Truth To Hardwork X2 [Quest X 2 + Training]

“Well, maybe you need to practice more!” Scarlett teased as she twirled her hair. Shan – oblivious as always – looked absently at his hand. Strange. So very strange. He should have been able to do that. Well, he would figure it out one way or another. First, it was time for Scarlett to practice the elemental control.

“So, channel your element into your hand…wait, what element are you anyway?” Shan asked as he stared at the red head.

“Umm. I don’t know.” She said with cocked eyebrows. “I told you. I don’t think I could use elements like that.”

Shan stared quizzically at the girl. She couldn’t be serious. She didn’t know what her element was?

[Post 15: 115 Words]

“You’ve never channeled chakra into a piece of chakra paper to figure out what your element is?” Shan said as he sighed.

“What’s chakra paper?” Scarlett said. Her face had raised eyebrows and a slightly twisted mouth. Was it supposed to be her confused face?

“Well, this explains a lot of things. Alright, before we head to that cave we need to get some Chakra Paper and test your element. There’s no way we can go on without doing this. Hell, I’m sure not having any elemental chakra is why you keep not passing the graduation test.” Shan said with a sigh as he began to drag Scarlett down a side street.

[Post 16: 112 Words]

Scarlett tugged back, causing Shan to lose his grip on her arm and to be freed from being pulled towards the shop. Shan took a few steps from the force of trying to pull her after him before he stopped himself.

“What’s wrong?” The Lightning god in progress said as he turned towards his friend.

“I set up a lot of training stuff at the cave. I don’t want to ruin the experience or delay it.” Scarlett said, pouting slightly. Shan walked forward with his eyes narrowed.

“I..I just thought we could help you learn an element first.” Shan said. What was she thinking? Why was it important that they go to the cave on a timeline?

[Post 17: 117 words]

“We…can we do it afterwards? It’s not that I don’t appreciate you trying to help me train and all but I am really excited to see you trying out the training gear I set up in the cave. It’ll be great.” Scarlett exclaimed. Shan couldn’t help but feel that the excitement in her voice sounded a little…forced?

“Sure. We can do it afterwards – though I expect you to still train once we reach the cave.” Shan said gently as he began to walk back on the path towards the cave. He liked Scarlett and wanted to see her become a Genin with him – even if he didn’t like the ninja system and thought their ranks were arbitrary and useless. Being a ninja meant access to many secrets – he had to admit that much.

[Post 18: 133 Words]

The duo began to walk towards the edge of the village. The walk was long – though not arduous – to begin with. This had to do with the size of the village and other attractions. It also didn’t help that this was apparently the dinner rush and everyone was moving around trying to get meals from various restaurants before the rush got too bad. Little did they know they were what was making the rush as bad as it was…regardless, they continued their walk through the village.

Scarlett seemed particularly quiet while they walked. In fact, she didn’t speak again until they were nearing the exit to the village.

[Post 19: 108 Words]

“Shan…I don’t want to see you hurt. I just want you to know that. No matter what, I do like you.” Scarlett finally said, voice low and sad. Shan cocked his head a little bit at this. What could possibly be causing her to speak like that. She hadn’t hurt him in the slightest.

“Why are you talking about hurting me? You haven’t done anything except help me train.” Shan said – for once cheerful – as they walked out of the gate. With the time of day, the guard ninja at the gate gave them a strange quizzical look but then laughed as he realized they were a boy and girl. Adults were so juvenile.


[Post 20: 114 Words]

“Oh…uh…no reason. Let’s continue towards the cave.” Scarlett said, ducking her head and avoiding eye contact with Shan. So, Shan continued to walk – though he was growing increasingly sure that something strange was going on. He had never seen Scarlett act like this in the few weeks they had been hanging out. Sure, a few weeks wasn’t actually that long but in Academy Student time it was practically a lifetime.

As they walked, the land grew more mountainous and the trek became more arduous. It got to the point that shan began to grunt as he moved up the mountain. Notably, Scarlett didn’t grunt in the slightest.

[Post 21: 107 Words]

As they climbed, the mountains grew more and more treacherous. Shan slipped on a rock while climbing and was forced to activate his Radengan . Doing this improved his vision to the point that he could see subtle movements in the rocks to know what was loose or sturdy to walk on. Because of this, Shan began to take the lead in their walk – with Scarlett behind giving directions as they went. It worked quite well, and they ended up at the entrance to Shinmyou cave before Shan had realized it.

It was a large cave entrance that seemed to house an eternal darkness that not even his Radengan could penetrate.

[Post 22: 111 Words]

Shan shivered as he stared into its depths. All was quiet, which would normally be a good sign when one thought a place was haunted, but it somehow managed to only increase the creepiness of the cave.

“After you” Scarlett said, nudging Shan into the darkness. He took hesitant steps. One by one. Each step felt like it took the entire strength of will that he had left in his body. Eventually, Shan found himself standing in the middle of darkness – unnaturally deep darkness which couldn’t even be penetrated by his eyes. Scarlett was nowhere to be seen, but he could hear footsteps around him.


[Post 23: 103 words]

The footsteps grew louder. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Were there multiple sets of footsteps or was that a lot of echoing? Shan wasn’t sure. It was just too much. Either way, the sounds echoed around him. What was going on?

This had to be some kind of trick of Scarlett’s meant to train him. He wouldn’t let this whatever it was – defeat him. Shan pointed his fingers towards where the footsteps were coming from (which wasn’t hard since they were circling him – and made a hand sign with his right hand.

Pew. Pew.

“AHHH!” A voice screamed from the darkness. It was a male voice.

[Post 24: 104 words]

“Who’s there!” Shan yelled into the darkness.

“Who the fuck you think” a voice called back. It was vaguely familiar - but why? Where has he heard that voice before? As Shan thought about this, he caught sight of a kunai flying towards him. The young ninja deftly spun and deflected the kunai by smacking the handle aside before it reached him.

Another kunai flew. Shan ducked underneath this kunai but was having difficulty keeping track of where they were coming from. Even his eyes struggled in this darkness.

Besides that, he had a time limit and would need to figure out who they were...wait.

“You’re the crew that robbed the bank with scarlett and I!” Shan yelled out triumphantly.


[post 120 words]
[INT X8]