A Meeting of Stars

It was early in the afternoon that Ryuko had made it to the Advanced Training facility. He had looked a little worse for wear due to all of the training he had been undergoing for future missions with his teammates, but today would not stop him from becoming stronger. As he strolled through he would reveal his Identification to the front and begin to slowly walk in with an ideal area in mind. Today he had been wearing the iconic team jacket, black pants and his usual black boots. Inside of the jacket was Edel, his trusted sword and partner. He had already notified Lucian to meet him here so the two could talk over their newly created techniques and to also see what the future would hold for the team. Ryuko himself did not want to show any signs of slowing down and he didn't want the same for his team. In the meantime he would set his jacket onto one of the dummies and take out Edel as he took in a deep breath and activated his Goldeneyes. The eyes would begin to spark with life before becoming a vibrant, translucent blue before he performed a few seals and gripped Edel intently. The blade hilt would hum lightly before a beam of pure Light Release chakra would form creating a blade a meter in length. Taking a step back he would begin to swing the blue chakra blade at another dummy imitating a fight until he had heard Lucian get here.

253 WC

As Lucian arrived at the Advanced Training facility, he couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. He and Ryuko had come a long way from their early days of rivalry, and now they had formed a bond as trusted teammates and friends. And as fortune would have it, they developed to the point where Ryuko was even inviting Lucian to join him in training sessions. Ryuko had already informed Lucian about the purpose of their meeting today. The prospect of discussing their newly honed techniques and strategizing for the future filled Lucian with anticipation. And so the Goka genin made his way to their agreed upon meeting point. Upon seeing Ryuko, the weariness etched on Ryuko's face was evidence of the countless hours he had dedicated to training for their future missions, but his determination remained unyielding. Observing Ryuko's confidence and precision, he remained silent while to avoid interrupting his comrade. Lucian watched intently as Ryuko drew his blade, the familiar weapon gleaming in the afternoon light. A sense of camaraderie washed over him as he recalled the few missions and training sessions they had completed together. It was evident that Ryoke had grown not as an individual, but admittedly their team synergy could use some work.

Nevertheless Lucian was impressed by the display of Ryuko's visual prowess and the vibrant blue glow of his chakra-infused blade. He couldn't help but feel a sense of genuine appreciation for his friend's abilities. Upon the conclusion of Ryuko's technique, Lucian would make his way deeper into the room so that the sound of his approaching footsteps would likely captivate Ryuko's attention.

And when the Blue Star would turn to see him, Lucian greeted him with a friendly wave before flashing a half grin. "Yo, Ryuko! Looks like you've been working yourself to the bone again." Eying Ryuko's jacket as it found its place on one of the training dummies, Lucian playfully commented, "Putting your trust in the dummies now? Can't say I blame you. They're the only ones who won't flinch when you swing that sword around. But what's up bro, what are we focusing on today?"

WC = 356

For a moment he would not pay attention to the presence of Lucian coming since he had still been busy with his repetitions but after a moment he had came to his senses. The buzzing of the blue blade would slowly fade as the blade fizzled from existence before the only thing Lucian would see would be the hilt of Edel. Slowly turning around he would wipe some of the sweat off of his brow and turn to face his fellow teammate with a grin," I have said it before and I will say it again. I will not lose traction to anyone. Beit you, Travin or anyone else in our village. Working hard means breaking through any ceilings and barriers I may have and pushing forward still," the hilt would promptly pointed at Lucian though his partner had no worries about the hilt igniting or anything coming at him. After a moment more he would attach the hilt to his belt buckle and stretch before answering Lucian's question," Dummies aside the reason I had called you here is because there is a neat little feature of our cloaks that needs to be activated if we are going to be doing missions together. Its the ability to allow our Chakra Signatures to unify and essentially protect one another from any jutsu of ours that may cause...well friendly fire," he would pause for a moment as he rummaged through his own cloak to pull out a bottle of water," this way next time we go on a mission we can go all out without having to worry about holding our punches. That also means we are putting trust in one another. Besides that we should do a little mock training because here soon i'd like to take on a dangerous mission with you since I haven't seen Travin around much," it wasn't the same without their third member but they needed to continue pushing so that they could become the shining stars they were meant to be.

589 TWC

Of course, the competitive spirit of Ryuko was at its peak today. And it would make sense considering the setting. The hilt of the blue blade pointed towards Lucian, but the Goka remained unbothered, knowing that no harm would come his way. With a quick attachment of the hilt to his belt buckle, his partner stretched before addressing Lucian's query. He continued on from there, now commenting on their cloaks and training. Lucian's curiosity peaked, his mind envisioning the possibilities. In turn, his eyes widened with intrigue. The prospect of synchronizing their cloaks, attuning their Chakra Signatures, held immense appeal. The thought of fighting alongside his teammate without holding back, their powers harmonized, ignited a fire within him. It was an opportunity to showcase their trust and unleash their full potential.

A brief pause ensued as his partner retrieved a bottle of water from his cloak. Lucian's eagerness grew, fueling his anticipation for the upcoming training and missions they would undertake together. Following this, his partner continued to explain as Lucian listened attentively, determined to grow stronger alongside his companion so that they could face adversaries as a unified force.

As Ryuko had been speaking, Lucian would make his way deeper into the room and closer to Ryuko. The opportunity had presented itself due to the brief pause in the Akari's training. And so now, only a few feet away from Ryuko, Lucian nodded in agreement with the proposed agenda.

"Well I'm all ears. What do we need to do to attune these cloaks with each other? And how would you suggest we train together?"

Lucian's expression was quite focused, a clear sign that he had been considering all which his friend had described. Yet also he displayed a sliver of impatience. All this talk about growing more powerful alongside one another had the Goka somewhat antsy; but more so ready to put the plan in motion.

WC = 317. TWC = 673

What needed to be done? Well that was a question for the genius of this Star team. Making a "hand it over" motion with his right hand he would take the cloak Lucian had been wearing once he had removed it and motion for him to place his hands on the inner parts of his own cloak. If Lucian looked closely at Ryuko's cloak in the fine weavings of the fabric small symbols would begin to ebb and flow out of his sight as Ryuko began to explain," I only noticed it a few days ago but the fabrics woven into the cloak are laced with an unique fuinjutsu array that allows for one to store another chakra signature or two into them. From there the cloaks send a sort of "ping" to one another distinguishing that cloak and wearing as safe or marks them for protection. In turn, it makes us unharmed from attacks that spawn from us only. Helps that as a failsafe if someone steals it from us it won't work for them," he felt as if he was explaining this rather correctly though it could be interpreted many ways. Ryuko would set Lucian's cloak beside his and let the process finish itself as he thought about what they could train," Well we have that cool ass technique we made to go over, got to make sure all of the kinks are out and then once these two are finished linking we can test the safety feature to make sure everything works as intended. Did you have anything you want to go over or ask in the meantime," he'd ask the brown skinned genin as he crossed his arms.

282 WC

When Ryuko beckoned Lucian to hand over his jacket, Lucian would shrug his shoulders and raise his hands towards his torso to unfasten each button. Once that was done, he'd pull on both sides of the body section of his jacket, exposing the shirt upon his chest, and lower his left arm. With his right hand, he'd pull from the left side of the collar down until his left arm was removed from the sleeve, and then he'd repeat the process for his right arm. Finishing that and in a quick motion, he'd lightly toss his coat over to Ryuko who would catch it in term. Ryuko then motioned for Lucian to observe its fabrics with him, which the Goka would take a few steps forward to get a better look at it alongside his companion. The Akari highlighted that within its fabric pattern were a series of weavings which belonged to a fuinjutsu that synergized well with chakra signatures and establishing a network system between attuned ones. How Ryuko realized this was beyond Lucian's comprehension, as he himself did not have a knack for either armor nor fuinjutsu. Though, the genin did have a fascination in the latter. 

He'd wear an expression of interest and concentration upon his face, and the more Ryuko described his findings, the more Lucian's curiosity piqued. The Goka genin would run his fingers down the interior fabrics of the coat, feeling a source of chakra which emanated from it, along with the very fine engraving from the laced fuinjutsu. Following this, Ryuko would set the cloak down and beside his own, allowing them to sync with each other. He'd continue to comment on the technique the two collaborated on, as well as the time it took for the process of the cloaks to attune with each other. His face would shift to a mischievous grin when prompted on his goal of training today. 

"You really are a wiz, Ryuko...But I think we should test out our Murderous Slashes technique. I know that we theorized it, but theory and practice are two separate things. Shall we give it a go on one of the dummies over there?" Lucian would inquire, raising his right arm to point towards a dummy 20 meters west in the room. If Ryuko were to agree, then Lucian would nod and distance himself two meters to Ryuko's north. Knowing that Murderous Slashes first began with Super Steaming Murder, Lucian would form the five handseals necessary for the technique via a series of five sharp whistles. Resultantly, Lucian would spawn 6 scorch orbs around him (1 set of 2 to his NW, 1 set of 2 to his West, and 1 set of 2 to his SW), each exactly 30 centimeters in diameter. 

Following this, he'd focus his attention on Ryuko and call out to him. "Whenever you're ready I can send them all towards that dummy, and you can activate your Style Cutter technique on them bro!"

Lucian would passively maintain the position of these hovering orbs until Ryuko gave Lucian a signal. And when he would, the Goka would telepathically force the orbs to launch towards the dummy 20 meters west of his position. The rest would be up to Ryuko.

WC = 541. TWC = 1214

Duncan would loosen up a bit, stretching his body fully before he would go about practice. A pulled muscle or a torn hamstring was the last thing that he wanted to deal with. While it might have been true that the medical shinobi at the hospital could patch him up in no time flat, he hadn't been back there since his 'episode' all of those years back. Sure, he had done his time in prison for his actions, it didn't change the dishonor and shame hanging from the man regarding the place. Not to mention that the statue outside only brought memories and emotions to the surface that could disarm and cripple the giant without much effort. 

It didn't take long, but the goliath of a man would finish his stretch to stay limber, then go about training. He knew that he was strong, that was not a concern of his, but he wondered how his stamina and conditioning would fare. Moving his sheer mass around took a significant amount of energy all by itself, and he was not training as intensely as he had in the past to ensure that he was in peak physical condition. Combine that with years in prison where cardio was limited and the fact that he was climbing up there in age and it was a recipe for disaster. Despite his fervor toward battle, he could feel age creeping up on him with intent to weaken the behemoth. No man could truly defeat time itself, but he was going to do everything that he could do in order to ensure he didn't go without a fight. 

He figured that the best way to ensure that the workout was intense enough was to weigh himself down as he did it. So with this in mind, Duncan would suit up into his heavy armor, the sheer bulk of the mail proving to be more than most could even move in. It was a heavy suit of metal, interlocking plates resting atop a scaled metal underlay to allow for greater mobility and motion while retaining incredible defensive properties. Worn on his head would be the immense helm with a very distinct crest that added a lot to his already imposing height. Since this is how Duncan planned to fight, this should be how he went about training. The man would then begin his trek towards the Advanced Training Facility.

The massive structure stood a testament to how important training was to the Kumogakure shinobi force. Keeping their mighty fighting force in peak condition was key to their success in campaigns years past, and the powers that be ensured that the longstanding tradition of military supremacy stayed at the forefront of advancement and development. The giant couldn't help but be impressed with just how vast the facility stretched, how diverse the terrains were, and how well equipped the entire facility was. No Kumo shinobi could say that they were not able to train due to lack of proper resources, that much was a certainty. 

Duncan would warm up with a series of exercises, the first of which was the lifting of a very large set of weights while performing lunges in a lap around the entirely of this walled in section of the facility. His pace was reasonably fast for the action being taken, but still incredibly slow by shinobi standards. He was no swift footed speedster. No, he was a massive fortress, a castle meant to protect his ruler. He was a wall, unwavering in the forces of their enemies. 

After the completion of his warmup lap, he couldn't help but notice that there were others here training as well. They were young, probably half of Duncan's age. Their features suggested that they were in their teens, the next generation of shinobi warriors no doubt. Despite their youth, they were soldiers in the Kumogakure military and as such were worthy of respect. 

He didn't wish to interrupt their training, but instead simply walked over with the intention of watching them train. Of course, Duncan would not allow himself such a lengthy window of rest, for that entirely defeated the point of stamina training. So he would continue to curl the weights as he watched. It would seem as though they were well versed in the ninjutsu arts. One of them was speaking on the matter of fuinjutsu seal arrays and their function. Fuinjutsu is a rather useful art, allowing an assortment of defensive and utility option at the users disposal without even having to weave seals. The other one  seamed to know the advanced skill of Whistle Trigger. The ability to simply whistle ones seals allow for a great amount of flexibility on the battlefield, opening up your hands to wield arms, or even form standard seals to launch even more techniques at the enemy. It was a useful skill to have, and the giant was glad to see that even in their youth Kumo's forces stand as strong as ever. 

The towering man would keep quiet, no intention of breaking their focus. It would seem as though they are gearing up to do some sort of collaborative technique, which the giant figured would no doubt be impressive. Should the others address him he would answer accordingly, but he wanted to witness just how impressive their techniques were without distracting them. 

Duncan stood and watched as they performed the technique. 

wc: 903

Lucian was catching on pretty quickly and the compliment was well deserved. Rubbing his nose with his left index finger he would chuckle as he responded," Well when you are a genius with nowhere to go but up it comes naturally. Of course though if this is what we will be doing with the cloaks it is only a matter of time before we have to get them upgraded and by then I will be able to do that by myself. Now onto our little test attack," he would stand up and dust his pants off for a moment as he looked at the dummy and tilted his head. No one would not do. He would move over to press a few buttons to make a few more come back up, and now they would be ready. Looking over to their cloaks he would scratch his head for a moment making sure he had the time just right. Too soon and they might flambe one another and too late did not make much of a difference. He would walk over to them after the dummies were set up and ran his fingers against the weavings for a moment before smiling and throwing Lucian his cloak back," Alright it seems as if we are in business buddy. Process is done only thing left to do is test them out!," as he said this he would put his own back and retake Edel back into his hand as he twirled it about. He remembered the theory behind Murderous slashes and even in practice it was a threat to behold, the only issue was the backlash which they should have fixed with the cloaks. Rolling his shoulders he would signal Lucian to go ahead and start them off.

As Lucian began to cast his technique, Ryuko would ignite Edel causing the handle would form a meter long blue blade. As soon as the orbs were launched, Ryuko would take a stance and as the orbs moved forward his swinging arm would begin to move causing pockets of light release chakra to create blades of light release that would catch the scorch orbs in tandem. The two would go forward and collide with the dummies causing an explosion of scorch and light, the shockwave of heat would overcome him, but the heat did not touch him or even burn. The Cloaks were holding and that caused a smile to pop up on his face. Looking over to Lucian he would deactivate Edel though his eyes would be a luminescent blue that glowed," Well that worked out and the cloaks are standing strong.... want to try that again with me as the lead?," he'd ask of course to see if there was a difference which attack went first.

463 WC

When prompted to equip his jacket, he would, ensuring that he zipped it up fully and was appropriate covered by it. Following this, Lucian would wait for Ryuko to finish getting the dummies ready before activating his jutsu. Once this was completed and the Akari was out of harm's way, the Goka would continue with his actions as previously described. And the cunning Ryuko timed his half of the jutsu excellently, as the orbs which traveled towards the dummies would successfully detonate with the Akari's activation of the technique. The resulting light was blinding, and the heat was scorching. Though Lucian himself remained impervious to any residual damage from the technique, thanks to the mechanics of the jutsu itself as well as the protective nature of the cloak. When all the effects were concluded and the smoke cleared, Ryuko expressed a face of confidence and excitement. He went on to inquire if Lucian was down to try the technique again, with the Akari initiating it.

With a confident nod, Lucian let out a "You read my mind." 

However before this could take place, the Goka genin observed an onlooker near the entrance of the room. "Yo Ryuko, who is that?" he'd ask, in a lowered voice. Though his curiosity got the best of him, and his adolescent nature revealed itself. "Yo!" he exclaimed towards Duncan, "Who are you bro?"

WC = 229. TWC = 1443

The immense knight couldn't help but find himself impressed with the techniques displayed by the pair. The giant was not familiar with the scorch orbs created, as he had not seen a Goka before in his lengthy time as a soldier of Kumogakure. It wasn't a very common bloodline, and while he had encountered one person of the clan in the campaign against Sunagakure all those years ago, they never fought or showcased any of their skillset. So the jutsu was entirely new and interesting to Duncan. The other technique that was used to 'merge' with the orbs looked to be Light Release. The Akari clan was one known to him, the great Lady Akihana one of their bloodline. While the man had never directly seen her use such a thing, it was a known entity. The Mad Tyrant was well aware of his Lady of Kumo's capability and made certain that his soldiers knew as well. 

The resulting blast was quite impressive, the shockwave and heat filling the entirety of the area. Duncan was glad to be standing as far back as he was, as being too close would have no doubt cooked him alive judging by the heat of the air that was passing by him. His vision was a bit distorted for a moment, the downside of looking directly at the blast. It was much like looking directly at the sun, and it took a few for his vision to correct itself fully, the spots slowly fading. 

Duncan, impressed by their resolve to improve beyond their limits would not allow himself to fall behind the youth and he would continue to curl the dumbbells with a renewed passion and sense of urgency. It would seem as if the pair were ready to go again, their dedication to practicing their arts admirable. Truly these seemed to embody the Kumo fighting spirit. But before that could happen, it would seem as if the giant had caught their attention. When asked who he was Duncan would let out a hearty laugh, "Just an old warrior of Kumo looking to work up a bit of a sweat. This training facility is magnificent, a marvel of Kumogakure ingenuity and desire to ensure their shinobi have anything and everything they could possibly need." The man would remove his helmet, revealing a bald man with a clean shaved face. He was an older man, in his thirties and the marks of time and countless battle was clear in his face. Small, faint scars from his past were there, though only truly visible on close inspection or from those with incredibly keen eyes. 

"The name is Duncan Crawford. And what should I call you and your Akari friend?" He would ask in return. 

Once introductions were out of the way, Duncan would look to the pair and offer a grin. "Do you mind if an old warrior watches and trains along with you? I've been idle for far too long. Can't let age kick my ass any more than it already has."


wc: 507