From sliver to branch [Solo]

[Darasu]

[ EPISODE 1: The departure]


A young male stood at the mouth of a large cave-like entrance. In truth, it was the mouth of a giant sand worm that had long ago been slain. Beside the young boy stood several others dressed much like him, adorned in ANBU clothing beneath long cloaks that concealed much of their body. Their hoods were up, and faces were covered by masks representing animals, or creatures of myth.

Darasu as the youngest, stood a distance away from the other two who were acting as guards to escort him out of the village. It was not that he was in trouble, merely that he was leaving his home country on orders of a Sennin. The young Haku had been in training to be an ANBU for a short time, but his true nature of techniques were very limited here. Although the practice of manipulating water in the desert had been great for conjuration, he had few skills in the forms of control.

"You will head east for two days, until you reach a large forest. This is just before the Konoha border, and still our territory." One of the two anbu guards said in instruction. "Once you find a large river flowing south, follow it upwards into the mountains. If your fate works well for you, the monastery will only take a week to reach.".

The other anbu elder then spoke. "Hopefully the desert will be kind to you. Good luck Sliver."

And with that, Darasu took off into the sands..

252 Words

MFT

 

[Darasu]

[EPISODE 2: The encounter]

A couple days had past since Darasu had left the village gates, and the heat and brutality of the desert had gotten the better of him. He had stripped from his ANBU gear and mask, down to his traveling gear of a kasa hat and cloak, with only wraps around his waist and groin for modesty. The sands had raged against his skin for some time, causing dry deterioration and peeling, what would result in scar tissue.

But he had dominated the mother suna's tests, and came out on top. At this current time, the distant horizon was a small lining of green that blurred with the heat waves of the desert sands. He was close to the forest that would lead him to his destination, but it was still at least three hours away.

Lucky for him, his water skills had come in great use when staying hydrated, as he had an almost unlimited supply so long as he didn't completely drain his canteen. His body and mind had stayed strong the whole while, and now his spirit was in hope too.

And so that dunes began to grow smaller and smaller, and eventually there was only one every several dozen yards. His steps began to get louder and louder as the sand grew more packed and dense beneath his shinobi boots. The wind grew gentler, and things became less hostile.

Thats when he heard it.

At first it sounded like a carpet being pulled very quickly, and then one of the dunes before him slid down and began to tumble apart, sliding into a barely noticeable mound. Quickly stopping his movements, Darasu drew the large sword from his back, and held it out with one hand, still after that. Someone had slipped up, and put too much pressure against that dune. It had stood for years before being disturbed, and now the clumsiness of one person caused it to finally fall.

"No need to hide amateur" he called out.

There was several seconds of silence, where everything remained still. The wind gently lifted small particles of sand from the ground up into the wind.

Silence shattered, as a long claw extended from beneath the sand towards the young anbu. It moved fast too, almost fast enough to catch someone at his level of skill. But turning his head cleaver he used it as a shield as he jumped back, causing the two pincers of the claw to strike the blade, further propelling him back. But as the claw retracted, someone else exploded from behind him.

Shifting his weight in mid air, Darasu rotated his momentum into an instinctual swing towards what ever had appeared, and sure enough a man in all black, with a lower face mask to match was standing behind him. His own sword was met by a metal staff, and the man slid backwards.

Finally, the Haku hit the ground and entered his guard. From all around him, four more people shot out from beneath the sand, encircling him as six in a hexagon....

504 words

MFT

 

[Darasu]

[EPISODE 2: A bingo book surprise.]
Darasu took a moment to survey the area once more. It was as if his enemies were waiting for something, or some kind of sign. Tightening his grip on the large blade, Darasu rested it against his right shoulder and smiled. In all reality, he was screwed. No matter if these were even genin level opponents, there was six against one. And from the strength of the man with the staff, he was at least on the same level as the anbu.

Finally the silence was broken, and the large scorpion claw's owner spoke. What he held before him, was a large puppet that was roughly ten feet long. He was cloaked in green, with an insect like mask that covered his face. " It seems the desert will conquer yet another victim. Should have stayed within your safe gates boyo" He laughed at the end of this taunt, and another spoke after him.

" Maybe he has some valuables on him. Transporting an item for his beloved leaders. Good little dog he must be, lucky for you all dogs go to heaven." A female laughed behind a yellow cloak and mask, painted as a bird.

Darasu continued to smile, to hide his intimidation. Something about their casual demeanor made him think that maybe he could make the group comfortable enough to get in a sneak attack, or by chance even escape. " Enough chat thugs, its clear that its time to slaughter each other. One at a time, or all at once?" He called out, not turning his body to acknowledge the three behind him.

But oddly enough, the man with the staff and half mask spoke up with a stern voice, as if commanding the others with his sheer presence. "Thats not how we do things buddy." And as he reached into his cloaks inner pocket, Darasu twitched a bit with a reflex of the sword he held. When the hand was withdrawn, he revealed a six sided die.

"This is the fun part." A voice called behind him.

It added up now. They took turns by each representing a number. How fun!

The man with the staff threw the die, towards Darasu which rolled between his feet. The number was five. Darasu knew what he had to do, so he told them what the die read.

The voice that was spoken from behind him chanted a victory cry "AHA! Thank you Kaiyou.".

Moments later, the five other villains dissipated in clouds of smoke and Darasu was able to safely turn to see his enemy..

423 Words

MFT

 

[Darasu]

[Episode 3: Battle of the blades]

The two finally made visual contact, and squared each other down. The haku anbu member was not sure if this man's allies still stood near, but if they had any sense of honor they would keep their word. It seemed that the man in charge was not willing to bend any of their rules, so strange to see thugs and low living Watari as honorable men.

His apparent opponent was quite large, standing at least six and a half feet tall. His body was a muscular build, and his purple mask and cloak were accented with that of a rhinoceros. Behind his back, he had strapped a long head cleaver blade as well, with a spacing between the blunt and blade edges, and no hilt. It was an odd weapon for sure, but if he brandished it so openly that he was no doubt skilled with it.

" When I saw you work with that blade, I was immediately aroused at the idea of fighting you. So many shinobi these days hide behind their jutsu and tricks, few fight with merely the raw force of their body." He then took his left and effortlessly wielded the blade, pointing it at Darasu.

He grinned behind his own wolf painted mask, and gripped his blade with his hand, and his heart. "Shimoshikon is no normal blade fool. " Is all he replied with. The blade would then seem to growl, and then from the hilt a wind would cry, followed by a moist mist that would wrap around the blade and continue to swirl into a fog.

The rhino gave a laugh. " Of course, tricks. You have no true skill then boy. I, Rhikos will be the better swordsman here. And take your own blade as tribute."

Darasu nodded and entered a stance, bringing his wielding hand behind his head, the blade pointed at his enemy. His opponent charged, holding his blade like a clumsy axe , swinging it in a wide chopping motion. With an unmatched agility so far, Darasu pinned the tip of his blade on the ground, and shifted his body around it to the other end. The large head cleaver of his opponent met his own blade. Immediately the fog wrapped around the enemy blade, up the hand and stung his opponent like a serpent.

As he recoiled his hand, Rhikos dragged with him the handle of his blade and a red burn shown well on his forearm. Dragging the handle as he retreated, a chain followed with it. The large sword then followed like a yoyo, and snapped back into his hand.

"Pretty sneaky, but my blade never leaves my side." Rhikos said hoarsely. "Now lets stop talking and shed blood."

"Your the only one whos rambling fool."

461 Words

MFT

 

[Darasu]

[Episode 3: The secret to success]

The two danced with their blades, creating a melody of clinks and snaps as the two large metal swords touched one another. The area where the two had been once standing, surrounded by others, was now a cesspool of foot prints and matted sand. From a distance, a cloud could be seen rising from the dust that was kicked up and thrown.

When there was finally a pause in combat, the two landed a distance apart from each other sweating and panting like dogs. Minor cuts could be seen all over their bodies, and a few major wounds were seen on Darasu's back and torso. This guy had been going for kill shots every time, as if trying to get a trophy kill with out exhausting himself. After several seconds of wait, the young Haku smiled at his opponent. Darasu was losing a lot of blood from a laceration in his lower hip, but he was still confident that this was over.

"What are you smiling about?" Rhikos growled, still panting and not smiling. "I've got you. Your far more exhausted than I am, and your bleeding out."

Darasu nodded and let his blades tip rest against the sand. "Your right.. I'm at my end, might as well try for one more kill shot though right? Go down fighting?"

The rhino warrior laughed, raised his blade again, and smiled finally. There was a blur, and he charged at full force. As he swung, Darasu raised his blade with just one hand to block, not bothering to wield both as most would for such a powerful strike to defend against.

As the two blades met, there was a shatter. A splatter. And the drop of a body as Rhikos hit the sand.

Terrified eyes looked up at the anbu, with confusion. He answered quickly before his opponent died from the lost limbs he had received. " Every time our blades touched each other, I released a bit of hyouton into my blade, which conducted with yours acting as a conduit. I just had to wait for you to get confident enough to go full force. At that point, I could detonate the chakra and break your blade." He said, his enemies eyes growing faint. "You rely too much on your weapon. Without it, your weak."


386 words, MFT