Lets be besties!

Tsumi had been coming to the royal training facility ever since he discovered he didn't actually need permission to go into the place. It was huge and state of the art with the inside of the buildings somehow replicating different environments. With different buildings for different purposes. The one he was in today was a nice field that seemed to stretch on during a summer day with short grass that only went up to just below his knees. Flowers were spotted here and there with scattered trees and creeks. It was a calm place and he was enjoying it. A little bit of time to himself to think and reflect which wasn't his strong suit but he had been encouraged to do so by his new sensei and friend. He had full intentions to put in a full days work out but for now it was just too relaxing to pass up on. After all such a lush area was rare up in the mountains and the temperature felt nice in the shade. It all smelled different too and he felt like he could just relax and enjoy nature for the time being. After all who was gonna stop him?

For now Tsumi was laying on his back with his hands behind his head chewing on a blade of grass he was chewing on. It even tasted like grass. If your wondering how he knew what grass tasted like you don't seem to really know Tsumi. Still he was under the shade of a large tree with a creek running by it about three meters away. The sky in the building was a brilliant blue and crickets could be heard as an audio file playing from somewhere. There was a light breeze blowing as he closed his eyes and hummed. His long red hair hanging around him as it wasn't tied up. Today he was just wearing tennis shoes with a black design and red symbols for the brand with red bottoms on. Black track shorts with a white strip down the side and a loose black tank top for a more casual training outfit. He hadn't expected to run into anyone out here after all. Still he felt such a nice peace of mind with the war over. One hand would shift from behind his head to idly play with the tip of one of his long black horns. An old habit.

Tsumi was about to doze off in all honesty. It was nice here and the only issue was knowing it wasn't real. Though it was hard to accept that. Artificial light as it may be it was still warm with a cool breeze. The sheer impressiveness of the facility was utterly lost on the young Yokai who had virtually forgotten he was here to train. It was all so relaxing to him. He could just nap here and forget any of his issues and that all sounded wonderful. After all with no war he was mostly just doing small things like rescuing cats in trees and helping get frisbees unstuck. He didn't mind all the small things but he didn't feel like much of a hero. He was so oblivious to his surroundings he hadn't even noticed anyone else approaching at all. Truth be told had Gyo not said anything he would have had to sit next to Tsumi for Tsumi to actually notice. Still the sound of a familiar albeit not recently heard voice could be heard inquiring if it was him. Tsumi would yawn tiredly before opening one eye and sitting up a little to get a glance at who it was.

Golden hues would fall on Gyo in a more feminine outfit for a moment. For a second Tsumi was trying to figure out if he knew any girls before his eyes settled on the face and considered the voice. Upon realizing it was Gyo his blank look went to one of excitement. Quickly he would roll backwards and plant his hands onto the ground to give himself some lift. The bottoms of his shoes planting about midway up the tree as his roll pushed him into a crouched position horizontally against the tree before he pushed off with considerable power. Red hair fluttering through the air as he seemed to take flight with his arms outstretched. Surprisingly clearing fifteen meters rapidly as he went soaring dangerously toward Gyo. His momentum failing as he began to fall right towards Gyo with a shit eating happy grin. It was abundantly clear he intended to actually land on Gyo instead of greeting him properly. If Gyo moved he would face plant into the ground before popping right back up and picking Gyo up easily under the arms. If not then Tsumi would land on him and hug him after flattening him. Speaking happily.

"Gyo dude bruh! Its been a fat minute! I have so much to tell you!"

Perhaps it was strange that Tsumi wasn't asking where he had been but Tsumi didn't really mind. After all they were comrades and most of the people Tsumi knew had busy lives outside of him. Either way Tsumi would finally release him one way or the other and stand to the side with hands on his hips as if he was just acting normally. He was still just as built as ever but it looked like maybe he had been training a little bit more at some point. Still his right hand would lift to point at himself as if he was proud of something or another.

"Dude! I moved out of the apartment. I am living at the palace now of all places. Ryuko sensei took me under her wing as a student and now imma be super duper strong!"

Tsumi would hear he was crushing the other man and quickly release him with a red tint to his cheeks before he would post up and point the thumb at himself. As far as he could tell Gyo was Genuinely happy for him. Tsumi would grin as the man mentioned he was likely going to become super strong before Tsumi would nod and take up a light footed boxing stance. He would bounce up and down with his left foot slightly more flat then his right with his left fist up in a guard. His right fist rotating slowly around his waist level before he let out a couple of rapid jabs. Just randomly into the air before slamming his feet down and shooting forward. Placing both hands down before slamming a kick up into the air. His body launching after it before landing on his feet and letting out some heavy breathing. He was pushing himself to show off but he was smiling. He still seemed as innocent and bright as before. But Gyo knew he was capable of flattening a room full of guys...well normal guys anyway. Not shinobi. Gyo had used him for that before after all.

Still Tsumi would wipe his brow with his forearm a moment before glancing up to the ceiling in a bit of surprise. He had been here for a couple of hours but the sun was fading away with the blue skies before a starlit sky filled the room and he would stare up at it and the full moon replicated in the sky as the temperature rapidly cooled. He placed his hands up in the air imagining he could pluck the moon right out of the sky before he sighed happily and closed his eyes just basking in the fake moonlight with his arms wide open. After a moment he would let his arms drop and open his eyes before turning to glance to Gyo and smile a little before rubbing the back of his head. Glancing off to the side before mumbling out to the other young man barely loud enough to be heard. He wasn't mocking him or being condescending or patronizing. He truly believed his words when he spoke them to Gyo.

"Hey Gyo? Are we still friends? I know I'm not very strong but I promise to get stronger...so I can be tough like you one day and then you can keep me by your side....so you don't fade away again....I was really lonely."

Tsumi would blink as Gyo made it a matter of course before smiling softly. He absolutely missed the switching expressions from the man and as he raised his fist Tsumi would look at it for a second before grinning happily. Lightly he would bump knuckles with the man as a mans symbol to each other. They were promising with that knuckle bump that they would both get stronger. Tsumi of course was elated by this information. They were friends and friends were precious. He hated to see anyone go but for now...for now he had a friend dear to his heart. Still even a tap from Tsumi was likely to leave his knuckles stinging slightly. After all the two were just built differently. Gyo was the brains of course but Tsumi was for sure the brawn. The issue was Tsumi was a little naive. It would be up to Gyo to keep him from getting scammed or falling into traps and in return, Tsumi would be a train of absolute destruction (Minus killing) to their enemies. They would of course work well together. Still his smile was always warm and met his eyes as he spoke happily in return.

"No doubt bro!"

Of course when Gyo mentioned he had something for Tsumi his eyes would light up. He was actually bouncing slightly on his heels as Gyo dug through his backpack. He had never received a present before. He had seen other kids with their birthday parties and christmas but he had never really had a family of his own. He supposed now Gyo...who was kind of a cousin if he thought about it..was now more of a brother to him. Still when the gauntlets were handed to him Tsumi would smile ear to ear as he held them in his hands. Tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. It wasn't just a present...it was made with him in mind. He would try to hold it in but it was clearly an effort. A bubble of snot was beginning to form in one of his nostrils before he inhaled and sucked it in. Using his right forearm to wipe his eyes before smiling happily. He would nod a moment before slipping them on. He would turn and clang the two gauntlets together as he punched his knuckles together. With a grin he would slam forward before rearing his right arm back and then slamming it forward. Taking a clean chunk off of the tree before glancing at the steel coating his hands in astonishment.

"I...I barely felt a thing! Thank you big brother! These are amazing!"

Tsumi would lightly clang the gauntlets together a couple of times as he listened to the sound. They were loud but he couldn't really feel it. Which meant he couldn't feel when he needed to hold back. That could potentially become an issue if he allowed it to. So he would try and not equip them unless the fight was more his level or higher. Against people closer to what he considered normal it was just too dangerous. He would need to figure out how to carry them around though without it looking super weird. Couldn't exactly hang them from your belt. How did one store these? Still his gold eyes would shift up to Gyo as he mentioned making stronger ones and Tsumi would blink. Were these ones not strong? They felt sturdy certainly. What would even stronger gauntlets feel like? Or would they feel different? He had no relative idea on how strength was measured beyond the everyday villager. So for now he would just nod happily and take a couple more practice swings. He was stronger now with these...but how much? It was hard to really tell without getting accustomed to them. But time would be the telling factor.

Still Gyo would ask him what his plans were and he blanked for a moment. Just a blank stare with his brain processing. What had he been doing before Gyo showed up? Relaxing? Well yeah but that didn't seem right....he had to have come here for a purpose. Well what was his usual purpose for any day of the week? Oh right! Training. Endless and extensive training. He had come here to work on some taijutsu and so he would likely be doing that right? So he would smile as he glanced to the tree. Oh yeah. He was gonna beat the snot out of that tree. At least thats what he called tree sap.

"Well likely Imma train a bunch. Always lookin ta get stronger ya know bro?"

He would chuckle and blow some hair out of his face a moment before a thought occurred to him. His gold eyes settling on Gyo a moment as he looked him over. The one mission they had gone on together Gyo just did the talking so he didn't actually know how Gyo fought. So he figured he would ask him as he stretched out a little. Better to stretch the muscles first after all.

"Hey Gyo? Whats your fighting style? You're a ninja right? So you have to have some sort of fighting style I guess."

Tsumi would watch and listen to the explanation and his eyes would shine with excitement. He found such amazing and accurate chakra use to be extraordinary. Sure he had seen Ninjutsu, but mostly he had seen it used to just throw out fireballs or chunks of rock. Which was cool too but it didn't need much elegance in any cases he had seen. Even lightning ninjutsu was just a big zappy bolt more often than not. Whole lot of zap boom pow ya know? But most heros in his comics were like that. He dreamed of being capable of that himself but this..this was a whole different category of hero. There were those who fought with speed and elegance in his comics and they were usually way more top tier than the muscle heads. Ninjalad and the Silver Samurai were still his favorites but he thought heroes like dodgekun and Hammerspace were almost impossible to touch directly. He tried to count the number of leaves but honestly he couldn't do it while they were moving. But he got the idea of it. So he could manipulate items with his fingers? Well that was a super power wasn't it? One step less than telekinesis in his head.

Still Gyo would mention he was still kinda weak at fighting even with that power. Tsumi would blink and frown in confusion. He would move over to the leaves and crouch down in a near sitting position on his heels as his hand scooped up one of the leaves. Looking at it on one side and then the other. There wasn't anywhere the strings had pierced through so then...they were just sticky? He would let it go and watch it drift down before touching the ground like a normal leaf. He would scratch at the base of his horn as he thought about it. "So like...can you do heavier things or just like...super light stuff?" Tsum would look around him as he searched for something without actually moving at first. Once he saw it though he would stand up and walk over to the creek nearby. Digging the toe of his shoe under a palm sized rock and using his toes to flick it up in the air and catch it. Tsumi wasn't all that bright but he was definitely physical. So he got fighting on a lower level than something serious may be...like war.

"Try lifting this. In a fight when the other guy is stronger...ya grab something we like to call an equalizer. Like a rock or a chain....and that makes you dangerous to them despite the difference in strength. Getting your nose broken because some guy threw a rock sucks. So even if ya aren't like me...I bet you could wreck someone if you like...carried equalizers."

Tsumi would blink a moment and then the rock was just gone. It took him a moment at grasping at thin air and a couple more blinks before he figured out it had been taken. He glanced over to where Gyo was and saw him with the rock. He had done something to collect it from where he stood. So the earlier interaction with the leaves seemed to replay in his head as his own brain tried to put two and two together. Gyo had strings that could move stuff...and now the rock was gone and he had it. So if those two things were known...Right! He probably used the strings to get the stone. Which meant Tsumi couldn't follow it because....Tsumi couldn't see how fast it was moving. He would snap his fingers after that went on for about thirty seconds as he put it all together. Gyo was just being humble. He was so fast the great Tsumi couldn't even track the movement when it started in his hand. It was either that or...or Gyo was a wizard. Was it possible that Gyo had used black magic on him and stole the rock? It was nearly impossible...but never fully.

Still he would figure Gyo would be like, super duper scary even if he just used like...knives with those right? After all Tsumi could not track it with his eyes so if he wasn't a wizard than those things were stupid fast. So Tsumi would raise his arms behind his head and cross his hands. It was heavier with the gauntlet but not enough to really limit him at all. Which was great for him as he was a close range fighter. Still he would look up as Gyo asked him if he had been working on anything. Looking up to the side away from the man as he didn't really want to share how little progress he was making. But there was progress so it wasn't really a lie right?

"I got stuff in the works. Could use a sparring partner if you could slow that down for me though."

With that he would nod to the rock and shift his arms to stretch out before dropping them to his side. Adopting a hopping stance as he made a couple of slow D rank coordination punches. Just straight jabs. However his footwork was more impressive. He bounced between his feet far quicker than his punches. Almost B rank speed but not there just yet. He seemed to expect something from Gyo and that rock though....did he intend to actually have another man stone him?

Tsumi would watch the man drop the rock and his golden eyes would shift to it a moment before he would realize he wasn't going to get to spar after all. He let a sad frown spread across his features as his shoulders visibly slumped. But training was important right? Did Gyo not value training? Tsumi was confused at the reluctance. Surely everyone had some fighting spirit of some sort right? People didn't prefer not to cross fists! That was crazy right? Tsumi would always learn more about someone by fighting them. He knew Gyo was a slick talker but he wasn't sure about his capabilities. That rock had moved so fast Tsumi couldn't see it. Surely Gyo could force Tsumi on the defensive with that kind of speed. Still it was up to the red headed Oni path to accept he wouldn't be able to. He would drop his stance an place his hands on his hips as he considered that they wouldn't be sparring until Gyo got a puppet. Tsumi had snoozed through that class of course so he had no idea how dangerous a puppet would be for him. He just knew he would need to be faster.

"hmm well what do you need for a puppet?"

He asked innocently. If he just needed some wood Tsumi could bring him a tree. If he needed more Tsumi figured Ryuko could help. She had connections it seemed. To the point that Tsumi's lack of manners was something they were sternly working on. Still the question of a squad came up and Tsumi would blink before thinking back to that one mission. They had worked as a squad but it had been altogether a solo experience. Two of them doing most of the work while their sensei dipped out. Sure it was fighting and fighting Tsumi could do. The burger mission was just odd and vulgar. Men with indecent attitudes and kind of a bitch of a boss who had jokingly threatened his horns. He liked his horns. Still he would shift his right foot through the grass a little. Much like a kid who had just been told he couldn't go play with his friends because he was grounded. Still he wasn't about to pressure his friend.

"Most squads don't really like me. They think I'm slow and I can be I know. But I am a good fighter so I'm sure Ryuko will help me get better. So I can keep up with your puppet."

Tsumi would listen as the man stated he could make the puppet at any time. Which made him confused. If such a thing was such an asset to him...why wouldn't he already be making it? Was he too busy or did he simple not intend to fight? It was kind of confusing to Tsumi why someone so capable and fast would refrain from doing whatever he could to help others. To protect the weak and rise against tyranny. Every hero started somewhere and Tsumi was just getting started...but he could use a partner...not a sidekick but a team mate. Two heroes of different types fighting side by side. Like the Silver Samurai and Ninjaman. They had their own series but when the two teamed up nothin could stop them. Not even dotondude or lightningtongue. Big wigs in the evil community. He wondered to himself about what the two of them could accomplish. They wouldn't be able to take on Ryuko of course...but most the other genin would be in trouble. They would need to figure out super hero names and costumes...slogans and catch phrases. Even poses and signature moves. The titan of taijutsu and the mastermind puppeteer. Something like that.

Still Gyo would recollect the rock with another string and Tsumi would seem slow to notice at first entirely until Gyo would bring it to his attention. Those multicolored eyes shining at him a moment. They were real pretty eyes....like diamonds. But Tsumi would seem to hesitate. His eyes searching Gyos as he swallowed a little. Truth was he had been born uniquely connected to the bloodline....So much so that Tsumi hadn't learned to activate the demon eyes. He had to learn how to turn them off. Having spent some of his childhood with his eyes closed just until he could control it. Partially because it made him drowsy quickly and partially because of how much it frightened the other children. He seemed hesitant to show Gyo and worried about if he would be scared too. He nibbled his lip a moment before nodding slowly. He needed to trust Gyo. "If you're certain." Tsumi would say quietly. "Just please...don't be frightened." He finished just loud enough to be heard. He would take a breath and close his eyes. Focusing his chakra a moment back to them instead of holding it at bay. When he opened his eyes again there were no irises left. The entirety of the eye seemed to be coated in flickering blue flames. The eyes still weren't all that perceptive but...looking into them it was clear that Tsumi was no human besides those horns...nor just some Yokai. With those flames in his eyes...Tsumi was an Oni. A branch in the clan known for spreading terror in their enemies.

Tsumi was worried that his friend would be frightened. After all his branch was known for having beautiful eyes. Each unique in their own way. But the Oni were a different branch of the Yokai. The oni served one purpose. They were to spread fear and destruction to the enemies of the clan. Their entire lineage was based on if they could destroy the enemies will to fight and if not...annihilate them. The pure strength bruisers. Even their demon form and their eyes were meant to insinuate the fires of hell. So he had expected to frighten the man since not many of the Oni were currently enlisted in the shinobi forces. Tsumi himself was but he had a natural connection to the clan. Still his flaming eyes would widen in surprise a moment with those flames licking around the edges. The man said it was amazing instead of being frightened by it. Still Tsumi would glance to the side abashed by the comment. Still he avoided looking directly at anyone complimenting him. Years at the academy of being degraded had stuck with him pretty hard. So it was difficult for someone such as him to acknowledge when they were doing something impressive.

Still Gyo would ask him something and Tsumi would pause a moment to ponder the question. Blinking a couple of times before the fire faded from his eyes. He wasn't intending to keep his dojutsu going and even though it didn't take much...he couldn't hold it for too long anyway. His chakra was just lacking in that regard. When he opened his eyes again they had returned to that gold color as he tapped his chin. "How fast? I dunno really...I just kinda...ya know.." He would take the hand on his chin and point all the fingers forward before thrusting his hand forward in a motion that insinuated forward movement as he whistled quietly to insinuate speed. He had no way of really comparing his speed to anything since he hadn't ever timed like a hundred meter dash or anything. Nor wear like a watch that tracked how fast he was going. He just new he was faster than the average....idiot....Still he would smile because he had utterly forgot his tunnel vision when running and place his hands back on his hips with a smile on his face once more before speaking up. "Why? Whatcha have in mind?"