It's A-A-A-Power Boost?! (P,NK)

Valen would be staring at the moon, taking in it’s beauty as his thoughts wandered toward where he would focus the final leg of his shinobi growth. His chakra sensory would of course be active when he was relaxed like this, it wouldn’t be that easy to catch the young jonin off guard. “Hello Kenshin.” He would say in passing as he felt the chakra of Kenshin’s person pass him on the support as he moved up it with hiding like a mole. Valen figured the mad doctor of Hoshi would hear him through the support given that it wasn’t THAT large. Plenty large enough for the man to use hiding like a mole to come up with disturbing the crimson eyed teen himself. But not large enough to prevent him from being able to hear him at all.


When the man sat down next to him and spoke Valen would take in a deep breath before responding. “Indeed it is, I’m almost envious of it. Sitting up there in the sky, oblivious to life’s trials and tribulations. While still maintaining beauty that man could only dream of achieving.” He would say, his eyes now turning from the moon toward the teen himself. “I’ve been promoted to Jonin and been given command of a wanderer group. Kyousuke told me he was going to offer you a position within it and I told him I fully agreed and even requested you as my second in command.” He would state simply, in the mood to get to the point fairly quickly tonight due to his mental state.


“I can answer any questions you might have. But I apologize in advance if I don’t seem like myself. I’m in a bit of a mental bind while I try to figure out ways to increase my strength. My sword, bow, and speed can only take me so far.” He would say simply with a shrug. It would be immediately after saying those words  that Valen would realize the irony in what he had said in comparison to when they first time. A dark chuckle would escape his lips at that. Oh how he had changed as a result of that day. He would never say it out loud but it was completely due to the actions of the earth user sitting next to him too. He truly couldn’t have come this far without his timely intervention. He wouldn’t have even survived.


In regards to the group he didn’t think there was a better choice for his second in command in the entire village. Kenshin was powerful, cautious, to the point of paranoia, and thought things through. Valen could tell it would be his insight into situations that might save their asses on more than one occasion. He was also someone that could and would strike fear into the hearts of the other group members, when Valen couldn’t anyway. No Valen would stand by that decision. Which is why he was glad Kyousuke was giving him free reign of how to assign and set up the group. In his opinion with Kenshin’s mid range combat and Valen’s capabilities at all ranges then the two made a perfect tag team that he doubted anyone in Hoshi could handle without losing a few important things.


Orokana would be an interesting story. He could put him with Kenshin and himself but that would put three people together in one group and in Valen’s opinion that was too many clashing personalities in people that were constantly traveling together. In village teams it made sense as the teams usually got to go home and cool off for a few nights between missions. But in the case of a group like this the groups would have to be together constantly. Valen would rather keep it down to a max of two per team. Meaning they’d need to find Orokana a partner soon, but he knew Kyousuke was on it. Valen himself was looking out for any possible talent. He wanted Hikari in the group. But that would put three of the villages four jonin in the wanderer group and constantly traveling which would cause problems in the village if they were attacked. The girl was better used assisting the newest generation of ninja in the village and helping them along.


At this point the crimson garbed chunin realized he should probably listen to Kenshin lest the man ask or say something he should pay attention to. It would be rather rude if he had to have him repeat himself after all.

WC: 760
TWC: 1873

"Hello Kenshin." the silver haired teen would hear Valen say as he used his Hiding Like a Mole to travel through the support that the other male had been leaning on. Ahh, too bad, he hadn't managed to catch him off guard... but then again, he hadn't exactly been expecting to in the first place, in fact, it would have been a little disappointing if he had. Either way though, Kenshin would continue with the actions described in the last post and exit through the top of the support, before sitting down in the exact same position as detailed in my previous post and make the same comment. 

"Indeed it is, I'm almost envious of it. Sitting up there in the sky, oblivious to life trials and tribulations. While still maintaining beauty that man could only dream of achieving." the dark haired young man would say in response, as he too glanced up at the celestial body. His words would earn a small hum from Kenshin himself, but other than that the stitched and scarred medic would stay silent, basking in the peace and quiet that the nights in Haven Country provided. 

"I've been promoted to Jounin and been given command of a wanderer group. Kyousuke told me he was going to offer you a position within it and I told him I fully agreed and even requested you as my second in command." Valen would then say in an almost offhanded manner. The words themselves immediately caught Kenshin's attention, and the half-blood Uzumaki would almost reluctantly tear his gaze from the moon and allow it to shift down to the crimson clad young man that sat below. As his eyes landed upon Valen he would recall the time that he and Hoshi's dark prince had first met, when he had so effortlessly managed to dismantle the rather arrogant brat with nary a scratch. And almost immediately after, Kenshin would recall that incident only a few days ago, when Valen had managed to catch him off guard with his speed and injure him before he could even tell what had happened.

"Hmm... so you're the leader of that little group." the newly appointed Jounin would say, looking down at Valen in what almost appeared to be a judging manner, before a small smirk appeared on Kenshin's scarred face.

"At least Kyousuke put someone competent in charge." he would then say, before giving a small chuckle. He still had yet to inform Valen that he had actually accepted Kyousuke's offer of joining the group, but he had a feeling that Valen wasn't done talking just yet, so for now he would hold his tongue. 

"I can answer any questions you might have. But I apologize in advance if I don't seem like myself. I'm in a bit of a mental bind while I try to figure out ways to increase my strength. My sword, bow and speed can only take me so far." he would say with a shrug. Kenshin would look down at Valen with a wry smirk on his face, before giving a light chuckle when Valen himself started chuckling rather darkly. It seemed that he too realized just how ironic such a statement was coming from him, who had straight out said that he didn't see the point in getting stronger when he was a green Genin.


"I was also promoted to Jounin. That summons I received a few days ago was so that our illustrious Kage could meet me and get a better picture of who I was, no doubt to see whether or not I am 'worthy' of holding the rank of Jounin. He and I had crossed paths some time ago, back when I was a mere Genin and he one of the Queensguard, but we had never actually met. I didn't know that he had claimed the title of Kage... hell, I didn't even know that there was a new Hogokage"  Kenshin would say with a humorless chuckle. Yes, that truly went to show how little had actually changed in the village since the mountain of a mans inauguration as Kage. 

He didn't exactly need to give Valen that little bit of backstory, or the fact that Kyousuke was essentially trying to test whether or not he was worthy of his new position, he simply felt like mentioning it. Valen... he was one of the few people in this village that Kenshin could actually stand to be around... and perhaps even considered to be a friend. It truly was funny that the two could consider each other friends when one thought about just how badly their first meeting had gone, with Kenshin essentially breaking both Valen's body and views of the world.


"In regards to your earlier comment though, there are still quite a few ways for you to become stronger." the former missing nin would say as a small smirk began to form on his face once more.

"I haven't exactly seen much of you in combat, so it's a little hard for me to offer any advice on what you could actually stand to improve on. But there are a few things that are important to anyone in combat, and one of those things is versatility. What I would suggest is you think over everything that you have in your current arsenal, and start focusing harder on learning things that either cover any of your existing weaknesses, or open entirely new avenues of attack." he would then say, all the while looking down at Valen, mentally debating whether or not he should offer the young man... another type of power. 

"...There are also other ways to get stronger... ways that certain people in this village would disagree with... and our illustrious leader is more than likely one of those people." Kenshin would say as the smirk left his scarred face, and he stared down at Valen in complete seriousness. He knew that he was taking a rather large gamble with this, but he didn't believe that Valen was the type of person to care about things such as morals when it came to fulfilling his goals and getting what he wanted... a sentiment that was shared by Kenshin himself.

Now only one question remained

What would Valen do.

WC: 1046

"I noticed after my arrow shot you... I pierced clear through your shoulder. Yet you had no issue moving it or the arm. I should have completely pierced your shoulder blades, making the arm nearly impossible to move. I know you're a good medic Kenshin, but something there doesn't add up. Mind explaining? Or is it a secret?" The young man would ask when Kenshin had finished telling him that he too had been ranked up to Jounin, along with the small bit of extra information that came with the knowledge of his new rank. The red clad teens inquiry gained rather light chuckle from the scar faced young man, who was pleasantly surprised by just how observant the other newly promoted Jounin was.


"Well aren't you the observant one. Yes, if I were a normal person your arrow probably would have both pierced and fractured my shoulder blade, which in turn would have made moving my arm a bit more difficult... and a great deal more painful. And as to whether it is a secret... well, it's not exactly a secret, but it is information that I would prefer not to be spread around." the half-blood Uzumaki would say, a small smirk plastered firmly upon his face. The information that Valen was asking for was not something that Kenshin would share with just anyone, but Valen was not just anyone. He was one of the few that held even a modicum of the scar faced Jounin's trust, and as such the tri hearted teen was willing to share that information with him... but it would need to be said somewhere a little more private.

"Keep in mind in a shinobi village even the walls have ears, so if you would like to learn more about this, we're going to have to go somewhere a little more private." he would say with a small smirk upon his scarred face. 

With that little question answered Kenshin would go ahead and say everything else that was mentioned in my previous post. And this time it seemed that the dark haired Akari did not have anything to say... at least until he got to the end, and told him about a forbidden type of power. 

"I see..." the young man would say, before gesturing his head towards the village. Obviously he wanted Kenshin to follow him somewhere, no doubt so that the two of them could continue this discussion of their in private. With next to no warning both Valen and Kenshin would dash off at relatively high speeds, hopping from roof to roof as they made their way towards the crimson eyed teens abode, although Kenshin didn't know what their destination was just yet.

When the two of them arrived at a modest little home in one of the villages residential districts the former missing nin would resist the urge to raise a brow. Valen obviously had some idea of what sort of power Kenshin had been talking about back on the roof of that church, so he wasn't exactly sure why the young man had chosen to bring him to his home of all places. The heart thief had actually been planning to take Valen to his room to do the operation... but hey, if they were in Valen's house then that meant less cleaning up for him when the operation was done, so he wasn't about to complain. 

The stitched and scarred medic would follow the swordsman into his house, and as Valen moved towards the fridge his eyes would wander around the living/dining room. It seemed that Valen, much like himself, preferred to live a more utilitarian lifestyle, at least if the rather spartan look of his living/dining room was anything to go by. He hadn't really had much of a chance to look by the time Valen reached the fridge, retrieved a bottle of water and threw it to him. The ragdoll would catch the bottle with ease, and send Valen a small smirk as he went and locked the door to the house.

"There... privacy should be had for these next words." Valen would then say, before making his way towards Kenshin, who had since moved and started leaning on the counter that seperated the living and dining rooms. 

"Transplants... you're talking about transplanting DNA into me... that much is obvious given the way you told me as not many avenues of power are frowned upon in the village. Well the shinobi anyway, but the civillians don't really matter, they don't get an opinion on the matter." the dark prince of Hoshi would say, his words causing Hoshi's most deranged medic to tilt his head upward a little and chuckle.

"Is your eye really gone Kenshin, or are you hiding one yourself?" he would then ask with his crimson eyes narrowed, causing Kenshin's laughter to cease rather suddenly. The albino would push himself off Valen's counter and tilt his head down to face Valen completely, his stitched and scarred face completely void of emotion as he gazed at his newly appointed 'leader'. It would only take a split second for Kenshin to make his decision, and as he did a small smirk would form upon his scarred face as he reached for the patch that hid his new eye from the world.

With a simple tug to the left the medic would expose his new eye to Valen, showing the main reason that he had started earing an eyepatch. Where his original eye was a vivid silver, the new one was a rather dull grey, and whike the sclera of the original was pure red, the new one was as white as anyone else's. 

"My right eye truly is gone... I made sure of that when I tore it from my head. In it's place is an eye that I obtained some time ago, back when I was still a Missing Nin. This new eye of mine... it is superior to the eye it replaced in every way." the ragdoll would say as he channeled some chakra into his Seigan, causing the pupil of his new eye to begin emitting a light blue glow. But as soon as the glow appeared, it would fade away, although he wouldn't put his One Way Patch back into place just yet.

"I don't give a damn where I get the power, the strength to do what is necessary. I will use it to defend my home and by that I mean Hoshigakure... but not the Hoshigakure that you or I are apart of now. But a better one. One no longer ravaged by animosity between two factions. One not afraid of its own strength." the dark prince would then say, his words causing the eyes of the Uzumaki hybrid to widen in slight shock. Those truly were dangerous words for one to utter in a shinobi village... even more so than Kenshin's only minutes prior, when he had been openly mocking the kage of the village and talking about DNA transplants. But despite that, what Kenshin felt shock towards wasn't the danger of what was being said... but at how similar those words sounded to his own goals for the future. 

"Valen... when the time comes, you will have my support." the silver haired youth would say simply as a smirk once more appeared on his face... although this one was quite a bit darker than the first. Truly Valen had grown... he had gone from being a pathetic boy that Kenshin would have taken great pleasure in slaughtering to a man that he would gladly follow. And to think that it had only been around half a year since their initial meeting.

"So what DNA do you intend to transfer? And more importantly, what's the cost?" Valen would then ask, provided of course that all of what Kenshin had said so far lined up with the thoughts he mentioned in his previous post. If that was indeed the case, the silver haired youth would go through the hand seals required to use the Storage Displacement technique, and seemingly out of nowhere a scroll would begin to materialize in his hand... a scroll with the word Uzumaki inscribed on it.

With a small chuckle the silver haired youth would toss the scroll towards Valen

"Think of this one as an... invertment. As MY investment in the future of this village." he would say simply, before a thought occurrred to him.

"Also, in regards to your earlier question... about how I was able to move after you shot me with that bow of yours. I possess a rather... unique body structure, due to a rather rare ability that I have come to possess. The ability itself is known as the Earth Grudge Fear, and it is the bloodline of an extremely rare clan known as the Tau." Kenshin would say as pulled his right sleeve up and exposed the limb. The skin of the arm itself was snow white, just like the rest of his skin, but that was not what would be most likely to catch Valens attention, nor was it the rather heavy amount of stitching on the arm itsself. No, what was most likely to catch the young Akari's eye, was the fact that his skin itself almost seemed to be writhing due to the constant movement of the threads beneath his skin. 

With but a thought Kenshin would make some of the threads within his arm exit one of the many stitched cuts that adorne the limb. Once outside the teen body they would sway back and forth through the air, almost looking like a mess of serpants trying to hypnotise their pray. 

"These threads you see now... there are countless more of them within my body, and I can control each and every one of them with nothing more than a thought... but all power comes with a price. As a shinobi you must at least possess some basic knowledge of human anatomy... so tell me Valen... how exactly is it possible for these threads to call my body home... what price was paid for the power that I have come to possess?" Kenshin would ask as he allowed the manipulated threads to return back to his body before rolling his sleeve down again. 

WC: 1720

Valen would blink owlishly a few times at actually forgetting to remove his upper clothing before sitting up to do so. Removing his cloak and undershirt and tossing them aside before laying back again. As he did so his mind would think to what Kenshin had said before. "What I have told you tonight is simply the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Earth Grudge Fear... but you will learn more about it in time." Valen’s thoughts on those words were of the content variety. As it meant the man did in fact trust him to a degree, and that he would be willing to allow that trust to get deeper as time went on. He didn’t know of many in the village who actually trusted him. As in the past when he was under the influence of his old blade he had killed one genin and fatally wounded another. The latter of the two had been saved by the timely arrival of Hikari. Valen thought back to that moment, the fear he felt of accidentally killing Akemi Hiyu. Or the remorse he felt for actually killing Dimi Zataru. Although he would never learn the name of the latter. At this point Kenshin would jam his fingers into Valen’s chest, causing the teen to wince for a moment before the numbing effect of the technique took hold. Valen would continue his musings at that moment. Allowing the stitched teen to do his work. 

When he had accidentally fatally wounded Akemi he had underestimated the power of his swing, his chakra coated sword, the coating acting as a blunting mechanism to make the blade non-lethal. He had aimed for the boys ribs, thinking the weapon would be blunt enough to only leave a shallow cut that would easily be healed by even a mediocre medical shinobi. But he had been wrong. Or, well, he had been right about his blades sharpness. But he had swung with all of his strength. Something he had not been intending to do. The crushing blow would shatter his ribs like glass, causing them to splinter off into his internal organs. This would cause massive damage and critical organ failure. He had been preparing to Body Flicker him to the hospital to get him medical treatment, or try to anyway, when the chestnut haired girl that had sway over his emotions would arrive. She would seal the boy inside of her with one of the sealing jutsu that she would be well known for. When she unsealed him later on apparently, the boy had come out fully conscious and unscathed. 

The other boy, Dimi Zataru had been a sparring partner he had loaned a spare ninjato he had. They had tested themselves against each other and weapon based combat when Valen used a ranged attack from his blade. He had pulled back the chakra to the point where the attack was only enough to knock him unconscious. However the two chakra disks had struck his neck, shattering the esophagus in the two blows. The result was the boy coughing up blood like spittle as air tried to enter his lungs as he died within a minute due to drowning in his own blood. While these assaults seemed very much on purpose, those around him now knew full well that they had not been. As he had been under the subtle influence of the blade he had once wielded. Well, the blade he wielded now. Before it was purified that is. The weapon had once held a dark sentience to it that would talk to Valen at times. Later on the teenager would realize that it was subtly influencing Valen’s thoughts in ways the boy hadn’t expected. It wouldn’t be ‘Don’t dull your blade’ but it would be ‘swing hard’ in the case of Akemi. Or it would be ‘The disks are non-lethal, your aim doesn’t matter.’ When it came to Dimi. Once this was discovered, the Dark Prince would realize full well that it needed to end. 

This was where Hikari came in. The girl  had always helped him when he needed it, never once saying no. She helped him create his cloak, put the curse mark that was now a part of his arsenal on him, assisted him in his trek to become a Chunin so much more. He knew he could trust her with anything he might bring her. He also remembered how she had saved Akemi and thought that if the seal worked by compressing the body into a mass of chakra. Which it would have to in order to work as it did. Then it would allow him to combat the sentience within the blade once and for all. So he went to her, granted she wasn’t nuts about the idea. She did however help him anyway. It was while he was in the seal that he realized just how much he cared for the girl. It was thanks to Calin Yamato, the name of the sentience within that blade that he understood. Because it was the power she had given him to help bolster his strength that he used to strike down the dark foe. 

 It was at this point in his musings that Kenshin would give him his warning "This may feel a little... strange, but please do not move until I am finished." He would nod his head at the man and move back into his thoughts. Figuring that if he was busy with his mind he wouldn’t feel anything odd. So when he came out of the seal he had, in a way, admitted his feelings for the girl. She had immediately run off. Presumably to think about what had happened and what her the Chunin at the time had admitted to her. However he hadn’t seen the girl since, at all. He didn’t know if she was avoiding him. Or if he was unconsciously avoiding her. Had she even thought about things at all? Did she no longer wish to work with him? Question upon question ran through Valen’s mind that he honestly didn’t even notice Kenshin working on him. Soon enough the man would chime in "The procedure is complete. You will need to allow your body some time to adjust to the new DNA before you can actually use this new bloodline properly, so don't expect any instant results.” He would say, to which Valen would nod his head in understanding before sitting up. “Thank you for this, Kenshin.” He would say, looking the man in the eye as he said it. He wouldn’t disrespect the teen by doing otherwise. 

He would proceed to move toward his cloak and undershirt sitting on the side, putting both on to complete his normal attire before turning back to the silver haired man. “There’s something else I would like you to explain if you don’t mind.” He would start, shrugging his shoulders and unconsciously rubbing his hand over the place the man had just performed the surgery on. There wasn’t a mark of any kind. He couldn’t wait to try practicing with what he might be able to do with the bloodline. “I’ve decided to take on Ninjutsu as my final specialty, in order to round out my style with a variety of techniques for different situations. I know you practice multiple forms of Ninjutsu. Do you have any advice for someone trying to progress?” He would ask simply. Going to a talented source for such a thing wouldn’t be seen as weak by anyone. Especially when he was as inexperienced in the art as he was. If anything it was simply using the nearby tools at onces disposal. Of course Valen wouldn’t just consider Kenshin as a person as just a simple tool. But in the world of shinobi, they all were to a degree, and right now Kenshin could be used a learning tool. 

At this point Valen would feel an odd urge come over him. Without really knowing how or why, he felt the powerful desire to channel his chakra to the end of a few tenketsu points on his back. All of a sudden an odd feeling would take over him as he felt something ‘materialize’ out of the tenketsu point. Valen would turn his head to see a few wicked looking yellow chains hovering around him in a threatening manner. He tested them out with his control and found he could move them around fully. The chains were long, about two inches wide with a wicked looking glaive end on them. He nodded his head appreciatively at them as he considered the possibilities of these chains. They would indeed make a deadly and extremely versatile weapon in the future. Something he would greatly be looking forward to getting used to and using on the field of battle. 

Spoiler:

 

The ends of the chain look like the end of the glaive in this spoiler.

WC: 1476
TWC: 4694

Due to the well known fact that we cannot edit posts from the 'Arata' account, I'm going to roll for my transplants activation denoted in the Bloodline rules. Which states I get the first roll for free. Here goes nothing!

Edit: After getting the successful roll for my Uzumaki activation I edited in activating the chains for flavor. Also because the jealous resentment will be amusing. This could be considered a mid thread claim for the 1500/1500 used toward activating the bloodline if you wished. But I WILL be exiting and claiming the above next post. So if you want to save some time you could wait a bit

Edit 2: Meant to put a picture of how the ends of the chains look, My bad.

The member 'Valen Akari' has done the following action : Roll Dice/Flip Coin

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'Lucky Coin' : 1