Yamazu dashed onwards through the trees. It seemed to the Monkey Sage that most of the important events in his life had occurred whilst he was running through a forested area. His arrival in Konoha as a boy; chasing after the Old Sage to earn his respect; tracking down Katai so to bring him to justice and now the searching for the rightful Hokage to help him get to the root of an usurper's corruption. For there was no doubt in his mind that Shihouin had abused his power to further some sinister purpose, the core of which he knew to be one Arcadia Kinzoku. So what was this plan of his? He did not claim to know the inner workings of Shihouin Uchiha's mind. He had known him for only a little while, but Yamazu knew one thing about him.

He lusted for power.

When they had spoken before, he had seen it in him, the insatiable thirst for power. Why he had it, the Monkey Sage did not know. The time for why had passed. The only thing left was the what; what was it he was up to and what he needed to do to stop him. Yamazu knew that he had very little to goan on. A battle torn training field, iron sand Arcadia was known to use and Shihouin's ANBU vest. On this he investigated deeper, finding rumour abound within Konoha of Shihouin's darkness. Fearful for his people and angry at the possible harm brought on by someone in a place of trust, he had confronted the stand-in Hokage, only for him to flee the accusation with cryptic replies given to his question, leaving the Sage certain of his guilt.

It had probably been for the best. Had it come to fight, Yamazu did not think he would be able to match the Uchiha. The power behind his eyes was unknown, yet he knew that with it Shihouin would of brought him to his knees. The shock of his announcement was the only thing Yamazu could think of that had forced the man to withdraw. If a confrontation did come (and Yamazu was almost certain that it was) he needed to be stronger, faster, better. If he was to find that all his worst thoughts were true he could not allow himself to fall before stopping it. The Monkey Sage knew full well that simply stating such a thing was on its own useless. He would have to go through some serious training and find some top notch warriors to fight beside him. As to who, Shihouin himself had pointed him in the right direction; Ayame Akira, the woman who was to originally replace the previous Hokage.

He had to find her first though and he had to train too. So many things he needed to do and he sensed that he had little time to do it in. Yamazu had sent out several monkeys to search for Ayame, but he did not even know if she was in the area. For all he knew she could be on the other side of the world on a sunny beach or something.

Just as he propelled himself forward towards another tree, the Monkey Sage felt an extreme sense of disorientation overcome him. Looking around, it appeared as though his last push forwards had sent him straight up into the clouds. Everything was white and fluffy for a moment, until he suddenly found him hurtling towards a giant stone statue of a monkey. Caught by surprise he struck it with great force before he had time to stop, falling backwards. He heard one thing as the darkness overtook his senses, echoing faintly as everything went dull:

"I TOLD YOU HE WAS FACING THE WRONG WAY! YOU OWE ME YOUR NEXT MEAL, BROTHER!"


Slowly, and with a great pain in his head, Yamazu started to come back to his senses. He was laying on his back, so the first thing that came back into focus was the sky. It was a clear day, but somehow he did not feel the sun upon his skin. He was shaded by something. Inch by painful inch, he pushed himself up until he was sitting up straight and looked around.

He was surrounded on all sides by tall, ancient looking trees that stretched high up into the sky. He was sitting in a small clearing, dominated mainly by three things; the giant statue of a terrifying looking monkey with what looked like rubies for eyes, a massive waterfall and three stones that sat in the water that pooled at its base, upon which three real identical monkeys who looked as ancient as the trees sat cross-legged. Recognizing them, Yamazu went to bow his respect only to end up gripping his head thanks to the new surge of pain that overtook him. This caused one of the three to laugh loudly, contributing to the headache.

"WORRY NOT, YOUNG ONE", the laughing one spoke in a voice like thunder. The two other monkeys beside him seemed to flinch involuntarily at the loud noise and Yamazu recognized him as Wu. "YOUR LITTLE ACCIDENT WILL ALLOW ME TO EAT FOR TWO TODAY, SO IT'S NOT ALL BAD!"

One of the others, the one called Kong, grunted. He looked rather disgruntled about something.

"Well, I'm glad that I came here so painfully for some purpose", Yamazu said, rubbing at the quickly forming bump on his forehead.

"We did not bring you here for sport, Yamazu-boy", spoke up the remaining monkey. His eyes, unlike the amber of the other two, were milky white. Yamazu recalled his name as Sun. "We received the information you had given to one of the monkeys you had summoned".

That made the Monkey Sage sit up and take notice. That messenger was only supposed to take the information here in the event of his death. Why had it jumped the gun? Yamazu sighed to himself. It appeared that his ninjutsu and taijutsu were not the only things he needed to get sorted. The fact that something he summoned had disobeyed a direct order was a sure sign he had grown complacent in his training as a summoner too.

"Yes, now you are beginning to see just how far behind him you are", Sun said softly. The other two monkeys nodded simultaneously, as if they too had read what was plaguing the shinobi's thoughts. "You believe that you need to train? We agree wholeheartedly. If Shihouin Uchiha is as bad as you fear him to be you will need to become as strong as you can be in the short time you have been given" .

"But what about Ayame Akira? She must be warned of-", began Yamazu, only to be cut off by the booming voice of Wu.

"WE SHALL DEAL WITH THE FINDING OF THE FUTURE HOKAGE WHILST YOU TRAIN. WHEN YOU ARE READY, WE SHALL TAKE YOU TO HER", he announced. Kong grunted and nodded in agreement. Looking into the three stern faces of Triplets, Yamazu's shoulders slumped in defeat and he too nodded.

"That's a good lad. You will be training with Master Yojimbo, one of the greatest amongst us", Sun explained. Yamazu's eyes widened. Master Yojimbo was very powerful, one of the greatest of the monkeys and the Old Sage's personal summon. To train with him was an honour few summoners ever enjoyed. Lost for words, Yamazu simply gawked.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, BOY?", bellowed Wu.

"Now go, child!" concluded Sun, pointing into the distance. Noticing that the direction the blind monkey was pointing was straight into the waterfall behind him, the other two rolled their eyes at the same time and pointed the shinobi in the proper direction, south-west of their current location. Yamazu bowed once more, the pain in his head growing more faded and left to begin his new training.

Yamazu wiped perspiration from his brow as he continued his trek through the thick foliage of the forest that made up the Land of Monkeys. It had been almost an hour since his spontaneous arrival in the place where the monkey summons dwelled and he was pretty sure that he was completely lost. The Triplets had shown him the way to the home of Master Yojimbo, an ancient summon who was very powerful, so that he could train with him to prepare for whatever it was that lay in his future. He was certain now, however, that he was simply going around in circles. The humid climate in this area of was not helping any, fogging up his brain and making him sweat in floods. The clearing in which the Triplets lived was so cool, it was hard to believe that it was the same forest.

Slumping down upon a fallen tree, the Monkey Sage slipped off the large scroll he carried across his back and laid it down at his feet. Usually its weight did not bother him no matter the situation but there was something about this place that seemed to drain him of energy. He was so exhausted he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his head. After a moments pause, Yamazu realized that it was not just his heart he could hear. There was another sound floating through the close air, a clanging noise like metal striking on metal. Thinking that a battle was in progress, he hefted the scroll onto his back once more and dashed towards the racket.

In such a large area, one might expect the sounds to echo around quite a bit, which should have resulted in Yamazu becoming even more turned around. Yet for some reason he knew that his heading was true and, sure enough, the sound of metal striking metal grew louder. Yet the louder the noise became, the more certain that the Monkey Sage was that it was not the sound of battle. The strikes were far too rhythmical for it to be the brawl of combat. In fact, it sounded more like...

Yamazu smiled. Master Yojimbo was known as a weapon-smith without equal. He was getting close.

Not long after that thought passed his mind, the climate seemed to gradually cool and his energy started to return to his limbs. The tall, thick leaved foliage grew sparser, with pink flowered, orderly lined up peach trees becoming more common. A thin layer of mist covered the area, but Yamazu could make out a clear outline of a structure from which the loud clanging noise was coming from. It looked like a normal house, but upon closer inspection he noticed that it appeared to have been made from naturally growing trees that had bent and shaped to form the shape of an abode.

With a deep breath, Yamazu approached the house, knowing his new training would soon begin. As he came closer to the house of living wood, the sound of hammer on anvil abruptly ceased. The sudden onset of silence was unnerving even to a man of his caliber and he became very cautious, halting his originally sure steps. For a moment all was quiet, even the birds had stop singing as if they were holding their breath in anticipation of what would come next.

The door to the wooden hut slowly opened, creaking on it's hinges as a massive figure stepped out. It was so tall it needed to double over just to get out of the door. When it was clear of the portal it stood at it's full height, dwarfing the Monkey Sage. Yamazu had to crane his neck awkwardly to simply look into the figure's face. The masked face of Master Yojimbo stared expressionlessly back at him.

The large monkey stood at an impressive seven foot something, but that was not the only thing that caused awe in the onlooker. He was clad head to toe in exquisitely ornate armour of metal, bright colours of red and yellow and orange adorning it. One of his long fingered hands sat upon the hilt of one of the two swords that sat at his waist but it was the mask that was seated beneath a wide-brimmed hat that drew the eyes attention most.

It was a beautifully crafted representation of a two dimensional monkey's face screaming in what could of been anger, defiance or pain. Gazing up at it, Yamazu felt wonder and fear wrestling inside him. So, this was the powerful Master Yojimbo, venerable smith of the Land of Monkeys? From just a few seconds standing in his presence, Yamazu knew that the tales were not over-exaggerated. The Monkey Sage bowed low and waited for the master smith to speak.

Spoiler:

For a long while, there was only silence. Yamazu dared not look up from his bow, lest he insult the master and be ejected from his home. As the quiet started to drag on even longer he found it harder and harder to hold still, the urging of his body's natural jitteriness becoming stronger and stronger. The fingers resting by his side began to twitch uncontrollably and the more he tried to stop them the more powerful the movements grew. Still the void of noise held, yet the Monkey Sage knew that the monkey had not taken his masked eyes from his bowed form. He doubted that the summon had even blinked. Just as the muscles in his legs started jumping about Master Yojimbo spoke. Yamazu had to resist the desire to sigh in relief and offer thanks to the heavens.

"You... were the student of the Old Sage?" came a deep voice. Yamazu was surprised to notice that it sounded hollow, as if there was nothing actually inside the large suit of armour in front of him. It made some sense, he supposed. He was covered from head to toe in metal. It figured that the summon's voice would create some echoes.

"I was, Master Yojimbo", the Monkey Sage replied, standing straight now that Yojimbo had addressed. The master smith went quiet once more and Yamazu felt the hard look he was receiving from the massive figure. After a moment the monkey spoke up once more.

"I see the ability that he saw in you", he said in that same deep, hollow voice. "You have the potential to become a great opposing force against those you would call your enemies. I can train you to reach that goal. The Old Sage had great respect for you and your skills".

Yamazu looked up into the masked face of the summon with a big smile on his face, feeling warm inside upon hearing the Old Sage's faith in him. This had been much easier than he had expected. He had thought to meet grueling trials and riddles or something. Perhaps it was simpler than that.

"But you do not have my respect yet".

Yamazu stumbled back, his body reacting to something before his brain had registered a threat. He looked down at his chest and noticed that the cloth band holding the large scroll on his back had been cut. Grabbing the cut cloth before the scroll crashed to the ground, he glanced at Master Yojimbo just in time to see him resheath one of the two swords at his hip.

So, it was not going to be simple after all.

That thought almost ended up being the last one to pass through his mind as Yojimbo went on the attack again, drawing only one of his swords. Thanks to that and his keen reflexes Yamazu was able to evade the attack with only a small cut across his cheek. Back-flipping into one of the peach trees, he touched the wound in awe. There were not many people he knew who could land a blow on him so early on in a fight. The master smith's reputation was truly well deserved. Cartwheeling down to the tip of the branch as another flash of light lunged at him, Yamazu jumped into the air, turning as he did so to throw the giant scroll at his opponent. Yojimbo simply caught the thing and placed it on the ground against the trunk of the nearest tree. Looking up at the Monkey Sage's new location at the very top of another tree, the summon called up to him.

"Good. You were not coddled. If you had been I would be burying your headless corpse at this moment", Yojimbo said as he sheathed his sword again. "I can move onto the next stage of the test".

With that, Yojimbo drew his sword once more and threw it into the air. As it twirled it caught the rays of the dying sun, bouncing the red glow all over the peach tree garden and almost blinding Yamazu. When he next looked back at his opponent he had drawn his second sword from his side and grabbed the first from the air. Split seconds after the sword was in his grasp Yojimbo had jumped into the air and was heading straight towards the Monkey Sage, his swords at the ready.

Jumping back whilst holding onto the thin branch he had alighted on, Yamazu let go at the last second, causing the tree limb to swing right at the swift approaching summon's masked face. Yojimbo cut the branch as it came in close, buying the shinobi a few more seconds. He began to form handseals to throw out a jutsu, but a blade lashed out straight at his hands forcing the Monkey Sage to abandon the effort.

"None of that", Yojimbo said, moving in close to attack.

No ninjutsu or genjutsu then thought Yamazu. Normal taijutsu would have difficultly punching through that thick armour and my own brand of hand to hand was somewhat weaker than normal. So that left...

Yamazu only usually brought out his Staff against the most difficult of foes and Master Yojimbo certainly fulfilled that condition. With an eager grin stretching across his face, the Monkey Sage clapped his hands. A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared, obscuring Yamazu from sight for a moment. Something flashed in the cloud and began spinning very fast. The smoke resulting from the summoning cleared, revealing the Staff and a smiling Monkey Sage.

"And finally, we get to the final part of the test", said Yojimbo, baring his swords in front of himself before charging forwards. Yamazu gave a mad cackle of joy as he too leapt forwards. Well tempered steel clashed on wood that was harder than metal and blows that were faster than the eye could follow were exchanged.

For almost fifteen minutes, the two warriors traded in attack and defense, both trying to find an opening to exploit. Yamazu, no matter how fast or sneakily he struck, could not seem to place his Staff on the armour of the summon. Even with chakra aided strikes he could barely move his opponents blocks. Yojimbo, for all his swift movements and experienced counter-attacks, found he could not pin down his limber foe. His perfectly forged weapons did not seem to be damaging that Staff either, something that impressed the master smith.

Suddenly, a loud chime sounded off somewhere inside the garden. Yamazu flinched and brought his Staff up to block a phantom attack. Yojimbo wasted no time in putting his foot forward and shouldering the light weighted shinobi to the ground. The Monkey Sage fell, his Staff clattering off. The summon's sword came down, only for Yamazu's weapon to come back to his hand as if on strings and block the attack. Pressure mounted against the blonde-haired man and slowly but surely the blade pushed the Staff out of the way and stuck into the meat of the shinobi's shoulder.

When Yamazu disappeared in a puff of smoke with a log in his place, the master smith knew that he had been tricked. He turned on the spot and blocked a strike from a branch, the sword cutting straight through the wood. Yamazu looked up at the massive form of Yojimbo and made a flipping motion with his hand. The Staff, which was laying on the ground behind the summon, suddenly came to life and flipped, striking the monkey swordsman on the back of the head. For a moment Yojimbo stood still, but he soon stood back up to his full height and sheathed both his swords.

"You wield your weapon of choice like a master", the summon said. "You have earned my respect. Should you have need, you can call on me for aid. You are indeed worthy of carrying the signing scroll on behalf of the Monkeys".

When he finished talking, the chattering calls of hundreds of primates went up from all directions. The Monkey Sage looked around the garden, seeing the form of many of the Land of Monkeys inhabitants in the trees. With the respect of Master Yojimbo now earned, Yamazu doubted that he would have any trouble with summoning anymore.

Spoiler:

Now that he had won the respect of the great Master Yojimbo (and most of the other primates in the Land of Monkeys thanks to the many onlookers who had watched their fight) he had the privilege of being able to train with the high level summon. Of course, it would be better if they actually did some training. So far they had just sat and meditated after their battle. Yamazu was itching to get on with his training. He did not, after all, have that much time. A few days, maybe less. Who knew what nefarious plots and schemes Shihouin Uchiha was concocting whilst in the seat of power in Konoha with no-one else to oppose him?

As far as he knew, all the jounin in the Village either were too scared to face him or did not think there was enough evidence to do so. True, his confrontation of the stand-in Hokage might of gotten pretty hairy had Shihouin just denied everything. Yamazu had been in a very agitated state that day and would have most likely attacked him anyway. Instead, he had just murmured angrily at the Monkey Sage, telling him to see him later as well as to look for Ayame Akira, the woman who was supposed to be taking over from him. She was nowhere to be seen at this point, although the Three Wise Monkeys did have scouts out looking for her.

Shihouin was up to something. He needed to be ready!

As if sensing his restlessness, Yojimbo stirred from his meditations and turned his masked face towards his student.

"Now we will train", he said in his deep, hollow sounding voice. Yamazu punched himself into the air with a little application of fuuton chakra, a big grin plastered on his face. Finally, his new training would begin! He wondered what it would be. Some devastating new jutsu? A more powerful taijutsu form?

"I am told that you may soon be facing down one of the Uchiha", Yojimbo began. "Those who wield a Sharingan are indeed powerful foes. They can identify jutsu with a glance and predict close combat in a breath. One of the keys to defeating them is simply this: be faster than they are". Yamazu looked at the massive summon with almost disrespectful incredulousness.

"But Master Yojimbo, I'm already quite fast! I mean, you saw what I had, right?" the Monkey Sage said with a laugh. He knew he spoke the truth. He already possessed speed that even other jounin had trouble keeping up with.

"Do not be so arrogant, boy!", rumbled Yojimbo angrily. His deep voice had raised only slightly, but the effect was truly frightening. Yamazu could have sworn that he saw glowing amber lights in the eyepieces of his mask. "That kind of thinking is what will get you killed when facing an opponent as innately skilled as an Uchiha". There was something aside the anger in his tone that made Yamazu curious.

"You sound like you have fought against an Uchiha clansman before", he stated. Yojimbo looked away for a moment, gazing into the rows of peach trees that made up his garden.

"Once. At the Old Sage's side". For his own reasons, Yojimbo did not go into any further details. "They are a dying breed of shinobi. I am surprised that they have lasted this long. They seem to have a self-destructive thirst for power bred into them". Noticing that he once again had his student's full attention, he continued.

"Even though, through the use of the Sharingan, they can see most of your moves almost before you do, if you are faster then they are they will be unable to keep up with you. Of course, since this Uchiha has been named the Hokage we will have to assume he is already well conditioned. You might have impressive speed already, boy, but against a shinobi of his nature you will need to be more than 'quite fast'".

With that, Yojimbo stood and proceeded to pull on two of the many ropes that dangled from the roof of his house. One the ropes made a shrill whistling noise, which was answered from close by with an animalistic call. The other rope caused a hourglass to descend from one of the nearby peach trees.

"You fight three of my followers. You will have a limited time to defeat them both, although if I think three is too easy for you, I will add more. You will begin now".

Confused for a moment, Yamazu looked around just in time to see a monkey swing at him with a katana. He jumped back, clapping his hands together to summon his Staff and grabbing it just in time to block a second blade swung by a second monkey. Yamazu let the attack's momentum slide down the length of his Staff before flicking his wrist. The bottom part of the Staff detached, swung inside the monkey's guard and swatted him squarely on the nose. It fell back with a screech, shaking it's head.

By this time, the third follower had shown up. All three of them had armour of somewhat similar design to Yojimbo's except theirs was not full body and lacked masks. Their swords seemed of almost identical make as Yojimbo's however. Yamazu thought that someone of his skills would be able to forge a special sword or something. Then the trio of Followers attack as one and there was no more time for thinking.

Each monkey swung their swords in perfect unison, creating a tight weave of sharp metal blades that even experienced shinobi would have had a hard time escaping. Yamazu was no ordinary shinobi however and the moment they all swung their swords he planted his Staff into the ground and somersaulted over them, striking one in the back of the head as he went over. He fell face first into the ground while the remain two turned to face the Monkey Sage.

Yamazu had to admit that the Followers had an almost spooky knack for knowing where their comrades where going to strike and what to do to compliment them. He was far more hard pressed to deal with these two then he expected after the easy defeat of one of their number. Seeing an opening one had exposed, he went to smack the monkey across the shins when a sword flew down right between the group. Yamazu jumped back, thinking that a forth one had entered the fray, but then noticed that Yojimbo had one of his swords missing.

"Time is up", he announced, walking forwards and plucking his blade from the ground. He returned to his place next to the rope, which he pulled once more, flipping the hourglass on it's head. The sand began to trickle downwards once more as the Follower he had struck down joined his companions. The trio looked rather mad about something.

"Now, start again. Faster this time, if you do not mind".


Yamazu collapsed, holding onto his Staff as he fell to the ground. It had been almost two days since the training had begun and they had been pretty much going nonstop. At first he thought that the Followers were at a chuunin rank, maybe a tad higher. But after the fourteenth hour went past and they were still getting up to fight again he realized that he was dealing with opponents on a much different scale. He wondered if he could summon these guys. If he could get even one to fight by his side then he could almost guarantee victory in any battle.

"Not bad, boy", came the hollow voice of Master Yojimbo as his Followers once more pushed themselves to their feet and dusted themselves off. He made a gesture with his hand and the trio bowed, withdrawing back into the shadows of the trees. "You finally beat the hourglass. I think we can call it a day for now".

No sooner had Yojimbo said those words, Yamazu's eyes shut and loud snoring came from his direction.

Spoiler:

After a day of recuperation that he badly needed after his last training session with the Followers, Yamazu finally felt that he was now well enough to restart his lessons with Master Yojimbo. In all honesty, he was surprised that he was able to get back into it as quickly as he was doing. He should have been feeling the ache of that forty eight hour spar for weeks but now, after only twenty four hours, he was feeling completely refreshed. He wondered why this was for a moment but swiftly cast it from his mind. All that mattered was that now he was ready for more. Flipping up onto his feet from his laying position, Yamazu stretched his limbs before approaching the massive summon, who was meditating under the peach tree nearest to his house.

"I'm ready to continue if you are, Master Yojimbo", he said perkily, taking a deep breath of the clear morning air. It smelled like peaches.

The master smith slowly got to his feet, rather quietly considering that he was covered head to toe in metal armour. "Very well, boy. We shall continue with the next step", he said, his voice echoing inside his mask. "This training will be simpler than the last few, but just as grueling".

Yojimbo pulled on another one of the many ropes that hung from his home's roof. A grinding sound rang throughout the garden and a small hole opened up near the summon's feet. From it rose a thick wooden pole with hand and foot holds on it, ascending into the sky. After it reached around thirty feet in height it stopped and Yojimbo gestured the Monkey Sage to get onto it. Yamazu complied, clambering up the climbing pole with ease.

"So what exactly do I need to do", Yamazu asked. "Just climb to the top or-"

The shinobi was cut off when the grinding sound started up once again and the pole started to come back down and twist on the spot. Yojimbo drew one of his swords and cut at the swiftly descending Yamazu. He yelped and dashed as quickly as he could up the pole, reaching the top in good time. He noticed that, despite the fact that the pole was moving in a downward fashion it kept it's height somehow. From below, the summon called up to him.

"If you come within striking distance I will cut off your head", he claimed in his deep, hollow voice. "You must keep out of the reach of my sword until I say that you may rest".

Yamazu knew that the master smith was not giving idle threats. He would tolerate any failures in his training. What this particular brand of training was supposed to accomplish he was not sure. His fight with the master smith earned him greater respect amongst the other summons. His fast paced combat with the Followers was meant to help him increase his speed in close quarter fights. Was this an effort to increase his climbing skill?

Looking down, another yelp issued from the Monkey Sage's throat as he realized that he was getting closer to the ground and Yojimbo was readying his sword. He scurried back up the pole in haste, reaching the top quickly. Yamazu wondered how long this training session would last.


The thick mist that occasionally passed through this part of the Land of Monkeys had formed once more, only it was even worse this time than it had ever been previously. Whilst up at the highest point of the pole Yamazu could look down and find that he could not find his teacher no matter how hard he gazed down. It had been nearly a full day since this test began and his limbs had begun to grow heavy. He was panting so much his tongue was sticking out and sweat covered his body. Only the harsh training under his genin squad leader Fushii and the Old Sage had prevented him from just passing out and falling. It did not hurt that he knew that if he were to do so, Yojimbo would instantly cut him down the second he came within his sword's reach. Suddenly the pole stopped moving down and he heard the summon's hollow voice calling up to him.

"You may come down to rest for now", he said, followed by the sound of a blade being sheathed. Yamazu quickly let go of the grips, allowing his limp body to free fall fifteen feet before using a burst of fuuton chakra to cushion his contact with the ground. The massive form of Yojimbo came from the mist, holding a bowl and cup. He sat down next to the panting form of the Monkey Sage, pushing the bowl towards him.

"Eat this", he ordered shortly. Slowly summoning the energy to sit up, Yamazu looked into the bowl to see an pale, cream coloured goo. He remembered the stuff from when he was training his body to adjust to the Battle Form. It was some sort of secret recipe used by the monkeys, a highly nutritious paste that, after a single serving, would keep any man going for the rest of the day. His memories wandered back to the seven days and nights of agonizing pain he had to sit through. Even the exhausting trials he was going through now did not compare to that. Eating the paste and drinking the water in the cup, he noticed that the master smith had gone. Yamazu looked around and saw his faint outline by the ropes. His voice echoed through the fog.

"Now I have had time to observe your level, I think that it is time to make things a little more difficult", he announced, pulling on the same rope he had used before.

The same grinding, rumbling noise erupted from where the pole was and, to Yamazu's horror, dropped by seven feet and begun spinning faster than it had previously. Seeing that his student was almost paralyzed with shock, Yojimbo stepped forward with his hand on his sword hilt.

"Begin".


Bitterly, Yamazu thought back to when this training began as he continued to climb the constantly descending (yet somehow never actually descending) pole. He had been so ignorant back then. He thought he was ready for anything that this overgrown monkey could throw at him. So sure of his skill and prowess. He had been so naive, so foolish to think that anything Master Yojimbo would come up with would be easy. The summon was one of the oldest and toughest things in the entire Land of Monkeys and that included the gigantic ape Kyoudai.

The Monkey Sage wondered how long it had been this this new form of torture had begun. It was hard to tell time here, thanks to the combination of the mist and fatigue, but he was certain that it was at least ten billion years. Occasionally things stopped so that the exhausted Yamazu could eat more of that paste and drink some water, yet these breaks were few and far between and rarely lasted long. He was now certain that Yojimbo was trying to kill him, probably for knocking him on the head in their little spar.

Yamazu slowly began to notice, however, that the thick mist which had been a constant feature during this training had begun to recede. The pole's constant twisting and moving stopped at almost the same time that he realized this, but the shinobi still clung to the grips. He knew that if he did not, he would fall and he would not be able to stop himself. As luck would have it, the pole began to properly descend on it's own this time, eventually bringing him into contact with the ground. The second his foot hit the earth, the Monkey Sage fell back and collapsed into a heap.

Master Yojimbo appeared at his side once again, pushing a bowl of paste and a cup of water towards him. Yamazu achingly reached for them, drinking and eating them slowly so as not to cause vomiting. When he was done, he looked up at the summons's masked face.

"How long have we been doing this?", he croaked in exhaustion.

"About a month or so", Yojimbo replied. Yamazu's eyes sprung wide open and he tried to leap to his feet, only to flail about in a rather comical fashion.

"A month! But... Shihouin Uchiha... Konoha... I need to help them! How could you leave me for this long?" Yamazu spluttered. The master smith chuckled. It was the first time he had ever heard the dour summon laugh and he found the hollow, echoing sound quite disturbing.

"Calm yourself. It has only been a month to us. Time can be made to move... differently in some parts of the Land", Yojimbo replied.

Yamazu gazed blankly at the tall monkey. Time moved differently here? How was that even possible? He had seen a lot of jutsu, but never one that separated time. He had not thought that such a feat was even possible. He suddenly remembered the mist, how it had come at the start of the training and how it had dispersed just as it had finished. Had that been a technique? As if reading his mind, Yojimbo spoke.

"A gift from the Triplets", he explained.

Yamazu slumped back down in relief. So it had been those three old monkeys then, had it? He knew that they were powerful, but he had no idea that they... could...

Before he could even finish that thought, the Monkey Sage's head clonked onto the ground and loud snoring escaped from his lips.

Spoiler:

Yamazu knew that he would not be able to stay idle for much longer, but he had decided that since he was working hard to get up to par with his potential foe that he would need this break to properly recuperate. He knew that he only had a few days or so at least before he would have to go back to Konoha and confront Shihouin, but he he faced him as tired ass he felt now he might as well have not trained at all. In his current state, the stand-in Uchiha would make short work of him and say whatever he wanted to the other shinobi of the Village. That he was a traitor. That he had turned his back on the Village. That he was a scumbag who had been paid off to assassinate him...

The very thought of Shihouin trash talking his corpse made the usually mellow Yamazu's blood boil. Screw waiting! He needed to get better now-ish if he wanted any chance of defeating the man who was abusing the people he was supposed to be protecting. Performing heavens knew what kind of experiments on them for reasons that where probably far more close to him than the Uchiha would admit in public. Clambering to his feet from his prone position on the roof of the master smith's home he looked down at the massive summon.

"I am ready to continue", Yamazu announced, doing a front flip of the roof's ledge and landing next to the summon. Yojimbo simply nodded, pulling something from within the folds of the cloak he had donned. The Monkey Sage looked at them, confused. They looked like weights for his legs and wrists, simple training aids. What use would they be at this stage of his lessons?

"These are training weights designed and made by me", said Yojimbo, throwing the objects to his student. Yamazu went to catch them, only to drop them instantly. They hit the ground with a loud thud, denting the earth where they fell.

"What on earth did you put in those?!" Yamazu exclaimed, his face flushing a little at his obvious show of physical weakness. Yojimbo chuckled darkly, a habit he rarely indulged in and something that the shinobi was quite relieved about. His deep, hollow voice twisted the summon's laughter into one of the most frightening things he had ever heard.

"As I said, I designed and made them myself. The weights are made of a chakra conductive metal that, when you apply chakra to them, add or subtract the amount they weigh. Put them on and run the track around the garden".

With an expression of hilarious confusion on his face, Yamazu put his hand on the weights and brought chakra through his limbs. After a moment, he picked them up and found that they were indeed far more manageable than before. Strapping them to the proper limbs (getting them on the wrong limbs the first try somehow), the Monkey Sage set of at a fast pace. After the first couple of laps, he flipped himself over and began running on his hands, giggling to himself. Watching him from the shade of his roof ledge, Yojimbo shook his masked head at the bizarre antics of his student. Maybe, if the boy insisted on continuing this behavior he would make him carry a backpack of rocks.


Yamazu huffed and puffed as he climbed the peach tree with nothing but his hands, chakra grip and a bagful of sharp rocks on his back. The ragged edges jabbed into his hind quarters as he ascended the tree, making him pull all many of awkward faces. What had he done to deserve this?

Still, he could not deny that the process was effective. The mist had descended upon the garden once again in what he assumed was some sort of time-effecting barrier or seal that would only work in the Land of Monkeys. He was not sure how much time had passed in the real world, but felt like it had been a couple of weeks here. He was surprised that he was not as tired as he had been in his previous training regime, although he had spent twice as long on it.

The soft jingle of bells sounded of not far from his location and he looked around, losing his concentration and falling to the ground. The large bag of rocks landed on him in short order, knocking the wind right out of him. Coughing in pain, Yamazu looked up to see Yojimbo standing over him.

"Time for you to move onto the next part of your training, I think", he announced. Yamazu nodded, pushing his bruised body up as the mist faded away. The next part of his training was mastering some new jutsu he had playing about in his mind. One or two had been up there for a while, others had only recently come to mind.

Now he would see them all realized.

Spoiler:

Yamazu had decided to remain in the peach tree garden to train his new jutsu. To his perception, he had been here for months and he felt comfortable practicing here. True, in real time he had actually only been here a few days or so, but the experience of time passing was real enough to him and so he had chosen to stay. Master Yojimbo made it clear that he could provide little to no help in this training whatsoever, as it was outside of his area of expertise, but this was one the things that the Monkey Sage did not need help in. He was quite adept at elemental jutsu and the couple in his head had been rattling around there for quite some time.

This particular one for his dominant element of wind was one that he had come up with after his mission with the man he would soon be confronting, Shihouin Uchiha. Those eyes would make fighting him a very, very dangerous prospect. He had heard stories from the Old Sage of the terrible power that lay behind the Sharingan, making the Uchiha clan proficient in almost every shinobi art. The one that Yamazu feared most of all was genjutsu, something he was less talented in. He would either need a partner, a clever trick or some way to prevent being caught in it at all. Since he did not want to risk getting anyone hurt helping him and he could not think of any trick, the only thing left was prevention, so here he was.

Making the handseals, Yamazu concentrated. This would be somewhat different to most of his other fuuton techniques, which focussed on strong defense or powerful attacks. This was far more subtle. Ready to try he slowly breathed out, grinding his chakra together in the fashion he knew. Instead of a small breeze settling down into nothing like he was expecting, the wind raged outward and sliced into the bark of the trees either side, sending the blossoms on the tips of the branches up and away. He released the technique and the violent wind died down.

Making the same handseals again, the Monkey Sage breathed out. This time he was far more successful, a gentle breeze fluttering about him. However, the breeze did not settle down like it supposed to, instead continuing to circle him. Whilst the breeze was cool and refreshing, he knew that the breeze would need to settle down unless he wanted to burn out too much chakra too quickly. He had nearly had it this time, however, so he his confidence in the technique was bolstered.

The third and forth time were rather similar to the second, the breeze being light but still not settling down properly. His fifth attempted was much more successful though, the breeze finally fading away until it was gone. For maybe an hour he kept this up and was able to get consistent results, and moved onto the next stage; the circumference of the Wind Sphere.

This was surprisingly easier as he had apparently already had it close to the right range. After a few tries he had that down too. Knowing that all that was left was to try it out, he nodded. The small monkey who he had asked to help him picked up the bunch of sticks he had collected and dashed up into the trees. Yamazu made the handseals and sighed, allowing his chakra to gently grind against itself. This made the fuuton chakra he expelled continuously circle him but slowly enough that it did not begin slicing into anything nearby. If he had wanted, he could swiftly change the Wind Sphere into a more aggressive jutsu should the situation call for it but he would not do so here. Ready, he closed his eyes so he would not be able to see the attacks coming.

Momentarily, everything was quiet. Just as Yamazu was about to call out for his monkey assistant, he felt about five objects disturb the fuuton chakra that made up his technique. They were long and irregularly shaped, but that was all he had time to sense before he was forced to react. Two were heading for his head, two for either leg and one for his solar plexus. Yamazu raised up onto a single leg and rolled backwards on his arms, evading the leg and solar plexus attacks. The Wind Sphere moved with him, regulated by his breathing. If this technique was to be used effectively, one needed to control their breathing calmly. As a taijutsu expert, the Monkey Sage found this easy.

The last two attacks, aimed for his head but now moving towards his hips thanks to his movement, were close to making contact. Yamazu simply flicked his wrists out, knocking the projectiles straight into the ground. Opening his eyes, his helper jumped up and down on his branch and screeched happily, giving him the thumbs up. He returned the gesture, a big smile on his face.

"That wasn't half bad", Yamazu said to his companion. "But I think I can do better. You up to doing it again?"

The monkey chattered and jumped to the ground, collected his sticks and ran off again. Closing his eyes, the Monkey Sage sighed and the process began again.

Spoiler:

Now that he had finally gotten the hang of the Wind Sphere technique, Yamazu prepared to train his next jutsu; Earth Sense. This would allow him to pin-point the location of enemies whilst using his Smiling Stealth technique, as well as when he was above ground. True, it would be far more limited whilst he was above and would only work when he was standing on some form of earth, but it would still prove handy. As before, he doubted that he would encounter many issues with this jutsu. He was not the first doton element user to come up with something like this and he would not be the last.

First he would attempt to do it whilst he had Smiling Stealth activated. Theoretically, it should work better while he was emerged in the earth. Forming the handseals, Yamazu sunk into the ground, submerging entirely in moments. For a while he was under there, but eventually he came back up with a grin on his face. It had only taken a little tweaking until he had got it right. He had been able to sense everything that was nearby; the rocks, the trees, the monkeys in them, everything! He had not expected to get it so quickly. He hoped that he would get a grip on it as swiftly without the Smiling Stealth technique in place.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes so that he would be have to 'see' using the jutsu, Yamazu began sending chakra out from his feet. He had the chakra change to doton, remembering Fushii's voice teaching him to imagine the chakra condensing and crushing together until it was as hard as stone. He then started spreading that chakra over a small distance. He stretched it as far as he could, before nodding. The small monkey who was assisting his attempts chattered an acknowledgment and started to approach from a distance of thirty meters away. Yamazu was disappointed, however, when he only could sense the stealthy primate when it came within five meters of him.

Sending the monkey back, he tried several more times without getting much better results. Thinking hard on how to improve the range, Yamazu considered what he had done in his Wind Sphere training. Instead of forcing it through, he had done what he had usually done with that element but more gently. With this in mind he tried once more, imagining his chakra condensing but not as roughly. The result was good; when the monkey advanced this time Yamazu could sense it at ten meters. Smiling, he continued using this method, finding that he was able to stretch his senses to at least twenty meters.

Suddenly, the Monkey Sage sensed something below him, moving upwards swiftly. He jumped just before the ground crumbled, revealing one of the Followers. What was this all about? Did the Followers want to play a game or something?

"It seems that you can handle that particular technique well enough", came the deep, hollow voice of Yojimbo. Yamazu turned to see he was standing a good forty meters away. "I have brought you one of my Followers to help you train your next one".

The master smith turned away and went back inside his house. The Follower watched Yamazu closely. The Monkey Sage gave him a big smile.

"Let's have some fun, then!" he said cheerfully, a high pitched chuckle escaping his lips.

Spoiler:

For agonizing moments, the pause went on. The black eyes of the Monkey Sage gazed fearlessly into the intimidatingly dark brown eyes of the Follower, both of the opponents were formidable in their own ways. They stood about ten meters away from each other, hands hovering over the pockets at their sides, fingers twitching in anticipation. A single bead a sweat slowly slid down Yamazu's face and he narrowed his eyes at his foe.

Almost at exactly at the same time, the Follower and Yamazu started throwing what looked like kunai at each other at eye-aching speeds. The manner in which they were thrown allowed each kunai to pass the other by with a hair's breath to spare and head straight towards their target. After a matter of seconds forty kunai were in the air, being caught and thrown back by each of the users. It was an amazing sight.

Eventually though, the Follower started to get sloppy. He missed only a few of the weapons, but it was more than enough. The monkey was thrown back with force, laying still on the ground where he lay. Catching each of the kunai that where heading his way and throwing them into the ground, Yamazu approached the fallen Follower. Looking down, he winced at the nasty bruises that had blossomed.

The training kunai where another clever invention by the master smith Yojimbo. They appeared like normal kunai, albeit with strange scratches near the tip. When they came into contact with living flesh they reacted to it somehow and forcefully expelled chakra, resulting it it harmlessly (but somewhat painfully) deflecting from it's deadly course and leaving an impressive bruise. Yamazu reckoned that they would be easily sold in ninja academies everywhere, but Master Yojimbo refused to sell his secrets. Helping the bulky monkey to his feet, Yamazu clapped him on the back.

"Another go?", he asked, laughing heartily.

For some reason, the Follower did not look as amused as Yamazu was.

Note to Mods/Admins: Since I have the Undeterred and Near-limitless Energy S.C's, they kind of make training any taijutsu technique of B-rank and under a cake walk, so I put this together just to say that Yamazu did train it.

Spoiler:

Yamazu was deep in thought as he ate the nutritional paste that had been handed to him by Yojimbo. He had pushed his body rather hard in the last twenty four hours. Yet somehow he did not feel as tired as he usually would. The Monkey Sage wondered if this was a result of his training or perhaps the mystical qualities of the Land of Monkeys. That, or it could possibly be the weird paste.

"Get some sleep, boy", Yojimbo said in his echoing voice. "Tomorrow we will test the results of your training and see if you are worth sending back out into the shinobi world".

Yamazu nodded, scooping the remainder of his paste from his bowl and putting it in his mouth. For something that looked like mashed up beetles and insects, it did not taste half bad. Putting the bowl aside and laid his head down on the ground. His thoughts drifted to the master smiths words briefly. The summon had an odd sense of humour. He hoped that he had been using it.


Yamazu stood in the centre of the peach tree garden. This was to be the final test Yojimbo would put him through to see if he had been worth the effort of training. The Monkey Sage knew that he would have to use all the experiences of his recent training if he was to get past this last trial alive. The master smith never pulled any punches, in any manner of the saying. The form of the massive summon stood at his house once again, amongst the numerous dangling ropes. Yamazu noticed that a few new ones had been added since yesterday, doubtlessly a surprise for him.

"Now, we begin the final test. Were you truly worthy?" spoke Yojimbo, projecting his hollow sounding voice across the garden. He grabbed one of the ropes. "We shall see".

He pulled the rope.

Everything kicked off at once, like Yamazu expected it too. He could hear dozens of groups of kunai flinging in his direction. Two sets of three Followers swiftly followed suit, drawing their swords and charging in to attack. The Monkey Sage was aware of all of it, thanks to the Wind Sphere and Earth Sense he had activated. He could, of course, simply repel all of these attacks by using some of his advanced defense and offense ninjutsu, but that was not the point of this exercise. He was supposed to be taking what he had learned here and use it to win.

The first to reach him were the kunai. He felt them disturb the Wind Sphere at several locations, some at his feet, others at his chest; there was even a group coming from directly above. How Yojimbo had managed that, he had no clue. The Followers were about ten feet away and closing fast.

Yamazu slid his feet along the ground, careful to avoid making them leave contact with the earth. The group near his feet passed between his legs, sticking in the dirt not far away. Now that he had a more stable stance he let his body fold backward, evading the group aimed at his chest, which stuck into the peach tree next to him. The final group, the ones coming straight down at him, were now aimed at his chest in his new position. Keeping one foot on the floor, Yamazu spun on the spot and grabbed the speeding kunai out of the air, throwing them at the rapidly approaching Followers. One from each group suffered direct hits, knocking them on their backsides.

His chakra was again disturbed by another two groups of kunai, both coming in at a upper forty five degree angle. The Followers were only an arm's reach away and were pulling back their swords to deliver the fatal blow. Most of them were paired with him during his taijutsu training and had some feelings of anger towards him at how easily he beat them. They would very much enjoy chopping him into little pieces.

With few other options since he could not use his ninjutsu, Yamazu jumped into the air, flipping in the process. The kunai slipped by him by an inch and he grabbed them, chucking them into the chests of the attacking monkeys at almost point blank range. Three of the four left went down as the training kunai made contact, leaving a single Follower left to fight him.

The monkey swung his sword in a diagonal arc whilst Yamazu was coming back down to earth. Seeing the blade swiftly coming down on him, the Monkey Sage crossed his arms so that the sword made contact with his wrist weights. The two objects made contact and Yamazu was forced down to the ground with force.

For a moment, it seemed as though the Follower had him. But no sooner had he hit the ground, Yamazu lashed upwards with his foot. The strike connected with the monkey's wrist, making him drop his weapon. Still on the ground, Yamazu spun like a top and swept the legs out from under his opponent. His armoured form crashed to the ground as the Monkey Sage used the momentum to spin to his own. This had all happened in a matter of seconds, no more than thirty in fact. Yamazu looked over at Master Yojimbo for his appraisal on the performance.

"Not bad. Had the Followers I sent against you been of the higher ranked members, it would have lasted much longer I think. But, having seen what you can do... I can say that your training with me at this point in time is complete", said the master smith, nodding his head at his student.

A big smile lit up Yamazu's face. An acknowledgement from Master Yojimbo himself! If he said it, then it had to be true. He never coddled anyone, so it had to be true. Yojimbo turned away from his student and returned to his house, closing the door behind him. Yamazu blinked at that. Well, he never claimed to be the most social creature he thought to himself before starting out on the way back (he hoped) to the clearing of the Three Wise Monkeys, weaving through the bruised forms of his Followers.

Spoiler:

After getting turned around in the forested lands of the monkey summons, Yamazu finally found his way back into the Clearing of the Three Wise Monkeys. The Giant Stone Monkey statue almost made him jumped out of his skin once more. It remained as scary faced as the day he had been first brought before the Triplets as a young chuunin, exuding a terrifying, chilling presence. Even after all these years, the Monkey Sage had no clue what it actually did. Bowing to them, Yamazu spoke.

"I have trained hard and am now ready to face Shihouin Uchiha", he announced. The Triplets looked at each other for a moment before saying as one:

"No".
"NO!"
"Hmm!"

Yamazu blinked in confusion. No? But, this is what he had been training for! The whole reason he had kicked and punched and ran and bruised! So that he could take on the man who was kidnapping and experimenting on the citizens of Konoha!

"But, but, but why not?!", splutter Yamazu, almost unable to get the question out. The Triplets sighed.

"Because, Yamazu-boy, while you may be physically able to confront the man-" began Sun.
"-THERE WILL BE FORCES USED IN WHICH YOU DO NOT HAVE A DEFENSE", finished Wu. Kong grunted his agreement nodding insistently.

"What kind of forces?" Yamazu asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Shihouin Uchiha is the Hokage, boy. No matter how unrightfully he clings to it, that title gives him more power than you can ever have now. You need more than strength-"
"-YOU NEED ALLIES!"
"Specifically, Ayame Akira, true heir to the seat of Hokage".

Yamazu took a deep breath. As much as he hated to admit it, the three of them were right. Politics were something that he had no talent for and had no desire to learn. He was a warrior for the people, their arms not their voice. The heir of the Hokage's seat would have a better understanding than he and would be able to know what to do next. Then he would just have to protect he where he could until this whole mess was sorted. Confronted with the woman he was standing in for would force Shihouin to stand down... right?

"Our spies and contacts inform us that Shihouin Uchiha is beginning to make arrangements for some big speech, as well as something behind the scenes", Sun informed him.
"WHATEVER IT IS MUST BE SINISTER, SINCE HE IS HOLDING HIS CARDS VERY CLOSE TO HIS CHEST", concluded Wu.
"You must time your actions just right. Leave it too late and he will move forces against you that you cannot fight. Take flight too early and you will become an assassin killing another for power, without any real evidence", added Sun.
"MEDITATE ON THIS, WHILST EXPELLING YOUR CHAKRA FROM YOURSELF", finished Wu. Shaking his head in confusion, Yamazu pulled a face.

"Wait, what? Do what now?", he asked.

"Just do it!"
"JUST DO IT!"

Startled, Yamazu sat down quickly with his legs crossed and started to meditate. They had told him to expel chakra whilst he did so, for what reason he could not fathom. He sent chakra to his hands and feet in small amounts, calming his mind. He heard a cough from one of the Three Wise Monkeys. He opened his eyes to see them glaring at him. Raising an eyebrow, he guessed that they wanted him to expel more energy more quickly. Shutting his eyes tight, he forced a greater amount to leak out.

Soon, the chakra was coming off him like the sweat was in training. The air was heavy with it, crushing the grass around him into the ground. He wondered what would happen if he had a larger supply of chakra. He reckoned that if he had and he used this technique he would be able to fracture rocks with the pressure.

After about five or ten minutes of keeping this pressure up, Yamazu found himself panting in exhaustion. This was definitely not a thing to do in battle, at least not in prolonged struggles. In the background, he thought he could hear a high pitched whistle. Am I doing that? he wondered, opening his eyes. He saw the Triplets holding their hands out towards him and a beam of light struck him in the stomach.

Pain burst into him, wracking his body until the Monkey Sage thought he was going to turn inside out. But as soon as it had come it was gone, leaving only a slight burning sensation on his stomach. He lifted up his shirt to see a circle with veins coming off it forming on his skin. Inside the circle was the word for 'heal'.

"That seal can be used to heal any serious wounds you may suffer", explained Sun.
"BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU USE IT, HOWEVER, SINCE ACTIVATING IT WILL INSTANTLY DRAIN YOU OF ENERGY AND LEAVE YOU UNABLE TO FIGHT!" Wu added on.

Yamazu looked back down at the seal, which was swiftly fading away until it vanished completely. A smaller monkey approached him and passed him a small bottle. Frowning in bemusement, the monkey chattered at him and made a drinking motion. Shrugging, Yamazu took a swing from the bottle. There was barely more than that in the container, but the second that he drained it he felt his energy return to him, rejuvenating his entire body.

"Our agents have located Ayame Akira. I will send you to her location immediately", Sun continued, preparing to use his reverse summoning technique. Wu and Kong shared a worried look for some reason but said nothing. Yamazu gave them all a big smile and waved goodbye as the blind Sun slammed his hand onto the rock he sat upon.

In a puff a smoke, the Monkey Sage was gone.

[Topic Completed]-Archived