Kaiden’s shoulders heaved with every ragged breath, and the weight of the chakra-sealing manacles cut into his wrists. The Tsuchimikado escort who had brought him here stood beside him, one hand firmly gripping the chain connected to Kaiden’s cuffs, as if expecting him to break free at any moment. He would have tried, but the restraints were practically leeching any energy he had left, and the wounds that Shizue and Himeko had inflicted were far from healed. The bitter tang of copper still lingered on his tongue, thanks to the cloth gag rubbing raw at the corners of his mouth. He had never been detained like this, not since being dragged before a Judge of the Lightning Court near where he was originally discovered, when he'd first received the slave's brand that now marked his forehead. More than that, he had been forced here by shinobi so intent on dragging him away from the real threat that they didn't even recognize why he resisted. A furious spark lit in his eyes every time he recalled that kidnapper slipping into the shadows, unchallenged.
Behind him, Runa’s faint cerulean glow flickered in quiet sympathy. She hovered close, chin trembling in a mixture of concern and guilt. Kaiden wished he could tear the gag away and reassure her that none of this was her fault, that she had done everything she could. But at the same time, anger twisted in his gut. He wanted to shout accusations at the shinobi who had captured him, to demand they redirect their talents toward catching the criminal. Instead, he could only offer muffled snarls. Runa floated backward as the Tsuchimikado cleared their throat, speaking softly into the hushed office, where a figure Kaiden assumed was an authority figure stood. Unbeknownst to him, this was Akira Kazan, the newly appointed Sennin of Kumogakure's Main Branch. Kaiden dared not shift his gaze too openly, but he could see enough to know that the man with the new Main Branch Sennin title was taking a measured interest in him. The tension in the air was enough to make Runa shrink closer, trying to stay out of any direct lines of sight.
“Ex-mercenary, discovered in Kumogakure’s slums,” the Tsuchimikado explained, voice steady. They spoke with a confidence that Kaiden resented. It was the same cool, detached tone used by shinobi who could methodically break a man’s spirit while offering nothing but polite phrases, the same voices he heard in the aftermath of his wife and daughter's murder. “We first noticed a rogue spiritual chakra signature and traced it to this man: Given name, Kaiden. No family name recorded. An indentured former servant of the Tenouza who has been working as a civilian policeman. He was observed exhibiting chakra without documented training. We dispatched two genin to apprehend him due to concerns about potential illegal chakra use and unregulated techniques. Upon confrontation, we confirmed our intel. The subject resisted apprehension, displaying a unique phenomenon that may be a tethered spirit.” A subtle pause followed, as though the Tsuchimikado weighed how much to disclose. Then they bowed their head, conceding, “We've been unable to analyze the spirit with our standard methods, as it's been... uncooperative. However, we are certain it is linked to his chakra, and we suspect it could be dangerous. We felt it critical to bring him here before investigating any further.”
Runa’s glow wavered at that, and she glanced at Kaiden with a hint of anxiety. She was no danger. He knew it. She knew it. But the law of Kumogakure saw both of their presences as a wild card: a rogue chakra-user, and an unknown factor that might inconvenience their carefully balanced system and "utopian" society. Kaiden’s muscles tensed, wishing he could tear off the gag and defend her, to scream that she was a "her" not an "it". She draped tiny, translucent fingers against his shoulder, and he felt a reassuring chill radiate from her palm, a calming coolness. The Tsuchimikado continued, their tone unchanging, addressing potential questions that Kaiden could only guess were coming from the silent figure in front of them.
"The phenomenon was visible only to those with the Tsuchimikado gifts and certain heightened senses,” they said, casting a deliberate glance back at Kaiden. It was enough for him to realize they had indeed noticed Runa’s desperate attempts to protect him during that fight in the alley, though apparently her presence had not softened their decision to bring him in. “We do not yet have reason to believe that the spirit itself is malevolent at its core, but the method by which it fuses with his chakra is a breach of our village’s guidelines on spiritual interference, and the man is an unregistered chakra-user and former traitor. We could not allow him to continue unchecked.”
Kaiden let out a strangled grunt. He wanted to break in, to force them to address the fact that the true villain had escaped, that some poor child, someone else's daughter, remained in danger. Yet every time he tried to speak, the rough gag turned his words into angry, pointless noise. Runa floated into his line of sight, her oval eyes shining with concern. She whispered to him softly, "Calm down, Daddy," reminding him that drawing more hostility from these people would not help. "Of course the nine-year-old is the voice of reason here..." He wanted to be rational, but he kept replaying the moment the boulder slammed into his skull, the snap of his old spear beneath that masked girl’s strike, and then the kidnapper disappearing over the rooftops. He needed to find that bastard and bring him in. Instead, he was here, a prisoner once more to the group that ended his past life and who controlled his present.
“Considering the unknowns, we used the standard chakra-sealing cuffs as a safeguard,” the Tsuchimikado said, tugging on the chain to demonstrate. Kaiden’s arms jostled, and he scowled in protest. “He was also gagged, as it was clear he had strong objections to being detained. Our concern was that his voice might activate an unknown jutsu. We have not determined how the spirit manifested. We only know it interacts with him in some capacity, and that seemed to magnify his physical prowess during his encounter with the two genin we sent. Though, he was not a match for them, at least alone.”
Runa darted away from Kaiden, swirling around the Tsuchimikado for a moment, as if testing the boundaries of the shinobi’s awareness. Their gaze did not shift, so she peeked back at Kaiden with a confused tilt of her head. She mouthed silent words he couldn't quite decipher, probably wondering how these watchers could sense her so precisely. Kaiden felt a pang of pity for his daughter’s spirit. She had spent years drifting between being noticed and being ignored, and now she had discovered an entire clan that could pinpoint her with uncanny ease but still failed to comprehend that she was not a threat.
One of the Tsuchimikado’s subordinates stepped forward and produced a small document, presumably a record of Kaiden’s capture, which was offered to the Sennin. Kaiden’s nostrils flared. He hated feeling helpless while people scribbled down notes about him, as if he were a mere test subject. The Tsuchimikado representative described him as an ex-soldier with no clan connections, a man who had been operating on the fringes of the city for months, rumored to have had a propensity to seek out the most dangerous cases, though the truth was that he was simply given the beats that none of the other divisions or officers of the Kumogakure civilian police wanted to handle themselves. Kaiden wanted to roar that a little girl was in danger, that he had no time to dance through bureaucratic nonsense, but all he could do was dig his nails into his palms and glare at the floor. Runa hovered closer, whispering that he had to endure. "Easy, Daddy... We'll find a way."
A hush stretched across the room, broken only by the quiet crackle of a nearby lantern. Kaiden could feel the Tsuchimikado’s eyes on him, as if gauging his reaction, making calculations about what they should do next. He could not see what Kazan thought of this entire situation, yet the tension pressed down on Kaiden like a looming storm. The sense of captivity burned in his chest, a reminder of how powerless he was in this moment. Runa reached out, her ghostly hand gliding in front of his face. She gave him a small, determined nod. Kaiden inhaled shakily and forced himself to stop struggling, to stop staring daggers at the Sennin, a man who could wipe his existence away in the blink of an eye.
No, if there was going to be any chance of him getting free and continuing his search for that missing child, he would have to endure this scrutiny long enough to make them listen. For now, he had to trust that someone here would see reason, that they would eventually let him speak without restraint, that they would come to understand that he was not the danger they saw him as. And most importantly, that a very real threat still prowled somewhere in the seedy unloved underbelly of Kumogakure.
[MFT .|. 1548 Words]
Behind him, Runa’s faint cerulean glow flickered in quiet sympathy. She hovered close, chin trembling in a mixture of concern and guilt. Kaiden wished he could tear the gag away and reassure her that none of this was her fault, that she had done everything she could. But at the same time, anger twisted in his gut. He wanted to shout accusations at the shinobi who had captured him, to demand they redirect their talents toward catching the criminal. Instead, he could only offer muffled snarls. Runa floated backward as the Tsuchimikado cleared their throat, speaking softly into the hushed office, where a figure Kaiden assumed was an authority figure stood. Unbeknownst to him, this was Akira Kazan, the newly appointed Sennin of Kumogakure's Main Branch. Kaiden dared not shift his gaze too openly, but he could see enough to know that the man with the new Main Branch Sennin title was taking a measured interest in him. The tension in the air was enough to make Runa shrink closer, trying to stay out of any direct lines of sight.
“Ex-mercenary, discovered in Kumogakure’s slums,” the Tsuchimikado explained, voice steady. They spoke with a confidence that Kaiden resented. It was the same cool, detached tone used by shinobi who could methodically break a man’s spirit while offering nothing but polite phrases, the same voices he heard in the aftermath of his wife and daughter's murder. “We first noticed a rogue spiritual chakra signature and traced it to this man: Given name, Kaiden. No family name recorded. An indentured former servant of the Tenouza who has been working as a civilian policeman. He was observed exhibiting chakra without documented training. We dispatched two genin to apprehend him due to concerns about potential illegal chakra use and unregulated techniques. Upon confrontation, we confirmed our intel. The subject resisted apprehension, displaying a unique phenomenon that may be a tethered spirit.” A subtle pause followed, as though the Tsuchimikado weighed how much to disclose. Then they bowed their head, conceding, “We've been unable to analyze the spirit with our standard methods, as it's been... uncooperative. However, we are certain it is linked to his chakra, and we suspect it could be dangerous. We felt it critical to bring him here before investigating any further.”
Runa’s glow wavered at that, and she glanced at Kaiden with a hint of anxiety. She was no danger. He knew it. She knew it. But the law of Kumogakure saw both of their presences as a wild card: a rogue chakra-user, and an unknown factor that might inconvenience their carefully balanced system and "utopian" society. Kaiden’s muscles tensed, wishing he could tear off the gag and defend her, to scream that she was a "her" not an "it". She draped tiny, translucent fingers against his shoulder, and he felt a reassuring chill radiate from her palm, a calming coolness. The Tsuchimikado continued, their tone unchanging, addressing potential questions that Kaiden could only guess were coming from the silent figure in front of them.
"The phenomenon was visible only to those with the Tsuchimikado gifts and certain heightened senses,” they said, casting a deliberate glance back at Kaiden. It was enough for him to realize they had indeed noticed Runa’s desperate attempts to protect him during that fight in the alley, though apparently her presence had not softened their decision to bring him in. “We do not yet have reason to believe that the spirit itself is malevolent at its core, but the method by which it fuses with his chakra is a breach of our village’s guidelines on spiritual interference, and the man is an unregistered chakra-user and former traitor. We could not allow him to continue unchecked.”
Kaiden let out a strangled grunt. He wanted to break in, to force them to address the fact that the true villain had escaped, that some poor child, someone else's daughter, remained in danger. Yet every time he tried to speak, the rough gag turned his words into angry, pointless noise. Runa floated into his line of sight, her oval eyes shining with concern. She whispered to him softly, "Calm down, Daddy," reminding him that drawing more hostility from these people would not help. "Of course the nine-year-old is the voice of reason here..." He wanted to be rational, but he kept replaying the moment the boulder slammed into his skull, the snap of his old spear beneath that masked girl’s strike, and then the kidnapper disappearing over the rooftops. He needed to find that bastard and bring him in. Instead, he was here, a prisoner once more to the group that ended his past life and who controlled his present.
“Considering the unknowns, we used the standard chakra-sealing cuffs as a safeguard,” the Tsuchimikado said, tugging on the chain to demonstrate. Kaiden’s arms jostled, and he scowled in protest. “He was also gagged, as it was clear he had strong objections to being detained. Our concern was that his voice might activate an unknown jutsu. We have not determined how the spirit manifested. We only know it interacts with him in some capacity, and that seemed to magnify his physical prowess during his encounter with the two genin we sent. Though, he was not a match for them, at least alone.”
Runa darted away from Kaiden, swirling around the Tsuchimikado for a moment, as if testing the boundaries of the shinobi’s awareness. Their gaze did not shift, so she peeked back at Kaiden with a confused tilt of her head. She mouthed silent words he couldn't quite decipher, probably wondering how these watchers could sense her so precisely. Kaiden felt a pang of pity for his daughter’s spirit. She had spent years drifting between being noticed and being ignored, and now she had discovered an entire clan that could pinpoint her with uncanny ease but still failed to comprehend that she was not a threat.
One of the Tsuchimikado’s subordinates stepped forward and produced a small document, presumably a record of Kaiden’s capture, which was offered to the Sennin. Kaiden’s nostrils flared. He hated feeling helpless while people scribbled down notes about him, as if he were a mere test subject. The Tsuchimikado representative described him as an ex-soldier with no clan connections, a man who had been operating on the fringes of the city for months, rumored to have had a propensity to seek out the most dangerous cases, though the truth was that he was simply given the beats that none of the other divisions or officers of the Kumogakure civilian police wanted to handle themselves. Kaiden wanted to roar that a little girl was in danger, that he had no time to dance through bureaucratic nonsense, but all he could do was dig his nails into his palms and glare at the floor. Runa hovered closer, whispering that he had to endure. "Easy, Daddy... We'll find a way."
A hush stretched across the room, broken only by the quiet crackle of a nearby lantern. Kaiden could feel the Tsuchimikado’s eyes on him, as if gauging his reaction, making calculations about what they should do next. He could not see what Kazan thought of this entire situation, yet the tension pressed down on Kaiden like a looming storm. The sense of captivity burned in his chest, a reminder of how powerless he was in this moment. Runa reached out, her ghostly hand gliding in front of his face. She gave him a small, determined nod. Kaiden inhaled shakily and forced himself to stop struggling, to stop staring daggers at the Sennin, a man who could wipe his existence away in the blink of an eye.
No, if there was going to be any chance of him getting free and continuing his search for that missing child, he would have to endure this scrutiny long enough to make them listen. For now, he had to trust that someone here would see reason, that they would eventually let him speak without restraint, that they would come to understand that he was not the danger they saw him as. And most importantly, that a very real threat still prowled somewhere in the seedy unloved underbelly of Kumogakure.
[MFT .|. 1548 Words]
