alchemest1

"Absolutely I can. But I'm still concerned with this one issue...I wonder if...Hmm..."

I'll try that move first-hand out on the battlefield. It's too hard to explain.

"Let's see...genjutsu that are usefull...Okay. If you're all used to using your minds, it won't take long. The ranks on jutsu apply to it's initial strength. But if you take a D-rank genjutsu that takes a day to learn, and add more power and realism to it, it becomes A-ranked. That's the best course of action, I think. Minimum handsigns...possibly none for you immortals. The learning curve isn't too steep...should be fine."

Kiba cracked his neck and watched as Ryo pushed the various stones around the board strategically. "Yes, We have figured The Ukiyo Ataenushi would be at the back of the attack. We aren't certain seeing as we aren't sure of how far this jutsu can carry. We have succeeded in breaking through ranks twice befur, but his "minions seem to appear at will anywhere. Seeing as the very ground of the land is formed from the dust of bones they simply rise up wherever we are. Thus the reason he is able to catch us off guard. Should a legion of feted corpses have march upon us we would have long ago been able to defeat Ukiyo Ataenushi befur he fettered our minds." Kiba gave a menacing growl that made Hakatsoyo look up and mimic his master protectively. Kiba swiped at the tree trunk leaving deep gouges in its bark. Your plan will work if you can but teach us to use Genjutsu the way a normal shinobi learns devoid of our abilities. I know it requires the mind to do, but in a different way than a simple thought as our way of doing it is." Kiba leaned against the tree trunk and cocked his head as he studied Ryo. "Immortals don't use chakra the way that you or the others do. We use it yes, but it is not our sole source of energy in our attacks. If you were to use all your chakra up you would become weaker and be forced to use Taijutsu though weak. For an Immortal we don't usually resort to using our chakra in combat. We rely on the abilities of the mind. True this uses chakra, but it is less taxing on it. The mind can do great and terrible things as you know with the proper mindset. You use one mindset and chakra to accomplish your genjutsu. We use another mindset and little if any chakra. I need you to show us how to become less dependent on our abilities. Can you show us?"

Ryouko let Kiba finish talking before he broke out his 'Go' board. He always used it to strategize.

"Let me see here...twenty white stones...and more black stones that I've got here. And these things are 'undead' for want of a better term. That makes them nasty to defeat, shy of disintegrating them entirely. And if what you said about him beating you to the punch with a mind bind is true...Then genjutsu is your best bet. With one possible exception."

Ryouko pushed a group of four white stones forward, straight through the line of black stones.

"Blitzkrieg. It would stand to reason that this 'leader' would be at the back of the group, if he's not in a remote location. With the right distraction, I bet four of you could slip through the ranks, if you moved at your top speed...Couple that with genjutsu on the surrounding enemies, you cut the ranks in half..."

Kiba rolled his shoulders and let out a sigh. "It is possible he was once one of us. There have been several over the centuries that have been banished for treacheries. The Forsaken as those banished are called are mind bound restricting the use of our races' abilities. It is in this way that we are being destroyed. Very true we are more than competent in battle, but our mind is our greatest weapons." Kiba lazily flicked three fingers at the forest where it the closest tree crumbled into ash and began to swirl in a cyclone pattern before reforming into the majestic tree it had been befur. "We are nigh unbeatable when our minds are unbound, but this new foe has found a way to stealthy bind our minds before his attacks. We are forced to resort to more mundane methods of combat. We could hold our own should a barrage of mere hundreds come at us, but the demonic bastard sends thousands. We can't hold for more than a few weeks under such numbers. The land of Demons is filled with the bones of millions. His supplies are endless. We are fighting a losing battle. Our only hope is to find and eliminate the source of the Jutsu. We believe as you do that it is most likely a Forsaken that has discovered how to break the bind and fashion it against us bent on revenge." Kiba stood and paced the tree branch. "There are few of us left and The Ukiyo Ataenushi knows how many of us there are. Thus why I need you. They will not expect us to turn to mortal help. Besides you are accomplished at something my kind has only mastered using our abilities which are now bound in battle. Genjutsu. As odd as it sounds I believe Genjutsu is the key to defeating this foe. I wish you to teach the Immortals how to use genjutsu." Kiba gave a odd half grin of amusement to Ryo. "An odd concept is it not? The mortal teaching the Immortal a new trick."

"Haha, no, that assasination bit is water under the bridge. Although it was rather fun being the 'Itachi Uchiha' kind of threat for a while. Ah well."

Gruesome details. As Ryouko had expected.

"How, exactly is he killing you? You guys didn't surive for this long without being more than competent in combat. So, is he one of you? Or don't you know that either yet?"

Kiba let out a barking laugh. "The way you speak sounds like you yourself wish to know how to kill us." Kiba grinned at his friend. "Do you want to kill me? I know you wanted to when the incident with the Lady T assassination attempt." Giving a wave of his hand he dismissed the awkward humor then a pained expression befell his face. "Yes. I did indeed mention Casualties. Many of my people have fallen." Kiba looked at his friend sadly. "We do not know the name of this new Enemy. Only that he calls himself The Ukiyo Ataenushi." Kiba spat on the ground bitterly. "He uses the bodies of the fallen. We were forced to slaughter the bodies of those we loved; for the moment they fell his jutsu brought them back as puppets."

Ryouko listened quietly, his hand holding his pipe in front of him. He ignored it for the most part, occasionaly exhaling what little he took in. A lot of time had already passed just due to talking. Now that some of his questions were answered, Ryouko felt a little more at ease.

"Right, that makes sense. You did mention casualties, so it would follow that there's a way to kill you. Huh...Okay, so what about this new enemy of yours that's using reanimation techniques? Or is he an old enemy?"

Kiba stared off into the trees only vaguely listening to Ryo speaking of his wishes for himself. As Ryo finished this rather tersely and changed subjects Kiba looked back at his friend and took a deep breath. "Very well, We won't speak of the matter of you anymore this evening. As to your question. Immortal is...In relativeness we can not die unless third party actions cause our deaths. We are fairly immune to most illnesses although we do fall ill. simply something that would kill a mortal will merely weaken us. Falls, trauma and poisons we succumb too though. Should you run me through in a vital organ I will die, should a jutsu lacerate a vessel I will bleed out, But apart from injury we will live forever yes." Kiba said all this in a back handed manner petting Hakatsoyo absently. "To further define Immortal we have not always been, but should we survive uninjured we will forever be. I do not know much of our origins. Simply we were created as a guard using the powers of Shinobi no Kami. He commissioned us to watch over the Shinobi way he loved so much. So we have ever since." Kiba gave a half smile more to himself than anything. "It has been a long time. Though I was not born at the begging of my kind I was not far removed from it. Time holds no meaning any more/"

Ryouko let Kiba talk, already deciding he would change the subject after this. It was tiresome; he hated talking about himself. And his mind was too tired to engage in a good battle of wits at the moment.

"My goals aren't so straightforward. First, I want to simply belong. I'm still the outsider at home. Second, I wanted power enough to project Naruto and Ojousama...I mean, Sakura. Third, I wanted to find a master of some kind, present company nonwithstanding. Four, I need to find a purpose- you already illustrated that. But that's enough about me. I've got a more pressing question. Define 'immortal' for me. As in, you won't die no matter what? Or, you won't die except for outside circumstances? Or is it not literally 'immortal', but you live a long time so it seems that way?

Kiba sat rolling his now once again empty glass in his palms. Absently he let his mind touch Ryo's simply gauging the Young shinobi's thoughts. As Kiba had know they would be they were worrisome and somewhat self...he didn't want to say pitying, but he couldn't put his finger on another word. Kiba slipped among the thoughts taking them in as though he had hours. In reality he had taken mere fractions of a second. "Kiba absently grabbed the bottle of sake and poured another glass as he thought. Setting down the bottle Kiba swirled a finger in his glass. The sake began to form into a ball and lifted out of the glass to sit suspended spinning slowly above Kiba's palm. Looking at his friend kiba spoke. "You know the thing about prophecy? It rarely is exactly as it sounds and never what is expected. Yes it is evident now whom the three new sanni will be." Kiba cocked his head and stared deep into the depths of the slowly turning ball of sake as he continued to speak. "but...If you look at the world you will find that there are many amazing and powerful beings and people that reside upon it besides the prophesied sanni. They are merely one drop of power that has caused a ripple in the fabric of our existence. There are so many more that can cause the same that are just not in our range. What is to say that you who have failed to become part of this legendary prophecy aren't to become the icon of a prophecy of your own. What is to say that what I offer or what you will do here in this time will not change the very fabric of existence the same if not greater than the rise of the new legendary sanni?" Kiba continued to stare into the deeps of the liquid as if seeing these prophecies in it's amber essence. Cocking his head a bit more a small light began to well in the liquids center and expand to the outer edges. "What if you are to be someone that catches our world on fire and shapes it into something glorious." The light continued to swell small loops of light and heat erupted from the balls surface as the flames began to push through to the surface of the liquid. "Will you give yourself to be what you willingly without regretting it?" The flame now burned a bright hot orb of liquid fire casting flickering light about the tree giving Kiba's face an Terrie appearance. "Or will you be content to be held in the container of your predetermined fate because you feel you are not someone that can change the world simply by letting be what is. Will you be content to remain in the glass?" With this Kiba clenched his fist around the burning orb and tilted his clenched fist from which sake poured back into the glass. "answer me that Ryo." Kiba downed the sake and set the glass down beside the bottle.