Training and A Mission

Wed Aug 30, 2017 7:09 pm

Valen would move with a purpose in his step as he arrived onto the field to train. The sun was low in the sky, continuing it’s descent with a certainty that nothing could possibly stop it. It would be true of course. It was that kind of strength our newly sealed young man craved. He wanted to be noted as someone that once a goal was created for himself. Than nothing could possibly stop his charge toward completion of it. The wind from a desert breeze blew through the training field he used to make as his own until recent months pulled him away from it. Due to all the missions, and granted a desire for a bit more scenery, he simply hadn’t returned to the training ground where it all began. This was the training ground where he trained clone and transformation. This was the training ground where the call of his sword became too great for him to handle. This was the location where Kenshin, a man who seemed to disappear in recent months, took him down with a startling ease. Yes, it was here where Valen TRULY became a shinobi, not in some classroom surrounded by peers. Not in some fantastical mission with a princess as so many children wanting to become ninja dream up. But right here, in this training ground where he learned that at any point, any step. The man or woman in front of you could very well be the last one you ever see or speak with. It had been a startling realization now, and most certainly a sobering one. Even now the monolithic earthen pillar that Kenshin had created in that fight stood in the field, gouged and damaged due to his own sword when he missed a swing if he recalled. The silver haired albino had played with him that day, as if he were a joke. But he’d grown exponentially from that meeting. Become numerous times more powerful thanks to that man. It was a debt Valen would simply never be able to repay regardless of how much time and effort he put into the attempt. The man had simply set Valen upon the correct mindset to truly rise into his career choice and begin to truly see his potential. Upon this thought a cruel chuckle rang throughout his mind as his sword made itself known to him again ‘Indeed, he would’ve been a better wielder of me than you. He spared fewer people than you do.’ He’d say, a hint of bloodlust coursing through Valen’s veins. The dark haired shinobi would sigh at this before replying ‘I’ve given into slaughtering for you when it was deemed appropriate for my job. He would’ve done the same you fool.’ He’d reply with an eye roll. Of course the entity would simply give a mental shrug ‘Fair, but you should do something about that soon. I’m thirsty and I’m in no mood to wait any longer. If you don’t quench my thirst for blood soon then I’ll be forced to try and corrupt you again with bloodlust.’ He’d say, giving Valen a warning toward the situation. This would prompt Valen to raise an eyebrow at the statement ‘I’ve resisted your attempts before, what makes you think I couldn’t again?..’ He’d ask the bodiless voice. All he’d get in return was a dark chuckle for his efforts. This gave Valen a bit of concern as the sword had never acted like that before. His brow furrowed in thought, it might be time to take another mission that would allow him to kill, he couldn’t risk the sword gaining control of him and harming anyone in the village. Ah well, what could one do?

Eventually the chilled air would invoke a rustling from under the collar of his cloak and Natsumi, his partnered snake summon would peak her head out from below. The small black and rainbow coloured snake would look around for a moment before looking up at Valen in curiosity. “What are we doing out in the evening Valen? And what is this place?” She’d ask in curiosity. Valen would understand her confusion. Since they had met he had simply never come to this training ground, due to the reasons stated above. He’d give her a small smile in greeting before answering “We’re out in the evening before I want to train with some rather volatile energies tonight Natsumi, I want as few people around as possible and night is the best time for that to occur.” He’d begin the explanation, of course if the snake would prefer to return to her summon realm where it was warmer she’d of course be able to. But in most cases she preferred to stay right where she was. There she was able to get enough body heat that she needed to maintain her cold blooded bodies warmth needs. “In regards to what this place is. Well, this is where I truly became a shinobi. As a matter of fact I do believe I was in this training ground the very morning before going to see Denkiteki-Sama and meeting you. It’s where I had the cold hard fact that there is always someone better beaten into me by a terrifyingly powerful man. A man I have not seen for quite a while.” He would say before resting a hand over his chest where the Heaven Seal that Hikari had placed over him was. She had replaced the seal that Tomoya had bequeathed to him. He had felt as if Tomoya had given him a ‘weaker’ seal as it were as it was still a test, a demonstration to the other sages. It would look very bad if someone died from that demonstration now wouldn’t it? The chestnut haired girl came in for him though, once again. She had helped him quite a bit as well as a matter of fact. The first time they had met she had augmented the very cloak he was wearing. Allowing him to do great things with it’s abilities. Such as making him invisible, summoning rose petals that he wasn’t quite sure what to do with next, and giving him probably one of the most versatile abilities in his skill set. The ability to create a blinding flash of light from the cloak, disrupting the vision of those who witness it and giving him a massive edge in combat the likes of which few could match. Yes she had come through for him then. Then of course there was the time she had helped him during his final chunin mission. After Damon and him had routed a couple of missing nin intent on using a genjutsu to rally the enemies of the shinobi in the civilian populace to cause a civil war. They were then assigned to find out all they could about the village of Kumogakure no Sato. It was her timely, and sneaky (in her mind anyway) intervention that allowed them to finish the report in a timely manner. That allowed them to pass their chunin trials and get promoted to the full fledged rank of chunin. An honor he was loath to disgrace. Indeed he owed much to the young girl after this, and the worst part was that she wanted nothing in return for her assistance in any of the above cases. Which made him want to pay her back even more. He’d manage to find away eventually though. After all he couldn’t leave a debt unpaid.

As these thoughts drifted through his mind the sun had managed to set beyond the horizon, the dark blanket of the night sky putting it’s cover over their part of the world. The small twinkling stars appearing one by one as they became visible to the naked eye. The deserts chill became more severe at this time, as it always did when the sun was not there to give it’s treasured warmth. With the night now upon them the citizens of Hoshigakure would find refuge within their homes from the cold air, and rest for the following day’s activities. It was also time for Valen to begin his control training over his new seal. Lest he never manage to tame the thing. He slowly moved into the field, walking toward the monolithic part of the earth that Kenshin had made. He turned his head in thought as he decided that would be a nostalgic place to further his skills. With this thought in mind he jumped onto the top of it. Easily finding space upon the top of the cylindrical piece of stone. He’d proceed to kneel down upon the stone, placing his sword on the ground in front of him. ‘I promise, soon I’ll take a mission that’ll involve something to kill, but for now I need you to let me take care of this seal, lest it act up on me later on.’ He’d say the sentient weapon mentally. He’d feel a mental sigh from the blade ‘Fine, I’ll hold you to that..’ He said simply, before going quiet. Valen was sure he’d go through with it too if he didn’t do as he promised. But that would be a simple matter of going out to kill some bandits later. He could handle that easily and it would slake the thirst of the blade for now. He, for but a moment, wondered if the blade could ever fully be quenched. Or if it could ever become purified of its bloodlust and become a weapon that no longer craved the death of scores of enemies. He pushed these thoughts from his mind though as he began to focus on his goal here today. Mastering the curse seal. As he knelt there in the night atop a great cylinder of earth he bring his focus to bear. Activating the seal he’d feel the discharge of power into the air around him, the natural energy flooding his chakra coils as the magatama shaped seal marks spread across his body in web like fashion. All coming from the seal that was branded into the skin down to the chakra system. The dark energy would spiral out from him, the markings on his skin an evil coloured orange that added to the creepy visage that was already involved. The natural energy would be surrounding him, the power he felt was intoxicating. But he knew of the price of such power. It would harm him, it would be a double edged sword against him if he did not use this power carefully. However he felt off, incomplete as it were. As if this were only a bit of the power at his disposal. He flexed his hands experimentally and shook his head. Something was wrong, it wasn’t complete. He’d shake his head in disappointment, he had more work to do. He’d stand up fully and let the power run through him, the raw, naked natural energy infusing itself into his chakra system would be an intoxicating drug that he almost wasn’t able to turn away from.

At this point he stopped himself dead in his tracks. He couldn’t let this keep going, he needed to pull back the chakra and allow himself to deactivate the curse mark. Lest he keep going and take on more than he could handle. Slowly he began to pull back the curse seal chakra with his body, and slowly the mark began to recede. Carefully, and slowly returning to the seal where it would begin to gather more nature energy to store into itself. He could feel the malicious energy in the seal. He shuddered at it’s dark intent and new that he didn’t tame it then it would destroy him. At this point Valen took a moment to look up at the sky and sigh heavily. He’d stare for a moment before turning toward his village and admiring it’s beauty. The Jewel of The Desert, in his eyes anyway. “Any power needed to protect this place..” He’d say to himself before an incoming presence took his attention. A messenger shinobi appeared, leaving an ‘urgent’ mission scroll before leaving without a word. Valen would quickly unravel the scroll and look at the mission quickly, his eyes scanning the pages at a rapid pace in order to figure out the emergency. He’d nod his head as he absorbed the information. Apparently a local bandit group had begun to get far too lively in the area and they began to assault larger caravans. He was tasked with tracking down the bandit group and destroying them before they assaulted the next caravan heading toward a town called Malva. He remembered the town from the time he went out and cleared out a rather impressive bandit army in the mountains along the shadow country border. He had freed a group of captives, mostly women, from those mountains and slaughtered scores of the thugs to keep them safe as they walked out of the rather complex cave system.

He’d quickly burn the scroll, as was protocol, and begin to move out toward the desert. He already had basic mission essentials on him in case of an emergency such as this so it wasn’t any issue for him to move out immediately. The cold desert night would make the eight hour journey to Malva bearable and for that Valen would be thankful as the heat has come close to causing him to black out last time.

His journey to the village wouldn’t be obstructed and by the light of a crescent moon he’d arrive at Malva at about three in the morning. He’d move throughout the village, observing the situation with the villages recent lack of supplies and shops, those he could see into due to the late hour of course, would seem surprisingly empty. This caused some concern for Valen as it further enforced the need for this mission to happen without any kind of issue at all. They needed these supplies, no if, and or but about it. He sighed as the true importance of the mission came to light but shook his head to clear it. He was a chunin of Hoshigakure, he wouldn’t fail such an important mission. As he thought this the curse mark on his neck began to flare up. The magatama marks arcing across his skin as the influence of the nature chakra began to come out without his command. Valen would furrow a brow at this as the energy exploded around him, kicking up sand and debris as it went. The young man in the center of the small maelstrom of energy would take in a deep breath before forcing the curse mark to recede. It activating on it’s own was simply unacceptable. He’d just have to get a better command over it. Perhaps if he used it in battle he’d better be able to control it in normal, everyday life? It was certainly worth a shot. It’s not like he wouldn’t have a lovely opportunity to do so fairly soon.

Of course the commotion of the seal acting up and kicking things around would cause someone to wake up, and shortly the proprietor of the establishment he was standing next to when the seal activated came out looking as if he’d just rolled out of bed. The hint of fear was evident in his eyes as he couldn’t have known Valen was an ally immediately, since the young man hid his headband. With a simply movement of his cloak the Hoshigakure symbol wrapped around his arm would become quite visible and the mans sigh of relief could be heard down the road. Valen would give a small smile at that before nodding his head and speaking “Valen Akari, Chunin of Hoshigakure. I’m here about bandit attacks on shipments?” He’d say to the man whom now listened with rapt attention. “Yes! Please, we’re so low on supplies. With the shipments being attacked we can’t get the valuable food and other goods we need here in a desert. The shipments are coming from the forest country and one is due later today.” He’d inform Valen, before holding up a hand. “Wait here one moment, we were all given copies of a map of the route in case whomever came from Hoshi arrived and came to one of us. I’ll go get it” He said before turning back inside. ‘Well that’ll make things easier..’ Valen thought to himself as the man ran inside. Natsumi would still be curled up under the man’s cloak so well hidden he doubted the man even knew the small snake was there. Within a few minutes he’d return with a scroll and pass it to Valen. “Please, take care of the bandits, and thank you.” He’d say, knowing Valen might not return to Malva before traveling back to Hoshi when the mission was finished.

The sword wielding chunin would open the scroll and study it carefully, the caravan was coming straight from Forese Country. It couldn’t afford to take smaller roads since a full caravan would need well traveled throughways to function well. This would make it an easy target for the bandits attacking it. It would also mean that he had to hurry. If the caravan was due in Malva later that day then it could only be a few hours out, meaning if it hadn’t been attacked already then it would be soon. This sense of urgency caused Valen to begin dashing out of the village as fast as he possibly could, moving down the road the caravan was due to be traveling at a blistering speed that most people simply wouldn’t be able to follow. As such it only took an hour or so to come across the camped out caravan for the night. This was fortuitous as the caravan being here meant that it hadn’t been attacked yet. Valen would slow down to a stop next to the lead caravan and move over to the sleeping man in the bench at the foot of the front wagon before waking him. The man of course, whom Valen could easily tell now that he was awake, was in his mid forties. He had a scruffy looking beard that spoke of lot’s of travel and when he saw Valen nodded his head at the shinobi. The man could tell he was a ninja, he’d hired them before himself many a time. So much so that he could recognize one in an instant based on how they carried themselves. “I assume you’re the shinobi sent to make sure I finish the journey and that these supplied arrive at Malva safely?” He’d say as he rolled his neck around a bit to work out the kinks that set in while he slept. “Lemme get the animals fed and some breakfast in myself and I’ll be on my way. We should be there in just a few hours.” He’d say before getting up and beginning said tasks. Valen would of course begin waiting patiently for the man to be ready and he activated his chakra sensory to keep himself aware of any ‘surprises’ while the driver went about his business. After about a half hour Valen felt something off his sensory. A large group of small reserves, civilian levels were coming their way.

That meant it was time to work. The shinobi would move over to the man who was doing a final inventory to double check everything. “They’re coming, get moving, I’ll handle them and be on my way..” He would say before finally allowing the curse seal to activate. The powerful energy flowing around him in a wondrous, yet foreboding display. He moved toward the targets quickly while the driver got into the lead cart and snapped the reins, causing the horses to begin galloping as fast as they could, leaving a cloud of sand and dust within the wake. Valen himself would reach the bandits within a few moments, yet he was moving far too quickly for them to even realize he was there. Needless to say the ‘fight’ was over quickly as he cut them down like the vermin they were and left their bodies to rot in the desert. Valen would proceed to turn back toward Malva and move back at a leisurely pace, intending to make sure there were no stragglers that tried to catch up. This had the added bonus of allowing him to focus on the curse mark. The seal seemed to react well to battle situations, giving him a far stronger boost than it had before. He looked down at his hands as he walked through the night air, the sun slowing rising over the horizon as it began its ascent. He’d channel some chakra into the seal above his heart and the familiar magatama marks would begin to dance across his skin again, covering his entire body this time as he felt the powerful natural energy course through his coils. He could feel the chakra’s power increasing his capabilities to vast proportions, easily fast enough to require him to relearn how to handle his newfound speed. That would be something to do later on though, without the chance of witnesses.

With this done he’d soon see the town up ahead with the caravan unloading in the middle of town. That obviously meant that he had made it back safely and so rather than stop by our apathetic hero would merely go around the town so as not to draw attention, traveling back to Hoshi at a nice pace to get him back at around lunch time.

3602

Claiming the rest of my Curse Seal Level 1 Mastery (currently sitting at 1601/4500)
Putting the leftover 703 toward Curse Seal Level 2 (703/3750)
The above is utilizing my 25% max stat discount

Also claiming 18 AP

Sun Sep 10, 2017 3:34 pm

approved

Training and A Mission

Training and A Mission

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