Dressed in a full black kimono with white flowers littering its appearance, Izayoi strode through the copse of trees towards the monument for fallen shinobi. His hair was tied back neatly into a long, trailing ponytail, and on his feet he wore wooden sandals. The soft features of his face suggested a youthful visage, and the greys of his eyes quickly gave away his identity as a Hyuga. Yet unlike his usual demeanour, it appeared as though the Hyuga gave no smiles, instead walking with a single, wilting rose in his hand as he approached the monument, a large tablet full of names of the deceased during war and missions. Ancient names of people dead hundreds of years ago resided upon the stone tablet, yet also names from a more recent time. Yet despite his clear purpose for arrival, Izayoi noticed through the corner of his eye an individual standing, smirking at the statues of the heroes of Konohagakure. Deciding to investigate, the boy conducted the business he held at the monument first by purposefully pricking his finger upon one of the many thorns of the wilted rose, allowing the blood to drip onto the grass below as one of the dying petals fell, slowly and gracefully reaching the ground where the blood was. At this, Izayoi set the rose down, licking the blood from his finger, before turning to the one staring at the statues.

Walking over with light feet, the boy offered a smile, surveying the figure. Speaking up, he first coughed to make sure he had his attention, before conveying his words in a soft, almost gentle tone. “Ah, excuse me, it appears as though we are from the same clan. Your eyes tell the story of our family. Still, it is interesting that you are looking upon the statues of people long deceased… Admiration, perhaps? Idolisation? Well, I suppose your purpose is none of my business…” As if suddenly realising something, he paused mid sentence, face showing a surprised expression as he continued. “Oh, where are my manners! I am Izayoi, member of our beloved branch family, and born to serve. I came here today to leave a gift for some people I once knew who had passed on a mission, however you seem an interesting enough person. If at all I can be of service, please, allow me to provide aid. It is what I was born to do.”

At that, Izayoi stepped back with a sweet yet sickly smile, cocking his head to one side as he patiently awaited a response from the stranger, or at least a form of acknowledgment. The fact he was looking upon the visage of the dead truly intrigued Izayoi, and it never hurt to have contacts within the clan. Never hurt at all.

465

The answer to his query gave a more interesting response than he would expect. The lack thereof in regards to what the answer was led him to believe the story was only a picture that he held but a piece of. And shortly after he posed his offer, the Hyuga strode up to Izayoi, a familiar glint in his empty eyes as he asked a question to the boy. Would he risk his life?

As he began his minute speech, Izayoi silently listened, biding his time to speak. The man gave a story of his views on the world, the need for reformation, and changing the tides of history. Silent, Izayoi waited, and as he finished speaking, the young Hyuga simply smiled up at him in a seemingly legitimate manner. Shortly after though, he moved to the side, so that he was side to side, face to Sathmos’ back and vice versa. “You know, it’s rude to request something to someone without telling your name… But, I am humbled you would offer such a thing. Regardless…” his voice grew hushed, speaking in little more than a soothing whisper, like the sound of glass ringing, played upon by a cunning hand.

“I would die to bring true balance upon this land. Yet if you go at it with a plan as open as your speech, then, you will die for nothing. Serve, act. If you begin your plans in the open, you will falter and collapse. Consider me a humble ally, one who will aid in any manner fathomable and logical. As a branch member, it is after all, what I was born and raised to do. Yet, we cannot talk further about this here. Nor as loud as you were being.”

A gentle smile upon his lips, he drew back to where he was, drawing a finger to his lips as he cocked his head to the side, before spinning on his heel to look up at one of the statues. “They say that heroes are the ones that give their lives for a cause greater than themselves. The ones that believe wholeheartedly, and act intensely. What do you suppose they thought in life? What cause did they believe in? When Hashirama founded the village hidden upon the leaves, was it down out of a wish for others to gather, grow, and become together as a family? Or perhaps do you think it was a heavy belief? Taking his own perception, and enforcing it upon others with such charisma that it became simply accepted as what was needed. What was right? In reality, there is no way to know for what reason the village was created. What reason it was that people culminated together. Yet the villages, and even independently, it all is a mere isolationism momentum that is causing a conundrum of cataclysm. There is no order, and whether the very first Kage are to blame, or the current, the lack of wondering about the nature of decisions is truly interesting. Tell me, what do you think defines a hero?” He laughed, shaking his head as he crossed his arms over one another, speaking up normally now. “On another note, the architecture is quite impressive if nothing else. Sculpted life. Stone to features. So many statues exist in the world, that it could truly be considered a mountain of… Culture, perhaps.”

562 + 465 = 1027

The sound of two strange human's footsteps could be heard from a distance as the wrinkled old man who trailed behind the fleeing boy had elevated his right hand into the air with his fist clenched in anger. "Get back here! You hoodlum," yelled the store owner, continuing to persevere with maintaining a steady pace against the younger aged teen. His conditioning skills were far more greater than those of a 40-year old man without the sense of training or possession of chakra. The spikes on the ends of his white hair swayed back and forth as sweat was repeatedly slung onto the nearby pedestrians who strolled by to visit the upcoming local monuments ahead of the trail. They groaned in anger at the filthy boy, becoming on the verge of attempting to trip him themselves. But, with their kids present on this day, the civilians positioned their hand near the shoulder of their children to prevent the confrontation with him.

Moriko was garbed in a set of cheap fabric consisting of a thin pair of red pair of pants and a yellow jacket with holes scattered around them. Evidently, anyone who placed eyes upon the boy could recognize that he was currently undergoing a high state of poverty. The distressful thoughts continued racing through his head with a small sense of excitement as he peered down towards the cardboard box of unknown random food supplies in his hand. This had been the third store he attempted to bribe out of merchandise today. Skipping the other businesses, Moriko was in luck today to have found a location without a hired quality protection against delinquents who came along with their cohorts to forcefully remove items from out the store without money. Thinking back on the previous countless stores Moriko had stolen from, He never had imagined his life would have led to a direction of turmoil and committing crimes.

It felt as though yesterday the boy was innocent and sanitized with appropriate manners for every situation he encountered. But, ever since the disappearance of his mother and wealthy father in his life, Moriko's foster parents were continuing to mistreat him and have him endure corporal punishment. "Haha! Can't catch me old man," stated Moriko as he altered his direction, utilizing his small body to swerve in and out of the Konohagakure traffic. After a brief amount of time of the pursuit, the man slowly started to quit his chance to avenge his other fallen workers and ceased his movements to regain his oxygen. Bending his upper half of his body, the old man gently rested his hands on his knees and inhaled a enormous amount of air as he panicked. More of the infuriated civilians continued to launch responses at the naive boy's actions as he sprinted through the crowd without taking the opportunity to clarify if the chase remained active. Approaching the monuments of heroes that risked their life against the plots of sinister shinobi, a brilliant hiding spot appeared in his head. The perfect place to conceal himself until the heat of the situation subsided.

With no hesitation, the boy maneuvered the other two shinobi near him and quickly slid his way behind one of the statues in front of him. Moriko leaned his back against the opposite side of the statue as he released his grip on the stolen goods in his hand. "1..2..3..4," Before the boy reached five on his fingers, the predicted sequence of events occurred in his favor. The moment of silence was broken. Loud cries from the manager and other workers he rallied with him on his way ignorantly ran pass the statues with their eyes searching through the crowd for a conspicuous boy with holes in his clothes. The departure of the stampeding business employees began to make Moriko's anxiety slowly decrease; A long with his rapid heart pulse. Yes! Another one .. We're eating good tonight. Touching the surface of the tape applied to the cardboard box, the same smirk continued to exist on his dirty face covered with food stains, and other lent. The safety of the Moriko was secured as he was oblivious of the conversation happening on the front side of the statue.

Izayoi simply listened once more to S’athmos speak, his expression neutral as he offered a simple nod along as an affirmative that he was listening. S’athmos was this Hyuga man’s name, then? He had to admit, he was intrigued by the title of hidden sensei, however, there were things that one simply did not pry about. Yet, what he did not expect was the boy, which trailed between the two in a rush, and hide behind the statue they were looking at. A soft smile upon his lips, Izayoi moved around to kneel in front of the statue, giving the impression that he was simply respecting the fallen, moving a hand to gently caress one of the name plates, sighing softly and lightly beneath his breath. “An understandable perspective, and truly, intriguing, cousin. Heroes. Villains. A moral conundrum some might consider. Still, the dead can offer no answers. Whether someone was truly just, or simply a moral fraud cannot be proven in death. Only through life. In a way, that means all who died are heroes. And all who died are villains.”

Standing back up, he turned on his heel, cocking his head and looking around. Plenty of others had begun to gather now, and the more he spoke here, the more suspicious it became. “I believe we can continue this conversation another time. Say, would you be interested in perhaps, a date out to a meal together? I know a place with plenty of fine dining, where we could… Discuss further. It’s quiet enough that we could maintain such… Intimacy, and yet busy enough that none would pry. If you are interested, meet me at the old store known as Ichiraku ramen in precisely three days’ time, to this exact hour. If you so arrive, I’ll buy. And from there, we can plan further. This place doesn’t exactly have the right… Atmosphere. I wish you a good day, and I look forward to seeing you another time… Although if you wish for further conversation, it seems there’s now another near to you. Perhaps another friend, hm?”

With that, Izayoi bowed his head as if to be honourable, turning around and away from his conversation partner to walk away without hesitation, not wasting a second or a minute, nor sticking around to hear if he had anything further to say. The Hyuga had conducted his business as far as he was concerned, and for that purpose, he left swiftly, once more licking the small trickle of blood from his finger as he withdrew. Today had proven an interesting day, with another new acquaintance. There were more useful people within this village than he could have possibly imagined when he had begun his work. Pieces falling together. Although, in reality, the Hyuga did not leave proper. He wished to see, to observe, if the other Hyuga would learn, or adapt. Walking off, he ducked around a tree, before quickly – like one would imagine a squirrel – clambered up among the branches, tucking himself into the leaves and out of sight as he activated the byakkugan, watching in silence. What would S’athmos do?

520 + 1027 = 1547

Chakra: 190/200 (-10 for C rank Byakkugan)

S'athmos notices the guy pass right by the two young ninja's but ignores him as he was busy having a conversation with another person. He listens to Izayoi speak right before he was making his exit so he can be on his way for the rest of the day. Something was off though, whilst Izayoi was walking away Sath turned to look at the random person who appeared to be a thief of some kind but out of the corner of his eye, he sees the young ninja quickly hide behind the tree not too far away from him. It seemed that he was maybe planning to attack either him or the other guy at this point. No one just makes a diligent move like that for nothing. He had to act fast before he could be in real danger, not knowing what the guy could be up to. Sathmos quickly closes his eyes focusing his chakra throughout his whole body, starting to activate the Ghost Technique as quick as he could.

The ninja wasn't very much skilled but he had to do something other than just stand there like a sitting duck. Once the Ninjutsu technique was complete, a white aura appeared forming around his body causing three transparent copies of himself to come from the sides of his body. This was actually the first time he's ever used this Jutsu so of course, he wasn't able to use the Jutsu at its full potential, that would've been much more useful right now. Though it's a simple technique nothing too fancy so with his agile self he jumped onto one of the Monuments and stood on top of it while his three copies followed his exact movements except they're standing on top of the other nearby statues. All four of them just look down at the tree the young ninja was still at, or at least he thought Izayoi was still at. As of right about now, Sathmos knew that the guy had something up his sleeve so having a high vantage point of the area was probably one of the smarter things to do in the situation.  He simply had no time to activate his Byakkugan as well so he was already at a disadvantage here.

Sathmos finally begins to speak causing the three of his clones to say the same thing as well in sync with his voice, "Hmm, what is this about? Seeing if I could handle things on my own or simply a surprise attack on me?" He didn't wait for his reply as he continued to back up his questions. "No use in hiding kid, come out to where I can see you." He shrugged causing all of his clones to shrug, of course, he was making them do that for the extra little effect. He didn't have to control every move they make. Sathmos awaited the young ninja's reply, completely ignoring the other guy who was hiding behind the statue as he wasn't any problem or threat to him.

135/150:

Dust slowly fell towards the ground as the boy rubbed his hands together, indicating his excitement that the merchandise was another one of his brilliant ideas devised by him; Or partially they were his. The leader of the group of abandoned shinobi were known for using him at the one to perform the actions on the frontier and be held accountable for all of their plan's mistakes. See, in this situation of countless robberies, the boy had been known as the bronze of the assignment- The other one's were the witty foolish children that awaited his arrival.  "Time to open this box. It's better if I take my reward from this before the others use me like last time," A smile emerged onto his face as his hands slowly moved towards the adhesive tape connected to the outer surface of the cardboard box. Goosebumps surged through his skin over and over again. It had become to much of a reality to be true. With each pull of removing the tape, his heart began to gradually pound faster.

Moriko's ear twitched as another presence crept in to give him his input on the heroes sculpted on the statues. Interrupting the boy's sense of joy, his eyebrow elevated in the air with a light groaning sound of irritability. It was from the simple fact that Moriko had no interest in giving praise to heroes or villains; Only one thing in his life was enough to be called a legend or savior to him. Unsheathing a small amount of ryo in his hands, he licked his chapped lips and began to speak. "Do you see this? It is my hero and villain. Money," said the boy as he thrust his cash towards the man with a rotating of his body to direct his entire attention towards him to transition into a whimsical joke. "Ha! All my friends are dead. But, these dead kages in my hand still keep me living," commented the boy, chuckling at his inside joke which he thought none of the nearby civilians had any understanding.

Before the time altered into another fifteen minutes passing by, his mania state down spiraled, sending him back into the depressed and arrogant character of him. The boy rotated back around towards the box which was previously located behind him as he sighed at the anonymous feelings boiling inside of his heart. Man, I hate life. Why couldn't I be the one to spread peace? That lady left me over a man. The boy's head retracted towards the sky, mourning the death of his mom and questioning nature's course of her bloody departure of him to a holding cell. It was shrewd of her to have left him to survive in this world of wolves and expect him to soar; His upbringing caused him to howl with the wicked beasts of the village.

But, he didn't expect no one to arrive to his pity party and not any voice to disturb him at this time.  Anger sparked from within as another adverse voice targeted him for his odd hiding spot. The boy wasted no time with raising from his sitting position and removing himself from behind the statues blinding the others of his vision. Pointing his finger towards the kid, he opened his mouth and slowly his obnoxious behaviors kicked in. "Hey, no one was here to ambush you! Okay? With all those cracks in your face, I could have mistaken you as one of those statues. Mind your business for I-" yelled Moriko at this shinobi who had been under the illusion that he was a adversary. But, before he had a chance to finish his sentence, his eye's widened in amazement at the skillful talent of the kid duplicating copies of himself. Moriko's self esteem dropped towards the floor as he was of no where near to learning to manipulate chakra.

From within the trees, Izayoi listened, silently, mostly focusing his chakra to his eyes so that he could continue to see and witness the exchange that was occurring at the time. A soft, simple smile spread across his lips as within his woodland hide away he remained as little more than an observer, wishing to not even hold an opinion until the situation itself unravelled in its entirety.

68 + 1547 = 1615
Chakra: 180/200 (-10 for C rank byakkugan)

OOC: Sorry for the short post, but, Izayoi isn’t doing anything right now other than watching, I’ll exit on my next post~ Also, S’athmos, you might want to know that you can’t use a technique that you don’t have approved and trained. It’s not a big deal, since, you’re not trying to win a fight with it or anything, but, you need to post a link to your jutsu registry in the jutsu modding thread so that your jutsu can be looked at~