He could see a pair of red eyes piercing deep into his soul, observing him, judging him. He knew that this judge was looking for something inside of him that he could use, something that would make the ambiguously gendered boy useful to him. He also knew that he was a master of disguise, having earned such a title after years of deception and toying with others in one of his masterful disguises. He could feel the eyes bearing into him, leering at him and judging all of his past actions, and his present endeavours and possible future conquests. He could feel the ambient temperature of the room rising as his heart began to pound harder, sweat beginning to poor down his normally warm body. He wasn’t sure why he was feeling this way, but he was sure that he was genuinely afraid of what might happen to him if this man judged him harshly. He had no idea what would happen if he succeeded either but he knew that it would be something that he would be able to be proud of. His judge held out its hand and told him to take it, and see what would be his if he was to take it. He then reached out his own hand and took the judges, wanting to know what possible fate was in store for him.

As soon as he took the figure’s hand, odd visions began to appear before his eyes. He envisioned a group of people shrouded in shadow, people whom held on to strings of what seemed to be puppets until, upon closer investigation, Shigeki noticed were people. The ones pulling the strings were standing atop a mountain of riches, gold, papers, and weapons. They were clearly a powerful and influential group of people and Shigeki couldn’t help but feel in awe of their position. He then saw the shadows lifting from one of the figures and realised it to be a slim person, ambiguous in gender but quite pretty, with long blonde hair and red eyes piercing back into his own. He was looking into an exact replica of himself except something was different. This version of him was bursting with confidence in a way that Shigeki had never done before. He was radiating with power as well, a power Shigeki could almost taste and that he now craved. If he could become this powerful he could surely achieve any and all of his goals. The fire in the young man’s eyes had always burned but in this version of him they burned so brightly they were like the sun on a hot Sunagakure day. It was the vision of a young man who had really come into his own, and Shigeki knew he wanted this.

This can all be yours, young Kanetsu… You just have to take it… When the opportunity presents itself you will know what to do, for if you do not… The vision changed once again, this time it was similar but instead he was focusing on the people attached to the puppets strings. At their feet was the young form of Shigeki once again, beaten, broken, used, and abused. It was the sight of someone who had lost everything, all hope, and had nothing to live for. Shigeki was deeply disturbed by this. He was completely naked and it looked like he had been victimized in more ways than physically. He had deep lacerations all over his lithe body and his hair was dirty and matted, his red eyes had none of their usual shine to them, staring ahead of them completely lost and dead to the world. He knew that this vision of him had been stepped on and had been judged worthless, simply a toy to be used when it was wanted and discarded when it wasn’t. It brought tears to the young Kanetsu’s crimson orbs to look upon the broken body of himself and think that this was a possibility of something that could happen to him. All of the light of his youth and beauty could vanish, be stolen away and tarnished, never to shine again, with simply a wrong judgement, something that Shigeki had to avoid at all costs.

Remember to choose wisely, young Kanetsu. When the head calls you must join the body. You must make the right decision or fall discarded to the ground, as you have seen here. All of the riches of the world, all of your dreams and aspirations, can be achieved with a simple decision… The visions stopped, the judge stood before him, his golden armour glistening in the pale light and his blonde hair rustling though there was no wind anywhere around. His red eyes locked with Shigeki’s own crimson orbs once more and the judge smiled, his features so familiar to Shigeki. The judge the opened a glowing palm, red molten lava forming in the palm of his hand, and he pressed it to Shigeki’s chest, right over top of his heart, imprinting him with his handprint before…


He awoke with a start, sweat covering his entire lithe naked body. He could still feel the burning of the molten hand print over on his chest, not understanding the meaning of the dream entirely but knowing that he would have to keep his eyes opened for this supposed opportunity that would be presenting itself to him. He looked at himself in the mirror, his slim body glistening with sweat and his hair matted down to his forehead. He could see the scars on his body from the physical and sexual abuse that he had taken at the hands of his father and some others whom had thought his playful nature was too flamboyant and decided they needed to “teach him a lesson”. Their lessons were forever etched into his skin and he would never forget them, though he may not have learned from them either. He would never forget the pain he felt and the deep emotional damage was everlasting, something he would never truly be able to shake off. In all fairness he was lucky to be alive after some of the things that he had been through in his life, and he had indeed nearly been killed at least once by his father and by the men who had sexually assaulted him when he was a younger teen. He was grateful for his life every second of every day because of this, and he knew just how lucky he truly was. He also knew that because of his rough past, it was quite common for him to feel alone, though he was never truly alone.

The reason he wasn’t alone was the man who was currently sleeping in his bed. Kensai had been his roommate ever since he was sixteen years of age, always being there for him when he needed him. He had taken him out of his abusive father’s house and given him a place to stay. He had made him feel more at home and less alone than he had ever felt and Kensai was eternally grateful that. He was his on and off lover and his best friend, and Shigeki truly did love Kensai for that. He had been through so much that having someone there to comfort him and to make him feel safe truly meant the world to him. He watched as the handsome young man awoke, his blue eyes opening slowly to star where Shigeki had been laying, before scanning the room for him. Once his eyes finally found who they were looking for, he smiled a soft smile and sat up in his bed, his hair messy and his body glistening as well. Shigeki couldn’t help but notice something else that he somehow never seemed to miss, the bump in the sheets of the young man making Shigeki put his hand to his face as… Hands running down my sides…my hands resting on his bottom…our lips meet…he pushes me down…hands on my chest…pressure in my… a small trickle of blood began to run down from his nose.

When Kensei noticed the nosebleed he couldn’t help but chuckle, discarding the sheet and moving over behind the young Kanetsu, wrapping his arms around his waist and kissing his neck. He applied a bit of pressure with his hands to Shigeki’s stomach and whispered softly into his ear, something that made Shigeki blush and shake his head. “But it’s morning Kensei… I have training to do…” Kensei simply chuckled once again and whispered in Shigeki’s ear once more before nibbling gently on his earlobe and moving one hand down to scoop his legs, carrying him back over to the bed and making Shigeki blush furiously before the two of them proceeded to complete a routine that had been a daily thing for them for as long as Shigeki could remember being with Kensei, something that he personally had never minded, as Kensei was also so gentle and loving with him.

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Once he had finished up his morning “routine”, Shigeki made his way out of the apartment after eating a breakfast consisting of sushi, rice, and eggs. He basked in the warmth of the hot sun in the sky above him and smiled to himself, his shoulder length blonde hair blowing in the breeze and his body glistening through the fishnet halfshirt he was wearing. His tight denim pants and knee high leather boots were clinging to his body and hugging his curves, giving a show to any who wished to watch as he walked down the busy streets towards the Tsuchikage’s administrative building to check the mission board and see if there was anything new for him to take. He smiled every time he caught someone watching him as he passed, particularly the males in the area as they were often the targets of his games. He had seen a few times where men who were with their wives had stopped to check out Shigeki, only to realise that he was not only not female, but that because of this glance they had received not only dirty looks from their wives, but would probably have landed themselves into more trouble over the next few days in other ways as well.

He was a little disappointed at the jobs that were posted on the mission board currently, none of them seeming like something he wanted to do at this particular moment in time, and he decided instead to go and take in the sights at the lookout point, high above the village where he could get a bird’s eye view of everything. He made his way up and smiled and waved at several of the villagers. He realised that a lot of them didn’t recognize him dressed the way that he was, as he was often wearing his “Shika” guise, but he liked it that way. There were no obvious traits of a Kanetsu and he didn’t mind that people wouldn’t be able to tell that he was a Yoton user by looking at him. The only thing that might be able to link him to the Kanetsu, as far as his appearance went, was his long blond hair and red eyes, which oddly enough matched the Tsuchikage, Kanetsu Kazu’s, almost identically. This wasn’t a genetic trait of their clan, though it could have set Shigeki out as being closer related to Kazu than most, something that he wouldn’t personally care about due to his not being particularly fond of his clan to begin with. He had come to find that he liked Kazu though, and Satoshi as well, as the two of them seemed to really help mentor the younger Kanetsu and he admired that about them, most people seeing him and judging him instantly as worthless before tossing him aside. He had some serious self esteem issues due to the problems in his past and they always seemed to come out when he was least expecting it.

(2000/4275 Lava Clones and Phoenix Fire Jutsu learned at 900 words each, 200 towards Great Fireball Jutsu)

He finally reached the summit of the cliff and scanned the surrounding area, being able to see the entirety of the village of Iwagakure no Kato. He never really appreciated the beauty of the village until he was standing above it and looking down, feeling as though he was on top of the world at this point. This was a feeling that he enjoyed; a feeling of power even though it was just a feeling and nothing more. He had to become more powerful, he had to be ready for whatever it was his odd dream was trying to warn him about, and he would start training more intensely to become more powerful  at this very spot, overlooking the village where that power would blossom in and where he would one day achieve his goal of becoming the Tsuchikage’s personal tactical advisor. He had dreamed of this all of his life and now he was going to truly begin putting his plans into motion. With a smile on his face he formed a few hand signs and began to mould chakra in his hands, coating them with lava as he began to get to work on his training. While he did this, he remembered back to his first true experience with yoton…

The young boy watched in horror as his father pressed that familiar bottle to his lips and drank deeply, the reek of whiskey strong in the air around the small house. He was an abusive bastard and little Shigeki hated him with every fibre of his being. He could never feel truly safe as long as he was with his father, the old drunken Kanetsu having a temper as fiery as his jutsus, and having the conscience of a true sociopath. He had left a few scars on his “disappointment of a son” over the past several years and Shigeki knew that he needed to escape this evil man’s clutches, but he had to stay to protect his mother. She was truly beautiful and Shigeki looked up to her, having been told quite often that he had inherited his looks from his mother, which he took as a great compliment. She was the ideal picture of beauty in his eyes, in the way she composed herself, the way she dressed, the way her body was, everything. Shigeki wanted to look like her when he grew up more than anything, and he would eventually come to look a lot like her. Whenever his “father” raised his hand to attack her, Shigeki would intervene, often causing himself more pain and misery but sparing his mother from the abuse, although it didn’t truly spare her. Neither of them were ever safe with him around.

On this particular day his father was in a particularly nasty mood and it was showing as he was swearing up and down the house, smashing plates against the wall, breaking glass and flipping tables and chairs as if doing so was going out of style. He clearly hadn’t had a good day and he was now taking it out on whatever he could see, Shigeki managing to keep out of his path of destruction for the most part by locking himself in his room and doing research on Genjutsu. To his knowledge there had never been a Kanetsu who had used genjutsu before, and he was determined to be the first, already having somewhat of a natural affinity towards it. He had easily taken to performing simple genjutsu upon his friends and was working on how to manipulate people’s minds in a way that they would feel the pain of the ability in their mind and it would affect how they react. He could hear his father storming down the hallway, screaming that he wanted “That sissy of a boy to get his ass out here so I can teach him a lesson.” Shigeki was used to the name calling, his father having always been a rather vulgar man who had no idea the impact that his words could have on someone. He could hear his mother telling him to just leave Shigeki alone and then he heard a smack and a scream, causing him to get out and rush out his door, running in and trying to tackle his father, who was at least twice his height and more than double his weight.

The older Kanetsu grabbed Shigeki by the hair and dragged him into another room, throwing him to the ground and kicking him on the left side of his ribs. Shigeki felt a crack and winced in pain, crying out quietly before being kicked again in the same spot. “Why can’t you be a man? Why do you have to be such a pansy?” He kicked him again before forming hand signs and moulding lava chakra on the palms of his hands. “You’re not my son, you’re just some prissy little girl.” He proceeded to place the scorching hot lava on Shigeki’s wrists, causing another cry of pain before hardening it and turning it to stone, melding with the stone floor and making it so that he couldn’t get free. His father then proceeded to rip Shigeki’s clothes off and kick him again, the red spot on his side already clearly bruising where his ribs were cracked. “So I’m going to treat you like a girl…” He began to undo his belt and his pants slid to the ground…


The memory brought tears to Shigeki’s eyes and made him want to throw up. His father was a pig and a horrible excuse for a human being. He had beaten and raped Shigeki on several occasions and had done everything in his power to make Shigeki feel worthless, but Shigeki never gave in. When he was thirteen he hit a stroke of luck and met the man who would eventually become his lover and his long time roommate, Kensei. Kensei had taken him out of the abusive household, his mother leaving shortly after. Shigeki hadn’t heard from his father since then, but he had personally hoped that he had died some horrible death. He didn’t care though, whether his father lived or not was really not his concern anymore. Shigeki would never have to deal with that abusive man again and he was eternally grateful for it. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened to him if he hadn’t been taking out of his father’s house by that loving man whom he had been with for the past five years, but he didn’t care to think of it, imagining it would have been someone similar to the dream he had earlier where he was used and discarded. He would never have to wonder such a thing though.

As he finished kneading the lava chakra in his hands he had made three small apple sized balls of lava, which he threw at the ground in front of him, watching it burn the rock away before he made a quick hand sign and  watched as the lava hardened, turning to rock instantly. This was the technique his father had used on him so long ago, the Lava Glob technique. He could still sometimes feel the burns on his wrists and the feeling of him trying to press against the rock. His father had left him like that for six days, not letting his mother into the room that their son was bound and naked in, laying bloodied and beaten as he was vigorously beaten and raped each day until finally a neighbour stepped in and his mother had a chance to get in and free him. She had quickly clothed him in one of her outfits, as his father had burned all of his clothing, and made sure to cover the bruises. He cried in her arms for almost an hour, his mother sitting and comforting him the entire time as his father was away. Shigeki had never felt so low in his life as at that point, and he would never forget the feeling. As he mastered the technique the painful memories all came flooding back and he felt his wrists after performing the technique, moving his gloves away and seeing the spot where they had once been burned. His mother, fortunately, was a skilled medical ninja and was able to treat most of his wounds before they became too serious and did permanent damage but when he thought of it he could feel the pain as though it had just happened again.

He sighed and made another string of hand signs, this time spewing forth a thick substance from his mouth after moulding the lava chakra in his mouth, and a perfect clone of himself appeared in front of him. He smiled and the clone smiled back as he looked it up and down, walking around it to see just how “perfect” it was. The lava clone jutsu was one that he thought he could have some real fun with, and he was sure that Kensei would agree with him about that. It had been something else he had been working on mastering ever since his fight with Satoshi against Kazu where he had realised he just wasn’t strong enough to do any good on the battlefield. The clone was flawless, and he moved up to touch it, feeling it up and down and testing every bit of it to make sure that it was as close to him as it could possibly be. He knew it was perfect, of course, but he always enjoyed taking the opportunity to “inspect” his clones. His dirty mind had led him to perform certain other “experiments” with the clones as well, to make sure that they were able to act and “perform” as well as he was able to. He hadn’t been disappointed and in the process had also been able to live out one of his perverted fantasies. The clone knew what he was thinking and winked at him as he got to a certain point, chuckling slightly and causing a small stream of blood to run from Shigeki’s nose. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand and he and his clone set off to work on the other jutsus he had recently been trying to master.
He and his clone worked together, both forming hand signs and each one attempting to perform a different katon jutsu. Katon was something that had always been easy to Shigeki, but he was still getting the hang of performing ninjutsu in general, genjutsu definitely being his speciality. He inhaled deeply and faced away from the village, moulding the katon chakra in his lungs and mouth before he exhaled and sent a torrent of basketball sized globs of fire off in the direction he was facing. He was quite impressed at the relative ease he was able to perform this jutsu with, smiling as his training had really been paying off greatly for him recently. His strength grew every day and, although he knew he still wasn’t physically strong, he was beginning to feel as though he could definitely hold his own in a fight. He watched as the globs of fire dissipated upon hitting the wall of the cavern and made another tiger hand sign, bringing his hands up to his mouth and inhaling once more, moulding the chakra in his throat and mouth again.

This time when he released the chakra it fizzled out. He wasn’t entirely sure what he had done wrong, or why he had so easily been able to perform the phoenix fire jutsu but not the great fireball, but he was determined to get it right. He had heard that in Konohagakure no Kato there lived one of the greatest fire clans who ever lived, the Sarutobi. They supposedly worshiped something that they called the “Will of Fire” and Shigeki didn’t quite understand what it was, but he assumed it was something like the Hidden Leaf’s version of the will of Stone. He stood and breathed in deeply once more, feeling in tune with nature and feeling the elements around him. He could feel the chakra on the wind and in the earth below him, and coming from the sun, which is what he was trying to harness right now. He made his hand sigh and inhaled deeply once more, picturing the massively destructive bus sized fireball that would be launching from his mouth in a matter of seconds and then released his jutsu, the fireball being expelled as a stream of fire outwards. His clone looked on in awe as it trained its body, doing crunches, lunges, and push ups to try to increase the strength and stamina of the young Kanetsu. He knew that soon enough he would be applying for the position of Chuunin and that Kazu would expect him to be stronger and faster when he did so, and he planned on exceeding the Tsuchikage’s expectations. He smiled once more, satisfied with his jutsu being cast successfully, and then released his lava clone, allowing it to dissipate and feeling the chakra and memories of the feelings of Shigeki’s hands running along his body to come back to Shigeki. He shuddered slightly at the memory of the feeling, more blood streaming down his nose, and he made his way back towards his home to visit Kensei for their regular evening activities.

As he made his way back towards the apartment he felt extremely accomplished, having done much more today than he had expected to do. He couldn’t help but feel a little sad after reliving the horror of that memory once again, but he truly felt he had gotten one step closer to his goal and whatever it was that his dream was trying to prepare him for.

(4300/4275 Lava Globs (675), Phoenix Fire Jutsu (900), Great Fireball Jutsu (900), and Dragon Fire jutsu (900) all learned)