Death of darkness, birth of light (private)

[Chigokai Yuna]

The Medical Chief stood alone on the roof of a hotel, looking out into the starlit sky. It was quiet. Calm with the wind slightly blowing. Everything felt good about this moment. But the Chigokai can't shake off the feeling of uneasiness. He has grown more wary of his powers of darkness. Even learned the most forbidden technique of all in order to help with the war effort. And if he's forced to use t, he could...

With a sigh, he looked over at his ghostly companion, Anyu. "What is it blue dude?"

"You ever want to be free? From your shackles I have put on you. What if I lose my powers of darkness and then you'd be free?" Ziren asked.

Anyu thought about it, "I mean, I'd be glad, but why the sudden talk about this?"

(Soul obtained Nara Anyu visible)

 

[Saitou Rei]

What an interesting trip this had been. Reicheru hummed to herself as she walked through the now quiet streets of Kurosawa. It was an interesting city for sure - most had a bustling nightlife, but here the beating heart of Tea Country softened as starlight lit the streets below. She assumed that was the only reason her Uncle was alright with her being out so late, as she was unlikely to get into much trouble here with no one about.

Well, almost no one. As the young girl looked up at the stars, noting how much dimmer they seemed here than in Konoha thanks to all of the light the city gave off, she thought she noticed a figure against the sky. The wind blew her dark mop of hair across her face, making her uncertain if she was seeing what she thought she was. A person atop the roof of a building? Reicheru's steps slowed before coming to a complete stop. 'No… don't…' Only one thought flashed through the kunoichi's mind when she considered a solitary figure at such a height with no one around. 'Don't do it!' She thought with a panic before focusing her chakra into her feat and leaping up between walls to reach the roof in a flash.

Breath caught in her throat, she looked up to the stranger she now stood in front of before realizing it wasn't a stranger at all. "Ziren-san?" she said with a hint of confusion, before noticing a second figure who she truthfully didn't recognize but certainly was in fact a stranger to her. "What are you… doing here?"

[Topic Entered]

 

[Seijin]

Sipping on his tea, Umashi was enjoying the relative freedom that no longer being the Hokage afforded him. One was definitely the amount of time that he had to travel and for that, Umashi was most thankful. Currently he was back within the Tea Country and minding his business while enjoying what the day afforded him . . . mainly drinking tea. In plain clothes and without a visible village identification signature, namely, being without a headband, he was able to move about without creating a sensation. Unassuming in a relaxed earthy colored kimono, he idly listened in on a conversation about a given local matter. From what he could gather there was a guild of some sort disgruntled with the recent hiking of taxes. An understandable problem but one that he found hard to believe considering the amount of goods and business that flowed through the city. Surely they were just complaining because their profits had gone from ninety percent to eighty-nine percent, right? Surely they were still turning a profit! On and on they droned, but Umashi stuck to his own thoughts. Pretty soon he was going to inquire about one of the rooms in the hotel before he left back out to shop. He'd definitely need a place to lay his head later in the evening.

OOC: From speaking to Ziren, this topic is about 1 to 2 yeras post Umashi stepping down from being the Hokage.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

"It's just that, I think that this power I have has changed me. Clouded my mind, making me think that what I was doing was right, when in all actuality, I was wrong. But-" Ziren heard the blood flow of someone nearing him, coming from down below?

He jumped back, blood coming out of him, forming into a sword, Crimson. It wasn't until after he got a look at the figure, and recognized her blood flow, that he let the blood sword be absorbed back into his body. With a sigh, the Chigokai looked at Reicheru. "Sorry about that. I usually react first. Reicheru is it?" He relaxed, knowing the girl. He got up to the ledge of the building and sat down, his feet dangling off the side.

"Well, that was sure a surprise." The Nara Soul said, floating nearby Ziren. He then looked over at Reicheru, "Hello there. Nara Anyu, ghost extraordinaire!" The Soul being loud enough for probably some people in the hotel to hear.

Ziren smiled a little bit, and then sighed as Reicheru asked him why he was here. "Here in Tea, to look for medicinal herbs that are associated with tea. As for why I'm on top of a roof, it's for me mostly to reflect and think. High places looking over areas, best way to calm down and actually think about things going on. As for what I'm thinking, it's kind of grim. Grim for me, to say the least."

The Nara Soul floated nearby and whispered to Reicheru, "What is he even talking about? I'm at a total lost in this conversation and I've been in it before you showed up."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Tensing up for a moment as Ziren held out a crimson blade out in front of him, Reicheru let out a slow sigh of relief as he - well, sheathed it wouldn't exactly be correct, but regardless any potential threat had dissolved. She watched as the older shinobi walked and sat on the ledge, and the anxiety she had felt earlier about seeing a figure so high on a roof returned a bit. Before she could say anything, the movement of the second figure alerted her that there was something… something not quite right. She took a few steps forward to near the two, and as she examined this stranger's form she suddenly let out a short gasp. 'What… what are you…?' she thought with eyes wide, one foot moving behind her to take a step back. The soul confirmed her suspicion as he introduced himself. 'Nara Anyu… ghost… extraordinaire?' Reicheru processed the information with one eyebrow raised. Still, the thing didn't seem to be a threat, so scratching the back of her head she said with as much of a smile as she could muster, "Uhh, nice to meet you… Anyu-san… I'm Saitou Reicheru…" Nothing weird about this. She'd been summoned to Yukio-sama's office with a demon before, no big deal. Totally normal.

Ziren's response drew her attention back to the blue-haired man. It made sense, that one of their medical chiefs would be here on medical business. Then he started talking about grim thoughts; as Ziren looked out over the city, Reicheru looked at the ghost and gave a shrug with a look to show she was as confused as… he was? It was? She took a few steps to stand next to the medical ninja but didn't sit with him. "Sorry to hear that. I know it's not my business, but I find that sometimes talking things out with other people help me to think through things better - I think there's a tea shop just below us, maybe we could head down there and talk about it over some chai?" the girl suggested, leaning forward slightly to look beneath them for the tea shop. Mostly, she was trying to find a way to get Ziren off the roof, but tea always sounded nice, even more so in the country who held it as a namesake. "If you want to, of course. I don't want to intrude."

[OOC: Sorry for the delay, much more hectic week than I anticipated.]

 

[Seijin]

Yup, just as expected, the conversation ended up coming to a head and one of the guys got upset so he left before the not so well hidden bouncer folk got involved. Thankfully for him, he was able to procure a local newspaper to idle the time by. In it was the usual sort of news, corruption, taxes, a local scandal or two among the socially elite. Coincidentally, the talk of the town was the hike in coffee prices and not tea. Umashi found the noted irony quite funny and he laughed to himself as he continued to read and thumb through the paper. He wasn't looking for much and what with his tea cup slowly emptying, it wouldn't be long before he'd take his leave. Sitting towards a back wall, he had a good view of all the exits of the large room. Though he didn't think it, if worse came to worse, he could make a quick and safe exit from the premises.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

"Don't mind Anyu, he likes to joke about." Ziren had said. He then waited as the girl spoke, waiting until she was done talking.

With a nod, the Medical Chief stood up and stretched his back out. "Sounds good enough for me, I'll meet you down there." Without even waiting for a reply, Ziren stepped off the edge and turned around fast enough to do a single hand wave, before gravity took its role.

The wind whipping in his face, the Chigokai let his hand glide along the surface of the building, his chakra going to his hands, making him go to a stop of where he is. By this time, he was halfway down from where he was. So he did the next best thing, focused chakra to his feet, and walked down the side of the building, until he was at an appropriate height to safely jump off the side and land on his feet.

Anyu floated by Ziren. "Did you have to be theatrical about that?"

The Medical Chief shrugged and looked up at the roof. With a single hand seal, a clone of him appeared, Medical Assistant. The medical clone ran up the side of the building to make sure Reicheru was okay.

The real Ziren walked into the tea shop and was shown a seat. He sat down and a waitress came over. "I'll have your best tea, and will be paying for the person I am waiting on too, don't know yet of what they want."

He kept his ears open, mainly to hear the blood flow of Reicheru. But he caught something else. A blood flow he hasn't heard in quite some time. It was familiar, of someone he used to know, but he can't guess who.

(This is to show that this is Ziren now, not the avatar picture I have now.)

 

[Saitou Rei]

"…." The child's mouth hung open and her hand hung outstretched; words failed and only the sound of breath catching in her throat escaped her lips as she watched a few wisps of blue hair disappear beyond the ledge of the roof. Her knees knocked together briefly before hitting the roof, where she crouched on all fours peering over the side, knuckles white as they gripped the ledge. Her vision was clouded by the mixture of darkness and confusion; a moment and blur of hand seals later, a flash of light shot forth from her open palm and danced along the side of the building. Relief flooded her senses and loosened her muscles as she spotted the medical shinobi, intact, make his way to the sidewalk at the hotel's entrance. Collapsing back into a sitting position, she took a few breaths before Ziren's clone appeared in the place where the man himself had fallen from.

* * *​

"Shinobi life is wasted on you, Ziren-san. You should have gone into theater," Reicheru commented with a cocked eyebrow and a smile. Turning to the server who had returned as the young girl approached Ziren's table, she thought for a moment before ordering, "A cup of ryokucha, please." A nice hot cup of calming green tea… just what she needed. Shaking her head as she took a seat, her eyes settled on the older shinobi. He himself seemed to be focused on something or someone else, though in taking a quick look around she didn't recognize any of the faces. "You know someone here?" she asked before taking another look around the shop.

 

[Seijin]

Local sports teams, the advent of the Apocalypse at the hands of sentient puppets . . . such things were the sort of spices in life that kept one entertained. Interestingly, one particular scientist had a theory that probably wasn't too far from the truth. Surely the average layperson realized that there were living rocks around . . . right? Then again if such a person did exist that didn't know such, they probably grew up in an exceptionally isolated environment. A shame of human potential in all estimations. Though he was thoroughly enjoying the paper, he was surprised when he caught sight of a familiar face from Konoha. Did he want to make a scene, did he want to be bothered? Probably not today but being that Umashi was no longer the Hokage, certain political powers were beyond him at the moment. Whatever happened, he'd have to simply accept it on the chin and go with the flow. Besides, it wasn't as though he was being followed or anything. This entire scenario was probably nothing more than a sheer coincidence what with Tea suddenly being the hottest country on the map at the moment. Anybody who was anybody, was dying to be anywhere close to the City of Kurosawa, even if that meant skipping out on the normal duties of life. Pouring himself more tea, he added just enough honey to keep it healthy and enjoyed another long sip of the wonderful elixir. He certainly lived at a very interesting time.

 

[Chigokai Yuna]

Ziren smiled at Reicheru. "Sometimes you need a little bit of theatrics, to act as a diversion, to keep others from knowing what you really are up to. You might be surprised to hear that some actors and actresses might be well versed in the ninja way"

Then, when she asked if he knew someone here, Ziren waited, listening to the familiar blood flow. "Someone is here. Their blood sounds familiar. But it's been a while since I have heard it." That was when he made eye contact with someone else. He could tell that they were surprised to say the least. "Come on, I think it's time you meet one of the previous Hokage of the Leaf."

Ziren was sure the man was who he thought he was, but can't remember the name. Just remembers the time he fought by this Hokage's side when he fought against Maru, who once harassed a little kitsune from Sand.

"Nice to see a familiar face around." Ziren said as he made his way to the previous Hokage. It was at this moment, he remembered something else. A whole bunch of holy chakra that blasted Maru, taking some of his darkness away from him. He could feel some of that holy chakra coming from the man, and probably no doubt he could sense the cursed chakra that runs through Ziren.

He wonders... He wonders if he can help him with his problem. "You probably don't remember me, I fought by your side against Maru a while back. I, um. Have a favor to ask."

 

[Saitou Rei]

Brow burrowing at Ziren's comment about diversions, the fledgling Konoha kunoichi did a double take of the man in front of her and of her surroundings. Nothing seemed particularly out of place, though the medical shinobi's point of interest remained undisclosed to her. Thankfully, she did not have to wait long. "Come on, I think it's time you meet one of the previous Hokage of the Leaf." Previous Hokage? Reicheru gave a small laugh, certain that Ziren was once again being theatrical. Her amusement was cut short as her companion stood and made his way toward a man in an earth-colored kimono; staring confused for a moment, the young girl quickly gathered her composure and approached behind Ziren.

The tall, dark man was enjoying his tea and paper so calmly and casually - could this be a former leader of her country? The only encounter she'd had with a Hokage was Takeshi, a man who flaunted his power and position. With this man, the power of the piercing green eyes that peered out at her over the paper were the only inclination she had of his potential importance. After the medical nin greeted his friend, Reicheru gave a small, polite bow. She looked awkwardly between Ziren and the man, wondering if he planned to introduce the two of them or if she ought to do that. As Ziren seemed to ponder something, Reicheru took a small step forward and said, "I'm Saitou Reicheru, by the way. Nice to meet you."

 

[Seijin]

Umashi didn't like to be interrupted. Who often did? Though when he was interupted this time, it was strange in that he was caught mostly off guard, but also in that he didn't instantly recognize who he was talking to until the words began to flow and that extra bit of caffeine kicked in from the tea. Clearly he was getting old but as the recognition began to come through, it dawned on him of whom he was speaking to and the need to act the part of somebody who was at one point, one of the most important people alive. "Ah! How goes it!" Scrambling to clear room at the table for the newcomers, despite having all the room in the world for them, he smiled and beckoned them to sit. "Please, have a seat! Really, the pleasure is all mine, Ms. Reicheru! Ziren was it? How have you been lately? I haven't been back to Konoha in ages!" Smiling, he beckoned the waitress for more tea and pastries for his guest as he put down his literature to speak.