a continuing legacy [Q]

[KEITH]

Emptiness. When my kunai had pierced the heart of the young boy, it was as if I had pierced my own, draining out all of the emotions and feelings I had with a twist of the kunai. But, the boy was indeed suffering, and I had ended it for him. I wasn't exactly happy with the choices I had, and it didn't make me feel good, as the crazy man would have suggested. I thought it was a good deed, despite what I would have put the boy's dying mother through, as she would had bled out not too far away from where the boy's body would have lain.

I kneeled back down, and picked the boy's body up of the ground, taking it over to his dying mother, and leaving him within her grasp. I looked her in the eyes, I wanted her to understand that it was best, but at least the two of them wouldn't be separated for long. To end her pain, I would do the same to her as I had done to the boy, a quick stab to the heart, as mercifully as I could have. I rose back to my feet, only to find the man behind me, whispering into my ear.

To anyone else, it would have alarmed them, but not me, I was expecting him to get close to me again, he had probably wanted to try and end my suffering as well, or something like that. I just stood there, looking down at the mother and child as the crazy man would begin another one of his lunatic speeches to the people, now commanding them to come after me. I smirked, and laughed softly, I expected this, so I would have had no choice but to accept this. There were more people than I could see, and truthfully, I had no way to defend against all of them in my current state, it was hopeless.

The madman left me to the people of this cold and chaotic village. What should I do now? Fight, and just lay down like a good dog? “. . . Come. . .” I guess I was fighting, I had to do my best to protect myself from any fatal blows that the villagers might deliver, but at best, it was all futile.

At least what I felt on the inside was far better than I would have felt on the outside; defeated, I was.

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[Messatsu!]

You were, without the shadow of a doubt, unmistakably sick, however, because your training as a shinobi conditioned your body to take unbelievable amounts of pain, you'd find the strength (albeit minimal) to momentarily fend off the rushing civilians. While they all couldn't simply charge you at once, they came in fixed numbers. A man, coming in towards you (north-west of your position), raised his pitchfork high above his head. No more than a moment later, he swung it down with all his might, attempting to send the forks prongs through your skull!

"GRAAAAARGH! DIE YOU INFECTED PIECE OF SHIIIIIT"

In tandem with his swing, a woman, short and stout, bolted forward, crouched low and leaning in from your left. Sickle in hand, her arm moved over to the opposite side of her body, ready to unleash a horizontal strike to your mid-section. Your fever hadn't dampened, not even a little, you felt nauseous and still weak in the knees, yet, with physical conditioning and a little 'mind over matter' you had very little time to react, if any at all.

---

Proceed.

[KEITH]

Despite my vision being in the state it was, I would be able to see shapes and figures, and I would notice two figures coming toward me with weaponry. It wasn't hard for me to figure out that they were simply attackers, since most likely all the people who would have surrounded me were. They wanted to kill me due to this infection. For them to feel so much hate toward the people who had been infected, they too must have lost someone important because of it.

I felt sorry for them all, but then again, as a shinobi, I didn't care that much. It wasn't my fault that such misfortune had fallen upon them, and it wasn't their entire fault, though they should have been more careful about it, and it wouldn't have spread about like it did. I had thought all about this at the same time my actions in a counter to the attackers had begun. The attackers would have attacked almost simultaneously; the woman's attack would have followed closely behind the attack of the man's. Despite my illness, I was able to do what I needed to prosper, and due to my training that I had received as a shinobi, which would have made me in a far better physical shape than normal people, even if I was sick.

As the pitch fork would come down, the appropriate hand of the side of the oncoming attack had quickly risen up, catching one of the prongs. When I would have done so, I would also move back quickly, as that I could miss the strike of the woman, and if the man had somehow overpowered me, my head wouldn't have been struck. The trajectory of the pitch fork would have been aimed toward the ground, a little from my feet. With that, I would pull upon the pitch fork, meaning I would also be snatching it away from the, who would have been in a blind rage to “purify” me, just like the short woman attack.

The kunai which would have remained within my hand, from killing the kid and mother, was flung toward the woman, who would be about a meter or two away from me. Had she been a taller woman, the reach of her attack would have probably landed. The kunai, targeted her throat, the pitch fork, I would move my hand up the handle, and then swing outwardly toward the throat of the man attacker, who was also just a meter or two away. Sure his pitch fork was enough to cover the distance easily.

I was alert and ready for another oncoming attack if necessary, with my senses, though weakened, at the ready; on my toes, I was.

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[Messatsu!]

Your efforts were respectable, however, you made mistakes, lethal mistakes in fact.

"When I would have done so, I would also move back quickly, as that I could miss the strike of the woman, and if the man had somehow overpowered me, my head wouldn't have been struck."

You fell for it, the woman's bait, deceiving you with a 'mock' action. While she readied her self to attack as well as readying the motion for it as a result, her attack never actually occurred. Your reaction to her readiness to attack left you unbelievably open for a full scale attack. While you attempted to move back (how much is left unsaid), it hadn't been enough considering that your premature reaction opened her window for adaption. As you moved back, she slowed her advancing gait and continued to remain parallel to your leftward flank. In tandem as you attempted to pull the pitchfork from the man's grasp, the woman finally went through with her attack, hooking the side of your midsection as you and were arm had been occupied with the pitchfork.

Meanwhile, the man, his grip upon the pitchfork felt like a vice grip, even you felt this as you pulled away at the opposite end. In fact, the man didn't even budge an inch, he stood his ground and kept his pitchfork -the tool he swung for a lifetime with- locked within his curled fingers. Unfortunately, for you, underestimating the man's power only cemented the landing of the woman's sickle into your side as he kept you from moving and pulling back.

To make matters worse, another man twice the former's size and weight, hastily approached you from your righter most flank while his twin converged upon you diagonally (right) from your rear, both of which were armed with a wooden club covered in poorly hammered nails.

[KEITH]

It had seemed as if my opponents had underestimated me and my abilities, especially the woman who would have attempted a feint, and it would have been her mistake.

As you moved back, she slowed her advancing gait and continued to remain parallel to your leftward flank. In tandem as you attempted to pull the pitchfork from the man's grasp, the woman finally went through with her attack, hooking the side of your midsection as you and were arm had been occupied with the pitchfork.

When I would have moved back from the woman, I was merely a few feet away, just out of her arm's reach.

the woman, who would be about a meter or two away from me. Had she been a taller woman, the reach of her attack would have probably landed.

The woman might have fooled me a bit, but she wouldn't get the best of me. As she moved in, slower than she had originally charged at me, I was able to keep track of her movement. My desire to survive and push onward had kept me going, my body wouldn't have dared to let me down, just not yet. As she would have come in, and swung toward my left midsection (didn't say if it would be just a flesh wound or a deep cut), I would use my kunai, in my left hand, quickly raised to block the attack, somewhat.

I would have allowed her to cut me a little, not as much as she would have wanted. And since the distanced between the two of us were now closed between the two, meaning she was now within arm’s reach, with a quick lash out of my kunai toward her throat, it would have been slit. While these actions would have happened as I would have tried to pull the pitchfork away from the man, I hadn't given him all of my attention, since I had known of the threat that the woman was to me, while I had an arm occupied. If I wasn't able to pull the pitchfork once, I wouldn't bother to put a lot of effort into trying to pull it anymore, I had to conserve my energy.

Instead, I would simply hold it in place, allowing chakra to flow through my body, as I would hear my approaching attackers; I was able to hear them better than the roaring crowd because they were closer, and the large men steps would have made vibrations coming from their area. The man with the pitchfork, who had remained still, would unfortunately, take my bloodied kunai to the throat. I would quickly sling it to him after I would have slit the woman's throat; tossing the kunai with my left hand caused me to extend it outwardly toward the man, and it, I would grab the pitchfork. Turning myself around as quickly as ninja-ly possible, using the pitchfork to thrust into the attacker who was originally coming toward my immediate right, swiftly, causing him to react to it when he would be too close comfort.

With the handle of the pitchfork blocking the bat of the big guy who would have attacked me diagonally from the right. Though my pitchfork couldn't stop the attack of the man, hopefully, my technique would have kicked in before he attacked, and I would be able to begin my counters.

---

1.) ___^prep

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[Messatsu!]

Even while in your sickened state, your movements and power still exceeded the myriad of civilians that attempted to rush you down, even if it'd been by a razor-thin margin. The woman's sickle dug deep into your side, and in your sicked state, the pain felt amplified, thrice of what it would've originally been - nearly unbearable. Regardless, applying 'mind over matter', you managed to bring your kunai cleanly across the woman's neck and sent her collapsing to the ground with her life slipping away from her body at an alarming rate. Gasping for air, the woman, inevitably, bit the dust, leaving that world and traveled on to the next - wherever that'd been.

With effort you snatched and pried the pitchfork from the farmer's hands while pulling him forward and off his feet as a result. The thrown kunai zoomed towards his neck where you originally intended, however, due to the forward motion in which you pulled him, it lodged itself deep into his eye socket and into his skull. Faster than a snap from a finger, the man's life had been plundered from his body. Unfortunately, for you, the more you killed, the angrier they became and desired to see you beaten within an inch of your life.

"LOOK HE KILLED THEM!!! WE CAN'T LET HIM GET AWAY, GET DAT BASTARD!!!"

Pitchfork in hand, you jabbed its opposite end into one of the two twins, momentarily knocking the wind out of him, however, occupied with him, the other converged upon you and swung his nailed club horizontally, aiming to club you in your ribs (opposite side of the sickle). You had time the react - but very little.

[KEITH]

The two of my original attackers had been slain, good. Though, I wasn't able to deal with the both of them without taking some damage, it had seemed that the sickle of the woman had pierced through my robe and battle gear, deep inside of it, and striking me. I began to bleed from my side as I continued on with my actions, I had to ignore the pain, and it was simply weakness leaving my body. With my next two attackers, I was able to knock the wind out of one, causing him to hold back for a bit, while the other attempted to attack me.

Luckily for me, I had already made a few preparations for myself; I knew that if I were to survive this, I would need the aid of strength and speed. My chakra had surged throughout my body, violently exiting through all of my tenketsu, and with it flowing out, my body would slowly begin to feel better, as I would also obtain the power I had needed. Though ill, I was now able to move as if I had been in perfect condition, and as the other attacker would move to strike my ribs, faster than he could even react, most likely, a foot would rise, kicking the long arm of the man's away before his attack would land. With that, I would find myself climbing up over the man, leaping off of the ground and stepping over the man as I would.

I would attempt to quickly sprint through the crowd, using my new speed and power to forge a path through them, I was tired of fighting, I wanted to find the man, so that he could cure me of whatever illness I had been facing, quickly following the direction he had went. Hopefully, I would have been able to sustain this form long enough so that I could find the man.

SPOILER: Click to show

[2] Kyuumon (Gate of Rest)
Rank: B.
Type: Supplementary.
Range: -
Chakra: Mid to activate, x2 Mid to sustain.
Handseals: -
Special: Due to the intense flow of chakra released by opening this gate, the user is capable of immediately disrupting any and all genjutsu of c-rank and lower. This gate grants the user increased feats of strength, roughly x3 that of your average shinobi, and temporarily rejuvenates the body (1 High worth of chakra for the duration this gate is active). Because of this increase in strength, a marginal increase in speed is also obtained (due to the muscles being able to generate even more power). Upon deactivating this gate, the user will suffer a "fatigue" duration equivalent to the total time the gate's effects were active.
Description: Located within the brain, the second stage of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Rest, raises stamina and assists in recovery after being weakened. By further boosting one's inner strength, they subsequently re-energize their body.
Domain: Hachimon - Gate 1.

---

CHAKRA: 1 Massive + x3 Mids (obtained x1 High due to Kyuumon.)

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[Messatsu!]

What a fool you were. In your condition, a condition that left you at the knees of a man you would otherwise have smashed in an instant, if you thought that activating your gates would have made things better, you were sorely mistaken. As desperately as you tried, the harder you pushed your body towards its limits, the potency of the infection grew to unbelievable heights. Every symptom that you experienced thus far tripled as your bones suddenly began to hurt, almost as if they felt like bodies of glass banging against a rock hard surface, ready to shatter at a moments notice. Had you stopped trying to push yourself in your already physically weakened state, you'd realized that the pain seemed to die down considerably. Falling to a single knee after you attempted to pull out your trump card, the second twin (diagonally from your right) closed the distance to striking range, leaving you in grave danger.

With a quick upward swing, his club rose up to smash you in the face, while not enough to disfigure it, it would've easily knocked you unconscious. Adding insult to injury, your space grew smaller and smaller with each fleeting second as the 50 civilians continued to gradually step forward. Don't fret, you had time to react and energy to somewhat continue, presuming you hadn't lost all hope.

---

Proceed.

[KEITH]

The pain had grown to an unbearable height for me; I couldn't take any of it anymore. As I would have fallen down to a single knee, my face would be met by a heavy swing of a bat with nails impaled into it, clashing into my face. The power of the swing was enough to put my lights out, and that's just what it would have done to me. I couldn't fight anymore, my body was in too much pain, and my hope was fleeting. . . . How could I survive with such odds against me?

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[Messatsu!]

Knocked out cold, you knew nothing of your whereabouts nor what happened to you after your struggle against the amassed crowd of angry civilians. For hours, you remained unconscious as they roughly drug down to his sacred place, a place where no sane man ever wanted to step foot within. The bulk of the angry mob left you in his care, and once you awakened, you came to find yourself hoisted on a vertical table. Its metallic material had been freezing cold against your soft, warm flesh, so much so that it seemed to momentarily dampen the uncomfortable heat that swelled within your insides from the infection. Both of your arms and legs were strapped down at 45^o angles while fully extended.

Had you looked around, you'd have easily noticed a wide number of unmanned machines along with tools and objects built for torturing. Above you lay two paralleled orbs, roughly 5 meters apart with continuous streams of lighting passing through and around them. There'd been a horizontal walkway 10 meters in front of you (5m above ground). It was there that the man revealed himself once more, emphasizing the sick look that sprawled across your face as the infection slowly ate away at your life.

"Oh, didn't expect to see me again? No hello, no warm welcome? Oh well, you never came off as the greeting type anyway. But my, where are my manners. Welcome to me lab, where the living dies and the dead lives."

Strapped down by both wrist and ankles by mechanical, lever control devices, the only thing you could realistic have moved was your head. Looking deep into your eyes, he finally removed his hood and the cloth that concealed the majority of his face. Stitches, ran across his mouth and around his neck, yet, they moved as if unhindered.

"Did the townsfolk treat you well? I hope they weren't too rough. Regardless, I have a question to ask that I want you to answer truthfully. . .

how did teetering between life and death make you feel?"

[KEITH]

I felt my body drifting along a path of nothingness, shrouded by darkness all around, and I couldn't move or speak, the only thing I could do was think. I didn't know where I was, but I did know that I had seen this place before, and wondered what it had meant. Was I drifting in between life and death right now? Or maybe was it something else which would have caused me to appear within this strange realm.

The only thing I can remember is a mob of people attacking me, I could no longer fight, all of my strength had abandoned my body, leaving me to just take the beating that I had coming. I felt something cold against my body, though I couldn't feel an object, just a feeling. I couldn't decipher what it had meant, all I knew that I was fucked, and I didn't possess the will to do much more. With that, I was finally able to see a white light coming into view, believing that it had finally been my time to pass on to the afterlife.

“Ughh. . . . So much pain. . . .” Before my eyes were even open, I had been going through a hellish amount of pain, only to open my eyes, slowly, to see where I had been and what my body was like. As my eyes opened, they would set upon machinery which had been above me. Then my eyes would shoot down toward my limbs, I tried to move them but they wouldn't budge, all I could do was watch as they were held hostage.

Turning my head in the direction I had heard the familiar voice from, I would see his ugly mug, and a smile would never cross my face after seeing that I was back within his custody. He had talked of strange things, but I wasn't in the mood to fight anymore, I didn't have the strength regardless, my body was also aching in a tremendous amount of pain. His first question was ignored, since it had been a stupid one, he had known how they treated me, as for the second one, that experience would be different for everyone. Was mine drifting through that darkness? How did that make me feel. . . ?

“. . . Anything new is exciting me. . . No one before has ever brought me this close to death. And to my surprise, I guess I am a defective guy. . .” My last remark had been a reference to my inability to use the Sharingan, I didn't possess the proper genetics to actually use it. Other worthless members of the clan who had been granted with such a special gift, leaving the talented ones like me to suffer without it.

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[Leonov]

[Time to get going, I got this. Here goes.]

The stitched man gazed long, deep, and hard into your eyes. His own eyes, blackened and zombie-like, flickered in the flickering light that was erratically occurring from the orbs located above your body. The stitched man approached you even closer, and a strong scent of decay and odor would hit your nostrils. That is, if you could concentrate enough on the smell, past the growing pain that got more and more obvious.

"Defective? That won't matter long. You're getting close to expiring as it is. I could use a fresh body..."

His voice sounded throughout the whole lab, like it was coming from all directions. A dull buzz accompanied his presence, and you'd notice that your prison, the vertical table, was vibrating lightly. It was attached to some sort of machinery, whose purpose would be unknown to you. A few more steps, the man took, until he was only a foot away from your body, and he leaned in, grinning up at you with the most wicked of grins.

"You call yourself defective. Do you think you deserve to live, given this information? If I knew I was imperfect, I'd hate to keep living..." He licked his lips, his tongue as black as the stitches on his body and ending in a sharp point, like a tendril, before retracting it in. Your clothes were removed, only bandages covering your groin-area. Black spots covered various areas of your skin; your left upper arm, right back of the hand, left pec, abs, and all of your left leg, all covered in darkness.

The disease was spreading. "Would you like to die, young man? I could use another experimental corpse, I benefit either way." He laughed, cackled actually, as his right hand moved up and touched the black spots on your abs, sending a shock of pain through your body as the disease had reached the stage of skin decay. Literally, before his and your eyes, your body would decay in a rapid rate. "I don't know. Dying hurts. A lot. Can you stand that pain?" Only a sick grin would be plastered on his face as he locked gaze with you. Choose your words carefully.

[KEITH]

My body was aching in pain all over; I could hardly focus upon anything else, not even the bad odor of the man who had been so close to me. I could still hear him speech, despite thousands of thoughts racing through my very mine. Did he bring me here just so that I could die? If it was for that case, then he had may as well had the mob of crazy villagers end my life.

I felt the disease within me growing constantly stronger, feeling as if it was evolving within me, and started to try and make its way out. I didn't want to scream out in pain, I was a shinobi, I had to take all of the pain that I was feeling, no matter what. I wouldn't allow him to hear my screams of anguish, but of course he would be able to see it in my eyes, along with a massive amount of anger that was stored up within me. Was I going to die like this? Never getting a chance to face Akira in battle, proving that I was of the same level he was?

To prove to him that I was worthy enough to attain the title of the next Mizukage? No, I couldn't die here, and I couldn't die like this. No matter what, I cannot allow myself to die. I wasn't the type to let some small event change the outcome of the things I wanted. As the crazy man would have continued to speak, his words had caused me respond; though I was defective, I had no means of dying.

“. . .Do I want to die. . .? Of course not. . . . Just because I am defective, imperfect, whatever. . . It doesn't mean that I should give up, just work harder. . . . Someone I look up to would also be considered defective. . . But he is the strongest man I know. . . I aim to be like that, if not better. . . If you're defective, you just have to prove your worth more so than others. . . . Do you agree. . . ?”

With my own speech, it had pushed my will to live even further, despite all of the pain that I was going through, the agony, I still had so much to live for and achieve. I had never once thought of dying, and even in this dire situation, my will, as deep as the oceans that surround Mizu no Kuni, was still moving. It was still living, it hadn't once faltered, fuck this pain. FUCK IT!

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[Leonov]

"Do I agree...?"

The stitched man gazed long and deep into your eyes, and the sadistic grin escaped his fucked-up lips, instead taking on a perfectly straight-line as his brow furrowed, if that's what you would call a furrow. His thoughts would drift off for five seconds, as the pain in your abdomen would grow in intensity. At this point, the pain was getting numb. The disease was attacking your nerves all around the infected areas. The pain was not getting worse anymore. It was slowly disappearing.

Which bodes ill for you.

As your head would get slightly woozy, the man snapped out of his thinking daze, and laughed to himself, then at you. He made a fist with his right hand and hit your abs comically as he rocked on his heels, his laughter booming all around the laboratory room, distorted by the hum of machinery around. You would barely feel the pain from his fist on your abdomen as he concentrated on you, his laughter turning into occasional giggles.

"Fuck no, I don't. If you're defective, you're obsolete. Please, if my experiments were anything but perfect, I'd fucking kill them." The man removed his fist from your abdomen, and crossed his arms in front of him. He sighed, and brought a hand up to his temple to rub them. This was getting annoying, despite the misleading giggling of the man. It didn't seem good for you at the moment. "Listen. Give me a damn good reason to help you. I have yet to find one."

The man took a few steps back, and placed his hands on a lever. With a pull, it brought the two orbs above your head down, slowly descending so that the stream of pure energy between the two orbs was barely a foot above your head. You could feel the heat coming from them, like the sun was baking your cranium on a bright, summer day. The current seemed strong, created artificially and of an unknown source and power, but it was obvious that it would do very little to help you if you'd touch it.

Choose your words even more carefully.

[KEITH]

“I don't know of a reason for you to help me. You made me kill for you, and fight the people of this town and had them bring me here. . . . Now you tell me to ask you for a reason for you to keep me alive. . . ? What's the point of using that machine, to kill me quicker? I am already dying slowly thanks to this disease. . . What do you want from me?! I want to live, but I don't know what you want. Do you want my body? You can have it, experiment on it if you wish, as long as I can live, go ahead! Do you want me to do some of your bidding? Kill everyone in the town with this disease to end it once and for all? So be it. I cannot afford to die now. . . ! Please, help me. . !”

Despite all of the pain and suffering I had been going through, I was still able to put his mind over my pain. I wanted to keep living, no matter what it had meant, no matter what I had to die. I had so much to live for, I know that shinobi die every day, fighting for the things we love, and they all want to live a bit more than they did. I wanted the same, I knew that I had more to do, and with my life hanging in the grasp of the man's hands, I was powerless to do anything. All I could provide him with was an answer, the healing and recovery had all depended upon him. He was the only one who could help me, I begged for my life, and at the same time, I died a little inside as a shinobi. What would the man do?

!

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