Another Journey

One of the rare few occasions Kizmaru could be found at his desk without papers piling up from the ground up. Relaxing in his chair, he figured he should go and do something with his day since he didn’t have any work to do at the moment. It was pretty slow in comparison to what his normal schedule looked like throughout his normal days. He was free of appointments as well so he didn’t expect to meet some village officials for a long time. Well, there wasn’t much he could do in his office at the moment. Giving a low sigh, he got up from his chair and began to head into the common room near his desk in order to change out of his Kage attie and into his Jounin persona. As usual, Kizmaru’s attire consists of a yellow button down shirt, navy blue pants, ninja tabi and a navy blue jacket that he wears over his yellow shirt. He decided to forgo the tie this time around since he figured he’d go out and explore the village a little bit. Making his way out of the office, Kizmaru walked down the long corridor that was just outside his office until he made it to the stairs leading down to the lobby.

Greeting his receptionist, Kizmaru gave a slight nod to them as they were hard at work in the front desk, organizing, receiving and shipping mail from all parts of the village if now the nation itself. Exiting the lobby, Kizmaru placed his hands into his pockets in order to examine the area around him. Turning his head from side to side, he observed the scene around him. As usual, it was a mist filled day, but it wasn’t particularly cold. The mist wasn’t dense enough to where one couldn’t see through it if need be but it was still a bit hindering in terms of sight. Shrugging his concern off, Kizmaru had left the Kage’s estate in order to go to his training facility in order to get some practice, in the form of a game. He loved testing the endless possibilities of what he could do provided if he was in another world. Smiling at what creative ideas he would do for training, he began to walk and daydream about the endless possibilities of what his future may hold. As he walked however, Kizmaru had tripped and stumbled over, what he presumed, was a large rock. Falling onto the ground, Kizmaru briefly turned his head to look at what he tripped over, contemplating on moving it off the roadside so accidents like that don’t happen a second time.

Upon getting up, Kizmaru began to dust himself off before turning around to the object in question and gazing upon its figure. What laid before him was a rock at all, it was a creature not commonly seen around these parts of the village. An armadillo. Currently, it was on its back attempting to fix itself upright in order to make an attempt at escaping its ‘assailant’. It was having no such luck on its own as it seemed to be quite stuck in its predicament. Kizmaru thought the whole situation was funny so he decided to help it out a little bit. Walking back over towards the creature, Kizmaru began to lift it up and sit it on all fours like a normal armadillo. Noting its features briefly, he noticed this armadillo was a bit ‘unique’. This one had spikes sticking out of hits back and its shell was slightly bigger than its body, almost resembling a turtle’s. As soon as Kizmaru let go of the creature, he watched it stand up on its hindlegs before it started to scurry towards a pair of trash cans that happened to be nearby a food stall. He’d never seen such a peculiar creature before and as he watched the bipedal armadillo run towards the trash can. 

Now that Kizmaru was fixated on the creature, he couldn’t just leave it alone and wondered what the hell it was attempting to do. Following the creature to its destination. The creature had begun to shake the trash can that was nearby in order to topple it over. Kizmaru figured it was just hungry or something so he decided he would go over to the food stall and purchase something for it to eat, although he wasn’t an expert on the diet of an armadillo. As he began to walk, he saw the owner of the stall come from behind the counter with a spatula to begin wacking the creature’s shell. The creature didn’t really pay the owner of the stall much attention as it was fixated on shaking the trash can. Watching the event unfold, Kizmaru figured the creature was surprisingly resilient despite its short stature, which was quite amusing to him. Eventually, he had enough and decided he would make this thing his companion. Walking over to the two, Kizmaru had called out to the man to stop whacking the armadillo shaking the garbage can. The owner then began to yell at Kizmaru, pinning the creature's actions on him since he was the one to come to its defence. He decided in that moment to take responsibility and pay for the creature’s past transgressions and assured the owner he would take responsibility. At the same time he said this however, the creature had finally knocked over the garbage can and proceeded to rummage through the trash in order to find something to eat. Before it could search the trash however, Kizmaru had picked it up away from the garbage, cradling it in his arms.

Surprisingly enough, the creature didn’t even bother to make an attempt to escape this time around. Instead, he just started to make a sound that mimics a human saying, ‘Okay’ before an even louder rumble was heard from its stomach. As Kizmaru heard that, for the first time in a long time, he began to roar with laughter which now put the owner and the creature on edge as he proceeded to walk towards the owner before purchasing some cooked beef for the creature. He assumed it ate meat judging from what the owner had told him a little while ago about the creature coming around every few days to make a mess in order to get some scraps of meat and vegetables. This story was amusing but he felt a little sorry for the man, not to mention his sudden interest in the creature as a whole so he paid for the previous damages out of his own pocket, even ordering a meal for the creature and himself to share. After the meal, Kzimaru decided he would keep the creature as even though he put it down to send it on its way, it had made a strange bond with him and kept following him around no matter how far he traveled. Well, he figured he could take it along with him on his trips around the village. Now that Kizmaru was saddled with a new companion, he continued to make his way to the training facility as he had intended. 

When entering the training facility, Kizmaru decided it would be best for the creature to stay out of his way when training and he would rain it later when the time was right. Leaving the creature into the care of the staff members, Kizmaru entered the simulation room where he would walk to the panel in order to adjust the settings for how he wanted his training simulation to go. After adjusting a few of the dials and typing in some choice words for a setting, Kizmaru locked in his choices and proceeded to enter the simulation chamber. The setting for this scenario had taken place in a far off land where corrupted knights and warriors of a fallen kingdom had begun to make refuge on a continent far, far away not ntive to the shinobi world. 
There, Kizmaru’s training would take place. Immediately after shutting his eyes, he opened them to find himself in a dark, dank cell with his hands bound by a piece of cloth. Struggling to get the cloth off, Kizmaru attempted to pull the cloth apart but to no avail. Sighing, he thought he might have made this training scenario a bit too hard and thought about toning it down a bit by saying the safe word to end it and readjust the difficulty. Then he thought, he was only at the beginning and hasn’t even gotten up yet. If he gave up now, he wouldn’t be able to live with the shame. Standing up, Kizmaru began to look for something that would help him get out of his bind. After a few moments of observation, he found a sharp piece of brick sticking out of the wall where he proceeded to run the piece of cloth between his two hands where the cloth had connected his wrists. After a few moments of doing so, he eventually got free from the bind he was in, rubbing his wrists a bit. They felt sore like he’s been bound for a very long period of time though, the simulation had started. He enjoyed that the simulation had a sort of realism to it though if he had died in the simulation, it would come to an end and stop mimicking the effects of the injury. 

Now that he was free, he looked around his cell to see if there was any way out, when he could think of a way out, he began to form the appropriate hand signs to conjure a water jutsu but to his surprise, there wasn’t anything coming out. He couldn’t even feel his own chakra at the moment as he was in the simulation. Well, this was a new experience, he thought to himself as he leaned against a wall, cocking his foot up against it. Now how would he get out? Soon after he thought that, a man clad in knight’s armor could be heard walking above him. Looking up, Kizmaru noticed there was an iron trapdoor that had to be opened from the other side. As he watched, the sounds of a man in metal armor drew closer. This was it, this was how Kizmaru would make his escape. Bracing himself, Kizmaru figured he’d jump up towards the ceiling in order to get out. As he figured, the man had opened the iron trap door and peered into it. The man was clad in full armor from head to toe, wearing a full helmet, concealing his face. As soon as Kizmaru saw the trap door open, he attempted to jump; much to Kizmaru’s surprise, he now jumped like a normal citizen that had no shinobi training. Even though he had confirmed he was cut from his chakra, he figured he’d still be able to jump up and escape at least. Something was hampering his physical capabilities as well.

After his attempt at jumping, the knight seems to have chuckled before dropping a corpse into his cell and closing the trap door. Well now, Kizmaru was a bit worried. Not only could he use the skills and techniques he was used to having, he had to deal with the awful smell of a rotting corpse in the same cell as him. Pinching his nose, Kizmaru tried to get as far away from the smell as he could but in a tiny cell like his, he had no luck. Looking at the body, he had to figure out a way to get rid of it or at least try and mask the smell a bit. Then there was the issue of being able to escape from the cell as a whole but for now, he would have to deal with that stench. Before he disposed of the corpse, he figured he'd search for anything useful on it since it seems to be wearing tattered armor and leather. Maybe he’d find something that would aid him in his plan to escape the cell. As he searched the body, he had come across a ring of keys that would be attached to the corpse’s hip. 
Taking the keys, he thought it would be funny if one of these keys would be the one for the cell he happened to be in. Chuckling, he didn’t think himself that lucky in thinking one of these keys would potentially open the door but he decided to give it a try anyway. Long story short, one of the keys did. Well, he had no time to think about it since he couldn’t stand the putrid smell of the corpse that was in the same area as he ran out into a corridor that seemed to have weak and sick people in seperate cells, crying, screaming or muttering some intelligible nonsense. Running down the corridor, he came to the end of the corridor to a flight of steps that he easily climbed before entering a new room from where his cell was located. Judging from the structure and the layout he was in, Kizmaru figured he was in an old run down fort of some kind that seems to be used to store prisoners that are left to die. Well, Kizmaru didn’t want to be one of the guys that lost his mind to something like this, even if it was just a simulation so he pressed on. The new room was a lot darker than it was before since the corridor at least had lit torches he could use in order to find his way out. As he continued, he started walking down a few steps and felt his leg sink to a rather deep puddle of water. 

It was as high as his knees when he stepped in and he figured it couldn’t get much worse than this. Trudging through the murky water, he eventually found his way into a well like structure and even found a ladder that would help him climb out of the wet mess he was in. Climbing up the ladder, led to another room that seems to be different from where he was previously but the floor had collapsed to what it was and only the ladder and the edges of the circular room remained. At least now, Kizmaru can see the exit from where he had just come from and stepped outside into what seemed like a courtyard inside the fort. Now that he was outside, he was glad that he was able to breath fresh air once more before looking around and figuring out what to do. Scaling the right side of the fort, Kizmaru came across a gate that was locked. Unfortunately for him, it was locked from the other side and there wasn’t any way he could realistically reach his arm in to try the ring of keys he had on him. Human limbs weren’t meant to bend that way but what did he know. Walking back to the center of the courtyard, Kizmaru had stumbled onto a broken, rusty sword that had been placed in the middle of the yard. Judging from the smoldering cinders that was there, it seems like it had recently been used. Kizmaru figured he’d sit at the campfire and take a quick break for a few minutes before moving on.

After taking his break, Kizmaru had gotten up and proceeded to go straight ahead. There were large, rusty double doors in front of him, far too large for humans to walk through. Almost sort of like they were made for a beast of some kind. Well, he expected them to either be too heavy or locked for him to get through but it was worth a shot. Kizmaru had attempted to pull the doors open but they were fastened tight. Trying a different approach, he had tried to push the double doors open and to his surprise, they started to slowly open although they were a big heavy, even for him. Pushing the door open took no more than a minute as he opened the door with enough space for him to squeeze through before slipping through. As he slipped through, the door had rapidly shut behind him as if they had a life of their own all of a sudden. Stepping in, he noticed the floor was uneven as the ground seemed to be in a stationary ripple similar to water frozen in time. That wasn’t the point right now, the point of his observation was to let himself know that something had caused this kind of damage, something huge. 
Now that his astute observation was over, Kizmaru cautiously tread further into the giant room. Looking to the right, he saw nothing out of the ordinary other than how old and dated the walls were. Now took another step forward before he noticed he heard rugged breathing. Looking around a second time, he looked to the right. There was a set of large, old jars and vases all piled up near each other but that was about all he had noticed at first glance. Still, he could hear the sound of breathing but he was sure he checked everywhere in this large area. Suddenly, he realized he hadn’t checked everywhere and decided to look up. There it was, standing on a ledge large enough for a creature to stand upon. Stand up at twenty meters tall, a large demon-like looking creature wielding a giant hammer could be seen looking down at Kizmaru, drooling as if its next meal had just walked in. Well, this didn’t bode well for him. He was hampered and didn’t have access to his chakra at the moment so he was in quite a pickle. As soon as they locked eyes, the creature had jumped down from the ledge in an attempt to fight Kizmaru but Kizmaru wasn’t interested in that without a weapon. 

Dashing forward, the creature had begun to take a large swing at Kizmaru. Luckily, with its wide swing, Kizmaru had managed to sprint forward himself and roll behind the creature a bit wildly tumbling towards the jars he had seen before. Slamming into them, they had crumbled like dust when his body collided into them. He was a bit panicked now, as he noticed the creature had turned to face him in order to begin its charge again. While he panicked, he noticed that he could hear the clamouring of chains and something similar to a gate being lifted. Behind him a gate he had missed before was now opening at the very back. Wasting no time, Kizmaru had gotten up and dashed towards the opening of the gate before the gate had slammed shut once more. Luckily for him the gate was big enough for only humans to enter and exit at will. There must have been a hidden pressure plate or something hidden underneath the jars. Well, whatever the case may be, his journey to reach the end continued. The path laid in front of him consisted of what seemed like bottomless stairs. Great, he’d continue to walk down these stairs as if he had a choice before reaching the bottom. There, it was another dark room but what was different was there was another smoldering campfire that awaited him. Like the one previously, it seems as if it was recently used, which made Kizmaru wonder if there was any other sane person wandering around this fort. 

Well, he gave on that notion for now as he just wanted to get out of this place as fast as he could. He thought about resting in this particular area but decided against it as the area was also filled with water and he already felt uncomfortable enough as it is since his pants were already wet. Luckily for him, the water wasn’t as deep as before and only came up to his ankles when he stepped in to get across the room. Crossing the room carefully, he could hear the violent screams and shaking of the creature he had managed to narrowly evade. He was glad he wasn’t in that room for the time being and managed to leave the dark room he had entered. As he stepped into the next area, sunlight had beamed brightly into his face. Even though he was in what seemed like a courtyard where it was bright, it wasn’t quite like this. It was almost blinding to him and it was quite annoying. As he took a step further into the light, he managed to catch a glimpse of a squire aiming an arrow towards Kizmaru’s direction. As he fired the arrow, Kizmaru stepped to the side, hugging the wall in order to evade the incoming arrow. 
He didn’t really have much time to observe his surroundings like he normally did but from what he could make out was to the right of him was a wall with protruding barred fences in a peculiar pattern where somebody could easily fall over off the cliffside. From what he could tell, the fort was located on a small island of the coast of nowhere seeing as he caught a glimpse of the ocean. Well, enough about the scenery for the time being as he was under fire. At least to the left of him, mirrored the corridor he first walked through with all the jail cells except this time they were broken down and open so he had many places to take cover from the incoming fire of the archer that fired after him. Once again, the archer took aim at Kizmaru before releasing his arrow in his general direction. Luckily for Kizmaru, the archer wasn’t a good shot. His form was  messed up from what Kizmaru could tell and the arrows often deviated from their intended path. Using this to his advantage, Kizmaru hid in an open cell for a little. When he jumped in, he noticed there was a small shield that was on the ground that was in a worn condition but still usable. Picking it up, Kizmaru fastened it around his left forearm and gave it a little test.

Once he was sure it wouldn’t fall apart on him, Kizmaru ran out of the cell holding up the shield he had found and sprinting towards the enemy squire. The enemy had fired two more arrows, both missing his mark as he was now panicked because an enemy was dashing towards him. After he had missed the second one, the squire had begun to flee the scene, heading up the stairs that were nearby. Kizmaru figured that’s also where he needed to go when he finally made it to where the squire was, he noticed the squire had dropped something before he fled in terror. It was a short sword. Kizmaru had never seen one of these before and was a little intrigued. He had heard stories of swords being different in far off lands but he never thought he’d lay his eyes on one. Nonetheless, it was his now and he could finally do something about the large demon that he had escaped initially. Well, if he ran into it again, he figured he’d be able to do something about it this time around. Heading up the stairs, he wondered if he’d run into the page once again in order to do battle with him. Low and behold, he had. 

The squire was there at the top, waiting for Kizmaru with his bow in hand in order to attempt to kill the escaped criminal once again but only seemed to have gotten worse, the closer Kizmaru was to him. Sighing, Kizmaru wields the short sword in his right hand, swiftly dashing, swinging his sword across the squire’s neck in order to cut his throat open. Whether it was a simulation or not, he didn’t really enjoy killing ‘live human beings’ but he had to in order to get stronger and simulate what real battles were like. After dispatching the squire in front of him, Kizmaru continued forward in hopes of finding a way off of this desolate island. Nothing about this place was pretty at all and he wanted out as soon as possible. Advancing forward, Kizmaru had stumbled into the courtyard once more, only this time, he was on a large balcony that seemed as if it served as another way to traverse the massive fort. Walking forward, he could see where he had initially found the first campfire and the large double doors where he had encountered that demon-like creature. He could also see the gate he couldn’t initially open from the side he was last one. This time however, he was on the appropriate side and walked towards the right side of the courtyard, finding two different sets of stairs. One leading up the stairs and another one leading down the stairs. 

Kizmaru decided to traverse the stairs leading downwards to where he had come from initially. He didn’t know why but he felt compelled to unlock that gate he couldn’t open at first. He figured it would just serve as a shortcut in case he needed to go back down there for some reason or the other. Making his way down, he unlocked the door after trying the various keys on the key ring he had. After that little annoyance was done, Kizmaru had traveled back up the flight of steps before he took the other flight of stairs. However as he got half way, Kizmaru felt a shake and a rumble as if somebody was pushing something from the top of the steps. Quickly, he backpedaled down the steps and hugged the wall to his left where he had initially opened the gate. What had passed him narrowly was a large boulder that barely missed him and crashed into the old wall, resulting in the wall being destroyed. Taking a sigh of relief, Kizmaru wiped a bit of sweat off of his forehead and once again started to climb up the flight of steps. 

To nobody’s surprise, when he reached the top, Kizmaru found himself being confronted by two more squires. One had a bow and a few arrows while the other just had a short sword and a buckler as their choice of equipment. Well, this was about to get hairy quickly, he assumed. Raising his shield, Kizmaru got himself ready for a battle. As one drew his bow string back, the other inched forward with his own buckler and short sword raised. Kizmaru did the same in kind as he was wary of being hit by the archer in the back. Not making a move, Kizmaru decided it would be best to wait for the melee squire to attack first and find a window of opportunity to strike back when the time is right. The squire decided to swing first as Kizmaru had anticipated. Kizmaru kept his shield raised in order to block the squires' oncoming swings, stepping to the left or to the right when the situation called for it in order to parry better. He’d repeat this motion until the squire in the back thought he had a good shot on Kizmaru and proceeded to let loose his arrow. Kizmaru then maneuvered his way around the squire wildly swinging at him in order to get him to mimic his movement and pace until the arrow hit the other square in the back. This caused the squire to hesitate and wince from the pain.

Kizmaru used this opportunity to thrust his sword into the neck of his opponent, pushing him back sending them barreling into the shinobi with the bow in his hand. Using the man that was currently impaled as a battering ram, he had knocked over the other squire down to the ground, making him drop his bow. Kizmau then removed his sword from the man’s neck, quickly lunging at the archer on the floor that was now scrambling to retrieve his own shortsword. Plunging his sword into the archer’s neck, he could feel this one putting up a little bit of resistance as he reached for Kizmaru’s short sword in an attempt to prevent it from going in deeper than it already was. As Kizmaru pushed, the squire pushed back in order to prevent himself from puncturing major arteries. This struggle went on for a minute before Kizmaru decided to raise his right leg and slam it onto the squire’s belly. This made the squire falter a bit, giving Kizmaru enough of an opportunity to make one final push into the squire’s neck in order to dispatch the man. After the deed was done, he decided not to keep the same sword and replaced it with the one the other squire was using as it was clean and would be easier to use. Once again pushing forward, Kizmaru made it to another balcony although this time, he could see the entire fort from where he was standing. It was a lot smaller than he imagined which made him feel a tad bit better.
Now that escape was within his grasp, Kizmaru had continued to walk across the large balcony. The first thing he noticed was the ledge the large demon-like creature had been standing on before it jumped down in an attempt to smash his face in. This time however, the tables have turned and he was the one hovering over the great beast. Chuckling quietly to himself, as he didn’t want to draw attention to himself, he decided to explore the balcony a bit more since he didn’t want to have to fight something so large if he didn’t have too. Normally, he’d be confident enough to take on almost any foe but since he doesn’t have access to his normal abilities while in this simulation, he figured he’d have to use his head and get creative when deciding what necessary steps and actions to take during his trip in this foreign land. Now that he had his plan in order, he traveled to the other end of the balcony, leading into a room that just seems to be a wider than normal corridor. The first thing he noticed in the dimly lit room was a knight in rusty armor and no helmet  trying to get a rusty gate open.

W.C: 5,063

Stepping forward, Kizmaru had accidentally kicked a pebble, alerting the knight to his presence. The way the knight jumped and coward immediately gave Kizmaru the vibe he wasn’t a knight at all. He was probably just another squire who found some older armor and decided to put it on. Well, squire or not, the person did have larger weapons than normal. An actual knight shield and longsword was in his hands, although his wrists shook with a bit of fear. Aising his own sword and shield, Kizmaru hoped he would be able to best his foe as easily as he did the last few. This time, Kizmaru would be the one to lead the charge as he began to dash forward at half of his normal speed so he could slow down at will when he needed to. The knight(?) had raised his own shield in order to try and block any incoming damage that Kizmaru may or may not have directed towards his way. One thing Kizmaru had noticed while charging was that the opponent wasn’t really defending himself, more like cowering behind his shield in an attempt to wish his opponent to disappear. Well, that’s all he needed to see to continue his assault. Still charging forward, Kizmaru proceeded to lunge forward at the last second to bash his shield into his opponent’s shield, knocking him off balance before pushing him into the gate he was trying to open moments ago.

The knight(?) banged his head against the gate, rendering him unconscious before Kizmaru looked at his body. Though he didn’t kill him, he figured that this was enough to count as a victory before pushing aside the man’s body in order to see if he could get the gate open himself. After a few moments of trying keys, he realized it didn’t matter if he had the key for it or not, the keyhole had been destroyed and crushed so even if he had the right key for it, the door was jammed. Even if it wasn’t for that fact, the gate door itself seems as if something tried to smash it open by force. It was a total mess all around. Well, there was only one thing left for him to do now, and that was to go confront the demon that happened to be waiting for him down at the bottom of the balcony whether he liked it or not. Now, his plan was simple, all he had to do was get a clean shot on its head while he had the advantage for the time being. He figured his shortsword wouldn’t cut it, literally. Discarding his shortsword behind the damaged gate, Kizmaru picked up the longsword the squire pretending to be a knight was wielding not too long ago. 
Well then, now that he was better equipped, it was time to go the only way he could now and that was back to the ledge that led to the room with the large demon in it. Making his way back to the ledge, Kizmaru tiptoed onto the ledge, masking his presence ever so slightly, he peered over the ledge to see if the demon was still present. He was quite surprised to find it was still there seeing as it had wings on its back. At the same time however, it was rather obese and he doubt it could really get out even if it wanted to which made Kizmaru question how it even got up here in the first place. Well, none of that really matters since its life was about to come to an end. Bending his knees, Kizmaru jumped off the ledge, longsword in hand, pointing the blade part down directly towards the skull of the creature. Successfully landing on its shoulders, Kizmaru managed to drive the blade all the way into the head of the beast. Of course, this wasn’t met without resistance. The creature flailed and thrashed in an attempt to throw Kizmaru off of its head but this only caused Kizmaru to continue to drive the blade into its head. After a few moments of this. The beast had finally succumbed to its fate, dropping the large hammer it carried before falling to its knees. 

Kizmaru jumped backwards off the creature’s shoulders, onto the floor behind it as the creature’s limp body fell forward. As soon as the creature stopped moving for a minute, its body had started to disappear into particles bit by bit. After its giant body had disappeared, a little sparkling trinket was left behind. Walking over to the source of the sparkle, Kizmaru had found it to be a key of some kind. Looking over to where he had escaped this room the first time, the gate was still closed and most likely could only be activated remotely. He hadn’t noticed it before but there was another set of large double doors behind where the demon had dropped down. His back was currently turned to it so he turned around and attempted to use the key in order to open it up. To his surprise, the key fit, activating the tumblers in the door thus unlocking it. Kizmaru then pushed the doors open as he did for the first set to see a dirt path leading up the hill. Remains of what used to be brick walls and small rooms can be seen on the cliff side hill but that’s all they were, remains. Treading up the dirt path hill, Kizmaru couldn’t really see the end in sight. What he thought he saw on the balcony was a way out but instead, all he got was a dead end. Frustration and disappointment began to course through him as he came to the end only to find a large bird’s nest at the top of the cliff. It was three times the size of the average grown adult male.

That’s just his luck he assumed, all of that hard work and effort just to be slighted in the end. Well, he figured he’d make it work somehow. First, he decided to examine the bird’s nest to see if he could get a clue or find a solution of some kind. Before he could, a very large raven had swooped down from the sky without any warning and wrapping its talons around Kizmaru’s body. As he suspected, there was definitely a bird far larger than any human and now it had him in it’s grasp. Gripping his shield tightly, all he could do now was hope it wasn’t planning on eating him or he would sure as hell be livid if this is the way his simulation ended. Flying in the clutches of the raven felt like hours to Kizmaru although it had only really been a few minutes. He had been flown over a ravine for a little while but before he knew it, he was being flown over the open sea away from the island that housed the fort. Some more time has passed and eventually Kizmaru realized he wasn't in any danger but merely being transported to another location.

From what he could make out was a large, run down town inside of some castle walls with smaller settlements, even some fires that were lit signifying there were people around. The bird seems to have been trained to fly people back and forth from that fort island to a certain small, abandoned camp. The giant raven had dropped Kizmaru on his back near the center of the pit which seems like it had been used for the fireplace. He felt a bit of burn, yelping in shock before raising his right hand towards the giant raven flying away and shaking his fist at it as it flew away. Getting up, Kizmaru began to dust himself off before observing his surroundings. Looking around, there was obviously the campfire that he noticed from being carried through the air. It was an odd pattern around it as if somebody carved up unproportionate stones and placed them around the ring as if they were making makeshift seats or stairs, shaped in the pattern of a ring, centered around the campfire. Continuing his observation, he witnessed some deteriorating ruins of doorways and arches leading to who knows where. He figured he’d have to explore the area thoroughly but he would continue to look around first.

To the far right of the initial sight, was a set of stairs leading up the side of the cliff. On top of the staircase, was a tunnelway that was somehow perfectly intact despite being as eroded as the ruins in front of him. The tunnelway was lodged in between two cliffs that weren't far from each other but listening closely, he could hear the sound of running water. That alone influenced his decision for him to choose that route to traverse first. Walking towards the cliffside, he had spotted a humanoid figure standing in front of him. He thought it was another person that he could ask for directions of some kind but then he remembered that this was all a simulation. It wasn’t as if every simulation he’d been in didn’t have the option to converse with the AI, it was more like, eighty percent of the time, it was always just another obstacle to be dealt with. Keeping this in mind, Kizmaru readied his sword and shield in hand just in case things went south. Walking towards the humanoid figure, Kizmaru had called out towards the figure, not really directly addressing the figure but just making sure his presence was known. 

As expected, he didn’t expect anything sociable out of the humanoid figure and  the figure turned around and began to brandish a broken sword in his general direction. No doubt about now, he has to treat everything he came across as hostile for the time being. As the humanoid figure swung its weapon towards Kizmaru’s left, Kizmaru swung the shield in his hand towards the oncoming weapon, parrying it, forcing the humanoid figure to stagger back with it’s right arm soaring just past it’s head. Using this opportunity, Kizmaru plunged his blade in the chest of the figure while he had the upper hand. This caused the figure to halt briefly as the shock of having its chest pierced, dropping their broken weapon, followed by them dropping to their knees. Kizmaru then lifted his right leg to place it onto the human’s shoulder to hold the body in place as he dragged the blade out of the figure’s chest. Well, that could have gone better but nonetheless, his avatar was still alive and well. Proceeding to the stairs, he began to traverse them as he stepped lightly. Hoping there wasn’t anything else to bar him from the path he’s chosen..
Making his way up, Kizmaru could spot a small plateau with another figure just idly standing there. It was another squire that seemed to be wearing a little bit of armor this time around but not enough to completely cover the lower part of their torso. Keeping that in mind, kizmaru decided to thread closer to the figure, making his footsteps as light as possible. Creeping behind the figure, Kizmaru made it in range of his opponent and plunged his blade into the back of the unsuspecting victim before placing his left foot on the hips of his opponent to give a hard kick as he pulled his blade out with his right arm. The victim had flown forward hitting the ground of the plateau quite hard before laying still for a moment. Kizmaru briefly thought that was the end of that encounter but it seems he was dismissing the fight too soon. The squire had gotten up despite taking a clean stab through his back and out of his belly. Well, it was no surprise considering he was in a simulation. The squire charged forward at Kizmaru despite the large wound they were suffering from. This only managed to slow them down as they brandished their weapon of choice, a longsword.

Raising his shield, kizmaru managed to block the incoming strike that was aimed at his chest. Unlike the people here, Kizmaru wasn’t wearing any armor unlike his opposition. He probably should find some eventually if he wants to better defend himself against his aggressors. Of course, nothing tattered like the one his opponent was wearing that barely defended against anything. Continuing on, Kizmaru swung his blade in retaliation as his opponent’s weapon clashed with his shield. Aiming for the torso, Kizmaru managed to make a gash on the chest of his assailant, causing them to leap backwards. This one showed quite the resilience as he prepared to lunge once more. Kizmaru had enough as he decided he would finish this with the next blow. The squire ran forward once more preparing to swing his blade. Kizmaru raised his shield and sword himself, also lunginging towards his foe. Extending his left arm forward, he used the shield to better defend himself so he was harder to hit head on. As predicted, his foe attempted to slash him but was caught by the shield. Now was his chance to strike, with a thrust of his own blade, Kizmaru aimed for the opponent’s heart with his thrust, plunging his blade into his opponent’s chest.

After the clash, Kizmaru emerged victorious over his opponent, watching the enemy slide off of his shield, now finally dispatched properly. Keeping his sword and shield out, Kizmaru, traversed across the plateau to the second set of steps in front of him. As far as he could see, there was no more opposition standing in his way for the time being as he walked to the top of the staircase to where the water way was. Looking at the waterway, he could see a ledge big enough at the side of the way to walk across and enter from the middle of the walkway. Kizmaru did just so, walking along the edge before entering the waterway. The first thing he noted was, how dark it was and how far his foot sank into the rushing water going from one end to another. The next thing he immediately noticed was the sound of high pitched squeaking going on in one end of the waterway. The waterway itself was tilted up from kizmaru’s left where he entered from and was also where he heard the squeaking sound. Raising his sword and shield, Kizmaru stared at the patch of darkness in front of him where he could hear the squeaking from. From what it sounds like, it could be a giant rat.

Kizmaru backed away into the opposite direction of the waterway as he continued to maintain vision of the loud squeaking that was now drawing near. Fortunately for him, the area he entered was dimly lit from the light that was peering in from the outside. As soon as he could see what was making all of that noise, he would strike. Knowing this simulation, it wasn’t going to be a normal sized creature and it was already overly hostile towards him. Suddenly, into the light came a giant, diseased ridden rat. Some of its muscles, skin and fur were peeled away and there were flies buzzing around its mouth where two long, buck teeth had been sticking out. A look of disgust was painted on Kizmaru’s face as it took every fiber in his being to lunge forward with his long sword. With a quick and decisive thrust, Kizmaru managed to plunge the blade into the rat’s mouth, instantly killing it and having it drop dead. Unfortunately for Kizmaru, he didn’t really feel like retrieving the blade from the dead creature’s mouth and released the handle of it, letting the dead creature keep the blade and move on with his journey. Turning around, he began to walk in the opposite direction of where he just slew the giant rat.

Looking ahead, he could see a dimly lit light exit at the opposite side of the waterway. For him that means there was a way to the other side of the waterway. Further ahead he could also see a faint light all the way at the end of the waterway but that was behind a rusty gate. Kizmaru decided to walk past the dimly lit light and see if he could get past the rusted gate and get further in. It was locked from the other side. Unfortunately, he couldn’t fit his hand through the gate in order to unlock as the bars were spread too thin. He didn’t know where it led but he figured it was a shortcut of some kind to make his simulation travel a bit easier. Well there was only one way for him to go and that was to go to the dimly lit exit that he walked previously. Backtracking to the exit, he came out onto another set of stairs that actually had a wall so he wasn’t in danger of falling over the side of the cliff. Though it was far more narrow than the steps he had traversed along the cliffside, it at least had a bit more light.

Walking the narrow but long staircase, Kizmaru finally made it to the top to see two militia guards. One was equipped with a broken sword and shield and the other one just had a long sword. They weren’t alerted to his presence yet and even Kizmaru would find it a tad bit difficult to take on two individuals with the use of his skills. Well it was now or never, he thought as he steeled himself to go in. Creeping forward, he’d deal with the closest one towards him as they haven’t quite noticed his presence yet. Having their backs turned towards Kizmaru, it was easy for him to creep close enough to them to get the first strike. Raising his right arm that held the longsword, he plunged the blade into the back of the squire’s back, using his left hand with the shield to try and muffle the sounds they might make in order to alert the other one. Kizmaru wasn’t successful at muffling their mouth well enough and caught the attention of the other squire that happened to be nearby. Drawing their weapon, Kizmaru had no choice but to fight this one head on. Placing his right foot onto the person’s back he had just stabbed cleanly through, he forcefully kicked them off of his longsword into the frame of the other person he was about to do battle. 



The person he had just stabbed had collided into the other squire, forcing them to catch their partner and keep them from falling to the ground. They were still alive but Kizmaru imagined they were in severe pain being run through like that, assuming simulations feel pain. Using the moment of the squire catching their partner, Kizmaru lunged forward with his weapon ready in order to run the squire through a second time, in hopes of piercing the other one as well. Since they were preoccupied with holding the injured one in their hands, they too, had gotten run through. Well, that was that. He successfully dispatched both of them as he had intended. Here was a good time to end the simulation or so Kizmaru thought. He needed a break and quite frankly, he was a bit peckish. He said the word, ‘Save’ and the simulation had abruptly ended returning the room back to normal. Releasing his hands from the motions of if he was holding his sword and shield. Kizmaru had exhaled as if he was really fighting a battle with other humanoids. Making his way out of the room, he immediately headed for the exit of the training facility. His stomach was growling and he couldn’t wait any longer to grab himself some real food. 

He figured after his destination, he would just go to the academy grand library in order to brush up on some study and maybe learn a few more basic techniques. On his way to the Academy library, he had spotted the little food stand the mysterious creature was fond of harassing. Today was the day he decided to try and tame the creature to be his companion. He’s heard stories of clans revolving around using a companion as their preferred ninja tool and he’d like to do the same, or at least try his hand at the craft. Going to the food stall, it was so fond of, Kizmaru decided he’d eat there whether it tasted good or not. He was only really there in hopes of the creature showing up. Maybe if he ordered the most flavorful dish there, it might come out in hopes grabbing a free meal. Heading to the stall, Kizmaru took a seat on one of the stools and waited for the person who would be serving him.Of course, by some chance, it would be the person he would see often chasing away the creature. The man coming to be his server had asked what he could get for him. 

Browsing through the menu, Kizmaru saw that this person was selling mostly pork cutlets. Being a seafood man, Kizmaru didn’t exactly find this stuff very appealing at first, he’d hoped to have a better opinion of it once he actually tried it. If that creature had a taste for this stuff, maybe Kizmaru could too. Comparing his tastes to a random creature’s probably wasn’t the best idea but at least he would try something new and exciting, even if he might not like it. Kizmaru then came across something that caught his eye, something called Katsudon. Katsudon is a popular food item on the mainland, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, vegetables and an assortment of condiments. He figured he’d go with that as his order, waiting for his server to prepare it. Looking from side to side, kizmaru kept his heads peeled to locate any sign of that creature. Nothing at first so Kizmaru went back to patiently waiting for his food. After a few moments, his katsudon had arrived and admittedly, Kizmaru thought it looked and smelled really good. He was given various disposable utensils for his food and he picked the simple fork for his eating pleasure. 

Taking a bite of the rice first, Kizmaru couldn’t help but think it tastes pretty good. The egg and rice with the various spices was a pretty nice blend he’d never had before. Now, he’d try the cutlet. Taking a small piece of it, Kizmaru plopped it into his mouth. The meat melted in his mouth as he chewed, experiencing a taste he’d never experienced before. This was better than he thought so Kizmaru continued to eat. If he knew he’d like it, he’d have ordered a larger bowl. Well, at least he’d remember to do so next time. While he ate, something peculiar happened, the creature he had set his sights on had gotten close to him while he ate in order to eye his food. Startled a bit, Kizmaru jumped and this caused the creature to waddle away around the corner of the stall to hide. Picking up his bowl, Kizmaru had also gotten up and ran around the corner in an attempt to catch up with the creature. For a creature with a large shell walking on two legs, it was quite speedy. Kizmaru had to run at his top speed in order to catch up with it to see where it was escaping too. He was also careful enough to steady his bowl so he didn’t lose the contents, or the expensive looking bowl itself; After all, only the utensils were disposable.  

Chasing the creature for a fairly long time, Kizmaru managed to end up at the outskirts of town with the bowl of half full of food. Kizmaru discovered a large cavern that turned into a tunnel the more he traversed it. He had entered while running but now that it was getting dimmer and darker, he had to tread carefully. Who knows what was in here. As he continued to walk, he found himself underground and light had begun to illuminate the cavern. The glowed navy blue and lit his way. Making it to what he assumed to be the end, he had spotted the little armadillo creature behind a rock. Inching as close as he could without spooking the creature, Kizmaru placed the bowl of half eaten food down as close as possibly to it and stepped back slowly before sitting down and observing carefully. At first it was cautious of the food since it must have groomed itself to run when a human gets near him but then it slowly crawled out and inched its way to the food. Smelling the food, it determined that there wasn’t anything harmful before it began to chow down greedily. For once, Kizmaru felt genuine happiness that an animal was taking a liking to him.

Not that he hated animals or anything. After the creature was done eating his food, it also sat down and began to rub its belly. Guess it didn’t have anything decent for a while. Kizmaru then decided he would try and pet the creature. Extending his right hand towards it, the creature had continued to just stare at Kizmaru as he made its way towards its shell. Firmly placing his hand onto the shell, Kizmaru had suddenly started to bleed. Forgetting that it’s head wasn’t exposed, he’d pricked himself onto the sharp horns protruding from its shell. Pulling his hand back, Kizmaru grasped it as he stared at it, a bit irritated before looking back at the creature. The creature made a sort of gesture that made it look as if it was laughing before getting up and walking towards Kizmaru giving him, what Kizmaru assumed, was a hug. Unlike the rest of the creature, its belly was safer to touch although its hide was still tougher than other animals. Still, he was glad this little interaction happened and decided he’s trying to lift the creature. The creature once again, didn’t resist and allowed Kizmaru to lift him. The creature was a lot heavier than he thought it would be, probably due to the shell. 

The creature also seemed very happy that it made a new friend so it waved it’s stubby arm like limbs as if it was laughing but it didn’t make any sound. “Alright little guy, wanna live with me instead of this cavern? I promise to feed, play and even teach you a few new tricks to survive and defend yourself. Doesn’t that sound like fun,” Kizmaru said as if he was trying to convince a small child to be friends with him. As if it understood the words coming from his mouth the creature nodded it’s, shell, in agreement. Putting the creature down, Kizmaru attempted to pet the creature by reaching into its shell. This made the creature bite him but not in self defense or as hard as he thought he would. It was sort of a warning that Kizmaru was invading its personal space. Taking that into consideration, he figured it’ll take a very long time before it got to see what it looks like. Nonetheless, he was satisfied with the progress he’s made so far and would continue to work with that. Getting up, Kizmaru dusted himself off before reaching out to pick up and carry his new companion. This time however, the creature had wriggled out of his grasp and began to waddle away to the back of a tunnel.

Kizmaru was puzzled yet curious so he began to follow the creature to the back as well. When they reached the wall, the creature had touched the wall, lighting it up hieroglyphics Kizmaru never knew were there. Behind it, lots of creatures similar to the one next to him were walking or crawling around of various shapes and sizes. Kizmaru never knew something like this existed right here in his country. The creature then walked in and seemingly disappeared among the crowd of creatures. Wanting to follow, Kizmaru took a step forward but halted knowing these armadillo wouldn’t be as kind to him as the one he had just befriended. He decided he would wait here in hopes the little guy returned. Waiting for what seemed like a few minutes, the armadillo came back, holding a smaller version of himself. Kizmaru was puzzled at first but upon closer inspection, the smaller version of his companion had a shell that opened like a scroll and to his surprise, it did. On it, or the creature, was a list of signatures of shinobi that have made contracts with these creatures and his new friend was prompting him to sign. Unfortunately for Kizmaru, he didn’t have a pen on him, so he just shrugged.

His companion then began pointing that the finger Kizmaru had pricked earlier was still somewhat bleeding but had mostly stopped. He assumed he was supposed to sign in blood or something. Biting his pricked finger to make it bleed again, Kizmaru began to sign the creature’s back in blood. His companion then rolled up his friend before taking him back into the secret civilization of armadillos. Wait for a few more minutes, his friend hadn’t returned and he thought it was just gonna stay home this time around. He got up to leave when suddenly, his companion jumped and clung to his back like a small child. He was still heavy but he guessed it wasn’t as bad as trying to carry him in his arms. With that, he would set out to go back to the library with his new found friend.

[Exit.]

W.C: 4972
T.W.C: 10,036 [x2 Event = 20,072]

Ability Claims
Using 2,000 words to bond with Ram
Using 2,000 Words into signing the Armadillo Summon Contract
Using 500 word for Ram to learn Tackle
Using 250 words for Ram to learn Slash
Using 1,000 words for Ram to learn Burrow
Using 1,875 words to learn A-rank Earth Pillar Spears (25% Word Discount)
Using 1,875 words to learn Fist Rock Technique (25% Word Discount)
Using 1,500 words to learn A-Rank Tank (25% Word Discount)
Using 1,125 words to learn Mud Spore (25% Word Discount)
Using 1,500 words for Nature Chakra Proficiency (25% Word Discount)
Using 3,000 words for Pure Sage Mode (25% Word Discount)
Using 3,000 words to learn S-rank Block (25% Word Discount)

Stat Claims
Using 1,500 to lower Kizmaru's Strength by 15
Using 1,500 to increase Kizmaru's Chakra by 15
Using 9,900 words to increase Ram's strength by 99
Using 7,100 words to increase Ram's speed by 71

Approved