Does anyone know where the fuck Hakagakure Is?

They had been walking in this desolate wasteland for hours, no sign of Hakagakure, okay fair enough Zelana hadn't been home in years ever since being in the Academy but still she had a fairly good memory unless they moved the trap door that the Yaju clan used then she should of been able to find her village in record time. We aren't lost...we are just um....in a different place than we should be, it's around here...somewhere. It has to be. Zelana said slightly upset at the circumstances surrounding their journey, they couldn't just get here and end up lost eventually succumbing to starvation or worse, death by predators.

...Just...great. Yvette said after listening to what Zelana just said, she was tempted to just leave the girl here and have her and Regal go back to the Land of Madness, speaking of Regal she hoped he hadn't dipped out as he seemed like he was more inclined to take a detour of his own than linger around with them, she didn't mind if not for the fact that the Lands were huge and she didn't know how she'd find him again if he left. Actually no she did know, he was heading towards the Lost Castle or at least that was what she could get from a surface scan of his mind, telling someone you wouldn't read their thoughts and doing it were two completely different things after all.

Originally Regal's plan was to leave the two, rather leave Zela as he had thought leaving her at the border would have been enough. Seems that wasn't the case and it would seem that they were lost, shocker, any wonder why they would name them "hidden" villages, they weren't really the easiest things to find. Well now it would seem they would wander endlessly until they find the village, considering it appeared none of them knew where the village was. This would be the last time he escorts Zela anywhere, getting people lost like that.

Awesome..I found it guys. Zelana said as she almost tripped over a rock and upon closer observation it was shaped like a hatch of some sort she would smile before turning to her friends before running over to Regal and giving him a hug assuming he didn't dodge out of the way. She would squeeze him tightly and give him a kiss on the cheek before pulling away and mimicking said action on Yvette also assuming she didn't dodge out of the way, if either of them did she would pout but wouldn't hold it against them. I'll miss you guys..honest..make sure you write okay, and keep in touch..I'll do my best for when we meet up again honest. she said before turning opening the hatch and slipping downward before closing it holding back her tears as she didn't want them to know she was really going to miss them.

(Zelana Exits)

We will..or at least I will keep in touch every now and then. Yvette said deciding not to avoid the hug and kiss because she figured Zelana needed the comfort, once she was gone she would turn around and look at Regal. So. Back to the land of madness then but before we do that or rather as we walk mind if we practice something else. You and I both use swords in combat, I know that based on observation, and surface scans of your mind when we made the initial connection. I have a particular technique in which I cut myself and spill my blood on my blade. I have the ability to utilize my blood in conjunction with mental energy called Nen and upon contact with a target it is torn apart by the psychokinetic force of said Nen. I've been thinking perhaps I could possibly mix my blood with another's to see if I can deliver the same effect do you have any Kenjutsu revolving around said application. If you don't it's fine we can still try it using my blood I'm sure adding it to any of your normal Kenjutsu would still give you an advantage. Yvette said telepathically as she would begin to walk away knowing that Regal would be able to hear her despite the distance.

Regal would let her do that much, after what they did to her and all that was the least he could do. Anyway it was finally time to return to the Land of Madness while apparently also starting some training. Surface scans of my mind? She has read his mind without his permission, he would need to bring attention to that later but for now back to the techniques as they walked. I may not have anything that fancy but.. He would say not using his recently created katana rather creating one and cutting the palm of his hand allowing a small trail of his black blood to drip down. I am half Acolyte, so the black blood flows through my veins. I also have Void Release, but my chakra coils were destroyed because of it. Dripping some of this on my swords and I can destroy anything chakra based that comes in contact with it.

That would be perfect, I read about acolytes in the library their black blood is unique, always wondered on how to harvest it. Not from you of course but supposing we stumble upon an enemy..would be a lovely addition to poisons and the like..sorry rambling. I did want to test out a quick theory though. Yvette said telepathically watching Regal cut his hand and she would unshealth Reinosha before mimicking his actions, before walking over to him. [i]Drip some on Reinosha I'll do the same..I'm unsure if it will work but who knows. she said before squeezing her hand and letting some of her blood drip on his katana. She would wait until after he did the same assuming he did before triggering her Nen and sure enough the blades would surge with black energy with an orange outline. Perfect....now all we need is something to test it out on...assuming it mixed together, which I think it did going on it's hue and the fact that we didn't blow up. it should combine the tearing effect of my Nen with the chakra destroying properties of your black blood, resulting in a much more violent result which would most likely permanently damage someone's chakra circulatory system as it tears open their body. Not to mention due to it merely being an add on you would be able to use it alongside any of your existing kenjutsu to even more deadly effect.

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Instead of making use of this random blade, Regal would disperse it then draw his newly created No Name'd sword. Doing as she said he would drip his blood on her sword and watch as she dripped her own on his. Looking as the black and orange energy surged through their blades Regal started to think This blade here, actually causes mental damage. I am not certain but couldn't your Nen actually enhance its mental destruction. Alongside the other means of destruction we have. He didn't know much about Nen, only some of the basics and that wasn't really much. This will be a nice technique though, directly taking out almost every form of defense.

Oh you started making weapons? Nice Nice Yvette said looking at the weapon more closely now that, he brought it up, she of course had a couple of things she wished to do herself but at the moment she couldn't ask him for such a comission, obviously she would pay for it that wasn't a problem it was more something along the lines of it being possible for him to utilize. She would swing Reinosha just as a test thankful that despite the add on it weighed exactly the same, but Regal did have a point doing so covered most of the defensive basis. Though there were of course more...theoretically assuming someone had enough focus perhaps a perfectly blend of all the damage types into one technique could be formed...currently she knew she had access to four out of the six, but realistically she could only hope to blend three at once...perhaps if she created more divisions in her brain...

It would have to be put to thought, at the moment it wasn't possible she was much too young to even try and she didn't want to cause irrevocable damage to her mind but still...it was food for thought, after all she was an up and coming lady, and with her new contacts she made on the ship some could even call her an "adept"..in all honesty while she had contact her sphere of influence was less than one who just started, pathetic really...she wouldn't let that bother her though. Indeed, physical, chakra and mental in one strike the only drawback being that it has to be reapplied when it strikes but considering we merely need a low amount of blood between the two of us we could probably use this 6 times in succession before we feel a slight pull in our system from blood loss.

That was one weakness that in battle would prove to be a downfall, especially if this specific technique would need to be used for victory. Even though he really didn't plan on it, if his black blood was used as a component in the creation of one of his weapons then said weapon would have its chakra destructive capabilities. If taken a step further and used Yvette's blood which contains Nen, simply give the blade a trigger and this technique would become accessible to all weapons Regal creates. That would actually be his next venture, he already had a blade which could cause mental damage just melt it down and add in the blood. When we get to the castle I would like to borrow some of your blood. Our technique is good, but if we have swords that can already do it, then using the technique on top would only cause more destruction.

At the cost of a drain from my Nen reserves, due to my blood being the trigger. I take it your thinking of utilizing your black blood in the weapon creation to grant it some sort of chakra destruction? Interesting.. Yvette replied with a faint smile which couldn't be seen due to her scarf but was prevalent nonetheless, she herself had read some black-smithing texts but she couldn't exactly fully get into it. Despite that however she understood that his blood was a valuable commodity and if there were some way to increase the production of it and use that extra blood in weapon or poison creation it would be highly profitable. The drawback to her own blood process is despite her blood being a trigger it would still drain from her Nen reserves to activate it similar to an encryption of fuinjutsu if one could compare it to that, her Nen stemmed after all from her mind her blood was merely an avenue in which it could pass.

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Well no plan is perfect. He would say before sheathing his no named sword. She was right however, having the trigger being her blood would not be truly beneficial in the end, and if it ended up draining her Nen reserves that would not really benefit the group. In the end he would have to come up with a different plan to cause mental damage even though he wanted to stay away from using the weapon's ability to do so. How about this, when we get back to Madness we do some real training. Yes coming up with these new jutsus is good and all, but that doesn't mean our skills will remain the same.

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I agree, our growth has become stagnant not to mention neither of us really knows how the other fights, if we are to work together then we should become familiar with each other's fighting styles so in the case of a joint attack we don't end up getting in the way of each others techniques. Not to mention if we spar constantly at least it'll keep our senses sharp. Yvette said telepathically as they kept walking she would spare him a glance mainly to confirm that she agreed with his thoughts. The land of madness would be a perfect place for them to train barring the fact that it was extremely dangerous and filled with missing nin as well as wild creatures.

It would seem she agreed with him, actually it was a surprise that he would say something like that. But being a realist it was something that needed to happen so they could protect themselves, even under the Shogunate, unforeseen attacks might come, ones who are not entirely shinobi related. Then bringing in the missing-nin, all their skills will need to be on point if they would ever hope to survive. Hopefully those tests for survival will come more later than sooner. We need to hurry, if night falls we will be in real trouble. Since some of the strongest creatures come out at night, even in Madness, they might run into things which shouldn't be found.

Yeah.. Yvette said before picking up the pace and while she wouldn't sprint she would at least go from normal running speed to swift release, it was a decent pace not to strenuous not top speed as they had distance to cover and she didn't want to be fatigued until at least they got to a safe area to rest. Then again knowing the Land of Madness that was probably a pipe dream, she was curious to why he wanted to go there, seeing that it was just him and her she figured it would be about time she asked. So what are we going to do in the Land of Madness or rather what is so important about it? Humor me.

He could say he expected that question to arise sooner or later, even though he was planning on telling her when they arrived. Have you ever heard of the Kugeki clan? It might have been a long shot considering how secret they have been but some people may have heard of them, especially after his great grandfather's age. Regardless he would wait a second for her to answer before continuing on with his explanation. There is nothing really important about this land rather its what is hidden under the castle. My grandfather, the second head of the clan, hid the scroll for it under the castle and told me to seek it out. Telling a kid to go to the Land of Madness and seek out a scroll probably wasn't the most responsible thing to do. Well if Regal wasn't strong enough to make it through such a land he didn't deserve rights to the scroll anyway. That is about it. Regal was following behind Yvette at a slower pace only because wasting his Gates in such a manner would help neither of them.

Yvette would pause when he mentioned that clan, she didn't know of the clan however she had read into her history her great great grandmother Lexiane U. Arashi had fought with Kugeki she didn't know his name as it wasn't written down in her grandfathers journal. It was odd but she supposed she knew a little bit about them even if said knowledge wasn't exactly worthwhile. I don't know of the clan all I know is my great great grandmother was known to have a deep seated grudge with a person with the last name of Kugeki something about how he defected from the village of Ibaragakure or something like that. Perhaps you are related to him? If you are then hmm that's cool considering he was powerful enough to go toe to toe against her then if he made a clan that could really be helpful in the long run. she said before shrugging and continuing to run.

Yeah I know exactly who you are talking about. My great grandfather Saisho. I heard he was something powerful, and for your ancestor to go against him. Was she perhaps the one called Vixen..no her name was Lexiane if I am correct? Yeah I think she was the person who gave him, his "fight."] If Yvette was truly related to the one named Lexiane, who would have thought that the ancestors of those two fighters would end up part of the same group. Regal's thoughts were purely based on what his grandfather told him not real research but since his grandfather was about a teen during that time, he was able to give Regal some firsthand information. Regardless that is what I..well we are going get.

Hmm even through time it seems the Raven is still linked with the Vixen. Odd...for some reason that came into my mind. Hmm alright, well I'm all for keeping up with the past. I guess it's similar to how I'm looking for my grandfather it's part of why I'm so interested in the Land of Souls, according to his last journal entry he was heading there...but he's probably long gone now. Besides I want to be more powerful before I confront him I don't want him to I guess...not like me. Yvette said telepathically as she was more thinking to herself but nonetheless would include him in the conversation just to pass time. Thankfully the wasteland was giving way to plains meaning they were almost to the border of the Land of Madness..

I don't think him liking you or not depends on your strength. Unless he is one of those types who values strength above all, then yeah you might have to grow stronger. Regal might not know about that at this point but if he was born in a different age, he might be in a similar situation except for the searching part. Well you can ask around for information in Madness. The bandits of that place probably have information. Not anything specific but something to guide you on your way. Finally they were approaching Madness again, Graves was a quite depressing place especially when you are searching for things that are underground and hidden from the world. Hopefully the castle isn't as hard to find as Hakagakure.

Yeah...that's just it I don't know, so like...I have to make some sort of impression Yvette said with a sigh before she would listen to what he said about bandits nodding with a slight frown on her face. Perhaps that was what she could do during their adventures in the land of madness. Search out bandits and try and gather intelligence on her grandfathers whereabouts, if only her mother were here, she'd flip. The though alone threatened to make her giggle but she surpressed it retaining her calm collected composure after all it wouldn't do to show to much outward emotion.

Back to more pressing matters, this trip was taking forever. Is all traveling going to be like this? He wouldn't mind if something exciting was going on but from initially starting in Madness, going to Graves, searching for Hakagakure, then returning to Madness, nothing has happened. Aren't these places supposed to be dangerous, and Madness being one of the top five "Don't go there." Regardless in his spare time, actually probably when he gets to the castle and finishes his business, he would need to make a cart to make these little trips faster. Of course he would need to tame some creature to pull it, but old fashioned beatings always worked so that was no problem.

She always figured she could buy a mount one of these days, apparently they were rumored to cut traveling time in half. That would be awesome, it would make them spend a couple of minutes going to new locations of course they had to be cared for and fed and were absolute shit in a fight due to being bred to be well...mounts but still faster travelling that had to be a boon right? Either way she was sure her travelling companion shared her sentiments honestly she wished they were there already, it was a pain, if not for the inherent danger of the Land of Madness she was thinking they'd settle their for a while and relax.. Assuming this place we are going is safe, do you think we can chillax in the land of madness for a while..you know practice against the weaker local fauna which are probably stronger than random bandits in the land of souls. Or is this going to be a quick get in run the fuck out kind of job. her telepathic voice said in the same monotone that she spoke with despite the colorful vocabulary.

Indeed, I hate walking now, never thought I'd say that but it's true. If anything I'll probably have to officially purchase it from the Madness Banchou to lay claim to it if someone bring up that point. Still..it would be a good place to set up shop, even for a little while. In that case...yeah that's what we will do..only if it's safe though. Besides with all those bandits and missing nin running around, assuming we run into treasure hunters and the like it would be good practice for actual encounters in the future. Yvette said before thinking to herself, she never exactly thought of her future being purely black or white, as she knew every powerful ruler was a shade of grey, not to mentions he never thought she could stomach eventually becoming a Daimyo. She wasn't royal or anything and didn't believe in kid's inheriting their parents positions as per birth right, perhaps being a Banchou would suit her more, and what way to build those future connections in the hub for criminal activity..the land of madness. All she had to worry about were lolicon's who would want to ravage her body and the kill switch ones who just liked carnage..sigh..it would seem she would have to built up upon her stealth sooner or later.

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