An Unexpectedly Unlazy Day!

[Itanai Sora]

A patented mid-day nap, something the boy was more than known for, almost as much as the beast dwelling within him. Granted, no one would ever let him forget about that, even if they didn't say anything the looks said it all. Sora was grateful that he had developed an intense sense of humor and a healthy napping habit otherwise he would have possibly listened to all the names he had been called over the years. This was especially true for a village as spiritual as Taki so having a demon residing in the middle of it had everyone in a stir. But that wasn't important right now, catching up on missed sleep was the top priority, at least for the Chunin because someone else had other plans in mind.

"Hey, you should go tell someone about the meeting. Hey, Hey, wake up!" The incessant nagging came from none other than Chomei who was determined not to let her host sleep all day. Well, normally she didn't care but today was different. The two had returned from the meeting with the other bijuu and their hosts no more than a day ago yet Sora had made no efforts to tell anyone. All the talk about another group of people hunting the beasts down and sealing them was all too familiar for the horned beetle and she had no intentions of going through such an ordeal again. "Eh, can't I do it later?" Sora replied, seemingly to no one. He often forgot that no one else could see Chomei and though they had a mental connection the boy didn't like hearing his own voice inside his head.

"Nope, I'll drag you there myself if I have to. Remember, you don't have full control." A fact that she often liked to tell the boy as a reminder of just how powerful the bijuu were. "Geez, so pushy. Ok, I'll do it, but who would I even tell?" A great question. Who would be the person to come to with information about a group of people hunting the bijuu? "The leader of the village, of course." Chomei stated a tad bland. While she did give Sora quite a bit of lee way it always pained her to see him not using common sense. "Ah, yeah. Alright, let's head there."

With that they were off in search of the Lord's manor. Though the village looked so ancient it was fairly brand new, but with most things the biggest building was usually were the head people in charge worked. It took only a few minutes but in due time Sora would come upon the building, grand as he had expected. Upon entering the receptionist looked up before going wide eyed, she knew who he was, or rather, what he was. "Hey there, gotta go see the Lord. He here?" He asked, ignorning her look. The Chunin had to, even though he was used to seeing it. Maybe one day people would change, but it didn't seem like that would come anytime soon.

A look of unease was etched on the receptionist as she slowly nodded her head before getting up and heading towards the office of the Lord. She had reluctantly motioned for the boy to follow and made sure to always stay a few steps ahead just for good measure. Not that it actually mattered, but Sora wasn't the type of person to attack randomly. "She's terrified." Chomei spoke, a feeling she had been able to sense for hundreds of years. Minutes later and the two, technically three, arrived in front of a large wooden door befitting of a leader, if that even made any sense. Shaky knocks came afterward before the receptionist opened the door and poked her head in. "Excuse the interruption, there is someone here to see you Seiichi-sama." She spoke, obvious fear in her voice.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

Three knocks rapped on the wooden door, and Seiichi looked up from the stack of documents on his desk. Eboshi Senna was a nice girl, though young and easily intimidated. She wasn’t cut out to be a shinobi, hence her desk job; some said she was still afraid of the dark. But the terror in her voice, when paired with the words and the obvious presence behind the door meant that he had come to visit.

Seiichi leaned back in his chair and nodded in affirmation to the request. Senna disappeared back into the hall and let Sora in, presumably while minding her manners.

The office of the Lord of Taki was a drab affair. The wooden walls were thin, with no decorations hanging on them. There were no plants or places to sit other than the lone chair that Seiichi had, behind a bamboo desk. Piles of documents sat there, neatly organized and pushed to the side. The lord himself was sitting with his legs crossed over one another and his eyes narrowed on Sora as he entered. A grey suit was his chosen attire for the day, complete with a matching pair of gloves. His hands rested in his lap.

Seiichi’s eyes looked cold. Everything about him, from his pale skin to his blonde hair, looked cold. And when he spoke, his voice, like everything else, was cold as well. “What may I do for you today, Itanai?”

[Itanai Sora]

Sora took a quick glance around the office as he was let in by the receptionist who probably needed a few minutes to herself after the encounter. So sad. Indeed the place was rather empty and boring aside the from the stacks of papers on to of the desk, guess there wasn't much in the budget for office design. Granted, the Chunin's room at his house wasn't much better. He was far too lazy to put any pictures up and had a habit of leaving clothes strewn about all over the place.

Then came the man, cold looking and apparently calling people by their surnames. Odd. No matter, it wasn't like he had anyone else to share this information with. Though this may not have been the first time the two had seen each other considering Sora's uniqueness, it was however the first time that the Chunin had paid attention to what Seiichi looked like. Whenever the officials gathered to talk about what to do next with their ultimate weapon the boy could never tell one apart from the other, and there were a dozen people who he could have mistaken for the Lord. "That's enough lollygagging, tell him what happened." Prodded Chomei who seemed a bit too eager about this meeting.

"Uh, thanks for seeing me. This is going to sound odd but just hear me out." Sora began. He really didn't like the whole formal political dance when it came to speaking with officials, too much work. "In a nutshell most of the bijuu had a meeting in some super empty white space, oh and the other jinchuriki were there too! One of them said something along the lines of another group of people hunting down the bijuu. I think they called themselves the bijus-su..." "Bijukitkatsukai." Interjected Chomei from within. "Ah, that's right. Bijukitkatsukai. Thanks, Chomei." A mouthful to say the least but that was more or less all the basic information.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

Seiichi wasn’t sure quite what to think when dealing with Sora. The information came all in a rush, and involved things one part legend and one part sinister. Rumors had spread that the jinchuuriki were able to communicate telepathically, but they were rumors. Only a few shinobi knew the truth, and even fewer the other secrets behind the jinchuuriki. Seiichi now fit into both categories.

His eyes were wide when things finished, and his hands slowly came unfolded from his lap and came to rest on his desk.

“I see,” he began. With a deep breath he regained control over himself, and he turned his cold gaze back to Sora. “You said all the jinchuuriki were there, yes? All nine?” After confirmation, Seiichi sat back in his seat and closed his eyes to think a moment. Then, “Itanai, was there any other information you jinchuuriki discussed?”

Seiichi’s eyes opened up, but this time they weren’t normal. The iris’s had turned into two drops of gold, with the pupil’s elongating into thin slits. These were the Dragon’s Eyes, a mythical technique of the Eboshi that allowed Seiichi’s vision to transcend human bounds. He was studying every muscle on Sora’s body, namely those on his throat. Though he didn't’ particularly mistrust Sora, he had never displayed any undying loyalty to Takigakure. If he lied, Seiichi would know.

[Itanai Sora]

Even for a man as stone cold as Seiichi the information of the taled beasts gathering because of a threat to their safety was quite the sight. Granted, they probably spoke to each other all the time as they were hunted and sealed for most of their lives, though it was a surreal opportunity for Sora as well even though he'd never admit it. The Chunin scrunched his face up at the question as he tried to remember just how many of them were actually at the meeting. "Hmm, nope. The five tailed had already been captured and the six tailed wasn't there. Everyone else was, though." That much the boy could remember, though if the Lord asked for names or descriptions he was going to be out of luck for Sora was far too lazy to remember such things.

He raised a brow upon seeing the golden, lizard like eyes. Was the man activating some kind of technique, or did his eyes always look like that? Weird, and if Sora could have changed the shape of his pupils he would have in a heart beat, if anything just to mock the other man. "The one-tailed. Shukaku, I think his name was, talked about possibly forming some sort of alliance between us though Chomei was the only one who seemed to be receptive of the idea." Indeed it was the truth, though they had never gotten any details on what all said alliance would entail before everyone started leaving.

"Happy now, Chomei? Can I go back to sleep?" He asked mentally to the beast. "Just a bit longer, Sora. I want to see what he is going to do with this information, trust me, I have a good feeling about this." She replied, that unmistakable high spirited attitude rearing its head. The Chunin never had the energy to tell her that just because she had seven tails that it automatically made her lucky, in fact her over willingness was a pain in the ass though only because it caused Sora to actually have to get out of bed.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

Seiichi leaned forward, his hands tenting up just before his mouth. He blinked once, discarding his dojutsu and allowing the gold to return back to blue.

The Gobi had already been captured, and if the intelligence was right, than Shukaku was acting on its own. Things were happening under the cover of shadows, and lives were slowly being lost because of it. At this rate, even Takigakure no Sato would be targeted, and in its youth, likely destroyed. That could not be allowed to happen.

Seiichi sat back and gave Sora an examining look. Though he hadn’t lied, it was obvious he didn’t understand what was going on. “Itanai, what you’ve told me is perhaps the worst thing I’ve heard since the creation of this village. A jinchuuriki is dead, and the rest of you are being hunted down. I’m not sure if you’ve realized this, but if they are capturing the bijuu to use as weapons, they’re strong enough to destroy Takigakure, kill everyone here, and then kill you...unless we meet them with appropriate force.

“There will not be an alliance between you and the other jinchuuriki. Putting you out on the field with them is just asking to give this group what it wants. And no doubt, if they do manage to find our villages location, we will have to fight them off, no matter how many there are.”

A pause while Seiichi reached over and grabbed a document. It was Sora’s own folder, and the lord quickly flipped through it. His blue eyes flicked back up to the jinchuuriki. “You haven’t mastered the use of your bijuu yet, have you?”

[Itanai Sora]

Even in his highly unmotivated state Sora could tell that the other man was in deep thought. After all, this was his village at risk whether it be indirectly through it's largest weapon or not there were quite a few lives at stake. For a moment he wondered what the other jinchuriki did after leaving the meeting, if they had went and told someone of the information or if they kept it to themselves. The Chunin would have been fine doing either option himself, but the persistent beetle had not allowed it, and now there was this awkward tension best saved for war time situations, something the boy had yet to experience.

From Seiichi's words it seemed that would possibly be a conclusion, though how a village so young and lacking in might could fend off a group of people strong enough to capture bijuu was a mystery in and of itself. Sora sighed on the inside, he hated being involved in things like this, but being the weapon that he was, or at least was supposed to be, there was no way of getting around it. Not that he helped his cause any by being sleep all the time and therefore easy to keep tabs on, but was it really that difficult to stop fighting if even for a few moments.

A hand slowly went to his stomach as a small grimace formed, Chomei wasn't happy. She was writhing about on the inside, granted inside a cage but her power was still a force to be reckoned with. "No alliance?! That's the best option we have!" She roared from within, and the only person there to take the brunt was Sora. He could have told her that it was her fault for wanting to stay but that'd only make matters worse. The Chunin didn't care one way or the other, but having to listen to Chomei go on and on about how bad a decision this was was going to get old quick.

A file? Did the man already have some kind of plan for a situation like this? Probably, given with what they had locked away in their village all this time. What he heard next was a tad surprising as it was about his progress in controlling the bijuu. It was true that Sora could only get up to three tails while still remaining his consciousness but there was still quite a ways to go before complete mastery was achieved. "Ahh, yeah. Been meaning to get on that." A lie, sort of. While he did want to achieve a better connection with Chomei the thought of training was just too much work, and napping proved to be much easier to accomplish in comparison.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

“This is no time for your childish games, Itanai.” Seiichi spoke the words cooly, but there was a bit to what he said. His eyes were fixed on the chuunin, and though he displayed no emotion from his face or body, his gaze was as sharp as a sword. “If you’re that uninterested in serving the village and saving your unlife, I can arrange for you to die. That way the Shichibi in you would take a few more years to reincarnate while we muster more of our strength.”

While the threat was just that, a threat, there was no doubt that there wouldn’t be measures taken should Sora decide not to comply with anything Seiichi wanted. Perhaps if the situation was different, he’d have been softer with the boy. But everything he had built with his life hitherto now was in jeopardy, and there was no time to play around.

Though the number of this Bijukitkatsukai’s forces was unknown, Seiichi reasoned it was a small amount. There were only a handful of shinobi in the world capable of fighting a bijuu, and that would always be the case. Repelling an assault on Takigakure would be simple enough, as long as they had the power to repel a fullforce bijuu attack.

Seiichi put the file back onto the best and stood up. “For now on, Itanai, you’re going to be on an S-rank mission,” he said, all the while moving his desk and table to the wall, “that mission is simple. Learn to work in harmony with the Shichibi so that way you can be useful for something other than veiled threats against the other nations.”

When everything was done moving, Seiichi walked into the middle of the room and removed his right glove. He bit down hard enough on his thumb to draw a red bead, and after several hand seals, put his bloody palm to the ground. Kanji spread outwards, accompanied by an explosion of smoke. When it faded, something legendary floated before them.

Ao Shin was an old dragon, with a long silver mane that was big enough to hide several children in. Its coiled body, easily twenty meters in length, was lined in sea-green scales and golen spikes. A pair of yellow eyes, inhuman and unknown in their intent, stared down the two ninja before it. His breath smelled of the forest, and a sweltering heat poured from his body.

“Hatchling...why have you summoned me…?” The timbre was deep and inhuman. Even now, despite having worked with dragons his whole life, Seiichi still felt chills run up his spine at the sound.

“Lord Ao Shin, I have request of you and your ilk.” The lord beckoned for Sora to approach. “This child requires help that only dragons could provide.”

Ao Shin turned its terrifying gaze from the calm Seiichi to the little form that was Sora. It studied him for a moment, breathed in his stench, and then looked back towards the lord. “He has a great demon inside of him.”

“The Shichibi, Lord Ao Shin. He is one of Takigakure’s greatest weapons.”

At that the dragon barked a horrifying laugh, which sounded more like a falling tree then anything slightly jovial. Seiichi did his best to ignore it. “And what do you propose Seiryu do this with this babe? Are we to allow the demon into our holy lands so that he may taint our air?”

“No, Lord Ao Shin. I propose that he sign the contract with the dragons, and then be taken in by you. Only a sage can train another sage.”

[Itanai Sora]

Sora took half a step back, mostly out of instinct, at the words coming from the Lord. The tone, while smooth, seemed to hold quite a bit of truth to them, and in the long run the boy had no intentions of dying. If she had a face Chomei would have smirked, someone had finally managed to get the boy to take something serious for once. "Apologies." The Chunin gritted out with shifting eyes, avoiding the gaze of the man who could have his life ended on a whim. If there wasn't going to be any partnership with the other bijuu then what else was there to do? Even at his hardest and with the maximum amount of time Sora wouldn't be able to control all of the tails. Hell, no one could do that.

His attention now undivided, Sora listened intently to the words from Seiichi about his mission and what it entailed, which was basically gaining complete control of the shichibi. That was simple enough to understand, though what moving the desk had to do with anything was a mystery. He continued to watch as the man performed the technique and a cloud of smoke filled the room. Instantly there was heat akin to standing next to an open flame. The form of a large beast was outlined in the smoke, though it wasn't until it cleared that the boy fully gazed upon what most thought were mythical creatures: a dragon. Sora took another step back as their gazes met. "It's ancient, maybe around my age." Spoke Chomei who could feel the presence of the aged beast. Powerful, no doubt, but what was its purpose in being here?

His legs nearly didn't move when Seiichi gestured to move closer, but slowly they did one in front of the other. The Lord spoke of aid but what exactly did that mean? It was true that Chomei could fly though that was the only similarity she shared to this dragon. The Chunin froze upon being looked at, he could feel death breathing down his neck. He was surprised to hear that this thing knew there was something inside of him. Then came the word again: weapon. Granted, Sora was more than used to hearing it by now, hell it had even become his unofficial second name in the village, at least from a military stand point. Most of the other villagers just said monster. "It knows I'm here. Just what is this man trying to accomplish?" Chomei questioned, but Sora was far too afraid to respond. This reminded him of the first time he saw Chomei, the great beast she was. Towering and in an unstoppable rage when she was first sealed and had he been able to run Sora definitely would have.

The laugh, death-filled and inhuman as it was, proved an effective method to shake Sora from his fright. His senses returned in time to hear Seiichi mention him signing some kind of contract with the dragons. As in summoning? Was he crazy? Being around one of them was bad enough but being linked to all of them was just plain ridiculous. "Y-You want me to sign a contract with... them?" He asked, slightly confused.

First was assigning him a mission to gain further control over the bijuu, and now the Lord had turned right around and wanted him to sign a contract with dragons, as if the boy wasn't already linked to one mythical figure. "... So this was his plan. Interesting, to say the least." For once the beetle was nearly speechless, deep in thought over all of the sudden developments. While she did often try and instill some wisdom in her host the shichibi was going to take an uncharacteristc back seat on this occasion. If Sora did have any plans of bettering himself as a shinobi then it was times like these where he would need to show the most resolve.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

Seiichi didn’t even spare a glance towards Sora when he asked his question. Both of his eyes, dyed in the gold of the dragon, matched the summon before him. They studied each other for several moments.

“A sage, eh? Like that Kyubi’s brat.”

“Yes. I’m not sure how connected he is with his host, but I’m not sure if he has the talent to control all seven tails at once. With senjutsu in the mix, even with just a couple of tails, he’d be strong enough to match a jinchuuriki at full power.”

“And how do you propose we do this?” Ao Shin’s eyes had turned away from Seiichi and moved back to Sora. “Even you couldn’t learn our most powerful arts. And he can?”

“He can,” Seiichi replied back swiftly. “If he can handle a biju inside of him, I’m sure he can handle senjutsu. As for how to go about this, I propose you give him your pearl and you two make a contract. With the ability to communicate mentally, the training should progress faster.”

At that the dragon laughed again as it snaked its body through the air. It surrounded Sora completely, and its vicious snout hovered just a scant inch from the jinchuuriki’s voice.

“What say you, boy?!” the dragon asked. “What do you say to embarking on the Trial of Dragons?!”

[Itanai Sora]

The conversation between Seiichi and the dragon seemed surreal, were they actually talking about training the art of sages? Sora knew very very little on the subject, his only knowledge coming from the story of Uzumaki Naruto that Chomei had told him once. Though she had only been around him for a few moments he had left a definite impact on the beetle. However, that knowledge barely helped ease the boy's confusion. No, this was on an entirely different level, with the mixture of sage training and bijuu control. Otherworldly would be a better way to describe it.

There were many questions, to say the least, but Sora dared not interrupt their conversation for such trivial things. Not that he needed to, anyway, as before he could comprehend the dragon had coiled itself around him and was staring him directly in the face, its golden eyes piercing into the very soul of the Chunin. Chomei would remain silent, this was something that Sora needed to do on his own, even if it did directly involve the beast as well.

"Trial of the Dragons..." Sora spoke, as if trying to imagine what kind of scenario it entailed. He envisioned fire, a lot of it at that, and maybe some flying, and being overall deadly. Perhaps he could convince Seiichi to give the team up idea with the other bijuu a second chance? Even if they did become a larger target there was much more power between them. Couldn't it also help the villages and what not? Surely there was something more suitable that could be done instead of being subjected to whatever trials a dragon could think up? Alas, there seemed to be no better option, and if something were to happen to the village because of Sora he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt, even if most of the villagers held ill will towards him. "Let's do it." He replied firmly to the dragon, his gaze matching that of the ancient beast.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

Once again Ao Shin laughed, but this time the joy in it was surprisingly clear. He uncoiled from Sora and moved back before both shinobi. Seiichi didn’t react at all, but he was happy with both the child’s answer and the child’s reply. Maybe there was a future for Sora after all.

“Then it shall be done, hatchlings! You will sign the contract, and you will come with me to Ryuu no Hora, the Grotto of Dragons.” When Ao Shiin finished speaking, he retched open his mouth and extended a scroll from deep within his gullet. A serpentine tongue curled around it and placed it delicately, unrolled, at Sora’s feed. “Sign your name in blood, hatchling. Today, you become a dragon.”

The entire time, Seiichi remained deathly quiet. The Trial of Dragons was an impossibly hard task, given to those they determined worthy to achieve Senin Modo. In the last two hundred years, he was the only one to take it...and he failed. Hopefully Sora, with the power of the Shichibi within him, could pass the trials.

[Itanai Sora]

Sora was still uneasy about the entire thing but he had already made his decision, probably in part due to Seiichi and not wanting to find out if he would make true on his threat. This would be an interesting experience no doubt as Sora had rarely left the village except on official missions with a host of guards around him, he was the village's most valuable asset after all. Traveling was a no-go as one would expect and that had partly led to the development of such a lazy personality, though he had never envisioned such a place being a travel destination.

On the inside Chomei was proud yet worried, she knew of the deadly lifestyle dragons lived and hoped that the boy would be able to keep his wits about him. She had watched him become more and more unmotivated over the years and while the concept of getting his potential up and moving again sounded nice it all seemed a bit too much. She was determined to help in any way she could, but knew that doing too much would take away from the learning experience, a delicate balance to say the least.

A sigh of relief escaped the Chunin's lips as the dragon uncoiled itself from his being and began to speak. The Grotto of Dragons seemed a bit light for the home of such fierce creatures, maybe like a volcano or "the end of eternity", but not a grotto. For a moment the boy envisioned a bunch of dragons just lazing about an open field next to a lake or something. He looked the scroll over while rubbing his thumb and index finger against each other, this was the big step. A bit strong enough to draw blood before Sora took a knee and began to write his name. イタナイ　ソラ was the new addition to the scroll, marked in crimson. "Welp, this is it. Hope you're ready, Chomei." He spoke aloud, not really caring if the other two heard him. "Of course I am, we've got luck on our side!" The shichibi replied, her obvious worry masked in that patented high spirited tone.

[Eboshi Seiichi]

“I hope you’re ready, beetle!” Ao Shin spoke out, his voice causing the room to shake. “This is not a land of friends to you, demon.”

The threat was thinly veiled, and Seiichi looked back at Sora. He was sending him on a quest to make something of himself, and the likelihood of him coming back was slim at best. But this was the only option. With Shukaku free to do what he wanted and people hunting down the jinchuuriki, likely killing whoever got in their way, the only option was to fight back and crush them.

But he didn’t like it. He couldn’t like it. Takigakure no Sato was too young, and it didn’t have the stored power that the other villages have.

“I’ll keep in contact through Seiryuu, Lord Ao Shin,” Seiichi stated. The dragon nodded at that and then turned back to look at Sora. Seiichi looked as well. “Itanai, if you succeed, you’ll be the hero of the village. If you fail, we could all die, including you.”

And that was all he said. There were no other options. Win or die.

“Then let’s go, hatchling. I hope your luck is better than the rest.”

And with that smoke washed over the office, leaving Seiichi by himself. Sora would either come back a statue or a sage, and he prayed for the latter.

THREAD END