Ninpocho Chronicles

Ninpocho Chronicles is a fantasy-ish setting storyline, set in an alternate universe World of Ninjas, where the Naruto and Boruto series take place. This means that none of the canon characters exists, or existed here.

Each ninja starts from the bottom and start their training as an Academy Student. From there they develop abilities akin to that of demigods as they grow in age and experience.

Along the way they gain new friends (or enemies), take on jobs and complete contracts and missions for their respective villages where their training and skill will be tested to their limits.

The sky is the limit as the blank page you see before you can be filled with countless of adventures with your character in the game.

This is Ninpocho Chronicles.

Current Ninpocho Chronicles Time:

I Choose, Juu! [Requesting Sovereign #10]

Raizo

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He would not need a guide this time, he would not need to put on airs, he just needed to go to this location. Thanks to Mikaboshi, this individual was confined to such a deep and hidden location, that there were only two people that would ever find her; the Deep Court Ancient and himself. Granted, it was not easy for him and if he had not been present when Mikaboshi had abducted her he may have never found it. Thanks to this privacy, he did not even bother with his mask, just a dark cloak.

Within the darkness, cloaked in the darkness, and entering a room full of darkness, he would spark a torch light and hang it upon the wall. Before him would be Avaron, the one whom Mikaboshi had abducted, much like Fuu, but did not get corrupted like the previous Cabal member. He was not certain what all the Ancient wanted with her, but he knew exactly what he wanted from her.

"Avaron... Juu... which do you prefer?"

He would remain standing, keeping some distance from her as he looked down upon the captured Sovereign member. She, out of all of them, was the most mysterious. She had been relatively new to the Academy, so there was a chance she did not ever encounter him, well the old him. That was perfect. What was also perfect was that she seemed to have a uniquely strange, yet oddly familiar, ability to her. She could consume the powers of those she touched. It was a terrifying ability, yet it resonated with him. Who was she... and more so... who was he?

"I have some questions I would like to ask you. First, your ability to consume the powers of those you touch. Was this an ability you gained from the Sovereign Academy or did you have it prior?"

A shadow would be cast upon his face thanks to the interplay of the cloak hood hanging over his head and the dim lighting thanks to a single torch. Either way, she had never seen his face anyways. The last time two times he met with her he was wearing his Tenken mask and his voice was distorted.
 

Sand Council

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OC: Why do you pick threads with people that hate you! =(

IC:
How long had she been in this deep, dark crypt? It was hard to say, it should have been months or even years. There was no indication of the passage of time. No concept of day or night in the pit. Bereft of light and heat but never sound, she knew this cell well despite the fact that she had not seen the space beyond those fleeting moments when a light source passed outside of her cell door. It was the chill in the air that let her know that she was still alive, otherwise she would probably not be entirely certain. Avaron was after all too stubborn to die. Not that they did not try to end her through suffering, it was not an active torment but rather an ewra of neglect that punctuated this period in her life. Hunger does something to a person and she knew the pangs well. In this deep and dangerous space there was a conflict, this silent game of tug of war with the formidable forgotten beast down below. It was the same war others had fought before her, well in their case it was more a game of cat and mouse and the gluttonous beast down below consumed them whole. All of these years the people of Sunagakure had been unwittingly been feeding a gluttonous beast relegated to legend and the few that had a long enough of a memory to recall. Even Avaron's losses were greater than her gains, her cheeks hollow and her hip bones protruded from her lower stomach, she was being slowly devoured. She could count her ribs, number the levels of her spine. She was lethargic, mildly delirious yet still alive. A fucking miracle of science. But right now she did not feel like a damn miracle.

She could hear the vermin in the walls. They did not scurry, here it was a slothernly crawl. They could not escape the formless hunger that pervaded this prison or Avaron's own. They usually died beyond her reach somewhere in the wall, in a few days the reek from beyond the four walls of her cell would fill her room with the scent of rot and death. In time the vermin would devour the remains of their own, leaving only clean bones but the disembodied hunger would reach out to them as well. Those that partook in the sin of consumption were cursed and the beasts of this land were no different. She was surrounded by death. She imagined the crawlspaces to be full of bones and she wondered if the crypt of walled in corpses would serve as a warning for future generations of vermin but it would seem that such foul creatures would never learn. She could hear the rattle of bones, something was in there -- lunch.

The sustenance gained, enough to sate the pangs. The rattling ceased in the wall.

As Roku, or Kasha, or Tenken, or whatever persona this fucking masked vigilante, shinobi dog hid behind that day came down the lift to the place where the ANBU left the things that they would rather forget and then they did. Roku would feel a disturbance. The air was too thin, as if he needed more. This air hunger felt as if he had sprinted to these deep depths in the Obsidian. Roku would be able to feel an intense weight on his shoulders that pressed even harder on him the deeper he went into the Obsidian. The floor would crunch underfoot, if he looked down he would find the bones of rats, the carapaces of tribbles and the crumbled remains of spiders. The block was empty, less Juu. There were at one point other residents, turn over was fast in this place was mere days. All less their longest resident, Juu.

She knew that Roku was coming, she could taste him long before he arrived and he tasted like shit.

There was a light, a heat that lent a primal fear. Avaron hissed.

"Avaron... Juu... which do you prefer?"

"Does it matter?" A voice growled back. She was watching him, the light played with his features, the few she could discern. The hooded robe shadowed most but not all of his face, not that she recognize the visage he endeavored to obfuscate. An unnecessary step for her captor, she knew that there was no intention to set her free. She lacked faith in her fellow Sovereign to make it this far into the pit, there was something special that separated the Otogakurian from the others as she endeavored to endure. It was what set her apart and what made her valuable to them and they to her. This war against Sunagakure had been going on for longer than a few years, it had been decades and it was a war of attrition that the Diamyo was on the winning side of. Sunagakure was the last 'free-city' in Wind Country that was not under the control of the Ishii regime. What did an Otogakurian care about a foreign war? Not a fucking damn. She had her own reasons for seeking out the Diamyo and even her own reasons for enduring this hell. "Avaron," she ceded, she was better than a number.

"I have some questions I would like to ask you. First, your ability to consume the powers of those you touch. Was this an ability you gained from the Sovereign Academy or did you have it prior?"

What kind of question was that? "What makes you think I am willing to tell the likes of you?" Time had not destroyed the foreign shinobi's resolve. In fact, she hated them. There was something deep and primal in most of the Sovereign, a spiteful sentiment that they all shared. Something that her time in captivity did not change. "Ancient-lover," she muttered the insult. This would not be as simple as 'ask the right question' and you would be honestly informed. She owned these bastards nothing!
 

Raizo

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"Ancient lover..."

It was an insult, he understood that, but it did not seem super relevant at this time. It was the most dumbly blinding thing each and every Sovereign member brought up. 'Suna is bad because they work with Ancients' from a group that was mostly mutated and augmented by the same beings they hated Suna for working with. It was dumb and pointless. It also wasn't necessarily why he was here.

"Avaron... your body seems to consume the power of those you come into contact with. Is it a hungering sensation? Do you feel the need to do it or is it just part of your being?"

Clearly, he wasn't here to grill her on behalf of Suna. This wasn't some interrogation into the Sovereign, not because he did not think she had valuable information concerning them, but because that was not his purpose at the time. This meeting, his questioning, it was personal; personal about Avaron and personal for him.

There was another reason why he didn't feel the need to buy into her provocation. It didn't matter. Her life was in the hands of Mikaboshi, there was nothing worse or nothing more he could do to her. This, to him, wasn't a need to delicate navigate her buttons or what was "right or wrong" or even to understand that she had no reason to answer him; because it didn't matter to him. This was a hunch for him, so if she refused to go along with it he would do with her as he had been doing for the past months; nothing. Mikaboshi would consume her or whatever he wanted to do with her and that would be the end of it. He wasn't talking to someone he needed if she realized that or not as much of his concern either. She would either talk or he would leave. It was just that simple.

"Is this something you can only do to humans? To all living things? Can you choose not to consume the power of another?"

Talk or walk.
 

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OC: I am so sorry, I hate making posts like these. x_x

IC:

Roku was not going to get a lot out of the woman that had been locked away in this cage so deep in the depths of the Obsidian for so long. Why would he? He had nothing to offer and even if he had, she had no reason to believe him, A promise of freedom or comfort would be taken as strict lies. The threat of pain? If anything that represented hope for her, hope for a death she was incapable of inflicting onto herself. She was not going to die anytime soon despite the fact that she seemed on death's gate to be looked upon. Her words too vigorous, her anger burned too hot. She was lethargic when he first entered, however as Roku remained in this place he would feel it. He was nourishing her by simply standing there. His shoulders even heavier. His legs burdened even more so. A rumble in his stomach, as if he had missed a meal even if he had not already. She was actively devouring him, giving the Sovereign significant life-fore whether he realized it or not.

That was a strange ass question from a weird ass freak. "It is something I do because I am hungry," she snapped. They were not feeding her, isolating her for weeks if not months and seemingly waiting for for to slowly, painfully die. Even if there was not centuries of hatred between her people and Wind Country, she would likely never see him favorably. "You fucking Sunans and your principles,"</B><i></i> she complained. she tried to spit but there was no saliva to do so. "Too good for us, but not too good for the Ancients. You all reek like the filthy crossbreeds that you are, fucking your former masters in what... hopes that you would be more like them?"<i></i> She sniffed the air as she glowered at him. "Don't think I can't smell it on you, the taint of their kind in your bastard blood. Like fucking mud."<i></i>

There was a history between them, one that was shared. A reason why she had come to Wind Country. A reason why she allied herself with the Sovereign despite the fact that they were using Ancients to power their war machine. There was a reason she sought them out. There was a reason that she never became like them. There was a reason that she was different. Nothing happens by chance, be it the wheels of fate or a divine intervention, the laws of causality reign supreme. There was a reason for everything. For everyone. For even him, but no one person has the answers and mired so deep in tradition and hate, bad blood and bitter histories it was likely that there would never be a resolution.

Roku seemed unphased by her anger, her lashing out. He had another question. As simple as that.

"Is this something you can only do to humans? To all living things? Can you choose not to consume the power of another?"[/b]

<B>"It is always on," she replied. Did she had a choice in the matter, no she did not. Of course that was not a consistent truth, it was more that she was not the same as what Roku was. They were not some distantly related cousins thrice removed. "And you still taste like Ancient shit. You and your shadow fuck-boy." Was it what he was looking for? Was she sharing enough? Who the hell knows.

"الهجين" She snapped, yes it was in runic. A single word and nothing more. Perhaps she had read the Annals of the Conqueror. Perhaps she was taught it by an Oracle such as Fuu at one time or another, but she used the word casually. It was an insult, it read simply as 'hybrid.'
 

Raizo

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Her words evoked several things he had assumed but could not verify, one of which being his primary reason for being here. It was not definitive, but it would be something. Something he had already suspected but continued to turn a blind eye too. It wasn't some huge leap, so it shouldn't have been and wasn't that surprising, and yet, there was sorrow in his heart at hearing it. He, however, pushed onward.

"So for you it's sustenance? Can you tell them by taste? Can you differentiate between the courts?"


When I consumed the Sand-based Shiori, was it because I was hungry? When I asked to take a bite of Kazuki's essence, was it because I wanted to feed? No, not really. Sure, it was fulfilling in its own right, but I don't think that is why I did it. I know for the Kazuki ordeal it wasn't, as that was a choice, but why did I make that choice? The Shiori thing, I was on death's door. That was something more instinctual. So then, if that was my body reacting on its base instincts, does that mean this feeling is just hunger? Do I just want to devour everything because I am hungry? That... it... just doesn't sound right. The gang member I crushed, I wanted him dead but did not eat him... no, there was a thrill to it. Is that different than just eating to feed?

It was not lost on him that his fatigue was rising, that it felt like something was slowly starting to gnaw away at him like he was nothing more than some piece of meat. It did not matter, yet. Also, he could not blame her. There was a chance that Mikaboshi had just thrown her in here and never came back, waiting to see how long her natural gifts would last. She was in a cage, just like any other overwhelming beast at a zoo; there was always a threat but the cage gave you some assurances. Yet, he wasn't so sure that was the case for her. Either way, just looking at her and thinking of her situation, even with the fire that was still burning into her, he did not see her in the same light as he once did. She did not pique whatever animalistic instinct that seemed to appear from deep within.

So do I chase some sort of thrill from this, is that what my body is telling me? That also doesn't seem like the full truth either. I have consumed to sustained, I have consumed by choice, and I have abstained from physically consuming to figuratively consume someone caught in my crosshairs. What does it all mean... what I am chasing after. What is driving me? What... what... am I...

It didn't matter what her answer to his previous questions was, the following question would come out the same way no matter what (unless she answers it, then ignore this).

"Tell me, what Court do I taste like?"
 

Michi

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OC: Applies soap to hands after writing post. Sry.

IC:

"Fuck, you just taste wrong," she complained. "As if I would know everything about your damnable species. I can guess, not that I give a shit. The ones that taste like mud... the ones that taste like heat... the ones that taste like the air from a hot shower," she explained in her own way how she perceived or with in her case her limited vocabulary how she felt the Earth, Flame and Deep Court tasted. At the present moment, those three were the ones she had partaken in the most since she had arrived and knew their wretched flavors well. Where she comes from, that is Otogakure, theoretical there would have been no Ancients in the country so whatever tastes she had learned and honed into her palate had only been developed since she came to Wind Country those years ago. A majority of that time had by this time been spent in incarceration. Was it possible she knew a bit more than she was saying, likely. She was not here to hold secrets but she was also not here to do Roku any favors. "You don't taste like people, because you just 'aint." Well, not exactly, Roku was part human, she could taste that but being part was not the same as being a human, it was an all or nothing sort of thing in her book. As the saying goes: 'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Of course Roku was getting something from this conversation, not everything that he could have but there was a a limit in terms of learning -- you need to ask the right question. In Roku's case there was also the fact that most of what she knew, he could at this very moment care less about. He was on a journey of his own to find out about himself, about his potential and about his past. What was he? What was she? Why was he the way he was? Could he control it? Of course, humans can always control their nature to some extent, that was their super-power, the fact that the limits were boundless with humans. They did not have the same rules, the same restrictions as Ancients. They were not as limited or as hindered. Not tethered to nature in the same way, while they felt the draw they could always fight back!

"Do you think I am one of you?"</B><i></i> She went on. "One of you<B> الهجين?" She shook her head, "I would rather be fucking dead. Some of us have our pride at the very least," and at this moment not really anything else. She honestly hated Roku, not for what he had done or what he might do but for what he was. She found his nature to be utterly repugnant, this was only further solidified of course by the time she had spent here in this isolation without much to think about besides her hostilities. Roku was not wrong, she was simply stuck in a corner and forgotten by Mikaboshi, but before that he did not do much better. People were more like 'things' to them, things to take and to control. Things to use to their content and then put away, place in a room and lock the door until they are ready for them again. "I am a frigg'n human at least."

"Tell me, what Court do I taste like?"

"The fuck I know," she eyed him. "Like hunger, lust... and... violence," she claimed. What did emotions taste like? She was simply having a hard time placing it into words, what he tasted like, but she was not far off. He tasted like a predator. The sort of thing that ate, was not eaten. The sort of thing that hunted, because they were hungry yes but not always. Hunters, as men would well understand do not always hunt out of necessity but because they can. Because they relish the challenge. Because the hunt itself defines them. Hunters hide, not because they are fearful but so that they could watch and so that they could stalk. It is not the hunger that drives him, although it is there it is not the stomach rumbling force that compels one to consume but something deeper and more passionate. It is a desire to dominate, to defeat and find a worthy prey. But she did not know the words for that, how to say that. "A want?" She searched still for the words. "A..." her voice drifted off, she was momentarily distracted. "You're fucking with me aren't you, the hell are you creature? I can taste the man, but you 'aint no man either. Fuck!" She was frustrated, not that it was much different from her routine state. The closest word she could come up with, the image that came to mind when it was empty, "...a fugging hunter."
 

Raizo

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Roku said:

He listened to her and his mind would begin to wonder. While it drifted around, his eyes would begin to gather chakra, a bit more a strain than normal due to her hungering effect, but they would begin to glow, to burn with blue-ish hued energy. The glow would cause them to peer forth from under the shadow of his hood.
n8RdV0Q.gif


"That must be a peculiar taste."

A hunter... a hunter.... is that what it is? Someone that values not only the thrill of the chase but the devouring of the kill... is that me? Could that be me? Is that what is inside of me... the other half of me? The 'me' that they made...

That final bit of inner thought would cause his mind to wander down a different path, a path that he did not need to be present with Avaron to get answered. With that considered, he would push the thoughts aside and return back to the task at hand.

"Avaron, my number is Six."


He would remove his cloak, allowing something to happen that he did not normally do within the confines of the prison or ANBU facility; showing his face, his Roku face.

"My 'name' is Roku. I believe I predate your time in the academy, but maybe I am wrong?"

His burning blue eyes would glance down at the female. The power of the Jagan (Evil Eye - Sharingan reskin) not being utilized, but being displayed. These were his new eyes, or maybe they were his old eyes. They were the eyes of a wild creature starring down another creature, one that might have been caged but was still a wild creature in its own right. Avaron had made it clear that she did not see them as similar, so he no longer needed to ask questions involving that. In fact, his questions were reaching a close.

"What is your true purpose? Taro, Shi, Shichi... they were targetting Sennins at one point, then focuses shifted elsewhere. You, however, were caught here... so what task are you completing?"
 

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She was not a particularly pleasant woman, not that any Sovereign was.

"That must be a peculiar taste."

"The fucking worst," but beggars cannot be choosers and she would eat what she was given even if it was a glass of vinegar.

Eyes, strange eyes would look back at her through the darkness. She would blink and they would still be there. Was this where she died? Quite possibly, but she was not going to give a dirty hybrid the satisfaction of thinking she was afraid. Of course she was, everyone is at least a little bit afraid of dying. Of death and what they might mean.

"Avaron, my number is Six."

"Oh fuck me," she complained with a long exhale. She did not seem happy to see him. "There is two of you now?"

"My 'name' is Roku. I believe I predate your time in the academy, but maybe I am wrong?"

No, just the one and a former one apparently. She did not know anything about that time, the time before she came. She joined shortly before the Cabal incursion all those years ago, hoping that her efforts would not go unrewarded. Sadly, her luck was a pile of crap. "Figures that there would be more of Nao's fuck boys crawling all over the place," she muttered. She also did not seem to be a fan of Number Five either. "How the fuck old are you?" A valid inquiry, he did not look old enough to be a Sovereign, especially someone as far back as six. She entered at ten, of course Taro remembered Roku but there was a difference there. Taro was still being assimilated when Roku was a part of the academy. Whereas Juu came of her own free will. Roku was years gone by the time she had joined. At least sixteen if not twenty years. That was an impressive span of time, more than half her life. She joined at nineteen and it had been now about twelve years, she was hardly young anymore, so how the fuck old was this fucker?

"What is your true purpose? Taro, Shi, Shichi... they were targetting Sennins at one point, then focuses shifted elsewhere. You, however, were caught here... so what task are you completing?"

"Targeting?" She repeated. "Hell no," she claimed. "We 'aint in the business of political sabotage," she continued. Either she was lying or she knew nothing about the attempt on Sennin Senju Kazuki and Sennin Santaru Kouin. Of course, what reason did she have to lie. There was no promise of freedom and there was no help coming unless it was from Number Six himself and he did not seem incredibly inclined. "What the fuck would we do with a Sennin? Hold him for ransom and make an entire shinobi village turn on us and want us dead? We are not damned idiots!" She was not wrong, it would have been a terrible plan to steal a Sennin. That is to say that it was ever the plan at all and not the work of a few within the group to achieve their own ends. She was captured after Shichi disappeared and unbeknownst to her was killed. As for Shi, it would appear that whatever she was doing was a planned organized event that involved several core, high-ranking members of the Sovereign, but that was also an event that in theory Roku would not know about either. "We are about stopping the bullshit and finishing the damn war you people and half-people don't have the balls to finish." She was not referring to the war that was declared since she was incarcerated, news travels slowly and she would not have known that Sunagakure has officially declared war on the Diamyo. No, she was talking about a different war, one that she never considered to be complete. That a lot of people considered incomplete. "Just because you... and the rest of Nao's fuck-boys think you can take a short-cut by mixing a bit poison into your blood to get stronger, just makes you as gross as the rest of Sunagakure. Is that what all this was about? The fact that I am better than the rest of you? The fact that I decided to stay a human? Because I went on a little excursion of my own and y'all couldn't take it?" She was making an accusation. "You don't leave your fucking own behind!"

It was years ago, did Roku even remember what was going on when Juu was caught. The havoc she was about to cause and the assault against former Cabalist Kaito. She was dragging him out of the city. "...And it is not as if I did not have my orders. I am still a damn good shinobi. I asked for leave and a means to bring our own back. It is something humans do. I was taking Kaito in for reconditioning or as I would rather put it 'bastardization' on Nao's order. Only way that twisted fuck was gonna give me a go but it was better than nothin'. The rest of 'em were happy to leave the Cabal to rot with a bunch of inbred hybrids and Ancient sympathizers, but not me. No. So after Kaito and the rest of the fuckers that went turncoat after everything went tits up--" Simple as that, she was taking Kaito and whatever other Cabalists she could find 'back home' for reconditioning. "Even a hybrid is better than a sympathizer at least..." she conceded. "Ya got one of 'em fucking the Kazekage now. Another one running around with her smart ass mouth thinking she knows shit about something, one just chilling and getting drunk with the hybrids and who the hell knows what happened to the rest of them. Probably dead or worse, put away in some box like me." Not that it would be any different for the rest of them, the former Cabalists that is. Eventually they would speak out of turn and these Ancients and hybrids would show their true colors and they would be in for a bad time.

She was the fucking hero here.
 

Raizo

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"Ah, so you weren't part of the Intervillage Exam mission, fair enough."

It seemed that not all of them were utilized for everything. Then there was the notion of her job being the one to bring back "theirs". She had come for Kaito, it made sense as no other Sovereign had been captured by that point. That meant there was absolutely one thing he could not do; mention they had Taro. If her task was to collect, she would probably use whatever power she had left to go after him. Taro was still not ready, he would easily align with her and the two of them would cause damages at a high rate, even if there was a high chance that her escaping this specific dark hole Mikaboshi had thrown her in, of failure to fully escape. It was still a risk he could not and would not take.

"Avaron..."

Chakra would once more begin to flood into his eyes as the glow started to fade. The burning would begin to subside and mold into something tangible.

"... thank you. I do appreciate that you've given me... something."

It wasn't the full story. It seemed that he still would have to go after Nao, but he at least had something to work with in regards to answering some of the questions he had been chasing for the past several years.

"I wish there was more that could be done to easy this... Mikaboshi, well, he is a monster. You and I both agree there."

The change within his eyes would stop, no longer orbs of flames but were now something more. Something different.

"I've, for some reason or another, started to remember my familial bonds with the Sovereign, and our collective sins. No different than Sunagakure no Sato, no better, no worst... that said, I do have a very human side to me. Aside that I have fought to hold on to for a while... a side that, seems to be on the losing half of all of this. What I am... what should I do... what should I be... all fluctuating within my mind, all tearing me apart from the inside..."

At that moment his aura would begin to explode outward. It was not a creeping sensation like the dropping of the temperature of Kazuki or the extending of shadows of Mikaboshi. The aura would, if given a taste, would go from human to increasingly something other. If he was a hybrid, then the shift from being mostly human to being mostly other would be tasted and felt within this moment. He was accepting something he had been internally fighting for some time. Who and what he was.

"And yet, I am also human... and my human side carries with it emotions. Emotions that can be hurt..."

There was no pain in his voice. His tone had actually remained calm, maybe, if possible, dropping even more emotion from it. It was almost a robotic tone, a sanitized tone that seemed to lack fullness that came with any human speech. The aura would continue to grow, filling up the room, would it feed her? Probably. But it would continue to grow, and with it would be a feeling that came with it. If he was a hunter, a Hunter, then his aura would start to manifest that quality. It would feel as if a beast, a predator, was stalking its prey, a wounded animal. It was not outright striking, but the tension was there. A feeling within the air that seemed to carry with it an underlying message, "I will consume you".


"...and I've grown tired of your rude remarks."

His eyes, eyes that now carried with them a new appearance, would gaze down upon the female. These eyes would carry with them a sense of solace, a sense of harrowing, a sense of a calm dread. These eyes would be the eyes that would lead one down the road to damnation. The Eyes of Perdition (Mangakyou Sharingan [Master] reskin). By this point she would have probably made a list of other taunts and remarks met to provoke him, to plead with him or to hurt him. It did not matter, all would be met with a smile. He was allowing himself to go on cruise control as something else took over. Something rooted deeper within his subconscious, something that he had been suppressing for so long. It would be their eyes now looking down upon Avaron, the prideful woman who was unshakeable.

"Tell me... what would be your worst fear?"

Upon asking, his eyes would seemingly pierce directly into the soul of the woman utilizing a skill he had never used before, or maybe it was something he could not use without the help of his other 'half'; Pandemonium (Tsukiyomi [Mastered] Reskin). If successful, the following would begin to transpire;

Within her mind, the world would go completely black before light would return once more. She would find herself back where she felt most comfortable, whether that was back in Tea Country, Sora, or some other place. She would see faces of those she knew, maybe those she grew up with and trained with if she was a member of Otogakure no Sato. All of these faces would be present and attempting to interact with her in whatever way would be perceived as natural to her. This would seem less like a dream and more like reality. And within that acceptance of maybe everything prior to this moment had been a dream or nightmare, the true horror would begin.

Dark shadow hands would begin to rip through the middle mass of all the people Avaron cared for. The shadowy hands would come with them a dark and twisted laugh that she would associate with Mikaboshi. This would not have seemed out of place with how she probably currently felt about the Ancient, how Roku had mentioned him purposefully before using this jutsu and how he seemed to embody many of the things she hated about Suna. Seemingly, the mad Deep Court ruler would rip through people around her. The sky would turn red as if their blood was starting to fill it up. Shadows would continue to grow and twist around her, from the crumpled bodies of the fallen. From the darkness would rise a large, almost gigantic, visage of Mikaboshi, cloaked and masked as he seemingly always had been. His gaze would peer down at Avaron, who would attempt to move to do something to him, to lash out, but she would find her body frozen in place. Upon her legs would be the bodies of her Sovereign contemporaries.

The large Mikaboshi would begin to speak to her, saying something that would rattle her to the core, something that would only hurt her to hear it, but during it his voice would change from the voice she knew of Mikaboshi to a voice she surely knew just as well if not better; the voice of Daimyo Ishii. Removing the mask of Mikaboshi would reveal the face of the Daimyo, as his maniacal laughter filled her ears. If she attempts to close her eyes would find herself unable. From the darkness that composed the body of the giant Daimyo, hundreds of shadow hands would stretch outwards. Within their grasp would be the hundreds of figures that she would associate with Ancients. The shadow hands would then begin to slam the Ancients into the fallen bodies of Avaron's friends, families, teachers, associates. Their eyes would glow as they would rise back to their feet. Dark energy would begin to twist through them as they would turn their attention to her and start to slowly make their way to he frozen Number 10.

"We are malleable now... We are malleable Nao... We are malleable now, and soon you will be too."

These words would come out in a low and slow hum as they continued to march towards her. The daimyo, his own figure beginning to twist with the power of the Ancients invading him would also begin to roar down to Avaron.

"Do you think I would stop with them? With Suna?"

Laughter once more as the zombie hybrids would ascend upon Avaron. They would pile onto her, their fingers would begin to pry at her, at her flesh, and their teeth would begin to sink down into her. Instead of a feeling of death, she would begin to feel something else. A dark power would begin to enter her bloodstream, enter her essence. Slowly, she would feel the corruption burning through her like advanced cancer, completely altering her. Within a moment she would feel it, she would feel what she perceived as becoming what she hated. She would become a hybrid.

And then suddenly her eyes would snap shut and open and the scenario would have been completely reset. The same instance would transpire once more, exactly the same and would do as such for what felt like a hundred more times. Repeating, with the only change being her no longer being surprised by what happened, she would now have an expectation, she would eventually grow numb to it, but what he could not predict would be how her mind would be on the other side. Hours, days, would pass for her and then her eyes would suddenly become clear once more, back in reality.

Roku would merely be watching on. Maybe this wasn't hunting, but maybe it was? There was more to a predator and prey relationship than the physicality. The predation of a strong mind, a strong will... there was satisfaction in that. There was a hunt and thrill to that. Maybe that is what he was after?

His head would tilt to the side as he would wait for her to say something, following the end of her ordeal.

OOC: If the Genjutsu fails, just ignore the quoted info and just do that Juu Juu thing that you do!
 

Sand Council

Sand Event NPC
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OC: Sorry for the delay.

IC:

"Ah, so you weren't part of the Intervillage Exam mission, fair enough."

There was a pattern here, one that Roku may or may not be starting to realize about these Sovereign. They were more than mindless minions being stringed along by their puppet-master Nao. They were people with their own thoughts and resentments, with the own values and both taro and Juu could not be more different people. Taro was certainly more likable than Juu, but Taro had a burning hate for Sunagakure and he resented being left to rot in a cage. Roku might have had affections for the unfortunate man-child that was Taro but that would not save the Sovereign from the fate that awaited him. The slow, painful consumption he would suffer here in the Obsidian. Juu was definitely rougher, crass and angry, but she was exceptionally loyal. She had went to Sand for the purpose of recovering people whom she did not seem to hold any love for because they were her peers, nothing more and nothing less. In fact most of the Sovereign members appeared to think poorly of one another, yet they were able to somehow work together. There was a thread of loyalty that could almost be seen as commendable if they were not such dangerous creatures.

Juu was different from the rest of the Sovereign in a number of ways, she chose this way of life and yet she rejected one of the things that made a Sovereign formidable. She might be seeking power, but it was not the sort of power that could be earned through the artificial hybridization Nao provided. She loathed the concept, the was revolted by Roku purely because of what he was yet she was willing to not only endure the existence of her fellow Sovereign but she was looking to save them. Her ideas might be twisted, but from the other side things never looked right to an outsider and this was no exception.

"Avaron..."</COLOR><i></i>

"Hmm...?" She wanted to keep him talking. By now Roku was likely feeling tired and sore, as if he had spent the day lugging stone. His calves would possibly feel tight, his back could ache and his shoulders might feel heavy. There might be an urge to crack his neck or to blink longer, his eyes might burn. She had been consuming him, not that she was hiding the fact, after-all she had mentioned his taste. It was one she wanted to forget, it gave her a power she would rather reject but in desperate times she would have to take power that was not only not her own but also power that came from a revolting source. It was not the first time she had tasted a hybrid, there were a number of them in Wind Country. Those with tainted, mixed heritages. Those who lacked the self-respect to maintain a pure bloodline. It was something she looked down on, it was something she had looked down on her entire life. People like him, if they were discovered, would have been drowned at birth and had he entered her home village as a man he would have been hung or stoned. She had subsisted off of mongrels such as Six for years now, whenever they passed her cage, a respite and a larger meal than the rats and the vermin she sustained herself with.

Roku's eyes started to change. It was unsettling, not only because she did not understand it but also because she was scared of him. She tasted him and she understood his nature even if she did not know the words for it. There was an aggression, an inherent danger that seemed to drip from his pores. Did Roku even realize the path and the life, how his choices were reflective of his nature all of these years. How he ascended the ranks all the way to Sennin yet he spent his nights as a vigilante. How he changed his personas more often than some changed their socks. How he was always hunting but he was not entirely certain of his target. He was just hunting something -- injustice, crime, an enemy. Did he know how to do anything but hunt?

"... thank you. I do appreciate that you've given me... something."

"...Yeah fuck'n right," she snapped. She was too prideful to be scared. She hid her fear through anger and rudeness. It was a defense mechanism and she needed it with a man, a thing like Roku. Of course neither of them knew the whole story, the story went deeper than monsters and a dark, brilliant genius like Nao bringing forbidden knowledge to Sunagakure's doorstep. Juu was something different and she was intimately connected to Sunagakure's past in ways that they both scarcely recognized. Roku had not caught on yet, but hunters were not scholars unless it was a necessary part of hunting their prey.

"I wish there was more that could be done to easy this... Mikaboshi, well, he is a monster. You and I both agree there."

She shook her head side to side, she did not believe him. He was one of them. He was a monster too.

"I've, for some reason or another, started to remember my familial bonds with the Sovereign, and our collective sins. No different than Sunagakure no Sato, no better, no worst... that said, I do have a very human side to me. Aside that I have fought to hold on to for a while... a side that, seems to be on the losing half of all of this. What I am... what should I do... what should I be... all fluctuating within my mind, all tearing me apart from the inside..."

He did not remember? He did not remember what? What he was? What he did? Was this just willful ignorance? If she was clever enough, she would have used this to her advantage, but she was clumsy at best when it came to planning a clandestine activity. No, she was more like a bull that was kicked in the balls. "Dude, you forgot you were a damn monster?" Blunt, yes that was a term but it really did not describe her. She was feeling stronger, if nothing else Number Six was a satisfying meal even if it was like eating a bowl of week-old spinach mixed with vinegar and old tuna it was also full of protein and vitamins. He was changing and so wasn't she. Her face was fuller, she did not look so sickly but she did not look any less angry. She was getting more ballsy, but she was not ready to strike just yet as she pondered her options. The door was not going to be able to contain her, not for the first few days after this meal. Would it be a calculated risk to wait for him to depart after she had her fill? She was starting to feel the way he felt, not the whirlpool of sentiments an amnesic would feel but rather the part of Roku's psyche that was simply ingrained in his nature. It was not assisting her clarity. I rarely served as a boon for Number Six either. His aggression set him apart from many of his contemporaries, peers, friends and potential lovers. He could probably count his friends on a single hand if not a single finger.

"And yet, I am also human... and my human side carries with it emotions. Emotions that can be hurt..."

"You poor baby." It was condescending but it was intended to be. She did not want to set him off, she just wanted to slow him down and take what she could.

He was a hunter. He was hunger. Also, things were starting to get 'bad.' A fog. A presence. A state, A sense. And it was growing and she was feeding off of it. It was a problem of course, not necessarily just her feeding it but Roku also realizing what he was. He was able to embrace it. It was disconcerting, but Juu's power made her unique because it reflected him. She would come to her feet, they would wobble as if she was a newborn fawn standing for the first time. There was fear, fear was natural and it was coming from her humanity. There was anger, the anger came from her social bringing and present circumstance. There was hunger, the natural kind from being forgotten and starved but also another gnawing hunger but this other feeling that was harder to immediately identify but only because it was so unnatural given her present circumstance. It was a thrill. Not the carnal type but something more feral. She did not understand it but she felt it, this compulsion that was not her own. It was more terrifying than being ripped apart but it was not her greatest fear.

"...and I've grown tired of your rude remarks."

It was like a switch had been flipped in Roku and her blood turned cold. The air was getting thicker. The fog gave her only an outline, but his eyes seem to break through the miasma. There was a rumble in her throat, it was a growl but the noise she made was not strong enough to be considered as much more than a rumble. There was two conflicting instincts at work here -- fight or flight. What she had taken from him and what she was naturally feeling in response to this change conflicted each-other at the very core.

<COLOR color="red">"Tell me... what would be your worst fear?"

She had no other recourse beyond her personal trump card. Yes, she partook into the sin of consumption and she knew well the consequences of such corruption but she had her reasons. Everyone did -- be it for love, for life or out of fear. There was always a want or a need. What was her trump card, she was taking Roku with her. She blinked, her eyes felt as if they were being ripped from her head. Her vision went sideways, her line of site shuddered. She tried to do the same thing to Roku, not that she understood it. Not that she was a master of it. But she would have to go for the ride herself if she was going to make him suffer the same fate as she.

So the unflappable Otogakurian saw what she feared most:
Nightmare said:
She was back home. Home was not in Sand. It was not in Soons or even Sora. It was not with Nao or the Sovereign. It was home. It was not a quiet house, it was a small, messy place that was full of life and laughter. There had to be six kids, the oldest being 10 and the youngest being about 3. She was making food, it was some sort of indescribable stew. It was meat to a minor capacity and a heavy portion of vegetables on the stove-top being left to simmer. She was the oldest, at least it could be presumed. Her line of sight was higher than that of the other children there. The kids were running beneath the table and chairs, screaming and squealing as if they were murdering one another. As most children do, they played a game of cat and mouse, of hunter and prey without realizing.

"You're in charge!"

A role bestowed upon the eldest there, the ten year old.

"Man the stove Koran, I am late!"

Her household was not the place she felt the most comfortable, no. That was the prelude of course, the fact that she was back home. Like any dreamscape she was there somehow and she did not even realize that it made no sense. That she should not be there. That logically she could not be there. She could not be there because they were all dead but that is a story for another day. This was a time from before, a time when she thought she knew fear and pain but she was wrong. A time where she was 'safe' or at least the safest she ever was. She would rush through the cobbled streets, the people had stern faces and expressions. Their eyes never met hers, they never did. They always looked over and past. It was cold and no it was not safe. She thought that the scariest things she ever saw lived in Otogakure. She thought her greatest barrier would be her impoverished lifestyle and her large family of depends because her parents could not keep it in their pants and surprise-surprise were also never around to deal with the 'fruits' of their lust.

No, this was not where she was the most comfortable, it was merely part of the narrative.

She would make her way to a great Dojo, she never looked up at the sign. She did not need to, she knew the way. She knew the house. She was also late. She would not hesitate as she knocked on the door, if she dallied it would only be worse. Before the door even opened she tried to genuflect at the doorway but the door opened and as she tried to kneel a knee would make contact with her jaw. Her mouth would snap shut and rattle her head. She would feel a *crack* in her jaw. Yes, it was broken She knew well the feeling and she was sent tumbling back. It was Master Chiro, he said something to her but her head was swimming and she did not even hear the words. Her head had hit the stony ground hard and she could taste blood in her mouth. She was not in shock, this had happened before and in fact he was in a good mood if it ended there. She was after-all 5 minutes late. It was a sign of disrespect and he tolerated none. His ego was the only thing likely more fragile than the then teen's jaw. Yes, this was a memory being recycled into a twisted horror by Roku's illusion. Oddly enough this was not a dream even in its virgin state.

"aster-- I am hawrry I disresected the Order."

She could not move her jaw, it was the best she could do. A kick to the rib that she refused to yelp in response to. The door was left ajar and the teacher she hardly even looked at would walk away. In fact the did not even see his face, she was too busy staring at the floor and then the sky but as he left she would see his back. She often saw his back. It was a kimono, he was a traditionalist. Dark blue this time, it was always a dark color but rarely the same. There was a giant symbol on his back. It was the symbol for the Ranger Order.

"You're getting too old to be a screw up. Fight or die, I do not care which."

That statement might sound dramatic but it was quite the contrary. She was in training and so were many others. Training consisted primarily of fighting each other. By the end of the day a broken jaw would not be her only broken bone. She was scrappy and perhaps a bit desperate, being a member of an Order meant something in Otogakure. There was no option for failure and pain was simply a part of her life. It was a part of all of their lives, at least here in this Dojo where they trained until the sun got low. When they left, everyone was wordless and emotionless. Indifferent even if they were suffering. You did not show weakness, that was how you got yourself killed in Otogakure. Of course they were just kids. With one another, when the adults were not watching. When they found a hidden alley or underpass, one they all knew they would congregate taking slightly different paths, thinking themselves clever.

They were not clever, they were kids.

Hidden stash of cheap booze, cigarettes and bad jokes. This was comrades, at least the down time between fighting. They were pitted against one another to see who would shine, who would be worthy to be accepted into the Order and who was not worth their efforts, It was a constant competition between them as long as they were in the public eye, but this was the one brief moment where she could be a teen. Where she was not responsible for her parent's fertility. Where she was not being assaulted or assaulting someone else to gain favor in an Order. This was where she felt safe. Even with scrapes and bruises, broken bones that would mend by morning. She was a quick healer. All of them were. Then they would fight again. It was through pain that they would be forged into something worthy, of something capable they claimed. She believed it because she knew nothing else. They all believed it. Despite the chaos and the pain, this was the best part of her life.

Of course, this was a dream and she would not remember that these kids are all dead too.

This was where Roku's cruelty took over and spirited away what would have been considered a 'dream' as sad as that might be. From the floor and the walls, long tendrils of darkness would slither out and take shape. Hands or claws, to her they were more like claws. and they would begin to rip through the middle mass of all the people she cared for. Her allies. She was if nothing else, loyal. She was willing to leap through the nine layers of hell to bring back an ally, to free them from the clutches of her enemies. To even save them through force against them if necessary. Then there was a deep, disembodied laugh. At least it was a terrible noise she associated with Mikaboshi, bereft of charm and warmth but in its own way possessed a terrible mirth. Roku did not need to feed her this narrative, it was not far from the truth of what had happened. At least what she was told had happened. A lie for another day of course, she was the designated survivor of her class, An honor she never knew, she was told an Ancient killed her peers but that was a lie. It was what fueled her reason to come to Wind Country. It was what compelled her to join the Sovereign and it was what gave life to a hate that before was merely a prejudice fed to her by her parents and superiors. It was through pain she, like so many others like her were forged. With a specific, uncompromising hate for Ancients.

She would see a fate she had imagined so many times before. She would scream, both in her vision and audibly. It was a terrible guttural noise. Her feet seemed glued to the ground. She wanted to take arms, but dammit in this dream she was not moving or at least not fast enough. It was just blood and gore, rivers of it. Even the sky changed. There were no words, just screams. She tried to say their names, but the words never came out right. She searched for her weapon, forgetting she never had one. Just her hands and sometimes a stick. Crude implements of war. As she looked down, she would see them -- the damned and dead. She never cared for the Sovereign or the Cabal as much as she did for her fellow Ranger apprentices. There was never the same warmth, not from her. Still, she did not want them to die. They were not worth much but she would have died to protect them. But they seemed better at dying than her.

"And they were supposed to be Rangers?"

This was of course a nightmare, but a logical mind would not know it. Mikaboshi's mask would be cast away, revealing the face of an aged man. The Diamyo, whom had not aged as long as she knew of him. Yes, he always appeared the same in all her years. Never aging, never changing. It was not a steady course, it was a stagnant pool. His laugh was different, not nearly as dramatic but still cruel. There was no blink, no turning away in a dream. Everything was shown with vivid detail and color. In the vision, the hybridization was taken literally and from the gloom that composed the body of the Jashinist Ishii Shiro, hundreds of dark, twisted hands would reach outwards outwards. Within their grip would be the hundreds of orbs, not figures. That was not how it was done, it was souls not bodies. The souls withdrawn and then not pushed into but fed to a living target. But this was a nightmare and she could not question it, her brain could not fathom the logic. it was bodies here. Bodies of Ancients. The shadow hands slam the Ancients into the fallen bodies of Avaron's mates. The transition process, nothing like the ones she had seen, the convulsions and the fevers, the terrible dreams, the screaming pain and the likely death. No, they rose again from the dead. Something to celebrate if you were anyone but an Otogakurian as they rose mixed as her brain followed the obvious symbolism involved here.

"We are malleable now... We are malleable Nao... We are malleable now, and soon you will be too."

Her heart was pounding. It was in agony. It was getting hard to breathe, She did not even know if she was screaming, if she was saying the words that she intended. There was no threats she could make, she could not move. She could not fight. Stay away? Leave them alone? Stop? Perhaps it was worse that the words were not coming out. Perhaps it was worse that they were and they were unheeded. It did not matter because she was an irrelevant. She was an irrelevant and they were coming for her. Did she beg? Scream? Cry? She didn't, not because she was brave but because she was stunned. Because she was numb. There was nothing she could do, nothing that would or could make a difference. She just wanted to die. Death seemed better, quieter, less bloody. Hell, it sounded like a fucking vacation.

Then it would end. In the blink of an eye, it would start all over again. As if it was a bad dream or a terrible vision one put in the back of their head. There was something foreboding about it or it was a thought that would make you shudder and you would lock it away. Try to live the life your were living but the instance would play out again. They were dead, ripped apart. She was numb from the start, from the first instance. It was not the numbness that he would achieve in this hopeless scenario, in this nightmare. No, she would start to change the scenario or at least try. A different alley. A different underpass. Attempt to get the crew to scatter early, but to no avail. The fate was always the same. So she would move back to an earlier time, turn on them herself. Kill them before the shadows came, but the shadows simply came earlier or rather just late enough to allow her the fate of feeling that she betrayed them for what ends as the result was the same but their first blood was on her hands. Earlier and earlier, to even the dojo. It mattered not, the shadows came. The Ancient taint and the curse. The perversion of it all. It did not matter because it was going to happen. It always happened, not matter who she killed. Who she sought to change the course of events. Who she begged or tried to make a deal with. So she lived it out, over and over again in this sadistic cycle of death and then sin.

It would end eventually but she could not be certain how long she was there. When it ended a final time, scripted just like the first -- intervention was useless and she gave up a long time ago. Suicide simply started the cycle sooner, the shadows would come and she would just lay there trapped inside her corpse and watch. Because yes, she tried, numerous times. She had his, Roku's new eyes but she was not looking at him. She looked past him. She was not focusing on him, but she was standing. There was nothing to say, she saw where she was. Back in this hell instead of the other one. Her cell, mostly empty less the broken, forgotten plate and the bones of vermin. "How... like your kind," she announced with an uncharacteristic calm. She was pale, shaking and covered in sweat. "Did... you know, I..." Of course he didn't. She would kneel down and grab the bones of a rat, a rather large one. Back in its day perhaps the king of rats, the size of a chihuahua. She would take its skull, the meat was stripped away long ago and she would smash the skull against the floor, cracking the bone in half. "Does not matter, it does not," work that way. She did not finish the sentence but she did not even notice. She was rattled.

Lateral lines wrist to elbow deep.

Yes, this was suicide.

The jagged bones were not sharp enough to be painless but she was not right. She had not been right for a long time, but there is a different between being mis-wired and broken and she was now the later.
 

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