KAJI №16: Crimson over White Ash [Private]

[Okada Kaji]

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“The worst part of the years to come was mourning the innocence lost in the meat grinder that was my youth. I may never understand why I survived instead of others with less sins to atone for, like Heizo. In the end, we were all victims, yet I was the one to make it out of there and it just never seemed fair. And as those years rolled on and my work with the blade became more lethal, the lives wasted by my hand only added to the tally with haste. Only by dedicating myself to the cause of bettering the world can I find peace and rightfully mourn that innocence destroyed in the years of my youth.”

-- Kaji Okada​

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The Legend of Kaji Okada, Book One
Chapter Sixteen: Crimson over White Ash
Chalky ash from a raging volcano littered the horizon of a sparse forest in the foothills. Uedama was a large mountain that rivaled Maruishi in size, topped with black smog and a red crust rolling of its peak. It was visible from the forest, yet over a mile away from Kaji Okada’s position. The lad was marching steadily and heading to the northwest where the wilds of the Earth Country were most inhospitable. It was practically a death march, but a necessity for a shinobi who needed to shake some pursuers. It was mid-day and the sun was masked by dense clouds of soot, resulting in a gray overcast.

Kaji was keeping up an exhausting pace, occasionally splitting his trail with shadow clones to create diversions. For days now, Kaji was aware that he was being followed, though he had yet to determine who was following him, or even their exact numbers. He figured they were biding their time, allowing him to keep his pace ahead of them and eventually tire himself out to make their attack easy. To be fair, it was a sign of respect, as they must have known his reputation, insisting that word of his exploits at the Jashin Temple must have spread quickly.

Foul winds roll the fastest, and so, the rumor mill was producing the story of a lone shinobi who brought a storm to the clerics of the Death God Jashin in a midnight raid. It was certainly the most killing Kaji had ever done, but he did not execute the task without his share of mistakes and clumsy battling. Even now, Kaji was marching with a hobble as he nursed damage to his sternum from the battle, and deep slashes across his chest, arms, and back from a foe’s visceral talons. Most of the so-called clerics were just the religious sort on the night of Kaji’s vengeful raid, though, in the case of Jashin’s twisted worshippers, Kaji would never feel remorse for cutting them down. Out of the fifteen souls he claims, only the acolyte— the same shinobi with the talons— proved to be an obstacle worth a cold murdering by Eelspine. And after all this time since that night, Kaji hadn’t gained any of the closure he hoped for from the deed. He spent an hour spilling blood and burning their banners, creating chaos unlike anything he ever thought himself to be capable of, and the end result was some sickening, empty feeling. He knew it wouldn’t bring Xinyue back— she was gone forever, but it didn’t feel like he accomplished anything by crushing the ones who led her so far astray.

-- w575
-- Topic Entered, Weekly Installments.
-- Solo Flashback Thread
-- The Legend of Kaji Okada Book One Timeline: Here

 

[Okada Kaji]

Kaji was bearing an impassable guilt for his actions, feeling like nothing more than a murderer for his deeds at the Temple of Jashin. The sensation of revenge was short-lived, briefly filling that vacant space within him where he kept a kinship with Xinyue before her demise. Kaji had convinced himself that it was the Death God's temptation that drove her to murder their brother Heizo in order to amass power. It was Jashin that turned Xinyue against Kaji; it blinded her with bloodlust and led her to use the magical artifact she pried out of Hiezo’s dead hands. Lacking the skill to control the device she split open the core of Arcadia to reveal the sleeping pit of fire, and was nearly decimated when she dove after it. It was only through Kaji’s mercy that she survived the ascent, but her fate was already cast. In the end, Kaji could not fault the Hidden Stone for holding Xinyue accountable for her actions, but in truth, Master Iwakura was the one who deserved to be smitten by the Tsuchikage’s hand, not Kaji’s misguided sister. It was occurring to Kaji that his master would sacrifice anyone in order to keep his own reputation clean and to maintain order in The Disciples Division. In fact, young Kaji had reached the realization that it was most-likely his own peers who’d been sent after him by Master Iwakura— to eliminate Kaji was to secure the final loose end linking Xinyue to Iwakura and The Disciples.

And now the deception’s role was filled and the wolves of Iwakura’s Disciples were coming for Kaji Okada. As his suspicions were refined so was his awareness of the tactics her pursuers were using. He knew they would come in a pack of three, raised and taught as a team by Iwakura until they were primed for indoctrination. These new wolves would be just as misguided as Kaji and his illusion of siblings was before, promised recognition and reward if they slew the deserter. The pack would come with the same bloodthirst the Master taught Kaji and his siblings, though only Xinyue truly followed Iwakura’s training to the letter.

With his convictions set, Kaji took his trail into a forest of scrawny trees that grew tall and thin, hardly suitable for hosting birds’ nests or providing cover. With the sky so day despite the day, and the ground white with ash, Kaji found this land to be perfect for drawing in the fight. His sight was keen across the monochromatic setting, and it was utterly silent aside from the occasional rumble of Uedama Mountain. He slowed his pace for the last mile to fake the fatigue he knew they were waiting for and knew they’d try to surround him. And so, Kaji stood at the ready and cleared his dusty cloak from covering the hilt of Eelspine by his waist.

There was the crack of a branch beneath caked on soot to give his foe away.
Kaji spun with his sword coming loose from its sheath, rolling around to parry the charging opponent who came with a high thrust. Metals clashed and the two fighters began a death dance. The assassin was shrouded in a tattered black cloak just as dusty from the ash rain as Kaji’s own. This foe wore the mask donned by all of Iwakura’s Disciples; a metal finish with narrow eye slits and chiseled cheek-lines which ran down to frowning lips. The masked warrior has a male physique toned for martial combat, with hard muscle lines that showed through his cloak and the sleek armor padding of the Disciple regalia. His movements were not as swift as Kaji’s, but he was battling with power and aggression, wielding a large swallow sword with serrated blades on each end. The Disciple was pressing the attack and hoping to quickly tire Kaji or catch him in a misstep with that nasty weapon. He was rolling the sword, pairing each attack with a turn and following maneuver that brought the opposite blade to his front. But for every attack the Disciple leveled towards Kaji there was nothing but air to cut or Eelspine came in for another parry, glowing with emeraldine energy. Kaji could sense his blade thirsting to sink into this foe and drink from his lifeforce. So he let the energy within Eelspine swell and canceled the flurry of his opponent’s attack using a burst of energy. The chakra was like a curving wall of force: an advance sword technique known as the heavenly blade. This energy coalesced and scattered the moment the assassin’s blade clashed against it— back he went, bleeding from several fresh wounds as if Kaji had cut him in a whirlwind of slashing.

But it wasn’t enough. Eelspine had to touch the foe directly in order to drain his life force, so Kaji charged the off-balanced opponent. Kaji shifted his stance to his own show of aggression, wielding Eelspine with both hands and finding first blood. The masked assassin attempted a poor block when one leg buckled beneath him— up came his swallow sword but his missed Eelspine with his blade edge and three fingers were taken through to the knuckles. The sanguine fluid was flying, staining his steel mask and Kaji as well. The pain flooded him and so did Kaji, who continued the pursuit and caught the assassin wherever his guarding failed: this time with a clean blow through his right thigh, the quad— just above his knee.

The sound of anguish spread wide, crying through the barren forest like an alarm to his allies. Behind the assassin’s mask was the word fear printed on his eyelids, newly learned. He was being thoroughly outclassed by his predecessor and realized that his master had sent him to slaughter against the rogue Disciple. Now that the blade had drawn from chakra of the opponent, it was as if the masterwork had a claim on his soul— Kaji would keep coming until the foe was laid low.

-- wc 1003

 

[Okada Kaji]

The rush of battle was like a brief reprieve from the pain of his loss.
Eelspine was like a conduit for transferring the agony of Kaji to the Disciples who’d come to see through his demise. Perhaps releasing the life from the newest pupils of Master Iwakura would bring him the same despair Kaji knew, or at least chop the fingers off the reach of his organization the way he did his latest opponent. The thought of inconveniencing Iwakura had Kaji forming a devilish grin as he raised his saber, and the chakra coalescing at Eelspine’s edge glowed like hot steel.

The haze of white ash was parted by an arching energy spun from the cutting edge of Eelspine and cracking the air as it shot forth. It would have cut the swallow swordsman and his blade in two, but the ground between him and Kaji ripped open with a rise of metallic fragments. The magnetism of earth transmuting and magnetizing at high speed nearly pulled Eelspine out of Kaji’s grasp— a wall of reinforced, composite metal shot high and ate his energy burst. It was the work of the second Disciple in the trio sent by Iwakura, a shinobi with formidable prowess in elemental transmutation by Kaji’s estimation. The steel wall was risen in the nick of time to save the first warrior, and now a second had emerged, landing on top of the monolithic structure with hands already colliding to form more hand seals. This one was covered in black ragged garments with half the amount of armor as the brawler disciple, and a physique just as proportionately thin. With just a quick glance, the hunger of Kaji and Eelspine knew they’d claim this one too.

The steel wall suddenly shredded into a barrage of new transformations, becoming streaks of metal branches growing in Kaji’s direction with no foreseeable pattern. The branches were blades striking, cleaving through the frail trees, moving down everything in its path in rows of desolation as Kaji narrowly evaded blade after blade. Kaji’s determination and agile stepping had him evading the assault, though there were a few close calls that struck him sloppily; one cutting into his leg and second that almost skewered him through his shoulder blades. The design of the jutsu was incredible and worked ideally for pinning an opponent with fleeting feet, a fact Kaji was realizing when he lost two paths in the jungle of steel. The whirring of the swallow sword came near from behind and above, too fast for the pinned Kaji to counteract— it was a perfect blind spot strike aiming for the back of his neck and sank through! Well, it almost sank through, as when the blade struck that image of Kaji in peril suddenly fell apart to nothing but smoke and ash: deception.

The real Kaji hadn’t made it too far away— he was hidden about ten meters away, the only amount of distance he could manage in that span of time with a veil of shadows cloaking blending him into the environment. He could feel the wetness of blood seeping through his clothing from the dangerously close call. He watched over his shoulder to see the Disciple with the swallow sword waiting in a defensive stance for the moment, surely expecting Kaji to counter-attack. Normally Kaji would have counter-attacked, however, the threat of three Disciples had him biding time, waiting for the third to be revealed before taking risks.

- wc579