Mastering the Ram

It was time. I descended the Anghor Mountain Range, eager to take the next step on my career as Yamakage. After tonight, my people would be a little bit safer, and I would be exponentially stronger. I had mastered the demon inside of me so far only to the third tail. I needed full mastery of it in order to exponentiate my true potential. I was headed to Death's Edge, the lightless cave deep within the rigid valleys of the Anghors, it was only there that held the atmosphere proper enough to meet the needs of this final step in my training. I wore nothing but black training pants tied at my waist with a red sash. I needed to dress lightly for this mainly because the air in the cave would be so dense with water. It would be difficult to breath, and very hot in some places. My defined muscles shined against the moonlight, casting shadows across my body. After a few hours of hiking, I had finally reached the cave. I took a step into it, and another, and another, and another, until it was completely black. Nothing could be seen in front of me, and I had to rely on my sense of hearing to know if their were predators lurking nearby. I felt for the nearest wall, not knowing which end of the cave I was on, and sat down. I crossed my legs and entered a meditative position, and closed my eyes. Soon, I would control this power inside me.

I would ease myself through each tail, and would recall what I had learned about the Bijuu by controlling each. First came the 1st tail. I let the tail sprout out of my back, and the power of the ram surge through me. "Ah, my friend. Shall we have another bout?" said the Yonbi. We had become close friends in our long years of training together, bu twe still fought over power. Who was the top dog? That's what the Yonbi is all about, control. He wants to be the Alpha, but to utilize his full strength, I have to let him know that I am Alpha. I would have to beat him down into submission for him to realize this. Easier said than done I suppose. "Yes, Yonbi. I've learned much from you, but I'm afraid I need one more piece of information. What do you say? A spar between comrades? One last time?" As I said this, a smirk crossed my face. I loved a good fight, the chance to prove myself to a higher power. This Bijuu for instance, would soon learn of my strength. What I learned about the Yonbi through the 1st tail was his stubbornness. His arrogance. This was a part of me as well, and was therefore the hardest thing to see in him. I had to overcome my own pride to accept that I did indeed have a fault before I could see the fault in the Yonbi. The mental training I went through in that stage was by far the hardest for me to do. Not because the task was the hardest so far, but because I could not will myself to do it. This was my destiny, my fate, to become one with the Yonbi. I needed to master him, and he was going to have to accept that sooner or later. "Shall we then?" he said from behind the gates of my mind. "I'm on my way," I responded.

The second tail. I felt the chakra pour into my system again, this time in greater numbers. My strength grew yet again, as the dark green aura flared around my body. My muscles bulged against the inside of my skin, and the veins and arteries bulged out of them as the muscles pressed them against my skin as well even tighter. They surged and bulged as my accelerated heart pumped blood into them exponentially faster than before. It hurt, really bad, but at the same time it felt great. The power felt great. It was something I could never get used to; it would never grow old. "What is this, the review chapter?" the yonbi said with sarcasm from within my mind. I smiled. He was trying to discourage me, to weaken my mind before our battle. "Looks who's talking." I said back with a snap, as I had peered into his chakra and saw that he was looking over my memories as well. I heard a disembodied grunt come from within, and took that as a sign of my verbal victory. The fight was nearing. What had I learned from this step? I head learned of weakness. I had learned that the past needs to stay in the past. When I had conquered the second tail, the Yonbi had shown me his past, his last Jinchuuriki, who he had grown very close to, was slain before his very eyes when he was still young. I then in turn showed him my father being killed in battle. We both agreed to let the past troubles go if we were ever to grow stronger. This was necessary in the modern world, because the past will not win a war. It will not feed the people, keep them warm. It will not overtake an unjust Empire. No, only the future could do such things. The future needs to be protected. "Good. You remembered," the Yonbi said softly. "The most important lesson you taught me. The future is the key," I responded. I pressed onward into my memories.

The third tail. I felt the tail sprout from my tail, and the horns grow from my skull. A hunger for power enveloped my mind, as I succumbed to the raw energy being generated from inside myself. The cave began to rattle and shake, and pebbles and dust began to fall from the cracks in the ceiling. This was the most recent of my training successes, and I was the least used to it. It was about to get so much better, so much more power was going to be mine. In fully mastering the Yonbi, I would be unstoppable. My people would finally be safe, and we could finally fight back harder. I had to accomplish my goal; at this point, I had no other choice. I delved deeper. What did I learn in the 3rd tail? I learned patience, and understanding. The Yonbi had shown me his greatest regret when I trained for this. A woman had insulted him 10 years ago, and in turn, he squashed her head under his foot, killing her instantly. He knew he had hurt someone in killing her, and he felt terrible for doing it simply because he couldn't control his own petty anger. I learned that patience was the only way to properly rule my village. With a short temper, only the worst would happen, and I had to make sure I was level-headed enough to step back and think about m actions before enacting them. I felt the Yonbi grow sad as I looked over the flashback of the woman dying beneath his hoof. "C'mon, think we've seen enough here," he said to me shortly. I frowned in pity, and began to delve deeper. It was time.

I opened my eyes. I looked around to see where I was. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Whiteness surrounded me, and I stood on an unseen surface, wearing the same black training pants I had on my real body. I was inside my head.. I think. But where was I inside my head exactly? Was this the fourth tail? Nothing? No, it can't be. There has to be more to it than this, more of a fight. I looked around yet again, but this time I spotted something. Off in the distance was a black spec. I began to run towards it, drawing it closer to me.

After several minutes of running, I reduced my pace to a walk when I realized what it was. It was a door. It was a huge double-door made of oak and gilded in gold. It was beautiful, but I approached cautiously. I did not know what would be behind the door. I walked up to it and knocked with my right fist. I rapped on the door three times before it opened. Behind it was black. "Great," I thought to myself, "More nothing." "Don't be so sure," I heard from within. It was the Yonbi; he had been waiting for me. I walked into the black, and shut the door behind me. As soon as the door clicked shut, the black all disappeared, giving way to what was actually inside this imaginery room. It was a great room made of stone. The ceiling was 80 feet into the air, and the walls were all one mile apart. On the ceiling, rainclouds formed and began pouring down rainwater on me. How fitting, of course it was raining.

At the end of the the room stood the Yonbi. "I've been waiting, my friend. Come and fight."

When I finally reached the Yonbi, he stood on his hooves tall above me, towering at his height of 27 feet. His arms were crossed, and he stared down at me with a rage in his eye. This fight would be a test of pure might alone. No jutsu, no weapons. A fist-fight, if you will, against the 4 tailed Bijuu, the mighty ram.

I took my stance, and he took his. My legs were shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent. My strength far surpassed any normal man, but was undermined greatly by the four-tailed demon ram. I would need to rely on defensive counterattacks throughout the course of this fight if I were to achieve victory. If I would once try to go on the offensive, he could stop any attack with merely brute force. This would be a challenge unlike any other. Of course, I had to beat the 4-tails unconscious the first time we met in order to seal it inside of myself, but then I had full use of weapons, jutsu, and at least surroundings. Now, we were in a completely desolate room, and I was stricken of my jutsu and weapons. "Tough" was a severe understatement. I lowered my arms into crled fists at either side of my chest, and struck a smirk. "I suppose you won't just make this easier and tell me your name now?" I asked him jokingly. "Not a chance," he said back. It was weird hearing the Bijuu's voice through my ears instead of simply resonating through my mind. He tensed both hands into fists as well, looked to the sky, and let out a menacing roar. "Showoff," I said. In response, he lowered his gaze back onto me, and let out a huff through his nose. Immediately after, he charged at me. The last thing I remembered from this fight was his massive form barreling at me. The rest of the fight was simply reaction, instinct, and my head so full of adrenaline, I couldn't remember a thing. It had begun. Finally.

I immediately assessed the situation. He was 30 feet tall with his shoulder lowered. This was unnecessary seeing as though I was only as tall as his knees, but I digress. I could roll to the right? No, that would prove to be a bad move on my part, as he would simply adjust course to hit me. Even if I waited until the last second, he could just twitch his foot and hit my mid-roll. Backwards was obviously not the right move, as it would prove extremely counterproductive. It appears I only had one option... Forward. As he got closer, I readied my stance and prepared for the consequences should I fail this maneuver. He reached me finally, and I dove forward into a roll, barely making it between his legs as they closed together when he reached his stop. I rolled, and came out, and readied my stance again. Knees bent, feet shoulderlength apart. I held my left hand out in front of my torso, shaped like a tiger's paw, and held my right fist closed at my hip. He wound up his left arm and let loose a punch.

I forced all of the chakra in my body to one key point in my open palm, and braced for impact. His giant fist was aimed down right at my face, and I had barely enough time to react. I was, however, unshakingly calm in my abilities. I shot my open palm up to meet his punch, and caught it dead in its tracks. Immediately following the grab came my closed fist that had been resting, waiting, at my hip. It shot out and around my body, aimed at the monster's wrist. Instead of punching it however, like I would do to any other opponent, I grabbed his wrist. Normally in combat, I would punch the wrist of whomever's fist I caught, breaking their arm, but not this time. A normal punch this this guy's arm would be fruitless. His muscles could take anything, let alone a regular punch. So, as I was saying, I grabbed his wrist instead. After grabbing it, I released my footing, and swung up onto his arm, which I then began sprinting up. I aimed to reach his face, grab it, and pull it down onto the ground, flipping him over. That was the plan, anyway.

After the second step up his arm, I noticed it too late. His other fist came rushing to meet my chest, and the pain immediately shot through my body. I heard a snap, and I flew off his arm in the direction he punched me. I went skidding across the ground, bruising various appendages with every skid. He tossed me as one would toss a pebble across a pond. Don't worry though, the wall broke my sliding. My back slammed into the wall with my head upright, and I slid down to the ground in a slouch. I let off a grunt as I tried to clamor to my feet. I put my hand on my head, and felt a warm wetness. I looked at my hand, and it was covered in blood. The crown of my head was bleeding, apparently. I looked at my entire midsection where he had hit me as well, and noticed the indentation of a giant fist covering it from the middle of my chest to the bottom of my ribs. There was something pointy poking against the inside of my skin on the left side of my body. I fell back onto my ass in pain, I couldn't stand up. I realized the pain was coming from that point on my skin, and I tried to feel it with my hand. It was sensitive to the touch, and it felt sharp against the inside of my skin. It was one of my ribs. He had snapped it completely in two pieces, and one of the halves was poking. I let out a grunt. I had been in worse pain, but that somehow didn't console me at all. Still sitting down, I looked to the demon. He stood still in the same spot as the attack and looked at me with a look of mixed feelings. He pitied me, and wanted to help. I could tell. This feeling was the result of how close we had become. The other feeling being conflicted was disappointment. "How could this weakling hold my power?" is what I'm sure he was thinking. "On your feet, whelp," he said menacingly. I had meant to reply, "Give me a second, you fatass," but what came out was, "Agh!" I couldn't talk because my chest hurt so badly. No matter. I had promised myself a victory, and I could not be beaten by a single punch. Not now, not ever.

I ahd to recalculate my options, because obviously head-on attacks wouldn't work. I was lucky I had adrenaline on my side still, or I wouldn't have even been able to move at all. I pushed my weight onto my knees, and slowly stood up. I had to make attacks, and only counterattacks would work, but they would have to be subtle and quick, unlike the last counterattack. Also, they would have to be aimed at pressure points if I would cause any damage at all. After I got to my feet, I readied my stance. Ignoring the immense pain radiating from my chest, I took my stance firmly. My knees bent and spread shoulderlength, and both arms readied. I was a rock, unshaking and unwavering. I shot a glare at the demon, and gathered together all the strength I had to spead. I let out two strong words, ushering in a death sentence to be wrought out on my weary soul, "Bring it."

He began sprinting towards me, steam escaping from his nostrils as he grunted once again, readying another charge. I mustered my strength again, and pushed all of my adrenaline out front, taking control of my body. That was the only way I would be able to fight. I began sprinting forward as well, yelling a battle roar as I ran. When he reached me, I hit the ground and slid forward with my feet first in between his legs one more time. While I slid, I held my hand out to the right side of my body, and grabbed onto his knee as I slid under him. Using the momentum, I swung around to the back of his leg, and let out a ground-shaking punch into the back of his knee, sending him buckling to the ground. As he fell, I lept off and regained my own footing. As soon as I stopped, however, the pain took over once again, and I fell to my knees. I stood back up as the ram stood back up as well. He had landed on his knee as he fell, and had shattered his knee cap. Both of us were grinning, and he even began to chuckle. The real fight had now begun.

He dropped backwards onto his back, and spun both of his massive legs around, forming a windmill kick. His monstrous right calf hit me in the left side of the face, and I was sent careening and skidding to the right once again. I stood up with a black eye swelling around my left eye socket, and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth. It had hurt atrociously, but my adrenaline still had control of my body. I could feel my heart racing.. the electronic pulses through my pulses were firing synapses so fast that my muscles bulge against my skin. I could feel Thor's Blessing kick into effect. My hair began to stand on end as it was transformed into a deep yellow color, and my eyes began to glow. My strength, my speed, and my reflexes had been increased exponentially. I immediately began charging again at him, ready to unleash hell. I lept into the air with my fist wound back, and thrust it forward towards the Bijuu's face. He tried to deflect it by swatting the arm, but in doing so, all he did was spin me around. I spin around, and aimed my right heel at his cheek this time. The heel made contact, and he toppled onto his back. That's it.. I would have to aim for his head and joints to win this fight.

The Yonbi rolled backwards back onto his feet, and wound back up another punch. I had not been prepared for the hit, so it made a clean impact on my stomach. I heard another crunch as the broken rib shifted, and pain shot through my body. Now not only did the rib make it very difficult to breathe because of the pain, but now I couldn't breathe even if I wanted to. The wind had been knocked out of me, and I began to slouch forward onto my knees in pain, but before I could, I felt another fist slam into my back, throwing me into the ground, and onto my very sensitive torso. I heard the rock shards splinter and crack as I dented the stone floor with my body. Apart from the initial rib-breaking itself, this was the most painful hit I would take for the entire fight against the Bijuu. I felt tears well up in my eyes that mixed with the crushed gravel underneath my body. They formed tiny pools of moist mud where my face lay against crushed stone. I felt the blood pooling out from my midsection and mixing with the dirt as well. What was bleeding? I rolled over onto my back, and looked down at my chest. The rib that had been broken was now jutting out of my skin, and was dripping as a fresh wound. The crimson river that flowed across my chest was warm, but set in a terrible realization. I was losing. Luckily, I still had the power and adrenaline from before on my side, but even that had its limits. I stood up slowly. Very slowly. But I could not give up.

He was already performing his next attack, and was rushing towards me yet again. He was closing in fast, and I had to think of something. "That's it!" I thought to myself in revelation, "His horns!" As he reached me, I focused all my strength into my legs, and jumped up into the air. I caught him mid-charge, and grabbed onto his left horn with both hands. I swung around him onto the back of his head, and pulled backward. He tried to flail his arms up to stop me, but it was to no avail. I slammed the back of his head into the stone floor. I then straddled his neck, and leaned over his face. I picked his head up by the horns, and began slamming it into the ground again, and again, and again, and again. When I could do it no longer, I stopped. My muscles were pulsing, and I had nothing left. I needed one more punch.. just one more. I wound back my fist back behind my body, and let it fly directly into the middle of his forehead. I grinned as I slid off his body and onto the ground on my back. It was over.

As soon as I blacked out on the stone floor, my eyes opened back at my original body. I was confused for a second, and began gasping for breath and feeling where my rib had been sticking out of my abdomen. Everything was healed, just as it was before I had gone into meditation. I guess pain really is all in your mind, hm? I sat back down calmly against the wall after I had realized exactly what had happened, and stared forward into the blackness of Death's Edge. For a few moments, I almost couldn't believe that it was finally over, but then a feeling a pure satisfaction surged my thoughts. I had beaten him. I had figured he would still be unconscious in my head somewhere, so I thought I would begin my journey home while the Yonbi recuperated. I stood up slowly, extremely fatigued from the mental struggle I had just endured. My psyche was low, and I was, to put it simply, exhausted. My walk was slow yet deliberate; I was proud of my accomplishment, but evermore in pain. Pain was in fact in the mind, and my mind had suffered today.

I walked up the mountain path leading to my village with my hands in the pockets of my black training pants. A smile didn't cross my face, instead a look of mere content rested itself in its place. I was.. content. I was just about a mile away form the cave from where I had conquered my ordeal when the Yonbi began coming to. I heard grunts echo through my head for a few moments which is what I figured the Bijuu collecting itself sounded like. "I can't believe you got me," he said with disdain through my head. I grinned just a little bit at that comment, and responded quickly, "I can." "Fine, you beat me in a fair fight, compadre. Now what do you want from me?" he asked after I could tell he had given up on verbal argumentation. I had finally beaten him, and he knew his place. The next question I would ask him would change my life forever, as it would grant me the official full mastery of this great power inside of me. I would finally be able to say that I could, without a doubt, use this demon for the greater good, and I had even won a friend from it as well. I stopped at the huge stone gate to my village, and focused all my mental focus in on him.

"What's your name, Yonbi?"

"My name is Ōtachi no Tane, and I am the Bane of Kings."

With a grin at my victory, I said, "It's nice to finally meet you, Ōtachi."

With a chuckle, he replied, "Nice to meet you too, Stormblood. Now, let us begin a new era, shall we?"

And with that, we entered my village. I would forever be known now as Patriarch of the Stormblood Clan, Fifth Yamakage of the Mountains, Master of the Four-Tailed Demon, the Bane of Kings, and the Leader of the Rebellion;