The Final Straw [p/fb/hasha]

[☆ F ☆]

I didn't have to be back at the village to have an idea of what was going on. I was a bit over one hundred meters away from the village towards the rising woods, off hunting and gathering supplies for the village; the same village my inclined perch allowed me to see was now burning down to the very ground. My body was frozen for more than a mere moment as my eyes shuttered, my vision struggling to pierce through the truth of the matter unfolding before me. The wood gathered at my hands long fell towards the earth, ending its short lived descent with an abrupt thud; still, however, I did not budged.

It been years. Years since violence had knocked on my door, rearing its ugly head my way so that I may swat it back with my mighty fists. It had been years since I felt that adrenaline rush through my body, pumping my heart to irregular levels, forcing it to beat to a rhythm completely outside the scope of it's established peaceful hymn garnered over the years. It been far too long since these sudden emotions took a sudden rush to me, anger, confusion, fear, helplessness and lunacy concocting a very deadly result. It had been years since I would ever think my sword would have to rise once more.

Yet still I could not move. The rabbits I had hunted and killed earlier for  supper, their bodies once slung over my shoulder tied to a sturdy rope, swaying smoothly to a unique momentum established as a result of my wide stride, now trickled down towards Gaia, the meat-string's arrival marked with yet another abrupt thud. My body was limp now and as such I had no strength to hold on to anything.

I was old. I was lost and ill mentally. I was injured physically permanently. I thought I had left it all behind...

Yet the burning village before me, the same one that took me in and let me call it home, would have to object and say otherwise. I could barely make figures from this distance, though it was as much a visual challenge as a result of the long distance as it was as a result of the tears welling up intensely within my sockets. I could hold on no longer. What little I had was burning away now, and I was here, watching...

All I could do was watch.

---

411:

• This thread is pre-time skip, right as the Yonbi is first discovered terrorizing the Kami country-side.
  
• This thread is private and meant for Hasha.
  
• If you wanna join, PM me first so you don't screw the story over.

[KEITH]

Kirigakure had received word that the Yonbi was still within Kaminari no Kuni, and with its presence still being there, a lot of shinobi from all over would go there to hunt for the beast. Of course, shinobi were wicked creatures in their own right, and because they were tools, they would do whatever it takes to please their own masters. But, if something were to go wrong, especially in the land of another’s, it would be the master’s fault that the blame was put on, and just the tool’s lives which were put on the line. Some people truly sought peace in living such a life, to others it could be very frightening, and to a few, it simply wasn’t enough. 

I wondered which one would represent myself, I could say that I was happy living this life, or I could say it wasn’t enough. But I strongly lead toward the former, especially because of what recently happened to me. It was time that I started doing things for myself; to please my own selfish desires like the Daimyo and other corrupted politicians that had existed within this hellish realm of existence. My first stepping stone to this was acquiring the Yonbi I had been sent to capture along with my fellow Kiri-nin. 

Though, once we had arrived at the base of the island the mountain had been on, we separated into groups. But, I traveled alone, for I knew that I could handle my own, despite whoever I may face. This burning desire within me was something legendary, something hotter than the sun, though ironically enough, I felt like I was the only one under it in this moment—the only one who could feel its heat and power, which only intensified my own. I came dressed within my own standard shinobi attire, sporting all-black attire; black v-neck sleeveless shirt, black shinobi trousers with white leg warmers attaching them to my black sandals, and a tan tattered cloak, which had concealed my clothing and everything below my head. 

I walked through the forest; though the side which I came from had several signs of showing that shinobi had been here, looking around at all of the foot prints, and the destroyed and damaged area around me. I had taken in it all, making sure I remembered every little detail and kept conscious of the environment around me. For it could be used against me or to my advantage at any given moment. In the distance, about fifty meters away, I could see a large fire, with the black smoke it created taking into the sky, intoxicating it. 

A smirked crawled upon my face; the scent of death and destruction was in the air, and I wasn’t a stranger to it. I welcomed it all, for it was things like this that I lived for. I continued toward the village, and I braced myself for whatever might have been coming my way.

---

NOTES: Entering from the opposite side of the village than Faust. Carrying all items, weaponry, and protectories upon my former profile.

[☆ F ☆]

The cries for help were unmistakably familiar and thus haunting, and for a moment, I began to wonder whether I actually recognized the current victim by the tone of voice. These people did not know of this world of violence nor had they evr wanted to, the exact same world that followed us shinobi everywhere. They were but poor farmers and workers of the land that took me in after a bad battle left me on the brink of death. They didn't question my armaments or the wounds I toted; they simply took me in.

And what to they have to show for it all? Rape. Pillage. Murder.

And then it hit me. Though I was old, I was not dead. I had no special equipment on hand, I had no fancy weaponry equipped on my person. I did not proudly walk around with my crimson samurai armor, helmet remove, raven locks dancing in the soft wind. I just had a few tattered threads on my dirt caked body, no shoes, and a beard that had grown almost as long as may hair. I was a shadow of  my former self.

But I was pissed.

My body would be frozen no more. Timed perfectly with the sun's slow descent into the horizon, I would charge the village, slow at first, tripping on myself constantly as my old bones suddenly braced themselves at the extreme high-speed moment. I had sealed my chakra away long ago, but with just a mere sight of the pain occurring before me, I could already feel the old mark begin to crumble away. It was only a matter of time before I returned to that which I had fled from all these years. The cage had at one point been sturdy and strong, but it was now withered and old. The animal would soon break out then, and so, there was nothing more to be done than to prepare.

I was roughly eighty meters away now. As I rushed down the mountain trail, a group of five masked and armored men could be seen about twenty meters away. The had not initiated any movement it seemed, but were nonetheless preparing to approach their village. For now, their attention lie towards the village as they prepared their equipment and weaponry.

This was my chance.

[KEITH]

As my advancement would continue, I would come across many corpses, those of shinobi and those of what seemed to be villagers. Perhaps they were from the village that was burning some ways away from me, trying their best to escape the chaos, but found themselves with a shinobi’s kunai lunged into their throat. It had been a small family laying upon the side of my path, a handful of meters away from me, all slain by the shinobi, presumably. Of the family there were three; a father, a mother, and their son. 

The son’s throat had been violently cut open, with his eyes gouged out from its sockets; the mother had probably been raped before her demise, her damage was that she had been simultaneously stabbed all around, sexually and lethally; the father, his hands were missing, along with his reproductive organ. I smirked as a traveled by, the shinobi who would have done such a thing to that poor family had some serious mental issues; hopefully I met some shinobi upon this battlefield like that. It surely made things far more interesting when there were sick characters coming into play. 

Around my immediate area, several bouts had occurred, shinobi fighting to stay alive to reach the prize, and others dying due to their fragile lack of resolve and determination. I then began my own gait toward the village, which was the house of many more vicious battles and bloodshed. I felt as if I had walked in on a wild party, and there were dismembered body parts and blood everywhere. This scene of carnage was befitting of a man like me, and I embraced it with open arms. 

With my distance away from the burning village being severed in half, I found myself being trailed by two shinobi, who I could easily noticed by looking back over my left shoulder. I gave a glance at them before looking back ahead, they had only been ten meters behind me, and I had known if I ignored them, I would end up ignoring all of the other shinobi went after me. They had just wanted me to have a bit of fun myself, so what not party with the rest of the kids? Despite my age, though it wasn’t apparent through my youthful appearance, I could still get as wild and as crazy as these kids. 

With my left foot extended out before me, and chakra swelling up within my vassal, I prepared myself, as my body would swing around backwards from the right to left, skidding to a stop before the two. I stood up straight and tall, before entering my own customary battle stance, to prepare myself for my attackers, though in reality, I hoped that they were really ready for me. All around us, within the trees, further in the forest, and just a few meters to the sides of us, others watched. They gawked at us as if we were some sort of main attraction. 

But, I did like the attention, my hands prepared themselves for the oncoming carnage, and I smiled in its face—ignorantly.

---

PREPARATION JUTSU -- ___¹

[☆ F ☆]

It could have been the various screams that had emerged in tandem from the burning essence ahead that distracted them, or it could may as well have been their own sinister voices, engulfed in a deep cackle that spoke volumes of their vile acts, that made them unaware of my approach. Twenty meters became ten, and in a few more blinks, I was on top of the first one. One member in the very far distance, some fifty meters towards the village, had made his way over. Only he saw me, but his cries of warning were in vain.

I crashed into the first one with extreme critical violence, my right shoulder and elbow cocked and raised as I rammed them straight into the back of the man's skull. Kaiganshou, a technique capable of destroying stone, was now unleashed without hesitation onto the first raider. Granted my skills were quite rusty – I had sealed my chakra and forbade from practicing the ninja arts for nothing more than hunting – the anger birthed from within my dark school was quite motivation. And after all, as I knew all too well, bad habits indeed died hard. 

Instinct was unavoidable, regardless of practiced skill. A lion will always know how to prey and kill, regardless of how time treats its outer shell. For what remains intact? The fervor within; the inner lion. And now mine roared, allowing the quick end of my first target victim as his skull splattered everywhere, chunks of brain matter, blood and skull coating all those nearby, including myself. But I did not stop; the next target, some five meters away from the headless idiot behind me, had barely begun to turn and retaliate.

I had continued the spin from the previous shoulder charge in order to bring forth yet another deadly attack from within my long lost arsenal, Gouriki Senpuu , a spinning back-kick aimed to greet the man's face just as he had completed his full turn. And when he did, the heel of my shoe would drive straight through his face, the gathered momentum and natural physical prowess available to me allowing my right foot to send the victim several meters to my left, forcibly moved under the influence of my power and my anger. Because my kick moved him counter to his own, his neck was snapped instantly, a sickening sound that rang loud across the field. Both bodies seemed to tumble and fall at the same time, one bloodied, one twisted and disproportioned, yet both undoubtedly twitchy. 

Pain surged from both appendages used in the attacks, a pain that I haven't felt in years. But I didn't care, for three still remained, plus one arriving in the distance. They had already begun to act, the group loosely about-facing me some ten to fifteen meters away. I was almost out of breath, my heart beating from out of my chest, and I was cramping in several places of my body. 

Was I at my limit already...?

[KEITH]

Ten meters away from my attackers, they swiftly narrowed down the distance as they charged toward me. They had both begun to formulate their own separate set of hand signs, both stringing through a series of them, before they would enter within a five meter range of me. Once within my close, combative range, the two fired off jutsu. The one ahead of me to the right side, he decided to use the Mizuame Nabara, expelling a large volume of a liquid substance that appeared to be sticky in nature. 

Of course, I happened to be familiar with this technique, as I have used it before in the past, and it was kind of ironic to see it used against me now. I had prepared myself for the technique, chakra had already been rushing through my body, primarily focused within my hands, but I allowed a bit of chakra to flow into the soles of my feet. I wanted to deceive them, so I would make it appear as I had been captured by this technique. At the same time this technique would have been executed, the one to my left had taken to the air, and came crashing down overhead. 

He landed a powerful punch to my forehead, but unfortunately for him, it would be ultimately ineffective. The thick, black tendrils that had inhabited the insides of my body had protected me from all sorts of blunt damage, leaving me unharmed by such an attack. But, the attacker didn’t stop there, quickly after the succession of the punch; he placed his palm upon my forehead, and gripped it firmly, sending a jolt of electricity throughout my body, in hopes of paralyzing me. Again, another ineffective move upon this shinobi’s part, but it wasn’t his fault; he hadn’t known what I was capable of. 

Due to my lack of muscles thanks to Jiongu, the electricity that would cause my muscles to contract to restrain me wasn’t there. Being the deceptive shinobi that I was, I continued to fake it, to lead my attackers into a fake sense of victory. The shinobi had then used his free arm to reach into his back pouch, trying to grab a weapon to put an end to me, while the other watched from the safe distance of five meters away, cheering the other on. Foolish youths, I thought to myself. The chakra which had been focused within the palms of my hands had now been over pouring with a very potent chakra. 

With a very quick rise of my left hand, by the time he would have retrieved his bladed weapon; my left palm would crash into his chin, shooting upward violently as if I was trying to tear through to his brain. I might as well have, some people would probably think after seeing this. When my large palm connected with his chin, it caused his entire jaw to be unhinged and shoot up violent into the upper portion of his skull. His teeth and broken bones of his jaw would gruesomely tear through the flesh of his face as his jaw would now be where his nose would have been, blood pouring from it and from his ears and eye sockets. 

His brain had been crashed under the force of my palm, and impaled by a few of the back teeth of my victim, it was a terrible sight for anyone to witness, and his life was snuffed out in a mille-second. Because of the power behind my tactics, the man would find himself airborne, flying back five meters to the side of his partner, who couldn’t help but be riddled with fear as he watched the twitching body of his lifeless friend. His brain still trying to message to his body, but to no avail, and I smirked as the other and everyone else would witness the power of my Shougekishou. 

While he had been preoccupied, I revealed the truth behind not being caught by the Mizuame Nabara technique, and closed the distance between me and the other near-instantly. This time, it would be my right palm showcasing its power to the world, as it would crash into the face of the other man as he would turn to face me, screaming for his worthless life. He would practically meet the same fate as his now deceased friend. My palm crashed into his face with great force and momentum, sending the entire front part of his face into the back of his skull. 

The fractured bones would protrude through the back of his and unfortunately, through his brain as well. And some parts of the back of his skull had been forced through the front of his face, and ultimately, his brain had been totally crushed, blood oozed from his orphus’. Like the other, he had also taken flight, flying back about five meters, tumbling around the other as his body crashed and burned. All the shinobi around my area took notice of me, and prepared them to all attack me together. 

Such a beast, a monster, a devil like me couldn’t be handled one on one, or two on one by such low-leveled and inexperienced shinobi. I was like the grim reaper, and I was ready to take more lives, because my hunger for this sort of chaos was insatiable.

---

Shougekishou (Demolishing Rising Palm Thrust)
Rank: B
Range: Close (0m ~ 5m)
Type: Offensive
Handseals: - 
Chakra Consumption: High
By consciously feeding their chakra into their palms, the user will quickly rush forward, driving the charged appendage forward and into their opponent. The result is devastating, with all the accumulated power of the palm being unloaded onto the user's victim. Finally, with all the chakra released, the opponent's body is knocked back several feet, left to rag-doll and wither.

Note: This ability can knock a single target back up to two meters.

[☆ F ☆]

Two of the attackers had already brandished their foul weapons, one choosing to close the fifteen meter gap in order to get the maximum use out of their cleaver, while the other chose to stay back, a black bow held tightly in bow hands as the string was drawn. The third would perform his attack in a different way, one I had hoped to never resort to again. It came all at once, brilliantly and violently converging onto my location. And then it hit me.

Why was I here again...? This scene...had I not left this world long ago!?

While my naivete would continue to believe I did, the voice of reason within – now in its third decade of life and thus its wisest – would bring me to life on one important subject. Only death could bring me what I so desired, that escape from the violence, the permanent anonymity from annihilation.While I lived, I served the Devil's purpose of gathering tainted souls, that is, until he himself deemed my services completed once my own time was up.

And so, with such a grand epiphany taking my body over like a sudden change in temperature, I would seethe slowed down time before me resume to normality. It was at that very moment that my body would also lose all of its restraints. The makeshift seal I had placed on my body long ago had been cracking under the pressure of my guilt all these years, and with the truth finally coming forth, there was no more room for holding back. The ebony markings would thus crumble and lift off the body, slowly disintegrating into the air and releasing it's hold.

That weird feeling. It was rejuvenating.

I didn't think about it at the time, but my rage brought forth deep twin crimson, the world now seen from the eyes of God. I raged at the unfortunate truth before me yet stood strong to do my best to change it. And so I would. The first attack came from the arrows, meant to distract me while the swordsmen cleaved me. And once that was done? The swordsmen would remove himself from the situation, shimmying away while a chakra induced blast would end me.

Too bad that's exactly opposite to how things would go down.

[KEITH]

“Do any of you know who I am? You dare challenge someone without knowing who they are or what they can do? I suppose this is the new generation of shinobi—a foolish bunch. Allow me to use your bodies to leave my name as a message to your friends and families.” With my speech completed, an inferno of chakra coursed through me as my right hand would have rose to my upper abdominal, with my palm opened into the sky. 

A great flame would spark up, but the brash, young shinobi wouldn’t wait to see what kind of trick or jutsu I was about to cast, they just charged it. Truly, all of them were a sorry bunch, and I had no more time to waste with any of them, I had something far more precious to attend to. There was about seven shinobi in all; two had taken from the trees on either side of me, two from either side of me on the ground, two behind me, and finally, one directly charging at me. All had been at least five meters away from me, creating an area of implied combat in a sphere around me. 

“Fools.” It was my last words to them. They were all heavily armed with bladed weapons, and within my left hand, the flames had erupted into a tempest of fire, and almost instantly, a blade of fire had been forged, and with a quick dash forward, I would avoid four of the shinobi who were attacking me from the left and right sides. My sword would burn through my first victims’ blade, as he tried to use it to protect himself, and as I pushed further (he was pierced through the solar plexus), it would also burn through his armor, flesh, muscles, and bones. 

It would be quite painful for him, unfortunately the Tenrou Kaken was on a level he hadn’t been ready for, and with another quick succession of hand movements, the blazing sword would burn through his heart. And as I would spin to my right, cutting through the man’s left side, the momentum and power generated by my spin, allow me to cut through the two attackers who were originally coming behind me. The fire blade would severe their heads from their bodies—it was all too easy for me. I turned to watch the other four aw at my skills. 

“Fight or get moving, kids.”

[Estilo]

Circa: + 40 EXP.
Fina: + 40 EXP.

(Added to your [M:] bars.)