It hadn't escaped Tobio that out of everyone on his team, Ami was perhaps struggling the most. She hadn't taken her failure to advance to the next stage well, even if on some level he was a little relieved by the fact neither she or Hibachi had so. Not that he didn't think they'd made strides, but it meant that they wouldn't be winded when the Konoha Crush kicked off.
That, and neither of them had to run the risk of fighting someone they wouldn't have been able to handle. He didn't think anyone from the Hidden Leaf would brutalize them that badly, but fighting Gaara was an entirely different story. Especially when he was fairly certain the boy badly wished to fight Tobio.
He wasn't so tactless or unobservant as to realize that Ami had not taken the loss well. Which was why he was penciling in some time to try and hang out with her.
Knocking on the front door of her home, he was met with the smiling, familiar face of Ami's mother. "Tobio? I didn't expect to see you today. How are you?" It was the kind of warm, motherly greeting that almost made him wish he had parents.
Thankfully, he had Tekuno-sensei. That was probably better, as far as the parental situation was concerned.
"I'm good, Kato-san," he smiled back. "Here to see Ami, if she's in."
"She is. She's doing 'meditation' in her room, but honestly, that's just an excuse for her to mope," her mother conspiratorially admitted. "I heard you made it to the finals of the exams, however. Congratulations."
Heat threatened to bloom across his features, but he manually restricted the blood flow and cut off the flush before it even began. A deeply immature usage of his abilities, but who was going to call him out on it? The Sage, maybe.
"Thank you, but it's really a team effort. If I hadn't had Ami or Hibachi watching my back during the forest stage of the exam, I don't think I could have made it." That wasn't even hyperbole, or an exaggeration, though Tobio likely could have made it all on his own. It just would not have been a pleasant experience, especially while he was trying to accomplish other objectives.
"So humble!" her mother laughed, as they walked through the halls of their family home. When they finally approached Ami's room, the woman rapped her knuckles on the closed door. "Ami! You have a visitor!"
"Who is it?" The girl sullenly asked from the other side.
"It's Tobio! He said he wanted to spend some time with you." Something was teasing in her tone, as her mother smirked softly.
Hastily, there was the sound of sharp, sudden movement, as the door opened. Ami was quite possibly the most out of sorts he'd ever seen her. Whether that was because of her messy, unbrushed hair, the lack of cosmetics, and her overall sleepy expression, it was a cute look.
Add to that the manic expression on her face, and it was the perfect combination. "You didn't say you were coming over! No note, or anything!"
"Is that a no on hanging out then, or?"
"Well, no, I mean yes, but…some forewarning would have been nice! I'm not even presentable!"
He paused. "Did you just wake up from a nap?"
"...No," she lied, badly, like a liar.
"Riiiight," Tobio nodded, even if it was clear he didn't believe her for a second.
"Shut up, whatever dumb thing you're thinking of, and lemme get dressed. Then we can go out and do, well, something."
"I've got some ideas that might get you out of the dumps."
Humming softly, she closed the door again, presumably to go get properly prepared. It left him standing alongside her mother, who looked down at him with a grateful expression. "Thank you for coming by. I know Ami must have tried as hard as she could have, but…it doesn't stop her from being down in the dumps about the matter."
All Tobio could say at that was a shrug, rubbing the back of his head. "She's one of my best friends, and I know she was feeling some kind of way about the failure. It'd be crazy for me not to try and cheer her up."
It didn't take her too long to get ready, and so the two of them set out into the village after saying goodbye to her mother. Ami hadn't taken long, appearing more put together as they fell in step alongside one another as usual.
Though the words that came out of her mouth did make him stumble for a moment, for as despondent as they might have been. "I know you're only here out of pity, Tobio."
He frowned. "What even makes you think that?"
"Because I lost to that bimbo, Ino!"
Humming, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "It couldn't possibly have been just because I wanted to see you?"
"Maybe, but I know I've been…slower on the rebound lately." Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her feet, eyes falling half-lidded. "I just thought the exams would be my chance to, y'know, strut my stuff! Prove that I was a cool, cunning kunoichi, and Ino took me out like that." Ami punctuated her word with a snap of her fingers, grimacing after the fact.
"It made me feel like everything I'd been doing to try and catch up over these last few months had been useless."
This was a problem that Tobio wasn't entirely sure how to fix. Part of it was deep, personal issues that he suspected Ami was going to have to work through on her own. But part of it was simply the fact that, even with his current efforts, he would outscale his friends sooner rather than later. It was frustrating to encounter the typical shonen protagonist trap of being too strong to fight alongside one's allies, in some respects.
He'd have to redouble his efforts to figure out something to the contrary.
"You know that's not true, right?"
She gave a ragged laugh, looking sidelong his way. "Of course I do. I heard it from my mom, I heard it from Tekuno-sensei, I'm hearing it from you. I know, it's illogical," she emphasized by tapping her head, before tapping her heart. "But I don't feel it."
Tobio couldn't relate.
No, he literally couldn't relate, because from the moment he'd arrived in this world, the ball had been rolling up. He had the kind of advantages that nobody short of the literal protagonists of this world could match up to, and because of that, he enjoyed a blistering progression in terms of power, skill, status…
The closest he'd ever come to failure was trying to kill Suien and resolving to take him out with a suicide drop. Even that came with new bonuses and boons, which saw him being pushed even further ahead. When had he ever faced a setback in this new life of his?
Never.
"...I think I respect you for even trying to rise above it," he admitted, his voice a chagrined amusement. "If I was in your shoes, I dunno if I'd have the same mental strength, or if I'd be moping even harder."
"You're the golden child of our trio, Tobio."
"Might be true, but the higher you are, the farther you fall. You and Hibachi struggle and face a very different kind of adversity than me," Tobio pointed out. "You don't have a bloodline, or any supreme skill-"
"Gee, tell me how you really feel."
"-But you struggle all the same, no matter what, not caring if it's in vain. I think that's way more admirable than starting at the finish line, with a small mountain of advantages. And if you're as hard-headed as I know you are, you're gonna get past this."
She didn't say anything for a while after that, lips pursed as the two of them walked along in silence. He didn't see a need to push her to speak, obviously, when she was doing her best to work through her feelings.
He'd have to think of some good avenues to try and help out Ami and Hibachi, though. In the next couple of years, their current level of strength would be suspect, at best. For the shit that was coming their way. Not for the first time, and he doubted it'd be the last time, he did regret giving up on the Standing Stones.
"It's fine," Ami huffed. "Just means I need to throw myself into training even more than before."
"Do you have it in you to do that?"
"To keep up, it's not a matter if I have it or not. I will do it," she all but glared at him, as if provoking him to say otherwise.
He held his hands up, smiling over at her. "Hey! I believe you, so hold off on the glare."
"I don't glare. I stare with malice."
"That's the same thing as a glare."
To which he earned a punch to his shoulder. If nothing else, Ami's spirit did seem as if it was beginning to rebound from the loss she'd taken. That was a good sign. The rest of the day was spent ambling around the village, eating good food, and talking about everything and nothing at the same time.
She'd be alright.
Fūinjutsu was not a field that Tobio by itself held a great deal of interest in, but even he couldn't deny the usages of it. You could bind hostile jutsu within one, or carve seals outright into the air if your skill with chakra manipulation was high enough. Others could inflict downright deleterious controlling seals on you to keep you from speaking on certain topics.
It was an area of interest in the original story that was about as bullshit as the plot needed it to be at a given moment. He might not have held any great fondness for it, but Tobio wouldn't deny that it was very, very useful. Specifically for the most important usage of all, the capacity to reverse summon yourself to find the Summon Clan you were the most oriented toward.
"For the record, I despise that we're doing this, and if we had more than a month I'd ask you to wait," Tekuno sensei bluntly admitted, rolling out huge practice scrolls and getting out his ink brush as they sat together. "But the reality is what it is."
"Is reverse-summoning that dangerous?" Tobio asked, watching his sensei draw careful, intricate patterns on the surface of the scroll.
He scoffed, glancing briefly back up at Tobio, but not even missing a beat with his calligraphy. "Is it dangerous, he asks! People hear the success story of the Sannin when it comes to reverse-summoning, and expect miracles out of the process."
"What you don't hear is how many perfectly fine shinobi get brutalized or maimed in the Summon Realms, because they think it's a walk in the park," his sensei all but growled. "Summons may act human at times, but never forget their priorities are completely different than a human's."
That made Tobio frown. "That sounds like you've got a real gripe with them."
"I do," his sensei admitted. "But for simple reasons. Unless you're tight with them, you have to remember that you are and always will be a client to them. And they're more than happy to drop a client if the circumstances are too hot for them."
"They sound like shinobi."
"Yeah, it's probably why we're some of the only ones they deign to contract with, with any regularity. Maybe some monk orders, or certain noble families, but that tends to be it."
The pattern that very slowly came together might have resembled a bunch of squiggles, but in reality Tobio could almost feel his eyes threatening to activate just looking at them. It was a sequence, a very specific sequence designed to interact with the user's chakra, and then modulate itself to some sort of frequency on the fly.
When people spoke about reverse-summoning to find the Summon Clan you were most associated with, that was what they meant. Every person's chakra signature was unique, not just because of their elemental leanings, but because of innumerable other features. Specific bloodlines, personality traits, and more besides. The real problem was what happened when you were dumped somewhere decidedly inhospitable, or your closest clan to your frequency had little interest in allowing you to sign with them.
"If we're doing this, I'm summoning you back after an hour or so, if you don't return on your own," he warned, features exceptionally grave. "You can go back if they're fans, but I'm counting on you to live for at least an hour by yourself if things go sideways."
"Yes, sensei," Tobio agreed, before he paused and squinted over at Tekuno. "…Why don't you have a clan?"
His sensei's hand almost twitched, coming to a stop from his scrawling, before he focused all of his attention on Tobio. "I tried, once, when I was a few years older than you."
Well, now he was curious. "Who'd you get?"
"Centipedes. They didn't take kindly to me, but were gracious enough to only leave me with a light case of poisoning."
The mood took a little bit a dive after that, but they continued their training for the next few sessions together. It wasn't until the third that Tobio had enough proficiency in drawing the seals for his sensei's liking. Mostly because when you could keep your hand from shaking, and had exacting physiological control, drawing wasn't that hard.
He could be better, but for now, it was good enough.
It wasn't hard to tell that his sensei still wanted to decline him. Yet with his newfound offensive power and existing durability, Tobio was confident that he'd at least live. Then again, maybe all those shinobi that died or were delimbed felt the same way.
…Okay, maybe he wasn't as confident anymore.
"I can't find any reasons to say no at this point," the man grunted, looking chagrined. "Are you ready?"
"Yep!" He nodded, grinning broadly.
"On the count of three," Tekuno-sensei chanted, looking at the seal and his student with unerring precision. "One, two, three!"
Those intricate patterns of ink and blood spilled forth from the palm of his hand as he slammed it against the pattern he'd drawn. In an instant, he felt the pull on his chakra, as Tobio's entire being was beginning to be tugged. It felt almost reminiscent of the teleportation from the Tag-In Jutsu, but…bigger, like there was something titanic pulling him along for the ride, in that void between spaces.
And then, in a puff of smoke and one blink, he was gone. When he opened his eyes again, he was…well, far enough away from the climate and temperature of Konoha that it would have clued him in that he wasn't in the Land of Fire anymore. That was before his senses cast out, taking note of anything and everything for miles around, but paying special attention for major chakra signatures. His gaze, however, did its best to take in the various sights around him.
Parts of the Land of Fire almost entirely reminded him of the gigantic redwood trees of his Earth, even if the result only bore a superficial resemblance. That was because Hashirama had been fond of making the most stupidly large trees for no reason. Maybe the guy just really likes making a phallic, masculine statement by spreading his seed all over the place.
Who could say?
These trees weren't exactly on the level of those monsters, but the fact that they distantly reminded him of the Forest of Death was a surprise. Huge, unyielding pines surrounded him, with the scent of sap and old wood in the air. More curiously were the other things that he picked up, as he focused in on the sizable chakra signatures popping up on his supernatural radar.
Directly ahead of him, in the wide, massive path carved through the forest, were figures at the edge of what resembled some kind of village. Past the massive gate and wall of pallisades, made of massive timbers shoved into the earth in a haphazard fashion. Huge, shambling shapes moved around, the kind that made the bear he'd slew before look small. Not all of them were that big, but enough of them were to make him a little nervous.
If there was a saving grace, it was that he was pretty sure they were otherwise occupied and not paying a great deal of attention to anything beyond their walls at that moment. The thick, cloying scent of mead in the air spoke to that much, as he tried to think about anything other than their possible threatening response, or how much he tool craved booze deep in the seat of his soul.
Getting closer to the structures ahead of him, Tobio could acknowledge that perhaps he'd been a little hasty in calling it a village in the conventional sense. Some of it was similar, in the same way a child's imitation of a house could be understood to be one thing, but just uncanny enough to not quite qualify. While their construction was unmistakably built in such a fashion that he could tell what the rough purpose of the totem poles, or massive homes might be, enough was just off enough to make him think twice about any concrete guesses. Nor did he think they were built with human means and concepts in mind.
The choice to have wooden homes that were halfway dug into the gigantic hill were more of an objective, purposeful choice. Many of them reminded him faintly of Nordic longhouses, though the bears themselves were not so rigid and limited to that specific historical theme.
They came in all sorts of colors, like black, red, deep browns, and light blondes, fur patterns a riot of varying colors. In all shapes and sizes, from those that were reasonably around the size of a grizzly, to something that was much, much larger, a massive, warehouse-sized figure snoozing off in the distance. Nor were they sedate in their drinking, as the revelry was impossible to mistake as anything but. It was a violent one, but one he could recognize various events all the same as being good-natured. Things like wrestling, as two behemoths snarled in the middle of a ring carved out of the dirt. Or the way they drank out of gnarled wooden casks, and boasted in an accent that seemed suspiciously foreign to the Elemental Nations. Hell, even their clothing and arms, what little there was, reminded him of Viking stylings.
He was a small, tiny figure, coming into a world built for people so much bigger than him. Yet even so, he walked forward and tried to stave off whatever tension he had on this approach. It wasn't long before someone noticed him.
It was one of the lighter blonde ones, with its beard tied up into three small braids, and gray fur around the snout. Several scars lined across its eye and the left half of its face, while a huge, engraved pauldron sat on the left shoulder, and a necklace with a skull he couldn't recognize rested around its neck.
"Oi, oi, oi," it grumbled, voice like a gravelly, old man spoke, lifting itself from a seated position to standing, towering easily in the range of several stories tall. "What's this human cub doing here?" That was enough to set off a small riot of curious voices, as so many of them filtered through the crowd, as big, toothy skulls turned his direction.
"A human cub?"
"Here?"
"Must have gotten lost."
"How'd he get lost, you daft fuck?"
"There's no need for the hurtful language, Olaf."
"Smells fierce."
"Your sense of smell is shot, Ukko. You say that about everyone."
It was a cacophony of noise, as all sorts of bears took notice, stopping their revelry to regard Tobio with the kind of curious stares you'd give a rare wild animal. At the very least, it wasn't hostility. Even if the blonde one's expression didn't fill him with friendliness.
Especially as he growled in a low rumble, silencing the rest of the chatter. Shooting a brief look over his shoulder to see that the rest of them were silenced, he turned back to look at Tobio with a pensive frown. "…Hmm. How'd you get here, lad?"
"I reverse-summoned myself to find a Summon Clan to contract with," he explained, trying his best to keep the nerves from showing. "And I got you guys."
"Well, we're not pricks, so we're not gonna maul you, but you've come to the wrong place," the main bear spoke, looking none too pleased at the interruption of their festivities, as he lifted a paw and pointed at Tobio. "You're too small! Too weak! I bet you can't even take a drink like a real man. Maybe come by in a few years, eh, and we'll see if you've fattened up some."
There were a lot of things that Tobio could take as an insult. He could understand being called small, because he was, at least by their perspective. Someone calling him weaker? A little hurtful, but a lot of these bears were literally house-sized; they were bound to be stronger than him if Embers of the Heroic Age wasn't active.
But there was one thing, and one thing in particular, he could not abide. Deriding his ability to drink.
"…What did you just say?"
With a wet snort, the house-sized bear spoke again. "So says Otso, that you're small! No muscles, all wiry, and you can't even drink! Not like adult Humans are much better, anyway. Just go on your way."
Tobio's fists clenched together so hard he felt his joints pop before he relocated them again. Looking up at the bear, he ran his tongue along the front of his teeth, before he found the words rising out of his gullet unbidden. "Without even giving me a chance…?"
"The only tests we take for our contractors are the ability to fight, or the ability to drink. And you can do neither, even with that oversized toothpick on your back."
"What didst yond fooleth just sayeth about me?" His companion's voice echoed in the back of his mind, growing just as cool and frustrated as him. "…You must break them."
For once, sword spirit and wielder were in total agreement. If the bears didn't want to accept that he was worthy, that was fine. He'd prove that he was worthy.
"…No."
Otso blinked in surprise, confusion writ large on his features. "No? What do you mean, no?"
"I meant no, I'm not taking your dumbass answer, old man!" There were a couple of gasps among the various bears as they looked at each other. "I'm challenging you lot to a drinking and fighting competition, right here, right now. I'll fight as much as I drink, or die trying."
Out of the various things that they might have been expecting, Otso included, this willful defiance wasn't it. Maybe that thought he'd have been cowed into shape by their size, or apparent ferocity. If he'd been a regular twelve-year-old Genin, that probably would have been the case.
Tobio was literally built differently, inside and out, however. The notion that he would give up at such a simple speedbump to his progress was inconceivable to him. And in this moment, his sword spirit and he were in total agreement about some things.
Sometimes a man had to take a stand.
"Do you even know what you're asking, runt? What we make our mead out of? How easily we could CRUSH YOU?!" He roared, as if that was going to scare Tobio.
He'd piledriven a man to his expected death with nary a thought in his head. As if this overstuffed fur carpet was going to scare him!
"Yeah, I do, so let's get moving, gramps! Or are you too scared to admit you'd lose to a child?"
It was as if the man looked shocked at the very prospect, trembling in either anger or confusion. Tobio wasn't sure which was which, as the older bear clenched his teeth and spoke in a low growl. "Tor. Get the mead."
"Chief, are you sure this, uh-"
"GET THE MEAD!"
"RIGHT AWAY, CHIEF!" One of the various bears around him ambled off out of sight, heading into one of the massive longhouses.
That was when Otso's eyes narrowed down at Tobio. "When you die from kidney failure, don't blame me. Blame your own arrogance."
"Kidney failure?" Tobio scoffed. "Sir, I run on alcohol." Internally, Tobio began to transmute his body into a machine that processed alcohol, to the expense of everything else. Even if he didn't think he needed it…
Why wouldn't you cheat when you were already ahead?
"We'll be drinking, and if you're still upright after that, then we'll be fighting," Otso informed him. "Not that you'll be making it that far."
"We'll see, gramps."
It didn't take long for the bear that'd run off to return, with two huge kegs for each of them. Well, one was much bigger than the other, but that was understandable. What was a barrel for Tobio was a tankard for these fuckers.
"We'll drink until we've hit the end of our barrels, and then keep going till we can't drink any more. Are you prepared?"
Tobio barely heard his words, staring down at the amber fluid, sloshing in the barrel in front of him. Every single cell in his body, unbidden, was prepared for the impending alcohol. It felt as if for the first time, he'd become a Mixed Blood in truth, and not just in name. Oh, to be sure, he'd dived deep into the well of violence over the last few months.
He'd slain more people than he would have ever thought possible. But had he indulged in the other half of his bloodline? Debauchery and vice not only in excess, but to the point of madness. His mouth felt dry, in dreadful anticipation.
Looking up at Otso, there was a feverish light in his eyes, teeth bared in something between a snarl and a grin. "I'm ready."
"THEN DRINK!" The bear lifted up his massive keg, so much bigger than Tobio's barrel. And Tobio followed suit, his own superhuman strength allowing him to heft it up. And then, when the first drop hit his tongue…
Oh.
Oh no.
"OH YES!" His sword spirit giggled in absolute delight.
This was the color to his life he'd been missing, wasn't it? It was like realizing he'd only been seeing the world in an incomplete palette, or listening to things in mono and not stereo. So much depth and flavor, the richness of the mead, how long it must have been aged, and were those hints of green apple he tasted-
Oh, this was going to be a problem, but not for Tobio. They'd given a descendant of Oni access to alcohol. Everything that happened after this was on them.
In the annals of the Bear Clan, certain legends were spoken of. When they came to these lands before the great chieftains were gone, when the epics had yet to be written, and every bear was the master of their own saga, they spoke of what humanity had once been. They spoke of men of honor, men of vision, men of great and terrible ambition, striding across the land like heroes of old.
It was in those days, before skulduggery took hold in the hearts of men, that the Bears answered the call. They would walk alongside these heroes, weaving these great and terrible tales across the landscape. Axe and odachi in hand, their Summoners might not have been paragons of virtue…but they had been men who could carry the weight of the world.
They fought with smiles on their faces, with bared fangs, and in the light of the day. Each of them was covered in a coat of scars, and they were petty chiefs, rulers of tiny fiefdoms, or wandering adventurers who slew and ravaged. Heroes in the old sense of the world, great and terrible, for their generosity was boundless, and their rage was endless in equal measure.
But times changed.
Such is the remit of the turning of the wheel, until the stars burn out and the cycle begins again. Yet it didn't make it hurt any less for the Bears, as they saw men turn from the forthright path. The children of those awful, vainglorious, stout, flawed heroes became men of iniquity. Instead of choosing to fight their battles headfirst and head-on, they stole, thieved, and used the gifts the Sage spread for a darker path.
And in time, the Bears turned away from them, in the hopes that the wheel would turn once more. It was like the world to spin ever on, with epochs and ages to transform themselves anew. With time, it was the hope that the sons and daughters of mankind would one day produce a new champion once again.
They would be a titan amongst men, and the Bears would know them for their fatal flaws. Hubris, arrogance, rage, vice, and in turn, they would be known for their boons. Loyal beyond all reason to their friends, open-handed with their generosity to the point of ruin, and most importantly?
Such a child of men would be able to drink. So after however many years had passed since they last walked astride the Elemental Nations…
"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!"
Their heroes had returned to them, and they were as magnificent and flawed as ever.
"HE'S STILL GOING?!" One of their number cried, halfway between incredulousness and awe.
"THIS KID IS UNSTOPPABLE!"
Another had far more pragmatic reasons to cheer for Tobio's success, though. "I'VE WON SO MUCH BETTING ON HIM!"
Tobio didn't know where he was, what he was, or even what day it was. His brain was an organ that was hyperspecialized to the purpose of insanity, exclusively so he could perform the motion of hefting up his barrel to drain it dry. His liver was a construct specifically designed to filter alcohol to the best of its ability. Those kidneys of his were...doing something, he wasn't entirely sure at this point, but they were certainly working to their utmost in that moment.
Every single blood vessel in his body was meant to carry booze, a network of roads for the explicit purpose of housing mead. Eyes alight with a feverish fire, he felt himself floating away on a cloud with each gulp, further and further away from sanity. But so what?
Sanity was overrated.
"This is the best day of my life!" His sword spirit squealed, sounding as if she was enjoying things just as much as him. That was nice.
Eventually, they hit a tipping point, though. When he just couldn't keep up with the sheer amount Otso was drinking, not with how unfairly large the man was. If Tobio could generate the mass ex nihilo to become a larger creature, maybe he would have done so. For now…he had to settle for what he could.
Though it did mean he was defeated, if by a surprisingly narrow margin. Otso slammed his keg down, standing up, and reaching out suddenly for Tobio. The boy, drunk as he was, found his reflexes dulled too swiftly to resist the man's grasp, as those clawed mitts wrapped around his waist. And then…
Being held aloft, as countless bear faces roared out their approval and delight, while Otso added his voice above the din.
"HEAR ME, I OTSO, SON OF ILLMARINEN THE FORGER, PROCLAIM THIS HUMAN CUB A BEAR-FRIEND!"
A wave of noise crashed against Tobio as he felt it wash over him, blinking blearily. "W-What?"
"THIS CUB HAS OUTDRUNK SEVERAL OF YOU MANGY FUCKS THIS DAY, AND HAS PROVEN HIMSELF ONE OF US…ALMOST!" Otso yelled, still holding Tobio aloft like a small child. "BUT ONE THING AWAITS US…THE CIRCLE!"
"THE CIRCLE!"
Many voices came forth in unison as he found himself being carried through the crowd by Otso. They came to an earthen pit, a massive one, that he was unceremoniously tossed into. It was almost too late for him to twist onto his feet, but he managed it, just as Otso crashed into the pit.
He was huge, all bulk and fur, teeth bared in a feral grin. "My apologies, lad. I was not familiar with your ferocity, and I did not entreat with you in good faith."
"It's cool?" Tobio spoke, asking more than telling in his drunken confusion, letting out a burp as he reached for his sword.
"But one last thing separates you, young man, from becoming our Contractor! To prove your mettle, and your strength!"
…Fuck it, he was in for a penny, in for a pound. Tobio squared up against the massive wall of total fuck-off death and turned off his brain. It didn't serve much of a purpose, anyway, drunk as he was and with his blood roaring.
Meaning he promptly exploded forward in a flash of fire, a yell of rage leaving his mouth, and matching the one Otso sent forth right back. It was time to nut up or shut up. What did he expect with a clan of bears when it came to what they desired out of the shinobi they'd bind with?
Tobio exploded forth through the air, and for a few fleeting moments, he was free. Sweaty, his face carved into a rictus grin, at the edge of any sense of sanity, he was free. Free from worries about the future, about whether it was going to be up to him to save the day, about that strike that Otso was winding up with his claws-
It was nice.
"Dodge!" His companion yelled, fright filling her voice.
All good things had to come to an end eventually, and his break from reality only lasted for a few seconds. It was a nice time away from his responsibilities, before the world came knocking again. Quite literally, in the form of a massive paw smacking into his torso.
Otso might have hit him the hardest he'd ever hit. That was the thought that cut through the entirety of his drunken mind, cool and clear as a hot knife through butter. If he hadn't possessed an unbreakable skeleton, Tobio would have had some broken ribs.
Whether that had been from the initial strike or the sheer strength with which he slammed into the ground. Just the force of it took him aback, brain rocking for the briefest moment inside his skull. Then, he was getting up on shaky limbs, grin faltering for just the moment.
Could he do this?
Could he win this?
It was rare for hum to have thoughts like that, but apparently getting drunk for the first time made him introspective. The fact that this wasn't a fight to the death might be the only reason he was still alive. Well, Tobio was pretty sure this wasn't a fight to the death.
Even so, the doubt niggled in the back of his mind before being banished by a familiar voice.
"Whether you can or can't doesn't matter," his partner whispered. "You have to. So pull your pants up, use that weird thing you inserted in me, and win."
…She didn't have to phrase World Arts like that. He planted the seed of a Balance Breaker inside of her; it probably didn't hurt. Why was she such a baby?
"YOU FUCKING FOOL, YOU'RE STILL IN A DUEL!"
Oh, yeah. God, he was hammered.
Otso had obviously taken advantage of Tobio's stillness to charge, rushing forward on all fours with a roar. He was barreling down on the boy and would be there in seconds. No time to move, no enough strength to block, so he had to take stock of what options he had at his disposal at that moment.
Just nothing but his indomitable will and the driving desire to be a hero. That would have to be enough, as he reached into the part of his soul connected to his zanpakutō. It wasn't Shikai, it wasn't Bankai, it wasn't the bullshit third stage he heard about from a mobile game. This was something new, made manifest by nothing but his will, desire, and the hearty helping System chicanery.
Every Balance Breaker was a culmination of a Sacred Gear's power meeting their user's desire. Where the rubber met the road, and something either gave way or transformed into something beautiful. For Tobio, he'd only ever had one goal since he'd arrived in this new world, and so, it latched onto that concept.
That beautiful, impossible goal.
"BALANCE BREAKER."
"What in f-" His sword's confusion was writ large as he felt his chakra reserves begin to fall, as something began to emerge from his blade.
Armor slowly began to materialize out of nothing, slapping tightly around his arm. It started from his fingers to form a sort of pseudo-kote, then moved slowly up, solidified out of nothing but chakra, will, and his own stubborn resolve. Piece by piece, moving past his shoulder, part of the right side of his chest, and then the right side of his face. Each piece of a samurai's regalia, rather than a shinobi's, something that he might have liked to think on if the situation hadn't been so dire.
His soul wasn't strong enough to cover everything, as his body found itself covered in a sode, tare, and grinning oni-themed menpo. Compared to the full suit that he suspected would one day be able to cover him in its entirety, this would have to be enough. But the boost from his much would be enough, as he felt his body swell with strength and speed. All while the mask that covered the right side of his features finished forming, a long horn jutting up where his brow would be, while the scowling features of a beast were shown to the world.
"HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES."
This was who he was, underneath everything, when you stripped down all the pretensions and desires. Someone who wanted to save the day. For whatever reason, though, that seemed to be precisely what the bear wanted to see or hear, as he rushed forward with a glee, trying to slam into Tobio.
And failed.
"WHAT?" Otso barked, as Tobio's small body stopped his much larger one, sheer force and strength straining but managing to do so, as his natural might was amplified to superhuman heights. "WHAT IS THIS?!"
"HEROISM!" Tobio laughed back as he nudged his blade and made the gigantic bear go barreling past him, stumbling as the boy smiled. "What, you've never seen a Hero before?"
With a pause, his foe got back to his feet, looking amused. "I appear to have doubted you once again and underestimated what you were capable of. Perhaps I'm getting too cocky in my old age."
"Probably, Gramps."
"Chit."
"You gonna swing at me again, or we gonna talk all day?"
With a belly-shaking laugh, Otso grinned. "Let us continue then."
And then there was nothing but the din of claws and blades, crashing against one another…
There was a difference between fighting a person-sized target and a gigantic, monstrous figure. Tobio wouldn't have ever thought that would be on his list of priorities, but alas, it was true. The things a fighter had to be concerned about, let alone a shinobi, were different.
It wasn't a matter of jutsu or thrown kunai, but the sheer bulk of Otso that was the threat. Each errant swipe of his claws, each snapping bite of his jaws, every ponderous and heavy shift of his weight to try and crush Tobio…
Adapting for a ninja would have been difficult. But Tobio wasn't just a ninja, was he? The boy had all of the trained instincts of a Barbarian resting in the back of his mind, waiting to be unleashed. Combating the whims of a gigantic monster was just a Tuesday for them.
He leapt and twisted out of the way of a blow, landing on Otso's back as he ran and slashed at the same time. The strikes weren't so deep as to hit anything vital, but they were certainly painful, as the man got up onto all fours to try and shake him off.
A notion that failed, as he glued his feet with chakra adhesion and began to stab. The roars that spilled forth told him that he was doing a good job, as did the thick streams of blood. "YOU LITTLE PRICK!"
The Mixed-Blood laughed and cried at the same time, body burning all the while from the inside out. Sweat was pouring down his back in thick, making his hair feel sticky and wet against his scalp, and he was almost positive his heart should not be going through palpitations like that. Yet even so...he loved it. "FUCK YOU, OLD MAN!"
Tobio's gramps did not, in fact, properly surrender. Instead, he merely did the intelligent thing with a gnat on his back. He began to fall back, with the intent on crushing Tobio beneath it. It was a good plan, considering how slurred his thoughts and actions were from the drink.
Hell, the plan even succeeded, as the Mixed Blood was crushed beneath thousands of pounds of weight. The real problem was when Otso began to feel something wiggling underneath him, and incredulously…felt the sensation of his body beginning to be lifted up.
Under normal circumstances, Tobio would never have been able to lift such a heavy weight. But a Balance Breaker changed the rules; it made the impossible possible, as his limbs and muscles were reinforced to new heights, as he found his leverage in the dirt and hefted the huge bear up.
Slowly but surely, dead-lifting the bear…and then throwing him. "HO!"
"WHAT?" Otso shouted, sprawling onto his stomach as he went soaring through the air, more shocked than anything else as Tobio began to stomp toward him with shaking limbs. Dust and dirt was kicked up in the bear's wake, but frankly, the shock seemed to be keeping him from continuing the battle further.
"Did he just lift Otso?"
"That tiny cub?"
"They must be feeding human cubs something special."
"I don't think most human children can, buddy."
With whatever strength remained, Tobio was going to prove himself to this bear. Or die trying.
"Maybe avoid the dying part."
OR DIE TRYING.
A long-suffering sigh escaped the blade on his back. "…Good lord, you're such a fool…"
"Wait," Otso yelled as he got to his feet. "I'm not such a fool as to keep fighting in the face of such unmistakable valor and bravery. Lesser men than you would have wept facing me down."
Tobio paused, control over his Balance Breaker wavering. "…Does that mean I win?"
After all that?
The smile that Otso sent his way was almost grandfatherly, or at least as much as a bear could look it. "Aye, lad. I had not thought I had much to learn about this world, yet even now, I am surprised by the indomitable spirit of men. So I thank you, and ask…"
"Will you become our summoner?"
There was silence in the crowd that watched them, before nothing but a roar and cheer sprang forth around them. Each and every bear, cub, and old biddie stomping their feet or jumping up and down. It was deafening, but Tobio couldn't feel most of it. His body was…
Well, being caught underneath Otso's back did some damage. He'd just put it like that. Even so, he grinned and didn't think twice about his answer. "Of course."
And then, the cheering was redoubled, as Otso's smile became even wider. "Oh my, there's so much to do! We've got to get you to sign the contract, and then put you in the clan annals, and then-"
It was around that point when Tobio began to feel the tug of a summoning. If he were being honest, he'd kind of forgotten he'd been on an hour-long time limit. Quite a bit had happened in that hour, and he'd gotten…distracted. Even the feeling of his armor beginning to dissipate, as the colossal cost of his Balance Breaker beginning to fade back into the sea of his soul.
"Wait, wait, wait," he barked, holding up his hands. "My sensei is about to summon me back! I'll be back in a minute, alright?"
Otso, and the many other confused bears, barely got a moment to open their mouths to speak before he felt himself being ripped through the void once more. Then, plopped right back down into the original summoning circle, blinking at the sudden transition in light, and looking at his horrified sensei.
"…What the hell happened to you?"
There was a faint sense of awe and terror in his sensei's voice at those words. Which was fair, Tobio had a pretty good idea of how bad he looked at the moment. He felt great, though.
Giving his sensei a beaming grin, the boy with battered, bruised skin, blood caked over his forehead, a torn shirt, a completely undone ponytail, and innumerable cuts looked unperturbed by the damage done to him. "I made some new friends."
Naturally, that was where his sensei had a few questions as to what had happened. Tobio was more than happy to oblige.