[Topic Entered with: Toraono Michino, Ryuu Tama, and Uzumoreru Toushin]
The Diamond District was a place of calm and serenity that breaks away from the hustle of desert life when the only real fun thing to do is peruse the exotic markets. Many of the merchant nobles, desert nobles, and those who had found a way in through bribery or status once called it a home of relaxation; a jewel of serenity in Sunagakure.
Then Tama moved in.
Despite his house being located to the most notorious killer in the entire military, there was no shortage of noise and explosions coming from his two-story Victorian. Mind they were literally estimated to be half of his normal noise complaints, it was still far more than the nobles were used to – by a lot. Even so, the creator of madness had really curbed his enthusiasm for most of his experimentation.
Dr. Ryuu had boiled what he thought would continued to be ‘useful’ for future endeavors of his precious time. The Ancients and their Hybrids, Chakra Coil Augmentation, and new technology on first aid for non-medical staff due to their frightening shortage of shinobi members were the three things he felt were the most concerning. No longer was he conducting morally suggestive experiments on human subjects, with Uzu having been his last true failure. What had started as a simple alteration of Toushin’s bio genetics in the attempt to create his own Hybrid turned his rival into the most dangerous creature walking the sands. The assassin had even managed to regrow the arm Tama had taken from him years ago in one of their many battles back onto his shoulder, and for some reason took it in stride. Further study concluded that whatever he had attempted to add into the Uzumoreru blood had only been taken over and repurposed into the monster Toushin had become, there was no trace of Ancient lineage anywhere.
To that note, now, the scientist had no clue as to what the killer had become either. He certainly wasn’t human anymore by any stretch of the word save his form, and he exhibited non of the Hybrid’s trademarks. There was no boost in chakra output, there was no elemental presence, and his control over chakra based techniques was still Chuunin level at best. Yet, somehow, the experiment reversed Toushin’s age back down now to a solid late 30s. The assassin appeared to be far healthier than he ever had, as if the cancer never happened. He was preforming missions that should be ‘suicide’, yet he always walks back in through the gates with the only showing damage on his clothing; the man’s skin remained unmarked; even Uzu’s old scars were starting to fade.
Of course his actual age still showed. Despite the what he appeared to be, he acted with the tact of a wise elder, and did or said little that didn’t reflect it. One of those signs, was that he had made full amends with his daughter and her boyfriend, Michino. The assassin gladly had them both move into his much larger house from Chiyo’s smaller apartment, with the only stipulation that Tama’s seven-foot tall half brother was to train under the legendary assassin. At first it had made little sense at all, but only after a single month Tama could see that his brother was already going under a transformation. The Toraono was using less and less of the demonic power dwelling inside and was learning how to fully rely and utilize on his own muscles. Every day the doctor walked by Toushin’s open garage, he saw Michino practicing a new style of martial art, mastering them almost daily.
At first, the snarky scientist lobbed mockery at the two which was simply ignored, but as the year went on, he too realized it. Despite his assumption that Toushin was now immortal, the man was still using the wisdom of his near death experience. A day might pass when something was finally able to kill him, Tama thought in his easy chair one day, and when it did; what did he have? Who did he leave it to? His Wildling daughter or ex-girlfriend? His meat-head brother? Or even, Kami forbid, the Takahashi? None of the answers satisfied Tama until he came upon the idea to do as Toushin was doing; train an apprentice. He would never be able to transfer all of his powers, but, his knowledge could and should be passed on. The person he chose, however, was a bit left field.
Uzumoreru Chiyoko, whom had to spend a year bedridden from her cancer, was the perfect student. Despite curing the Black Blood Cancer, the damage it had done was very real, and had all but robbed the girl of her original strength. Michino had ever been at her side during the early recovery too, and Tama figured that was why Uzu had originally made them move into his house was so the Toraono could return focus back onto his clan. Now Chiyo spent days by herself: sometimes in bed, most of the time slowly wandering around the new large house. The grace and speed her legs once carried were but shadows now, and it was with the boredom that was brought about from her crippled body did Tama make his move.
She had a new power locked deep inside. The Hybrid could smell it – the scent of death that followed her. After a few blood tests at the start of her training, he found that because she had survived what appeared to be a mystical cancer, the very touch of death itself hovered around her Coil. Within the year he had spent training Chiyo, she had mastered some degree of charkra control and ninjutsu sealing. Through this she had found a way to regain some of her old mobility, and the scientist couldn’t be prouder; except if only she took it seriously.
That had been the hard part of it all; dealing with another person. Tama, being a selfish prick, clashed hard with Chiyo’s ‘princess’ personality. He was a Solar Hybrid, the First of Suna, creator of the Chakra Coil Replacement surgery and many other augmentations...and she really couldn’t care less. It had was like chewing iron nails to get her to study and take anything he sent her way seriously because she had the uncanny habit of mastering it immediately. Things that had even taken the scientist years of research, practice, trail and error she figured out in days. Despite this, today, Tama just knew it was going to be his day.
Clutched tight under his right arm was a stack of handwritten journals. The doctor was wearing his normal, ‘well-to-do’ work outfit; a white button down silk shirt, black tie, tucked into a pair of dark cotton slacks. A dark blue silk vest was worn over the shirt and a pair of specialized dress shoes for doctors adorned his feet. Over it all was the trademark lab-coat he was rarely seen without. He was walking with some skip in his step as he passed by Uzu’s Garage to see his brother doing single-finger push ups...it appeared he was on the middle finger. Moving faster so that neither of them would try to strike up a conversation with the doctor, Tama darted to his door and slipped inside the house.
The books under his arm were part of his personal collection that were hidden away far from house. Journals he had written during his “Black Period”, when he was ever researching for a way to stop his original disease of aging, were the ones he clutched. Tomes of knowledge that could destory entire nations if they were to fall in the wrong hands, and the he held them like the simple books they appeared to be. He had taken the better part of the day to avoid ANBU and slip into the Underground where he had cleverly hidden his old trailer house in an abandoned part of the sewers. Where he had many of these self-written tomes in his personal library tucked into the back of his trailer, there were a few even he hid, considering they strength they had were some of his calling cards: sealing abilities that could remove and store souls, rituals to speak to and control the dead, and other fun little things Uzu would have a fit about if he knew.
Slipping the door’s lock to seal his front door, Tama immediately strode across his living room to the back wall next to a large fireplace and pushed in a brick on the mantle. The wall he was facing slid behind the fireplace and in the scientist went as it quickly shut behind seconds later. He had no idea who built the secret tunnels between his house and Toushin’s. For once, it actually wasn’t him, and despite extensively researching the past owners of the two houses, he still had no clue who built them or why; but they were convenient as hell for teaching Chiyo everything he wanted without Toushin having a clue. Within a few minutes he had already navigated to the top floor of his neighbor’s house and walked right towards a dead-end before rapping his knuckles on the wood before him.
[MFT]
