Origin's of an Underdog 1

[Chae]

[/b][/font][/span][/div]

While Chae's statement had been true, it was unrelated to his physical being and instead meant to express how much influence his twin brother's death had on his mind and life as a whole. Having always resented his father and their family's principles, the only thing that kept Chae truly Loyal to Kumogakure itself had been the blood allegiance he held for his twin brother whose swift death in the battlefield became a complete unsolved mystery. Having found himself overly depressed as he made his way across the country to reach Mizu no Kuni, Chae's demeanor could've easily been registered as unstable. 

Consumed with wanting to know the meaning and reason behind his brother's death, he defected from his village and murdered an old Kumogakure ally that attempted to interfere with his journey. Now with no allies or a place for shelter, he retreated to the one place a great many people heard of - a sanctuary for the unwanted. Still forever clad in their fathers navy blue coat that covered chae's shirtless torso, the ends of his black pants stained with mud as his light boots trudged through Mizu no Kuni's damp & moist soil. 

Covered in a combination of rain & blood, he made his way through Mizu's countryside, hoping that with some dumb luck, he'd come across the place he'd been looking for.

"I'll find out what happened one day Hidana. Just be patient for me up there."

[/ul][/ul]

[Nujabes]

Strange, how wayward paths cross...

Cathunk. It was the sound of Hana's sword dipping to the ground, the end of its blade sullied with mud and earth while the rest of its length glistened in the fresh rain. Attached to the long claymore's handle by way of a dainty, dark-gloved hand was a young teenage girl. Her alabaster hair was plastered to her coppertone features, her emerald eyes almost glowing in the eerie atmosphere of the country side. Her gaze immediately fell to the shinobi band around the man's neck, noting it as foreign.

"You're a long way from home, Cloud-Hopper¹."

Hana raised the cumbersome weapon with ease, using only a single hand, and pointed its darkened tip at the man some fifteen feet from her north. "The Bloody Mist isn't a safe place for little boys to be wandering all alone. Easy way to get hurt," she cooed. "Or worse."

In spite of their embarrassing defeat at the hand of Konohagakure, the shinobi of the Hidden Mist had rallied together in their darkest hour. With their self-proclaimed "leader" expelled, and likely killed in the brief skirmish, they were now free to govern themselves; free to return to their roots, which made then one of the most feared shinobi nations in all the world. Tightening their patrol was only the beginning, and while the older shinobi decided where to take the village next, the younger ninja -- the grunts -- made sure that anyone daring to brave the mist did not live to regret their decision.

The girl's tone turned cold, freezing the naturally soft timbre into wickedly sharp ice. "Get out of our country."

---

¹Cloud-Hopper: Also known as a "cloud bug," this is a derogatory term for a civilian or shinobi of the Hidden Cloud.

[Chae]

This woman. A Total oxymoron. 

Visually, once she eased into plain view, was more than attractive -at least through Chae's perspective- despite being armed in a way that easily suggested that she knew what she'd been doing. Without a doubt, that 'view' had been nothing less than a beautiful contradiction that the young lad couldn't seem to look away from. 

"Cloud Hopper"

Triggering a moment of reflection, Chae had nearly forgotten about the kumogakure headband that no longer mattered which had still been tied around his neck. Chuckling as it could've easily been the result of an imminent, he reached and pulled away at it's body to loosen it's grip. Once untied a quick, sideward flick of his arm & wrist sent the headband itself hurling through the rain where it landed in a small puddle of mud, dirtied and face-up. Although it'd been true that he'd been a long way from Kumogakure, however, it had not longer been a place he considered a place of safety let alone a home. Grinning he spoke as his right hand went to cover the left side of his ribs; grunting in pain thereafter, he replied. 

"I'm not a cloud hopper, if it makes you feel any better, I think I just sent a couple to heaven, but then again, those guys were assholes so may they're going to hell."

Unwillingly, he paused as a sharp pain shot through his mid-section. Instinctively -in response to the pain- his face jerked as he attempted to mentally swallow the sensation itself before continuing.

"Either way, I'm just a investigating my twin brother's death....So, as for leaving, I can't do that, if what I heard is true, this place is the only place I can turn to after doing what I did."

[Nujabes]

"Whatever you did is your own problem," she snapped. "That hasn't got anything to do with us."

It was quite obvious the young kunoichi -- which, by the way, had noticed the obviously older ninja's fixated gaze -- wasn't going to budge. Even without the Mizukage, orders were orders. Everyone had to do their part in order to make sure the Mist would rise again. Keeping out emotional, traitorous scumbags was definitely a part of that.

"As for your brother, if  he is even half as stupid as your are, wandering in here, then I can save you a trip. We killed him." There was a hint of sincerity in the young girl's voice - the Mist wasn't know for welcoming foreign shinobi, and more than likely, he'd been turned into a bloody pulp like the rest of them. "So, unless you want to join him..."

Hana angled her blade, letting a few scant rays of light reflect from its surface and illuminate the man¹. "... I suggest you leave."

---

¹___

[Chae]

They killed him? How? Why? What was Hidana doing in Mizu no Kuni to begin with, Chae had been completely unaware that Hidana ventured out that far from the village. Almost instinctively, a tear trickled down the left side of Chae's face to which his hands merged to form three quick-second, simplistic hand signatures which beckoned forth an expulsion of chakra that screamed with power, most notably one that revealed Chae's own genius - Raiton. 

Thereafter, his right hand became encrusted with a film of lightning that hummed like a thousand birds; now armed with a 'sword' of his own, he laughed as though pieces of his sanity slipped away with each passing second. Sighing mid-laugh, he spoke once more as he noticed the scant ray of light that reflected off of her blade within his field of vision, fortunately it hadn't been anything overly bright.

"I ain't leavin, not until I fully figure out what happens and who really killed him. Either way, my loyalty has brought me here and if today is my last day on earth....I'm going to drag you with me."

Standing at the ready, refusing to take the initial course of action, Chae merely waited.

---

1. Chidori 

[Nujabes]

Raiton, huh? Not bad.

Chae’s demonstration of his “genius” had yielded little more than a slight tilt of the girl’s head. While it was clear he was a proficient user of the element—as the “legendary” Chidori was certainly no amateur technique, and required a great deal of training—it did little to perturb her. If anything, it gave the child a little more insight to his capabilities than she knew mere moments ago; like the fact he more than like specialized in ninjutsu (given his wielding of such a high-level ninjutsu technique) and thus, in the end, fell on the shorter end of the spectrum in terms of close-quarters combat.

The irony of the foreigner’s arsenal being crowned by a melee-type jutsu was not lost on Hana; however, she saw no reason to mention it. He would be dead soon.

“Have it your way then,” she murmured while hefting her weapon up higher, letting the back of its blade rest across her right shoulder¹. “I tried to reason with you.”

The young Kiri-nin moved forward at a casual pace, each step light, balanced and undaunted. Having lived her entire life within the borders of Mizu no Kuni, and spent every moment of her shinobi career training in the region, she’d become accustomed to the terrain long ago. Even the mist itself, which could prove difficult to see through at times, no longer darkened her vision. In fact, even with the steady drizzle of rain and the seemingly purposeful lack of ambient light, Hana could see her foe (prey) with relative clarity.

As she breached eight feet, her left hand moved up, snapping up and across her chest to grip the pommel of her sword with its counterpart. There was a suppressed fwump midway in the motion, as the distal phalanx of her index, second, third, and fourth finger fired out from beneath her flesh like bats out of hell². They cut through the mist in silence (after their initial ejection), drilling toward the immobile Kumo-nin awaiting her arrival. Given their spaced trajectory, the volley (fired in an incline such as / but somewhat more steep) would limit his chances of retaliation or escape, assuming he was able to take note of the particularly well-hidden assault.

At the same time, with both hands now on her blade, Hana was free to watch and access her enemy’s response without worry as she encroached on a mere six feet from him³.

---

¹ _____
² Teshi Sendan (Ten Finger Drilling Bullets)
³ Justu Prepared

[Chae]

Indeed. She definitely tried to reason with him, however, his emotionally flawed minded blocked him from ability to be reasonable. As a result, the fight ensued. Finally, the woman made her move and advanced through the veil of mist that lingered about in abundance. Stationary as he waited for an additional movement; if Chae learned at least one thing from Hidana's lessons, it was that at such close quarters, any movement should be treated as a potential form of attack and should be reacted to accordingly. Remembering such a thing in the midst of dealing with his death aided him and added that much more sentimentality to the memory itself.

Exhaling, he watched closely for the hard, but necessary reads that were needed to give him an advantage, after all, considering her superior speed, simply retreated for a zoning style hadn't been an option readily available to Chae. Instead he stood his ground and just as her free-hand moved across the air, his finger's flexed and strained as the surrounding area collapsed beneath the influence of Chidori's Nagashi extension.

Everything from animals, insects, earth, tree, projectiles, and even the woman herself would've not only been stung, stun, zapped, and pushed back by the protective zone that encompassed everything within 5 meters.

With an offensive distraction in order, Chae's hand still hummed with the properties of Chidori as a quick sidewards shuffle to the right kept him facing the woman despite sliding against the wet soil beneath him just 4 meters from his original position. Flawlessly maintaining his balance, his sideward movement kept him relatively safe during the duration of the electrical zone that surrounded Chae. In tandem, his lit hand fixed to mirror the tip of an arrow, the arm itself lunged outwardly with tenacity, aimed and fixated on the woman's position as though it'd been a cursor or aiming reticle of sorts. 

While he assumed she escape, however, presuming she hadn't squeezed her way through Nagashi's influence, her body's muscles would've contracted and ultimately forced to stiffen from paralysis.

---

1. Chidori Nagashi

2_____prep

[Nujabes]

Perhaps it wasn’t “genius,” after all.

In spite of ration being a naturally powerful element, it did have its limits. Whatever plan Chae had hoped to accomplish with his technique would be abruptly cut short, reducing his Chidori Nagashi to nothing more than a high-costing light show. You see, even though his electric field may have shocked and paralyzed people and/or animals (as it worked on the nervous system), it certainly held no sway over inanimate objects—especially projectiles—and certainly did not possess the physical qualities to push something back. Couple that with the unusually slow expansion of the ration itself (as noted in the technique), it was far slower than the bullets whizzing in his direction.

That slight error in judgment was all the time Hana’s bullets needed to tear across the meager lot of eight feet, with at least two of the four (due to the increased spacing as they traveled further out) projectiles burrowing into his chest. The shock—as his left lung was likely punctured by one of the bullets, and his intestines hit by the other—would be more than enough disrupt his thought, and in seconds that followed, halt his flow of chakra.

Hana, however, never stopped moving.

With her sword fully loaded¹ just as she stepped within five feet of the foreigner, the young kunoichi launched her attack. Her nodachi, easily longer than the distance separating them now, whipping out and around from her shoulder in a blur of silver². The impact from the weapon’s quadrupled weight, in addition to the raw power of the ju kenshi style, could easily shatter the arm it connected with and the ribs below it. More than that, it carried enough power to lift the man clean from his feet and throw him several meters to the side, ping-ponging his body between tall, sturdy trees.

A nice, quick ending to a rather unimpressive story.

---

¹ Senchimeru Taidenkougeki – Charged Attack Sentinel (High)
² Zankokuha – Brutality Edge (Low)

[Chae]

It'd almost been poetic how Chae's emotionally unstable mind caused him to make miscalculations that could've cost him his life, most notably believing that Chidori's nagashi could have stopped the attack that soon peppered his lung and intestines. Feeling the pressure and the liquid release that trickled down his torso, jaw slammed and teeth gritted as he instinctively winced in pain. Visually seeing the woman continue with her approach, Chae bit down on his lip in an attempt to mitigate the pain as he back-stepped just as the blunt side of her blade crashed into his side. He braced for the impact as he'd known knew that evading her strike hadn't exactly been an option available to him.

Thereafter, plucked from the ground itself, his body was sent forth sidewardly and ultimately collided with a hulking tree. Still conscious, his lungs fought & struggled to re-obtain the lost oxygen, however, his efforts hadn't yield any result positive results. Coughing, his mind commanded his body to move and get on their feet, however, his request was denied from the increasing surges of pain that throbbed in his chest. 

"Heh, I guess this is the part where you put me down for the second time. Poetic huh?" 

Reference his murdered, twin brother, Chae himself chuckled and eventually laughed at the idea itself. 

[Nujabes]

"Contrary to popular belief," the young girl said as she stood over the defeated ninja. She thrust her blade down through his left shoulder, pinning him against the ground. "Not all girls like poetry."

Hana twisted the sword, only enough to widen the wound an inch or two. She could have killed him-- ended his rather miserable, down-troddin' life with but a flick of the wrist. But she hadn't. What kept her from putting him out of his misery? What was it that kept the young girl from spilling more of his lifeblood, until there was not but dry veins remaining?

A grin unfurled across her face. "You're a tough son of a bitch. With a little cleaning up, your raiton could be useful in the future." The poor bastard was bleeding to death. Why not throw him a deal? "You don't strike me as the type that wants to die. You may be okay with it, but I don't think you're searching for it."

"Work for me," she demanded. "For the rest of forever. Or... take the alternative."

She rattled the nodachi's leather pommel.

[Chae]

"So, Poetry isn't your thing, at least I got something outta ya"

Painfully grinning, it quickly faded from his face as the tip of her blade drilled into his shoulder where it twisted to open up the wound thereafter. Not so funny. Fortunately she'd been right about one thing, he prepared for death just as much as any other ninja, however, it hadn't readily sought after it like some kind of ancient relic. And then, much to Chae's surprise, an ultimatum was presented to him in the form of Loyalty....or death. 

"Work for the people that nearly killed me twice, or die...." 

Once spoken, he pushed against the ground and lifted his torso up towards the girl with a broken grin.

"I've still got things I need to accomplish....so...I guess I'm *cough* looks like I'll be your little play thing for the rest of my days."

Facing instant karma from his smart-ass comments, he lost his strength and slid back down the sword itself.

"mmmmhmm. If that aint pain...*cough* i dunno what hell it is."

[Nujabes]

Hana shoved the heel of her left foot against the bullet hole in his chest, forcing him hard against the ground. At the same time, she wrenched the blade in his shoulder. “It would behoove you to show a little more respect to your judge and executioner,” she muttered with a frown. “Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I’m some immature little brat. I am the heiress of the Kushinada clan, and in this moment, I am your god.”

She ground her heel harder into his wound. “I decide whether you live or die.”

It was clear Chae’s cloud hopping charm wasn’t going to get him anywhere but buried six feet under. “I have no use for play things, cloud hopper. You will be my weapon, my shield and sword. You will kill when and who I tell you to kill, no matter the risk, and you will protect that which I deem important even if it costs you your life.” Sinking down to her knee, pressing it against the center of her chest, she formed a “gun” with her left hand and forced it against the center of his forehead. “You will live and die—not for a nation, not for a village, but for me.”

“Do you understand me?” Hana tilted her head to the right. “If so, then swear yourself to your new master. Or do I need to decorate the ground with your brains?”

[Chae]

Slammed to the ground with the woman's foot, Chae grunted in pain from not only that, but from her wrenching the blade in his shoulder as well. She'd been training him, conditioning him, and with enough pain, it worked. Heiress to the Kushinada clan? Chae couldn't readily put his finger on it, however, the name of that clan sent chills down his spine, almost as if he maintained some kind of previous connection to it. Thereafter, once she went on to explain Chae's personal role that he'd be playing not for any village, the Kushinada clan, or organization for that matter, but her.

It was strange, within her speech alone, he felt the desire to swear his loyalty to her in just that single moment more so than all the years he spent within the walls of Kumogakure. Gulping, he watched as she sunk down to a single knee and pressed a 'gun' shaped finger against his forehead; looking directly into her eyes, he was lost, and before he'd even known it himself he answered....

"Yea....I understand ya loud & clear."

Breaking eye contact, he looked down towards the ground, away from her commanding gaze. 

"I swear...I'll be your weapon, shield, and sword. I serve only you and no one else."

[Nujabes]

"Good," she replied with a satisfied smirk. "That's excellent."

Hana clicked her tongue as she cocked her metaphorical gun, releasing a single shot while softly mouthing 'bang'. She rose from her knee after, retracting the blade from Chae's shoulder and fastening it to her back. "Whoever you were before you came here-- that man is dead. Don't ever mention his name again." The finality in her voice was unquestionable. "From this moment on, you will go by Hatsujinsei¹."

Grabbing the young man by his bloodied collar, she hoisted him up to his feet while throwing his arm over her shoulders for support. "We need to get you to a healer immediately. You've only got a few more minutes." Thankfully, the girl's kekkei genkai offered her a greater deal of strength than the average shinobi. Hatsu was little more than a fancy paperweight to her.

Of course, she made sure to snag the muddy Kumogakure head band before they departed.

- Exit with Hatsu.

[Ohta]

+ 39 Chae
+ 46 Nujabes