Private Longing

[Kimari Bōmu]

Keniwa had invited the Raikage alongside anyone who she wishes to accompany her to the Hokage Rock. He wished to discuss some things with her, and thought that it may be able to help with diplomacy. It was always good to create lasting bonds with ones who hold high importance in this world. Really though if someone asked how he was actually feeling, he was scared shitless his whole body quivering and screaming to run any second now. The sad truth though was that it was far too late for any sort of doubt, so there he stood on the viewing point looking up at the five faces with faithfully watched over the village. Supposedly.

Keniwa had made sure to grab a few of leaf's finest beverages as it was a warm day, carrying the icebox by the handle as the sun beaming brightly over Konoha. He would look around for the Raikage waiting patiently for her to arrive, and as he waited going over in his head what exactly he would say and what he'd do with her today. He wanted to at the very least take her round the village he loved so much, and what better place than here to start.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

An invite from a sennin was hard to ignore, even if Kitsune was not only nobility but also the head of an entire country. Yet, it'd probably be for the best if she showed up, for diplomatic reasons. This'd be the second sennin she'd be meeting, and it was apparently the Main Branch sennin. She'd already met the Medical Branch sennin... And Takeshi had said Keiji was also a Sennin, so by process of elimination... He'd have to be ANBU Sennin. Quite the change in line of work from mednin. She'd have to give him a visit before leaving the village.

Kitsune'd fly to the viewing point, and land on the ground a few meters away from the sennin. "Hey there!" she said, as she morphed her six wings away, keeping them out of sight, "So you must be the Sennin I'm here to meet. I hope you like ramen, because I brought... A lot." she said, unfurling a scroll and from there, she unsealed a pair of bowls, filled to the brim with high quality ramen. "Now, I don't know about you, but I always do my best diplomacy on a full stomach." she said with a chuckle and gestured for Keni to dig in all he wanted, as there was plenty more left in the scroll.

"So, as you already know, I'm Shinrya Kitsune, Raikage and Ruler of Lightning Country." she said, presenting herself, before digging into her own bowl of ramen. As was fairly public knowledge among the upper echelon of Kumogakure, Kitsune was a voracious eater, yet her body never showed any sign of it due to the high metabolism she had. And now with the added muscles mass she'd gained from becoming part dragon, she'd need the calories to keep up the muscle. Probably. At this point she didn't know what her body was doing, but it sure was doing something.

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Watching the sky and the village below Keniwa would see a winged figure begin to make their way towards Hokage Rock, could it be? His own sister? His rival? He was beginning to lose track of who else had recently obtained draconic prowess but it seemed to be somewhat sprouting up here and there around the citizens of leaf it’s power was mystical and abnormal at the same time. However when it did not come to fully fledged dragons they seemed to usually be reliable. He would squint his eyes and focus in on who it really was, however her red flowing hair alongside her white wings made it clear to tell. It was quite a majestic presence as she flew down and landed near him, this was truly the freaking Raikage.

Her tone seemed happy and joyful and certainly helped to purge a lot of prior nerves to the meeting, "H-hello!" He would eagerly respond as the wings seemed to disperse from her back with speed and elegance. Despite the other winged individuals he had met she seemed... different, in a way he could not quite explain. "Yes, I am but please call me Keniwa if you wish Raikage, and uh... ramen? I do love ramen but what do yo-" Being cut off of his sentence he would witness two large bowls stuffed to the brim with ramen in front of the pair. As she chuckled, he could not help but... slightly blush, not through any romantic feelings, but more of a warm thankful feeling, for her to go out of her way to bring food for him, such a thoughtful act for someone he had never met before.

"Thank you so much! I certainly shall enjoy this meal." He would say as he slowly grabbed the bowl in front of him taking a bite of the steaming meal as he listened to Kitsune continue to introduce herself, "I am very grateful for you to being meeting me today, there is some things that I wished to show you in Konoha and to talk about! I must tell you I could not be any happier to hear about the alliance between the new villages. I hope to visit Kumogakure one day, I have only read about it in books and such, never having seen it for myself, it does sound truly beautiful." He would go to take another bite, however if inspected closely it could be seen that the mechanical armour which was bound to his hand, would slightly move his finger when attempting to grab his chopsticks, a very minor inconvenience which only got in his way for a second. "I-I hear your main branch sennin is here as well, I hope they could find the time to meet me as well, I do have one question for you Raikage, what kind of drink do you like?"

Opening up the icebox beside him would unveil several cans and bottled beverages originating from Konoha, Keniwa would go to grab one himself however from the metal casing, sparks would fly out from his hand, zapping himself in the process. He would grab his right wrist with his left hand as the fingers on his right began to move somewhat uncontrollably in a tapping formation. Of all the times for this cursed machine to malfunction... in front of her?! "I am so sorry! I have...- no idea what is happening!" Almost wrangling with himself he would do everything he could to pin his right arm down.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune chuckled at the surprised reaction of Keniwa when the bowls appeared. "Nothing spreads friendship like good food." she said, thinking back on all the diplomatic dinners she'd been a part of even before she made it to the position of Raikage. Then, when Keniwa spoke about visiting Kumogakure, she smiled, "Well you'd be very welcome. Though, considering the climate here in the Land of Fire, you might wanna dress warm. It can get kinda chilly in Kumogakure." she informed with a smile.

When Keniwa mentioned that he'd heard that Rei was in Leaf as well, Kitsune nodded, "Rei should be around somewhere, yeah. I think she's having fun exploring the village after the dinner we had with the Hokage last night." she said, explaining what they'd been up to. Then, it appeared sparks flew from the armored hand, so instead of answering what drink she'd like, she began looking closer at the mechanics.

At first it seemed pretty foreign to her, but closer examination had her puzzled. Why did this look like something Rei'd made? It had all the usual mechanical signatures of her friends handiwork, right down to how the various circuits were made. Kitsune tilted her head a little. This was weird. How'd something Rei made get all the way to Konoha? Rei'd never left the country. Kitsune assisted Keniwa in keeping the arm still by applying her now monstrous strength to the metal hand itself. "How, or where, did you come by this?" she asked before elaborating, "It has all the mechanical hallmarks of something Rei would've built. Well now it really feels like you have to meet her, I'd say. The device is malfunctioning to such a degree that it'd be hard to fix it without disassembling it entirely. At least for me."

[MFT; WC: 296]

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Sweat would fly down his forehead, landing atop of his clenched hand trying to keep down his malfunctioning gear which couldn’t stop spewing sparks even for a second. Amidst all the noise and slight amount of smoke resonating from underneath the mechanical augment, he would see from the corner of his eye, Kitsune helping keep down his arm with her own strength as well. Whilst it definitely helped the two of them keeping it in place, he did somewhat panic in the very worst case that he could accidentally hurt the Raikage. “N-no please it’s okay just… uuuuh-!” He felt the pain course up through his wrist right before his arm would have decided to move on its own again, he jolted his possessed arm from Kitsune as he grasped it looking down in what could only be described as hidden agony.

“I apologise, you uhm asked where I came by this… well I could not exactly tell you who it was, but it was a masked individual abou- rrrrRRRGGGHH-!” Falling to one knee he grit his teeth, it felt as if his arm was going to rip itself off and walk on its own, but he was going to at least try remain someone steadfast, despite this pain being something he’d never bared before in his life, the wires pulling his chakra network along as they so pleased. “F-four years ago In White Oak street, I bought them not knowing their true nature… Do you believe that she made it? Or at least is familiar enough with the technology? If so… this is such a ridiculous request and I am so very sorry to ask, but would it be possible for her to assist me.” He would say with pained gritted teeth as he held back from reeling his arm around. The sweat would continue to pour as he really believed this was the most embarrassing event that’d taken place in his life.

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

Kitsune nodded. She was absolutely certain that it was something Rei'd had her hand in. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the machinery, then sent it via a secure line to Rei who was somewhere else in Konoha at this point. Hopefully she'd show up fast, so they could figure out what the heck was going on with the augmentation to Keniwa's hands. As she said before, it wasn't really a possibility for Kitsune to fix it, and unmounting it didn't really seem like it was an option either. She'd have to wait for Rei to show up and see what she could do.

She looked over at Keniwa and smiled. "I'm sure Rei will be here soon. She's probably just finishing up whatever she was doing before she got my message. She's usually super fast, so I'm sure she'll be here soon." She said, trying to reassure Keniwa that everything would be alright. She was pretty sure that Rei would be able to fix it, but she wasn't sure how long it would take. She'd have to wait and see.

The thing that puzzled her the most was why Keniwa had the augmentation in the first place. Or rather, how it ended up in Konoha in the first place. Rei wasn't the kind of person that let her tech just... Vanish, and appear in the hands of someone else. She was very careful about that kind of thing. So how did it end up at this... White Oak Street? It was a mystery for sure.

[Calling in Rei]

 

[Toraono Michino]

The vibrating and little cutesy notification tone awoke the snoring beauty from her deep slumber. It actually startled her, causing Rei to sit up suddenly in her bed. The sudden movement caused a bunch of cans at the end of the bed to clatter off onto the ground followed by the groans of…she turned her head. Two younger men laid there barely covered with a sheet and empty beer cans. Rei raised a hand to her head as the familiar aching of a hangover began to reverberate throughout her skull. Her legs swung off the bed before hopping up without any more movement or sound. A cool breeze from an open window reminded her that she too was ill clothed to be walking around. Her eyes scanned about the strange home and found her clothing thrown here and there through just about the entire house.

Worst part was she only could remember bits a pieces. The ache in her groin and back at least signified a great time, and she was far more relaxed than Hangover Rei should be; but she really wished she could draw up any memory of the previous night’s fun. Oh well, she decided brushing aside the mild annoyance as the memory would probably un-fog as the day burned out.

Once her clothes had been gathered back onto her person the scientist scooped up the little device that had woke her up to start with. Flipping open the phone she punched in on the keypad until the little arrow made it to local messages. Funny thing with Kumogakure was that everything was in a state of advancement; including their headsets. Opting instead for the ability to send silent messages in words over speaking into an earpiece, the pocket phones had been a boon in the field already. In the Lightning Country there was towers set up to relay messages from the capital all the way to the very edges; out here the messages could only be sent to other local devices. So a message on the phone meant it could only be one thing; Kitsune needed aid. With blurred eyes Rei stared at the pixelated picture on her phone for a moment in sheer confusion. Not because the rendering of the photo was, at best, shit - but because that was her prototype. Why the hell was it out here? Her very image flickered and vanished from the room leaving no trace.

It reappeared throughout Konoha as she got her bearings. Eventually she tracked Kitsune down via her chakra’s scent - cinnamon with notes of charcoal - with her body simply appearing next to the two. Was the man a thief? A ner’do’well? What the hell was he doing with her weapon? She stared at Keni and the weapon for a moment, looked back down at her phone to actually read the message, and then looked back up with a friendlier demeanor.

“How are you alive?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth full stop.
“No, really, I need to know. You’re wearing a prototype weapon I made back when I was a teenager, that was scrapped because no one could handle their full chakra potential suddenly unlocking. I also assume you want me to take it off? Because…that’s going to be tricky…”

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

Keniwa would take a hesitant gaze as he watched Rei appear from... well he wish he could state where she came from but he felt there was more pressing matters at hand. Was this Kumogakure's Main Branch Sennin then? The very same woman who he hadn't even noticed until she was right in front of the two, to think that they were supposedly at the same position felt wrong, especially with him practically grovelling for help. "H-hello, uhm, Rei." Although her first question would completely take him back as whilst pinning down his hand he would take a look between his metal augment and back at her as small sparks continued to fly and shoot out from one of his gauntlets. "A-alive?" Alone it was a short and scary question to ask, but the rest of her explanation would help bring some thought to light, and also raise some questions for him.

He'd manage to stand on his own two feet before looking at the both of them and taking a heavy sigh seconds before with pained eyes he'd look up at Rei, "I could not explain to you how, I really couldn't, I have no clue how it's even attached to me, I just know that it does not come off, not through any means that I have attempted. It sounds foolish... I suppose when I was a kid I didn't know any better and donned them without thinking. But I feel... if I stopped concentrating now... my arm would snap in half." It was a serious statement and something made through gritted teeth clearly this was an urgent matter and from his look alone it could be told there wasn't much time to act upon the current situation.

 

[Toraono Michino]

“Well to be frank,” she started a reply, “You’re lucky your entire body hasn’t folded in half - backwards. That’s what kept happening to the test subjects when the initial program was running. I can’t say for sure if someone added upon the device or, if you’re just…special. Regardless…” Rei’s trained eyes looked over the arms, flesh that was adhesive to the metal from the heat and cracks of heat among the rest of the flesh, “…it appears that your stamina is at a limit with this device. It was never meant to be worn longer than a single mission. Even our best results came up with eventual death, and thus it was sold to the military originally as a one-time suicide bomb - which didn’t fly with The Brass.” Rei breifly turned her face back to look at Kitsune, the look in her green eyes saying ‘we need to do an extensive look into our vaults.’ It wouldn’t be a lie to say Rei had completely forgot that this weapon even existed.
“However, that’s not a worry for you Keni-san. I’ll get them off. Being my creation I have an idea as to how to remove them without giving you too much downtime needed for recovery. Worst part will most likely be getting used to not having them.”

Without another word the Ryuu slapped her hands together to make an audible clap. A thin blue dome of energy pulsed out from her core to surround the trio,
“Secret Art: God’s Surgery Theater.” No handseals to weave, no further prompts, and the thin blue orb that stood within suddenly solidified into a surgery theater. It was white and pristine. A single surgical bed adorned the center with a hole in the center for fluids to filter out of into a drain in the floor that went, presumably, outside the barrier. Kitsune would find herself cut off from the two with a door to grant entrance in if she felt like her talent was needed; otherwise a comfortable chair, a drink, and a two-way mirror was set up to give her friend a show.

Rei patted the steel surgical table before turning to grab a rolling tray to fill with surgical utensils she started to pull from cabinet draws.
“With, or without anesthesia Keni? I know some shinobi do well with pain and others tend to go into shock from stubbing a toe, but I will say your chances of removing those arms without further damage is going to be best if we do this without. Those gauntlets have little wires that shoot through your nervous system to force past the natural limiters humans have on their bodies. I can only theorize, but, the way their designed was to latch on to an end object. I’ll need to cut into you and slice them off three of your major organs…a process that is not going to be pleasant…
“…but, if you do without the painkillers, you should be able to regulate your chakra so that the wounds I’m about to inflict will heal themselves and cut your recovery time down to a single day as opposed to three to four weeks.”

Rei’s table was prepped as she explained the next step. Spinning around she rolled the table back over to the steel slab and lifted her hands up as if she had just finished washing them. With a rotation of her wrists the woman was suddenly garbed in a surgical gown, gloves, and mask.

 

[Kimari Bōmu]

One's eyes could only widen so much when being told things of dramatic proportion, the realisation that your body should practically be a pancake folded a couple dozen times isn't one that he was prepared to handle. Although he couldn't deny that the fact he was still alive was a blessing, be it through his consistent training or Jinzo's modifications, perhaps even both, he was grateful that he wasn't dead. "A-alright Rei-san, if you say s-" Without getting to finish his sentence it was as if the world around him had been blasted with a wave of energy, just for it to warmly engulf the two in to a much more colder looking surgical room. Was this the power of cloud's main branch sennin?? Seriously?! What was this? In confusion still conentrating strength in to his arm his eyesight would flicker around the room in sheer confusion.

"I uh... thought you were the main branch sennin, not medical... haha eeeeeh." He'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid of surgery, he'd never had anything of the sort performed on him and feared how it would even interact with his skin. So a poor attempt at a joke was the only thing he'd use to try ease his nerves. Staring at the surgical table as she would explain the procedure it didn't help him feel any less nervous, today was suppose to be one of fun and tourist attractions. Not a sudden medical check up, fear began to seep through his entire body as the thought of things such as a scalpel seemed more scarier than the largest of knives. Though the way the mechanism apparently worked answered a lot of questions, especially the searing pain he felt in his heart when he stretched it's capabilities to the limit.

"If it makes it easier... I'll do it without, I've felt my fair share of pain. Although I can't help but not be able to shake the horror of being awake whilst my body is cut in to." He'd lay down upon the surgical table and take off his shirt prepping himself for what was to come, although it felt like such an impossible task as when the surgeon neared the reality of his situation began to sink in. One thing was for sure, he should have went to the toilet before this.

 

[Toraono Michino]

“Well, now, to be fair I’m more an engineer than a doctor too,” she replied to Keni’s confusion as to who was doing this surgery, “…but I have removed and attached custom prosthetics to myself before. Of course that lead to gangrene, but Kitsune here was a medical professional before she was the village leader. So if anything, she can make sure you don’t end up…gangrenous.”

As the younger Sennin climbed onto the table expressing his worries, Rei couldn’t help but frown a little. To be frightened of a little open chest surgery felt like some serious lack in shinobi training to the Kumo soldier, but, she didn’t question or judge Keni further than that. Rei knew full well the power of a gentle word or touch over a harsher method. It was a gentle touch on each of the youth’s metal wrists that bound them with solid steel clasps to the table; for his own protection. Removing the arms could potentially be violent, and if he wanted to be up and moving faster it was important he hold as still as possible while Rei was cutting.

“If it helps any, try and focus on the pain. Try to regulate your chakra throughout your entire system while I’m slicing. It won’t remove the pain completely, but pain is 80% mental. You can eventually learn to just, tune it out until it’s background noise.”

The scalpel came down. Slicing two marks above his pectorals, and two on either sides of his abdomen. The blade was like heated ice, cutting through without a single hitch as it sliced through the younger sennin’s nerve endings with ease that would leave one to briefly wonder if Rei had cut at all; that was until her gloved hands dug into the open wounds. Her fingers gently burrowed into each pocket of flesh, digging until they came across the foreign object inside of Keni’s body. Once she had the wires in her hand she sent a little jolt of her own chakra into them to force the ends to release the core organs they had clamped onto; which was objectively better than the full open surgery she had originally planned - if not just a tad more painful.

The process was repeated for the youth’s abdomen, though it did seem like Rei was digging around in there a bit longer than the upper part of his body before finding those elusive wires and preforming the same trick. With each release of clamp, Keni would notice the overall heat from the arms getting more intense. The table began to heat up underneath from the attached device. After carefully removing her blooded hands from the boy’s abdomen, Rei removed the gloves and tossed them behind her to vanish into the air before lifting Keni’s left arm - apparently looking for something. The heat of the device did little to sway the older Sennin’s search as she gave out an, “ah-ha!”, and pushed in a button and held it. Standing on her tip-toes, Rei reached over to his other arm,
“Lift it up for me a little?” and pushed in the button on that arm. When she released them the wires within Keni withdrew suddenly like a rip-cord. The casings opened up with a loud hiss shortly after and dropped down to the ground with a loud clattering clang. He was free now, though it was clear the device would leave their scars. With a push of her foot, the green-haired girl scooted the device parts to the corner of the room as she used a basic healing jutsu to close his wounds.

“And that should do it! How are you feeling? I mean, aside from the obvious pain of me digging around your insides like a jean pocket.”

 

[Toraono Michino]

[Topic Left - Inactivity]

 

[Shinrya Kitsune]

[Topic Left - Inactivity]