After Many Trial and Tribulations (P)

The day was clear and sunny, the temperatures hot yet breezy, as the streets of the Hidden Leaf village were bustling with activity with people walking around and getting supplies for the upcoming day just over the horizon. All the ninja of the village, Genin mainly, were also running around in order to get their missions and training done all for more strength and also a bit of money. The sun's rays floated down from the sky onto the many buildings that occupied the space within the village's walls and leaked through the windows of many homes. One such home was Vergil's as he was in his bedroom putting on his clothes in order to prepare for yet another day of training. He had had his clothes cleaned thanks to the efforts of Saori who was standing at his bedroom door patiently waiting for him in her Jounin disguise. "So are you excited, sir, about the upcoming exams?" He shrugged upon putting on his boots and rolling his neck around as he stood up from the foot of his bed and walked over to the door as she stood aside. "I can't say that I'm not anxious to see how my skills fare against my opponents. But I can't allow myself to get cocky just because I have trained my skills and strengths greatly. I must remain vigilant that anything at anytime could and is possible."

He heard her sigh behind him as he opened the front door and walked out into the sun riddled outdoors before stretching his arms out. "Would it kill you to show a little bit of joy over your progress? You're not as weak as you think you are in comparison to other ninja your rank." Vergil let out a scoff as he walked along the roads leading to the gates with her in tow as they passed by civilians and other ninja. "Thank you for your generous opinion of my strength. I still need to attain more strength, though." They would walk past the gates, guards at the top of the gates watching them pass by, as they walked into the woods and along the roads that led to the training field. He was already so familiar with this road he closed his eyes as he walked in order to call upon his inner chakra and get it ready for the abuse and exercise he was about to put it through for one last time before his fateful day where he'd need to put it to good use. Saori looked over to him as he did this as she could detect chakra levels and she giggled.

"You're drawing quite a bit of chakra there. You that eager to get started?" Vergil opened his eyes as he crossed the gated threshold into the training field as he nodded. "Of course. A little bit further and I'll have reached my goal I've been seeking all this time. All these training sessions are finally about to pay off. How can I not be eager?" She smiled at this confession as it revealed, once more, that Vergil did indeed have a soul within him which he rarely showed to other people. "Well, in that case, allow me to help you out with whatever you need. Do you want to warm up with anything first?" Vergil looked over to the big tree that was by the entrance as he walked over and laid his sword against the trunk before looking up to the branches. "Let me warm up for a little bit. You go and do whatever you wish." He walked over to stand under the tree, Saori nodding and walking over to the river and exercising her chakra by herself, as Vergil hopped up and grabbed one of the branches. He would proceed to do some pull ups as he took his breaths in deeply yet slow enough to keep them spaced and thusly keep his stamina from draining too quickly.

He would spend the next few minutes doing this, his arms slowly getting tired with a burn settling into his arms at an equally slow pace, as Vergil looked around behind him to see Saori standing atop the surface of the river concentrating on her chakra within her and getting it warmed up. He was always impressed by just how much chakra her body contained as he could see the water swirling around her feet and floating upwards in swirls to surround her body. He turned away to keep his concentration on the current objective at hand as he pulled up and down in a rhythmic succession as he could feel that he was reaching his stopping point. After a few more minutes he let go of the branch and fell down back to the ground before landing on his feet and stretching the limbs in his body out once more. He gave the tree trunk a light punch as he was happy to see the bark crack at the light strength of his punch.

Cracking his knuckles he turned around to Saori as she continued to meditate and he decided that it was time to get to work with the spar as he walked over to the edge of the river and stood a ways away from Saori before calling out to her. "You feel ready to start?" The water swirling around her slowly fell back down into the water at her feet as she turned to him with a smile and a nod. "Ready when you are." She got into a fighting stance quickly, her Sharingan activating as her eyes changed to a crimson color and had three notches surrounding each of her pupils, as Vergil did the same with his own Sharingan and got into a stance while gathering the chakra within him in order to get it warmed up for him to use. Taking a deep breath he allowed his inner strength to fall into his legs, getting himself ready for a charge towards Saori, as she watched him closely. Vergil would take another breath and close his eyes to calm himself down, listening to the wind that blew across the field and the falling leaves that the wind carried, before he opened his eyes once again and zoomed towards Saori at full speed.

He would zoom across the water's surface, large waves and splashes being produced by his feet due to the speeds he was running at, as he circled around Saori and directed a kick towards her legs. She responded by jumping up into the air a bit, flipping her body forward, as she directed a kick of her own to Vergil's head with the sole of her foot. Vergil moved his head back to avoid the kick, her leg extending fully out and unable to reach his face, before he grabbed onto her leg with both of his hands and twirled around before tossing her towards the cliffside that was right beside the two and the river they stood over. She flipped over and landed on the cliffside with her feet unaffected by the throw before jumping up high into the air off of the cliffside and hovering above Vergil. Vergil taking this as his opportunity to attack brought his hands up and formed two quick hand seals, taking in a very deep breath while doing so, before he exhaled with force upwards towards her position.

A giant ball of fire would erupt out of his mouth heading in the direction where she was floating as he could see her also making a few hand seals before blowing outwards herself. She would blow out a ball of fire as big as the one he had blown out as the two would fly towards each other and explode on impact. What Saori didn't see coming was the six smaller balls of fire flying quickly towards her from behind the explosion as she was shocked upon seeing this yet had the reflexes to form more hand seals quickly as she spat small balls of fire out to counter the incoming balls of fire in quick succession. In a matter of seconds she was able to cancel out each small ball of fire with her own before she took in a deep breath and tried to look past the smoke that the big balls of fire had created due to exploding. Unable to see anything she took out a kunai to prepare for a possible assault from Vergil through the smoke as she soon found out she was right to be prepared for Vergil's advance but she was surprised when she witnessed how he would attack.

A blue blur would pass by her on the left as she looked around to see Vergil with her leg up and bringing it around to try and kick her in the side of her gut. She would twist around and catch his leg just in time, however, as he would use the momentum of the caught kick to bring his fist around aimed at her head which caused her to reflexively use her free hand to catch his incoming punch. She caught his punch as they both were falling through the air as Vergil then brought around his free leg to try and hit her head from up top. This surprised her in terms of how flexible Vergil was proving himself to be but she was still able to react as she got both of her forearms up in time to catch his kick before it could hit her. Her attention now on the foot she had just blocked her face against she suddenly felt a powerful pain in her abdomen as she looked down to see that Vergil had punched her hard in the gut as she coughed and felt her body get pushed away from him due to the power of the punch.

She flew down and flipped over in order to land on her feet along the surface of the water, skidding back while holding her gut and gritting her teeth, as Vergil fell down and landed on his feet a little bit of a ways away from her while getting into a stance before her. She took a moment to catch her breath, rubbing the vest around her stomach area to try and allow the pain within it to subside, before getting up and cracking her knuckles before smirking and bringing her hands up to form a hand seal. In quick succession she would form many hand seals, the water around her swirling and rising around her, before she formed one last seal and a giant dragon made of water rose out of the river from behind her soaring in the direction of the sky. It would hover there for a bit before rearing it's head down to face Vergil as Vergil watched it closely and took in a few breaths while trying to devise a plan on how to counter it. He wouldn't have long to think as the dragon would suddenly charge down towards him as she directed it with her chakra.

Vergil would take another deep breath and channel the chakra within himself all around his body, his strength and speed growing tremendously, as he took a low crouching stance and charged towards Saori. Saori was once again shocked as he was moving faster than even her Sharingan could keep up with as he was suddenly behind her once more looking to chop her neck from behind and end the fight. She was able to jump out of the way, though, as the trail of water she was using to keep the dragon charging followed her. What she didn't take into account was that Vergil was much faster than her as he was waiting for her at the spot she was about to land as she looked over just in time to see his forearm collide and go through her water trail and clothesline her in the neck. The water fell back into the river as the dragon dissipated just as it was about to hit Vergil and the two were covered in a deluge of water as Vergil slammed her down into the water and sank into the churning liquid.

Using chakra he channeled through and out the soles of his feet he would propel himself in the direction of her sinking body, her Sharingan still active as she watched Vergil carefully, before she swiped her hand to the side in a slashing motion as Vergil could see the water churn as something invisible came after him fast. He quickly moved to the side, moving his chakra feet over to his right, as he circled around her as she kept slashing around her after him. She would then direct chakra into the soles of her feet as she began twirling rapidly in the water and Vergil watched her before he realized something was wrong. He could feel the water beginning to suction towards her as she was creating a small whirlpool within the water and he had no choice but to put all his chakra into trying to get away. He would manage to do so as he made his way to the surface, shooting out like a torpedo and high into the air, as he flipped over and landed on his feet beside the big tree where he was keeping his sword. Picking it up he turned around just in time to see her shooting out of the water and landing on her feet right beside him.

Taking the hilt of his blade Vergil quickly brought it's butt around and tried to hit her stomach with it full force but she was ready as she grabbed his arm and tried to toss him to the ground. He managed to get his feet around in time to catch himself before he brought one foot up in order to try and catch her face as she had to backflip in order to get out of the way. He stood up and took his blade out of it's sheath before directing the tip and aiming it towards her as she righted herself and got back into a stance while twirling a kunai out from the pouch she kept behind her back latched to her belt. The two would stare off against each other, the leaves falling in between them due to the wind that gently blew around them and cooling their bodies from the sun's hot rays, as the two got low into stances before gathering all the strength in their legs to charge after each other and clash blade against blade.

Sparks would fly as a small shockwave erupted from both blades as Vergil and Saori found themselves grunting while trying to outclass each other's strength without any success. Saori, with her free hand, would start forming hand seals as Vergil could feel the air around them shift and water formed from the very humidity in the air in order to quickly fall down towards Vergil's position. She hopped back just in time to avoid it all but Vergil was quick to act as he took his blade and quickly deflected each and every water pellet with his superb seed and blade control. This both shocked and impressed Saori, watching his every move with her special eyes, as she twirled her kunai again and got into a stance while waiting for Vergil to finish what he was doing. It wouldn't be long before he was all done with her pellets and she took off after Vergil once more as he quickly got out a kunai himself and caught her kunai while readying his free sword hand to deliver a slash. Bringing it up above him and then quickly down to where she was she quickly rolled to the side and swept his legs out from under him as he fell down to the ground onto his back. He looked up in time to see her stabbing down upon him with her kunai but he got the flat of his blade up just in time to catch it before she could stab him.

Taking a breath he than pushed her blade off before twirling his body around in order to kick her away from him and he flipped over back onto his feet in order to take a defensive stance while watching her closely. Both were panting as they watched each other, blades at the ready in order to keep going and try to outdo each other in this spar, as Vergil started to direct his chakra into his sword and it became shrouded in a coat of chakra as she did the same with her kunai. However, as she did so, her chakra that surrounded her blade turned green before she slowly brought the kunai up and blew on it as the chakra expanded and grew until she was holding a wind cloaked chakra kunai that looked more like a sword! He looked at it with his Sharingan as he could tell that wind was definitely flowing through it and she readied her new blade same as he did.

He took a few deep breaths as he watched her every move. From what he was able to see, while she was proficient with weaponry, she didn't seem to have much experience with a blade as she looked to be holding it rather shakenly and unsure of where to swing or where to block a possible swing. He took a step to see how she'd react but her regular skill allowed her to still predict her body movements as he knew this wasn't going to be an easy battle despite her inexperience. He looked around with his eyes trying to find something that he could use to his advantage and catch her off guard until he noticed her move and he was able to see her every movement before she made it thanks to his Sharingan and enhanced senses. She was coming at him from the side with the blade as he got his arm up and caught it with his. He was flabbergasted by the level of strength behind the wind infused kunai as he had to double down in keeping up the strike so she didn't manage to bring the blade down upon him.

"I have to say, Vergil... You've really improved in such a short time." She infused her hand in chakra as she brought it up to the back of her wind blade and pushed down with such force Vergil was forced to take a knee. Using her foot she would place it on top of Vergil's free knee, chakra infused within it to give her a bit of suction and allow her some more grip to force more of her strength into the clash, as Vergil was trying to hold back with all his might. "But unless you have any last minute strategies you wish to implement I suggest you use them now... Otherwise this is going to hurt. All I have to do is touch you with this blade and it'll feel as though you've been stabbed by thousands of razers... Do you have anything more to use against me or do you give up?" Vergil was at the end of his rope as he took in a deep breath and felt the strength within him renew as he pushed up with all his strength and caused her to step off as he got to his feet and kept his stance.

She looked impressed towards him, her wind blade at full strength as she held it down towards the ground and causing the leaves to float and fly away from it, as she got low into her own stance and took in a deep breath of her own. "You still have the strength to go on, Vergil? Giving up to an Anbu member is nothing to be ashamed of. You're more than strong enough to make a strong statement at the Chuunin exams. You should save your strength for them instead of potentially injuring yourself trying to take me down. Don't you agree?" Vergil responded by closing his eyes before opening them wide and looking into her eyes while directing his chakra into them in order to place her in a Genjutsu. In her mind her surroundings grew dark as she looked around and, instead of breaking out of the Genjutsu immediately as she could, she instead waited to see what he was up to as she could feel that his chakra signature wasn't moving while he was casting the Genjutsu.

Before long an image appeared in her mind as she saw she was inside of the Uchiha portion of the village but different as a lot of people she knew were dead walked around alive and well. She looked around to see Vergil as a young child with his family as they walked along the street while a market was occupying it, having a grand time together, as she could see a wide smile so big on Vergil's face it almost covered his face entirely. She had never seen Vergil smile at all during her time with him and seeing such a smile on him now made her wonder if it was possible for him to ever smile like that again. She watched the family as it walked along the street and into an alleyway shortcut to their home. She noticed shadows lurking within the alley as Vergil's mother and father went into action and dispatched two of the muggers that tried to ambush the family before two others came out and tried to take Vergil hostage. They instead wound up hitting Vergil's father with a kunai as Vergil stood scared watching and she could hear his thoughts a little bit later on after the bandits had been taken care of. 'I'm so... weak...'

She was let loose of the Genjutsu after that, Vergil's eyes reverting back to normal, as she blinked her own eyes a bit and looked to him with a questioning look. "Moral of my story? I never want to give up. No matter how strong the opponent. I either stand the victor or die the loser. I never want to show my weakness to an enemy again... So unless I beat you I can't truly call myself ready for these exams." She looked at him for a little bit with a look of surprise before she took her blade up and readied it for another attack. "Very well. Remember, though, this is only a spar. I have no intention of killing you but I do wish to make you fight for your victory. Come at me when you're ready." Vergil got up onto his feet, rolling his shoulders and his neck in order to get the kinks out of them, before he looked over at Saori and started to concentrate the remainder of his chakra into his whole body before he disappeared in a blur.

Saori was taken aback by this as she looked around and was unable to find Vergil before she felt a sharp pain in her gut and she looked down to see the air shift as Vergil was standing there with his fist deep in her gut. She was confused as he smirked and beat her down to the ground as he took his blade and held it against her neck while using his foot to step gently on her neck while being forceful enough to keep her from getting up. "I never let you out of the Genjutsu. I just made it look as though I did... I win." She looked up at him from her lying down position as she nodded with a smirk. "You got me. The victory is yours." He stepped off of her neck as she slowly got herself up and looked over to him to see him walking back to the tree and picking up the sheath in order to put the sword back in. He was breathing pretty heavily as Saori took in a couple of much needed breaths herself before walking over to the gated entrance and waiting for him. "Let's go home. I'll prepare you a big and fancy meal as a way of congratulations." Vergil nodded as he made his way to the entrance and they both left the field satisfied and without regret.

As they both walked along the road that led back to the village gates Vergil took in a breath and closed his eyes. He decided that as soon as he got home and she went to cooking that he would retire to his bedroom and get a bit of meditation in before calling it a day. As they walked past the village gates, the sun setting over the horizon and covering the sky in a blazing orange, Vergil took notice of the crowds of people and ninja going to and from stores as they were getting their stocks ready for the exams that were just around the corner as Vergil was busy worrying about being strong enough to make a stance within the Chuunin exams. He would grip the sheath of his blade in his left hand as he thought this as they made it to his manor and he unlocked his front door before opening it and allowing Saori to enter first. "Go ahead and start on dinner if you want. Call me when you're done. I'll be in my room."

She would nod and allow him his privacy by walking over into the kitchen as he went to his room and put his sword down next to the door along the wall. He would walk over into the bathroom and take his wet and smelly clothes off before turning the shower on and stepping into the hot waters in order to sink into their calming heat. He would wash his body slowly, trying to enjoy the time to himself, as he could feel the burn and tension in his muscles wash away along with the muck and grime he had developed with his training. After a while he would turn the shower off and step out in order to dry himself off with a towel and he slicked his hair back in order to get it into the look he liked the best. After making certain he was completely dry he walked out of the bathroom and made his way back into his bedroom as he changed into a clean set of clothes and walked over to his bed in order to crawl on top of it and sit along the sheets cross legged.

He took in a deep breath as he brought his hands together, knuckles touching one another as he could feel his chakra flowing through his body ready for his meditation, before he closed his eyes and allowed his mind to sink once more into the deep and dark corners of his memory. He would feel as though he was floating on a cloud for a moment, his eyes closed yet still ever vigilant of his surroundings, before he could feel himself fall into another version of him once again. He opened his eyes to find himself once more in a younger version of himself as he was sitting in his usual seat he used to sit in all the time during his time in the academy. He recognized it as the day after he had beaten up his bullies in that alley as he looked over to see Mabui sulking a bit of a ways away from him not paying attention to either the class nor Vergil as he smirked and kept his attention to the classroom and the teacher's lecture. After a while Vergil noticed his memory changing as he was once again in the kumite ring but this time with a different person: He recognized him as being one of the better attendees of the academy in terms of studies and combat along with him.

Vergil and him would bow before each other, seal of confrontation held up in front of them, before they both got into stances and faced off against each other ready to go. The teacher stood as referee and held his hand up in between them before bringing it down signaling for the fight to begin. The guy Vergil knew of as Credo charged forth and tried to land a kick upon Vergil's stomach but Vergil saw it coming as he hopped and flipped over. Credo would try and direct an upwards kick as he flipped in order to hit Vergil but Vergil moved his head back in order to avoid it as he landed and immediately tried to sweep Credo's legs out from under him but Credo moved his legs away in time. Vergil got immediately back to his feet and tried to engage Credo in fisticuffs but he soon realized that was a mistake as Credo showed he was super advanced with Taijutsu and had a counter for nearly every one of Vergil's moves.

Vergil dodged many of Credo's attacks, as it seemed dodging was the best he could do in a hand to hand with Credo as he instead tried to use what he was best at to his advantage: weapons. The field had many rocks for Vergil to use as he blocked a punch from Credo before using one of his feet to kick up a large rock as it zoomed up and hit Credo right in the chin, dazing him, before Vergil saw the opportunity and delivered an uppercut that sent Credo flying. He would flip over in the air before landing on his feet, crouched and rubbing his chin, as the other students and teacher stood impressed by Vergil's quick thinking at using the environment to his advantage. Credo wiped his chin and stood back up, getting back into a Taijutsu proficient stance, as Vergil watched him closely before getting himself into a stance as well. The two would look at each other closely, waiting for a single telling movement to come from either of them in order to initiate in combat, before a gust of wind hit them and the class and they took that as the cue to attack.

Charging at each other Credo and Vergil would spend the next several minutes trying to outclass the other and look for openings in each other's defenses, the class watching on in amazement at the level of skill being showcased by both of the academy students, as Vergil would soon see the slightest opening in Credo's fighting style and deliver a kick upon his gut which would cause Credo to stumble back allowing Vergil to move forward and grab Credo by his arm before maneuvering around and tossing him over his shoulder in order to slam him into the ground, dust billowing out from under Credo upon being slammed into the dirt, as Vergil got on top of him and placed his knee gently over Credo's neck in order to keep him from getting up as the teacher nodded and declared Vergil the hard fought victor. Upon hearing that Vergil got up and offered a hand to Credo as he took it and was pulled up to his feet. This was the first person Vergil respected in terms of his strength and he would always remain in his memory due to this spar between them.

The memory would shift as Vergil sat inside of the Ichiraku shop once more and enjoying himself some red miso ramen while reading one of the books he had rented from the academy's library. He would hear the sheets that hovered over the entrance of the shop rustle as someone sat three seats over and away from him as he looked over to see it as Credo ordering himself a bowl of ramen. The two sat in silence, enjoying their food and Vergil enjoying his reading, as he could tell that Credo was looking over in his direction every now and then though didn't pay much mind to it to talk to Credo. He wanted to be in his own element for right now as he continued to eat and read though remembered the experience he had in the kumite ring with Credo. After a while of more silence, however, Credo couldn't help himself anymore as Vergil would look over to see Credo watching him before opening his mouth in order to speak.

"Vergil? You awake? Dinner's ready." Vergil opened his eyes to see Saori waving her hand over his eyes with a look of confusion before standing up straight with a smile and a tray full of food. She had made him the works in terms of a meal as he saw a bit of crab, steak, and vegetables on one plate with lobster and well cooked pork on another. She bowed to him before taking her leave in order to go into the bathroom and take herself a shower which left him to look at his food in amazement and wonder about which one he was going to eat first. Before that, however, he looked outside to see that night had fallen over the village already as he wondered how long he had been in meditation and he looked over to the clock to see that it had only been about thirty minutes. He didn't care about how long it had been. All he was happy about was the fact that he hah grown so much stronger in so short of a time and he couldn't wait to test his strength against more of his peers. He would relish in this thought as he went for the lobster and enjoyed a meal that was the best he had ever had.

{Exit}

(WC 5,634)

(Claiming 28 stats (Max stats finally), Chakra Sensory, Sword Mastery, Lightning Arrow, Body Flicker, and Temporary Paralysis)

All praise Max Stats masta Vergil

Approved!