The days of harsh training began to wane.  The instructors divided their resources to better train specialists using the new foundation.  It was an essential process from which the root corps drew their name.

I couldn’t know what the future held in store for me, but I could recognize the instructors they had me with.  Not by name or face, but by rhythm of speech and points of concern.

I was in a trance, trying to sieve for those impressions when I felt someone enter the room.  A tingle in my brow as Sally adapted to an unseen threat was the only warning I had.  By the time I laid eyes on the fist, my arm was loaded with the spirit of adversity.  In the snap of a finger, it snaked up and caught the former with an open palm.

The sound was deafening, and the momentum hit me like a pale of water.  My chair was wrenched back with a groan of steel, and the table stuttered.  By some fortuitous timing, I went from falling backwards in my chair to standing on the next table over in the blink of an eye.

From my perch I looked to the cocked eyebrow of one rival, Tracy.

“It’s been awhile.  Here I was, worried you lost your touch.”

This girl…

“Worried about me?  Your soft side is showing princesses.”

Tracy made a conflicted face.  Whichever side won was hidden as she turned her back on me, “Don’t get distracted.  Tomorrow is your last chance.  If you don’t convince him to join us, You either let him go…”

She turned, the cold uncaring was back in the corner of her eye, “Or you can forget we ever saw each other.”

The room was left with a stunned silence.  My brain took several minutes - longer than any protocol by this point - to make sense of that encounter.

~Him?~

There weren’t a lot of guys around who drew my attention.  I don’t think Tracy would spare a glance for anyone in our bunk, but by the same logic, I’d never heard her using ‘us’ before.

Unless… She’s much sharper than I gave her credit for.  I only mentioned the blond haired kid once, and never in so much detail.  Tracy was always the vigilante between us and I knew she listened to me.  A lass of precious few words, she did her homework and used them well.  If she was putting everything on the line…

But what was the big deal about today?  We weren’t scheduled for anything.

As the role was called, I started to notice how wrong I was.  Today was not like any other.  The difference was subtle but comprehensive.  Classes were not divided up.  Seniors and freshmen faced off in spars.  I was three rotations away, but almost immediately I had a gnawing suspicion.  He might be fighting here.

By the second rotation I saw him.  Somehow, we ended up in the same roster for the spars.  I’d finally get a chance to see him fight.

But it went further than that.  I’d not get the opportunity to observe him first.  I was face to face with him in the ring.  Piercing bronze eyes and blond hair met blue and brown.  I could hardly believe it.  How could she have known?  How could I ever be prepared for such a fight?

He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, and I could tell instantly.  It wasn’t a dull blade.

I saw him draw the blade, the movement, the position of his stance.  My vision was swimming.  Heart working overtime.  For once, I wasn’t swept by the typhoon of auras around me.  They rippled off of him in equal part to the left and the right.  I felt like his body was resting on the palm of my hands.  As he took an opening stance, I felt chakra pushed through my palms.  Resonating with his footwork.

My eyes locked onto his feet.

~lock on~

“Ago”

“Joseph.”

I didn’t hear the command to begin, but the spike of intent might as well have been a detonation.  The world stopped.  Two boys flying at each other.  My body gliding along like a well oiled machine, and voices echoing between us.  I knew his voice.  We spoke together like old friends.  We argued, we joked, we drew blood.  The same blood that danced with every step of my heartbeat.

I saw heat shimmer around his blade.  I felt it ripple over my skin.  Like I’d been tethered to it with a piece of gum, I felt the sword drag alongside my shadow.  My hands and arms stung as it ricocheted.  The air groaned as we tore apart.  Deflected to the left and the right.

Ago bobbed his head, and looked at my back in disbelief.  I didn’t need my eyes to see it, but I also knew that wasn’t what he wanted me to see.  I wouldn’t let him down.

I turned.  My palms met his guard.  The distance between us vanishing on a dime.  Our fists warred for the intervening space, and the sky hammered in sync with my heartbeat.

“You can’t just draw your chakra like that.”

His eyes rather than his lips spoke.  His heart wasn’t in it.  And then the mask broke and I saw fire in his eyes.  The sky spun.  Swerving around us as our feet drummed the earth, grabbling and heaving.  Knuckles cracked and skin blistered.  Hearts thundered like a pair of gongs.

The ground beneath my back leg flared with so much excess chakra that I might have well been standing on fire.  Wave after wave of engagement slammed into my shoulders and tweaked my posture like a master.  Like five masters were watching.

“Is that all they’ve got?”

Ago’s eyes narrowed harshly, and something crawled over his shoulder.  I felt the heat intensify so sharply that it almost burned my wrist, and that’s when I saw it.  A sword made of golden chakra.  The thing lurched and shuddered like an angry bull, and in it I saw a promise.  The death of any demon I chose and to claim everything if I turned my back on it.

Knuckles wracked my ribcage and a golden aura latched onto my torso.  It clamped down like the jaws of a mighty beast and still I did not let go.  It wasn’t even a contest.

I held that spear in my gaze, my hands, and I watched in fascination with each twitch, admired each reflection along it’s edge.  My eyes glowed with an inner light at all that was made possible by this blade.  My heart fell.  I knew what I had to do.

Fire erupted from my chest.  From my mouth.  from my legs.  From my hair  From my spine and from beneath my feet.  A spiral that surrounded and coated every inch of flesh.  Ago’s eyes widened and he stepped back as I disappeared within a small sun.

As the flames died down, my skin shimmered with sweat.  A single drop fell from my rapidly soaking face and before it touched the ground the air began to tremble.  A belt of light caught it before it could hit the ground, turning it to salt and dust.  The sky sang a sirens song, and the earth cracked beneath my feet.

I smiled with the most happiness I’d felt in the better part of a century.  Then I flashed forward.  My palm caught him in the chest.  Ago had all the time to raise an eyebrow before the ring was ripped beneath his feet.  Only then did he recognize what I was going for, and he cocked his head.

He looked up, “You won.”

~I won~

I made to open my mouth, to step forward, but my body was not responding.  I felt like I was seeing through the eyes of a statue for several breathless moments.  Then I realized that I was still breathing.  Chakra lurched into action.  My spirit stirred as the last of the rainbow faded into the space around me.  The firelord was mine.

I extended my hand… but I was still dreaming.  My body came unlocked and I collapsed to the ground.  Groaning.

The world was a glass ball.  I watched through its glossy lens and enjoyed the warmth of the midday sun.  Eventually I watched clouds form and cool’s shadows pour over my body.  I sighed and noticed again that my body was alive.

“Are you with us now?”

I blinked.

~Sally?~

I looked around.

“Tracy.  Aa~?” I checked their faces again, breath caught in my throat, as though looking for something that I’d missed, “You’re all here.  You~”

I furrowed my brow and tilted my head.  Why did that seem strange?

I formed the tiger seal and spoke, “Release”

Pain flared inside my torso.  Tugging strings around my heart.

“Ow~”

Someone flicked my forehead, and I recognized the blue scaled underarm of my other half.

“My chakra is out here, you dummy.”  

I covered my scalp with one hand and caught the other on the way up.  Seeing my own hand, Sally, and Ago in the same place.  My heart fluttered.  “What’s going on?”

Tracy spoke up, “You two know each other?”

I blinked and shook my head, “Yeah uh~” For a split second Tracy looked confused, then her eyes widened and she gave Sally a once over, “This is… Sally?”

Sally smirked, “His first.”

My head crept up a few centigrade, “er~” I looked up at her, feeling betrayed.  What had I expected from the daughter of mischief and compassion?

Ago huffed, “Well that explains her stepping in.  Where did you find her?”

I blinked cluelessly for a moment then caught Tracy staring.  It took me a moment to realize where we were.  Sally didn’t exist as far as Root was concerned.  Not until today.

I looked at her pleadingly, “What’s going on?”

Sally folded her arms, a shaky pride to her look, “Like I’m about to get caught by those chaff.  I’m invisible to them.”

Ago tilted his head and glanced to the field where the others were still running drills.  He looked back and stared into the forest, blinked and looked around in surprise.  Tracy blinked owlishly.

Sally laughed.  Her face emerged toward the sky like a sunflower and her bobbing shoulders followed quickly.

Ago was clearly impressed, “A cloaking technique?  No wonder~”

Sally shook her head and wiped her eyes, “I wouldn’t read into it too much.  You’ll figure it out with time.  Long short, the root shinobi don’t know I exist.  I’ll be acting as a messenger for this reason.”

I scratched my head and shuffled closer, “Sally, I thought you said you couldn’t come out because of the sensors.”

Sally nodded sagely, then cracked an eyelid open, “Well yeah.  You two did a great job burning through natural energies.  That last technique was so intense that it created a rift, deflecting the natural balance across the training yard and leeching a bit from the neighboring forest.  Using that as cover, I can merge with the ecosystem and they won’t be able to tell my presence apart from fallout.  Unfortunately, that means around two weeks without access to my main chakra reserves.”  She bowed her head and gestured to the group, “I need to know that these two can watch your back in my stead.”

Tracy glances at me, “You’re pathetic.”

Ago cocked his head, “What makes you think we would help you?  By the sound of it, you two are scheming around the backs of our guardians.”

“Because it’s a street that goes both ways.  You know they ask things you wouldn’t normally feel comfortable with, and you're strong enough to recognize that there are dangerous paths ahead.”

Ago’s face tightened and he turned his gaze to the field, “That doesn’t justify deceiving them.”

“No.  What justifies that is putting so many people under that same pressure.  Training is hard.  Some need a certain level of hazing to keep up, but they deserve to know what they are capable of and working toward.  The pressure we are under goes beyond aligning with your superiors.  Tell me, when was the last time our ‘guardians’ explained what they were training you for?”

Ago’s temper flared, “Who told you about that?”

Sally sighed, “I can smell it on you.  Each of you, like a stamp pressed into your chakra.  I’ve seen it on others.  Not everyone, but at least half.  Some take it so hard that they are already broken, resigned to going through the motions.  Their chakra is so fragile that a fight like this is crippling.  You have your fire, and Tracy~”

Tracy glanced at her.

“You have a good head on your shoulders.  As you say, Ago, It wouldn’t be safe to interfere of behalf of everyone, but in the long term we can put pieces in place to raise their spirits.”

Tracy shook her head and stood up, “Well that’s a honey glazed fairy tale if ever I’ve heard one.  You keep your spirits.” She looked down on me, “And if this coward is so weak, he’ll stay out of trouble.”

My features were grim by that point.  Tracy took her leave.  I felt the bubbly touch of Sally’s hand on my shoulder and then, when the former was out of earshot she spoke, “She has the strangest way of making promises.”

I met Sally’s gaze.

Sally, “I’m glad you two are getting along.”

I shook my head, “But why do I feel so~”

An impact thundered through my chest, A heavy presence embracing my shoulder blades from below.  The guilt, the shame.  A cinderblock of dark emotions cracked and eroded into silt.  Much of it remained, but the mask of absolutes was broken.  Chakra flowed beneath my skin, and danced against hers happily.

She pulled back.  Beneath my stomach, A fire was lit, and it would not go out without a fight.

“You won.” She looked to Ago, “Don’t let him forget it.”

“Tch.” Ago turned his head, but he nodded.

Sally turned, fading before my eyes.  I listened to the auras of the trees to see if I could still find whispers of her voice.  The elements were kind enough today.

Ago shifting drew my eye, “You’re stronger than you look.  I underestimated you once, but I won't do that again.  The next time we fight you won’t be winning.” He turned and rested his head on his fist, “Just don’t lose.  We’ll get stronger together, I promise.”

It felt like the sun was breaking through the clouds, and at the same time that rain had swept aside the harshness of the world.  A mild breeze flowed through the shadow of the tree.

Beneath the deepest shadows of my mind, I felt a spark.  Whispers of lightning.  A creature shifting to conquer and claim the darkness.  My skin tingled in anticipation, and I looked to Ago as an anchor.

“I believe it.”