The Wise Elder Vidav (Sennin Reborn Quest)

The heat of the day bared down on them—and it would have been much worse if they had not been under the cover of the jungle canopy. The hot, humid air was a hindrance—but for those who lived there, it was relatively minor in comparison to the danger that lurked under the trees. The hoots and howls of the animals echoed through the trees. Specks of sunlight cast themselves from the treetops to light the jungle floor.

The young shinobi, Asura, crouched in the center of the jungle—in a small clearing surrounded by thick trees and vines. He was still, with his hands folded into fists and rested upon his thighs. His eyes were closed and his breath steady, as if he was asleep. However, he was merely listening and waiting. He rested his body, his muscles loose and at ease. It was easy for him to rest with the calm melody of the birds and insects of the jungle.

But those were not the only animals around….

In the thicket of the trees, other animals dwelled, who observed the calm human. The shadows gave them cover, masking their black appearance. Soft growls were the only sound, barely audible except to their own. The smirk of sharp teeth came at the sight of their prey sitting below.

It was then that all the sounds around the jungle, around Asura, stopped.

WHOOSH! GRRROWL!!

Two blurs of dark furred beasts emerged from the thicket above, to pounc down on Asura. They seemed poised to succeed…

… and Asura then opened his eyes.

In a swift twist of his body, he flipped upside down and spun his feet out, delivering a powerful double kick! The kick hit the two black figures, and repelled them away.

As it turned out, the two figures were two humanoid-shaped tigers. Standing on two legs, they were poised and upright, but with hands and feet with fur and claws on them. They were dressed in black with light stripes—shinobi garb common to many, with scarfs around their necks. Though nearly identical, their furs had different hues. One had black fur, another had a shade of violet—their stripes a shade of grey.

Both landed in unison as if they were mirror images and faced the red-headed ninja. Both were armed with a sword and a Kusarigama in their paws.

On his feet, Asura was back on his feet and aware of his two enemies. “Here, kitty, kitty!” Asura jested.

With fierce growls, the two charged. Asura moved out of their way, his agile motions a step ahead from their swipes of their claws. A punch came from the darker colored tiger—and he caught the blow with his fist. The other came from behind to attack, and Asura kicked him in the chest to repel him back.

For two verses one, Asura was holding his own as the cats moved in to try and tear him apart. For the moment, he was on the offensive, but quick to react to them both. He caught their attacks easily and evaded the ones he couldn’t deflect with his body.

At one moment, the two cats looked at each other in the eye—and one with the Kusarigama tossed one part of the chain to his brother. The moment the he caught it, the two attacked coordinated. While Asura saw the attacks, two tigers slashing their way to them with their weapons, he knew the real danger was the chain between them. The unified attacks were meant to strike and tie him up.

The first attacks he allowed the two to pass by him, and the rattle of the chains began to move. The two tigers took each side of Asura, and would wind around again, this time to try and wind the chain up in a circle to stop Asura.

However, Asura observed it through the sharpest of eyes—the Tengan. He saw how they moved and heard with his own ears the rattle of the chain between them.

“Got you—“ Asura growled and drew out from his side a Kunai. With a flip in the air, he used the momentum and threw it with a well place throw. It shot through the air—and struck in the gap of the chain’s links.

CHRIK! The Kunai struck the chain and was thrown with enough force it got lodged into a nearby tree—the chain now stuck.

Both cats were halted by the resistance of the chain’s movement, their combination attack ruined. Before they could counter—Asura struck. Jumping up to them, he pulled his legs in—then snapped them open to strike them both in the face.

The two tigers fell to the grounds and rolled over. They both let go of their weapons from the blow, and soon stopped. “Ow… come on! That’s playing dirty!” the violet tiger, Bloody Mist growled as he rubbed his chin.

“Killjoy… you could of let us finished that one jutsu in the spar, kid?” Chigatsumi, the black tiger growled. “That’s not fair …”

Rising from his crouch, Asura glared at the two tigers. “Oh please. You two are ones to talk. You always play dirty. Annoyingly so,” he said as he rolled his eyes. “that’s why its so predictable.”

Both tigers growled as they slowly rose to their feet and rubbed the places where Asura struck them. Though tough looking tigers, Asura developed quite a punch.

“HAHAHAHA!” A loud boisterous voice echoed through the clearing—one Asura recognized too well. From out of the hiding place of one of the trees, Ravana appeared. The large, white haired man stepped into the clearing, having witnessed the battle between Asura and his two tiger friends. The two tigers—Chigatsumi and Bloody Mist—were actually a pair of summoned animals Asura used often for aid, and this jungle was where they lived.

Since Asura had arrived in Shishin continent and arrived at the home of the tigers, Asura had grown to adjust to live among them. With him, both he and Ravana had been training among the jungle and palace ruins where Asura now lived when he was not training. Since then, the two had become closer and trained to improve Asura’s skills.

“Done playing with the kittens, eh, Asura?” Ravana jived as he approached the three of them.

“Shut up!” Chigatsumi growled at Ravana.

“Its sparring for a reason, you know? If we wanted to kill him, he would be dead.” Bloody Mist countered as well.

“Suuuuure you could,” Asura said with a sarcastic tone, and caused the two tiger brothers to leer at him. “Still, it is feeling too easy, you know.”

“I know that feeling all too well,” Ravana said proudly with a laugh.

“Well, next time we will try harder to behead you. How about that?” Bloody Mist growled in a half-joke.

Still, Asura shrugged his shoulders and wrung out his arms. “Well, its not that. I mean I’m grateful for you guys sparring with me and helping me with my Taijutsu,” he said, “But I feel its not enough. Its like… I want to do more. “

Ravana’s white eyes widened as he tilted his head in interest. “Like no matter how much you improve, you don’t feel its enough right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Asura replied. “I wanna learn more… but not sure how to do that now. After all, its not easy to research more in this jungle. But it feels like I am hungry to learn more powerful ninjutsu. ”

“BAHAHAA!!” Ravana bellowed, this time louder and even gave all three of the others to grow wary of his voice. “Kid, you’re finally sounding like a man with your greed for power. I like it.”

Asura narrowed his gaze at Ravana…. Partly cause he hated to be called greedy, but partly because it was true. He did want to grow stronger. He did want power.. if nothing else to face the man who branded him a rogue ninja and killed his master.

“Either way, I Just wanna improve my abilities. Training and Taijutsu alone won’t get me that far—at least not without killing myself,” Asura explained as he rubbed the sore parts of his arm. “There has to be something…”

Ravana took a moment to think himself, his hand stroking his chin in thought. However, both tiger brothers glanced at one another, as if to share the same thought. “Hey, why don’t we ask the boss?” Chigatsumi suggested.

“Hm? Boss Byakko?” Asura asked. “You think he would help me?”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask,” Bloody Mist replied.

“Heh… wish he would be that generous with me. You really wheedled your way into his heart, didn’t you?” Ravana commented to Asura.

“Maybe it’s because I didn’t screw the giant tiger over when you owe him money,” Asura replied. Ravana just smirked at Asura’s comment. While true, the man didn’t rebuttal against him. Shaking his head, Asura looked to the two tigers. “Well, let’s see if the Boss is in a good mood to tell us anything.”

Once the four of them left the jungle thicket—they emerged into the wide fields in the center of the Blood Vale Jungle. It was the large open area of tall grass where many of the tigers gathered. More importantly, it acted as a throne for the ruler, who was conveniently there. Resting in his favorite spot was Boss Byakko, the massive 50 foot tall white tiger. He basked in the sunlight with pleasure as he laid there, content.

As soon as Asura, the Rakshasa brothers and Ravana entered his field of vision from the large mask he wore, he rose his head to greet them. “Well, if it isn’t Asura. Keeping yourself busy it seems.” The tiger said and slowly let out a large yawn, his maw as large as a condo. “Have you adjusted to the jungle so far?”

“I’m doing okay.”Asura said and bowed to the giant tiger. “Thank you for your hospitality, Boss Byakko.”

“Don’t mention it… Seriously, don’t mention it,” the tiger said with a soft growl. “I don’t want people think I am either soft or generous. After all I assume your good for you debts… unlike someone I know,” Byakko said as he leered his gaze at Ravana. Ravana merely scoffed it off and smirked as if to annoy the larger tiger was a badge of honor.

Stepping up next to Asura, Chigatsumi spoke up to Boss Byakko. “Hey Boss. Asura here was wondering if he could learn some new kind of Jutsu. We wondered if you had any ideas if you could share,” the tiger said and slapped Asura on the back in a brotherly way. “I mean, surely we can do something to help him out.”

The tiger boss let out a growl, almost to hum in thought. “Hmmm…. Let me think…” the tiger purred and gazed out at the horizon. It took him a while, but soon he turned his head back to the group. “Wait a minute. Of course, I think Vidav can help you.”

“Wait? You mean Lord Vidav?” Bloody Mist asked, his expression a mix of awe and shock.

However, Asura was at a lost and didn’t have a clue who they were talking about. “Um, who is Vidav?” he asked.

“Vidav is an advisor of mine. An elder and former Boss of our tribe,” Boss Byakko explained with a serious tone. He shook his mane as he reflected on the past. “He is a master of many jutsu and a skilled tactician. He is one of our strongest and wisest of tigers, and even aided the Rakshasa warriors in their prowess.”

Asura blinked at the mention of such a mighty person. “Is he really that powerful?” Asura asked. “Why have I not heard of him?”

“He is a revered individual, and we normally wouldn’t mention him to just anyone,” Boss Byakko said, “But considering how you are a part of our tribe now, I think he would be willing to meet you… maybe?”

The mention of the word ‘maybe’ didn’t sit well with Asura. “You… seem to be tiptoeing around the subject, aren’t you?”

“You would too,” Chigatsumi said, a smirk on his face. “After all, his skill is legendary. He is very… very… scary…”

A snicker came from Bloody Mist as he looked to his brother. “I heard he single handedly repel an entire army that once tried to enter the jungle. Those he fought that weren’t butchered, went mad.”

“Um… what did you say?” Asura asked.

Boss Byakko let out a growl that sounded a bit like a chuckle as he repositioned how he sat upon the grass. “Hmm… perhaps Vidav would make a good teacher for you. Certainly at least, teach you proper self-discipline when you are not around Ravana…. That is, of course, if you survive meeting him.”

“HUH?” Asura gasped.

“Chigatsumi. Bloody Mist. Show Asura where the Naraka caves are,” Boss Byakko instructed to the two brothers beside him. “Let Asura decide for himself if he wants to risk meeting him.” Even then, he caught a hint of a toothy grin on the tiger’s face.

“Yes,sir!” In unison, the two brothers grabbed Asura under his arms and lifted him up.

Before he knew it, Asura was lifted up and moved away from the field as the two brothers dragged him away. “HEY! WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS DOING?! What is this about Vidav being scary?!”

Chigatsumi and Bloody mist soon had reached their destination—after dragging Asura there. They reached one of the mountains that were to the south east. In several bounds, they reached mid way up and stopped. In front of them was a large opening in the wall that was naturally a cave. The arrangement of the cave’s shape was ominous to say the least. With the presence of jagged stalactites near the ceiling, the entrance looked very much like a roaring tiger’s mouth. Inside, the cave was dark with several jagged rock formations.

Chigatsumi and Bloody mist didn’t move further and had let go of Asura before the cave entrance. Even though they jested with Asura and toyed with the concept of their fabled figure of the Tiger Tribe—the two tigers also didn’t dare move into the cave. Their jubilance dropped a moment, and a chill ran up their backs and tails.

“This is it. Naraka Cave. Supposidly this mountain is a dormant volcano—and the caves go so deep it could take you to the underworld,” Bloody Mist said as he looked into the empty void of the cave. “They say that Vidav comes here to commune and feed upon the anguish souls of the dead.”

Asura drew his gaze away from the cave. Though rigid, his eyes glared at the tiger. “Really…?”

Chigatsumi soon rested his arm against Asura’s shoulder and whispered. “Hehe… well he is renowned for his prowess in battle. It was said he founded the Rakshasa warriors. Where do you think, the name comes from?” the tiger purred, “They say he enslave his enemies’ souls into eternal damnation, and are forced to burn forever in an eternal nightmare. But you know, they are just rumors. No truth to them, eh?”

Asura shook his head at the two brothers. Despite them spinning tales about the fabled and terrifying Master Vidav, their words only seemed to make the cave seem more ominous.

“But seriously, good luck convincing him to train you,” Chigatsumi said, giving Asura a slap on the back. “I’m sure he can teach you some useful things… like what to do when you’re about to die.”

Bloody Mist chuckled as he gripped Asura’s other shoulder. “Come on, brother. We don’t know if he will die just by meeting him… probably wet his pants. Insanity maybe. Oh, could I have your room if you don’t come back?”

“No fair! You can’t just call his room, brother!”

Asura rolled his eyes as the two cats teased and bickered around him. “Well if you guys are so interested to see my demise, why not come with me?” he asked.

Ironically, and now for Asura’s own glee—both tigers stopped yappering and went rigid at the suggestion. “What’s the matter? Is it true that curiosity killed the cat? Come on. Why don’t we all go together if you think he is so legendary.”

The two brothers glanced at one another, then cleared their thoughts. “Well, I-we’d love to but… its too nice a day to go underground,” Bloody Mist rebuttled. “And smelly in there. You know, from all the bodies…”

“And I am due for a bath, you know?” Chigatsumi said and lifted up his arm to smell underneath it—only to flinch at the smell. “Whoo boy. You know, that sparring really worked up a sweat. Smelly. But good luck in there.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’ll learn something… maybe the last thing…”

“Try not to cry like a little baby. It only makes it worse for you…”

The conversation turned into a silly little competition between the brothers and Asura, to try and scare the other ones. Either way, as Asura looked into the cave, he knew he couldn’t be swayed away. Despite how it looked or what his ‘friends’ said about it, a cave as a cave and he was not afraid to enter.

“You guys suck…” Asura grumbled. With a small pause, he stepped into the mouth of the cave. Slowly to the two tiger brothers, he kept on walking and vanished inside the darkness of the demon’s maw.

The rough, edgy ground of the cave picked at the soles of Asura’s feet as he tredded forward. With his Tengan, he could see the general lay out of the cave, but not everything. It was enough for him to see where he was going so he didn’t trip over a jagged rock. Still, the cave went on for quite a distance. The soft dripping of water echoed down the cave. It was cool, but dry air moved through the cave system.

Asura’s breath was ragged as he explored the cave silently. Even with his Tengan, he couldn’t detect anything living among the walls or deeper down. He did not intend to go too far underground, but he was beginning to lose sign of how far he had gone.

After walking for ten minutes, Asura dared to speak up. “Hello?” Asura called, his voice echoing endlessly down the tunnel. “Is anyone here?”

Only his own voice answered him as he kept going. Though his body was not subject to cold or any weakness to temperature—he felt a chill go up his arms. His eyes continued to scan the terrain but he didn’t see anything beyond a normal cave. Almost similar to the ones in Iwa.

Finally, however, he made a right turn, and came to a wider cavern, with a flat platform and ended in a rounder cavern. It was a dead end to this path. “Maybe… he isn’t here?” Asura spoke to himself.

Asura couldn’t see any signs of life with his Tengan. He then withdrew his Tegan and began to turn around.

WHOOSH! The entire cavern lit up as flames suddenly shot up from the edges of the platforms. “GHAAA!” Asura gasped and jumped as he saw the fires rose up. Shadow and flame danced upon the walls as if some demonic essence appeared. From the far end of the room, the flames began to gather together—and took on a shape!

The roar of fire gave way to a horrendous hiss and growl as the flames took the shape of a cat-like creature’s head—with horns growing from its head, and fangs far larger than any cat should. Red, furious eyes appeared and glared upon Asura. “YOOOU!!” It roared aloud.

The very roar caused the heat of the flames to intensify. Asura stumbled backwards and fell right on his ass at the sight of the demonic looking feline. “Foolish human! How dare you enter my domain!” he roared, his roar casting even more heat upon Asura. One like Asura, who was immune to the power of burns, could feel an unbearable heat upon him.

His limbs trembled and felt like jelly to him as he struggled to get back to his feet. He crawled up but he felt them give way slightly. His breath became more ragged as panic coursed through his veins. It all happened so fast, he didn’t know how to make sense of this hellish presence. “Who---who…”

“I AM THE FEARFUL AND MIGHTY WARLORD VIDAV! A HUMAN DARES TO ENTER MY DOMAIN! YOU MUST HAVE A DEATH WISH!” he boomed.

Asura couldn’t take his eyes off the massive demon head that manifested before him, bathed in fire, the shadows acting like stripes of one’s fur. The hateful yellow eyes glowed with hunger as they took in the sight of Asura. As terror tightened on his heart, Asura dared to speak up. “I… I… wanted to speak to you. I was told… you could offer training--- “

“SILENCE!!” the voice boomed, and the flames around the cave rose higher. “You dare come here and demand I train you… Such Insolence! PREPARE FOR YOUR DAMNATION!!” the head roared and moved to lunge closer.

Asura’s eyes widened as the jaws of Vidav’s fiery maw opened. His maw opened wider and wider to consume Asura. With a view of his gullet—Asura could see fire burn in the pit of his throat, and inside… flaming silhouettes of humans struggled in sight. Bathed in flames, cries of pain, anguish and torment echoed in Asura’s ears as they were consumed and burned over and over. Their cries and Vidav’s wicked laughter struck the deepest fears in Asura, which made him want to crumble.

The maw drew closer, inviting Asura into the flames of hell till…

… he snapped open his closed eyes—and revealed his Tengan once more!

The screams, the roars, the heat of the hellish flames….

… all were brushed away with a single flash of fire. And then there was nothing.

Asura panted as he saw it all vanish before him. The moment he brought his Tengan back into action, it all vanished, as if it had been a bad dream. The heat, the lighting, everything about the horrific being he saw was gone, his own sweat created by his own anxiety and fear.

His breath soon calmed down as he pieced it together. Slowly he drew a hand to his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “Ooooh… DAMNIT!” Asura swore in self-disappointment and kicked a loose stone into the cavern. “I HATE GENJUTSU!” his voice echoed off the walls with his exclamation.

His mind calmed down, realizing what happened… and soon his senses opened up.

To sense the person that stood a few feet behind him.

Asura’s eyes widened but he didn’t turn around. He could sense the person behind him in the dark cave, who just waited there. Through the corner of his eye, he soon saw a single person clad in a robe from head to toe. He looked like a dark enough omen as it was, so Asura didn’t move or speak.

“Hello there,” a gentle voice purred from the cloak. “Can I help you, young man?”


The kind tone of voice loosened Asura’s nerves as he slowly turned to get a better view of the stranger. The robed figure was a little shorter than Asura. Though clad in violet robes with fringing of gold on the edges. He soon saw, however, two white ears stick out from the hood, and the shadow of a tiger-like face. His feet, bare, were tiger paws as well. Despite cloaked, his voice seemed anything but threatening.

“Y-You’re Vidav?” Asura asked, perplexed by the change in situation.

Reaching up an arm, the figure revealed a white pawed hand from his robe sleeve and reached for his hood. He slowly drew it back and revealed the face of a white tiger, marked with black stripes. His face was calm and tranquil as he looked up to Asura, and showed a smile to the young shinobi. “Hmhm… Indeed, I am.” Vidav answered and nodded his head to Asura.

Asura was still short of words as he worked out what happened. Under the Genjutsu, Asura didn’t notice the real one, and had an illusion act as him. “You… I mean, You don’t seem…?” Asura studdered, unsure how to get the words out.

A soft chuckle escaped the tiger, this time out of mere amusement than any cruel jest. “Let me guess. You were expecting some sort of terrifying blood-soaked warlord? Ah, the ghost stories my kin spin about me…” he sighed and shook his head.

“Um… so you’re not gonna kill me?” Asura asked, straight to the point.

Vidav blinked his eyes at Asura. “Heavens, no! I am not fool and know who you are. You’re the young man who formed a contract with our tribe.” The white man-tiger stepped forward, his robes shifting around him as he extended a hand. “Welcome, my friend. It’s Asura, isn’t it?”

Asura hesitated for a moment as he saw the paw. Still, the gesture was honest enough. Asura reached his hand and shook the tiger’s paw. He would of expected the tiger to be quite old, but his grip was strong and so Asura squeezed as hard. “Yes, it is. Nice to meet you, Lord Vidav.”