Cloud's Chosen: ROOM 2

[Okada Kaji]

It took years to reach the plateau— or low point, of sustaining his right state of mind while in that pale-skinned, charred-hearted form. While Kaji had the willpower to differentiate between civilians, allies, and enemies, it was absolute focus which kept his form as a harbinger of death so static. He was moving about like a black wind of destruction, hewing judgment from the bones of every fleeing enemy he felled, but the truth was that Kaji Okada kept moving in an effort to escape his own. As a master, Kaji taught his pupils the value of sparing enemies, and in the field, he followed through with his teachings. Yet, here and now he let rage guide him and the enemies paid a dear price. There was nothing to be learned from the piles of bodies, only judgments cast.

Once those enemies were no more and Kaji Okada no longer had a cause to run, those obsidians horns rescinded and his skin resumed that toasted summer shade. There was a loud clang as Eelspine jumped out of his hand and landed flat on the slanted ground beside him. Perhaps the blade too was disgusted. Then came that unfamiliar voice calling out to him, tugging at Kaji specifically with the few words that could make his heart skip a beat. The child had returned, now verbalizing the same judgment that Kaji carried burdened himself with as he acted. However, as the small mouth ran, her words her a particularly skewed perspective as a driving force. Alliances. The word revealed too much and had Kaji’s eyebrows quivering and angling downward, scowl hardening. He turned to face the child, so full of anger, yet the image of her still softened his edge like a magical force blunting a shuriken mid-flight. Just how powerful was this illusion?

“The home is a contrived concept for a shinobi, only as valuable as how much they invest in it… any child of mine would understand well.” Kaji spoke the words about as stiff as he moved, slowly turning to observe that child, who seemed to resemble a blend of Kaji and Yuii more and more as the moments passed. A glare shot from him resembled a pair of emeralds shining in a dim-lit corridor, beautiful yet protected with measures seen and unseen. Kaji was certainly as complex as a well-guarded treasure room. “A shinobi’s love is not glamorous when its true. ‘Even if borders collapsed and the world turned to ashes, my oath would stand still and unwavering, because my heart does not belong to the soil— it can only beat for another.” Was this really a test of loyalty? Kaji pondered the question as he began taking a few steps up the bleachers toward the child, stopping on steps were the distance and slope left them standing apart, evenly eye to eye. Eelspine was left behind, though that short distance of separation would hardly affect his psionic link to the blade. “I would stop at nothing for those I love and cherish; no barriers would stop me, or the perpetrators behind them. True love comes with the kind of clarity doesn’t blur in times of peace or war. That is the definition of loyalty.”

 

[Shieo]

'Huff...' 'Badum...' 'phew..' 'Badum-- Badum badum.' 'Ahh...'

The world around Shieo had slowly begun to resume it's normality, while clouded by the smoke and ruin of a disastrous event and equally disastrous people orchestrating the two tides that conflicted. All he really had time to focus on was the profuse amount of blood that had stained his make-shift bandage. It was manageable and wouldn't take him out, not just yet at least; all things considered, it was a good thing he had chakra to aid in the maintenance of his body- else it may have taken him to the floor.

With each passing breath, everything slowly paced itself back down to what one would expect in their day to day; the sounds of crying, rolling stone from broken components of the stage and the subtle whimpers that cast through the air. It all looked like a scene out of a war-film, the blood that stained around the bleachers and riddling smoke plumes that seemingly wouldn't depart as they clouded the damages that was slewed throughout the arena.

“Ikuttu-nii?”

His ears had perked at the first sounds of coherent words coming from nearby; close in-fact, one of the children that was caught in the chaos. One he couldn't fully come to terms that he helped retain their lives, sort of a habit of disassociation in the times of turmoil. It was around his recognition of the panic in her voice that she had started to rush away, while he didn't reach out for her. His body started to weigh rather heavily- burrows underneath his eyes grown and darker as the exhaustion took an extreme grip on each muscle in his body. Know this was coming-- At least it seems danger is gone. Inhaling deeply, he closed his eyes and let the sting relax him from the growing discomfort of lethargy. “Ikuttu-nii?!” The girl shouted once more, distress filling her anguished voice- It didn't take a rocket scientist to know what had happened; in-fact, he was surprised that this many survived. In the long-run, one loss was considered favorable to an entire generation of their next shinobi... Their next killers.

With his eyes burning as they were closed, he let one last sharp breath out of his nose afore re-opening them to the littered scene of destruction once more. It was hard to keep them open, darkness caressed the shadows of his vision; he wasn't going to die, but he certainly didn't feel well enough to run a marathon.
He watched as one of the young-boys pulled the girl from the ledge, witnessing it with his dour-eyed expression; nothing in his facial muscles so much as twitched under the discomfort that the children faced, while he was certainly not proud of his personality- he had the self-awareness to know he should be feeling sorrow and remorse at such a scene; yet not so much as a pained feeling in his chest occurred out of response of the scene of a young-girl knowing her closest sibling had been murdered out of radicalism.

“Why didn’t you grab him, Sensei?” ... “He was sitting right next to me, he forced her to trade places so he could see you fight better. Why didn’t you see him?”

”Did you just not care!?” Inhaling deeply, not out of consideration of the accusations; but asserting his body some reassurance, all to stand up and look over his bloodied arm- it had closed up for the most part; with the aid of a shinobi's endurance and the properties of chakra control, he was able to aid in at the very least closing the wound, sadly; he would be unable to do much about the after effects, scaring and perhaps a hindrance to it's performance in the future. “You are always so distant with us. Never smiling, never seeming to care, almost as if we are a problem that you are forced to fix.”

“My brother died because he wanted to see his teacher be amazing. I bet you never even cared about this stupid tournament, did you?” He had let out another drained breath, controlling how his body organized its energy reserves; his stamina was nothing impressive- so a greater deal of focus had to be actuated towards keeping himself in some semi-motor functioned state. At this point, he had turned to look at the girl while she was being consoled by the younger-boy, her distress had caused a wave of stifling grief among her peers. And Shieo held at the center, the pedestal was his of blame and despair; he was never terribly well-suited for such things, not because he couldn't inherently handle it, but because he was a bit too blunt about the reality of things.

He let his wounded arm drop to his side lifelessly, letting it finally gain the rest it deserved- any residual blood that sopped up in the clothing was drooling down his forearm and fell to the ground with quiet 'splat' sounds. He had retained a resolute calmness, his dire expression of apathy bore down on the girl for a moment, settling in the situation of things; ultimately pondering the lesson learned here- Not so much for him, but for those who stood around him. They were all aspired shinobi and kunoichi, and Kumogakure wouldn't simply allow them to not be these professions; so it was never a question of retaining their love, honor or respect. It wasn't his job to wield those ideals for children.

"In a way, you're correct; yes." With his undamaged arm, he simply rest it atop his hip- panning his attention to each of the kids, inevitably casting his eyes on the girl once more. Given the weight of his words, he suspected his attention was gained- and perhaps the silence in tow. "There's not a whole lot that can be said-- Truth be told, I don't like teaching this lesson to the students until they're almost ready to become Genin... What you see is the reality that you will be forced to live, that we're all forced to live. Whether we appreciate it or not; you all came here under your own volition. It is a disappointment that he had to die, but you came willing to a place where shinobi actively train to murder people. A single loss is shameful, but acceptable in the grand scheme of things." Taking a moment to catch his winded breath, he coughed into his right hand, replacing it back to his hip afterwards.

"And I didn't care about the tournament, you're right. I did it out of curiosity. -- To be frank, I'm albeit surprised I was chosen." He settled his eyes on the lot once more. "But my being here isn't a matter of concern; I suggest you lot look at the reality of your futures. Because this is only the start of what to expect... You will lose more than just siblings, friends and other family-- You will eventually lose yourself to this job. Everything that makes up you, it will be twisted and strained till every fiber of your being is to be able to handle every situation lifelessly." Wincing under the weight of his wounded left arm, he looked towards one of the nearby corridors out of the facility. "Beyond that... I suggest you get out of where while what life you have; the dust is settling- It may not be over yet."

He took the time to start walking towards the corridor, figuring the students would make their decisions from there; their lesson was learned. And Shieo's goal of aptitude gauging was concluded, all that seemed logical to have completed was make sure he had a working arm after all of this.

"Good luck kids." He winced, departing in carefully discerned steps.

 

[Cloud Seer]

The initial glare of Okada Kaji caused the girl to balk. Almost as if she knew what that particular look meant. Her muscles tensed as she prepared for the reprimand that was sure to come. And, boy did he deliver. She flinched again ever so slightly before quickly straightening her back when he mentioned what his child would or would not know. Frowning with a small crease between her brows and defiance in her eyes, her mouth formed a small pout. Her hands visible clenched into small, tight fists before quickly hiding the slip of emotions and letting them go.

The mysterious girl was stunned into silence for a moment, blue eyes digging into his, almost as if she was looking desperately for something. Searching for answers through the windows of his soul, her mind scraping for a retort. Or was it a struggle to not say something she shouldn’t?

Meanwhile, Shieo faced his own question of morality. Or accusation, rather, as the children sniffed around him with looks of hate and pure shock. The words that rolled off his tongue were fast, frank, and final. Silence reigned throughout them as they began to avoid eye contact with him. Unable to find a counter to his unwavering beliefs. The girl who barely had a moment to mourn her brother frowned fiercely. Tears still streamed, and she looked ready to argue, but it seemed Shieo was done with this lesson. He turned, promptly ending the conversation with a good luck. Like she failed an exam or something.

But he would never make it to the exit. The world around the three men stretched, each feeling as if their heads were being squeezed through a small hole. The ground shifted around them before they quickly found themselves in the center of the arena once more. An almost pristine arena, with no fire, no chaos, no bodies, and no children.

BB sat kneeling just a few feet in front of them. He seemed… smaller, but dented severely from the three’s earlier attacks. The size of the arena also shrank for that matter… and the crowd. But as the barrier shimmered around them they could hear muffled cheers of people who seemed in perfectly good health. Relaxed and safe, but almost in a trance-like state.

Among the sudden appearance of civilians, the sentries remained in their original positions. This time, however, glimmering eyes of red with black pupils swirled in a couple of the sentries masks. Others did not hold the tell-tale marking of the Sharingan, but about a large group of them lowered their hands, almost as if just releasing a jutsu.

A single set of clapping could be heard from behind them.

“Well done, you three,” came the familiar voice of Chigusa, the woman who briefed them on their event. “For a moment there, we were worried you were going to break the illusion.” The sound of a muffled voice was heard over her ear piece. “Noted.” she said simply before slipping into an at-ease stance.

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll keep this simple. Yes, you were under a genjutsu. And so is the crowd. Halfway through the battle, as you saw a different simulation, the rest of the world continued to see a fight. In a few minutes, their genjutsu will break, and it will appear to them that you successfully managed to take the behemoth, BB, down.”

“There will be a full report on what you saw after the match submitted to council, but know the original intention was to test your mind and morals under the most extreme circumstances. Your minds created the illusion, we just provided the questions we needed you to answer.” Another muffled voice came through her speaker, almost urgent sounding. “We need to maintain the appearance that the match went on as the world saw it. As such, I request you remain here to soak in the applause before making an exit. The country wanted a good show, and the council wanted to ensure they were sending their best representatives of Cloud to Tea. I trust you understand the importance of maintaining such an illusion?”

Turning on her heel, she sped toward the exited. A medical team waited in the entryway. They made their move as the dome barrier to come crashing down. When it did, Kaji, Shieo, and Kazumi were bombarded with screams and cheers. It wasn’t as loud as when they first entered, but still deafening. The medical team came rushing to Shieo first, giving him a moment to wave to the crowd before forcing him onto the gurney they brought with them.

Among the crowd, a petite frame with iridescent blue eyes and dark hair looked at the three in the arena with an appearance of annoyance. Her gaze lingered a little longer on Okada Kaji before turning to jump behind a group of teenagers yelling and shouting at the victory they witnessed.

She didn’t reappear on the other side. Leaving anyone who saw her to wonder if she was just an after-effect of the heavy jutsu they were just released from. After all, they had been placed in the illusion the moment they stepped into the arena.

 

[Shieo]

In-tune with his steps, he slowly began to feel a growing weight in his head. As if a drum started banging right beside it; all until the world slowly started to contort, rip and tear around him up until it reformed from it's stretched mess into that of the arena.
Given the unusual nature of the situation; his heightened senses and spacial awareness begun to kick into overdrive to help register the root cause. Which inevitably concluded illusions; although... He was albeit surprised he never noticed. Perhaps that's why they needed so many to wield the illusion... After-all, the three of us aren't unfamiliar to the type of combat.

Taking the opportune moment to catch his breath, he slouched forwards and rest either hand on his knees. Working on ignoring the soaking wound in his arm; it wasn't fatal, nor was it going to cripple him necessarily. At this rate, he didn't need to uphold a certain state of appearance in-front of the kids. Especially now that the world only saw him as a combatant. Upon hearing the clapping, it drew his attention to the figure behind him- A familiar face no less. The dour faced man merely listened in silence to take the time to recuperate more so than anything, but a measure of respect to wield in turn.

As the facade of the illusion; and the dome barrier came collapsing down. He heaved one last final breath; standing himself straight up in the drying blood and waved momentarily towards the crowds- not that he was much contribution to the fight. It was more a matter of doing as you're told, than basking in the glory of ones successes. Taking his attention was a number of medical staff, which was carefully dismissed with a hand. "The boss said it herself, gotta' maintain an image. I'll go check myself in right after this." Gifting them with a rare, and awkward smile. He turned on his heel after a moments pass in the shouting, cheering and applause. Headed towards a hallway exit.

=​

The clap of his feet against the stone was alike his heart-beat, steady but shaken. He was not only injured physically, but the life he lived was exhaustive. Running his bloodied hand through his hair, as if to get it out of his face. Upon entering a public change-room for any participants at any given time, or event. He propped either palm against the lip of a sink, eyes leveled and looking at his face's reflection.

"Beat up real good this time... --" Exhausting an exaggerated 'huff' he closed his eyes and let himself settle down his nerves ever so slightly. The barrage of sounds has washed down to the simple sounds of water through pipes, and the churning of electricity through the room. Reopening his eyes, acquainting with the artificial light and tides of exhaustion continuing to set its place in his muscles.

"This is all-- Really is hard, huh. I think I need a break soon." Sniffing, he stood up straight. Departing out of the Torre, intent on going to a medical facility to ensure proper attention was given to his wounds.

[Exit Event]