The dragon soared continuously on the skyline, slowly furthering the distance, this time nearing the forested areas of the land, apparently the dry strip of land was ending, and she was once more nearing the shored areas of The land of Madness again. However, it was apparent to her that upon reaching the shore, she would not be able to pursue the creature from the water, especially since she could not swim herself. The massive creature would be taken out of the sky by her hand before shore was reached, and she would not allow anyone else to capture it. Continuing her sprint, she felt to grass tickle her legs, the rocky plain slowly transforming into the country side, the air going from dry and warm, to moist and cool. The dragon did not seem to have a specific path to follow, not that she knew anyway, since she did not believe any countries lay west further than thunder before it was naught but sea, but it was doing something to say the least.
The forested area was nothing she could not handle at all, in fact, with the previous tech, it would be more than easy to get through it, especially since everything would burn down, but that would be kind of horrible. As the sword moved to her hand again, and the flames ignited around the weapon, and she moved it through the thick trunk of the first tree, moving through the tree as it was eaten by flames. Leaving behind a trail as planned, the weapon would allow further incineration, or trapping at least, which was also cool. However, at such a low rank it was fairly impractical, but she needed to master the lower ranks in order to gain understanding to train the higher ranks of it, the ability to leave a trail of flame behind for up to twelves seconds as opposed to two. The flame left behind would burn as powerfully as the one upon her sword, meaning the trap could be dangerous. However, on unmoving targets, it just meant more to hit with the fire.
As the tree toppled behind her, she struggled to see through the foliage above her, trying desperately to see the dragons form in the sky above, but there was not even enough room for her to see the sky never mind the dragon itself. Cursing, she took a step off one of a fallen tree before her and launched herself upwards, her blade poised and ready for her to meet the trees above. As her blade swept through, the burning fire behind it trailed through the trees ahead for a moment, the uppercut momentum enough to carry it along. The trees before her burst into flames as the trail of fire engulfed them, and she moved through the flames easily, the heat not affecting her at all. She looked into the sky, searching for the dragon in the air, her arm extended, the sword sideways with the flames seeping from it like a banner behind, the flames eating the way up the following trail soon after due to the low rank of her skill in it.
The air was clear above the trees, and the trees below her were moving at an incredible rate, almost as speedily as her fire that forced its way through the branches. The flaming trail of the sword followed the weapon, sustaining itself in the air for only a few moments before fading. As gravity began to pull her back down towards the earth, she took one last look at the sky for the dragon, right before her sword severed the branches below her, spreading the fire even further. Immolation would occur, and this forest would be burned to the ground before she even got to the end of it, not that she cared, the dragon was her target, she would hunt it down, and she would fight it, and she would master it.
Hakuyune rolled as she struck the earth, the blazing banner of fire behind her burning the earth as she did so. Her hair whipped against her face as she continued the path through the forest, now alive with the flames and the sheet of the flames of her sword flowing behind her, and ethereal sheet of deadly fire that streamed onwards. As she carved a path through the forest, the trees behind her alight, she stormed through a under-growing brush, a vine of which snagged her foot and tripped her forward. Hitting the ground harshly, she rolled for a bit before coming to a complete stop on her face. Breathing awkwardly, she lifted her head up and rested her chin on the earth, looking straight at the feet of someone. Impossible for her to arch her neck anymore, she kneeled and prepared to stand.
A male stood before her, and behind him, three more, each of them with a blade sheathed at their hips. They were looking at her as though she had money. Well, she had a bit, nothing worth getting robbed over. As she stepped back, the male directly in front of her took a swing at her neck, redirected by her own sword and she rotated, not bringing the sword across her neck, but using the flames to set him on fire. It was not lethal, very painful, but at least she was not killing someone for no reason. He fell backwards, trying to fan the near immortal flames from his body, but there would not be hope unless his friends helped him out. As the first man fell on the floor writing in pain, the second summoned a ball of water around him, the heat of her fire forcing most of it to evaporate on contact, but he was safe now, yet the trail of fire still wound through the air, burning intensely.
The third man moved for her, taking a large overhead swing, met by her own blade, the flames flaring brightly from the movement of the sword, but it seemed that he had already learned the lesson from the other guy. As the flames swept up in the air, he moved backwards, and the small Hoshigaki girl stood there, letting the flames do their work. Feeling very awkward about the whole thing, she wanted to yell at them to tell them to move out of the way, but she was too embarrassed. They would probably think she was crazy. Holding her sword at the ready, she shook a little as the words came out, so unused to asking random people, especially those who were trying to kill her, to move out of the way so she could do something. After all, a dragon was the price.
"Please, I need you to leave me to follow my target"
The man who had avoided her flame snickered. Guessing that was a no, she decided against peaceful options and moved straight through, the blades fire burning brightly as she moved through them at a quick pace. For a moment as she passed, they all seemed fine, until the trail of fire suddenly burned through the air, circling each of them. There was a lot of yelling as she continued her sprint, but she ignored it. The one male was already a suiton master, he could deal with them all, she needed to find this damned dragon before the coast drew up and she lost it forever. Feeling a little tired, she sheathed the blade and continued to move, the cape of flames lasting for a moment before the fire on the blade vanished.
After leaving the gates of his home village, a person named Akurano traveled for several hours without seeing a single person, it didn't bother him much as the young ninja had a tendancy to phase out of the real world and day dream as he walked along a dusty road, every couple of minutes he would briefly return to the real world and check his surroundings
As he looked forward he started to notice the beginning of a forest, he was on the outskirts but noticed smoke rising from further in, being curious and slightly worried that one of his fellow cloud ninja may be in trouble he decided to investigate...
The flag of the blade sailed behind it as she moved quickly through the trees, the dense woodland becoming more and more thick as she moved through it. The blade easily removed anything in her way, and the trail fanning behind her, setting everything on fire as it moved through all the things. The blade was held close enough to her body when she made it through the bush, aware that she was on soft soil now, aware that she was very close to the edge of the land of madness, it would not be long until she reached the ends of the forest, she could see someone in the way, a man, one who clearly did not know what he was getting in the way of. However, she could not just run him over, that would be too cruel, but she could not let the dragon get out of her sight either. Mixed emotions filled her.
"Please, get out of my way, I don't wanna have to hurt you"
Her words would be highlighted by her weapon as she presented it forward, the trail of flames which had followed the weapon following it upwards. The blade would burn brightly, the flames that consumed it enough to eat away at almost any object, human flesh included. The weapons size would be increased by the flames, the four foot blade extended and extra one and a half feet, the entire thing consumed by a bright, almost white flame. It was not so much an offer to the male, as a command, if he did not remove himself from her path, she would need to remove him for her own self, since that creature in the sky would not wait. If anything, it would give her a chance to test her flame trapping skills, but she would rather find the dragon before hand.
Increasing the power of the flames would increase the length of the trail that she could leave behind, which is what she had done as the raven haired male entered the clearing and stood in her way. The trail would be more than enough to set him alight, and only the most powerful of alloys would be able to stand its wrath if he was caught by the trail. Presently, her trail was not too powerful, extending a mere five meters behind the weapon, the temperature of which was well over the melting point of earth. To prove she was not exaggerating to the male, she would whip the sword to the side, unleashing a flash of flames outwards, the trail following the path of the blade and moving towards him. However, she had stopped too far from him, and he would only feel the heat of the weapon for now, it was an example, she did not want to have to kill him.
However, some people could only be cured by death, and while she was a firm believer in keeping the peace, she also believed that not all men stood for what was right. Some people were merciless, and tried to destroy all they could reach, and some wanted to watch the world burn around them. Those people were the kinds that would not listen to logic, the kinds of people she knew would fight just for the fun of fighting. Perhaps this male was that, or maybe he would move out of the way for her. She did not know, all she knew was that she was going to catch that god damned dragon even if she had to kill this guy. No one, not anyone in the world, was going to stop her from getting the winged beast as a companion, that was a promise.
Akurano worked his way through some shubbery until he came into a clearing, assuming he must be close to what ever is causing the destruction he looked around and was startled to see a trail of smoke and flames rising from the forest around him.
Before the pale ninja could comprehend what was going on he heard a woman shouting at him, turning to her to see what was happening he was met with a powerful blow from what seemed to be a large sword made of fire. Completely dumbstruck by what was going on Akurano wasn't able to know whether the attack purposely missed or whether the crazed woman had missed in haste. His face almost burnt as the flaming blade narrowly avoided him. The woman still approaching him, Akurano was unsure whether she would attack him again or simple run him down.
Confused and slightly scared and still trying to understand what she had said before, was she threatening him or generally concerned, with little time to react Akurano thought the best idea would be simple to neutralise the threat, pacifer her. Facing her he formed a chain of hand seals. Quickly and accurately, as he formed the last seal he slammed his hands into the ground. A bright blow semi-sphere surrounded him suddenly. Emitting a buzzing sound as the lightning charkra surrounded him. Instantly he forced the forcefield to suddenly expand rapidly.
Apparently the male refused to move, and now seemingly mad at her, began to perform hand seals. However, Hakuyune would have none of it, she had not attacked the man directly, nor did she plan to still, but she would prevent him form doing something stupid. Moving rapidly as he performed his seals, she would move her sword to his throat before he had time to slam his hands on the ground, as if he did, his throat and head would be melted by the sheer heat. In fact, just being in such close proximity of the tip of the fire blade would sear his skin painfully, but he would certainly not be able to do anything about it. His technique, whatever it was going to be, was disrupted, and she once again found herself asking a question.
"Do you really want to die?"
The dragon, at this moment in time would be a little further away, but she refused to give up on it. As she held the blade outwards, she gave a quick scan of the sky to see if it was still within sight. She had been catching up at one point, but now it was probably too late to do anything. Her eye twitched in annoyance, if he had indeed forced her to lose the trail of the great sky beast, she would indeed kill him. Such a grand creature would not be wasted. The flames of the weapon were still fluttering in the air behind her after she had moved, the line of fire burning everything as it floated. The forest that had been burning behind her was either catching up now, or the flames from her previous movement had managed to spark a flame. Either way, she would not be hurt by the tremendous fire, but this male may not be so lucky.
The weapon had spawned the great tale of flames with such intensity that as they had rose into the air, as warm air did, it had ignited the leaves and the trees of the canopy above, and now immolation was imminent. She would feel a little guilty about all this, but it was accidental. Mostly anyway. The flame trail had been something she had needed to master, and in doing so, if she set some forests on fire or destroyed some property, well, as long as no one was hurt, she would be fine with it. The male, if he made the wrong move, could face the possibility of sharing fates with the forest, being set alight by her weapon. Merely touching the fire with a flammable material would allow it to burn with such strength for such a long time. Although she possessed no ability for immortal fire yet, she understood that the weapon was still lethal.
Impractical for the most part, as she could not think of a situation where using the sword to create a streak of fire would be necessary. Then again, as this male had proven, people and surprises happened all the time, if by mastering every aspect of the blade she gave herself multiple paths of fighting, she would also create multiple ways of surviving. The searing metal waited for an answer, it was up to him, he could not escape her now, sure, she would allow a few steps back so he was not melted by the heat of the flames, but running away, or even attacking, not a chance, he would be dead before he could do anything of the sort. Smirking a little, she raised an eyebrow, right now even a quick movement would not help, as she would simply kill him before he had the chance to move, she had been around long enough to know the signs of a body before it forced itself to do those, even if she lacked the capabilities herself.
It had not been a good day for the young ninja, he now understood why leaving the village was such a large deal, starting with a simple stroll he found himself on his knee's with a flaming blade dangerously close to his face causing major discomfort and what he assumed to be the starting of some savage blistering, The forest around him was burning and he assumed that he would soon join it. He was still trying to piece together the last minute or so of his life. Several moments after he was rushed by an unknown woman, she asked him a question. The fact that she asked such a question was more shocking then the whole event that had taken place. Although he rarely gets annoyed he was getting rather aggy at this point but he knew it would be for the best not to start shouting in the position he was in.
"Die? I was going for a stroll... Wondered why my countries forest was on fire and to finish things off when I went to investigate I had some half crazed woman charging at me with a giant flaming blade, and you think I wanted to die?"
Sweat began to pour off him, his breathing became heavier and the blistering was becoming more severe. Hoping that his innocent responce was enough for the woman to at least draw the god forsaken sword away from his seemingly melting face. There was little moisture in the air as it had been obliterated by this girls rampage on the forest. Swallowing to try and clear his throat morikana obo glanced up at the woman and noticed that she was scanning the sky like she was looking for something.
Guilt saddled the girl, that was not supposed to happen, she was not supposed to be the bad person. No, she had mistaken the male, sighing, she lowered her sword, which still left behind a trail in the air, falling to the earth. This was dangerous stuff, and it was not supposed to end up with the loss of innocent lives. The blade to her side, she looked around the forest, the weapon had caused some serious destruction, the fire from it alone enough to cause such destruction, she had not used any of her own skills. Akumahi Ken, Demonic Flame Blade indeed, using merely the supplementary abilities of the weapon she had ended a rather large section of earth with minimal chakra output and skill usage. And now she had forced an innocent into submission, this was not right.
As the world burned around her, she stumbled back, feeling horrible for her own actions, the devastation she caused was nothing compared to taking a life, she did not want that. He had been taking a fucking stroll for gods sake, and she had been so wrapped up in capturing the dragon that she had thought he was another fool in the way of trying to stop her. The flame blade in her hand felt calm again, as it always did. It was not the weapon, it did not thirst for blood, it was a kindred spirit of her own body, not calling for blood, merely for a good equal fight. What she had given it, was certainly not a fight, it was a disgrace to her own name and abilities, having sworn not to kill anyone who did not deserve it, and almost going out of her way to do such, simply because he had been walking through her direction and intercepted her course?
Although reasons for someone to walk through a forest that was on fire was minimal at most, but he was probably trying to discover the source of the flames and the core of the problem. Her. There was a loud crack to her right as a tree erupted into flames, the sap of it heating and exploding, shattering the wood from the tree causing an explosion of tree shards as the tree fell forward. It was going to land on their position, and, still feeling bad for trying to kill him, Hakuyune would move to destroy it, her blade coming up, the searing steel meeting the wood of the tree, cauterizing it and easily sliding through the wood of the tree. Although massive and heavy, it would not be able to withstand such steel, never mind the weapons sharpness on top of the fact it was on fire. And for good measure, the trail of the flames burned the tree, her arm still extended in the air as the tree was cut over them.
The fire was spreading at a rapid rate, and things were getting fucked, if the male did not escape the forest soon he would find this his grave, and his body would be cremated if that was the case. The genes in her body allowed her to withstand such temperatures with such ease, but the beading of sweat on the males forehead was more than enough to tell her that he was struggling, and the fire from the blade probably had not helped. Arm still extended, the flames still arcing from the weapon as it cleaved through the tree, Hakuyune stood poised as the two logs fell either side, a shocking display of dominance and power, both of herself and the sword. The fire would soon reach the point where he would die regardless of whether or not he could escape the flames, the heat would force him to pass out, and she did not care how guilty she felt, she would not carry him.
Looking up at the woman he didn't understand how she was coping with the heat and to be honest he was to occupied with trying to live, on his knees he felt an anger building inside of him, looking up at the woman he was growing more furious. He knew she wouldn't help him and why should she, it was survival of the fittest and in this case he surely wasn't the fittest infact he was infact the equivilant of an obese kid running an uphill marathon in the middle of summer.
Refusing to go down with a fight he knew that his chances were slim but he had to try something. With little energy and chakra left he tried to reach into his pouch and slyly removed a kunia. taking a deep breath and taking a last look at the sky he attempted a last lunge at that woman who had forsaken his life from the moment he had met her.
As the tree fell around the, she was struck in her midsection by the male and his blade. Where a normal person could have or would have been fatally wounded by the kunai, she was just angered at his selfishness. As he collided with her body, she drew her elbow downwards, striking him in the back of the neck as they fell backwards, drawing the sword over, the fire igniting greater than ever, and plunged it through his back. The flame of the sword itself would be enough to ignite him as it was, but the trail of the weapon would also bear itself upon his body as the fire followed the sword, and he would be induced to even more painful burning. Brought upon himself, but he would die, burning from the inside and outside for his arrogance. He could have escaped, her could have saved her the blood on her hands. Now however, it was too late for her to do anything about it.
Ripping the headband from his body, she would spin in a circle, dragging the flames of the blade in a circle around them, this would be his ritual from her, he would be cremated, and that was enough for her. His death, while unnecessary, was done now, and there was nothing she could do about it. The blade had done its job, however, it sang a sorrowful tune at the death, having caused something that was not meant to happen, a crime against nature, an unworthy death. He had attacked, and she had defended herself, thats all there was to it, but she abhorred death without a point, as did her sword. As the forest fell around her she began to once more sprint, having tucked the males headband into her own pouch for later on, she needed to get back on the trail of that dragon, but it meant clearing to a place where there was no smoke, and now that the fire had engulfed everything there was little chance of that happening now.
Her sword still in her hand, she moved swiftly, cutting down any forestation before her as it moved in her path, the trees falling, apparently the bush was a lot larger than she had guessed, and the fact she was running for such a length of time made her wonder if the dragon had already escaped, but surely the fact that there was a gargantuan fire and smoke billowing from all directions, would the dragon not come to try and find what the source was? After all, creatures such as that were bore from fire, would they not be attracted to it? Well, it did not matter now, she had to keep moving so she could get to see it at least. Looking up, the canopy above her was smoldering, but she could get through it. Swinging her blade, she forced the flames to rise into the air, and they cut down some of the trees using the trail, which was more than enough to let her see the sky for a few seconds.
A dark shade swooped overhead, the Dragon was around here, apparently attracted by her destruction of everything here, but she could not see where it was through the fire and smoke, only that it was over the forest right now, meaning she was so close to her target now that her excitement was growing, and the swords too. A battle worth the blade, to fight a dragon, to face a creature of such an element, the same element as their own. Atsui held the blade forward, watching as the trail of flames followed. The weapon was growing stronger, she could feel it, and with a stronger weapon, the trainer got stronger when using it. She was so close now, mastery of the blade would soon be attained, and after that? Well, she would continue mastering it, it was her sword, she could do with it what she wished. Taking one final slash, she formed a line in the earth, ten meters in length, the flame of the blade being created in an awesome fashion like the tail.
As he had expected his final efforts in bringing down his enemy had failed, as his blade was deflected e felt a grusome pain tear through his torso, his body burning with agonising pain.
