guardian of the storm | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine ~ Night and Day

~Chapter Twenty-Nine~

The next month was filled with training, training, and oh look at that, more training. Emiko, Ja'far, Daiki and Winter would disappear every few days to hunt down members of Septor Eight individually. So far they'd managed to eliminate four of the generals; General Two who specialized in fire jutsu was taken down by Daiki, General Four who was abnormally fast was no match for Emiko's techniques, and seeing how Winter was back at her full strength General Six (who had an usual Kekkei Genkai that involved lava and lightning) was obliterated.

The days Winter wasn't hunting down Scepter Eight she was personally training Eien to control his wild lightning. It was a trying process for the two twins. Eien just didn't have the heart to hurt others himself, and while that wasn't a bad thing, it did frustrate Winter who'd hurt countless people and didn't see the problem he was having.

She grew up training to be a ninja.

He grew up training to be a baker.

She was a natural-born warrior.

He was a natural-born medic.

She was drowning in harsh shadows.

He was basking in gentle light.

She was a killer.

He wasn't.

It was clear to the Storm Shinobi that the twins were as different as night and day. And soon they developed a system of sorts for the two, depending on what the person wanted would depend on which twin they sought out. If you wanted a nice talk, a gentle critique, someone who would slowly point out what you need to work on, you'd go to Eien. On the other hand if you wished to get the brutal truth, get nearly destroyed in a practice match but gain invaluable experience, and someone who'd be incredibly blunt about your flaws, you'd go to Winter. 

While it was true that everyone respected Winter there was still a divide between her and the other shinobi. She was viewed as their leader, as someone nearly untouchable, as someone who held power that rivaled the strongest warriors in the world.

She hated it. She hated the way they cut off their conversations when she walked back, waiting quietly until she was out of sight to continue. She despised the way the older shinobi would look at her with heavy eyes- eyes waiting for her to slip up, for her to make a single mistake. She would never be accepted among the shinobi her age for their difference in skill and ran, and she'd never be accepted by the shinobi who were older because of her youth and the fact that some believed her to be too young to be the leader. She was an outcast in the very village she had re-built from scratch.

There were a handful of exceptions to this; the Originals were harsher around her, willing to let her know exactly what they thought and what they believed to be done. They were their true selves around her... but there was still a chasm. A divide.

And she felt it growing with each passing day.

Stifling her feelings of unrest Winter went about doing what needed to be done, preparing the Storm Shinobi for war. While they trained she instructed them, while they ate she formulated battle plans and attack strategies, while they took breaks she showed them the next training exercise, while they slept she trained. Her back was turned to the others, the distance between her slowly fading silhouette and their outstretched hands growing, growing, growing. Her shadow stretched far behind her, nearly reaching the peers struggling to keep up.

But not once did she slow down.

Any chance she had to learn a new ability, to refine an old one, to dispose of weakness, she took advantage of it. As she turned to what was coming she felt her face harden, her smile drop, her eye grow darker as gray lightning flickered across. She stayed up late doing nothing but stamina training and soon it was a common side to peek outside and see Winter sprinting around the Storm Village until the sun rose.