Cold winds crash into the skin of a lone figure on a starry night. Its chilling embrace was, for lack of a better word, comforting to Ryuichi. Their black coat flaps along with the gust, and eventually leaves the air in a much more stagnant state around. This was nowhere special...just some random series of hills in the northern reaches of the country.
Ryuichi takes in a deep breath, letting the cold air sting their throat and cause a slight itch within their inner ear. In simple moments like these, the questions that dwelled in Ryuichi's mind lay dormant, only to resurface seconds later. Questions like...
Why do we love? To care for someone so much in a world where life is fleeting only prepares you for suffering, yet everyone does it. Including Ryuichi. The death of their Sensei was devastating to them, causing them to morn for months. Truthfully, they didn't think they were done morning.
Why do we fight one another? Is greed simply too strong of a motivation? Is peace, and helping the fellow man truly so far out of reach, that the only option for helping the downtrodden is forcing them into your cause? Ryuichi has seen what Lightning's chakra-gifted children are forced to do. And until traveling the world, they didn't know how truly twisted it was.
Why do we follow? Sennin, Raikage, Daimyo, Shogun, Nobles and lords, Clan heads, you name it. All of them are followed without question, or envied by those who with to be. Why strive to become a killer of thousands? Why strive to continue a morally corrupt city-state? If even Ryu, someone who was raised in the Raiden-damned ANBU, can see the misdeeds of Cloud, then anybody could.
Why.....why am I alone?
Ryuichi stops in their tracks, looking over the hills in the distance. Ryuichi used to have so many they could call close. Sensei, Eiji, Aya, Suika, Hon, Maikeru all either dead, or without contact with Ryu in years....or simply distant, no longer within their life. What meaning did Ryu have if they couldn't fight for Cloud....If they couldn't be with family....if they couldn't be with friends.
For the first time in years, tears flowed down Ryuichi's face. Tears for no one but themself, and the pity they felt in their shameful state. What now? Strive to become the next leader, only to cause suffering? Try to start a civil war that will only get thousands killed? Return to...her....
Ryuichi growls in frustration, feeling useless as they punch the earth. The surface of the well worn dirt trail cracks and shift downward because of the punch, leaving a small crater where their fist lay. They lift their fist one more time and bring it down again.....and again...and again. For what felt like ages Ryuichi punched the earth in self defeat, each time mentally cursing themself for the failure they've become.
Then, they stopped. Carefully they stood up, a small crater of earth surrounding them. They inhaled once, and vanished to a place where they can truly vent their frustrations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Into the hollow they went, into a swirling abyss of nothingness only to emerge in an endless field of grey cubes of stone and an infinite inky black void surrounding them. Here Ryuichi could truly let it all out. With pained cries, and screams entire fields of these stones were completely destroyed, burned, atomized, and thrown around as if they were having a temper tantrum. Well....they were, if you think about it.
After most of the surrounding fields were destroyed, Ryuichi lay calmly on one of the few untouched stones. Looking up into the nothingness, it was almost as if they had never felt this sadness, this...rage. The youth simply shrugged it all off in their state of catharsis, and stood tall, wiping their blood and tear stained face with their sleeve before taking a deep breath of the cold, motionless air. They hold out a single hand to prepare to exit. The sharp pain of the mangekyo surges, chakra swells within Ryu and....
Only the sound of a distant stone crumbling apart responded to Ryuichi's attempt of return.
Ryuichi tried again, and again. Each time more desperately than the last. Eventually they gave up, and sat down while flashing a series of hand signs to summon a familiar friend.
"Jugemu. It...seems like my eyes may not be working with me right now. Maybe never again, with how periodic and randomly they seem to leave me." Ryuichi says as the small white fox snickers. "No kidding! They're all red and bloodshot! Almost like you've been cr-" Ryu gives him a death glare, only for the fox to giggle. "So...what do ya want me to do about it?" Asks the fox.
Ryuichi inhales, and looks to the wavering rift of chakra that they entered from. They didn't have enough energy left in them to escape, that was a certainty. He needed another option. "Remember not long after I signed your contract, when you offered me the ability to learn the techniques of the fox? This is sage mode that you speak of, is it not? I knew it, once upon a time. I would like you to teach me. In *full* detail."
The fox snickers. "Are you sure? The ambient chakra here isn't normal, yanno. You may die, painfully. Like, SUUUUPER painful. We're talking like-" "Jugemu.""Right. Right. Okay. Yeah! I can teach ya. Now sit down bucko because we have a history lesson!"
[What followed was a 2 hour explanation of Jugemu talking some random stranger into putting his hand in the mouth of a sleeping monster]
"I don't see how *ANY* of this helped." Ryuichi says, glaring at the proud-looking fox.
"But it did! See, you're angry! Stop that!" The fox rebukes, slapping Ryuichi's hand with one of their tails.
Ryuichi sighs and rolls their eyes, sitting down with a cross legged position. "I get it. Empty the mind, blah blah blah"
"It's not just that! You need to do the impossible, especially with chakra as volatile as this stuff. You need to control your emotion while staying in the mindset of your contract! In this case, a handsome, clever, amazing, and humble fox." Jugemu strikes a pose before continuing. "And you need to keep your mind empty while also planning ahead and acting proactively to regulate your chakra, and natural energy."
"That's literally impossible." "Yes! Which is why you may die." "Great."
Ryuichi sighs and puts his hands together with a frown. "I guess I just have to do everything in my power to control this energy. The alternative is starving here." "Good idea! Yeah, great. Nice knowing you."
With a deep breath, Ryuichi tries to gather the ambient chakra around them...only for a searing pan to shoot through their arm and cause them to buckle over, grasping the offending limb. Pulling up their coat sleeve, Ryuichi could see something spectacular. Their chakra cloak, coating exclusively their arm. Only now, instead of being blindingly bright, and a light blue, this isolated chakra-cloak was a pitch black with the patterns of sagehood on it only being visible due to the surrounding light being absorbed into it, giving it a swirling appearance which color matched its surroundings.
In a few seconds it fades, and Ryuichi winces.
"Oi, you aren't dead! Nice! Now do it right this time." Jugemu chides, laying down with his front paws crossed, Ryuichi simply glares at him before getting back into position.
Time, and time again Ryuichi failed, causing searing pain and inky black chakra to spread over their body for short times before vanishing.
Ryu lays on their back in defeat with an entertained Jugemu still sitting still. "Alright." Jugemu says, "It's about time I tell ya the truth. You've been doing it wrong from the start. See, you're not supposed to stop." "I would kind of die, you know." "Mhm."
Ryuichi casually throws a stray stone at the fox while still laying down, and he simply bats it away with his tail. "Maybe we need a different approach. This place is a void, you know." "And?" "Aaaaaaaand maybe it means the surrounding chakra acts differently. Think like vacuums! If this place has limited chakra, then opening yourself to it would only give it a way to suck it all out of you." "So what do you suggest?"
"Let it all out. *force* it all out. You need to become an even emptier void than this abyss!" "No." "What other ideas do you have? If you're close to dying I'll jump in. Promise." "So you want me to pour out all of my chakra. Every bit of it....and hope that in return I take in enough to survive from around me?"
"Yes!"
"..." Ryuichi pinches their nose before nodding. "Alright. Fine. I'll try. But if this fails, I'm definitely biting the bullet." "Would you rather wait until you die of thirst?"
Ryuichi rolls their eyes and gets back into position, legs crossed and hands together. And with a deep breath, they lets all of it melt away. In this moment, none of their questions needed answered.
They loved because they wanted to.
They fought others because they had to.
They followed because they were told to.
They were alone because...
Ryuichi winces as the dark chakra causes a pain on the back of their neck. "Watch it." Jugemu says, walking up beside them.
They were alone because...
The void chakra spreads from their neck to their back, and the back of their head, Ryuichi controlling their own chakra to exit their body in massive amounts, causing some of the surrounding stones to quake and crumble. Jugemu slaps Ryuichi's side with their tail in an attempt to get them to stop, but as Ryuichi's chakra left them and the spreading void covered their skin, they became well past the point of no return.
And they were alone because...
Ryuichi opens their eyes to reveal bleeding, crimson eyes. Eyes that would spark fear into the eyes of any mortal....not because it was a sharingan, mind you. But because of the pure, single-minded determination behind them.
"I'm alone because I put myself in a cage away from everyone else. A void. No meaning, only action and....no one else remains because of that." Ryuichi says, sighing as the black chakra spreads around them faster. "I understand it all. I need to live with everything I've done with my life. Hold it all in, and throw it into the void. Leave only room for the moment, and the nothingness outside of it. This is meditation." They say, voice as calm and relaxed as can be.
They close their eyes one last time, Jugemu looking in worry.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, back at where this all started. At a small crater on a dirt road in the middle of northern Lightning country, the sun began to rise and an elderly couple in a carriage casually passes through to stop at the crater. "Reckon we go around?" The woman asks, only for the elderly man to shake his head. "No need. It ain't that deep."
Then, in an instand, a pitch black hand appears in the air in front of them, and the woman points to it screaming.
The hand grasps onto the air itself, as if the fabric of reality was a solid sheet of material. The floating hand pulls on it, and another comes out as well to pull at a "sheet" of the air beside the other. Eventually, the air itself splits and Ryuichi emerges from what could only be described as a tear in reality. Covered in pitch-black chakra, Ryuichi looks to the elderly couple and nods as the hole closes, Jugemu vanishing back to the contract realm in the process.
Ryuichi tries to walk off in the distance.
But walks two steps and collapses.
Little did Ryuichi know how their chakra had just been permanently scarred by the void, leaving a piece of power unlike anything they'd experienced before....maybe they won't miss their sharingan too much. Until then, the couple carefully take them to their village to be taken care of for the time being...
[WC: 1976]
Ryuichi takes in a deep breath, letting the cold air sting their throat and cause a slight itch within their inner ear. In simple moments like these, the questions that dwelled in Ryuichi's mind lay dormant, only to resurface seconds later. Questions like...
Why do we love? To care for someone so much in a world where life is fleeting only prepares you for suffering, yet everyone does it. Including Ryuichi. The death of their Sensei was devastating to them, causing them to morn for months. Truthfully, they didn't think they were done morning.
Why do we fight one another? Is greed simply too strong of a motivation? Is peace, and helping the fellow man truly so far out of reach, that the only option for helping the downtrodden is forcing them into your cause? Ryuichi has seen what Lightning's chakra-gifted children are forced to do. And until traveling the world, they didn't know how truly twisted it was.
Why do we follow? Sennin, Raikage, Daimyo, Shogun, Nobles and lords, Clan heads, you name it. All of them are followed without question, or envied by those who with to be. Why strive to become a killer of thousands? Why strive to continue a morally corrupt city-state? If even Ryu, someone who was raised in the Raiden-damned ANBU, can see the misdeeds of Cloud, then anybody could.
Why.....why am I alone?
Ryuichi stops in their tracks, looking over the hills in the distance. Ryuichi used to have so many they could call close. Sensei, Eiji, Aya, Suika, Hon, Maikeru all either dead, or without contact with Ryu in years....or simply distant, no longer within their life. What meaning did Ryu have if they couldn't fight for Cloud....If they couldn't be with family....if they couldn't be with friends.
For the first time in years, tears flowed down Ryuichi's face. Tears for no one but themself, and the pity they felt in their shameful state. What now? Strive to become the next leader, only to cause suffering? Try to start a civil war that will only get thousands killed? Return to...her....
Ryuichi growls in frustration, feeling useless as they punch the earth. The surface of the well worn dirt trail cracks and shift downward because of the punch, leaving a small crater where their fist lay. They lift their fist one more time and bring it down again.....and again...and again. For what felt like ages Ryuichi punched the earth in self defeat, each time mentally cursing themself for the failure they've become.
Then, they stopped. Carefully they stood up, a small crater of earth surrounding them. They inhaled once, and vanished to a place where they can truly vent their frustrations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Into the hollow they went, into a swirling abyss of nothingness only to emerge in an endless field of grey cubes of stone and an infinite inky black void surrounding them. Here Ryuichi could truly let it all out. With pained cries, and screams entire fields of these stones were completely destroyed, burned, atomized, and thrown around as if they were having a temper tantrum. Well....they were, if you think about it.
After most of the surrounding fields were destroyed, Ryuichi lay calmly on one of the few untouched stones. Looking up into the nothingness, it was almost as if they had never felt this sadness, this...rage. The youth simply shrugged it all off in their state of catharsis, and stood tall, wiping their blood and tear stained face with their sleeve before taking a deep breath of the cold, motionless air. They hold out a single hand to prepare to exit. The sharp pain of the mangekyo surges, chakra swells within Ryu and....
Only the sound of a distant stone crumbling apart responded to Ryuichi's attempt of return.
Ryuichi tried again, and again. Each time more desperately than the last. Eventually they gave up, and sat down while flashing a series of hand signs to summon a familiar friend.
"Jugemu. It...seems like my eyes may not be working with me right now. Maybe never again, with how periodic and randomly they seem to leave me." Ryuichi says as the small white fox snickers. "No kidding! They're all red and bloodshot! Almost like you've been cr-" Ryu gives him a death glare, only for the fox to giggle. "So...what do ya want me to do about it?" Asks the fox.
Ryuichi inhales, and looks to the wavering rift of chakra that they entered from. They didn't have enough energy left in them to escape, that was a certainty. He needed another option. "Remember not long after I signed your contract, when you offered me the ability to learn the techniques of the fox? This is sage mode that you speak of, is it not? I knew it, once upon a time. I would like you to teach me. In *full* detail."
The fox snickers. "Are you sure? The ambient chakra here isn't normal, yanno. You may die, painfully. Like, SUUUUPER painful. We're talking like-" "Jugemu.""Right. Right. Okay. Yeah! I can teach ya. Now sit down bucko because we have a history lesson!"
[What followed was a 2 hour explanation of Jugemu talking some random stranger into putting his hand in the mouth of a sleeping monster]
"I don't see how *ANY* of this helped." Ryuichi says, glaring at the proud-looking fox.
"But it did! See, you're angry! Stop that!" The fox rebukes, slapping Ryuichi's hand with one of their tails.
Ryuichi sighs and rolls their eyes, sitting down with a cross legged position. "I get it. Empty the mind, blah blah blah"
"It's not just that! You need to do the impossible, especially with chakra as volatile as this stuff. You need to control your emotion while staying in the mindset of your contract! In this case, a handsome, clever, amazing, and humble fox." Jugemu strikes a pose before continuing. "And you need to keep your mind empty while also planning ahead and acting proactively to regulate your chakra, and natural energy."
"That's literally impossible." "Yes! Which is why you may die." "Great."
Ryuichi sighs and puts his hands together with a frown. "I guess I just have to do everything in my power to control this energy. The alternative is starving here." "Good idea! Yeah, great. Nice knowing you."
With a deep breath, Ryuichi tries to gather the ambient chakra around them...only for a searing pan to shoot through their arm and cause them to buckle over, grasping the offending limb. Pulling up their coat sleeve, Ryuichi could see something spectacular. Their chakra cloak, coating exclusively their arm. Only now, instead of being blindingly bright, and a light blue, this isolated chakra-cloak was a pitch black with the patterns of sagehood on it only being visible due to the surrounding light being absorbed into it, giving it a swirling appearance which color matched its surroundings.
In a few seconds it fades, and Ryuichi winces.
"Oi, you aren't dead! Nice! Now do it right this time." Jugemu chides, laying down with his front paws crossed, Ryuichi simply glares at him before getting back into position.
Time, and time again Ryuichi failed, causing searing pain and inky black chakra to spread over their body for short times before vanishing.
Ryu lays on their back in defeat with an entertained Jugemu still sitting still. "Alright." Jugemu says, "It's about time I tell ya the truth. You've been doing it wrong from the start. See, you're not supposed to stop." "I would kind of die, you know." "Mhm."
Ryuichi casually throws a stray stone at the fox while still laying down, and he simply bats it away with his tail. "Maybe we need a different approach. This place is a void, you know." "And?" "Aaaaaaaand maybe it means the surrounding chakra acts differently. Think like vacuums! If this place has limited chakra, then opening yourself to it would only give it a way to suck it all out of you." "So what do you suggest?"
"Let it all out. *force* it all out. You need to become an even emptier void than this abyss!" "No." "What other ideas do you have? If you're close to dying I'll jump in. Promise." "So you want me to pour out all of my chakra. Every bit of it....and hope that in return I take in enough to survive from around me?"
"Yes!"
"..." Ryuichi pinches their nose before nodding. "Alright. Fine. I'll try. But if this fails, I'm definitely biting the bullet." "Would you rather wait until you die of thirst?"
Ryuichi rolls their eyes and gets back into position, legs crossed and hands together. And with a deep breath, they lets all of it melt away. In this moment, none of their questions needed answered.
They loved because they wanted to.
They fought others because they had to.
They followed because they were told to.
They were alone because...
Ryuichi winces as the dark chakra causes a pain on the back of their neck. "Watch it." Jugemu says, walking up beside them.
They were alone because...
The void chakra spreads from their neck to their back, and the back of their head, Ryuichi controlling their own chakra to exit their body in massive amounts, causing some of the surrounding stones to quake and crumble. Jugemu slaps Ryuichi's side with their tail in an attempt to get them to stop, but as Ryuichi's chakra left them and the spreading void covered their skin, they became well past the point of no return.
And they were alone because...
Ryuichi opens their eyes to reveal bleeding, crimson eyes. Eyes that would spark fear into the eyes of any mortal....not because it was a sharingan, mind you. But because of the pure, single-minded determination behind them.
"I'm alone because I put myself in a cage away from everyone else. A void. No meaning, only action and....no one else remains because of that." Ryuichi says, sighing as the black chakra spreads around them faster. "I understand it all. I need to live with everything I've done with my life. Hold it all in, and throw it into the void. Leave only room for the moment, and the nothingness outside of it. This is meditation." They say, voice as calm and relaxed as can be.
They close their eyes one last time, Jugemu looking in worry.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, back at where this all started. At a small crater on a dirt road in the middle of northern Lightning country, the sun began to rise and an elderly couple in a carriage casually passes through to stop at the crater. "Reckon we go around?" The woman asks, only for the elderly man to shake his head. "No need. It ain't that deep."
Then, in an instand, a pitch black hand appears in the air in front of them, and the woman points to it screaming.
The hand grasps onto the air itself, as if the fabric of reality was a solid sheet of material. The floating hand pulls on it, and another comes out as well to pull at a "sheet" of the air beside the other. Eventually, the air itself splits and Ryuichi emerges from what could only be described as a tear in reality. Covered in pitch-black chakra, Ryuichi looks to the elderly couple and nods as the hole closes, Jugemu vanishing back to the contract realm in the process.
Ryuichi tries to walk off in the distance.
But walks two steps and collapses.
Little did Ryuichi know how their chakra had just been permanently scarred by the void, leaving a piece of power unlike anything they'd experienced before....maybe they won't miss their sharingan too much. Until then, the couple carefully take them to their village to be taken care of for the time being...
[WC: 1976]
Last edited: