Starring:
Date: November 30, 2015
Summary:
The time for the next step of the tailed beast training has come, and it's going to take a couple of monks to knock it out of Tatsuo.
"Tails of a Nara: Mini Beast Emerges!"
Temple of Fire
It has been around half a year now since Tatsuo had been trained to bring forth two tails of his cloak, and now it was time for him to take another step, at least according to Daisuke and his knowledge of the progress of the two previous Three Tailed Jins. Whether Tatsuo was prepared was yet to be seen. This was an important step for the young Tatsuo. This level of power, most hosts never make it past. They are content obtaining this level of power without needing to further the relationship with the beast within, and rightly so, as this power is quite formidable.
Early in the morning, Daisuke makes the trip to Tatsuo's residence, careful not to wake anyone else up by going through the front door. A light rapping at the window of Tatsuo's room would be all the genin would hear before Daisuke calls out.
"I heard Nara's were lazy. Time to wake up!"
Sneaking up on Kenta's house like that? Totally not cool! And as for lazy…Tatsuo was very much an anti-Nara about that. He worked hard dangit! Of course he felt he had to but that was another story entirely. The knocking and shouting cause the boy to sit up quickly, blinking towards the window before rubbing his eyes to clear them, then slipping out of bed to go open the window with a confused frown. "Hokage-dono? Is everything okay?"
Daisuke can't help but chuckle a bit as the Nara sits up and takes a moment to get his bearings. A brief memory of a few years ago, being woken up by ANBU to be taken to his Aunt's office flashes through his mind. "Nothing serious, or probably super serious depending on how you think about it. We are going on a trip today to the Fire Temple. The purpose of this trip…. is to further your control of Isobu's chakra to the point where I can set you free as your own person with my full confidence in your abilities within a cloak."
Tatsuo blinks a few more times, surprise showing in his face as he starts to comprehend through his blurry early morning phase what it is that Daisuke is saying. "H-hai!" he says excitedly, turning back to his room to throw on some clothes for travelling before writing a note for Kenta and leaving it on his desk for when the medic or his grandmother came in to check on the Nara. With that done he hops out the window to join Daisuke, looking much more awake now. "I'm ready Hokage-dono!"
"Right, let's go!" Daisuke says, hopping down onto the ground again and setting off with the young Nara. Leaving the mammoth gates of Konohagakure behind, the duo head northwest on a trip that will take them until noon. Luckily, Daisuke had brought some snacks, which he shares with Tatsuo along the way. As the sun rises towards it's apex, the road thins and becomes dirt. The mountain base of the Fire Temple greets the visitors with at least 1000 steps of stone, an intimidating view for sure. But the best part of the temple was the large gate with its master sculptures and etchings of great mythical beasts, including two large Tengu on either side of the gate, standing guard.
"We have arrived at least." says the Hokage as the gates slowly open for them, revealing the inner temple grounds.
Traveling with the Hokage wasn't so bad! Especially now when he brought snacks and was being friendly! All of it just seemed rather nice really. Tatsuo would take some of the offered snacks as they traveled and let his eyes roam around as well, taking in the sights as they neared the Fire Temple. When they get to the temple itself his eyes widen. He'd never been there before and he certainly hadn't expected it to be so…incredible. "It's so big…"
"This is the main temple for the whole Land of Fire. It is also the place where numerous disciplines of martial arts come to train. I have not been here in quite some time, but I have ties here." Daisuke says as he makes his way into the courtyard, numerous squads of monks training off in corners, some sparring, some doing katas, etc. An old monk makes his way slowly towards the duo, Daisuke's face brightening in recognition.
"Hello there, Ara-jii. We came early." he says to the old man who harumphs at the Hokage, tapping his foot.
"Sure doesn't make up for all the times you kept me waiting in the past, Dai-kun." he says in his old geezery voice.
"This is Tatsuo, the one I told you about. I need you to put him through… 'the full deal'." Daisuke says to the monk, who turns his geezery gaze on Tatsuo, eyeing him up and down.
"Sure he won't break?" says the monk with a geezery laugh.
"We will see."
Tatsuo can only follow Daisuke through the gates and into the main chambers of the Temple, still in awe of it's beauty. When someone approaches them his dark eyes turn on the man with a curious expression before he gives a small bow in greeting so that it feels at least a little more proper and such. But then this 'the full deal' thing is said and he glances to Daisuke uncertainly. What exactly was included in 'the full deal'? Should he be scared?
Daisuke puts his hand on Tatsuo's shoulder and smiles. "You are going to be going with him and doing some endurance training today. It will be nothing like the training that we have been doing in the past. There can be serious injuries involved if you do not take it seriously, ok Tatsuo?" he says to the boy, hoping that will be enough for the Nara to take it seriously. The old man chuckles lightly but waits for Tatsuo to be ready before he would lead him into the inner sanctum of the temple, which opens up into an indoor training area with a mat covering the floor.
What the hell did Daisuke get him into this time? Dark eyes look a bit worriedly to Daisuke, the question there as he leaves…what do they know? Does he really want him to draw on /that/? Sure he'd said it's what the training was for but what if he lost control and killed someone? The boy swallows loudly as he looks to where they're heading, his eyes looking over the indoor training room as the door opens. Oh boy.
The old man walks quietly through the temple into the center of the sanctum before he turns around to face Tatsuo and speak again. "You were brought here to harden both your body and your resolve. As hosts of the closest thing this world has to physical gods, it is imperative to be able to control the gift that has been given to you. To do this, you must be able to achieve perfect harmony with the soul sharing your body." he lectures as he paces back and forth. "Today you will be pushed beyond your normal limits, sending your balance into chaos. It is you who must be able to overcome this chaos and restore order." he adds before looking Tatsuo over once. "Make no mistake, we are fully prepared for failure…" he says, lifting his hand to point to Tatsuo the various seals etched into the walls and roof. ".. but expect success."
Tatsuo's eyes follow where the priest points out the seals and he does finally relax some before he looks back to the elderly priest and nods. "Hai. I won't let you down," he says, voice filled with determination. With the fact that Isobu can't truly get loose well in his mind he will push himself as he would in the special training grounds around Konoha. "But, um…how are we going to do it?" he asks after a moment, looking around with a hint of confusion.
The old man smiles wryly as Tatsuo asks him how. "The hard way. Don't hold anything back." he says as he suddenly vanishes in a poof of dust. The area is quiet for a few moments, letting Tatsuo sit in the awkward silence, before a monk appears behind Tatsuo, seemingly glowing with radiant golden chakra, the spirit of the Thousand Armed Kannon shining like the sun. It seems Tatsuo's cloak of chakra wasn't the only one out there in the world, and the boy would be dealing with this one very soon. "Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder!" cries the monk as numerous arms stretch out and fly towards Tatsuo to strike.
The attack was widely unexpected. Not only for a monk to strike him from behind but also for them to use something that was…random. What kind of element was that anyways?? A wall appears in front of him in the air, made of water of course, but the arms smash through it and into the teen behind, sending him head over heels for a moment before he manages to get back to his feet to slide the last short distance. He doesn't say anything but his eyes change, becoming a dark red as the cloak forms around him and two tails make their appearance behind him. He quickly sends out numerous thin walls of water to try and pierce the priest.
The monk is able to move one of the thousand radiant arms behind him and smash through the oncoming thin walls of water, one after the other. His facial expression remains neutral, obviously in deep focus as he sends out numerous arms yet again to strike at Tatsuo, never using the full 1000 but using enough to make it require extreme focus not to be struck.
While Tatsuo is focused on that monk, and the monk is doing a good enough job keeping his focus, two more monks drop down a good bit behind Tatsuo, focusing their own chakra as spiritual vessels appear behind them as well.
The speed of the monks was something to be commended, as was their stealth. Tatsuo managed to block the first attack coming through but the second one from behind was not so kind and sent him sprawling again. A thicker wall of water appeared between Tatsuo and the last attack, keeping it from piercing.
~You'll need more of my strength if you wish to pass this test.~
'How do I know I can trust you to not try and take over my body.'
~Hoho, foolish child. Have you learned nothing from your previous lessons? Surely something the monkey said will have stuck with you.~
'I…'
The monks give Tatsuo a moment, experienced in the nature of dealing with a host and not just gang beating them. This mission was to let Tatsuo draw out the beast then control it, not to beat him to death. After a few moments have past, they continue their three-pronged attack, radiant fists flying towards Tatsuo again. "You will not win by holding back, child." comes the voice of the old monk from somewhere in the sanctum. "Through chaos, you must find order. But to do so, one must first throw oneself into that chaos."
Well, when they said they were going to push it to the limit they really meant it. Tatsuo can block the first monk now with ease but as the attacks come from the other two he finds himself overwhelmed. The barrage continues again and again with only parts of them able to be blocked each time. Finally a final one breaks through. Tatsuo smashes into the wall at the far side, kicking up dust and debris into the air.
~You need to trust me boy. I don't intend to have my chakra snuffed today from your foolishness. We will work together, but in doing so you must trust me.~
'…Fine. I'll trust you. Just don't let me down.'
As the smoke and debris finally clear there's been a drastic transformation. In the place of the boy is a creature, more or less, that looks like a small version of Isobu himself. The cloak is constricted and flows tightly around the body as the three tails lash around wildly behind him. A single eye turns on the monk before water lashes out towards them. There's no intention to hurt them at this point, but instead using his chains of water to wrap them up tightly.
As the smoke clears and Tatsuo has achieved what Daisuke wants him to achieve this day, the monks retreat, though some get caught up in the water attack and get some shiny new bruises as they are bound tightly with water ribbons, struggling to get free.
"Jeez, you really push it to the limit, huh." Daisuke says as he walks onto the mat, standing in front of Tatsuo with that grin of his. "Are you all there." he asks the boy, knowing that the power struggle may still be going on for control.
Tatsuo's teeth are grit as he feels the power of the new form but, much to his surprise, Isobu isn't really pushing all that hard. Maybe he was an honorable bijuu? The form fades and Tatsuo stands, then nearly falls and has to lean against the wall as he wipes blood from his chin. "I…didn't expect any of that…" he says with a faint smile though he still looks pretty pained at the moment. But he was a medic and with the additional benefit of Isobu, he was healing faster than a normal person under the best of circumstances. "So much power…"
"Now comes the hard part. With better control over the cloak of Isobu, you are able to take on some of its characteristics, but with that comes a thinner line between Isobu and yourself. Always remember that, until you and he have come to an agreement and he has fully recognized you, you should always use it with one eye open, no pun intended." Daisuke says, lightly snickering along with the snickering in his head by the King of the Apes. "Lets rest and eat something for now, you have some wounds to heal."
Tatsuo nods his head slightly as he listens to Daisuke, understanding what he says. He could feel it, that connection, and while they didn't exactly have an 'agreement' they had spoken about it…albeit briefly. He would be diligent despite that. Isobu hadn't taken control in some time so things were always looking better. "Hai Hokage-dono. Some food sounds…really good," he admits, water forming around his hand as he touches it to himself, letting the healing water absorb into him. Another step.
