The long and hard road to mastery...

Dante was running through a building, the size of it was pretty large and not to mention it was underground, “Dante, you’ll never catch me if you keep using your damn eyes!” the elder tiger said as he continued to race way ahead of Dante, it was starting to annoy the fuck out of Dante as he was slower then the tiger and wanted to catch him but he wasn’t allowed to use any jutsu’s or chakra to help him catch the elder tiger. It seemed to Dante that everything that Dante did he was five steps behind the elder tiger and it was pissing Dante off horribly.
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The tiger continued to run from Dante having him run at his limits, “Come on boy I told you stop relying on your eyes alone, you’ll never get anywhere with just eyes alone!” the elder tiger said before stopping using his claws to help stop him and turn around before hauling ass right passed Dante. Dante noticed the sudden rush of wind that picked him up off the ground and flung him a good ways going backwards before he hit the ground and got back up. He turned and started to race after the tiger before he made a couple of clones of himself, “you go back that way and you and me will chase after the elder tiger!” he said as he sighed.
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Dante awoke sitting in his bed after having what seemed to be a very real dream, he was sitting in his bed sweating after the dream, why was he chasing the tiger elder, what could that possibly do for him? He just sighed and shook his head as he sat there before he looked over at to his floor, “woah!” he almost screamed, jumping at the site of a large tiger laying down on his floor, “when did you get here ojibi-san?” he asked looking at the tiger to notice it wake up and yawn before looking at Dante before stretching.
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Ojibi just simply looked at Dante and nodded “sorry you seemed to be having a good sleep for the most part…” the tiger said, its fur was interestingly coloured, its colour was mainly black with silver stripes and every time Dante saw Ojibi it made him stare at it for a bit, he sighed and laughed a bit, “I suppose you can say that.” he said before he looked up at the roof after tilting his head back. “So what brings you here Ojibi? Does the big boss want to see me?” he asked looking at Ojibi with a curious expression.
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Ojibi nodded before he picked up a scroll and placed it upon the bed beside Dante, “indeed the big boss wants to see you but only after you read this scroll.” he said looking at Dante the entire time, Dante looked at Ojibi before looking down at the scroll, he opened it up and it revealed a message for him, “Dear Dante, I wish to see you in person, Ojibi here will bring you back with him to come and see me but only if you will accept my training you in becoming the first Tiger Sage. It will not be an easy road to travel but none the less you must travel it at one point or other.”
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Dante finished reading the scroll before he looked over at Ojibi and sighed a bit before he laughed a bit to himself, “Sage mode?” he said curiously looking at the message within the scroll still, “what is that?” he asked wondering what Sage mode could possibly be. Ojibi just nodded and gave a smile, or well at least what appeared to be a smile, “it’s a great honour to be trained in sage mode, but it is a very dangerous path of training you are required to do along the path just to obtain such a mode.” the tiger said.
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Dante listened to the tiger speak about sage mode and how it was a high honour just to be asked to train in it although it was apparently very dangerous, something along the lines of life and death it seemed from the sounds of it. “Well Ojibi, let me grab my gear, leave a not for Juubei and grab some clothes then we shall be upon our way.” he said with a nod to Ojibi stating he was interested upon the training that he was asked to attempt to learn. With that Ojibi nodded and made a purring sound as he waited for Dante to finish doing so.
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After a short time Dante returned to his room with all his gear and everything he would need for the time he would be gone for, “Well Ojibi, I’m ready when you are.” he said smiling as he looked down at the rather large Tiger, Ojibi nodded and formed hand seals suddenly before grabbing Dante and before he knew it they we’re in a jungle area where a stream was close by, this appeared to be one of the reversal summoning pads for the tigers to use to go to and from as they pleased to. Ojibi poked Dante with his nose, “this way Dante.” the tiger said as he nodded with his head to where the elder tiger was resorting at the time.
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Dante followed Ojibi but he couldn’t help but look around, the tree’s we’re way different from the ones back home, and the grass was tall, green and easy to hide within. The whole jungle area seemed to look way different from a forest and he found out why as he was standing in the jungle looking about the area as he followed Ojibi still, Ojibi had to stop a couple of times to hit Dante with his tail to have him follow to which he would apologize for every time. It took the two of them to reach the elder tigers home which was in a cave that was rather huge, but all of the tigers lived under this roof as well as others when they came to see the elder tiger.
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Dante and Ojibi finally made it to the cave to which Dante was rather impressed by, but the jungle was very warm to him as he wasn’t fully used to it compared to being back where he would be normally. “Ah… Kazama Dante, you have finally arrived!” the elders voice could be heard loud as a large bell being rung beside your ear, it was deep and sounded like he was growling when he talked, or purring it was hard to tell the difference the elders voice was so deep. “Yes I have Ento-sama.” Dante said as he finally saw Ento and bowed to show respect.
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Ento looked at Dante and smiled or so it seemed, “Dante, you show so much respect when I see you its such a refreshment!” Ento said his voice booming as it normally did, Dante just smiled with embarrassment, “Its good to show you respect your elders I was taught when growing up.” he said in response to Ento. Ento just smiled and walked over to Dante and sat down, “its good to see you again, last time I saw you, you we’re signing the contract scroll to summon us.” he said reminiscing in the good times they had back then.
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Dante laughed a bit, “yeah you put me through some pretty tough spars to make sure I could hold my own ground among other things.” he said as he remembered the whole signing of the tiger scroll contract, it was a while ago but none the less Dante remembered it as if it was yesterday. “So what’s this about learning this ‘sage mode’ that is so dangerous to learn?” Dante asked not knowing fully what he was getting himself into. Ento just smiled at Dante and pulled out a large scroll and undid the seals upon the scroll before he looked at Dante, “read the scroll and ask me if you have any questions about it after.” Ento said.
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Dante nodded and looked down at the scroll noticing that the scroll was very well done, the chorography of the writing was flawless and not to mention the pictures painted for descriptions to help explain the sage mode was flawless and well done as well, “this is really well done Ento-sama.” Dante said as he continued to read, everyone in the cave could instantly hear Ento giving off a loud chuckle in response to what Dante had just said. After he was done reading the scroll Dante looked up and scratched his head in complete confusion to what the scroll had said.
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Ento looked at Dante and smiled trying to figure out if Dante had figured out just how truly dangerous trying to become a sage truly was, it was not a joke or a toy to play around with, it could actually take the life of anyone who would attempt it half-heartedly. “Well I understand its not just dangerous but lethal but its gains are astronomical!” he said as he looked at Ento, the large tiger nodded and looked up at Ojibi who then disappeared to fetch some of the assistance water. “So will you risk your life to learn how to become the first Tiger Sage?” Ento asked looking at Dante questioningly.
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Dante was at first worried about the whole ‘risk your life just for a greater power’ part but he smiled and thought to himself, ‘what’s life without a bit of risk involved?’ before he chuckled to himself, “I will do that very exact thing Ento-sama.” he said, Ento smilled widely that all his sharp fangs we’re showing and Dante couldn’t help but laugh a bit before he heard Ojibi return, he was holding some form of large gourd on his back, and from the sounds of it, it seemed to be filled with water. “What’s with the water Ento?” Dante asked curiously.
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Ento looked at Dante and nodded “that water is to help you with your training to get the first steps, unless you know a thing or two about nature chakra.” Ento said jokingly, Dante looked at Ento and shook his head, “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Nature chakra!” he said honestly just figuring out there was such a thing called nature chakra. Ento nodded before clearing his throat to start the explination of nature chakra. “Well first off, you’ll be known as the tiger sage, mainly because you’ll be able to utilize sinus’s, those will be your sage techniques.”
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Ento paused to look at Dante to make sure he was paying attention of course, which he was, “but firstly you must master what is called “sage mode”.” Ento said, Dante looked at him and nodded understanding what he was saying for the most part, “So basicly after I master sage mode I can use senjutsu’s?” Dante asked looking at Ento, Ento shook his head, “no Dante, first you must learn about Nature chakra otherwise known and nature energy, once you can sense this and start to gather it without changing--” Ento said before being cut off by Dante rudely.
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“What do you mean changing?” he asked franticly wondering what Ento said by changing, “I was going to tell you, but since you asked, if you don’t remain very still while gathering nature chakra, your body will start to enter a transition to which you’ll start to transform into a tiger, or which ever animal you have chosen.” Ento said before he gave Dante a bit of a glare, “now please listen.” he added with a chuckle before continuing where he was cut off at. “once you learn to gather nature energy, it starts to mix with your chakra creating what is called nature chakra, that is what you use once you enter sage mode.” Ento finished saying hoping Dante would consider asking more questions before jumping in to tackle the nature ideal down.
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Dante thought about all that Ento had revealed to him about becoming a sage and nodded “so I must first learn to sense and absorb the nature energy into my body thusly the next step would be learning to control the sage mode?” he asked curiously wondering if he was bang on the dot. Ento nodded and smiled “you got it, and that’s what the water is for, it’ll help you gain a sense and feeling for the nature energy by throwing you into a somewhat sage mode, but it comes at a great risk which we ended up borrowing Gamakichi to help you learn your sage mode, they alone have the single staff to help reverse the effects of the water.” Ento said explaining why a toad was in the tiger realm.
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Gamakichi looked at Dante and nodded “he reminds me of an old aquaintence of mine.” he said smiling before Ento nodded, “he does doesn’t he.” he said agreeing with Gama. Dante nodded and smiled “well lets get this training on the road shall we?” he thought as he sat down removing his top as he figured he was to be getting wet. Gamakichi grabbed a cup of the tiger’s nature water and poured it on Dante’s head soaking him to which he instantly noticed Dante growing fur like a tiger, he instantly slapped Dante in the back of the head with the staff.
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Dante flew forward and smacked his face first off the flooring which was padded thank-fully, “OW!” Dante exclaimed loudly in pain as he rubbed both the front and back of his head, “that really friggen hurt!” he added looking back at Gamakichi who gave him a weird look, “oh grow up its just a love tap to the back of your ol’ noggin!” gama said snickering about him loving his job of doing this, it was such a great deal for him, getting to hit people for free instead of them snapping back at him, Dante just rubbed the back of his head again.
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Gamakichi grabbed another cup full of the sage water and poured it on Dante’s head to end up slapping him in the back of the head due to him not being able to control his sage ability just yet. Dante groaned and rubbed his head again, and again, and yet again. ‘dear lord… this is going to go on for a long time…’ he thought to himself before he was smacked in the back of the head again. He rubbed his head as he was starting to get a head ache from all of this, but little did Dante know they slaps we’re coming at maybe a few seconds later then they did before when he first started.
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About a day later the slaps could only be heard at maybe an hour interval apart, Dante was starting to get the hang of starting to control the nature energy around him but it still would suddenly rush in and rape the hell out of him suddenly out of the blue before he would receive another smack to the back of the head from Amakichi. Dante sighed before he heard Ento wake up, “ah, you seem to be doing much better!” Ento said as he watched Dante remain sitting still for a bit before he ended up moving just in the slightest before he would receive a slap.
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Dante had to stop for a bit and rest which was for like twelve hours, he woke up feeling refreshed and looked around for a bit before saying “bring on the sage water!” he said in a sarcastic tone before he was suddenly splashed by the rather warm water, he was indeed expecting cold water but warm water was always a preferred must over cold water. He was suddenly thocked over the head and sighed before sitting up straight, but suddenly his cushion was moved over to a platform leaned against a sharp ground spike.
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“Okay Dante, now we’re going to get you to start your training today by studying yourself on this platform, as soon as you can sit on this platform without shifting or moving in the slightest we’ll continue with the sage water.” Gamakichi said after setting it up and held it for Dante to get onto and set upon After Dante was set up he sat down and it took him a long enough time to just get set up upon the platform. After a while Dante finally managed to set up after a while of trying to get balanced out evenly finally.
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