1 How Paths Can Wander [Private] Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:50 pm
Rokumaru
D-rank
At night, when the pale moon rose above the horizon and the nocturnal winds carried the calls of crepuscular forest creatures emerging from their holes, Konohagakure would briefly wallow in the darkness accompanying dusk. Tall buildings and skyscrapers silhouetted against the surrounding landscape appeared as solemn monoliths in contrast to the hovels and residences clustered all around them. Then, after mere moments of darkness and tranquility, the entire city would alight with the yellow glow of electrical bulbs and street lamps, becoming an illuminated beacon alone in a sea of swaying treetops. The sight of so much civilization concentrated in one single area was a rare one when so many human settlements across the land existed as groups of shacks centered around whatever local resource the people could make a living from; besides the capitol cities of the various Daimyō, sights such as the one Rokumaru enjoyed existed only where the Four Hidden Villages stood today.
The people of the Leaf were apparantly aware of what a sight the village lit up at night would make, as they had created a rather impressive vista atop the rocky cliffs Konoha crowded around that they had carved into the faces of the previous Hokage. Above the stony likeness of the First Hokage the cliffside had been worn away and smoothed into a level walking surface, scuffed from the boots of countless generations of Konoha-nin, and the carved effigy rose just slightly above the cliff it jutted out from to offer an unhindered view of the surrounding landscape. Many of the carved faces of the Hokage Monument had some sort of viewing platform like this to add to the village’s picturesque reputation and take advantage of Hi no Kuni’s natural beauty, but Roku found that he enjoyed the older one’s better. The first few loomed over central Konoha and its most important districts, letting one look down on all that kept the Village Hidden in Leaves in its place above the other, lesser villages. They had also been spared the gratuitous development several other heads on the cliff side had forced upon them with high-value residential properties, opulent businesses and administrative-related buildings.
Here, atop the carved likeness of a legendary and ancient shinobi he did not who the name of, Rokumaru had found one of the few places in the entire village that seemed almost tranquil and detached from the activity taking place hundreds of meters below; the ceaseless chirping of voices in the streets would be lost to the wind long before it could reach the cliffs, and so long as he came at night there were very few civilians willing to make the climb to enjoy a cliched view of the land they had lived in all their lives. Sunagakure had no structure or natural formation that served only to provide a breathtaking view of the village and the land surrounding it; elevation in Kaze no Kuni was limited to the few tall buildings that had stood in the administrative-district, the tallest dune of sand that you could find or as high as you could jump. He envied the Leaf for the simultaneous beauty and strength it seemed to waft from every orifice; having only been graced with the sight of two of the five Great Villages, he had to wonder if the other three had similar qualities.
But Rokumaru had discovered, analyzed and appreciated the great views afforded by the Hokage Monument in his first week within the village, and it was beginning to grow familiar and mundane in a way that he found complacent and alarming. Now, when he visited the clearing above the First Hokage’s carved likeness, it was to either absorb his daily requirement of aestheticall beauty if there had been few pretty faces in the streets or to spy on those who also visited the site. Unlike the vast majority of faces lining the stretch of cliffs, few civilians would bother making the climb here and fewer still were willing to jump through the hoops needed to wander through the shinobi districts of the village as a civilian to even reach the spot. It narrowed the visitors of this spot to the more motivated among the local populace or shinobi, the latter being much more interesting to a curious potential enemy such as the sand-laden redhead.
As he would often do when faced with the remaining hours of the day that weren’t spent slogging through D and C-Ranked missions, Rokumaru would observe those who came to sit atop the cliffs and study what he could. His selection of specimens were almost always Genin, Chuunin and low-level Special Jounin; without stronger techniques to mask his presence more perceptive shinobi would almost immediately know they were being watched, and would leave out of caution or scare the teen off with threats of violence. On one occasion, a woman wearing Kirigakure garb plucked Rokumaru from the few grains of sand scattered around the clearing and threw him from the cliff to the streets below. After thanking the masked ANBU who had caught his leg with chakra wire and turned the shattering of his entire skeleton when he hit the ground into a simple dislocation, he made it a point to only watch and bother the people he assumed were any rank lower than Chuunin.
Tonight was another spent hiding atop the Hokage Monument in the form of grainy silicates, spying on those who journeyed to the cliffs on a whim. Many who came were of little interest, even to him: several Exam participants from foreign lands coming to get an obligatory view of the gorgeous Konoha landscape, some strange canine wearing a Leaf Hitai-ate as a collar stopped by to briefly mark its territory (which really tickled the boy when he realized he could literally piss on the legacy of every Hokage), and a rather determined civilian youth who seemed to use the gorgeous view of Konoha illuminated against the dark forests beyond the walls as muse for his poetry. Pretty good stuff from what Roku could hear from his spot several feet away in a pile of sand, but he wasn’t here to absorb the pointless ramblings of lovestruck civilians now matter how verbose and emotional it was. Wiping away the tear threatening to escape from the flowery words of longing the man spoke, Rokumaru scared him off with several pebbles thrown using his sand to remotely manipulate the stones.
Now, he laid in wait for another unsuspecting soul to arrive in search of natural beauty, bored from fruitless hours spent in the presence of garden variety shinobi and civilians. Feeling a bit whimsical, feeling a bit of the youthful exuberance he was supposed to still possess, he considered what he could do to the next person to show up on what he was beginning to think of as his carved Hokage. It had been a long, draining month spent in this village of strangers that begrudgingly allowed his presence; perhaps he was entitled to a bit of fun at someone else’s expense for once. The sand he hid within as a chakra construct flowed across the smooth cliff until it began to gather into a pile of aggregates resembling a parody of the dunes of his home. An unusual sight, a mound of sand on top of the cliff that was not blown away by the ever-present breeze at this elevation, and hopefully a good distraction should someone prank-worthy show up. If it was a young shinobi from one of the other villages, he definitely would pounce on the opportunity to harass a foreigner if it made himself feel even a tiny bit better about himself and the situation he was in. Only one way to find out: even if he had to wait all night, someone was going to be punished for the sin of trespassing.
1307
The people of the Leaf were apparantly aware of what a sight the village lit up at night would make, as they had created a rather impressive vista atop the rocky cliffs Konoha crowded around that they had carved into the faces of the previous Hokage. Above the stony likeness of the First Hokage the cliffside had been worn away and smoothed into a level walking surface, scuffed from the boots of countless generations of Konoha-nin, and the carved effigy rose just slightly above the cliff it jutted out from to offer an unhindered view of the surrounding landscape. Many of the carved faces of the Hokage Monument had some sort of viewing platform like this to add to the village’s picturesque reputation and take advantage of Hi no Kuni’s natural beauty, but Roku found that he enjoyed the older one’s better. The first few loomed over central Konoha and its most important districts, letting one look down on all that kept the Village Hidden in Leaves in its place above the other, lesser villages. They had also been spared the gratuitous development several other heads on the cliff side had forced upon them with high-value residential properties, opulent businesses and administrative-related buildings.
Here, atop the carved likeness of a legendary and ancient shinobi he did not who the name of, Rokumaru had found one of the few places in the entire village that seemed almost tranquil and detached from the activity taking place hundreds of meters below; the ceaseless chirping of voices in the streets would be lost to the wind long before it could reach the cliffs, and so long as he came at night there were very few civilians willing to make the climb to enjoy a cliched view of the land they had lived in all their lives. Sunagakure had no structure or natural formation that served only to provide a breathtaking view of the village and the land surrounding it; elevation in Kaze no Kuni was limited to the few tall buildings that had stood in the administrative-district, the tallest dune of sand that you could find or as high as you could jump. He envied the Leaf for the simultaneous beauty and strength it seemed to waft from every orifice; having only been graced with the sight of two of the five Great Villages, he had to wonder if the other three had similar qualities.
But Rokumaru had discovered, analyzed and appreciated the great views afforded by the Hokage Monument in his first week within the village, and it was beginning to grow familiar and mundane in a way that he found complacent and alarming. Now, when he visited the clearing above the First Hokage’s carved likeness, it was to either absorb his daily requirement of aestheticall beauty if there had been few pretty faces in the streets or to spy on those who also visited the site. Unlike the vast majority of faces lining the stretch of cliffs, few civilians would bother making the climb here and fewer still were willing to jump through the hoops needed to wander through the shinobi districts of the village as a civilian to even reach the spot. It narrowed the visitors of this spot to the more motivated among the local populace or shinobi, the latter being much more interesting to a curious potential enemy such as the sand-laden redhead.
As he would often do when faced with the remaining hours of the day that weren’t spent slogging through D and C-Ranked missions, Rokumaru would observe those who came to sit atop the cliffs and study what he could. His selection of specimens were almost always Genin, Chuunin and low-level Special Jounin; without stronger techniques to mask his presence more perceptive shinobi would almost immediately know they were being watched, and would leave out of caution or scare the teen off with threats of violence. On one occasion, a woman wearing Kirigakure garb plucked Rokumaru from the few grains of sand scattered around the clearing and threw him from the cliff to the streets below. After thanking the masked ANBU who had caught his leg with chakra wire and turned the shattering of his entire skeleton when he hit the ground into a simple dislocation, he made it a point to only watch and bother the people he assumed were any rank lower than Chuunin.
Tonight was another spent hiding atop the Hokage Monument in the form of grainy silicates, spying on those who journeyed to the cliffs on a whim. Many who came were of little interest, even to him: several Exam participants from foreign lands coming to get an obligatory view of the gorgeous Konoha landscape, some strange canine wearing a Leaf Hitai-ate as a collar stopped by to briefly mark its territory (which really tickled the boy when he realized he could literally piss on the legacy of every Hokage), and a rather determined civilian youth who seemed to use the gorgeous view of Konoha illuminated against the dark forests beyond the walls as muse for his poetry. Pretty good stuff from what Roku could hear from his spot several feet away in a pile of sand, but he wasn’t here to absorb the pointless ramblings of lovestruck civilians now matter how verbose and emotional it was. Wiping away the tear threatening to escape from the flowery words of longing the man spoke, Rokumaru scared him off with several pebbles thrown using his sand to remotely manipulate the stones.
Now, he laid in wait for another unsuspecting soul to arrive in search of natural beauty, bored from fruitless hours spent in the presence of garden variety shinobi and civilians. Feeling a bit whimsical, feeling a bit of the youthful exuberance he was supposed to still possess, he considered what he could do to the next person to show up on what he was beginning to think of as his carved Hokage. It had been a long, draining month spent in this village of strangers that begrudgingly allowed his presence; perhaps he was entitled to a bit of fun at someone else’s expense for once. The sand he hid within as a chakra construct flowed across the smooth cliff until it began to gather into a pile of aggregates resembling a parody of the dunes of his home. An unusual sight, a mound of sand on top of the cliff that was not blown away by the ever-present breeze at this elevation, and hopefully a good distraction should someone prank-worthy show up. If it was a young shinobi from one of the other villages, he definitely would pounce on the opportunity to harass a foreigner if it made himself feel even a tiny bit better about himself and the situation he was in. Only one way to find out: even if he had to wait all night, someone was going to be punished for the sin of trespassing.
1307
- Chakra - 285/300:
- Name: Sand Release: Hiding in Sand
Canon/Custom: Custom
Rank: C
Type: Supplementary
Element: Sabaton
Range: 15m
Specialty: Ninjutsu
Duration: 1 post
Cooldown: 5 posts
Description: Similar to Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole, this technique allows the user to bury themselves in their sand by converting their body into the substance itself. The user can then move through any body of sand in contact with the original sand they buried themselves in up to 15m in any direction. This is very dangerous around Katon users, however, as if the sand they are hiding as is turned to glass it will instantly kill the user, never allowing them to return to their original form.