There are layers upon layers of dank stone passageways, crawling with rats and the cats set loose to catch them. They go on for what feels like miles within the mountain. This place is warm; it is close to the beating heart of The Hidden Cloud. It protects. This place is like the rib cage. It is where centuries of secrets are kept within a maze of many chambers. Caged light bulbs hang with running wires lining the roofs to paint dim pictures for those who pass. Some of these passages are disguised or simply disregarded as mine routes long abandoned— like the ones from Maruishi. Others are humbly posed as Janitorial rooms that go on further than expected if you bother opening the door.
The ANBU— no matter what village, always have a fascination with secrecy. They employ the most elaborate ways of avoiding the public eye when they move. The Hidden Cloud, in particular, has quite a publicized shinobi hierarchy. Very little seems to happen in the village without the watchful eye of the Shinobi authority hovering and judging. Despite this, the protection of the ANBU is so incredibly covert that the organization demands their members live double lives just to uphold its mystery. These chambers with their myriad of secret entrances are the hub for the city’s masked protectors; all cloaks, daggers, and codes as they come and go.
In truth, Kaji considered himself above the lies and conspiracy usually kept by ANBU, especially these days. Perhaps this was why he left his homeland behind, along with the ways of his people in The Hidden Stone. There, he spent the most fruitful days of his youth being taught the ways of seeking proper justice— often through murder. There, he learned that it was okay to deceive in order to protect. These things are highly debatable— some scholars say that taking an eye for an eye can make the whole world blind. It is the idea that someone’s wrongful deed does not warrant stepping into the same darkness to make things right. In his past, Kaji Okada learned to live in that darkness in the name of preparedness: the ANBU elite stopped at nothing to protect their village. He embraced the shadows, both in theory and in practice. But after some years spent with the people of the Leaf, and now another transition to The Cloud, Kaji would like to believe that things —no— that he has changed. And so he now faces a dilemma and the work of creating a new way. How does one not plunge into the darkness, if that is where they must go to find the dwelling enemy? How do they go there and survive without succumbing to it?
Well for starters, a lot of meditation. This tale began in a dim-lit chamber, deep within the confines of the Sileo Tempestas. The hours just went by there with no real sense of time, and no sun to guide you. It was silent in the chamber, aside from the sound of sizzling wood coming from a large forge near the back of the room. The occasional pop of a log cracked, sending echoes through the chamber. It was incredibly warm there, as it was a smithing chamber by design. Metal pieces reflected the light of that single source in the room and varied in shape and size. There were tables, racks, anvils; you name it. Everything a weapon’s master, or even a shinobi looking to work with steel would need. But among these things, one figure stood apart— or rather sat. He was postured in seated meditation with a long, curved blade across his lap. The light behind him created an outline of a man in peak physical form, but the rest was a mystery. He was Kaji Okada, and while he was here, this was his domain.
wc652
- Kaji Okada has entered the thread.
- Seeking Otome.
The ANBU— no matter what village, always have a fascination with secrecy. They employ the most elaborate ways of avoiding the public eye when they move. The Hidden Cloud, in particular, has quite a publicized shinobi hierarchy. Very little seems to happen in the village without the watchful eye of the Shinobi authority hovering and judging. Despite this, the protection of the ANBU is so incredibly covert that the organization demands their members live double lives just to uphold its mystery. These chambers with their myriad of secret entrances are the hub for the city’s masked protectors; all cloaks, daggers, and codes as they come and go.
In truth, Kaji considered himself above the lies and conspiracy usually kept by ANBU, especially these days. Perhaps this was why he left his homeland behind, along with the ways of his people in The Hidden Stone. There, he spent the most fruitful days of his youth being taught the ways of seeking proper justice— often through murder. There, he learned that it was okay to deceive in order to protect. These things are highly debatable— some scholars say that taking an eye for an eye can make the whole world blind. It is the idea that someone’s wrongful deed does not warrant stepping into the same darkness to make things right. In his past, Kaji Okada learned to live in that darkness in the name of preparedness: the ANBU elite stopped at nothing to protect their village. He embraced the shadows, both in theory and in practice. But after some years spent with the people of the Leaf, and now another transition to The Cloud, Kaji would like to believe that things —no— that he has changed. And so he now faces a dilemma and the work of creating a new way. How does one not plunge into the darkness, if that is where they must go to find the dwelling enemy? How do they go there and survive without succumbing to it?
Well for starters, a lot of meditation. This tale began in a dim-lit chamber, deep within the confines of the Sileo Tempestas. The hours just went by there with no real sense of time, and no sun to guide you. It was silent in the chamber, aside from the sound of sizzling wood coming from a large forge near the back of the room. The occasional pop of a log cracked, sending echoes through the chamber. It was incredibly warm there, as it was a smithing chamber by design. Metal pieces reflected the light of that single source in the room and varied in shape and size. There were tables, racks, anvils; you name it. Everything a weapon’s master, or even a shinobi looking to work with steel would need. But among these things, one figure stood apart— or rather sat. He was postured in seated meditation with a long, curved blade across his lap. The light behind him created an outline of a man in peak physical form, but the rest was a mystery. He was Kaji Okada, and while he was here, this was his domain.
wc652
- Kaji Okada has entered the thread.
- Seeking Otome.
