Heart of Fire ~ prologue 2 ~ 'Ain't no rest for the Wicked...'

[Wee Yong]

The Konoha graveyard never truly slept.

Even in the fading light, tombstones stood in quiet rows, shadows stretching long across the cold earth. The scent of soil and incense lingered faintly, carried on a whispering wind. Lanterns swayed on hooks, untouched by human hands, and the occasional mourner passed between graves, silent and respectful. Life here moved slowly, measured, and still.

Then the procession began.

Amphibians and reptiles moved among the graves with cheerful, almost mischievous expressions. Frogs in brightly colored robes, lizards with scales glinting in lantern light, salamanders hopping with glee, each carrying an instrument. Trumpets gleamed in their hands, flutes glimmered in the fading sun, and reed instruments buzzed with unseen breath. A single drum sounded, steady and deliberate, yet their movements were light, joyful, and purposeful.

They threaded carefully between stones, over mounds, around flowers left for the dead. Not one mourner noticed them, yet their presence filled the air with invisible music, weaving warmth and energy through the graveyard.

At the end of the line came the snake.

It was dismembered, cut into many pieces, its body held together only by spirit and will. Segments floated in alignment, twisting and curling with effortless grace, eyes glowing faintly, fangs bared in what could only be described as a serene smile. With every inch it moved, it completed the rhythm of the procession, pulling the drumbeat into the center of the graveyard.

As it reached the middle, the ground beneath shifted. A vast alchemical circle unfurled across the graves, glowing faintly in the twilight. Its geometry threaded through stone and soil alike, encompassing every tomb and instrument alike in precise alignment.

And then the living changed.

Laughter burst forth softly, then louder. Mourners began to hum and sing. Lovers twirled between tombstones. Children skipped across graves, twirling and spinning. People embraced, kissed, and danced, their joy unchecked, sudden, and overwhelming. Even those who had come to grieve could not help but smile, their hearts lifted by some unseen rhythm.

The amphibians and reptiles played with delight, their trumpets, flutes, and reeds filling the graveyard with exuberant music. Frogs pirouetted, lizards somersaulted, salamanders leapt high, all smiling with uncanny glee. Their happiness was infectious, spreading silently into the humans around them, binding them to a strange, euphoric energy.

The snake rested at the center, its body segments coiled and flowing, fangs bared in quiet amusement. It pulsed with power, holding the circle together, guiding the living into their bizarre merriment.

The graveyard, normally solemn and still, had become a place of strange celebration, a surreal carnival of sound, joy, and song among the stones.

And still, the spirits watched and waited. Patient and unseen.


[Ooc: This is for a mini event being run by Nao and I, please feel free to join and interact. Do whatever you like in the scene, feel free to discover the animals however you please, jutsu, magic, past trauma opening a third eye to the spirit realm, whatever! (Tip From Nao if you don't know anything like that: NE Jutsu Crystal eye)

Please do not hurt the spirit animals or have them say anything. If you wish to fight them (which you definitely can) end your rp at the moment before conflict.

Most of all... Have Fun!!!

The people are happy!

And remember this truth, every action has an equal and opposite reaction...

There is definitely more to come!!!]

 

[Wee Yong]

The snake lay coiled at the center of the circle, it's broken segments shifting with subtle grace. Its fanged mouth curved in a faint, knowing smile, eyes tracking the humans without haste. Every pulse of its body sent faint vibrations through the alchemical circle, steadying it, guiding it, keeping it alive.

The villagers sank slowly onto the grass and stone, as if exhausted, but their exhaustion was light, playful, and alive. Heads tipped back, shoulders relaxed, giggles escaped softly. Children rolled onto the ground, spinning and laughing. Adults leaned against one another, warm smiles lingering, whispers and quiet chuckles threading through the night. Their joy was direct, radiant, palpable.

With each person who settled, the circle responded. First, a faint shimmer traced the edges of its geometry, the pattern deepening in color. As more humans lay down, the glow spread outward in soft waves, pulsing with their laughter, their whispered words, the delighted warmth in their movements. Each heartbeat made the circle hum, each exhale made it shimmer brighter.

Frogs leapt from stone to stone, landing beside a rolling child or hopping onto the lap of a laughing adult. With careful, precise motions, they tapped instruments in rhythm with the laughter, plucking strings, striking drums, amplifying the human joy into the alchemical lattice.

Lizards darted among lanterns, nudging hands, tilting heads, coaxing gentle rolls or stretches that let the humans settle more comfortably into the earth. Their scales caught the glow of the circle, reflecting and scattering it, feeding the energy back into the lattice.

Snakes twirled across pathways, brushing tails along wrists, ankles, and shoulders, guiding each person into gentle, playful positions. A laugh here, a tumble there, they orchestrated the humans’ delight like dancers shaping a pattern in space.

The smiling snake remained calm at the center, eyes observing, body coiling in quiet motion. Every subtle pulse of its segments directed the flow of energy. The circle brightened steadily, glowing warmer and fuller with each moment, each laugh, each satisfied flick of its tongue

The villagers settled fully, scattered like petals, rolling onto their backs to stare at lanterns and the stars beyond them, reaching hands to friends, laughter drifting into the night. The light from the circle spread further, bathing every stone and patch of grass, radiating the energy that the animals had so carefully guided.

The smiling snake waited, patient and poised, orchestrating the quiet rhythm of the circle, letting it grow stronger with every heartbeat of joy.

Time was on their side, and the night was only young.



[Ooc: Time is marching on! Where is this going!?!]

 

[Wee Yong]

The snake coiled tighter at the center of the circle, muscles rippling, body humming with the stolen energy. Each human’s last pulse of chakra bled into the alchemy glyphs. Excitement ran along its spine, sharp and alive.

The smaller reptiles shifted along the stones, limbs brushing carved lines, guiding the energy with instinct and precision. Each lizard, each serpent, pressed against the glyphs in turn, focusing the flow into the points the circle demanded. Every movement was deliberate, every scale aligned with the pulse of power, feeding the snake at the center.

The last of the humans’ chakra drained. The snake’s coils tensed, body a living conduit, scales gleaming faintly with the amassed force.

Then, with one final surge, the ritual erupted.

A pillar of spiritual and chakra energy shot upward, splitting clouds where it tore through the sky. Light fractured across the graveyard, glittering over carved stones and etched glyphs. The snake stretched taut at the center, a fanged grin cutting across its face, perfect conduit of the ritual’s energy. Subtly, almost imperceptibly, the pillar also sank, flowing downward into the soil, anchoring the jutsu in the graveyard itself.

The smaller reptiles froze, bodies pressed tight to the glyphs, every movement synchronized, amplifying the energy into the snake. The lattice of chakra was complete.

The snake’s eyes swept toward the rest of the village. Villagers still moved there, unaware of the power just unleashed.
“We were first,” it thought, amusement curling through its spine.

A soft, sharp chuckle slithered through its coils. The fox mother, no doubt, had raged. Her fury, her grief left behind. The snake’s smile widened. The energy was theirs. The ritual was theirs.


[Ooc: alchemical circle complete, humans potentially dead, what happens next!?]

 

[Kaguya Mitsuha]

Mitsuha had gotten to the graveyard sometime later. Her own mind raced as she could feel the high concentration of chakra as she got closer. This time, she was in her original body as she needs the most focus that she can muster. No doubt whatever creatures are causing this will see her as a hostile enemy, and with a quick scan of the area, she figured out the only outcome.

What any creature in the graveyard would hear is a hundred popping sounds, scrolls falling down to the ground before letting off poofs of smoke all simultaneously. Crude machinations of puppets that Mitsuha had never finished making. All with their own voice boxes, as she had put them in prior to a mission a while back that distributed a cure for Leaf Village when a virus was inflicted upon it. She spoke, letting her own influence wash over all of the hundreds of puppets, making a resounding voice, "Cease this now." A simple order, one in which she feels would either be ignored or met with hostility.

Either way, the hundreds of puppets would charge forth. They would both act as a distraction and a disruption. She seen that there were reptiles and amphibians that are making up the alchemical circle, so with the chaos, she'll have her puppets merely push or move the creatures to disrupt the circle. She looked up at the main problem.

The Chakra Pillar. She severed her voice from the hundreds of puppets as she touched her headset. "If anyone is hearing this, this is Kaguya Mitsuha, Head Jounin of the Main Branch at the graveyard dealing with a potential chakra bomb. What I am about to do will hopefully reduce the number of casualties but I cannot do it without your help. Evacuate the Village, make way to Crater City where there should be shelter." Crater City itself was still recovering from what happened there, however that is the next best place to evacuate the Village. Whether or not her comms had reached anyone would only show in the matter of time.

She touched the headset once more as chakra would swell up from her as she would use the final technique that a Chakra Attuned knows. Chakra Supernova. Her targets? The Chakra pillars. She doesn't know if she is close to the other two actively going off, but she is willing to try. As for the one here with her now in the graveyard, it is close enough for her to know that she should be able to destabilize it with the powers of the Chakra attuned. Chakra in a living being, if Chakra Supernova is used, turns into a weapon against the creature itself. But what about free flowing chakra? There is only one way to find out.

But Mitsuha wouldn't stop there. She would use the distraction from the hundred Puppets technique to walk up to the pillar. She finally talked over the headset. "There is one more thing..." A tear trailed down her face. She was stunned. She has been a human puppet for the longest time, and while she can feel emotions, this is the first time that she has cried since becoming a machine. Not even when her parents death had snapped her out of it. "Tell Ayeka... That I am happy for her, that she chose the life she wanted, when I wasn't around. Tell Keniwa, that even though he was annoying, even though I wanted to punch him ninety percent of the time... That I consider him my rival.... No.... That's not right.... I consider him my friend." Her hands would plunge into the chakra pillar, seeking to absorb the chakra itself inside of her. She would use herself as a battery to drain the power.

Her headset would fly off her ear as the force from the chakra pillar would push back anything too loose on her. Her whole body was shaking as she stood as strongly as she could. "Ever since the incident where I almost died... I've been shifting in and out of consciousness, not knowing who I really am. Wondered about this puppet body I now inhabit, the powers that it possess. I had been down the road for retribution so that I had lost my love. I had lost my friends. Lost my own humanity. Once I fully gained back my consciousness, I have felt that this body is a curse. That there is no use for this. But I was wrong." Her heels dug in deep to the ground. "I was made for this exact moment. Only I can stop this."

Spoiler: actions

3.75 ap: performance of hundred puppets rank 2 (using these to both distract and disrupt the ritual by moving creatures
3 ap: chakra supernova rank 2 (using on graveyard chakra pillar, and if possible, on the other two pillars as well to disrupt their powers)
2.5 ap: energy transfer rank 2 (using on Chakra pillar, trying to take)