The old life shall cease [IO/NK] {Stein}

Before Stein released the rod and deactivated his Chakra enhanced Strength he would note the wall that was coming at him, Stein would use the black reciever with his grandieous strength to smack the wall, Likely shattering them both. At this point was when The Darkness hit, and with a single handsign Stein would suddenly flicker, although Taichi could not see the flicker itself just the flare of chakra and the suddenness of the chakra mass upon where Taichi was the moment Stein last saw him, And which point Stein would rear back a fist and swing, aiming for where Taichis Stomach should be. If successful, Stien would return the earlier favor of the rod, with a thread of his own.

However if it was not successful, Stein would just look up and decidedly show he had learned Hinata's techniques, and fired off an Amaterasu at the very peak of the dome above them, revealing the wooden structure as it quickly would catch ablaze and sunlight allowed back in, Stein would immediately look around for Taichi as the light flooded back in, He was tired of the mystical style, time to bare knuckle this kid,

The wall of destructive chakra would simply be destroyed, shattering onto the floor. This was something that Taichi didn't know how to feel about, as he didn't even truly know if the destructive chakra was all that powerful, or if it was just really fast and inconvenient for his opponent. He didn't take any time to move on to the next steps in his plan. The moment the chakra wall would be destroyed by what seemed to be his opponents brute strength, he would assume the worst that his opponent was coming straight for him. The dome had been completed, so it was pitch black and neither individual would be able to see anything with normal eyes. But that was where Taichi thought he had the leg up, he had chakra vision with his Rinnegan and was able to see any and all chakra that was around him. 

He knew that if Stein was in the mood for brute strength, that he would be coming straight for his position, and his chakra had suddenly surged. This only meant one thing to Taichi, that he was coming straight for him. He knew he didn't have enough time to perform any hand seals, so he was going to have to duke it out with him, at least for the time being. Just as he thought, Stein had appeared directly in front of him, being just within striking distance. He showed this off by going for a gut punch right off the bat. The white haired Uchiha was quick on his feet, however and he took one step forward, getting a strong strike in on his opponent's throat as he wound up for his strike on his own stomach. He would have his left fist going for the throat punch, while the other hand was ready and prepared to guard any type of strike. He would keep his feet solid on the ground, ready to either dodge or shift at a moment's notice, thanks to the enhanced vision that he had. 

This was the moment that he noticed, he saw something familiar in Stein's eyes. "The Sharingan!?" He thought for a moment as he was going for the strike and catching his opponent while winding back. "How on Earth did he get those?" He thought again in the same split second during his defending/attacking. He knew that Stein was unable to awaken them in his own eyes as he was not a member of his clan, so that meant that he must have taken them from somebody else. The only question remained was who. He wasn't going to bother with his questions, at least not yet. As of right now, he had a score to settle.

WC:454

Stein had pulled off the ardous task. Not only did he return light and show the power he had came to accept as his power now. But he blow landed, even with his enhanced speed and Strength. This could cause significant damage, but the following strike that he had already prepared . A single thread shot out from his blow on the gut . he made sure not to hit anything vital. But he had to repay the rod thing. While he saw the punch incoming, more threads would appear from his neck aiming for the hand of Taichi, making a spike collar, if Taichi coninuted his attack it would certainly be impaled. Also the threads would hold on tight to keep his head attached just in case.

Stein than smirked "Did you really think that was going to affect me?" He would retract the thread from the gut and take a short leap back, going back only a meter. His enhanced Strength would fade and the threads around his neck went back in. "Seems you have grown a good bit" Stein would remark as he stood there waiting for the next move now.

To Taichi's surprise, his punch indeed landed, but it was what he landed into that surprised him. His body seemed to feel like a doll, just stuffed with thread which was something that he was not expecting. The blow that Stein had wound up was now on his way, and unfortunately Taichi had no way of dodging the full amount of power that was coming down to his gut, but he could at least mitigate the blow. He was no physical fighter, so unfortunately Stein had him in a bad spot, but he was going to punch his way out, or at least he was going to give it his best attempt, with a little help from his ninjutsu in some way or another.

Without having to form hand seals, branches protruded out of his body, directly from his gut and they would slow the blow down enough to keep him from injuring Taichi's midsection. This was a hail Mary attempt if he had ever seen one, but he wanted to give Stein at least some sort of a fight up close, as that was more his realm of combat. His mind was working quick, knowing that he didn't have time to truly think, but purely react to what it was that was going on and what his opponent was throwing his direction. His thought was to instead of purely dodge or block, he was going to try and mitigate the damage and try to keep himself as protected as possible.

The branches would try to grab onto his hand, hold him in place as Taichi sent a punch directly for his opponent's throat. But unfortunately his branches were too late and the punch did indeed land. The pain would rush to his midsection and he would lean forward slightly, using all of his strength to not just fall apart. He was never the most physical fighter, and this just showed it. He saw that physical attacks weren't going to do much to Stein, but he figured that he had to breathe somehow, and that was going to be his target. He would throw the punch with his left hand and his right hand would hold onto Stein's right arm that he had sent his devastating punch with. He would use his chakra to enhance his strength in the hand that was holding onto Stein. 

He wasn't able to block the blow or to really mitigate it all that much, but he was going to keep his composure just enough to keep Stein in place, as his mind was working on a plan that may just even up the score, or that would at least help him understand his sparring partner a little better than he did at that time. If this body of his was made of threads, then maybe he would be able to cut them, but more importantly, maybe he would be to immobilize him for at least a moment so he would be able to heal himself from the blow that he had suffered at the hands of his friend. He knew that Stein was strong, as he was far more experienced than Taichi himself, but he was having high hopes that he was going to be able to at least keep up with him, as that would shot him quite a bit of confidence that he was going in the right direction and the gods had given him quite the boost with his new eyes.

The threads certainly threw him off guard, which made him laugh slightly internally when he thought of Stein asking Taichi if he thought that was truly going to affect him, because he did truly think it was going to effect him, or else he wouldn't have done it. He had never seen anything like this before, the lack of tendons and muscles, but having only threads instead. He wasn't sure if this was one of his experiments, or if this was some sort of clan thing that was passed down onto him, but he did know that this was going to be his best chance to understand just what the hell was up with Stein.

Two more branches would protrude from his midsection, counting three in total. All three would be sharp, except for the one holding onto Stein's arm, that one would be blunt as he wasn't looking to cut his arm off... But that was when it hit him, just as he was sending the punch to his opponent's throat. One of the two branches would go straight for Stein's leg, aiming to slice it off. His thought process was that if he was filled with threads, then he was going to try and cut them. 

Once the leg would be cut, he would wrap the branch around Stein's leg, as to either hold on to it should it have been cut off. Or the branch would hold onto it, continuing to attempt to cut the leg off and holding Stein in position. No matter the outcome of his attack, he would be staring him down with his Rinnegan. Once this attack would come to fruition, he would see just what he was dealing with in his opponent. He knew that he was running out of his natural energy, but he was going to keep his Sage mode up as long as he needed it.

With the leg cut off, he would drop it and he would then respond to the dialogue that Stein would initiate. While panting, letting go of his composure for just a second. "Fuck that hurt." Taichi would utter as he held onto his midsection, using his basic medical jutsu to heal the pain that was building up in his midsection. He would stand back up to face his sparring partner face to face once more.

"To answer your question, yeah. I did think that was going to affect you. Those threads were something I wasn't quite expecting. Honestly I have never seen it before and I don't really know what the hell to do about them." He would laugh slightly as another question popped into his mind about the threads. "Hey so what the hell is up with all of these threads anyway? I never knew exactly what you were, but you are definitely no Uchiha. Even though you do in fact have the eyes of my clan. I have never met an individual from my clan, or any clan for that matter that had threads coming out of their body like that."

He then realized that he was given a compliment from Stein, something that he was truly not expecting. If Stein acknowledged just how much he had grown, then he must have actually grown quite a bit in his own journey. A smile would be visible on the platinum haired shinobi's face, something that didn't happen to often, at least when he was sober. He cracked his neck to the side and he responded to the compliment from Stein.

"I have grown, at least I hope so. I have been dedicating myself to getting myself to the point that I can actually be on par with the other shinobi of the world. Thanks to gods I have been given these new eyes." He would open his eyes to show Stein the purple eyes that he had been given only a few weeks ago. "I woke up in the alleyway after drinking my night away. I felt a large rush of chakra in my eyes and wasn't sure what the hell was going on until I ran into the tavern's bathroom and looked in the mirror."

He rubbed his eyes for a moment and when he opened them, the remaining destructive orbs of chakra returned to float directly behind him. The destructive orbs of chakra did not return to a passive state, but they continued to be purely destructive. The one that Stein had punched when it was about to wrap around him did not return, so he now knew that they could be destroyed. He wasn't to surprised, but he was glad to know that that could indeed happen.

"These orbs were the first thing to manifest, I can't truly understand them. You destroyed one, so I now know that that can happen. But this is the first thing that I am trying to understand. They seem to have two different stages, passive and destructive, and it also seems once it become destructive, they don't return to passive, but they do return to me when not in use." He looked towards Stein once more. "Did you use Amaterasu? That's the same as Hinata and Prim. How did you get a hold of that technique?" Taichi was sure that he had said something about it earlier, but he could not remember just what it was that he had said. He was beginning to learn a lot more about his friend than he ever thought was possible, but whether or not he was liking the information he was receiving he wasn't too sure. 

His mind wandered, thinking about the worst thing that he could have done, taking the eyes from them both, or at least from one of them and using them as his own. But maybe he had developed them himself? But he wasn't an Uchiha, he was of some sort of doll due to all of those threads. He knew that he was being crass and pretty blunt, but he knew that he was with a friend, so he didn't need to worry too much about having proper etiquette.

WC:1602
TWC: 3215

Mid thread claim: 

+3000 words towards Sharingan Copycat Technique (completed) [Max stat discount applied]
+187 towards Quiet Footsteps (completed) [Max Stat Discount]
Discarding remaining words

approved

Steins Leg was cut off, but that was when Taichi would let go of it the leg and begin to lick his wounds. Stein would use threads to grab the leg, and with a heart in the leg, he could control the threads in the leg as well to reattach it and Stein could not help but to chuckle at Taichi's words. "I am a victim of my own Experiments. I Sought eternal life and found it, but at a cost. You see, these threads, they are apart of me...It is called Earth Grudge Fear, apparently a man not long ago made these threads famous, went by the name of Youka Tau, and so people just generalize the Earth grudge Fear as apart of the Tau clan. I however have no relation to that man, nor beyond stories know of him."

Stein would begin to play around with the threads a bit staring at them as they squirmed around "you see, because of these, I have no bones, no Blood, no Muscles, no Nervous system. I have a few organs, although I do not need them, Only two are important. The Heart and my Brain, if I lose that, than Im not able to do any of this at all."

Stein would retract the thread as Taichi began to talk, he would show the respect to the man as he had earned that much to be allowed to know this much about stein, which is far more than anyone else knew about him. First the purple ringed eyes, and than the man talked about the black floating orbs that was behind him, it reminded Stein about tales of old, of very few people who was refered to as Sages, the pictures depicted balls that floated behind them, Stein thought it was some sort of Artistic gag to get you to look at the person within them. NOw he knew it was apart of them.

than the big question came, Sure Stein had showed the eyes he had obtained, but to be honest, they had been altered slightly to match him, apperance wise. So it was not entirely the pair he remembered to be within the skull of his friend Hinata. Stein would let out a Sigh "Primrose is gone, she disappeared, I am here in Hoshi because I was scouring the world looking for her. Hinata on the other hand, when you left, it drove her crazy, Possessed almost you could say. She started attacking the village and I had to defend it. I took her eyes after long contemplation while on the road looking for Team Fuku, Primrose and her gang. I learned how to use Amaterasu, and even Kagutsuchi. The Flames are mine to control completely. This was the first time I used Amaterasu however. I have fully accepted the power of Hinata Uchiha." And with that Stein would stretch out a little bit.

"Not the only thing I have gained since then either, I noticed the use of wood release several times from you, Senju dna huh?" And with that Stein would weave the Handsigns to Make a golem made of Wood arise from the ground just behind him. This was to show Taichi the power he had obtained even further. At the same time as the handsigns, Markings appeared from the eyes of Stein, and down along his cheeks, apppearing like more stitches, but with the change also in his Scolera, making him more monsterous in appearance, Steins Sage Mode was activated. Stein was evidently Showing off at this point, with the towering thrity meter tall human behind him.

"AS you see, You have inspired me to go down a route that has granted me greater strength than I could have ever dreamed about, Taichi, this is all cause of you" It was not an entire lie, Stein had been trying to get his living clones, his creations to obtain these powers, but instead of seperating it all out, he instead decided to mesh them all together within himself to see what he could obtain. The Eternal mangekyo Eyes still shown out towards the man in front of him, the eyes glew, and what was once red was now a eerie green color which was now vivid even in the daylight.

"What would you claim as your pinnacle of the strength you have obtained thus far Taichi?" Stein would call out to his friend to see if anything could match up to what he had just pulled out.

Stein's leg was cut off, a feat that he was proud of, until the leg began to pulsate and threads began to reach out to the rest of his body and quickly sewn themselves back together. He was just finishing up healing his wounds when Stein began speaking about the threads, answering the question that he had posed to him a few minutes earlier. Taichi had never seen a member from the Tau clan before, or at least he never realized that they were a part of that clan even if he had seen them before. 

He listened intently, trying to understand all of the information that he was being given. He understood that the true weak point of a Tau would be the only organs that actually mattered to them, their heart and their brain. This would be information he would find useful in the future as a means of protecting his friend should the need ever arise. "I see. This doesn't seem like something you can simply implant either, like I have done with some of my other sources of power, this seems like something you must be born with. Truly fascinating." Taichi would say with slight amazement in his mind and heart.

He spoke about the members of team Fuku, of which Taichi was only truly familiar with one member and that was Primrose. She was the very one that taught him about the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and was the only reason why he was able to obtain such power. He remembered her well, but unfortunately she had vanished without a trace, no one truly knowing just where she was. He figured that might be for the best, as maybe she had left this world of being a shinobi behind and truly just wanted to live a peaceful life.

Stein told the tale of what had happened with Hinata, which was something that he couldn't believe that she would do. He wondered for a few moments just why she would have gone crazy and decided to attack the village, especially when there were individuals like Stein who would be there to defend the village from such a small assault. He remembered her eyes, the power of Amaterasu, for it was something that he had wielded once before when Stein himself actually transplanted their eyes into each other, before having to swap them right back. Taichi had accidentally set one of Hinata's clones on fire that day, the powerful black fire that was at his control. "I remember that power, the black flame. It was just as it was the day you had transplanted our eyes into each other, Hinata and I. I find it so hard to believe that she would try such a ham fisted attempt on the village." Taichi would say, trying to understand her thinking.

He looked to Stein as he began getting into a stance that made him feel as though they were going to begin showing their strength once more, and just as he had thought, that was exactly what was on Stein's mind. Taichi watched as he attempted to memorize the hand seals that Stein had used, watching as when he had completed them, a giant humanoid rose from the ground directly underneath him, picking him up and carrying him high into the air. Stein then looked down on Taichi, and he would ask if there was something that he would call his pinnacle of strength. Taichi knew that there was only one technique that would rival the giant humanoid that Stein had created, and that would be a humanoid of his very own.

Before forming his own humanoid, he would be touched by the fact that something of great power that Stein had developed was because of him. He didn't think that their friendship had been strong enough to make lasting impressions on each other, so Taichi was very touched by the statement that Stein had made about his inspiration, to that, he bowed to Stein. "Thank you, friend. I am happy to know that I have touched at least someone in my life. But when it comes to my own pinnacle of power, that would have to be none other than the birthright of my clan, and this will be something I will show you now, friend."

He would have no need of any hand seals, as this was a birthright and something that came with his enhanced eyes thanks to the lineage of his clan. Suddenly, a giant construct of chakra would be created, taking the shape of a giant humanoid, all clad in armor, armed with a katana and up in the center of the skull was Taichi, housed inside a giant jewel placed on the helmet of the humanoid. The humanoid would be twenty meters taller than Stein's wood golem, and it would have wings attached to the back of the body. The wings would spread out wide and the truth seeking orbs would stretch out to form a shield, each of the orbs would turn into a shield and link up to each other. All nine that he had left would flatten out, turning into a wall of pure chakra.

He would yell out to his friend, Stein. "This is my pinnacle of power, the crown jewel of my strength. Ever since our spar in Kazan, I have been pushing myself to become stronger than I was that day, to become someone that would be on the same level as you. You have been the bar that had been set before me, and with this I stand my best chance of reaching that very bar that you set for me. For that, I thank you. If it wasn't for you and Kenshin of the Sand Village, I would have never reached this level of power, not without you guys." 

The Susano'o would stand there before the Wood Golem, it's right hand would rest on the hilt of his katana, and the left hand would make a fist and raise it to his chest level, being in a stance that showed determination as this was his first time completely forming the Susano'o, and it was a cause for celebration.

WC:1033

Using copycat to learn Wood Human

Stein was lifted up into the Air by the Wooden structure And he was looking down to his friend with his confession and that was when his friend unleashed a similar technique, a creation of chakra was created with the beast towering twenty meters higher than the wood human, and Taichi was in the middle of the beasts forhead, it was like a samurai wearing a pair of wings. Stein would than hear that while he credited Taichi for the reason he sought power, that Taichi credited him and Kenshin of the Sand. Stein had no choice at that fact. The wood human had a dragon peering over either shoulder. which wrapped around his shoulder and the other around the waist of the human. Stein had to admit, This had to be the closest thing to mutual respect he had ever seen before.

Stein would control the Wood Human to extend its other hand and extend it out in a fist, offering it as a sign of commodere. Stein would walk up the arm to the Dragons head which unfurled from around the chest and shoulder of the wood human. The Dragon raised up off the Wood human while still being in contact with the human, to raise Stein to eye level with taichi. Stein would make the Eye contact. His Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan staring into the eyes of the Rinnegan of his friend, seeing if he would accept the Offer that was Extended out.

Upon an Acceptence, Stein would smile and nod, and than would be extended out by the wood Dragon, Stein would sit down on the dragon and looking back out across the Village. " I am building a new body for my Creation, you met him once i think. Much like Lust, Wrath is a being. I am going to use the Jugo body to create it, and I have a vision for him, And I have gathered most of it. However I am missing one piece. I hear that Konoha has this piece. They call it Senju Wood, apparently the Forests created by their Senju get harvested and put into Items, and Armors. I guess it was the older Senju forests, so ones we sprout are to chakra soaked, while theirs has become natural. Its the final piece I need, I know you travel fast and quick. Would you like to see the body and maybe do me a favor?" Stein would ask his friend. Depending on his answer would determine the following events that would be certain to follow.

The two shinobi had found their place of peace within the training grounds, something that Taichi was happy to see as it was truly the first time he had ever met such an end to a spar. Taichi had respect for Stein, more than he had originally thought. He was still surprised at the level of mastery that he had over the Wood release, something that he knew was quite rare throughout their world. Taichi thought he was truly special to have this ability, just so it would turn out that his closest friend and rival would have this ability also.

They had both been able to create rather large creations, standing high above the walls of the village, no doubt being marveled at by many of the younger shinobi of the village. Neither of them belonged to this village, but they had both created the means to the ultimate protection of it. He had often thought of creating a village with his friend, but something told him that the village that they had both been staying within was going to be their home, at least for the foreseeable future. 

This was when he noticed that his friend had offered him a gesture that he hadn't performed in a long time, his construct, being the large wooden being would extend out his hand in the form of a fist. At the same time, the dragon that would be laying across the shoulders of the wood human would unfurl, and his friend Stein would begin to walk up the dragons neck, reaching Taichi's position on the forehead of his own construct, the Susano'o. He would have his Susano'o to extend it's left hand, also in the form of a fist to meet the wood human's fist. After completing the gesture, Stein would have reached his position from walking up on the dragon's neck and they could talk once more.

He spoke of a somewhat magical material, something that was similar to the substance that they created with their wood release, but this was far superior as it created by the Senju of legend. The conversation continued as he spoke on how he needed it to complete his "creation" whatever that meant. He knew that Stein was one to create oddities and living beings, as was the case with his clones that took on their own shape, but they were created by his own chakra, and his own body. These were things that he never understood, but he just learned to roll with it when it came to Stein's needs for his experimenting.

He asked if he would do him a favor, and would like to see the body that he was creating, to which his answer to both questions were the same. "I would absolutely do you a favor, friend. It would be very interesting to see your new creation. Shall we dissolve our rather large structures, or shall we stay up here towering above the village?" He would be open to either option, but he would ultimately leave the option up to his newfound rival, Stein.

WC: 516