Nevermind Me Mr. [Open]

[Midori Futotta]

Maru hummed a tune to himself, walking along the Valley of The End with his hands in his pockets. It was getting dark and he really should be getting home but he decided to wonder the valley for a little bit. Suddenly, off in the distance he saw dried blood splattered on the ground and he chuckled once to himself. Not because he thought the sight was funny but it was because he might find a body, and what luck he had when he decided to wander around here for a little while. Since he was a human puppet, naturally turning people into weapons was a special ability he had. He was able to use the abilities of the dead for his own benefit, he wondered what material that some kind individual had left for him. So he did what any person would do and investigated..

He followed the trail of blood only to find the body of non-other than Jirosho! The man who wanted his own brother dead was now only a rotting corpse with a whole in his body and a spiral strike from a Rasengan. The ability to cause bleeding could be useful to bleed out an opponent in a fight, perhaps Ziren finally got his revenge on the man for what he did. However, Maru was sure that the talents of the man shouldn't be wasted so why not take him. The wooden demon inched closer, taunting the body as he saw a worm crawl out from his nose and out his chin. "Well, looks like you've seen your better days huh?” He asked, not getting a response. “Don't worry, I'll fix you up so we could show you off to your brother. I'm sure he'll appreciate you a bit better.” Honestly, he couldn't count the bodies he found on the outer village. They were all like abandoned dolls, slowly loosing their beauty however someone with his talents couldn't be just wasted so Maru pulled the body next to the calm waters.. And got to work….

First Maru sat beside the dead man.. lifting up the shirt of the dead man, pulling out a scalpel from his weapons pouch for an easy cut. He began to carve into the body of the soiled corpse stomach cavity, opening up the stomach so he could removed the useless things in his body. Stomach? Don't need that. Liver? Nope! Intestines? Don't need that neither. Discarding organ after organ, he cleaned the man out until there was nothing left. So hallow that it looked like someone had put an ice cream scooper inside of the man. The squishy organs making sloppy wet noises as it slapped against the floor. Next Maru removed his own hand, replacing it with a power saw to easily cut through the top part of Jirosho’s skull so once that was off Maru would continue with clearing out the head of any useless organs such as they brain, and eyes. Singing a haunting tune to himself as he worked.

“Despite the fall of darkness little kiddies, everyone needs a little song. Human Puppets will give you pain little kiddies, run along little kiddies, run along.”

Once the body was clean, Maru decided to do a petrification justu. However, instead of infusing his chakra to turn the man into stone he reworked his justu to slowly begin to turn the man into…. Wood! Slowly but surely the body become wood, as well as some left over bugs he didn't clean out. By the time he was done, Jirosho was reduced to only a wooden figurine with no traps, weapons, or even joints. He planned on going into detail with his construction when he gets to his workshop…

WC:623
[Chigokai Hitokugustu Created]

 

[Kiko]

The body of the fallen shinobi, Chidokai Jirosho was the name the young murderer of Konoha had given the corps, had become somewhat of an experiment of observation. How long would the corps take for the carrion to dispose of? What kind of carrion were in his wilds? Both were questions he was curious to know the answer to.

As he approached the area he knew the corpse to be, he noticed another person had taken an interest in the body. His hands moved gently to a familiar tiger handseal position as he observed the unknown person, he whispered gently "...Meisaigakure no Justu..."<i></i> The light gently curved around his body until he was virtually invisible. (Ooc: Active Camo - Anbu Jutsu)

Lets see what his intentions are. He thought as he rested his invisible hands gently behind his invisible back. He didn't have to wait long before the show started, the small figure talking to the corps as he inspected it almost clinically. Yong focused his refined hearing to eavesdrop on the words uttered by the boy. "...seen your better days huh?” Thoughts rushed through his head from this simple sentence, Paramedic? Bit late... Coroner? Perhaps the young murderer of leaf has sent someone to collect the body finally? After a moment of silence, is if waiting for a response, the boy began to talk once again, “Don't worry, I'll fix you up so we could show you off to your brother. I'm sure he'll appreciate you a bit better.”</COLOR><i></i> The words revealed much, ...he knows of the corpses brother. Another shinobi of Leaf... What did he mean by 'fix you up'?<i></i>

He was given the answer quickly as the boy began to carve into the body with a scalpel, though the arts performed on the body were more akin to those of a butcher rather than a surgeon. Soon organs littered the floor behind the butcher, the smell reaching Yong in moments. But the butcher was not done, removing his own hand and attaching a power saw to the stumped appendage before calving into the, now gutted, corps' skull. False hand... Possibly a prosthetic limb? Perhaps something more... <i></i>

The boy sang as he plied his butcher's arts. Singing of being a human puppet and scaring the children away... a nice little ditty

Then the body began to turn to wood, becoming rigid right before his eyes. The husk of the once proud shinobi was now completely solidified.

Yong picked his time to approach the strange butcher. He dropped the camouflage jutsu and moved to within a few meters of the boy. Speaking clearly he addressed the body snatcher. <COLOR color="#006400">"...at least you have left something for the crows..." He moved in closer, "... It is a strange technique you possess young carrion." The words spoken without malice so as to not cause alarm, "...So what do you plan to do with the body? More importantly though... How did you turn the insects and their host into wood? I has never seen the technique before... Can it be used on the living?!"

[ooc: topic joined with Yong]

 

[Kairyuu]

Blood. There was a trail of it, which was never a good sign. Maki follows along, his red samurai armor not doing much to hide his presence. And indeed, he wasn’t even attempting stealth as he tracks it down to find Maru and another over a corpse, one he recognizes from Ziren’s depictions of his brother who was trying to kill him. His hand falls to the sheathed blades at his side as Maki takes in the scene for a moment. He seemed to have gotten used to the eye situation quickly, as the missing one was simply stitched shut.

As he watches, a man reveals himself from a jutsu Maki was quite used to, the ANBU Sennin having learned it long ago himself. One eyebrow slowly rises as the man asks Maru about the technique.

Maki was wearing his usual outfit, a black shirt, so tight as to be form fitting on his upper torso and short of sleeve. Over that was a red jacket that went from shoulder to halfway down his torso before ending abruptly where his ribs were. It had several symbols upon it which on closer look were symbols for the village of Konohagakure. Over the longer sleeves were red han kote that provided minor protection of his forearms and a pair of black gloves over his hands. Under this were pants that were as black as the shirt, topped by red haidate that would provide similar protection of his thighs. He had black combat boots on, with red suneate that covered his shins. Completing the ensemble were the weapons at his side. Each appeared to be a katana, and one had a parrying ring built into the hilt. Something that was rarely seen.

”Maru, get away from that.” His eye, currently a dark green, moves from the disgraced student to the man standing beside him. ”And you. Who are you?” He didn’t recognize the other, but then again he didn’t know everyone in the village. Still, if he knew ANBU techniques then Maki should know him, so this posed a puzzle.

 

[Midori Futotta]

"Hm?” Maru watched as someone approached him as he was admiring his wooden doll, he didn't seem local nor did he seem like he was a member of the village. It seems that he was curious if his techniques of turning the flesh into wood, also what he planned on doing with the body in which was left out here to decay by his rather cruel brother. “Well, I want to use his talents. Since he was left out here to rot, I thought I would put him to some use by making him into a weapon. As for how did I make this beauty into wood, I simply used a petrification justu and used a different chakra nature to turn it into wood and not stone.” Maru said simply. Turning his hand to his beatified new wooden doll. “It's a lot better than lugging the material around scaring civilians.”

As he spoke another uninvited guest decided to interrupt the party by showing up and brandishing his weapon around, possibly because the blood trail was pretty obvious but honestly he didn't expect Maki to be on the outer village. The ANBU hideout was on the inner village wasn't it? "Oh come on, Jirosho was a criminal anyway. He was just a hunk of human shaped meat when I found him.” Maru said, attaching chakra threads to the wooden body of Jirosho before sealing him away in a weapons scroll. He took another look at Maki, reattaching his hand to his body to bring it up to his chin.

"You know, I sure remembered you having two eyes when I last saw ya. What, you keeping an eye on me?” He couldn't help but make a quick eye pun before waiting on Mr mystery to answer Maki’s question.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

The weather was lovely on the day like this, the sun was lightning everything up and it seemed that the beauty of the area was finally showing slightly in those few seconds. He listened to the wind gently whip against the tree branches as it pushed them around, it seemed that he was finally out for one day of a stroll. It seemed that Takeshi still had to get used to going out and about with people, though he wondered what the group in front of him was doing, it seemed that Maki had been with them which was something impressive already to have one of the Sennin there.

He allowed a small sigh to come from his lips as he wandered up to the group, knowing full well that he recognised two of the three of them. Maru a recent drain on the Hokage’s time and all for the wrong reasons, he whistled as he walked over to them allowing his white robes to flap int eh wind as he studied them for a few minutes, though unsure of how to take this situation he allowed himself to focus on the man that he did not know. Though he did not speak straight away instead deciding to allow himself to listen as Maki asked the questions.

“Nice to meet you, who ever you may be. Though what a lovely day out for a stroll, I could not resist when the sun is shining like this”

[Topic entered]

 

[Kiko]

Yong stood passively as the new men approached... Is this a trap? No... They would have attacked on sight if that was the case. Stay calm and assess as the situation dictates...</COLOR><i></i>

Yong bowed slightly as he addressed the two men, one of whom he recognised as the Hokage from various pictures throughout the land of Fire. So by deduction the shinobi with the swords and missing eye must be a body guard of the Kage... Or his friend?
"What an auspicious meeting Lord Hokage, for I was in fact making my way to Konohagakure to make your acquaintance and offer my services."<i></i>

Yong reached his hand to his mask, removing it slowly so as to not cause alarm and placing it on his belt at the back of the right hip. He moved his gaze from the Hokage to the man who had addressed him.
"And to answer your question, my friend, my name is Dare no Kodomo... A simple mercenary hoping to sell his hypothetical sword in service to your fine village."<i></i> A conspiratorial grin came over his countenance as his eyes moved back to the Hokage <COLOR color="#006400">"...but we will speak more on that when we return to the privacy of your office Lord Hokage."

[ooc: sorry for the short post, im wrecked from a 10 hour graveyard shift and my brain isnt quite working properly ]

 

[Kairyuu]

Well, Maru was still the same. ”I don’t care if he was the overlord of Hell. A Sennin gave you an order. And as usual, you decided to go counter to it. I see being demoted all the way back to a student hasn’t done anything except make you worse in that regard. No, I’m not keeping an eye on you. That would imply that I care in some way about what you do. You’re not important enough to warrant that. You’re just a kid who thinks being a badass means acting like a rebel but you have no true cause to rebel against so you just do the opposite of what everyone says in some twisted hope that you’ll find fulfillment inside. But it’s not going to make you feel better, you’ll still have to go home as the same sad person with no friends and no loved ones that you always have been and when you die you’ll realize you spent your whole life alienating everyone and anyone who could have cared about you. I’d tell you to scram, but you’d just stick around thinking it would spite me. So...do whatever. I couldn't care less.”

That done, he looks back to Yong. He couldn’t see him through the mask over his face, so reading his facial tics was out. The voice was being distorted so that wasn’t a good way to go either. And then, Takeshi showed up. Maki watches the man pull his mask off, removing that impediment to figuring things out. That was nice of him.

”A pleasure. I am Tonkon Maki, Sennin of Konohagakure. I see you know Takeshi. Mind if I ask where you were trained?” He didn’t recognize the name, and he couldn’t place it ethnically. But then again, he wasn’t familiar with the whole world.

(No harm. I'm there with ya man. Get some sleep! )

 

[Midori Futotta]

Maru gave the Senin a smug look, if obviously he didn't care about the little rant that the man had for him. “Oh? That's a lot coming from a guy who killed a genin just because his little feelings got hurt. You're not even my Senin anyway Taki.” He said, putting his hands on his hips then began mocking the way he talked purely out of spite. "Killed some upstart nothing like yourself, for being an ass. Sounds familiar, I think.” He quoted in a tone to make the sound of Maki's voice sound like a shrilly girl voice. “Pft! Like I'll take advice about friends and love ones from a dirty child killer trying to play like he's saint himself. Hell all you're good for is being a weapon, a pawn, a necessary sacrifice for the ‘greater good.’ Aye, I might die alone but you got people who waiting to see you fail. Me being one of those people looking forward to the day I see you fail.”

After mocking the man right back, he dusted himself off then looked back at Mr. Mystery who seemed to want to offer his talents to the leaf. Maki was pretty much acting less like an ass to the man since he was taking off his mask and being a little humble. Not to mention Takeshi had entered the scene making the puppet master face turn sour, still a bit salty from the loss. “So you wanna offer your power to Konoha, huh? May I ask, why do you want to offer your talents to this village of all places? I mean, are you a former resident or what?”

 

[Seijin]

Noticing from afar the kid that he'd effectively beat up while in the Tea Country, Umashi followed from afar, sticking to the shadows and generally doing his best to blend in with the shadows around him. Though he wasn't trying to stick around for long, while he was in the area what he hadn't appreciated was the way that the kid just so carelessly discarded of the bloodied organs on the forest floor as if the forest didn't have feelings of its own. Feeling more like a forest ranger but not the talking bear kind, Umashi was about to speak up when another fellow confronted the kid and began to inquire of his technique. More than annoyed that his moment had been stolen, Umashi faded back into the shadows and materialized in a nearby tree as he became one with the shadows. Donning a shadowed garb he peared from his perch as he watched the events take place around him. First Maki and then the Hokage, it almost seemed like they were either stalking Maru or especially amazing with their timing to be in this place of all places at this time of night to encroach upon this sort of encounter.

Umashi had a reason to be out in the forest at this time of night, he was a guardian of the land in a most literal way and he'd pretty much regulated himself to working around Konoha and not exactly in it over the past few months. How long had it been, half a year or more since he'd officially turned things over to Takeshi, his successor even if not by linear fashion. Getting comfortable, he pulled out a light snack as he attempted to stay hidden and all the while keep his glucose levels up. It was only when he got to the trail mix that he had any problems at all. For some reason he'd ended up with walnuts instead of cashews and it was all down hill from there. Discretely applying chakra to his fingertips, he waited for what he thought was an opportune moment in the show, aka, when Maki and Maru were yelling, and he cracked a wall nut and threw the shell behind him. If nobody noticed the human shaped shadow somewhat hidden in the trees or the out of place crunching and munching then he could wait for this all to blow over and get back to keeping his forest clean.

OOC: Attempting to stay hidden in a tree with blackened robes and hood on . . . while cracking and eating wall nuts.

:|

[Stealth Check Request]

 

[Haku Yuki]

Takeshi and Maru are aware, Maki and Yong are not.

 

[Kairyuu]

Guys...that's not a thing you can do anymore.

Everyone is able to know you're present if you join and they want to.

 

[Seijin]

OOC: Well dang . . . carry on. Sorry for dragging you into this Yuki.

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi listened to how the conversation was going, it seemed that things were moving on quiet well, but at the same time it seemed that Maru was once more overstepping his mark. Overstepping his domain, he had already been punished for it enough, Takeshi allowed himself a small sigh at how he represented the village, how he acted and how he learned nothing. He allowed himself to listen to Maki, though he had to face the fact that as it stood the Sennin spoke the truth, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, he still knew that the Sennin spoke the truth.

“Maru, silence. I have tried to be nice, I have tried to be patient. Let me put it politely the adults are now talking, something that you have shown countless times you are not. So, shut up.”

Takeshi turned his attention back to the man as he allowed him to take his mask off, watching the face come from under. It seemed that he was a reasonable man and the Hokage could appreciate that much. He listened to the words before nodding in agreement, it was the least he could do. In fact, the man stood beside him was met the same way. He could respect the man as he nodded slightly. He didn’t want his actions here to do damage that was not fixable.

“I agree with you on that one Dare no Kodomo. The office would be a better place for this discussion to take place. Besides, there are those around that I would avoid this discussion with. Would you be ok coming to my office with myself and Maki here? I mean no ill will, I just figured that its better to walk together than alone. Though you can let me know if you don’t want to”

[MFT- 305]

 

[Kiko]

The scene was getting very crowded, but once the Hokage arrived on scene it was only to be expected. Another shinobi moved into the trees on the edge of the clearing... Was he eating nuts?!?

The human puppet was reprimanded heavily, His name is Maru... demoted to student? So another shinobi of Konoha... They are like bees!<i></i> the boy returned with a comback, though it fell on un-compromising ears.

The Hokage responded to his statement as well as the shinobi, Maki, asking further questions.

"I would be honoured to have such an esteemed escort Lord Hokage and I am sure your man in the tree can take care of the situation here..."<i></i> He placed his mask back over his face "...Have no fear Maki-sama, all your questions will be answered in good time. Shall we depart?"<i></i> He indicated the direction of Konohagakure, the village hidden in the leaves.

[ooc: topic left with Takeshi and Maki. If you want to make a topic at the gates I will join it ]

 

[Uchiha Takeshi]

Takeshi allowed himself to listen to the man speak before nodding slightly, it seemed that he had already come to the same conclusion about this situation and had decided that the conversation was best to have it in the privacy of the Hokage office. Though he wondered if Yong planned anything he wanted to put a bit of trust into the man, after all everyone deserved a bit of trust even if they had only just met for the first time the other day. Takeshi had done the same with Maki and it had played off, so this could turn out the same way if everything went according to plan.

“Please follow me, I will make sure that we get to the gates quickly and that you have at least a good walk, I can show you a few favoured spots of my own that I like to walk along, at least you will know the few places worth checking out around the area, let’s go”

With that Takeshi left Maru there, it seemed that he had not learned anything, and he was not going to learn anything. Takeshi would just leave him there, it was better this way if he just waited and thought about his own actions.

[Topic left with Maki and Yong]

 

[Midori Futotta]

Left Topic

 

[Seijin]

Umashi couldn't say that he was surprised that he was outed but it was a rather interesting thing to note who this newcomer was and what he might have plans to do. With little else to concern himself over, he jumped from his tree and went about cleaning up the mess of the bloodied remains that the kid had left.

OOC: Whack ending is whack
Topic left