Shadows of Similarities (P, NK)

Altar sat atop the training towers, watching the sun rise beyond the horizon line. It was early morning, an atrocious time to be up, but he was up all the same. He hadn't been able to sleep much, thoughts buzzing around his head and nightmares keeping him from sleeping. There was something bothering him, but he couldn't figure out just what. Letting out a small sigh, Altar resolved to let it drop from him for the moment and just focus on other things.

Xyxer had heard that one of his subjects, a boy going by the name of Altar, was currently moping around on the top of the training towers.. He was not training, he was just sitting and wasting his precious life. That was why Xyxer was now also on the roof, having just advanced the floors. His clothing was loose, a short sleeved white jacket with the zipper undone revealed his toned torso and abdomen with white baggy pants granting the blue haired maniac ease of access when it came to moving his legs around. Advancing upon the individual that was seated, he flicked his knee upwards and pushed his foot out, pressing the flat of his foot against the flat of the male's back, ready to push him off at a moments notice. "Why should I not force you to train, Jounin?"

Altar smirked at the foot placed firmly to his back. It could easily have just pushed him off already had it wanted to, so Altar really felt near no need to be afraid. When the voice asked why he should not train, Altar recognized just who it was. It was the Kage, Xyxer. Altar would move to stand, the foot would slide off his back unless removed and Altar would turn to face Xyxer.

"You have no reason to not make me train, but what would it prove, exactly? That i'm befitting of the rank you've given me? You already know I am, otherwise you would not have given me the title. In short, you have no reason to make me train, and no reason not to." Altar would say. He wasn't quite sure just how Xyxer would take this, but he was sure that the Kage knew it was true.

His foot slid off the back of the young male, dropping down onto the ground beside himself, Altar's back now facing the open expanse of the world and his heels were roughly 2 CM away from the edge of the roof, effectively meaning, if Xyxer made any move forward, Altar was bound to be thrown off of the roof and sent hurtling down to the ground regardless if he resisted, but that was not why Xyxer was here, he instead, wanted more interesting things. Instead, a light smirk twisted itself onto the features of Xyxer, his head cocking to one side, "You see, Altar, I did not give you the rank for your skills in combat. I gave you the rank for initiative, if I recall correctly, you was the only one in the tournament; Tengakure's New Age, to not receive a rank up, and that was based on fighting, was it not?" Allowing the boy to sizzle with his venomous words, he hoped that would teach him to try and act smart with his kage. " If I say you train, Altar. You will train, or you lose the esteem I hold in you and you're nothing more to me than a ship captains daughter."

Altar heard Xyxer's words, an insult hidden in his words. Altar wasn't fazed by this at all, however. He had grown from then, he had become a new person. He wasn't the child he had been then, he was more aware and mature. He had developed more skill in his fighting and was much more sure of his ability now. However, Xyxer didn't let up.

"Fine, then, Xyxer. If you doubt me, then what should you have me do? If you want me to prove myself, point in the direction and i'll walk the line as you see fit." Altar would say. He did want to prove himself, and this may have proved a good opportunity.

There was a common thing that was in the way of a loyal shinobi.. Common sense. It was annoying, because that little trait made people do things that could jeopardize a job and they wouldn't even know it. People consider it common sense to aid a shinobi when they're in need, people say it's common sense to not jump into a volcano, but without this common sense, progress would never have been made!

"Prove your undying loyalty to me, Altar." He smirked at his choice of words, not having asked for his loyalty about Tengakure. Power was for him, not  for his village. His village was powerful under his rule and not the other way around. "Jump." With that motion, he flicked his hand in a gesture towards Altar, implying he should jump off the tower. "Embrace death, and perhaps, you may become one with it."

Altar laughed at the suggestion.

"Sounds more like a trust excercise to me. Loyalty would be flying a flag, riding into battle in your name, something of that like. Blindly jumping into death sounds more like you just want to kill me, or prove some form of point to me. But hey, the lines of life and death are blurred and dismayed, so what do I have to lose." Altar would say, looking down over the age. His common sense dictated that a fall from this height would kill him. It told him he was an idiot if he did this. But it also told him that somehow, some way, Xyxer had to catch him. Right?

And so, Altar did just what was expected of him. He jumped. Letting himself fall backwards, Altar slipped from the roof of the building, into the air. Falling, he saw pictures of his life flash, faintly reminding him of how screwed up he had been, how screwed up his life had been. He saw the low and high points in vivid color and detail. The air rushing past his ears was deafened by the sounds of all the people he had met and been involved with. Without further ado, Altar neared the ground.

The mortal had truly done it, and had jumped to his death. That amused Xyxer, this one seemed to truly be loyal to him if no other factors were involved, or.. was this boy so sure in the insane creature that he could predict Xyxer would save him? He was unsure, all he did know, was that when he formed the tiger hand seal, Altar's eyesight would suddenly fail him and cast him into a world of eternal darkness, leaving him tumbling through the abyss and ever so closer to the ground that he could not envision. Xyxer himself now pressed his body forwards, dropping down much like a super soldier in a torpedo, hurtling downwards. It did not take long for him to be at the same level as Altar as he was heavier, after all, he was more muscly and strong. Grasping a hold of the boy's neck as if he was a cub, he manipulated the moisture in the air to grant him a cushion as he landed on the ground, eliminating the momentum that would have otherwise crushed them and throwing the male to the ground before him, he dispelled the illusion and granted him sight. "Did you see death, Altar?" Xyxer spoke simply, walking through the village now, assuming Altar would follow like a loyal puppy.

Altar's vision failed as he was sent hurtling towards the ground towards his near certain death. He heard one voice in each ear, one speaking to him at a time. One had a voice that was icy, wispy and cold. The other was one of strength, and it held significance. One was the voice of Death, coming to claim what was finally his. The other was the voice of Yuumei, coming to tell him that he was now ready to be graduated to his final level.

"You belong to me. Once you hit the ground, you do not stop. Your soul comes down, and down, for me to take for all eternity." Said the voice of death, and Altar could feel the cold hand on his neck as he was being drug down.

"You are ready, Altar Shinkou. Come to the land of Shadows, and gaze into the abyss to reveal who you truly are, and who you shall become" Said the voice of Yuumei, before leaving him alone with Death. Having nothing left to do, Altar simply envisioned what it would be like to fight Death.

Until he hit the ground. There was an immediate feel of wet, and then his vision returned and he was thrown on the ground. Altar had been caught by Xyxer, exactly what he thought would happen, and half expected to happen. Xyxer asked him if he had seen death itself, a strange question considering what had just happened in his head.

"I saw Death. I saw life. I heard many, many things that I know of, and that I don't know of. But out of all of it, I did not see, nor hear, anything that instilled fear into me. Instead, it all brought a peace of mind, and a clarity. Have you ever felt that, Xyxer?" Altar would say, walking beside Xyxer as he walked off into the village.

Xyxer smiled a little that he had been successful in giving Altar an opportunity very few in this life had.. To dance with death and return from his joyous, captivating moves. Walking along with Altar after they had both landed, he listened to the words that flew from the lips of Altar, sighing somewhat. Replying solemnly, the words trudged from his mouth, "I died a long time ago, Altar. Both literally and figuratively." Pushing his way past his subjects, some gazed in awe, others gasped in fear. There were mixed feelings on his ruling, really, but he was indifferent to them. Moving past the Tenkage building, he instead advanced towards the training grounds, a small spot where he had often secluded himself to when he felt his rage overpowering him, a memoir to his past. Inside of the grounds, he sat down next to a lake, chuckling a little, "When I died, I felt nothing but fury. Death grasped me, but my soul was unwilling to perish.. it still had something to live for. And so it was, wrenched from the gut of hell and belched back into living, only to watch the sole reason for my desire to live slaughtered before my eyes. The gods amuse themselves in weird ways, Altar."