A fork in the road (hunter)

Maybe I was wrong about that storm…Asahi thought within the confines of his mind.  No doubt things were picking up pace, you could taste it on the air.  It reminded him of those warm summer nights, the calmness that almost seemed deafening, a cooling breeze, the taste of static on the air as Mother Nature prepared to remind her subjects who ruled the skies.  His sensory abilities picked up the two girls, cursing he should have attempted to keep tabs on them the whole time.  It was impossible to know if they’d stayed or actually performed their duties.  At the same time his horse let out a loud neigh, the signal that people approached.  He rolled his eyes inwardly at the sound, thanks babe, little late.  

The man seemed to perk up, at odds with a calming at the mention of tools and gardening, it clearly had been his passion,  at the same time a memory that wasn’t his flashed before his eyes.  Was it rebirth and a blessing or an unjust curse.  He assumed he knew what the one known as elder brother thought it to be, but he wasn’t so sure.  

His own memory flashed, his beloved cousin slaying his own brother in the heat of combat.  The wild look of bloodlust and insatiable hate that had covered him, and then the numbness that came after.  Their departure from the Yagami compound, the pipe in his pocket one of very few possessions he’d been able to keep.  Beyond this memory was one more, one of a late night.  He could almost hear the crickets and swamp things moving about in the distance from their broken home that they’d taken residence in.  A night of indulgence, Yasahiro passed out on the floor…..Asahi awake, a blade in hand.  He’d looked down on his cousin, and wondered then….was it kinder to end his suffering.  Yasahiro was possessed, of spirit or affliction of the mind, impossible to say, but all the same possessed.  Would it be…:just, a blessing to end his suffering, release his spirit to the kami to judge and repent, to enter a cycle of rebirth and atonement that his mortal coil was unlikely to reconcile with the spirit within?  He’d knelt down, hand shaking….before tears had clouded his eyes.  He’d placed the blade away, and not thought of it again.

Now however, in this place, this temple…..the eternal two travelers Asahi and Yasahiro had once again revisited the subject . Yasahiro wishing to attone, to go back where no doubt he’d be killed, his atonement taken away by an act of humanly delt justice.  Now in this moment, seeing the man in front of him….feeling what was to come next….he wondered once again if entering into the eternal cycle was a kinder, more gentle mistress…..than what walked on this earth in a facade of redemption.  

A tear would fall down his eye, though his hands remained steady, smile unending.  Sorrow filled his heart and mind…and yet could he make that same mistake.  

The man smiled and poured his tea, the girls neared the doorway.  The man made a face of feigned insult.  Perhaps another wouldn’t catch it, but Asahi was well trained, from his time as a medium, to his more mundane tasks of working the bar.  He knew what he saw, and in that moment he knew what he must do.  Ideally the following actions take place as the man is cracking his neck and the girls reach the doorway.

The man began to stand cracking his neck while simultaneously Asahi’s face took a small turn, from smile to serious.  “If the niceties are over, please I’d like to introduce myself in earnest.  I don’t like to do this, but……I’m feeling in my element for once on this corporeal plane.”  Energy would crackle around Asahi, from his very soul it seemed to pour out into the room, the Bashosen lending some of its history to the tales that Asahi weaved.  A white hot crackling energy moved around him as though his body could no longer hold his spirit.  It moved like fire, and then water, then as hard as earth his elementary affinities having touched his soul, they moved in harmony.  

“I am Asahi Yagami, Komekage of Tanbogakure, a son of the Yagami clan, a clan of samurai that have slain spirit and man alike for a thousand years.  I came here to meet a master, I do not intend to be delayed by servants.  Now, let me exorcise you and be done with it, in your heart you must know it’s a kinder thing.”  His voice rang out so that it would not only fill the room but those at the doorway as well.  His display of power drew strength from position, lineage, and deed.  His time dealing with spirits had left their mark, his chakra more akin to spiritual energy now more than ever.  

His words and display was for one reason only, to cause a brief hesitation.  Assuming that it did, and at least the man was halted for a moment, he would act.  His hidden hand would reach gripping his ninjato.  From his low seat he press it downwards the ties releasing so the tip of the hilt smashed into the wooden floor.  At the same time the sound of hoof beats would be heard as Princess Ivy Bluemoon darted at full speed for the koi pond.  

As the ninjato hit the ground the very earth would seem to shake, sending out ripples across the ground tearing through the floorboards.  Ideally the technique would send not only the man, but also the girls into the air.  If it did, with his right hand he’d move it up, so that the hilt of the Bashosen would point towards the man, the feathers over his shoulder in a perfect position to fan out, but if the man thought that would happen he’d be wrong, a bright white light would erupt from the handles spike shooting out seeking to hit him center chest as he was in the air.  

As they had said, a storm arrived.  

TWC - 4209

Jutsu used in order
Display of power  (300 stats + 200 for Kage + 100 Pureblood + 50 legendary weapon) 650
Earth Shaker 85 power and speed (only elder brother targeted for the debuff of 50 str and speed for 3 posts)
Sacred Spear 85 power and speed

1300 - 30 - 30 = 1240 remaining

Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes like hours…this was a curse…it was the curse of the Temple Master upon its attendants…now the time for retribution had come. The winds of change blew in, a northern wind that would bite at the skin and leave a chill to the bone if felt. The Elder Brother’s smile faded as he popped his neck and stood up just as Asahi had mentioned. The tears streaming down Asahi’s face was enough of a tell for what was about to happen and then the speech came and Elder Brother did not need to hear more, he could feel the powerful aura being displayed now.

”Very well Komekage Yagami…it is time for you to become a part of my garden…your noble sacrifice will be tended to by the attendants…I am sorry to tell you this, but you will never be making it to the Temple Master.” He said before taking a fighting stance, it was rehearsed and looked solid as the Elder Brother, a soul long lost to the rebirthing rite of power, the visage of a man built of the earth. In the doorway the two female attendants were blocked by Asahi’s horse and they burned with a fiery passion, but also carried the strength of a raging typhoon. These were the rebirthed souls of Meijin, their new bodies were strengthened by their master…they were now Jiangshi. Ancient evils that looked more akin to monsters than their former human appearance.

Outside the storm that they all had spoken of had finally come, it was a sudden change of pace, but the lightning gave light to the scene as the rain started to pour…the drums of nature had begun to sound…a fitting symphony and backdrop for a showdown.

There was slight hesitation in the Elder Brother, a momentary lapse, not of fear…but because his body had betrayed him. Noticing the ninjato too late as it was thrust into the ground, the Elder Brother was thrust into the air and then the female attendants looked panicked for once and they both opened up their own power to attack Asahi. His attack was calculated and as the launched Elder Brother was coming down from his 20 meter bounce he performed a series of hand signs; Ram, Dog, Rat, Snake, Tiger. Rock enveloped his right arm and he landed on the ground, the chakra blade would be shot into the chest of the Elder Brother, but he did not feel pain, and he moved forward, albeit slowed in an attempt to smash Asahi against the ground. The two female attendants launched their own offensive as they saw that the potential loss of Elder Brother was acceptable. The older one from the beginning began to shoot fireballs in an attempt to cover the building, near point blank, while the younger attendant summoned forth a water beast, that towered over the building as it stood up 8 meters, it looked vaguely like an alligator and was following right after with a powerful pressurized water attack. The three chakra mixin this close would likely cause an explosion that would be sure to deal additional damage should Asahi and his horse not evade.

WC:533
TWC:2,409

Jutsu used
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t45047-fist-rock-technique
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t49899-water-beast-v7-2
https://www.narutoroleplaygame.com/t46338-v7-phoenix-flower

”How I messed up”:

The Elder Brother was struck, his attack was invalidated and he looked to the doorway to see his “sisters” be affected by the attack. The younger water chakra attendant was blasted back while the older female attendant was struck into the air, which led the Elder Brother getting struck once more by Asahi’s attacks as he tried to move to shield his sister. However, much to his dismay, he was too slow and as the electricity surged through their bodies, the building exploded outward as a bolt of lightning struck one of the nearby buildings causing it to come alight with fire. In the end the Elder Brother and the fire chakra wielding twin attendant were finally put to rest…their bodies returning to withered, grotesque husks of what they once were.

The rain was now coming down in sheets as the water chakra using attendant was rising from the koi pond, she looked to be even more ferocious and angry as she searched for Asahi. ”WHERE ARE YOU EXORCIST! I WILL ENSURE YOU PAY FOR TAKING MY FAMILY AWAY FROM ME!!!” She roared out as the koi splashed from the water, disturbed by her power. The other buildings were now alert and soon…there would be further opponents to face.

As the Elder Brother’s life force was finally failing, he coughed up a vile black liquid and looked to be choking…he was suffering greatly until finally…he passed on, the earth shook violently as if a great seal had been released in the local area. As the fire chakra attendant finally laughed herself to death…the fire on the roof of the building turned to a ghastly violet flame as it began to spread. Another seal was lifted…and now things were beginning to advance in a hurried fashion.

WC:328
TWC:2,737

He could feel them, withering away, leaving this world.  Their energies failing them, and their bodies and souls finally put to rest.  Death was not the end, it was the inevitability.  Attempts to drive it away rarely would workout in ones favor.  Asahi knew this, how could he not.  His family were mercenaries and spiritualists.  Death was their business both in wartime and peacetime. Unfortunately this was taking precedent with the former rather than the later.  

The lighting coil would die away quickly, as he sensed those around him no longer within its boundaries.  2 had vanished, and now only one remained within the confines of the koi pond.  In front of him, a gaping hole, and fires had begun to spring forth in the buildings around him.  This had not necessarily been his intention, the first time he’d used the Bashosen in earnest.  “I’ll have to remember that….”  He’d say internally with a moderate amount of chagrin.  It was at this time he’d hear a voice.  Due to her location, in conjunction with his, he remained hidden away in some of the rubble.  The entire building coiled with smoke in front of him, the fires moving along the edges, but still in no danger of burning him.

Backing away he stayed hidden behind the wall.  He quickly shifted the Bashosen to his left hand and the Onimaru to his right.  Her words echoed, filled with rage at the loss of her found family.  In his mind the words of a prayer started to form for her, he’d see her off soon enough.  While she spoke two things occurred simultaneously as follows.  

He’d reach out with his base chakra sensory, searching for anyone who might approach, the rain now falling and hitting his head from the hole in the building.  He had a few moments before he needed to make his escape, running into the open was a dangerous gamble this early.  Should he sense anyone, his next course of action would become more decided-able.  

While she spoke, and Asahi reached out, a second bit of action occurred.  Princess Ivy Bluemoon stood at the edge of the koi pond, to the girls 7 o clock, just out of eye line due to her attention being focused on Asahi and the death of her family.  While her words rang out, her front hoof beat into the ground 6 times.  On the sixth, something would happen.  The ground beneath the koi pond would shift, taking the entire koi pond as well as 2 meters around it, the ground would rapidly sink.  The greater earth moving core shuffled the ground ideally sending her off balance as well as the remnants of the electricity likely left her slightly numb.  It would sink to its maximum depth, some 150 meters into the ground essentially taking her out of the fight for now.  Princess Ivy Blue moon would back up slightly, her eyes watching the surrounding buildings, as her masters spirit reached out to them.  She had about a meter from the edge of the hole she had created in which she could peer down.  
  

TWC - 519

Battle stats Asahi Yagami

Jutsu used 

Standard chakra sensory

Ap

1240 + 20 from heavenly body = 1260 remaining


Battle stats Princess Ivy Bluemoon

Jutsu used

Great moving Earth Core  - power/health/speed - 75, max distance down into the ground - 150m

Ap 

1180 - 80 = 1100 remaining

The pain of death, the impending dread of loneliness…the encroaching void, the maw of the devil himself ready to devour the unfortunate soul about to be taken.  The female attendant, the angry young woman who had lost her family, the piece to a much larger puzzle.  She was starting to fracture, and with the numbness of the paralysis inducing attack Asahi had just launched starting to ebb away she was not ready as her skin looked like it was dry…cracking, along her face it looked like porcelain had finally reached its point of no return…She was not breathing as she aimed her soon to be attack at her family’s killer.  Yet fate had other ways of making the weakened partner of a diabolical sect deal with her own humanity.  The horse summon used a technique and caused a sinkhole as the woman was buried and held under 150 meters for earth…she was doomed, but she did not scream or cry…she merely laughed as she sank with the koi pond and was kept inside of her new earthy fishbowl.  The earth smelled foul, and the pressure brought on by the depth would normally cause more grief due to the laws of physics…however, this was not an issue for someone that was not considered…living.  Her skin continued to crack more as her body broke down and she just laughed, she knew her imminent death was near…finally she would be released…and because SHE could not get revenge…her master would.

[ht]

Above ground the earth would finally stop moving as the area was besieged by the storm that rolled in.  There was nothing more that could be done, Asahi was stuck in this place…or he could attempt to leave.  That was when the last two chakra natures; wind and lightning were felt at the edge of his sensory.  They did not move with speed, but they moved nonetheless.  A booming voice could be heard as the two seemed to work as partners, the wind moved in the direction of the intruder with the voice of thunder seeming to be amplified.  ”Exorcist…Kage…traveler…you have managed to make it this far, killing those three is an easy feat…do not pat yourself on the back.  The Temple Master has shown interest in your power…now die peacefully so that we may be able to use your body to bring a new era to this country…”  The voice of the male rung out, before a pillar of lightning struck the ground  between the two of them.  The speed was impossible to recognize but as soon as it was over and the dazzling flash went away, the ground shook once more as the thunder rumbled overhead.  Where the two people stood were merely burned in afterimages now as they now set up something even more fun for their exorcist enemy.


WC:472
TWC:3,209

Deep breaths, count to ten.  The sound of earth rumbling and moving, Unimportant.  Prince Ivy Bluemoon had her own abilities, and unless one knew what to watch for she often times went unnoticed.  No it seemed all eyes were on Asahi, he was the one who had put so much into motion.  In the remnants of the temple home he was crouched, he longed for the idle chatter that had occurred not very long to go.  Still, life rarely turns out the way we want, and the after life it seemed was little different.  Deep breaths, finish the count.  Seven, eight, nine……a new voice entered the mix two new feelings. 

Lightning and wind…….it would be poetic or perhaps thematic if they were the last two defenders.  The others had spoken of a master, it stood to reason that they would be a strong.  It stood to reason that they’d see the reason for the others, and it stood to reason his duty as Kage and spiritualist was to see all of this through.  How much easier it would be to hide, to vanish from sight and never return.  He could abandon a Tanbogakure never see the place again.  Merely exist upon the winds of the road…….a smirk…….not anymore, what a dissapoint meant.  

The voice echoed out, while the wind raged, and lighting roiled.  The bolt was a flash, and then a vanishing.  Ivy Bluemoon moved nervously, but stayed near the koi pond, some distance away.  Asahi stood, and moved from the rubble, the rain upon his head.  As the voice had spoken a chakra bubble emitted from Asahi unseen except by those with chakra vision.  His senses opened even further than normal, he could feel the worms beneath the ground, the insects hiding, even the rats that had called this place their home.  He searched out his combatants and remained in a ready stance as he moved outside of the rubble, avoiding the fire that was now dying away in the rain.  Smoke still clung to the area filling the nostrils of anyone nearby, and perhaps the master themselves.  

“Let it be done then.”  He would say, his eyes searching as well as his mind.  Fan and blade at the ready.  

TWC - 5555

Battle stuff

Asahi Yagami

Jutsu used - En detection - power and speed of bubble forming - 85 / range - 60m

Ap

1260 - 40 (en detection) = 1220


Ivy Bluemoon 

1100

Breathing made one easier to track…made one more likely to be found out…the attendants had long since discarded this way of being.  Now that there were three that had met the final death however, their master would not be happy about this…they needed to get a handle on this situation now before it spiraled out of control.  As Asahi prepared for the battle, they took the preparation time as a signal and struck.  Like the wind and lightning elements that they used, they moved quickly without warning at a speed of 100 meters per second, closing any gap before performing hand seals to fire off twin jutsu at the exorcist.  The lightning attendant used a ninjutsu amplified Lightning beast with a speed of 110 meters per second, and a power of 110.  The Wind attendant molded wind chakra into its palm as it moved to pincer Asahi quickly forming a Rasengan as it moved at the same speed of the lightning attendant, if struck by the Rasengan it would have a power of 110 and would dig into Asahi, prepping a follow up attack from the Lightning beast if possible.  

The attendants would not speak again until the attacks were launched at the preparing Asahi.  “You will see the true value of teamwork here, and fall into despair as you are to be left alone.  The Lighting beast would maneuver and attempt to dodge if possible as the lightning attendant was in the air hovering at twenty meters.  It’s focus was on Asahi but also the summoned horse as he began to weave one handed seals before a charged bolt of electricity formed in the lightning attendant's left hand.  He would then shoot a charged arrow at Bluemoon.  It was to force the horse summon to fall into the pond  if at all possible.  It speeds towards the target at a speed of 30 meters per second, with a power of the same.

---

 

Jutsu Used:

Breathing made one more focused, allowed one to slow the world around them so as to discern the truth of their reality.  Asahi had king taken to meditation, and just as life began….it began with a breath.  A deep breath caused his senses to rise, and what must be done to be seen ever clearer.  He would never know which of the attendants had been the strongest.  Three of the five had been removed before they knew what hit them.  Their hubris in thinking their gifted powers matched those earned.  The final two had the gift of time, it was remained to be seen if it would be squandered.  

His mind raced as he felt their movements within the en detection barrier.  Their chakra not hidden, and well above normal, they shined bright in a dark place.  Their mistake had been waiting to close the distance prior to initiating their attacks.  Asahi wondered what they had been in life…..and with tears still wet on his cheeks he pitied them.  

He felt their energies grow, and as they neared the completion of their movements he moved.  His right arm holding the Onimaru, was laterally raised  in a swing.  He had begun the swing so that as the wind attendant reached forward with the rasengan it would crash into the blade, however as it did, a second force rapidly expanded outwardly form Asahi.  The blade of Onimaru strong enough to slice into the rasengan would be bolstered as a powerful wind current rapidly expanded 5 meters outward from Asahi.  It’s power cutting through the rasengan, and the man alike.  Leaving him likely decimated and in need of retreat.  

As the blade had hit the rasengan, and the air current extended, there by protecting Asahi from threat on that side, his arm made a quick adjustment.  Elbow moving forward, he ripped the blade through what was likely the man’s arm as the current softened it.  The blade would swing upwardly pointing towards the lightning attendant.  Form the edge of the air current a large dragon 15m in width and extending 30m in length would erupt outwardly.  It’s goal not the line beast, but the man that remained suspended within the air.  It’s speed and strength more rapid than the lightning beast, it’s jaws would seemingly clamp down over the lightning attendant submitting him to the same eviscerating torture that his fellow had suffered.  

They had meant to speak as their techniques had went off, but the shredding dragon had interrupted all conversation.  Heavy breathing as Asahi continued to sense outwardly with the en detection barrier.  If the attack had succeeded, and the two attendants had succumbed to their fate, he would release the technique.  The air becoming still, the only sound heavy rain drops, and the sizzling of a dying fire.  If it was still clear they were alive, the air current remained.

TWC - 6023

Jutsu used

En detection - power and speed of bubble - 85 / range - 60m


Total Concentration Breathing  - +50 str / spd



Sky Shredding Dragon - power - 150 / Speed - 110





Ap


Asahi - with 25% reduced costs


1220 - 15 (en detection) - 40 tcb - 30 SSD + 50 Onimaru effect from contact with wind attendant = 1185 remaining.

The attendants of wind and lightning were a couple in a past life…happily married and lovingly devoted to one another. They were going to start a family when their village was ransacked and the wind attendant, her name long lost to time itself was killed, her unborn child as well was lost in the battle. The lightning attendant, who shared the name with a famous oni Otakemaru, went insane with rage and vengeance. He found the bandits that killed his family and ransacked his village. He took his vengeance in the name of his family blatantly spitting in the face of his gods as he roared with rage when he took the life of the leader's family in front of him. Then in a final duel he was able to overcome the bastard that caused his strife…and as the bandit leader died, Otakemaru was able to feel that his throat had been cut in the final exchange. However, just as his vision began to fade a spirit came across the traumatic battlefield of the dead and found the dying man and offered him another chance. Otakemaru took the chance and used his influence and power to find a way to revive his dead wife, turning her into a member of the undead…now here he was again…

The lightning attendant watched as the wind attendant was bisected, blood sprayed across the battlefield as in one continuous motion he saw the lightning dragon flying up at him…he had one thought…and that was that he would be able to soon see his wife as she was. The dragon quickly bit into him and shredded his clothing and body as he let out a roar of defiant anger, but as the lightning attendant fell…he had but a few seconds to look up into the pouring rain. He saw his wife…and their child, but they turned their backs on him…the afterlife had given him judgment and his deeds would not go unpunished. The last of the attendants perished in the pouring rain and Asahi was left alone in the pouring rain again. Now every single building was alight with an evil purple looking flame, except the main house, looming in the distance, illuminated by the infernal fires, but the earth stopped shaking and the wind stopped blowing, the fires dimmed and the lightning became a slow rumble…the storm was still there, and the cataclysm was just starting as there was only one path left to take.


WC:411
TWC:3,943