Note: bastard sword is the proper name for a one and a half hand sword, better known when a katana as a ninja sword; I don't do cussing

iaido - the art of drawing and sheathing a blade (I didn't make this one up)

kunoichi - a female ninja

New Allies

Libyado and Kib recieved a hero's welcome as they reentered the small shinobi village. The short wall they had built before had been dragged away, apparently chopped into firewood. Numerous villagers cheered and waved to the two warriors as they were escorted to a simple, three - story inn were the keeper expressed his willingness to house them as long as they like. They thanked him, but explained they would have to leave for Rok'avive in but a few days.

Upon arriving at their rooms, Hiro organized the swarm of people who were trying to meet the two heros into a line and sent them in one by one. The duo recieved various weapons they had heard of but never seen. Amongst them were kunai knives, shuriken, and senbon; Hiro had to explain that the shuriken were also called ninja stars and the senbon throwing needles. Others offered their services as sensei and smiths, willing to teach them and forge them anything they wished. Both were drowned in attention and thanks, and they had to constantly remind people that without Hiro, they would have failed utterly; Hiro would always return that they were key in their victory, and that he was simply doing his job.

The sun was threatening to dip below the horizon when all the admirers had finished their visiting. Because of all the people, Libyado and Kib had yet to clean up, and mud, dirt, and blood gave them the appearance of entirely different people than who they were. All three of them could only laugh at the heap of weapons lying between the two beds, talking up a storm and occaisonally going quiet in rememberence of the dead who had given their lives to protect the kingdom. Finally Libyado excused himself and started down the stairs to use the washroom.

Wulfe had taken on the form of his namesake as he approached his hometown at sunset. It had been a long time, but he was sure that if he came waltzing in in human form, he would be quickly recognized; attention he really didn't need right now. He had found from a source in Rok'avive that his target had indeed been there only a few days past, but had traveled southwest as part of a unit sent to destroy a group of Wefocks. He slipped past the gates and entered the intricate allyways of the town, hoping that none of the ninja groups who claimed these parts as their own would spot him. The crowds were a dead giveaway of where at least one of the royal soldiers was, who could tell him where his target went. He changed into human form, dressed as a black ninja; he had also blackened his face to help him blend with the shadows. His claws were still sheathed at his sides as he darted out of the alleys and through the door to the inn, where he crouched in the shadows near the staircase.

'Time to put that training to good use...'

He folded his hands before his face and lifted his first two fingers in the sign of the ninja. He closed his eyes and muttered in Basic, then seamingly disappeared. If he had his way, Libyado of Zokmo would be dead in a few days, and he would be a very, very rich assassin.

Libyado had reached the bottom floor and turned left towards where the washing room was. Suddenly a hand shot out of the darkness and clamped over his mouth, the arm pinning his left arm to his side as another arm pinned the other. He felt blades against his neck and chest, then a rough, gravely voice.

"One move, one sound, and it'll be your last, soldier. Now tell me, where did the one named Libyado go? Does he still live?"

The hand moved from his mouth, but it might as well remained; fear and panic struck him hard and prevented him from making any noise. His assailant's strength was painfully obvious, and even if he was well rested there was no way he would have been able to retaliate.

"Speak now, or never again!"

He worked quickly to recompose himself, then quickly replied.

"Libyado...yes, the name sounds a little familiar...I didn't see him dead on the battlefield, so he must be alive. That being said, he probably would have been released from service or, if not, be sent west with his squad to reinforce that front or sent to Rok'avive. I don't know anything else; I swear I don't know for certain, but I would say that he's in Rok'avive."

"Thanks, you've been a big help..."

He felt the blades move from his neck.

"...now die!"

There was a sudden flurry of movement, and steel rang against steel as a kunai appeared between him and the four - bladed claws. Although he had just been saved, fear gripped him again as he realised that this was the caspob who had assassinated the previous king. He heard a female's voice behind him, hushed but angry.

"Wulfe! We're not to attract attention on this assignment; not only that, but he just helped saved our village!"

"Maybe yours, but I have no village. My allegiance is to myself and anyone who will pay me."

Nevertheless, he released Libyado and the door could be heard closing. He now turned to see his savior; a girl apparently only a few years older than him, dressed in blue ninja robes. She had long black hair in a ponytail that fell a little past her waist and was armed tooth and nail with kunai, senbon, shuriken, sai, stilettos, daggers, katanas, and a blade staff. Sheaths, scabbards, and pouches covered much of her body, and he was surprised she could still maintain such speed. She spun the kunai by the loop on the end of the handle and jammed it back into its pouch on her thigh.

"Sorry about him. My name's Senya, by the way, and I won't be killing you, I swear, but I would like to know where this Libyado guy is. Did he really go where you said he did?"

"You swear not to kill me?"

"On my honor as shinobi, I will not kill you."

He glanced around, then turned back to her.

"I...I am Libyado."

Her face instantly registered shock.

"You?!?"

"Yes, me."

"I was told you were a savage enemy who was bent on destroying the way of the shinobi."

"What?!? Who told you that?!?"

"This old man came looking for me. He seemed nice enough, but I did sense something strange about him. He said you were hunting ninja, then hired me to assassinate you. He also employed Wulfe a while afterwords. Had I known the truth, I never would have accepted. In fact, I think it would be best if I traveled with you for a while; if you don't mind, that is. I should also like to meet your companion; Kibamrob, I believe they called him?"

"Wait, let me get this straight; you were hired to kill me, but now you want to protect me from being killed by that Wulfe guy?"

"And any other hitmen that that crow might have hired."

"On your honor again, right?"

"On my honor and the lives of all those who live here."

"Well then, I don't see why not. Welcome to the club."

They both laughed and went upstairs.

"You don't need to worry about getting me a room; there's one permanently reserved under my name on the third floor. I helped the innkeeper out of a tight spot a few times."

They entered the room and Kib looked up from a book he was reading entitled "Senbon: Basic Techniques from Throwing to Hand to Hand".

"Kib, this is Senya; Senya, this is Kib. She'll be traveling with us from now on, and I'm sure she'll tell you the whole story. Now if you'll excuse me, I am in desperate need of a bath."

He excused himself again and returned a few minutes later dressed in a green tunic identical in style to the ones Hiro and his squad had been wearing. Senya bid them both a good night as she went to her own room and Kib took his turn at cleaning. Libyado browsed the bookcase and pulled out a volume entitled "A Guide to the Focusing and Using of Chakra, and Easy Uses for it". Having never heard of the stuff, he sat down and began reading. A few pages later, he had discovered that chakra was a kind of energy gained through experience and physical strength used by shinobi to execute jutsu to hide, defend, attack, and so on in addition to increasing speed and power if focused towards a part of the body.

'Wow, all this magic and jutsu stuff is starting to make my head ache. I had no idea any of this existed what, a week ago? This all seems unreal.'

Kib came back up, and Libyado ceased his reading and settled into his bed, Kib the other, and they snuffed the bedside candles as they fell almost instantly into a well - deserved sleep.

The red moon rose a little before the sun, casting its light over the village. The stars were no longer visible; all had dissappeared but one, which still shone as clearly as it had in the dead of night. Even as the sun rose, shooting its vibrant rays just before cresting the horizon, the bright dot shone clearly. Throughout all of Gybun, many saw it and grew excited; it had been five centuries since this had last occured, and some of the more educated people knew all that the appearance of that star entailed: Gybun would switch back to its home star and regain its other three moons as the twin suns neared each other. A short tug-of-war would occur, but the planets momentum would send it spinning around the other star. Yet only the mages knew that those three moons they would acquire had many magic hotspots on them, increasing the power of any magical spell cast by means of the ancient language or wizardry.

Zygob was one of those who knew, and even now he watched the star. He had received word via Naboyix last night, but he was too drained of energy from forging the katana to teleport over. Now he gathered up the materials for the blade in addition to what he had completed so far and popped them in a bag, then rattled off a few hand signs before teleporting to the village.

An explosion of light announced the sage's arrival; people froze midstride and stared. Zygob simply walked towards the inn he had been directed to by Naboyix as if nothing had happened, nodding to the people and bidding them a good morning. He mounted the stairs and was about to open the door to Libyado's room when a kunoichi phased into existence before him. Her gray eyes were full of hatred as she leveled one end of her blade staff at him.

"You may be in gray robes now, but I still recognize you! You said this Libyado was a destroyer of shinobi? He just helped save this village! Go back to the pit that - "

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about, who are you and how do you know Libyado?"

"Hmm?"

Surprise and puzzlement crossed her face.

"Oh, terribly sorry. Thought you were somebody else."

She lowered the staff, one blade sticking in the wooden floor.

"But I might ask you the same thing. How do you know Libyado? My name is Senya, so what is yours?"

"I am Zygob the sage, and I am helping Libyado to master magic and swordplay."

"Your name...Powerful One, if I am not mistaken?"

Now it was his turn to be surprised.

"Indeed. You know the ancient language?"

"To some extent, yes. Now if you are his mentor, tell me this: have you taught him at all in the way of shinobi? The three jutsu and chakra?"

"No, I haven't yet. I haven't even taught him much about magic yet."

"Well then, seeing as I will be traveling with him as well, I can teach him that while you teach him magic. And I'm sure that in your age, swordplay isn't exactly high on your list of expertise. I could train him in that as well."

"Would you be able to teach him how to fight efficiently with a mage's katana?"

"Are you kidding? That's what I use!"

"Very well then. But if you'll excuse me, I need to speak with my apprentice."

"Oh yes, of course."

She stepped aside and Zygob entered to find Libyado and Kib both reading the books they had chosen the night before.

"Good to see the two of you studying."

"Zygob!" they cried in unison, marking their places and hopping up. They both stood facing him as he spoke to Libyado first.

"The katana is underway, but I've had to use the smithy's smiths only at night, as none will let me use magic anywhere near them. Kib, I will forge you one as well as soon as I finish this one. You will both need all the help you can get, and they shall serve you well until you find a legendary blade."

"Argh, why are you constantly introducing new things? Do you have any of this stuff written down so I can memorize it more easily?"

"Well, it was written in the guild, I'll have to check to see if it's been destroyed. But yes, there are certain legendary blades, each one unique, that reside somewhere on this or the nearby continent. Such blades include the sonic edge, the thunder blade, and the fire brand; there are a few others, including the three dragon blades, which you have no doubt heard of."

"They actually exist?"

Kib expressed his surprise as well.

"I thought they only existed in myth. So three dragons actually sacrificed their lives and fused with a mage's three blades when he had to fight a small army single - handed?"

"Yes. The dragons, as the legend might have left out, were old even for their species, so while each had great power, they could not well use it. So they fused with the three blades the mage carried; a dagger, a bastard sword, and a two handed. The location of each of these can be located into a general area, but nobody has been brave enough to travel the rugged terrain and harsh seas needed to obtain them. They are guarded as well by a race of four - armed people who boast two consciounsenesses; that is, they can give their full attention to two entirely different thought processes simultaneously. This makes them excellent warriors; that being said, nobody who actually fought one has ever lived to tell the tale, but long ago a band of adventurers made the journey, and one of them ended up fighting with one and being slain very quickly. His companions quickly fled, and nobody has even attempted to reach that place since."

"Well, what do we do now?"

"I've had a word with the king himself, and he's agreed to let the two of you be trained by me and not have to take orders as a soldier until I see fit or there is dire need. You should be grateful; he's letting go of two heros responsible for the safety of one of his shinobi villages."

"Now Zygob, you say that the forging of the katana has been slowed by unwillingness to cooperate?"

"Yes, most definitly."

"How long would it take if you not only had an anvil and furnace available to you all day and night, but also numerous smithys willing to help in any way?"

"I would say a day maybe two. Why?"

"Hey Senya, you know the villagers, right?"

"I see where you're going, and yes, I can get Zygob here a smithy or twenty. I'll be back in a bit."

She flickered and disappeared, then reappeared in the same manner a few minutes later.

"Now, if you all will follow me..."

She turned and they followed her, Libyado snatching his book before going through the door.

The smithys were even more cooperative than expected. When Zygob grew low on energy from focusing it into the metal, they allowed him to tap into their minds and draw on some of their strength instead. With seven muscle - bound blacksmiths thus contributing, the blade was finished in a few hours rather than days. All the while Libyado studied up on chakra and the three types of jutsu: taijutsu, hand to hand combat, genjutsu: the creation of illusions, and ninjutsu: the use of chakra to attack. He learned how to focus his chakra and by the time the blade was done, he could do it rather well.

Zygob presented the mage's katana to Libyado, who looked it over. Its scabbard was a pure blue with gold runes near the top, which was encircled with silver that depicted a dragon on either side, both chasing the other. When he inquired what it said, he was given a translation.

"Beware, foes of the libyado, your bane lies here."

"The Libyado? Sounds a bit funny."

"Remember that libyado means 'bringer of fate', its not nessesarily a name."

"Ah. 'Beware, foes of the bringer of fate, your bane lies here'. Sounds good."

"Yes, I do what I can."

He then proceded to draw the blade and examine it. The spine of the blade cantained two diamonds of a relatively small size. Simply grasping the hilt seemed to fill him with strength and confidence. Eight characters adorned the flat of the blade near the guard that were copied on the other side.

"Those are the center characters of the eight seals," Zygob explained. "The seal of power, darkness, light, fire, lightning, earth, water, and wind."

Eager to try out his new weapon, Libyado, accompanied by the others, went out to the forest, smiling like a child with a new toy. Upon arrival he stopped before a horizontal limb and, closing his eyes, focused his chakra to his arms; it was even easier than he would have expected. He brought the sword back, then his arms, to the naked eye, seemed to warp down in even less than the blink of an eye. Such speed surprised even Libyado, and suddenly the severed tree limb dropped to the ground. Libyado grinned from ear to ear as he sheathed his sword in the manner in which he had seen the iaido swordsmen do it back in Zokmo.

"This is awesome!"

"I see you've also learned how to focus chakra."

"Yeah, I've been practicing that since this morning. I'm still far from perfect, but I can do it to some extent."

"It's a good thing to know," Senya put in. "It takes many shinobi a long time to fully master chakra control, but you seem to be a natural at it."

"I guess my name affects me more than I previously thought."

"So, Zygob, when can you make me one of those things?"

"Well, I can gather the materials today, but it would be best if the work began tomorrow or the day after so that everyone has time to recover. In the meantime, I can finally begin to teach you two how to use magic, and I'm sure Senya will be more than willing to instruct you as shinobi."

"Yes, I'm sure the people here would be happy to accept you two as official protectors of Tatsu."

"You named this village 'dragon'?"

"Not I, a sage. He named it so because the hearts of the shinobi must be as a dragon's; strong and powerful, yet wise and compassionate. Those who abuse their power are the worst kind of scum."

"Interesting. So when do we start our training?"

"Right now, if you wish."

By the forest's edge, Zygob began by teaching Libyado the words to a few simple spells, while Senya taught Kib how to effectively use senbon, pointing out their usefulness against a heavily armored enemy if you are accurate enough. By the time the sun set, Libyado was capable of summoning a light breeze, and Kib was getting the throwing needles to stick in the tree trunks, although he oftentimes missed. They then retreated to their room, where the pupils switched instructors. The inkeeper was more than willing to provide a dartboard to stop the senbon from marring the walls. Finally they all retired, a room provided for Zygob under the pretense that "a friend of the heros is a friend of mine".

The next day, both were instructed by Senya, as Zygob had left to begin work on the second blade. They moved onto kunai, as they could deal much more damage to unprotected flesh. Both already knew how to use them close range, as they were a type of knife, but it took several hours before they they could throw them with the right amount of rotations so that they hit tip - first every time. They were then instructed on how to use their chakra to spin shuriken on one finger, making it an effective close range weapon. Continued review in these three weapons made them relatively proficiant in each, long and close range. The blue moon was beginnning to rise and rule the night when Zygob joined them, the second katana in hand. This one's scabbard was red and blank, but everything else about it was identical to the one Libyado now wore at all times.

This training continued for a week, by which time they greatly improved their skills with many different shinobi weapons and variants, such as a chain kunai, and had graduated to water attacks. It was around this time that villagers began reporting signs of Wefocks once again.

"Great. What's up with them and this village?" Libyado inquired.

"Think about it. It's a shinobi village, on the southern border no less. If they could knock this place out, it would be one less base for spies and assassins."

With that, the four of them joined up with Hiro and his squad, as well as a good twenty or so ninja that had returned from various missions over the week. Five of the shinobi scouted ahead to try to pinpoint the position of the Wefocks, and they soon returned after finding a generous amount of the foes. They quickly moved into the forest, taking up positions around the enemy company.

"It's time for a little revenge," growled Kib, and Libyado nodded. He called to mind the words to cast wind blades and chose a spot to cast the resulting devastation. Once he picked a location, he sent his idea to Zygob, who approved and told him to tell their forces to steer clear of the area. He did so; all of this had been done telepathically. He and Kib were to open up the attack; Kib would throw a kunai to the new commander just before Libyado cast his spell. They were given the go ahead to begin when ready, and Kib unleashed the knife with gusto as Libyado did the shinobi hand sign and cast the spell twice, once drawing on magic and the second time chakra. The result was a massive amount of green - tinted wind blades shooting around in an area like a tornado, entirely bypassing the Wefock armor and killing many foes. The idea that he had been able to cast such a successful attack brought a smile to his lips and filled him with energy. The kunai had found its mark, and it wasn't llong again that Libyado sensed the hold on the Wefocks break, but this time the swift shinobi cut them off and took many down. Kunai, shuriken, and senbon all filled the air as the warriors exacted their vengence on those who had slain their comrades. When it was all over, they went amongst the dead and retrieved their projectiles and many sawed off enemy horns as trophies. As they returned, it was discovered that they had lost no one; the sudden death of their commander and the breaking of control saw to a quick and relatively resistanceless victory, and now it was known for certain how the Wefocks were controlled.

"It's much easier to only control one, and through it the others. Trying to control each individually over that long of a distance would take a lot of energy, so he simply draws off the commander's energy to control them more lightly, even indirectly, by increasing their thought speed and hence intelligence."

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