Though her current form was limiting, Gin had started to get used to it. After a while trapped in the Raikage's Estate, she had found that the only way to effectively leave unnoticed was to transform into her child self and hold the appearance in public. It wasn't so much difficult as it was annoying. The complicated set of seals that provided the new image made sure to seal her power as well. It was nearly impossible to tell who she really was. It was also limiting, to say the least. She now had to go about her public life pretending to be no older than six. Her silvery white hair was tied into several looping pigtails, her bright blue eyes seeming even larger in her small face. Truth be told, she was quite adorable. Along with that came tiny hands that made gripping a sword almost impossible and short legs that often couldn't reach the floor when she sat on a chair.

There were a few things she could still use, though. One was her prosthetic eye, which provided her with the ability to see things from long distances away, among other things. Sitting on the branch of a high tree - a rarity at this altitude - she currently looked at the expanse that the Skyforge offered. It was largely flat, with some scattered vegetation, save for the garden she was currently in. It hosted a series of flowers unique to tall mountains - bellflower, cat mint and corkscrews. Gin largely ignored them however, focused on something happening farther away. Her eye was fixed upon a boy with white hair and pale skin. His movements were familiar, although different than she remembered. He had improved in the past few years. Hi dispatched the men after him rather quickly and gruesomely. There was barely much left of them when he was done. To Gin's surprise, he didn't linger.

For a brief moment, she thought of her nephew, Sero, who would have likely moved the bodies to... preserve them for later. He was an odd boy, certainly. She didn't know why she half expected Tsuneo to do the same. To her surprise, he began walking in her direction. Gin let out a whistle when he came into proper view - the kind showing some sort of amazement. Coming from her, however, there seemed to be a somewhat sarcastic note behind it. "Took you about a minute to get rid of those guys," she pointed out, her short legs dangling off the branch above.

"You know, this kind of brings back memories," she began sounding wistful. "First time I met you was kind of similar to this, except, you know, you didn't look half as messed up," she said, hoping to strike a nerve. She had a habit of messing with people. It was hard to shake off. "To think you used to have black hair, Tsuneo," she sighed, as if it were a shame that he had changed. She purposely said his name. She smirked, confident. She knew the boy had changed it at some point, doubtless to hide something. It seemed that was what everyone was doing these days - hiding and keeping things to themselves. "Surprised?" She asked after a moment. Her legs were still innocently swinging back and forth. "Your looks might have changed - gods know why - but you move the same."

She shook her head, making her pigtails sway with her movement. The knowing look on her face didn't quite fit the features of a six year old. "A common... acquaintance of ours told me you were around. I didn't expect to find you so soon, though," she said, referring to Mitsuo, who she had seen a few days prior. From what she gathered, the two had met before her own encounter with the Sword Saint. "Mind telling me who's after you?" she asked curiously, tilting her head to the side slightly.

[WC: 661]

The name?

Uzumaki Tsuneo, he held onto that name desperately, and held it close to his heart as a memento from his family. Tsuneo had changed his name countless times, Izanami, Izana, and finally Yosuke. Tsuneo held those names dearly as well, and the reason was that they hold the bonds he had with people that have passed away, people he’s killed, and people he loves.

The crime?
The lad had murdered countless people and even though they were all murderers or from rising criminal organizations. He knew, those people had loved ones, loved ones that will grief over them, and still he murdered.  Tsuneo didn’t need to be told if murder under the name of justice was not “just” he knew that fact fully well. Despite that knowledge will he keep killing? Yes, that was the full extent of his answer, and if asked for a reason he wouldn’t provide it. However, the reason was simple; they were murderers. They sinned the sin of murder, and to kill is to be prepared to be killed. A murderer’s heart is cold, and the act of murder could easily be performed over and over again. The tragedy that befell Tsuneo was a prime example of what he attempts to null. Tsuneo would kill those murderers that could kill and would kill. He would save soon-to-be victims, and avenge the ones that he couldn’t save.

Tsuneo didn’t want the title of a hero, nor did he think he deserved it. Tsuneo wanted to, at one point, to destroy the world that he cursed, blamed, and despised all within. If asked what he is his answer would be “A murderer”. It was simple really, he wanted to stop the tragedy that occurred to him from happening again, to take revenge on those that murder carelessly, to show true despair, true terror, true fear to those that murder others, and more than anything, to satiate the bloodlust lurking beneath his skin.


The change?

He was captured and tortured for thirty-two days, from the excess damage to his nails and toe-nails they changed color into a purple-black-ish color. Tsuneo's hair turned white from terror, little did his captors know. He would become the centipede to rip apart his enemies. Tsuneo however, was not thinking of that. Tsuneo turned his head as he heard the words, mocking him.

"Took you about a minute to get rid of those guys,"


Tsuneo replied with silence as he looked back at the child on top of a branch of a tree. Tsuneo wondered who might they be, and if they were hiding their true form. Tsuneo wondered who or what they are but didn't particularly care. The person will either attack and be killed, attack and kill Tsuneo, or leave peacefully. The child spoke about how this fight of his brought back memories. Her words only confused the silent Tsuneo more, and yet she had this feeling about her that he knew, that aura, that mischievous rebellious way of speaking. Who was that child? She then spoke more about how back then he didn't look half as messed up. Back then? The confusion faded as she said his name and noted his hair was black.


Tsuneo smiled calmly as he replied in a calm voice "What? You have a thing for black-haired men Shinobu-sensei?"


Tsuneo chuckled as he turned to her, and she continued speaking saying that he might've changed for some reason unknown to her, but still to her he moved the same. Tsuneo replied "I wasn't feeling it, and my hair, my nails, and my skin'" He took off his shirt as he showed her his torn apart body the scars around each finger. Tsuneo spoke continuing "Have you ever heard of the black-eyed division of seven bells. They were some of his remnants." He placed his left hand over his left eye. He then spoke again "I don't usually do this but your words were my only help through everything.... Look into my left eye sensei." He glared at her with his left wretched eye as he shared his chakra with her showing her what had happened.


Fingers on the bench


Images of Tsuneo's thirty two days of torture flashed in their eyes exposing themselves to gin as Tsuneo's torture was revealed entirely, words echoing as the torture was revealed.You're alone, no one will save you, no one cares for you Tsuneo. Where is your master? Where are your friends? Where is anyone you've ever cared about Hahahaha.Tsuneo was injected with a serum that kept his eyeballs regenerating his fingers growing back his hands, his wounds, his ears, his teeth that were plucked, his guts and organ all growing back as he was torn apart to pieces over and over. The madness of his began as a centipede was implanted in his ear driving him to insanity with the pain of not choosing which to keep alive and which to kill leading to all of their deaths, the family that wasn't spared. Along with a constant twenty four hours of torture. All of which ended in his mind breaking, killing everyone, and cannibalising their remains like a furious beast.


Ugh.... Please...Someone SAVE ME....


Tsuneo held the side of his head as a strong headache hit him from sharing his memories through his chakra. Tsuneo cracked his fingers as he usually does, as he spoke "I had to get stronger." Tsuneo spoke to her "It's good to see you again sensei... Sorry for what I've showed you." He thought he himself was unsightly during the torture. Tsuneo looked down in disgrace. He has become much more calm.


She spoke earlier asking him who were the people after him, and as she said so he threw towards her a wanted poster popular among criminals. His nickname was on that paper drenched in blood "Centipede". Tsuneo knew that their  acquaintance was none other than the saint himself. Tsuneo smiled remembering their brawl as he had been training the whole time.


He bowed before his teacher "Shinobu-sensei, thank you.... If not for your words...I'd have died a long time ago" He truly appreciated her, and he did want to blame her and the world for not saving him, but how would anyone know? One could simply feel pity for him, as there was no hero for him to ever save him. However, he decided to become that hero that in tragedy will save the fallen. His hopes and decisions and thoughts were all transmuted to his sensei.


"I don't care if you didn't know. You owe me three pieces of dango..." He said with his calm serene voice.

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Gin allowed a smile to make its way onto her face. "No that's a name I hadn't heard in a while," Gin said, resting her chin on the palm of her hand. She had discarded her old alias as soon as she was certain that Sunagakure had seen through her change in identity. It had served its purpose long enough to get her under Kirigakure's protection, however, which she was relieved for. Though she didn't exactly need the protection to survive, it was useful in the sense that it kept hoards of Sunagakure ANBU from trying to ambush her every time she stepped out of a village. She hated that sort of thing - surprise attacks. She had never been all too great at detecting them, especially when she was in a fight. When she ran away from her old village, they had been a pain in her ass for about a month. She had shaken them off her trail shortly before her arrival to Iwagakure.

"And I don't really have a preference. Though I can say that little snot-nosed brats like you are the farthest away from what appeals to me," Gin countered. She had dated and been with all types of people. The only common denominator was that they had all been shinobi, with one or two exceptions here and there. That and they had all been around her age. The thought of being attracted to someone ten years younger than she was made her want to throw up a little. She shrugged off the thought, however. Tsuneo had meant it as a joke. The tone of their conversation turned somber only a second later, however. The boy was trying to explain how this change had come about - evidently, it wasn't just a fashion choice or a phase.

Responding to his request, Gin nodded. With an unreadable expression on her face, she made sure to lock her eyes with his. Instantly, Gin felt the wind escape her lungs abruptly. Images flooded her brain, as if the memories that he was showing were her own. She saw flashes of pain and blood and death over and over again. Her eyes opened slightly in shock as the she let the images wash over her. Afterwards, her face softened into understanding. "Unfortunately, pain and loss are common things in this world we live in," she began. She stood on the tree and stepped off. She descended slowly onto the ground. Light swirled around her, covering her body in its entirety. Her image began to shift and change. When she stepped gently onto the grass, she had returned to her normal appearance.

She ripped the sleeve that covered her mechanical arm, revealing it in full. The stump to which it was connected was terribly scarred, alluding to the injury that had caused her to lose the limb. With her other hand, she wiped her left eye and the area around it, loosening the chakra particles that kept the skin-like make up in place. Underneath was a metal plate. Surrounding its edges was yet another scar. "You aren't alone in your pain. The worst of my injuries have been done to me by people I loved and trusted," she said. Her entire body was covered in similar scars. Her skin was a map, one that traced the history of all the pain and suffering in her life. "It's an unfortunate part of this life we chose. The sooner we accept it and move on, the better," she stated. The need to move forward - even though she often lacked a goal or direction - was the only thing that kept her alive in times like this. If there was one thing she wanted to teach her students, it was to do the same.

"Sensei, thank you." A polite tone towards his sensei, even if it was once that he wasn't trying to annoy her. He opened up to her as he had no one. The only one he spoke to honestly was Mitsuo, and his admiration of the man only grew stronger. Tsuneo spoke to her with a sad look on his face "I am sorry for your loss sensei... Sensei... I." He paused before continuing "I miss my family, and.....  Every time, no, I can no longer sleep..... I don't want to kill anymore. There's a monster inside of me.... I am afraid the torture that occurred to me had overtaken me. A second person within comes out when I lose control of myself. In the end, when I snap back to reality, all I find is death and gore.... My hands.... For years I kept killing and killing criminals, every day at least sixteen or twenty." He never had a mother, and so he never complained to anyone. As tears filled his eyes "I don't want to kill anymore. I do not know what drives me to live.... My target of vengeance is dead. I have nothing, not a lover, no parents, no ambition, no family.... What is it that I live for, I killed over and over those criminals that kill others. However, I am much more worse than them I killed a thousand of those killers. I wanted to be a hero, but am I anything more than a killer. I wanted to save others even if it meant I would drown in blood." He paused "Am I anything more than a monster?"

A moment of weakness, Tsuneo was frustrated. He had never complained to anyone else. Tsuneo had never shown so much weakness but the boy held a weight ever so heavy on his shoulders. He was jealous of others. Many times he envied the children holding their parents' hands, many times he envied the children at their homes with their families. Many time he envied the normal people walking the streets without a single drop of blood on their hands.

He mastered sealing and perfected his techniques, unravelled seals beyond any master's imagination. He had become known for his prowess as the centipede, but the blood of many that's on his hands. The blood of thousands was drowning him. He was almost about to suffocate. Tsuneo lowered his head to hide the tears in his eyes. Tsuneo was broken. At least now he was, and he would muster as much strength as he could to keep standing. The eyes of the ones he kills haunt him. 

He stood there holding his mask to his side. What could have happened if he merely remained a normal shinobi. Living in his village, training with comrades, not killing, and instead living. He was sick of his life. Sick of murder, or perhaps it was just this moment of weakness that he had never had because he thought he would become a weakling he never cried and if he ever did it was rare. It's been years since he shed his tears.  He never did tell his teacher his reason for defecting. He wanted it to. However, he would refrain because he did not want her to hate Konohagakure. For all that he suffered because of his village. It was the place in which he grew up and the place where he and his family once lived happily.

He wanted to go back. He never knew why he had a feeling, and it was most likely his weakness, but he had a feeling that if he was to go back to their old house and open the door. He had a feeling that he would meet his family. They would be waiting there preparing for a party welcoming him back home. Tsuneo's tears rolled down quietly as he turned around and hid his face looking down.  "I am joking... I'm fine. I so got you sensei." He spoke with his calm voice and slightly cold tone but it was different, his voice was breaking apart.

The young man had cursed his weakness.