Daraku's figure sprinted through the forest, dodging trees and branches and bushes every so often in his search for the one he'd vowed to kill. The "Small South Forest" of Konoha seemed so large now, an emulsified ecosystem that granted a perfect hiding spot to his prey. He despised its convenient beauty for making his search that much more difficult. The constant shuffling of leaves under him and the clanging of the chain around his arm were the only noises present, at least that he could hear. Finally, he reached a clearing upon a bluff where the  dense brush opened out into a cliffside that had a beautiful view. He admired it for a moment, until he saw the plume of smoke rising from below. He scanned the area for a moment until he spotted it, the Truth Compound, up in flames. His grandmother's mission truly had failed, which meant that his own mission was under way. He turned back to the trees and re-entered the forest, not looking back again. He didn't need to watch his own family burn, not when he finally had the will and the means to make them whole again. He looked around at the leaves, the butterflies, the shadows...nature was undisturbed by him, nor anyone else. Yet he had a feeling that Fuiyoka was near. It was the only place she could be.

Ditching the ambush tactic entirely, Daraku relaxed himself and adjusted the gauntlet on his armor so that the chain was well-fit to be drawn out upon unsheathing his sword. "Grandmother. I know you're here, quit hiding or I'll just burn this whole forest down." No response. He let a soft grin rise to his face as he made a Tiger hand seal and unsheathed Hikō. The blade lit aflame as his chakra melded with the sword's Fūton affinity. He lowered it to the grass, so close to lighting the nature and watching it all burn...the sounds of leaves rustling stopped him. "I'm glad you're not stupid enough to let me start a wildfire. So, tell me, grandmother, how've you been?" As he expected, Fuiyoka appeared, having been hiding inside of a tree using her kekkei genkai. The light faded from her skin as it deactivated. The emerald green eyes he remembered so well were staring back at him with resentment and disappointment. "I've been better, that's for sure. You're little shenanigans have gotten me into quite the situation, what with all of the last, decent Ishido becoming mindless rebels that want to destroy my cause. I only ever show people love, and in return, they hurt me again and again...why do you think that is, Daraku?"

"You call yourself showing people love, what when you split the main branch and the rest of us apart seven years ago, in an effort to 'find the right way to live and prosper'? Leave my father and I to survive with the remnants of the clan that you deemed 'unworthy' and 'greedy'? You're not the philanthropist you think you are, Fuiyoka. You're just an entitled bitch who can't handle the fact that she can't control the whole world, and settled by trying to control her family instead." He said, with a harsh sting in his tone. Emotions were running high, but he did his best to keep his voice steady and his body relatively calm. His face had long since faded from the soft grin and into a deep frown.

"And what does that make you? If I'm such a bad person and I'm doing to trying to keep everyone safe, then you must be worse than evil. You go around killing innocents and criminals alike, with no guilt or emotion. You have such hatred in your heart that it blinds you, such greed and materialistic desire that you are willing to harm any in your way. You're no better than a charging bull destroying everything in its path. You're a monster, Daraku, and I don't understand why you don't see that. What made you this way? What have you become...?"

"A man, grandmother. My own man, above all else. I've finally learned why I have these feelings, why I was granted this power in my blood and in my efforts. My mother was killed by my father. Half of my clan left me years ago and made me out to be scum. I was trained to be a killer by my father, and idolized him as the one person who cared for me. I left my village in a rampage for vengeance against you, only to realize now that you're not the only one who did this to me. It's not all about you. It's about my father, it's about my mother, it's about this curse that we have on our whole fucking clan. We turn against each other, we kill, we hurt one another worse than any wound could possibly manage. It was proven when you left and the Massacre happened, and it is yet proven again now that your followers, the main branch of the Ishido that considered themselves gods, are holding a revolution against you. Just look up, the evidence is here...your home is burning and they are hunting you down as we speak. Once I kill you and father, it's all going to be better, because the clan will no longer have this curse of hatred and betrayal. All that will be left will be independent minds, and as the new patriarch, I will ensure that our clan will prosper once again, and we will be our own people. I'm no monster, I'm no tyrant, but I'm no fucking pawn, either. I'm me, Ishido, Daraku!"

Fuiyoka merely looked back at him with that same disgusted glare. She was beyond help, she was stuck in her ways and it was inevitable that they were going to battle. Daraku knew that it wouldn't be as easy as rallying her into the cause when she was the one that needed to be overthrown. He'd been mentally prepared to kill her from the start, and now that he had the strength to do it, here was his chance. "I miss my family, Daraku, I really do. I feel like I'm the only one in this entire clan that hasn't gone insane with power and greed..." Daraku clenched his teeth.

"Don't you see that it's just the opposite, that you're the only one mad with power, still trying, even in your last hours of life in such a state of chaos, to keep the clan separated like this? ...No, I'm done arguing. Before we shut our damn mouths and get to the deathmatch, how about you tell me...just one last bedtime story, like you did when I was a kid?"

Fuiyoka's expression went from hatred to sadness for a moment as she reflected on the past and the way things used to be. Maybe even a hint of regret tainted her mind, but she couldn't turn back now. "Once upon a time, there was a queen who was always worried for her kingdom. She did everything she could to protect them and make sure that they were good people, but they disappointed her, time and time again. She figured the best thing she could do was to leave and move some of them with her, and start fresh, but not everyone agreed. After a long trip and lots of sad days, the queen had left a portion of her people to be on their own. The queen's son became king of those people and they hated the queen for leaving them. Then, along came a little prince, and he wanted to be just like his daddy. The king used him as a tool to get everything he needed, until it just became second nature for the prince...the prince left the kingdom on a journey of his own, to become powerful and seek the queen for his father's sake. And now, the prince wants to be king himself, and will do anything to gain that power."

"Nice little rendition of my life story, but I already told you once. I'm not doing this for power, I'm doing this to save the people that you and my father have ruined the lives of. You're bullshit ends here!" Daraku shouted. Fuiyoka sighed, undoing the ponytail that held her hair up and looking back at Daraku with remorse. She took the lace out of the front of her dress, and it opened, revealing a thin breastplate branded with the Ishido clan symbol. Before Daraku could react, she reached low to the ground and pulled a metal string, revealing an intricate trap of paper bombs along the trees and in the leaves. So that's why she didn't want me to burn the place down, we would've both gotten blown up... The paper bombs all began to glow, signaling that  an explosion very soon. Daraku sprinted off, headed westward to escape. Soon enough, he heard the blast, and within a second was thrown off his feet, and sent rolling away until he slammed hard into a tree. He was in a meadow, surrounded by trees with a small pond in the middle. He brought his hand up to his head, and felt it. When he brought the hand back down to his sight, there was a large red streak of blood across it. He'd hit the tree pretty hard, but he got back to his feet, and saw Fuiyoka looking back at him again. She was making a horse hand seal.

"Doton: Doro Ōkami!" In response to her chant, three wolves appeared, made entirely of mud. They ran at Daraku, full speed, but he countered with a Ninjutsu of his own. "Suiton: Mizurappa!" He spat a jet of water that washed away the wolves effortlessly, before flipping his wrist to hold Hikō with a reverse grip and throwing it at Fuiyoka. She dodge the incoming sword just barely, before charging ahead and punching Daraku square in the chest. He flew backwards, slammed into the tree again, but this time it fell down with the force of the impact. A loud quake followed as the tree tumbled and crashed to the forest floor. Daraku's mouth and shoulder were now cut, bruised, and bleeding, and his head was still bleeding heavily, but he rose to his feet again and pulled Hikō back to his hand.

"See? You're still not strong enough to defeat me, even after seven years. You're pathetic." Daraku looked back at her, a spat some blood out.

"I'm just getting started!"

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Daraku ran ahead, slicing forward with Hikō. Fuiyoka predicted the blow, jumped over it, and landed on Daraku's arm with subtle grace. She turned into a jump kick, but Daraku had enough sense to see that coming and instead pushed his arm out, causing her to lose her balance. He took the opportunity to land a strike against her with the flaming blade across her torso, but she seemed unshaken, most likely due to her armor. She regained her footing and kicked Daraku hard in the stomach, launching him back. He managed to remain relatively unharmed thanks to his own armor, and he landed on his feet a number of meters away from her. She didn't take a moment to rest, instead preparing a long string of hand seals and ending with a Dragon seal. "Raiton: Suteki Shōten!" She slammed her fist into the ground, and a tall pillar of lightning emerged, continuing forward in Daraku's direction. It was moving pretty fast, so he didn't have much of a chance at dodging it. Instead, he raised his sword up to the sky, and spun it wildly. It created a wind tunnel that towered high vertically around him, and as the additional energy from the sword itself poured into the tunnel, it increased in overall size and density, prepared to defend against the incoming pillar of electricity. The two forces collided, and Daraku braced himself as they violently turned until both jutsu had nullified one another. The smoke began to clear, and he used the last of the Katon chakra imbued into his blade to create a flame tornado and send it barreling at Fuiyoka. She didn't have time to react or defend, so she took the strike head-on, sustaining a few burns here and there. Her armor was beginning to give way...

"What was that you said a little while ago? I'm pathetic? I'll show you pathetic!" Daraku's eyes flashed with rage as he threw the sword again, only for Fuiyoka to dodge and activate another jutsu. "Isō Zure!" She became ghostly as her figure lost all saturation and she was no more than a gray phantom. He pulled the sword back, and it passed through her without causing any damage or injury whatsoever. "Don't you see, Daraku? The true potential of the Ishido Clan is to transcend, to become gods immune to such corporeal attempts at fighting. You can't defeat me with a sword in this form." Daraku wondered how Fuiyoka could still possess the Truth Path's version of Phase Shift but still be able to use Taijutsu so well. She was the only Pursuer of Truth that used Taijutsu in battle, now that he thought of it. He had to admit, she was certainly a formidable foe, but he wasn't giving up. "Isō Zure!" He slowly lost all of his features and was void, a shadow, pitch-black against the forest's beauty. The biggest differences between the two versions of the Ishido kekkei genkai was that Daraku's version kept him hidden, and Fuiyoka now couldn't see or hear him. She knew the way around this, though, and so she sprinted towards where he was standing just a moment ago at lightning fast speed, until he came into few. She made a series of hand seals and a giant water dragon emerged from the pond behind him.

Daraku empowered his sword with more wind chakra, and launched a blade of it directly at the charging mistress. She skid to a stop and put up a Doton wall to absorb some of the impact, but it wasn't enough to nullify the jutsu completely and it threw her back, with a deep gash across her face and a few cuts along her arms. Her ghost form didn't protect her from Ninjutsu and chakra-based techniques, so those would be Daraku's best bet against her. He activated Yin Wound Healing Destruction to prepare for the water dragon's landing strike, and survived the jutsu without any wounds as it struck him directly in the back. He neck arced as he looked up at the sky. "You know, grandmother, this is always how I imagined it. We fight, I'm losing at first but then I find my pace and gain an upper hand...but that means that this is going to end soon. Your death is coming." Fuiyoka rose back to her feet, and cautiously looked left and right. He forgot that she couldn't see or hear him, she was out of sensory range and his kekkei genkai was active.

Her figure began to glow, peculiarly enough. It seemed that she was ditching her kekkei genkai form, and chakra was spinning around her figure wildly. "Sage Mode!" Her figure changed, and she gained many characteristics of a seahorse. Her wounds seemed to disappear, and she looked directly at Daraku with intent. "My passive sensory field granted by Senjutsu lets me see right through you. You can't hide from me anymore." Raiton energy blasted out of her body in a wide shockwave, and Daraku couldn't do much but brace himself for the blow. His armor helped prevent the attack from doing grievous damage, but the pain staggered him. She followed up with a charging uppercut, and launched him into the air. She jumped up after him, coming back down with a finishing punch. His eyes opened, looking up at her; the sunlight around her made her look like an angel falling from the sky. Before her fist reached him, he stabbed upward with Hikō. The blade pierced her broken breastplate and found its way to her heart, and they both fell to the ground in a heap. He pushed her body off of his and wiped the blood off of his sword, and looked down at her. "You took too much of a risk getting close like that, and look where it got you. You know that Taijutsu isn't effective on me in this form, why did you even bother? Why not hit me with another Ninjutsu? This just proves that I've long surpassed you, grandmother. You're finally going to fade away from this existence, and if nothing else, let me sleep peacefully at night knowing that my mother's death is nearly avenged."

Fuiyoka coughed up some blood, and laid a hand over her fatal stab wound. "I never thought this was how it would all end. I had hoped for so much more..." her eyes closed slowly, and she was still. The world was silent, peaceful, and grand in that moment, that long moment wherein Daraku felt accomplished. He looked down at his injuries, and activated Advanced Recovery Method to heal the major ones before taking a golden ring from her corpse. He then picked up the corpse and heaved it all the way back to the Truth Compound.


Daraku entered the main gate of the Compound. What he saw was ruins, not much left at all. There were corpses here and there, but a surprisingly sufficient amount of Ishido clansmen had survived the revolt. They all turned to him, and saw the corpse upon his shoulder. Some looked horrified, others depressed, but a majority looked neutral or confused. He felt it was necessary to explain everything. "My name is Ishido, Daraku. I'm 21 years old, and I'm the son of Ishido, Tsurugi, patriarch of the Fortune Path, and the grandson of the late Ishido, Fuiyoka, your matriarch. She fled after you revolted against her, but I hunted her down and killed her. Was it necessary to end her life for the sake of my cause? No, but it was a personal agenda that needed to be fulfilled for my peace of mind. My cause, you're probably wondering, appeals to all of you. I want to make this clan whole again, and take you all back to Sunagakure no Sato. There, I will make Ishido Castle the fortress it once was, and allow you all to roam as you please, to any village you wish. Our clan no longer has to be a monarchy, it can finally be a true family, where we are independent spirits not imprisoning one another by blood but instead tied together by love. But that goal cannot be met just yet. My father, Tsurugi, still stands in the way of this goal, and the last thing he wants is for this clan to be whole again. That's why we're going to go back and finish his tyranny, once and for all, and restore the glory of the Ishido." They all were silent, staring at him, unsure of what to say. It was obvious, though, that all of them wanted the same thing he did, and so he had just gained the remainder of the Main Branch of his clan, some 5 dozen or so men and women, to align to his cause.

"We'll leave Konoha in a few weeks, and all go back to Sunagakure, where this all began. Who's with me?" One by one, they began to cheer, until the entire ruins of the compound were alight with applause and joy. Cries could be heard from all over the crowd, chanting "Patriarch Daraku, the Lodestar of the Ishido!"...

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