, Takeo found that he was unable to perform it to a sufficient standard without using hand seals to better manipulate his chakra.

And that is why he was doing hand seals at this moment. The swordsman didn't understand, but he understood little to begin with. So he simply swung downwards with his sword towards Takeo's head. A nice simple opening move. Takeo would have approved, if not for the clumsy execution. How a man could manage to be bad at swinging a sword downwards at someone's head he would never know. But there you had it, someone had managed to fuck up even this simplest of tasks. How did they fuck it up I hear you ask? Quite simple really dear reader. For one they were slow. You know, like snail pace slow. Like a snail that was old enough to get a bus pass trying to move through treacle kind of snail pace. That's pretty damn slow if you didn't know kids.

Now unfortunately..or fortunately for the swordsman..depends on who's side your on, Takeo couldn't really just outright kill the guy. No that would be bad. Murdering some random guy in Hoshigakure would not look good on him. All his reputation would go out the window. He'd be branded a murderer, and likely be thrown in prison or something along those lines. And that would be bad. Takeo had never been to prison before, and he didn't want to. Xyxer had told him about prison though. Apparently if you go into the showers and drop the soap, bad stuff happens to you. Takeo had no interest in being a prison bitch, so that's why he was not going to kill this man.

He had other plans though. His right hand thrust forward, and his palm planted firmly against the sword of the swordsman. Now some of you may be thinking, Takeo you mad man. Why would you want to directly touch someone's sword like that? Calm down reader, it's all part of his master plan. Chakra coursed through his arm, a result of the hand seals that he had done earlier. It extended from his palm, moving out from the tenketsu that were located in that area, and slammed into the sword. Sunder was an interesting technique, the chakra moved through the sword causing the very fabrics of it's being to literally just implode. The sword shattered in two, harmlessly falling to the ground.

And that pretty much ended the fight right there and then. The two men looked shocked, and ran off into the distance like little babies. Takeo frowned, was shattering a blade like that really scary enough? Was the fact that he literally punched the guy out with a single blow not? People were really weird. The man shrugged, moving out of the alleyway and heading back home. Home being The Turning Point's barn. Takeo made note to be quiet upon returning, the owner could get pretty pissed sometimes if he made too much noise. The owner was a pretty scary dude sometimes, even for a normal fellow.

--

Takeo sat inside the bar of The Turning Point. it was a quiet day. Mid-day, it was the middle of his shift. In order to blend in to the populace of Hoshigakure he had taken to being a bartender in his spare time. The owner generally let him take the quiet times for his shifts though. Decent guy in all honesty, he really hoped that the man wouldn't betray his trust anytime soon. Like maybe go to Akihana and tell him he was here. No way he would do that though, Akihana was all the way in Kumogakure. Takeo laughed at the absurdity of his own thoughts.

Takeo found his mind wandering, back to the past.

It was a rooftop of one of the smaller buildings of Tengakure, though it was large enough to serve it's purpose. His hat was pulled forward slightly, casting a shadow over the top half of his face. This was to in fact hide his usage of the Byakugan, something which he felt was necessary in case some fool tried to off him immediately. A crowd had gathered, likely wishing to know what was going to happen. Calming himself Takeo opened his mouth and spoke loudly, "People of Tengakure. I'm sure most of you are aware of what had recently happened. The previous leaders of Tengakure abandoned this village and left it to rot. Thus I Takeo Tadashi took it upon myself to guide this village into a greater future." He paused to take a breath, mediocre so far. "That is why I became the Fourth Tenkage. However I did not take the seat alone, Xyxer Gyojin will sit alongside me and we shall jointly look after this village." He wasn't quite sure what to address Xyxer as, was he the Fifth? Or was he also the Fourth..god this was confusing.

A soft smile appeared on his features at the memory. Tengaprospered under his rule. Well..his and Xyxer's rule. It was foolish of anyone to say otherwise. Under his leadership there were no threats upon the village, except for the final destruction as the people of the village migrated east to the land of Shima in order to establish Kiri. Under his leadership the village produced a fine amount of promising shinobi. A Chuunin Exam had even been run during his rule. Something that neither Shinji or Denkiteki could say happened during their tenures. Yes, it was suffice to say that he truly was the greatest Tenkage to ever have lived. The white haired man grinned, wiping the bar counter for a final time.

The sounds of footsteps caught his attention. He glanced to the left, noting the owner moving into the bar and behind the counter. They exchanged a few words, and that was that. Takeo left the bar, moving out into the open. His eyes scanned the buildings surrounding him. God this place was lame.

As such, the man now found himself several hours later on the outskirts of Hoshigakure. He was a few miles outside the city searching for stuff to do. His eyes scanned the horizon. The white haired man was trying to find something, someone, anything to do. An animal would be great right about now. Some giant monster type creature like the one that he had fought during his time in Tengakure. Surely they existed around here right? Probably not, this country was literally the most boring place on the planet. There was no way he would find something interesting to do.

And that was when Takeo found something interesting to do. It was almost as if a convenient plot device arrived just right that very moment in order for Takeo to do something so that he could train his jutsu some more. A young woman, farmer type from the looks of it, ran towards him. She seemed distressed, Takeo could tell due to the fact she was crying and also because she was definitely crying out for help. Takeo sighed, it was better than nothing he guessed.

A basic quest dialogue conversation followed, Takeo didn't really pay much attention. Something about her little sister being kidnapped by a bunch of rogues or something. Sick bastards they were, probably going to do some twisted and sick things to the girl. She pointed Takeo in the direction of the band, then looked back to see that no one was there. She blinked, a soft breeze blowing her hair to the side. She squinted in the direction of where she had pointed, noticing a figure in the horizon getting slowly smaller.

Takeo was a fast guy. I'm not sure if you ever noticed before, perhaps this is your first time reading something to do with Takeo. In which case I do apologise, this is just a post in order to spew out words so I can master this fucking jutsu. So yes back to the story. Takeo blitzed across the land at a rather impressive pace. One might question how this was possible, the answer was quite simple. Takeo had a black mark on his cheek. Now for those of you in the know that signifies something. But for the newer readers or those who are lacking in braincells I shall write it out for you. Redan was activated. Redan being one of Takeo's longest standing active techniques in his arsenal. Simply put, lightning chakra was coursing through his body right this very moment. It sharpened his senses, spiked his chakra, and allowed for faster movement overall.

Originally it had required for the eating of raw lightning chakra. As time went on Takeo had developed the technique over vast amounts of uses, making it to the stage that the ability could be activated almost instantly at any given moment. His ability to handle both chakra and the lightning element was practically unrivalled throughout the world. Only few could match him for the greatest of all time one could say. Any arguments would be shot down immediately though, Takeo was truly the best around. And nothing was going to keep him down.

Finally, Xyxer arrived at the bandit camp. Samehada was in the grip of his hands. He glanced across the area, his Sharingan spinning into life as he gazed over the bandits that had gathered. He ran a hand through his blue hair, waiting for them to notice his presence. "Well then. Let's get this over with." Xyxer spoke, moving slowly into the camp with Samehada held in both his hands. The first bandit finally reacted, moving over towards him at a decent sprint.

Xyxer was surprised, it seemed that they were actually quite fast. This would make things interesting, he brought Samehada up, angling the blade so that it would clash with the bandit's own as he swung it down towards him. He parried the blade away, moving forward so that he struck the man across the cheek with his fist. A good old fashioned back hand, given Xyxer's natural strength would send the man dropping to the floor. Another bandit came towards him, Xyxer licked his lips. He raised Samehada high up in the air, and then swung it downwards into the shoulder of the bandit before he could truly react to defend himself. Watching as the blade carved downwards diagonally across the man's chest his grin widened. Blood poured from the wound, and the man dropped to the floor. Another bit the dust, these bandits were rather lame. Quite depressing honestly. A man of Xyxer's abilities expected far better competition than this.

A third bandit moved towards him. This one seemed far more competent than the other two before them. The man thrust the blade forward towards Xyxer's gut. Once more he parried with Samehada, parrying the blade off to the right. This left the man open for an attack. Xyxer wasn't quite fast enough to capitalise with his own blade. Instead his right leg moved upwards, kicking the man squarely in the gut. The man stumbled backwards. Unfortunately, this is where the life of him ended. As the man recovered, he found himself face to face with the blade of Samehada. It cut downwards through him, cutting through the skin and into the skull, cutting then down through the skull and into the brain, cutting through the brain and out the other side of the head. The man dropped down dead. This continued for some time, the bandits rushing toward Xyxer and him dispatching them in a timely manner. Soon the camp was empty, save for the bandit leader. The man heard the commotion and exited his tent.

The man stood in the middle of the camp. In front of him lay the bodies of his bandit troop. The ground was devoid of grass, being simply dirt. The man himself stood directly in the centre of the village, gazing out towards the one true entrance. He had a mess of black hair slicked backwards to remain out of his face, though with some stray strands falling across his eyes. Though this did not obscure his vision, merely hindered it by a small margin. He wore a simple black t-shirt which was tight across his upper body. He had actually borrowed it from one of the cupboards of this village, his own clothes having been ruined by days of travel. The trousers he wore were most likely once white, but were now stained with various different things. Mostly a combination of dirt and blood.

Takeo eyed his form. He seemed like an interesting type. Perhaps this man would prove to be somewhat of a challenge. There was only a fools hope of this. But rebellions were built on hope..but that had nothing to do with this. Anyway, the man seemed somewhat decent in a fight. Takeo could only wait and see.

He didn't have to wait long, the man moved forward. Takeo was surprised by his speed. It was fast, almost too fast. Bararaq Sei was discarded, wrapping around his wrists once more as they went into their dormant state. They would not be needed for now. It seemed hand to hand combat would be the two's methods of dealing with this confrontation. Takeo wasn't exactly a taijutsu expert, but he had received training in the basics of it by an old friend back in Tengakure. Given that training and his natural gifts for picking things up quickly, it shouldn't be that difficult to fight this person one on one.

The man swung his right arm forward, fist balled to strike Takeo's jaw. Seemed to be a strike to end the fight quickly. Takeo was quite insulted in all honesty. Did this man think so little of him that he presumed he could defeat him in one blow? That was quite insulting. Takeo frowned, moving his hand up to block the blow with his forearm. The blow hurt. That was odd. This man was strong. That was for sure. As the two stood in this sort of deadlock for a moment, Takeo took note of the man's mouth. It was moving, the man was clearly mumbling to himself. Well isn't that odd. Takeo moved backwards as the man moved once more, sending his other fist forward to try and punch him yet again. As the fist sailed safely past his head, he'd step quickly in to close quarters. Takeo's right hand moved upwards quickly, right palm aimed to slam into the jaw of the man. This should end the fight right there and then. What Takeo did not expect to happen was for the man to block his own strike. Now, this was getting interesting.

Takeo stepped backwards yet again. He decided to keep things simple for now. So he went with a roundhouse kick to the side of the man's head. Naturally, the man ducked. Perhaps it was best to not fuck about with fancy moves Takeo thought to himself. But where was the fun in that? Takeo stepped to the left, finding himself watching a sword suddenly being thrust past him. When had the man managed to get that? Must have happened sometime when Takeo was thinking to himself. It was surprising how often this had happened to him during his time on the road. Takeo dived to the right as the sword was swung downwards. This guy was fairly competent. If only his Xyxer summon had lasted longer. Joking of course, Xyxer had never been here to begin with. Hearing the sound of metal clashing against the dirt, Takeo understood he had some time. He reached over towards one of the downed bandits, retrieving the sword that he had wielded against him and moving it into his left hand.

Swordsmanship was not really his thing however, so instead he threw the blade towards the man's head. He watched as it cut through the side of the man's head, the skin being sliced cleanly through as the man failed to dodge the sword in time. It was a glancing blow however, and the man recovered quickly. He continued to mumble those words to himself over and over. Takeo didn't quite understand, and he didn't care to find out. Once again the man lunged forward. A series of swings and strikes followed. Takeo found himself on the defensive, using his heightened senses in order to dodge and move out of the way of the strikes. It had been awhile since he had been pressured like this. Perhaps he wasn't as sharp as he had thought himself to be before setting out on this adventure of sorts. Takeo hopped out of the way of a swing of the sword, he felt a sting however as the blade cut a shallow wound across his torso. "You're annoying." Takeo spoke through gritted teeth, moving to the side to dodge the sword yet again.

It seemed he would have to go all out to deal with this nuisance. It was unfortunate that this was the case. His Byakugan burst into life, his vision becoming enhanced far beyond that of a mere normal human being. That was not the reason for it however. His hands began to weave together, forming a number of movements. Hand seals of course, Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Snake, Tiger. The hand seals for the new technique he had yet to entirely perfect. This should prove to be a rather educational experience if anything. The man kept muttering to himself as he approached Takeo. The hand seals were completed, now he just had to wait. The man suddenly shot forward, moving the sword towards Takeo's neck in order to end the fight right there and then. Takeo's left hand shot forward, palm facing outward.

Chakra coursed through his body, flowing up through his arm and into his palm. Through the tenketsu located in the palm of his hand a surge of chakra was shot forward. It had no visible form, being invisible to the naked eye. Takeo saw it though, his Byakugan being activated allowing him to view the chakra as it moved. The man didn't see it coming. That should have been obvious of course, given how he possessed no dojutsu whatsoever. The chakra slammed into the blade first, the raw force of the chakra shattering the blade into many pieces as it passed on through it. The chakra continued onward, slamming into the man with a force rivalling that of the strongest humans in the world.

Bones were inevitably shattered, and the man was blown off his feet. His feet left the ground, and he flew through the air backwards at least fifty or so feet. Takeo watched solemnly as the man landed harshly back onto the dirt floor, skidding across the ground before finally coming to a rest. He wasn't dead, not yet anyway. Takeo noted this by the movements of the man. Also the fact that his chakra was still sense-able, meaning he was still alive of course. The man remained motionless for some time, enough for Takeo to approach the man at a slow walk. Takeo stopped a foot away from the man, watching as they managed to bring themselves to their knees. Standing there, looking down upon the man as he was on death's door, he felt some pang of pity. It was like staring at an old dog that was about to be put down.

The man spoke, the same words he had been mumbling throughout the entirety of their brief bout. Takeo now heard them clearly, as the man stared up towards the sky. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is th-" The man was cut off, quite literally. Takeo cut cleanly through the man's neck in a single swipe with his weapon. He watched as the man's head dropped to the ground, rolling slightly along the dirt before coming to rest. The rest of the man's body slumped over, natural given that they were now deceased. There was no headless chicken syndrome here it seemed. That was good, it would be quite disgusting if he had to deal with that.

It started to rain at that moment. The skies quite literally opened up, rain beginning to fall from the sky. Takeo sighed, allowing the rain to soak him. It felt nice, it was refreshing in a way. Takeo turned, watching as the girl he had originally set out to rescue came out of one of the tents. She seemed fine, if not a bit traumatised. Takeo motioned for the girl to follow after him, her well being was confirmed and the safety of going with him was obvious. The girl nodded meekly, and the pair began to head back in the direction Takeo had originally come from.

"Peace is a lie." He found himself mumbling, his voice drowned out by the rain so the girl didn't hear. "There is only passion." The two crossed the land, the rain not letting up as they covered the distance back. "Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory." Time passed, the words that the man had spoken running through his head. His own mantra of sorts set to counteract the words was replayed also, a small thing to keep his mind occupied as the time passed. The two arrived back at Hoshigakure after an hour or so of walking. The girl was reunited with her sister. The older of the two turned to thank Takeo for his deeds, but no one was there. The woman frowned at this. It seemed the hero of the hour had disappeared. Probably went off to do more hero stuff, yeah that was likely the case.

Takeo made his way through the streets. Due to the weather, not many people were out at this time. Rain wasn't common, so it was almost always a bad sign when it did rain. Takeo assumed that anyway, he didn't really know much about the place or their customs. Still. As he arrived back at The Turning Point he once again found himself thinking back on what had happened today. It had been a strange event that was for sure. He noted the bar was full, it was dark outside after all. He spotted a few familiar faces and smirked. A few drinks to warm the soul couldn't hurt that much. "Through victory, my chains are broken." Takeo grabbed a drink from the owner of The Turning Point, who didn't question where he had been all this time.

"The Tadashi will set you free."

[Closed]

5503 wordcount

Sunder Mastered.

I'd just like to say

Spoiler: