The Meeting of The Swordsmen! [Invite/Private]

"Now, doesn't the air seem familiar?"

"I can feel his presence. But who's to say, it just feels like he'll be here by now."

The first wore the cloak that was as black as night. His palmed opened and his fingers apart. The second wore the cloak of the Akatsuki, masking his chakra, watching for change. They were one and the same. A simple sideshow of someone's sanity. "So, do you think he'll be around here?" the face of a young man spoke, something new and unique. His face now bandaged, hiding his face. "Kaseki, what's on your mind?"

To anyone outside of their bubble, it was nothing more than the leader of the Akatsuki leading his pupil. But to these two beings... it was quite the opposite. "If we don't find him, Kodai, we'll find someone else. Surely this place has something to offer in trade."

The two of them wandered around the streets, hoping to find a familiar face. Today, the puppet master was a swordsman. And the man behind him held his title.

Dray had just arrived in kumogakure no sato yester- night. Despite his late entry into kumo, he still made sure to get to the raikage tower though he was aware that the raikage was on a travel to konoha because he met her there. Looks like she went on a mission herself. A rare thing to do. Dray had woken up this morning. He was not the least bit tired. He was used to it. Konohagakure was fun, he would admit but it was not as good as home... Kumogakure. Home, sweet home. Dray wondered how saburo was faring. Perhaps, he could pay him a sweet and unexpected visit. Miuu had spent the pleasant dark night in dray's quiet home but she had quickly left and went into the village quite early. She was pretty excited to see it all today, dray thought as he did not see her when he woke up. Now, now.. What to do today.. Dray thought..
Nothing special. He was back to resuming his responsibility of over seeing the village while in the shadows afterall, he was an anbu of the cloud.

Dray got up from bed. He washed his face first. He paused a bit.. he knew what he was thinking.. he was back in kumo and he needed to see her soon, it had been quite a while. Dray undressed and went into the bathroom. He washed himself for quite a long time since he missed that cool water that ran from the streams of kumogakure. He finally got out of the bath and cleaned himself dry. He put on his clothes consisting of a black jounin vest with a long sleeve inner wear, black shinobi pants and a long high collared sleeveless jacket. He put on his sandals too as straped samehada to his back. He armed himself with basic projectiles and weapons and his A- ranked katana too. You never can know what to expect in the village of clouds.
Dray was about leaving home but he stopped and went to his bedside. There it was. A blood sample of the sacred uzumaki clan. In the blood contained the uzumaki dna and of course, it was fresh and from a true uzumaki too. Perhaps, dray could sell it for a good price on kumogakure's black market. It had been a while since he visited there. They would sure be happy to see him because they knew he always brought good stuffs. Keeping the sample carefully in a pouch, dray exited his house.

Dray threaded the path of kumogakure. Apart from the land of stone, kumogakure was the one village with a rigid structure. There was stone, rock, earth in general, here and there. Dray had just unlocked his fire element in the land of fire. A good thing, that was. Perhaps, he could learn the last of the five basic elements which was the earth release, here in kumogakure no sato. It was a good place to train that element apart from the lightning element. With this mind set, as dray walked on, he focused chakra on his palm though the chakra was not as visible as when using an iryo medic technique. He continued walking as he kept placing his hands on the ground trying to see if any changes surfaced. Of course, dray had immense chakra levels and his ranks was not one to be underated. This gave him an edge in learning new things quickly. Puting in more effort, it happened. Dray saw small sizes of stones moving in the direction of his hand but he wondered if that was just the wind blowing. He turned of the chakra control and on again. He did the same thing and moved his hands in different directions with the stones following the pattern. Dray smiled. It would not be long before he mastered this one too.

Dray branched into the way that led to the black markets. Not anybody came here often because it was considered one of the dangerous places in kumogakure no sato.
Looking forward, dray would see two persons. One in a black cloak and the other in a black cloak with red cloaks.. Dray would move forward trying to confirm his suspicions.. Getting closer, dray would direct his question to the one in the black cloak though he was inches away from the both of them....I know we've met before but now, its confusing as things are interchanged... the first time we met, that's if am not mistaking you for someone else, you were in this black cloak with red clouds but now, your in an all black cloak and your partner is in your former cloak?"...You dont happen to remember me, do you?
Dray would ask looking confused..
WC:800

"Ah, it seems we do meet again." said Kaseki. He turned, the black cloak following him in a trace. "Kumogakure's finest, I would only expect that you would have an artifact like mine." he joked, almost testing his guest.

"I'll bet you my sharingan he could still kick your ass, Kaseki." Kodai spoke. His words danced from his youthful tongue. It was a test of someone's patience and curiosity. "Go ahead, show me what the Leader of our group can really do."

The mind was in the same. To add to this test and confusion was a single creature, a single voice. "Okay okay... so you're calling yourself your puppet's name, and your puppet your name? So Kaseki is Kodai, and Frame Zero is Kaseki? Wait... then the eyes on the hood of... OH. That's... interesting I guess?" Chomei barely followed along with it all. Within the depths of his own mind, Kaseki was laughing hysterically. It was an anomaly, something so unique and unpredictable. The only person who could see through it was a Puppet master of equal par, or someone who devoted their life to Sensoring. Even then, would they believe what they discovered?

Kaseki smiled under the guise of "Kodai" as he continued to speak to his puppet as if it was another being. "I don't even know if he's worth my time." The puppet continued to speak, as if he was his own entity. With that, he flicked his wrist and a long piece of metal slipped out. It was nothing other that what seemed to be a giant senbon. He grabbed the weapon as it was just a hair above hitting the ground. "But for someone in the Hidden Clouds, I wonder how much you know about the Hidden Mist." He held one of the seven legendary swords, the sewing needle, Nubiari in his hand. Today, he felt like using it.

Kaseki yawned, taking a step to the side, taking a seat on a park bench, preparing to spectate. "Of course, no one asks Kodai for help... whatever. I'll be here when you get your ass kicked." Kaseki joked.

And there it stood, three sets of vision. There was the eyes of Kaseki himself as he watched his puppet take a stance. There was the eyes of the puppet, something possible through The Foresight of The Puppet Master, something he conjured himself. And lastly, the two circles that sat on the hood of his former body. Nothing would escape his view for this battle. But if he wanted the man dead he could have killed him...

But that was not his goal. He wanted to test his own skills.

Dray stood puzzled but he was not a man to show his expressions externally. His face had just one general look. It was calmness. Only when he wished did he modify his facial expression.

The man who he believed to be kaseki seemed to remember dray as he stated that they met again.. He said that he would only expect that dray had an artifact like his.. What artifact would this be, dray wondered. Perhaps, it was another sacred sample like that which dray possesed.. This susupicion was confirmed when the one in the black cloak and red clouds talked about a sharingan...
A sharingan eh.. the sacred eye of the uchiha clan members. How on earth he got his hands on it was beyond dray's understanding but dray decided to see what next. For the next few seconds, both partners seemed to argue against each other but dray seemed calm though he was still interested. "Go ahead. Show me what the leader of our group can do"...
What group was this. Was it a known organization? If it was, dray would have heard of it. He doubted it was a criminal organization because if it was, as an anbu, he would have gotten an official notice of them.

"I dont even know if he's worth my time"... Dray wondered who was being referred to in this situation.
Following up the statement, he flicked his wrist and a long piece of metal slipped out. It was nothing other that what seemed to be a giant senbon. He grabbed the weapon as it was just a hair above hitting the ground. Dray well knew what this was...
"But for someone in the Hidden Clouds, I wonder how much you know about the Hidden Mist."... he said as the one in the akatsuki cloak went and sat on a bench looking at them.. Dray took some time to take everything in.... "So, you possess the nuibari huh.. the heavenly sewing needle which makes you a ninja swordsman.. So it is a spar you want eh.. Perhaps, we could exchange something of power after this fight..." dray would say as he would jump about ten metres backwards while grabbing the hilt of samehada though it was still strapped to his back..
WC:383

"Now now Kaseki, we don't need to get on Juri's bad side again. Don't kill the boy." Kaseki spoke, laying on his back on the bench. His hands were folded over his chest thinking about the very girl that seemed to, not reshape, but reinvent his own world and dreams. It was something out of a novel, or even a fairy tale passed to children. The monster and his bride, running away, becoming good and...

"Then he better try hard not to spill blood." said the puppet. In a flash he appeared before Dray, the needle just inches from his face. With the speeds of the master that pulled the strings, he was something short of Minato's Lightning God techniques manifested into a single being. His arm was out to his side, dangling the great long sword before his target. He wondered what his action would be. Would he swipe the sword away and strike? Would he create an even larger distance between them? Or perhaps would he freeze up out of fear? It was all the little things that mattered. From that point on, Kaseki would know exactly how to fight his opponent.

The long thread and string wrapped around his arm, preventing disarmament. It in turn, prevented the threading of corpses, but allowed him to throw his weapon and pull it back like a children's toy.... a yo-yo if you will.

Kaseki lay on the bench, closing his eyes and embracing the world. It was easy to rest when you had so many ways to see the battlefield. And with so many faces... why who was to say he was him?

Never had dray thought of this day but here it was. He was fighting a fellow ninja swordsman. The day samehada would clash with his fellow brother. Dray wondered what would be the outcome of this. There was not much to be troubled about as it was just a friendly spar. Dray thought about the other swords. In whose care were they.. He had managed to protect samehada despite the countless number of people after it. He hoped the other ninja swordsmen guarded the swords with their lives. This weapons were killing machines in the hands of the wrong wielders. Dray did not lose his focus on the person in front of him though he had jumped backward. He still could hear them talking about the raikage. Yes, she was Juri han. They talked about not wanting to get on her bad side. They had probably met the raikage, dray guessed. Little did they know that she rarely had a good side.

In a split second, the person would get to dray covering the distance with immense speed. That was a goodie of taijutsu. The man had quickly covered that distance and now, his weapon was going for dray's throat. Still as fast as he was, dray could progress the blurs and had calculated his arrival time.
As the man would appear before dray, dray would par the hand holding the nuibari with his left hand as dray would sweep him off his feet before he would thrust a kick in his torso and send him crashing into a tree. The sweep happened or not.
Dray was not really hostile but when he got turned on, pressing the switch off button was the main problem..

With the man flying in the air and into a tree, dray would crouch low as he would leap into the air and withdraw samehada from his back before he would hit the man in the torso with it changing his course from crashing into the tree to banging into the ground with dray beside him.
WC:342

"Well aren't you a fistfull of rage?" he spoke. He stood where he was before, holding the sword at his side and pointed at the ground. "When you move fast, you miss the little things in life." The puppet smiled, and gave a slight wink at him. Before he even noticed, the Gray Knight was the one that was hit by the large sword.

Kaseki lay on his bench, lifting his hand to scratch at his brow. Everything seemed to put him at ease and bore him. Such a violent person. He could only imagine the destruction he would lay before him with just an ounce of power. But in that small movement a single seal on Frame Zero was broken and so the handle emerged.

"Now, let's get serious." His left hand dove into the chest of his cloak, only to grab at a single rod, or grip rather. A large sword emerged from nothing. It was another sword... the Executioner's Blade. Kaseki gave a smile as he held the weapons, spinning them around like a dance. It wasn't going to let him off easy. His Puppet Substitution resulted in the destruction of a puppet... or at least some damage. It wasn't broken, but it would be out of commission for sometime.

He would have fallen into every crevasse of rage that the boy left behind him. There was so many opportunities for a kill, but that was not it. Kaseki, the real Kaseki watched attentively, Absorbing information. Just a hint of another skill other than sword fighting and his research would be complete. But with the Exectioner's Blade, and the great Sewing Needle, he could defend and attack with every swing. With eyes at every angle, nothing could trap him. There was nothing that this ninja would escape from.

But why escape when you have a price waiting for you?

"Well aren't you a fistfull of rage?" the fella spoke. He stood where he was before, holding the sword at his side and pointed at the ground."When you move fast, you miss the little things in life."The puppet smiled, and gave a slight wink at him. Before dray even noticed, the man he had attacked was the one who spoke and what looked like a wooden puppet was the one that was smashed by the large sword- Samehada.

The other man just sat on the bench looking bored. He had probably not seen any cool thing that fascinated him.
But in that small movement, dray sensed something happened. Not with his sensory skills but with simple instincts and visuals too and then, an handle emerged.
"Now, let's get serious." the man said.
His left hand dove into the chest of his cloak, only to grab at a single rod, or grip rather. A large sword emerged from nothing. It was another sword.. deep within him, dray gasped though the expression was not visible on his face.. or was he mistaken, of course not he was not. It was it, Kubikiribocho, the Executioner's Blade. How on earth the man laid hands on two seven ninja swordsmen sword was beyond dray's imagination. Who was he. What did he want in kumo. Dray now seemed more interested than ever.
The man gave a smile as he held the weapons, spinning them around like a dance. He probably wasn't going to let him off easy.

This was impressive. The ability to substitute with what looked like a puppet and the strength to wield two seven ninja swords.. Perhaps, dray could show him a taste of his own power. He would wait to see the expression on the face of the one who was seated on the bench. Dray could see samehada itching on it's back but there was still something suspicious here. He was yet to confirm his suspicion. Why not play along while it lasts. It was time to release it. What he had been doing right from the start. The moment in which he flipped backward from the fella. The first flip that was and this was it's result.

Performing quick handseals, quite faster than the fraction of a second due to his prowess in ninjutsu, the clouds would rumble, the end time was near or so it would seem as the clouds would open their gates. History was born.. Coming head out, the beautiful adornment of ice of it's head would glisten in the sun as it's whole body would now be visible. It would come down majestically taking it's place beside dray. With a quick smirk that would not really be visible, dray would hop unto the head of the Ice dragon ... It's speed in motion was drastic. This was his bloodline ability. So far, he had been the only one from the clan or so he though. He was the god of ice and coupled with his prowesss in various basic element, he had the dreadest of the seven ninja swords. Perhaps, this was the time to unleash it's true terror. With a simple flick, the bandages on samehada would loosen as a scary creature would be revealed. It's slimy tongue retract slowly. The scales on it's body standing strongly.

With dray perfectly standing on the dragon, dray would point the shark skin at the fella and urge him to bring it on.
WC:600

"What the glorious hell..." Kaseki lay there on his bench, only to find the source of his itch. A simple insect began to tap away at his face, along with others. "Spiders?" he thought. "With...." And they leaped around him, almost as if he was a living playground. Then he saw the mutation. "With wings? How isn't that peculiar?" He lifted his hand, letting the tiny spiders crawl on his skin, watching as the spiders merged from two, into one. Slowly gaining in size. "Ah the forest contract... how interesting..."

Meanwhile...

"What the glorious fuck..." He looked at the great ice dragon before him. It was an insane feat. But that only raised his curiosity. He only knew of one Ice-Ninja, that being the female-looking Haku. Perhaps after all those years, his Kekkei Genkai was manifested into something... greater. But everything had a flaw in its creation, the only ones excluding being things so simple, or so complex, like Kinjutsu. He looked at the dragon with a great smile on his face. "If that destroys the Ramen Shop, I'm not going to be very happy..." He continued to spin his swords with grace, creating a vacuum suction with his blades. It was something lesser to that of Wind Jutsu, but was strong to say the least. But... why stop there.

"You have never stared into the eyes of a god." He began to laugh, taking a low crouch, only hop into the sky. He was beginning to fly. He was a good couple dozen meters off the ground, being at eye-level with him. "But I have. And he stared back." He laughed as the wind around him begun to mix with his own swords. But he didn't stop there. He threw Nubiari at Dray, aiming for what looked like to be his heart. Kaseki knew what he had to do. Should he grab the weapon and parry or grab it, Kaseki could appear just before him and strike with the other blade. That left two safe options for him. He could kick the blade and throw it under him, hitting his dragon and essentially cracking the ice making him extremely fragile, or dispel the dragon and fall to the ground. But after all... Kaseki was a fan of the theatrics. So who's to say what could happen.

"What the glorious fuck" the fella would say. If he was mocking or if he was truly suprised, dray could not tell as the entity never had a serious look. Even when it tried to appear serious, a funny attitude always chipped in.
Dray did not move his gaze from him. The fella continued to spin both seven ninja swords with elegance, creating what looked like a vacuum suction with his blades. Was it a wind release jutsu, dray would try to figure out or an ability...but No. It wasn't.
The fella simply used the air pressure underneath the spinning blades to propel himself into the air but still, it took quite an intelligence to come up with that. In no time, he was at the same height with dray on his ice dragon.

Dray re- called a statement that the fella said before hopping into tha air.. "You have never stared in the eye of a god".. As he now got on the same level with dray, "but I have" he completed as he stared deeply in dray's eyes. Probably using it as a form of hypnotism or distraction, the ninja launched nuibari into the air as it soared through various air properties and defiled the air resistance theory to reveal that it was aimed directly at dray's heart.

"Good thing you acknowledged me as a god" dray would say as he would rapidly spin samehada upside down with it's head pointing to dray's elbow and it's hilt now upward. Doing this, dray would effortlessly par nuibari to the left with the skul shaped hilt of the great samehada.
In a quick flash, the fella would come out of nowhere bringing a slash towards dray with kubikiribocho and with quick reflexes, dray would spin samehada right back but this time, holding the hilt with both hands as the shark skin would clash with the executioner's blade.
The clash would be so great that it would send a burst of wind in different directions and both swordsmen would be shaken to their foundations.
Dray felt like samehada had met it's match but what more could he expect. This two blades were the dreadest of the ninja swords and after all, they were family. Dray and the fella would remain that way for a few seconds as if suprised or impressed at each other's skills in wielding their ninja swords. Dray would feel a connection to kibikiribocho through samehada. A taste of it's power. Few seconds later, the dragon and dray would withdraw from the clash as dray would be lowered to the ground.
WC:445

"Oh how interesting..." The spiders wove webs all over his hand, almost as some form of mockery of his skills. They began to take small bites at his flesh, taking in a few splinters with every bite. Eventually only a few dozen spiders remained, and soon, only few. It was a magical spectacle to see before his eyes. On these spiders were faint and ghostly wings. Whatever they were, they were something out of myth and mystery. But that did not solve anything, but rather peek Kaseki's curiosity of the creatures. Perhaps then he could send messages over great distances in the replacement of messenger pigeons. This would be unique to him, and him alone. He watched them bite at his skin, but only at his hand. Small incursions were made, only to watch his own Ironbark mix into he fangs of the creature. It was magical... but not the only thing.

"Well well..." He began to laugh as he pulled in Nubiari with a tug on its' threads. He remained in flight, not due to wind, but the sheer fact he was a puppet. He smiled, his gaze fixed only on the spiders that fed off the body of his creator. "... A god is something you are far from." He would move away, not so much a jump back, but a small retreat. It was as if the boy did the same as he ceased his dragon. He had no need to collect Samehada, and for now, it seemed to be in worthy hands. "Kodai, give him his prize." Both swords fell to his sides, the tip just a shade above ground. He could have fought for years without exhaustion, but that was not his goal. He was taking things upon himself to make sure his relics were in the hands of The Chosen. A Select few that would serve their purpose soon.. very soon.

Kaseki continued to play with the spiders, only to slide his left thumb across his right palm. The spider sat atop his hand, and a single spear dropped. It was white, with a red circle on it. He held onto it with chakra strings, making sure not to damage it. Accompanied with the trophy was a single vial of blood. Something of great prize. But for now, he had not need for it. They seemed to float intertwined, rotating around each other. And they slowly made their way to the other swordsman.

Kaseki laughed as Kaseki began to walk away from the other duelist. "You'll one day see the real power of these swords." he spoke, making his way towards the one in the Akatsuki cloak. "You've earned it." the real Kaseki spoke, under the name of Kodai. However, with these two gifts, a single spider, no larger than a few inches in length walked along the chakra string carrying the eye and blood. With it, perhaps he would find a use.

[Flying Spider Contract Achieved]
[Sharingan (x1) Given]
[Sample (x1) Terumi "Golden Child" Blood Given]
[Flying (Ironbark) Spider transporting goods]

The moment was one of suspense. What would happen next was unknown. The fella would tug the thread of nuibari and dragged it over. He was still in the air as dray was on top of his dragon too...

"Kodai, give him his prize".. Through the moments this small challenge had taken, at the back of his mind, dray wondered what this man that was sitting on the bench was. Was he a sidekick or what? Perhaps, he servant. He seemed calm and uninterested in the battle. Dray now splitted his gaze between both fellows.
Suddenly, a strange creature took into the air as the one who had fought dray now began leaving his side with the words.. "You'll one day see the real power of these swords". That was an undeniable fact as dray was yet to meet the rest of the swords and their wielders.
"You've earned it". The one on the bench spoke like he had always been the master mind. He spoke with such confidence, one not similar to that of a side kick or a servant.
Ending his words, a spider about few inches large would get to dray, walking along a visible chakra string. This was one fascinating specie. It had little wings on it's back and of course, it was an intelligent one. On it's person was a red eye with three tomoes. Was this the prize kodai was talking of.. Such great power he had bestowed upon dray. Along with this was a sample of blood. Whatever it contained, dray's medic skill would discover it and lastly was a tiny metal twig. Whatever that stood for, only time would tell..
Retrieving these items from the spider, the spider would quickly jump onto dray's hand and bite it though not harmfully. It would do so on another spot of dray's arm before scurrying away into dray's cloth. Looks like dray had found a pet or so he thought.
Now, it was dray's turn to give something in return. He reached for his ninja pouch and brought out the vial of the uzumaki clan's blood he had collected in konohagakure no sato. Along with this, he brought out another satchet of a blood bag. A little one that is, always came in handy for medical experiments. Plucking out a spike from the dragon's head, dray would simply pierce his palm and let little drops of blood fall into the bag before sealing it and using the coagulation technique to stop his blood flow.
Dray would throw both blood bags in the air. Time to play throw and catch as he would control the dragon. As the bag would get into the air, two ice spikes would be released from the dragon as they would pierce the blood bags' top and shoot directly at kodai who of course who receive them.
Right beneath dray, he felt stones rising to his height. He wondered if this was another assault, perhaps, a sneaky attack but when he dropped his hands, he laughed within and figured out that the doton chakra he was training had been activated all along thus, improving and causing dray to unknowingly raise these stones.

We'll meet again dray would say to kodai and kaseki before zooming out of the location on his dragon and with his prizes too.
WC:570
Total wc:3140
Training Doton

The puppet gave flight as the goods were exchanged. He grabbed the bag of blood, and the vial that seemed to go with it. It was more than a good day for him. The ice spike pushed the handle and strap of the bag, only to project it. With a single hand Kaseki lifted his arm to point at the falling samples, only to pull them in with Chakra strings.

"Until next time..." Kaseki would say as he pulled in his goods. "..Future Kage." the puppet would finished his sentence.

[[OOC: sorry for short post... but eh..]]

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