Blood was the essence of the soul. But who's blood was worth more than others? Had Maigo broken some sacred covenant with the karma and essence of the universe by spilling it from his enemies and those who opposed him? Maybe because he served himself to the strict sense of justice and understanding that through the violence he created, other violence that created true victims could be stopped. Maybe that was what justified it but everyone always had a justification for everything. The reason that the world turns, the reason he woke up and set forward in his ninja gear, and the reason he felt that his actions were just.

Maybe the reasons wouldn't be lies to themselves but merely a facade to push his morality towards justification. Maigo's shoge ripped through the neck of another person and let the red sanguinous liquid splash outward and to the ground. He stood up and looked around the scene, it was set up like a chapel with rows of pews and attendees all around. The center aisle had once carried a priest of some kind in sacred robes that ordained himself to lead these people. The people that laid littered around the floor, mostly older men but some women too. Maigo made no discrimination of their person for their crimes. They'd done enough to threaten the land and their behavior caught a slight glimpse of the ones that he was tracking through the Land of Wind while also working on behalf of his village, The Village Hidden in the Mist, to eradicate any criminal threats and elements throughout the country.

The gargled sounds of the man slowly bleeding out and seeing the life pass before his eyes drew Maigo's attention, letting his sharingan fall down to be the last thing that the man could see. A dark haired Uchiha standing over him with a blood stained weapon dripping at his side and blood splattered across him and all over the room. It was the scene of an absolute massacre. But Maigo felt no remorse, he began to walk out of the room, taking steps past streaks and small puddles of blood on top of it.

It was before he exited the building, passing just underneath the bracing of the door that he turned around and with a quick weaving of handsigns, began to burn the place to the ground. The fire consuming over the image that he had created and spreading across before his fireball crashed into the sacred image of their leader. It was symbolically meaningless since no one would be there to witness, none that would live anyways.

Stepping into the street outside he would be met with an entire town that had gone dead silent, some had scattered and a few refugees and true victims of this hellscape had already retreated into the desert at Maigo's discretion. Pointed in the direction of a nearby encampment that Maigo found passing his way near the border to the Land of rock. They'd find some sanctuary with the village nin there and they could tell the tale of what had actually happened here. His sharingan spun around and saw more bodies, bandits with weapons fallen at their side and cut open like animals sent to slaughter. He almost began to feel the fatiigue of it all but it was too methodical and executed too perfectly to be a true obstruction to his mentality.

Three men were seemingly all that were left, standing at the gate to stop him. Shaky hands carried their kunai as Maigo's blood splashed face became apparent in the bright sunlight. His grey cloak had splashes of blood and cuts littered all around it. Though, the blood wasn't his own, the black tomoe in his eyes swam in another pool of red as deep as the blood around him. He glanced up at them and seemed to stare at them from the top of his skull as they yelled out at him. Confirmations of their will to stop him, to make Maigo pay for what he had done, and to earn the retribution for their cause.

Maigo scoffed at the notion as a murderous grin spread across his face, "It's just you three then..." his eyes traced around them to envelop the environment they were in. The gate was a few feet behind them, the name of the town and their cause spread in blood that had dried weeks ago and a mass graveyard was behind them. The three men made a decent formation together but they were horrified and rightly should be. Maigo distinctly remembered leaving them to their own vices, sitting in an illusion to pull apart and play at their very minds.

He dashed forward with blinding speed, his zanbato drawn in the process and met a clash with a kunai that his sword sliced cleanly through before lobbing the mans arm clean off. His screams would fill the air as he would fall to his knees and cry out, using his other arm to grab and feel at where his arm used to remain as Maigo stood high above him. The other two bandits on each side of him backed off in shock, a bit of horror even, as Maigo had absolutely blinded their expectations.

Maigo's sharingan sat still as he drew his sword back to over his shoulder,
"You do know that we'll all be held accountable for our actions?" he would pause and catch the man sniffling in his sobs as his vision drew up towards Maigo. "Here, I judge you to die, and in the afterlife, you should be judged beyond that. You know what you did, don't you dare waste tears here." he gave before heaving down with a heavy grunt upon the man, cleaving him nearly in half in the very center of the gate into the town. Overhead, several scavenger birds began to circle around the hilly around them and smoke was rising up from the center building.

It was a stunning scene for Maigo, more blood spilled in the center gate as his killing intent focused on the other two for a brief moment. He hesitated and let them each gather themselves before Maigo would make his next move.


[1054 words]

275/300 Chakra:

When Sayuri had first heard about the destruction of Sunagakure no sato she had been horrified. Her own small village had been destroyed in a similar way when she was young, and that had been terrible, but she never imagined that something like that could happen on such a grand scale. Her heart had broken for all the people who had died, suffered, lost their children or parents. The news had left her miserable for days, and as soon as the opportunity to do something about it had come up, she had leapt at the chance to make a difference. All her life she had been obsessed with the idea of ensuring that something like this never happen again, and now through no fault of her own it had happened anyway. There were plenty of jobs to be done in what was once Sunagakure, and she tirelessly helped out where she could. A lot of it was searching for refugees and making sure they had a bed and some food. Most of that could be done on the far outskirts of the Village proper, but today she had decided to venture further in. She had been warned repeatedly not to go too far in, and while she was thankful for the concern, it was mildly irritating that most people assumed she wouldn’t be able to handle whatever she saw. Even if they might be right.

Suna was much hotter than she had been expecting, and even now with nothing but a loose fitting shift tied with a sash she was sweating terribly. It was only just morning, and she was dreading the heat that would rise along with the continued path of the sun. She had piled her long white hair on top of her head, and secured it as best she could with a stick she had found. It was certainly not the most fashionable look, but at least her hair was off her neck and that provided some relief from the oppressive heat of the desert. This time she remembered to bring a small canteen of water with her, in her adventures to find the stick for her hair the day previous she had forgotten and had been quite parched when she had finally brought back her prize. Satisfied that she couldn’t be anymore prepared for her trek, she trudged along through the sand towards the rubble that was once a mighty Village. She had opted not to wear boots, preferring the mild pain of warm sand on her bare feet to her boots being filled with the very same warm sand. It was not the smartest idea she had ever come up with, the sand was quite a lot warmer than she’d supposed it would be, but it didn’t take long for the skin on the soles of her feet to adjust to the temperature.

As she neared the main Village gate, she was surprised to see that the gate itself was mostly intact. She had been expecting it to be more on the ground, whereas she could see that it was upright, and looked more than sturdy enough to carry her weight. With a tiny cheer she ran towards the as yet unclimbed monument and began clambering up. In her childlike excitement at the challenge she had set for herself she didn’t notice the scene below her, at least not right away. She could see that there was broken bits of buildings and what may in fact be bodies lying strewn about the sand, however her mind didn’t allow her to process the horrific sight until she heard the scream. Looking down she clearly saw a tall black haired man with a sword standing above a screaming and crying man who was kneeling in the bloodied sand. “What on earth. . .” Her words were barely more than a whisper as she stared in shock at the screaming man's arm lying beside him, still draining dark red liquid into the sandy ground and making the area almost look as though it was just rain that had fallen, and not an arm. The man with the sword was saying something to the kneeling one, but she didn’t hear. All she could see, all she could focus on, was the arm. She knew then that she had to do something. The cold, almost emotionless look on the black haired man’s face was all she needed to see to jump into action. That was the look of someone who intended to kill. She had seen that look before; on Shiro while she was in Konoha. It had ended then with all that stood in Shiro’s way being summarily executed. Although she had done nothing to stop Shiro, she had heard the horrible things those men had promised to do. Right now all she saw was a man cowering and armless, with his two friends just as frightened behind him. As the dark haired man’s sword cleaved through the man on the ground she had only one thought go through her head; this was murder, plain and simple. And murder she could not abide.

Leaping down so as to place herself between the two seemingly defenseless men and their attacker, she landed gracefully and partially crouched with one arm and both legs touching the wet sand, her tanto mid draw. Her anger flared as she would herself up into a standing position and gesture at the attacker with her tanto. “I’m here to help the people of this Village. They’ve suffered enough, they’ve lost everything. You’re going to leave this men in peace.” Her voice was gravelly and rough, the extreme heat mixed with her fury had left her without much of a voice. And although she would tremble ever so slightly at the confrontation that she had just initiated she lifted her odd coloured eyes and glared into the man’s equally oddly coloured eyes, daring him to challenge her.

1004

Months now had passed since the destruction of Sunagakure. The news of the destruction had caused ripples in the shinobi world. Never had destruction of this scale been comitted since maybe the seven bells era. The villages had argued about what to do and what was to happen to the people of this land. But very little had been done by the other nations until now. After the Kage council in Kumogakure a plan seemed to have been laid out by the other three kage while Harichimo, just an envoy at the time informed them of Iwagakure's current efforts. But now with an actual leader in power Iwagakure's forces could be of actual help. Iwagakure had taken up the task of helping to reconstruct the village from whatever rubble and ruins were left. Over the months Iwagakure had taken in refugees and tried to accommodate them as well a they could. Some were able to be reunited with their families during the chunin exams, some chose to integrate into Iwagakure society even having their children join the ranks of it's shinobi, and now a huge group of the refugees volunteered to join Iwagakure in the rebuilding process. The main group of workers had arrived a couple days ago with Harichimo and set up a abse camp outside of the city to protect themselves and machinery from bandit forces in the villages. Harichimo remembered his experiences with the unforgiving desert. Once on a diplomatic trip and another time for a small vacation but now with its current condition it made him wonder what sort of people willingly wanted to stay behind and try to survive with little to no help from a village or governing power. From reports of his scouts the remaining population were anarchic bandit gangs or civilians that did not have the means to make the journey to a different village for asylum. With time on his hands before the construction would begin he had decided today that he wanted to see the destruction for himself. He dressed in lighter gray clothing under a beige cloak and hood. He had filled a small canteen that would hold him over for his little planned excursion. He walked through the Iwagakure worker camp were the workers and volunteers had made circles of tents around camp fires as they awaited their instructions. The machinery were all covered by tarps to prevent the damage that the sand could cause if it got in any important parts. They were far from home and they had brought limited parts to replace whatever may break or get clogged with the sand. Harichimo would continue to walk through the camp and wave towards all of the civilians that were from his village or those that thanked him for his villages hospitality during their struggle. Even before his reign as Tsuchikage, Harichimo had advocated and helped as much as he could to get the refugees to Sunagakure back on their feet.

Only half a mile from the camp and Harichimo could feel the heat of the desert trying to cook him. The lack of moisture in the air made any breeze feel  like a wall of heat that tried to pull the hood from his head. Harichimo would keep on walking as his boots would keep sinking into the sand and leaving a trail behind him. He was son within sight of the village gates which seemed to be barely standing on its own. The sandstone and adobe structure that once heralded and protected the village from threats, now was reduced to an archway with the walls demolished on both sides of it. Huge pieces of the gates face had either been destroyed or fallen and crumbled to the sandy floor below. That structure was going to be on of the first Harichimo would wish to focus on to give the people of Sunagakure something to carry on for. He would continue to walk towards the gate and see shrines and other marker structures that lined the road were now either vandalized, painted over, or reduced to rubble. It made him shake his head as his scouts and spies had reported some shinobi from other villages desecrating the sites on purpose for what ever end Harichimo had no clue to. He looked over the skyline of the village as he now stood less then a couple dozen yards away. He remembered taller buildings including the Kazakage's administration building being able to touch into the sky but now it was mostly reduced to be level with where the village walls would have been.

Harichimo would then enter the village gate and be welcomed with a scene of grizzly proportions. Among the destroyed and crumbling buildings there was blood and signs of a struggle. Some of the buildings even seemed to have only been damaged recently. The blood stained the sand into a deep and dark crimson. Harichimo quickly put on his knuckle duster and readied himself in case whatever was going on was still nearby. Harichimo followed the blood down some alleys and kept looking around for anyone alive. It was then he heard a familiar voice come from around the corner. It sounded like Sayuri and it made his adrenaline kick in to find his way towards the source as fast as he could. He would then peek around the corner and see her in a stand off with a gray cloaked figure. Harichimo looked to the ground to see she was standing between the man and three individuals that were laying paralyzes by fear. Harichimo would be quick to sprint out and slide and stand in front of Sayuri to look the man in the eyes. It was then that Harichimo would see what the man really was. Hairhcimo had only seen a weaker version in his old squad mate but now he had to stare down someone of this power. Harichimo would get into his fighting stance. "I am Lord Tsuchikage Harichimo Kazako, and I demand to know what is going on here."


1012

The weight of the blade felt distorted in his hand almost, heavier than it should have but it cleaved through so evenly. His eyes traced back and forwards between the two as they fell backwards and watched the halves of their friend fall apart in front of Maigo. A hefted grunt fell from deep in his chest as he picked the blade up from the sand and over his shoulder. The fresh blood loomed in clumps where he struck and oozed downwards and off the edge of the blade, it would be a pain to clean but he was hear to strike fear in the hearts of those who would prey upon the living.

His own theatrics were interrupted as a kunoichi jumped down and placed herself between him and his prey. She was fully ready as Maigo's sharingan traced over her person and her belongings, the hand on that tanto was threatening but she didn't seem like much more than the average ninja? Her chakra didn't show anything that gave him great concern and more than that, she was in the way.

Maigo's eyes would narrow for a moment and his rage would filter to the surface just a little, like all those times before as the muscles on his upper lip would twist and he would rotate his zanbato around in front of him. Her eyes locked in on Maigo's and Maigo would stare intently back, letting the fire within him stir again, just like it had back in Kiri, the chakra that felt hot like fire and moved like blood would begin to stir within him. He was the perfect puzzle to fit within Kirigakure, the man with chakra as black at night under Ayakashi's cold blue chakra and Maigo's own burning and rageful red chakra to supplement that. If this girl in front of him, dressed in her armor and wearing that Iwa headband so prominently knew anything, could feel his chakra and see his own Kiri headband on, she should know to back away from this fight.

And yet, she made demands and shook at them, it was slight but his eyes caught it. He couldn't do anything to her to harm her. There wasn't a chance in the world he'd live himself down for breaking a random ninja like her, fearful in the eyes of what was around her and what faced her down to just make a point. He needed to scare her off, convince her of what was really happening here but he had no time to talk. These men needed to die immediately. He wouldn't take any other outcome. There was no court for their victims, no jury to weigh their lives on a scale and pass judgement. This was Maigo's burden like theirs. One for righteousness and justice instead of evil and self-service.

Maigo's teeth would grit and he would straighten his back before planting the edge of his large sword into the sand, the blood seeping down to the base of it and to the sand below. It was here that the second intruder would arrive and plant himself again between Maigo and his last two targets. His anger boiled over a bit further, almost making the bloody chakra palpable in the air. Like a thick syrup of rage that was boiling over while Maigo's own breathing impaired a bit as he felt himself beginning to push on the verge of control and completing his mission immediately.

The only thing stopping him from ignoring protocol and clearing this place was the words the man spoke out upon arrival, the name and power of his position had Maigo immediately ready himself in return. His sharingan tomoe would spin slightly and take him in. Nothing incredible as before but he bled confidence where she didn't. He didn't tremble at the sight Maigo had created, like a Pollock painting of limbs, bodies, and blood across the town. He was ready to pass judgement at will but standing face to face with the Lord Tsuchikage was something he wouldn't have dreamed of doing, and so near here. Were there others around scounting this place and did Maigo spring onto something they were investigating already?

His mind began to dizzy and hold a lid over his rage as the muscles on his face relaxed a touch and were replaced by anxiety instead. Maigo's right hand hovered at his side, ready to immediately go to his ninja pouch if he needed to and his legs were bent, ready to move in the slightest chance he needed to. His eyes were trained on the both of them, he wouldn't allow a slip up here and he wouldn't let either of them interfere.

A single flash in his eyes of the family he found that led him here. The remains of that family in their home and the young daughter they had that wouldn't live out her dreams. The son who fell victim trying to fight back and the men walking out of the home with their valuable in tow and the messages and symbols of their cult painted in blood on the walls. Maigo had broken them equally as bad as the ones here and he wasn't satisfied as they weren't the only ones. Even within here, this place that held a church now burning, like it was sacred was more desecrated than anything he'd ever seen. He wouldn't allow it, he wouldn't allow another leader of this world to walk over this. And if they were protecting this place...

The rage began to boil into the air once again. "You won't..." Maigo leaked out with his head down and his breathing visible in rage. His voice was deeper, filled with anger and more grunted than anything. His eyes flickered up and the intensity of red in his eyes would become more apparent than before as the tomoe stood absolutely still in his head and he focused on the obstacles in his path.

"It's funny. You remind me a little of him, that other Tsuchikage..." the words would come from buried out in his throat but hardly at a conversational tone, almost a whisper as the quick image of the dark haired man with strange eyes rang out. Standing tall and full of confidence in Maigo's mind as he continued on, "But he had the power to understand everything about me by feeling the passive chakra in the air around me." His eyes would quickly glance over to the girl.

"But you're right. I will leave him in piece." Maigo's muscles would twitch the fast reaction as he began to dig into the dirt and burst away with speed to his left and aimed directly for the man that was resting on his butt a few feet to their side.

"SEVERAL PIECES!" Maigo would yell out in a rage just after he began to move. The free right hand that was hovering over his pouch would electrify intently in his palm and burst out like the sound of thousands of birds at once. With that hand, he would wave out his hand extremely quickly and launch out hundreds of electric senbon directly at them with the intent that if they moved, it would slice through the other bandit behind him. With that settled, Maigo would maintain his chidori and tear through the heart of the man in front of him, ending the situation ahead of him in an instant. Hoping that the Tsuchikage were good enough to evade this technique.


[1286 words, 2340 words total]

210/300 Chakra:

As Sayuri stood ready to stop whatever this dark haired man had planned for the other two men cowering behind her she realised that she didn’t have a plan. Not that that particular fact was unusual for her, but she became acutely aware as she saw the blood slide down the man’s sword blade that not having a plan in place might get her killed. She hadn’t bothered to tell anyone where she was going, and she was poorly equipped for fighting what appeared to be a dangerous and deadly opponent. All she had was her tanto and her Iwagakure forehead protector - she would be lucky if she didn’t get hurt during this confrontation. She had only been in a handful of fights so far, and most of them she had ended up horribly injured, she had lived through all of them, with only a few scars to show. What was different this time around though was that there were no healers around to fix her inevitable mistakes. It was nerve wracking and it was definitely affecting her focus. For the briefest moment she considered whether or not the men behind her were worth her life, but as quick as the thought had surfaced she pushed it away. Of course they were worth it, they were innocent human beings that were about to be murdered by - from what she could observe - a man who’s main vocation was violent and monstrous artistry.

Taking in the scene around her managed to steel her nerves, as did the man's sword being placed tip down into the sand. This was not the first time she had been face to face with a monster, and she was not going to bend to fear now. She knew that with a flick of her wrist she could dissuade this man from his continued savagery. She had done it before, and she very much hoped that she would be able to do it again. She was too inexperienced to realize that a single success in the past did not necessarily equate to continued success in the future. There were plenty of things she could not account for, she knew from her own training that to slice off a man’s arm was no small feat, it took considerable precision and strength. The dark haired and red eyed man was an unknown to her, all she could see of him was this isolated moment in time. He was strong, and skilled, and very, very angry. It was not the sort of anger that one saw from a drunk; where they shouted and knocked things over in an impotent attempt to make their desires known. No, this was far more terrifying. This was a quiet and seething rage, this was unpredictable. She would plant her feet and take a deep breath, readying herself to spring into action when her vision of the man was suddenly obstructed by the excellently timed arrival of Harichimo. She was relieved that at least someone now knew where she was, and the horrible mess she had gotten herself into. She was less relieved that it was Harichimo, she couldn’t bear the thought of anything else happening to him.

She kept her eyes on the unknown attacker in front of them as Harichimo demanded information. She saw that where there had been a quiet rage, it was quickly boiling over into something that could only end in more violence. She wanted to step in front of Harichimo, she needed to keep him safe. Instead she readied herself to leap in between him and that vicious looking weapon. Harichimo was fast, faster than her, but swords she understood. And there was no way she was going to stand by and let him be stabbed again. She didn’t understand who the man was referencing when he spoke to Harichimo, she had been in Iwagakure for so little an amount of time, she hadn’t had time yet to learn the history of the Village and its leaders. A quizzical look would show plainly on her face as she leaned forward just slightly, an unconscious movement to aid her understanding, similar to how she needed quiet to find something - even though that didn’t help at all. She managed to not flinch as he looked towards her again, and the slightest smile began to form on her lips as it seemed he meant to leave the men be. For the space of a second she was happy, it looked as though no one needed to die. That second was all she had, and then in an explosion of movement almost too fast for her to follow she understood her error. Where she had thought that the conflict had ended, it was merely paused. As the man launched himself towards the cowering men she saw him reach for a pouch at his side, raiton visible in his hand. She saw the scene almost in slow motion as her instinct took over her senses. Pushing off with her left foot she ran to Harichimo’s side, placing herself between him and the incoming electrified bits of metal hoping that she was fast enough to block him from most of them.

879/1883

Harichimo held his stance as the man seemed almost unfazed by the two random shinobi that had interrupted his little kill session. Harichimo tried to note every part of the man's eyes. They seemed more intricate and seemed to radiate their own aura of power much more then his old squad mate that he couldn't even imagine being as strong as this man. The man seemed to take his time with something Harichimo could only imagine as his body seemed to both relax and tense back up for action. He then had an outburst as his eyes seemed to glow more red then the normal Uchiha he had seen before. He spoke more in a whispered tone about Harichimo resembling some other Tsuchikage. It made him wonder more of who this man was to have met another Tsuchikage. Did he happen to be someone that happened to meet one of the previous kage or was he one that had gotten into combat against them. Did this man know the whereabouts of Karumo? Did he have a run in with Akira? Who could this man be talking about? Now I really need to pick this man's brain if he cools off. I just have to keep my guard up in case he tries something in his pouch. Harichimo thought to himself as he moved more into a guard in case this man asn't as stable as he thought he was. The man continued on and talked about the other kage's power to feel how dangerous this man was by just feeling the intense amount of chakra and aura he could put out. Both Karumo and Akira were greatly skilled shinobi but he had never seen Karumo use any trick like that. Harichimo knew this man had to have run into Akira and it made Harichimo more determined. He needed to now how long ago this man had run into his mentor and try to see if he knew anything about his destination. But the man seemed as crazy as he did dangerous when his gaze seemed to lock on to Sayuri. Harichimo wanted to ready up his barrier technique but he thought against it in case it would trigger some unwanted response from him. Harichimo readied his guard to try and match the man's demeanor in case he wanted to take a shot at him or Sayuri, Harichimo could be ready to dodge or intercept the attack. The would then let out the words to ring in his attack.

The man unleashed a flurry of chakra covered senbons that were seeming to go faster then anything Harichimo had ever seen before. They seemed like raiton covered missiles with intended paths to strike straight through him and Sayuri. He heard Sayuri step up through the blood soaked asand as if she thought she could block the attack. But Harichimo had a terrible feeling almost like his encounter with the Raikage. He would have to make a snap decision and even then it may be to late to get out of this situation unscathed. Harichimo would quick turn and pick up Sayuri in order to jump straight up barely in time for him to hear the a high pitched electric chirping and shrieking go right underneath him and Sayuri. It sounded much faster and higher pitch then the destructive jutsu the Raikage had tried to use on him. He heard the senbons make contact with flesh behind him and the discharge of raiton chakra. He heard some plant themselves into the wall where their bodies would have been and even discharge to leave small craters in the side of the already destroyed buildings. Harichimo would land on his foot and right knee to let Sayuri stand up on her own feet. Once she was on her own feet he would look behind him and see two corpses and splashes of blood where the two men had just been. Their bodies seemed unrecognizable and the splashes of blood seemed to paint horid images on the sandstone wall behind them. It made Harichimo more tense to see the amount of power and prowess this threat really had. Harichimo would get back to his feet and reach into his pocket to slide his knuckle dusters onto his left hand and get back into his stance to stare the man right in his eyes. "I say it one more time. Tell me what is going on here. Why did everyone in this alley way deserve to die and why would you dare raise a weapon to a Kage in defiance?" He felt somewhat more confident with his weapon on his fist but he knew people of this man's kind had prowess in genjutsu. He would stand no chance against an opponent with that power but he had to stand up and defend his friend in case the worse did happen.



820/1832

Nayoko was slowly discovering just how aptly the endless wasteland was named. He had been travelling for almost an entire day now, walking through the desert in search of more refugees to bring back to the Konohagakure no Sato border camps as well as more bandits and criminals to kill. The uprising of the underworld had surprised many in the wake of the destruction of one of the great ninja villages of the world. The downtrodden had quickly seized power in remote areas all across the Land of Wind, slowly but surly making relief efforts more and more difficult for the four remaining great nations. Even with recovery efforts underway, it was becoming very clear very quickly that Sunagakure no Sato would remain a glassy crater for years to come before anyone would be able to return it to even a modicum of its former glory. It was discouraging, but not enough to stop the Hattori from performing his duty, which including the specific task that he had been sent out to deal with in this part of the desert.

There had been reports made by some of the scouts from the camp he had ben staying in of a nearly abandoned village that had started taking in refugees, only to have them go missing entirely shortly thereafter. It was a strange report that normally might have been ignored, but the kunoichi that had reported it to Nayoko was one that he trusted a great deal, and so he had decided to go against his better judgement and investigate. What the kunoichi had failed to mention before he had accepted the mission was just how far away the location in question was. Truth be told, Nayoko probably would have refused to investigate based on a purely logistical standpoint if he had been told that first, but alas he had not waited to hear details before promising to look into the issue. And Nayoko was nothing if not a man of his word. And s there he was, wandering through the desert in his dark blueish green tunic and cloak, the heat of the Land of Wind’s sun beating down on him throughout the entirety of his journey. He knew he had to be getting close based on the approximate distance that was given the report he had been received, but thanks to the rise and fall of the dunes all around him, locating landmarks was a bit of an issue.

The jounin finally decided to stop for a moment to rest, pulling out a canteen as he sat down on the sand. He raised the container to his lips, drinking in the refreshing flow of water over his parched mouth as he contemplated what exactly could have caused the refugees to go missing. The fact that they had never made it to a border camp suggested that either the village had been attacked by bandits of some kind, or there were more sinister forces at work here. With next to no information, the Hattori was not sure which was the case. All he did know was that he was sick and tired of walking through the desert with no end to the trek in sight. It was as this final through was going through his mind that he caught a whiff of the smell. It was a smell that he knew all too well being carried on the desert wind through his path. The scent was unmistakable, and the faint taste of iron that it left in his mouth made him all the more certain of what he had just noticed. It was he smell of blood.

Without hesitation, Nayoko sprang to his feet and turned toward the dune that was in the direction from which the smell was coming. It was so potent that either it was very close, or there was a great deal of it being spilled onto the sands of the Endless Wasteland. Running Now, Nayoko made his way up to the top of the dune and squinted to look out over the terrain all around him. At first glance, he did not see anything but sand in all directions, but on his second pass over the landscape he saw it. There was a hint of a civilization, or remnants of one, nestled in the dunes of the desert. He did not hesitate as soon as he saw it, and began running toward it, trying to make out what the movement ahead of him was. He could see a few figures moving for a moment before a man stepped out of a building before promptly setting it ablaze. The sight of the flames growing higher pushed Nayoko on faster still, moving at the top potential of his speed as he saw two more figures join the fray.

He moved closer and closer, unable to make out exactly what the people ahead of him were saying, but as he got closer, he could make out what they looked like. The first person he saw was a young woman with long white hair, standing before a cowering could of men and looking determined by slightly nervous about who she was standing before. The second person he saw was a man of average build who appeared to be around his age, standing like he was prepared to fight alongside the woman. The last person he saw, holding yet another covering man in a position that Nayoko knew would end in bloodshed, was a man he did not expect to see. Of all people, standing in this desert town and covered in the blood of his enemies, was Maigo Uchiha. By the time he realized who he was looking at, the leaf ninja had reached the top of the dune beside where this encounter was occurring. As he stopped his run, he was able to catch the end of a heated conversation that caused his brow to furrow.

"But you're right. I will leave him in piece." Maigo's muscles would twitch the fast reaction as he began to dig into the dirt and burst away with speed to his left. "SEVERAL PIECES!" Maigo would yell out in a rage just after he began to move. From his hand then fired a series of ration enhanced senbon that Nayoko knew was the product of the Uchiha’s chidori. The ANBU captain had seen it before, but it was just as impressive in this situation. The covering men were no longer covering, for they were utterly destroyed by Maigo’s justu, but the other man and woman had avoided the attack. It was clear that they were preparing to attack Maigo, and Nayoko tensed himself to spring into action and help. But he stopped short when he heard the man speak. "I say it one more time. Tell me what is going on here. Why did everyone in this alley way deserve to die and why would you dare raise a weapon to a Kage in defiance?"

Nayoko’s eyes went wide, and instead of waiting for an attack to happen, the jounin instantly called out from where he was while sliding down the dune. He knew for a fact that this was not the Hokage or the Mizukage and based on the reports of Hastur that he had received, Nayoko found it difficult to believe that this young man could be the Raikage. So, he made a gamble and he leaped into the air from halfway down the dune. “Lord Tsuchikage!” He shouted to get the attention of the man as he landed on the ground between the two parties that were facing each other down. Spreading his hands out between other parties, he took a deep breath. “I urge you sir, please do not attack this man. It would be a huge mistake for...” he paused for a moment and looked over to Maigo, his brow furrowed but a nod of recognition given, “…multiple reasons.” He then pulled his hood back and threw back the cloak that was covering his left arm to he could reveal his Konoha “forehead protector” to the Kage. “I am a jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, and believe it or not, I know this man. This is Maigo Uchiha of the Village Hidden in the Mists. I implore you to let his outburst of rage pass. If this man said that these people needed to stain the sands of this desert with their blood, then I assure that it is true. If he intended for you to come to harm, I promise I would not have had this opportunity to step in.” He paused then and turned back to Maigo. “And as for you! First of all, long time no see. But we really have to stop meeting under these kinds of circumstances, and you ahve to be careful about who you throw those things at.”

WC:1484

They were just good enough to dodge it. Though, it ended up as nothing more than a small flicker of image in the back of his vision as he turned and ran a chidori through the chest of the second man. With his hand buzzing of lightning and blood splattered to his arm and from the man's chest, Maigo's head would turn to see the both of them landing after having jumped over his chidori senbon. Though, for all their worth and high talk, they left the man behind them to be skewered by the mass of senbon, becoming nothing more than a pin doll that leaked blood and slumped over to his death. The rage in his eyes would subside a bit, touching his violent anger down and knowing now that he would have to deal with or escape from the Tsuchikage himself. A task that he hadn't planned for and with how little chakra he had left, might not be able to.

It was like a quick flicker of though, to activate those eyes and turn up the intensity while he still had life in him. It was the faintest idea but maybe it was worth a shot, he had to do something. The exhaustion burned through his muscles and his chakra was beginning to feel burned out. He needed the rest, he knew he wouldn't have much energy or stamina in him at all or the capability to drag out any portion of this fight. As the Tsuchikage would yell back, Maigo would rip his hand from the man's chest and turn to face him, trying to hold back the signs of exhaustion but unable to relieve the heavy breathing at all or to wipe away the wear on his clothing or body.

Maigo would flicker his eyes closed for a second, feeling the tomoe spin briefly, knowing that he needed to guarantee his trump card for the battle but his focus was shattered by the onset of a familiar voice crashing from outside the now dead town. Maigo's eyes would burst open and watch as the Konoha ninja from before would step in and intervene on his behalf, pleading with the other ninja not to engage him. Though, interestingly enough it seemed that Maigo had left his mark on Nayoko? Maigo's eyes would calmly meet Nayoko's as he turned back but would trail off to a bit more anger as his off hand tightened his grip around the hilt of his sword. In the moment that Nayoko would diffuse the tension between them as best he could, trying to set the stage for open discourse, the rage in Maigo would begin to flicker out, like a fire dying. The sparks leaping from his person trying to rekindle themselves in the nearby area, fighting for the very essence to stay alive and continue on his path.

Maigo was a ninja of Kiri! It was their right to not bow before any enemy they faced. Thoughts ran to what anyone else in his village would do. Would they let a foreign ninja bargain on their behalf or come in to save the day? Maigo knew better to feel this type of pride, that Nayoko was a great ally and that going against the Tsuchikage would be absolute madness not sanctioned by his own village and yet again, Maigo felt the offhanded coddling as someone else arrived to bring him from his mess.

Nayoko turning to him and speaking to him felt almost patronizing. Maigo's body was standing still and his head was down, as he finished, Maigo would slam the edge of his blade into the sand and try to control his breathing again.

"It's actually Mugetsu. I don't carry that name..." Maigo would speak up while referring to his true last name. Maybe a story for another time but no part of Maigo was named or defined by his eyes.

Though, his eyes would define him despite his best wishes. Maigo's eyes would roll up and his sharingan would coldly focus on Nayoko for a second as he would continue on, "And you have no right to intervene here, if they want to know what happened here, I'll show them!" the inflection at the end of his words would bleed out the frustration and rage as his tomoe would spin and his gaze flicker quickly to the Tsuchikage and the women with him, even Nayoko himself would be subject to seeing the image and story that Maigo would instantly play out via his genjutsu that would encapsulate those who looked in his eyes. Like a sudden heartbeat, the story would play out in their minds in almost an instant.

---

A night sky would shine above a town that seemed slightly active, lights and lamps light from the distance made it appear normal but the pure black shadow of a ninja would pan into view, jumping further and further towards the village while staying hidden. The features of the ninja concealed except for a similar zanbato and a cloak that blew slightly with each movement led to the distilled idea that the completely black figure was Maigo. Landing on a wall outside the town, his eyes would flicker to life against the completely black and seemingly animated figure. A pair of red eyes with tomoe would spin to life and begin to overlook a scene of distress.

Within, several men were looting and robbing the place. A young women who's beauty hadn't betrayed her ran out from a home screaming for help, only to find that the shop across from her home was slowly being set on fire. The two men behind her grabbing her arms and pulling her back within the doors to hide their act. The words they spoke and their threats to what they would do to her were horrific. The black figure against the wall would start to heat up in a literal sense, like heat waves in a maroon and red color emanating off of his person before flickering to the next scene.

Several of the town's men were lined against a wall with some elderly, women, and children held back from them on the other side of the road. The men were quickly slaughtered by the swords that held them there, their blood spilling out into the land and those innocent witnesses crying out to change what had happened.

Again, Maigo's eyes would turn to the opposite side of the encampment and show the people being shackled up in dirty rags and half of them hurt in various ways and different horrors while they all suffered internally. Being pulled along on the chains that bound them all together, on a new path to a new home and to be trafficked out. That much was obvious.

The genjutsu would end, not long after revealing in an animated way such a horrible set of events in a graphic way, with Maigo descending down upon the bandits and slaughtering them. Tearing them from the earth and saving those that he could, however few of them after even children had been sacrificed for their cult. The emblem of a red scarab would blazen the background wall of Maigo's slaughter and interrogations before the genjutsu relay would end.

---

The real Maigo would dig into his pouch and throw down a notebook with the emblem of that red scarab on the cover of it. His breathing was controlled but more fatigue hit his person as he knew that his Otohime would end.

"I will continue to hunt these religious heathens down and put an end to it all. Every last one of them regardless the cost Lord Tsuchikage..." Maigo would speak up in intermittent labored breathes. "I won't be stopped on this mission, by them, by you, or by any god that decides to intervene either..." Maigo would remain looking at the Tsuchikage but let his sharingan fade away to reveal his honey colored eyes, offering some semblance of reassurance that he wouldn't fight with him if he didn't have to. Like a barter, that he wasn't in the wrong here and would give them all a chance to digest what they would see and respond how they would want to.


[1395 words, 3735 words total]

185/300 Chakra:

Sayuri had been fully prepared to shield Harichimo from the incoming attack using nothing but her own body. It was a foolish plan - and had Harichimo himself not intervened, would have most definitely been a lethal one. Probably for both of them, as the senbons shot completely through the body of the closest man past them both. It was faster than she could comprehend, the senbon flew from the dark haired man’s hand and next thing she knew she was being lifted into the air as Harichimo grabbed her and jumped out of the range of the incoming missiles. Barely a breath later he had landed, and carefully allowed her to stand on her own. As soon as her feet touched the sand again, she quickly checked over Harichimo’s person for injuries, seeing none she would turn to face their attacker again, and deeply regretted doing so. She had jumped down, without a plan or any sense of self preservation, in the hopes of protecting the men who were about to be slaughtered. It had been her goal since as far back as she could reasonably remember to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves - to rid the world of savagery and violence and horror. She would have given anything right then to rewind the last few moments. She had demanded an end to the violence perpetrated by the red eyed stranger, was willing to fight him to ensure the safety of her self imposed charges - and she had very clearly failed. Their bodies lay limply on the now blood soaked sand, more holes than she could count ripped through their flesh, looks of horror still evident on what was left of their faces.

Her shame and rage was overwhelming, it boiled under her skin, pumped through her veins, stretched her muscles taut. What had once been a look of slightly frightened determination was now one of hatred filled distress. Her eyes would narrow as her top lip curled upward so that she was baring her teeth -  a display of ferocity that was incongruent with her mild and fragile appearance. She had failed. The men she had set out to protect were now dead. And there was nothing in the world that could bring them back. And despite the sorrow in her soul for their deaths she had her eyes trained on the man ultimately responsible. She would take a step forward as her hand moved once again to her weapon at her side, all thoughts of peaceful negotiation gone from her mind. And then she heard Harichimo speak again, in his calm and level voice, and she would pause mid stride. "I say it one more time. Tell me what is going on here. Why did everyone in this alley way deserve to die and why would you dare raise a weapon to a Kage in defiance?" His words helped to settle some of the anger that she was feeling and she would wait, still tensed and furious, at his side for the man to answer.

She did not expect anyone else to intervene in the scene before her, and would turn so that she caught sight of the new arrival at the edge of her vision. He looked to be taller than her, though at this angle it was difficult to tell. What stood out to her though was his attire; blue and green clothing, long and flowing with strange silver markings on them. His clothing was beautiful and stood out as an oasis would in the vast expanse of sand that made up the land of wind. It was evident to her that this new man, whoever he was, knew their attacker; Maigo Uchiha. The name meant nothing to her, despite the patronizing warning that came from the well built Konoha-nin about Maigo’s prowess. She wanted so badly to lash out and cut down the murderer in front of her, it was only her loyalty to and trust in Harichimo that stopped her. And as Maigo responded to the unknown man she had trouble obeying her own preformed decision to follow Harichimo’s lead. He was still so angry, and his eyes were so. . . cold. The colour of fire and yet as she looked into them it was as though she fell into an endless abyss of ice. "And you have no right to intervene here, if they want to know what happened here, I'll show them!"

Her world shifted. The night sky was visible as she watched, transfixed, as a man in a dark cloak leapt from hiding place to hiding place. She could feel something tugging at the back of her mind, a memory perhaps, or the lack of one. It was not a conscious thought, but she had no idea how or when she had arrived here. Her mind decided that that information was unimportant and continued playing out the scene before her, like a macabre play that she had been chained down to observe. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw several people taking things from a home, and a beautiful young woman screaming as she ran to find help. The fear on her face twisted to add in dismay as the building across from her became wreathed in flames. Sayuri’s gut clenched at the parallel and for a moment she could not remember at all how old she was. Those screams, the men with their horrible sneers, the way they grabbed at the woman even as she cried and begged for mercy. She felt helpless and disgusted, she wanted so badly to help that woman, make them stop. She tried to scream back at the men, tried to encase them in lightning, but all she could do was watch in horror. In a rush she saw she was now looking elsewhere, the smell of blood was thick and heavy in the air, there were so many people - helpless people - lined up as though they were to be executed. No weapons, most too young or too old to have used them even if they had been allowed to hold a blade. So much death and destruction. The healthy were cut down, the helpless chained and dragged away. She coughed and choked on the smoke and burnt flesh and blood that hung in the air. Her mind reeled with the revelation of what she was seeing as the one called Maigo put an end to most of it. His blade cleanly slicing through those responsible gruesome display. She kept trying to scream, she didn’t want to see anymore. The abominable things that had been done to these innocent people was only outweighed by her abhorrence for her own actions. She had tried to defend these men. No. They weren’t men. They were monsters.

As she was released from the genjutsu Sayuri would fall to her knees, the scream that had she had been fighting to make audible finally freeing itself from her lips. Tears poured from her eyes and mingled with the blood spattered sand that she curled up into; releasing her tanto she would lay fully on her left side, one hand clutching at her head and the other hugging her own torso. She tried to speak, but all that came out was unintelligible ramblings. The rational and adult part of her was trying desperately to calm herself down, but the more instinctual part of her was traumatized, and was winning in the battle over her psyche. She could hear Maigo speaking, she even knew what he was saying, but she could not find the strength to respond except to gasp out the words “I’m sorry. . .”

1295/3178

Harichimo stood in his fighting stance to face this attacker head on. It seemed to last an eternity before he heard another voice shout out for him and another possible shinobi would join the fray landing between the two parties. The man urged him not to engage the Uchiha before pulling back his own hood to show his Konoha allegiance. He continued to ensure his suspicions about this man being an Uchiha and apparently one of great strength for this shinobi to be boasting about his power. Part of Harichimo wanted to fight this defiant Uchiha since he never had the chance to spar with the Uchiha that was supposed to have been his squad mate but the idea of going up against genjutsu of their caliber still made his other half shake as his clan thought of genjutsu as nothing more then a dark art that had no purpose in the shinobi world. It had no other purpose then to cause pain or torture weak minded individuals. Creating false realities or bringing out nightmares of an individuals mind were what little his clan had taught him about genjutsu and it's uselessness when it came their practice at the clinic.


The man's interference seemed to make the Uchiha come to his senses as they dug their blade into the sand to signal some sort of understanding between all parties. The two seemed to exchange words as if they were friends and it put Harichimo at ease. Harichimo would lower his guard as he still kept his eyes on the Uchiha to make a move. Then in an instance the Uchiha grew serious once more staring dead into the eyes of Harichimo and waving his hand to signal something. Harichimo would then feel a force overcome him, making his body jerk as he succumb to whatever genjutsu the Uchiha was casting. It made his eyes grow wide and he would almost panic as he had never been subjected to something like this. His vision started to cloud and slowly choke into black taking away all light. Then everything seemed to blink into a new reality as his point of view seemed to jump around the ruins of Sunagakure. He saw people who looked like the men who had just been slain. They were robbing and looting the now destroyed buildings and shops. Some had captured a woman and were dragging her deeper into their clutches and speaking of what horrid things they were going to commit. The view shifted again to a wall of people. They were all crying out for help from the horror that was about to happen as the men slaughtered everyone against the wall. Another shift showed those who were not being executed were being shackled and sold off to be slaves or whatever else they could possibly find use for. These images made Harichimo want to punch free and escape whatever reality that was before him. He wanted to rush in and undo all this wrong himself. But just as quickly as it all flashed by, the genjutsu would soon disappear and force Harichimo down to a knee as his head was now spinning from being under the effects of whatever the Uchiha had used on him. He made sure to check himself over and make sure he had not been assaulted in any other way. Was that a false reality the elder's always told us about? Then why did everything sound and look like I was there and witnessed it all for myself? There is no way any of that could be fake. Is that a power of those eyes? It felt like using an instance of the memory recovery technique but much more brutal without me agreeing to have these memories shoved into my brain. Maybe this is the truth and he is actually on our side. But he could have just explained himself rather then rattle my brain.

Maigo would then sit down and do his thing as he spoke to him. Saying he was hunting down some sort of cult that had been terrorizing the ruined village and that he wasn't just some blood thirsty mercenary. It made Harichimo feel slightly better as he stood back up and put his knuckle duster back into his pocket. He looked over to Sayuri who seemed to have been affected more harshly by the genjutsu as she could only let out her scream in her fetal position. Harichimo would kneel down and try to pat her on the back. He had to get her snapped out of whatever state of mind she was in. He would continue to pat her on the back as he spoke. "Well Maigo or Mugetsu Uchiha, whichever you prefer to be called by, that was certainly a way to get your point across. I assume that the vision was of the atrocities you have witnessed in your time here hunting this religious cult? You seem to have been here longer then most of the village camps have been." Harichimo would stand back up to let Sayuri continue to gather her mind back from its shattered state. "Again I am Lord Tsuchikage Harichimo Kazako. It is a relief to see that we can now talk on some flat and mellow sand. It's safe to assume that you are one of the Mizukage's hunter-nin or are you from some organization after the cult?"



Harichimo knew somewhat of this cult from what refugees at his camps had talked about. Some in Iwagakure told stories of being chased across the desert by droves of organized bandits. Weeks ago he had received intelligence from his network of spies being implemented into the Sungakure region that this was some sort of cult that was trimming the fat off of what was remaining of the village. They attacked refugee making their way to the other nations and either recruited them into their ranks or made examples out of them to scare others into fleeing or joining as well. And only recently did his spies find a lead on the possible whereabouts of their base camp. If this was the same cult or they had some sort of connection to the group this hunter-nin as tracking then there may be a step closer to eradicating this cult.



1057/2889

Even as he finished his attempt to diffuse the tension that hung in the air, he could see the rage that seemed to consume Maigo begin to drift away. Whether his words had actually meant something, or if he was simply coming to his senses for whatever reason, Nayoko was glad to so the edge of the Uchiha’s blade dig into the sand. As the Kiri shinobi’s breathing seemed to relax for a moment he spoke, denying the name of Uchiha for the first time since Nayoko had meant him. There was clearly a story there, but the Hattori was smart enough to know that now was not the time to ask about his past. But regardless of the name he claimed, his crimson eyes still worried Leaf jounin as they spun on, flickering from person to person in a way that Nayoko had seen once before, when Maigo had cut down a monstrous behemoth in the wilderness of the Land of Water. But then they stopped flickering, and the energy in them was replaced with a cold stare that reminded Nayoko of the darkness he had seen in his own personal enemy once upon a time. The light tone that Nayoko was trying to keep melted away instantly, and his brow furrowed as the corner of his lips turned down into a frown, as if he had just smelled something foul. There was a moment when Nayoko wanted to threaten the Uchiha, but before he could tell him to stand down again, Maigo spoke up. "And you have no right to intervene here, if they want to know what happened here, I'll show them!"

The remnants of his rage were clear in the words that he angrily spat out to the Tsuchikage and his companion. The tomoe of his eyes spun rapidly then, and before Nayoko could react, the world around him shifted into an illusion of what Nayoko presumed Maigo had seen before arriving at this moment. The genjutsu was potent, and as Nayoko looked around at what Maigo wanted him to see, the Hattori began to understand just how powerful the Sharingan that Maigo possessed made him. The illusion was nearly flawless, and the detail that he could see of the men that had once lived here taking women from the streets into building to have their way with them. He saw the innocent men that had once called this place home being shackled of slaughtered, whatever suited the whims of those that held the power here. There were the people that he had been sent to find. People that were refugees form the ruins of Sunagakure no Sato that had found there way to this part of the desert. They had probably ben promised sanctuary in this place before being murdered and enslaved. The scene left a bitter taste in Nayoko’s mouth, and knowing that the people who had done this now laid dead before him brought him no small amount of satisfaction.

As the vision ended, Nayoko saw a notebook land on the ground before him, a red scarab emblazoned on the cover. Maigo’s breath was heaving form his chest, but he still spoke with disdain as he pushed what few words he could in his exhausted state. "I will continue to hunt these religious heathens down and put an end to it all. Every last one of them regardless the cost Lord Tsuchikage... "I won't be stopped on this mission, by them, by you, or by any god that decides to intervene either..." Finally, the blood coloured eyes of Nayoko’s friend faded into a golden honey colour. Then the scream sounded, and Nayoko turned just in time to see the Kage’s companion fall to the ground, curling into herself and sobbing uncontrollably. The Tsuchikage dropped down and began to try to console her, and Nayoko would turn toward Maigo, slowly stepping forward without a word. He could Harichimo speaking behind him, and he could tell that the hostility between the parties involved was finally dissolving away with the vision that they had been presented with. But Nayoko had something to say to Maigo. Now that his friend had calmed down, Nayoko was not afraid of him. He was too tired to keep up a proper fight anyway.

As the Tsuchikage asked his question, Nayoko would find himself standing right in front of Maigo. He stood there silently for a moment, before raising his hand swiftly and smacking Maigo up the side of his head. It was not with the intent to harm, but more like a dog owner might spray the dog in the face with water for misbehaving. Whether the strike landed or not, Nayoko would begin speaking his mind with one word, and he would continue until he was finished, not letting anyway cut him off or interrupt. “Idiot.” He began quietly, and as he spoke his words grew louder and louder in volume. The anger he was feeling was real, but it was not born from hate. Rather, it was from the disrespect that Maigo was showing in that moment. As that anger build, nature chakra would build within his ever so slightly as his inner demon raged, begging to break free. He had enough control to hold it back, but evidence of his Senjutsu abilities would begin to manifest through brief flickers of silver chakra in the air around him.

“You are telling me that you decided that your best course of action after slaughtering these monsters was not to TALK to the Kage that presented himself to you, but instead to continue your assault and threaten him with your techniques? You’re telling me that you thought we would side with them after that; that a few words would have been too much from you before utterly eviscerating yet another one of these people? You thought we would say ‘oh but the horrible cultists deserve to live!’? And on top of the arrogance you showed to this Kage, you have the unmitigated GALL to tell me what I do and do not have the right to intervene in? Last time I checked, your village and mine or allies! I received intelligence from a joint scouting effort that led he here specifically to investigate this very place. So Maigo, I DO have the right to intervene here. And I most certainly will!”

He then spun on his heel and began walking over to the girl that had been the most effected by the genjutsu, dropping down to his knewws and putting a hand on her shoulder if she was still on the ground. Otherwise he would simply stand next to her and make sure she was alright. Either way, he would look back to Maigo over his shoulder, his own anger finally leaving him as he looked on to his blood covered friend. “I really did miss you. We work really well together. But you can’t just threaten to start an international incident and expect me to shrug it off. If you want to talk about what people do and don’t have the right to do here, I know for a fact that the Mizukage, my mentor and friend, would not want you to do this. So chill man.” He then took a deep breath and looked back to the two people from Iwa while speaking quietly. “So, are the four of us gonna kill some cultists together or not?”

[Exit Thread]

WC:1250+1484=2734

Training Speed and Reaction time from A-1 to A-2 (2300/2300)

Unused WC: 434

His seriousness was broken, both in stature by the Tsuchikage misunderstanding his name and by Nayoko's rather physical way of breaking his own ranting. The sudden thwack against his head and rant that followed after left Maigo to grab his head and watch the Konoha ninja carry himself over to the crying girl while writing down Maigo's play. His words were harsh and did appease to the rational side of him as it was obviously better for them to talk through the problems at hand but maybe it alluded to the idea that Nayoko didn't know him as well as he had hoped. Aside from the drama of the situation, the strike to his head seemed to bring Maigo out of his trance at once, his eyes would become a bit softer even without his sharingan active.

With a sigh, Maigo would rip his sword from the ground while his head remained down, quickly flipping the blade through the air and behind his back before reaching to lock it into place on his back. His movement would be quick, faster than most would probably assume for such a sword but also quick enough that no one would get antsy at him moving his weapon about.

"Chill man..." he would almost mock the words as he mumbled to himself, stretching his head and rolling it around his neck and leaving the silence to hang in the air around them after Nayoko posed his question. It seemed so much was happening so quickly, and now what was a task that Maigo had before his own village now had a lot of company? It was boggling how he ended up in the situations and even in his deepest rages, he had people who would break through and seem to make light of the entirety of the situation. It almost made him more melancholy than he was saddened about how things progressed. He did feel a little bad about it all, with the girl seemingly shattered at the sights he'd forced onto her, he could only wonder how weird a scene it would be omnisciently that the group standing there would be trying to reconcile the situation in the plagued and bleeding ghost town that Maigo had left in his wake.

He almost wanted to retort back to his friend about how they should save the conversation for away from this place but in the end, he was probably right. He wasn't exactly in the right on any of this situation, so with his sword sheathed, he would take a step forward with a bit of an exhale and speak up towards the Tsuchikage, ignoring Nayoko's words.

"I am a Hunter ninja from Kirigakure. Though, it's Maigo Mugetsu you can call me. Uchiha plays no part in the name Lord Tsuchikage, I'm truly sorry for the trouble." he would pause and fall to a knee trying his best to remain humble in the situation. Waiting for any semblance of return or acceptance or response. He didn't know the man well and after driving his subordinate into a sort of fit, he would understand not being taken to or forgiven so easily but that didn't drive past his second point.

As soon as Maigo would have his return, he would return to standing up with a nod before his gaze would roll over to Nayoko with squinted and devious eyes.

"As for you!" he would raise his voice and nearly shout while pointing a solitary finger at the Konoha ninja. "Why are you going around hitting people and telling them to chill!" His tone would carry the level of his drama and almost a child-like exuberance about it as he tried to retort his words, not wanting to be one upped in the situation at hand.

"You might be right but I'm dealing with a situation here! Putting my resolve out there and proving my point and you're gonna come in and just rain all over it?! And another thing, why the hell are you even here?? I'm starting to think you're beginning to follow me around! That's it, isn't it, you're following me around now?"

Maigo wouldn't hardly stop to take a breath in his rant, letting the other two around him almost fade into the background as his yelling and accusations would carry the forefront of their conversation.

"Well, look! I don't need a babysitter! As you can see around you," Maigo would hold his arms out wildly and begin to spin while looking around the town, the smoke from a building rising as the one he set on fire's roof would collapse in on itself and leave a pillow of smoke blooming from it's base behind. "I can take care of myself!" Maigo would end off with one final huff of drama to end his rant before the others. Maigo's inner child was fully facing in place of the rage he felt earlier, his chakra far less red and raging like his sharingan and much closer to a more mellow and vibed yellow, like the same color of his eyes.


[871 words, 4606 words total]

[185/300 Chakra]

Sayuri’s mind was a cloud of tears and horrible visions. Some that had been planted there against her will, and some that were her own memories of times past. She lay there in the sand clutching at her head trying desperately to moderate the entirely intangible distress that she felt. It was futile and the more reasonable part of her knew it, but she could not overcome the near instinctual urge to physically shake away the unpleasant mental sensations. She could hear the three men speaking, even felt their touches of comfort - which under other circumstances would not have gone well - in the back of her mind she felt the panic at being touched by a person begin to rise. She could hear the calm and even voice of Harichimo as he attempted once again to bring reason and order to the situation, and the rising anger of the newcomers voice as he admonished his friend. And over it all she could hear the kind and loving voice of her grandfather. Come now silly duck, are you just going to lie there while there’s work to be done? Despite how you’re feeling, you know that none of these men are your enemies, the real enemy is out there still, and it’s your calling to stop them.

Taking a deep breath to help calm herself Sayuri would close her eyes and take a moment to float through the space she had discovered while learning meditation from Tsuyo. The world turned grey and dark blue, streaks of lightning flashing against soft pink petals that drifted aimlessly on the wind, causing them to appear as fireflies in the stormy sky. She always found peace in this place in her mind, and today was no exception. In the span of a few breaths all her worries left her; the gruesome scene she had tried to intervene in, the fear of losing the Tsuchikage, the guilt she felt for acting on behalf of those who deserved to be punished and most of all the memories of her family’s deaths. She loved this place, the storms made her feel safe and at the same time powerful, she would very much have enjoyed staying here rather than returning to the present. She could almost clearly hear Tsuyo warning her not to stay too long, she knew he was right, but it was so serene she couldn’t will herself out of her turbulent tranquility. She had only once practiced this technique without the aid of the silver wristwatch that Tsuyo had given her, and that time was with Tsuyo himself - had he not been there she likely wouldn’t have awoken until she was far too sickly to stand. Today though, in a moment of weakness, she had allowed herself to break her own rules and delve into the depths of her chakra for solace. It was not her most shining moment, and would have been a decidedly terrible decision were it not for the good fortune of Maigo’s rant.

"Well, look! I don't need a babysitter! As you can see around you, I can take care of myself!"

It was the word ‘babysitter’ that permeated her consciousness and brought her back. She had been a babysitter before, taking care of two small children and playing games about lava and lions. It had been fun and the idea that this powerful and dark man who she had just witnessed destroy so many people might need a babysitter struck her as hilarious. The visions of petals and tempests faded as she would open her eyes and an ironic grin formed on her face. With tears still sparkling in her eyes and making small rivulets down her sand dusted cheeks; she laughed. The idea was so ridiculous in her mind that she couldn’t help but appreciate the joke with mirthful giggling. She was half aware that her reaction was probably going to seem mad, or at the very least inappropriate given the circumstances. But she simply couldn’t help herself - the stress of the last few minutes was too much and in order to save her from breaking entirely her mind gave her something to latch onto as a release. She would stand up and methodically dust off her clothing where sand had clung to the light fabric, moving to stand beside Harichimo before leveling her gaze to appraise the group one by one. There was still tension in the air, but nothing like before. Whatever anger had fueled the actions of earlier was all but dissolved - though her laughter might not have been the best catalyst for continued calm - time would tell.

With a smile still on her lips and the sparkle in her eyes starting to return she would address the group. “Well that was. . . a thing. I’m very, very glad none of us have actually decided to kill one another as it seems we’re all on the same side? I understand better what you were trying to do here Maigo - and I’m sorry I tried to stop you - I just didn’t know. Speaking of that, I don’t know, uh, how I know now.” She would pause appearing deep in thought as a look of confusion crossed her face. She had seen others memories before but there had been a distinct trigger for it, and this one, well she just couldn’t figure it out. Shaking her head she would continue gesturing in the direction of the man from Konoha. “Thank you for arriving when you did, I hate to think what might have happened if you hadn’t happened by. I don’t remember hearing your name though - and I think ‘Man from Konoha’ might become tedious after a while. I’m Sayuri, from uh, Iwagakure no sato.” Her hesitation when naming her village was a surprise even to her. She had not had to voice her allegiance yet, and the words were still foreign to her. She would take a step closer to Harichimo, protectively, ready to defend him if the need should arise. It seemed the necessity for such actions, at least with these two men, was past however she was not willing to take any chances. “So uh, I don’t really know what a cult is, but if they do horrible things to people, I think we should definitely stop them.”

1082/4260

[Exiting Thread/Inactive]
[4606 words total]
[14,490 words in the thread] ~ 5 EP

Training:

{Exiting Thread/Inactive}
[4260 words total]
[14,490 words in the thread] ~ 5 EP

Training Jutsu:
Tornado Lightning (A-Rank) 2000 words + 250 ryo

Training Stats:
Endurance B-2 > B-3 - 900 words

Words Saved: 1360