I Come From the Water(NK, Ryusei)

Yazu sat stretched out in the sand staring out onto the large expanse of water. He had his hands under his head and the outer part of his kimono folded neatly beside him, his shirtless form showing the massive stitched threads on his chest.  A large pile of scrolls sitting stacked atop the kinono. He loved the ocean, he did ever since he first came to Kiri as a young boy.  The smell of the salt blasting against his face, the breeze but most importantly he loved the ecosystem.  A fish swims in along eating the smaller organisms, then unaware a larger fish devours it and continues its journey, only to eventually be devoured by a shark.  The largest and most intimidating fish being the ultimate victor, this was the way of the world he knew, and he loved it.  His innate abilities, the one of Earth Grudge Fear, made him both a major target within his home of Kirigakure as well as a big fish, but he did not care because the life of hunting and being hunted was one that he felt well adjusted in.  He did not need comforts and luxury he just simply needed to learn.

Yazu had been studying the medical scrolls that sat beside him wanting to learn the advanced secrets of medical Ninjutsu,  he thought about how one day he would form a lab somewhere along the coastline and begin experimenting on the residents of the village to hopefully find the secrets that he searched for.  After meeting and befriending Kozata Shinkou, he learned that there was no limit to how much power one could attain, the power of chakra had no limits beside the imagination, and no one wanted to know what was within his imagination.  One day he would be feared, a name that haunted anyone who heard it.  One day.

On this day he continued staring at the water wondering what kind of trouble he might get into, maybe he might meet another friend.
334

(sorry about the wait, I held lots of ppl up at this time ;-;)

Dum-de-dum dum dumb. That was Ryusei Shinkou in a nut shell. Happy, cheerful, but often dumb as a rock. Sadly, this was not an uncommon state, and he was not the only consciousness beginning to realize this either. Yes, he was starting to get the feeling that he had schizophrenia. Every once in a while, a new voice would speak in his mind, sometimes in an old form he had heard previously, but sometimes in a new one, and all of them were indistinct though it was becoming easier to hear now.

As he wandered along, he came upon the coastline. Wanting to clear his mind with the stroll and some bracing sea winds, as the walk through the city had not helped him much at all, he meandered along the beach. Eventually he came upon a weird looking fellow. Okay, weird was subjective. Weird for back home, what he was used to, was apparently in the norm here, what with human halfbreeds or the like running rampant everywhere. Don't get him wrong, he was not opposed to that kind of thing if people were up to it, it was just... never something he expected, frankly.

Walking up until he was but a few meters away from the white haired dude, Ryusei spoke up. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be a doctor now would you?"

Yazu continued to lounge in the sand despite the approaching chakra. It was not remotely as powerful as his shinkou friend, Kozata, nor did he imagine his dark ally would actually waste time walking along the beachfront.  The chakra was new, not one he had ever sensed prior, nor was it necessarily potent.  There were many in the village he had gone this long successfully avoiding trying not to attract unwanted attention to his unique situation.  

Given the chakra signature of the approaching individual Yazu would remain lounged in the position he had been in, having taken a small break from the dedicated training he was working on earlier this morning. He would turn his head so that he could visually inspect the approaching figure. He felt no fear as the boy approached despite him being in a very disadvantageous position.  He knew that if he was being hunted the chakra potency would be somewhat higher, though he could not ignore the potential this lad had. 

Yazu remained laying on his back with his hands being his head, vast amounts of stitching coursing over his entire abdomen.  Yazu would continue his grin, the menacing grin that a young boy, not too different from this one, had known as the very last image he would ever see.  The fond memories rushed forward of the very exciting Kiri blood games and the day he claimed the ability to cast Suiton ninjutsu.

The boy was apparently taken aback by Yazu's appearance though he did not seem outwardly afraid  That would be when Yazu would hear him ask, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be a doctor would you?" ;The grin would grow from ear to ear causing his black eyes to squint slightly.  Yazu would sit upright crossing his legs in front of him swiftly using minimal motion.  "That depends.." Yazu would reply calmly. "On what your definition of a "doctor" is.  Can I heal wounds?  yes.... Do I administer care to the sick and weary? No.  Do I have knowledge of the human anatomy? Of course.  Is that a good thing for those around me?...."  Yazu would then spring up onto his feet coming within 6 meters of the boy with one step using the momentum of the stand to help in cover the 3 meters that he needed to get within that range.  Yazu would then make eye contact and surge his chakra toward the boy at a power of 20 temporarily paralyzing him where he stood.  

Yazu would walk forward until they only had about 3 meters of separation and proceed to finish his previous statement.  "No."

"I am Yazu, of the mist, and your name is?" He would ask after the juts had worn off enough for the boy to regain composure and respond.

464

(ooc: this topic takes place after a different one in which i work on learning the same tech. also, cue silliness, fyi talking with what will be my yuumei personality)

Ryusei didnt blink at first, when the other guy tried to pull that technique he had been doing to little animals, on yours truly. Mostly cause it didnt really let him move yo.

Then again, he had seen pretty gruesome things before, so that guy didn’t really scare him in the least. That ninja mercenary from before had been far less intimidating than a person who relied on a low level jutsu that Ryusei happened to know only contained weaklings like himself, due to low levels of strength, well, low levels of strength for a ninja anyway.

“I’m Ryusei Shinkou, long lost ninja of sorts? Anyways, I’m new here in these parts, for reasons I would rather not explain at the moment.” He was nonplussed, he already knew what the trick was the other pulled off. The other looked creepy in some way though but yeah.

He paused for a second, collecting his thoughts. “I was working on that jutsu you used on me, before, how long did that take you to train? It was taking me a little while though I made good progress, could just be due to a lack of ninja training though…. Oh yeah, the reason I ask if you are a doctor, well, a doctor might not be the right thing actually, more like a psychiatrist actually. See, I sometimes get these voices in my head, and was wondering if you might know anything. See, I only recently found out I belong to a ninja clan, and I know some ninjas get a little loopy….”

Just as he finished speaking, he was hit with a “HELLO!!!!!” that rung in his ears.

What?

Wait, didn’t he already greet Yazu.

“It’s me.”

Duh.

“Are you into telepathy or something, Yazu?”

“No, it’s ME!!!”

Ryusei was getting confused now. He began looking around him but saw nobody else who looked remotely interested in him. Heck, not really anybody at all.

“Hello from the outside!”

A vague semblance of a human shimmered into view, as if Ryusei had been transported into a new dimension. This meaning that everything he would normally have seen was blocked out. “Ummm, do you have to do that? I’ve also talking to this other fellow in the original world, as opposed to whatever this is. Any chance I could either hold this call, or just talk to you at the same time, and not one or the other?"

Ryusei was a little befuddled by what was happening. It was not immediately obvious to him that everything he was saying was quite clearly audible to the others as well.

“Oh, all right.” With a harrumph, and was that a little moue??? The vaguely humanoid shape became transparent, and as it so happened, was superimposed right on top of Yazu.

Well, this would be awkard.


“Uhm, could one of you shift a little to one side please? Seeing two of you there makes things kinda confusing tbh.”

This was nominally directed at the wierd vague humanoid but honestly, he should have specified that he did not really mean Yazu.

Yazu hovered rather close to the man who had originally perceived as a boy when he was watching through his chakra sensory.  Yazu eyed him up and down prior, he would have no attacks made on his life, and to prove that Yazu refused to get too close to this individual.  He would not be captured and returned to a storage container, or worse be placed at the Mizukage's feet and forced to fight in some form of an arena for his life, against very lousy odds.  Actually, Yazu likely would enjoy the thrill of such a scenario, however that didn't mean he wanted to rush along that situation.  Maybe after he acquired more hearts, Yazu would think to himself.  As Yazu looked directly at the shinobi before him except instead of staring at his face or eyes, his eyes drifted to the individuals chest directly where the heart is.  Hmmmm.... the thought occurred to him, maybe this situation would help if that were to ever happen. 

Yazu's hand began to detach from where it was threaded midway through the forearm and start to hover in the air freely attached to him only by his unique threading that made up his entire body.  Then, just as he was preparing to raise his arm and lunge the hand directly for the boys paralyzed and exposed chest, he heard the words come from the shinobi.  Words that stunned him and would instantly cause him to retract the threads and take a step back.  "I'm Ryusei Shinkou...."  That was simply all he needed to hear.  His hand fully retracted as Yazu then became quite content to hear what the rest of what Ryusei had to say. 

Yazu's newest partner in crime was a shinkou, someone he considered a friend and ally.  Of course there was absolutely no way Yazu could truly know the relationship this man held to his compatriot, and though Yazu knew "Dio" would not care, killing your friends brother was fairly poor diplomacy.  So Yazu would cease the offensive actions he had been casually showing, though he still remained with his guard up not sure why this shinobi had found him in his hiding place.  Yazu would use this opportunity to learn some more about this Shinkou clan and their "Interesting" powers and mental instability. 

"No Ryusei, it was not difficult for me to learn, it was somewhat innate.  It tends to occur whenever I have ill thoughts.  Also No, I do not deal with mental instability, though I have some understanding of the Shinkou."  Yazu would respond to the first question. He would then proceed to watch as RYusei would begin cracking apart.  Yazu would politely watch noting the interesting shift in the Shinkou's personality.  Any other ninja would be taken aback by such a spectacle, though having seen how two entities seem to compose Kozata, it would not surprise Yazu in the least. 

It was indeed an interesting turn of events, it seemed that this Shinkou did not quite understand what was happening, of course, neither did Yazu truly.  Yazu thought that he may be able to lend a hand with the struggling individual but decided that it may be best to let the crazies discover their own lunacy.  Though it did intrigue him to discover that it was a possibility that the unique personality void might actually be connected with the powers Kozata commands.  This would explain much to him, clan related abilities in the world are pretty unorthodox and can vary from ninja to ninja.  It did not take away from the world that is mukuo.

Yazu waited until Ryusei had finished his conversation with himself or whoever he was including in it, and decided he would try to learn more about this unique ability.  Why not push the limits and see if the lad would show him some of the qualities of the clan.
"So what do you believe you are looking at it is only the two of us here Shinkou?' in a taunting voice Yazu would ask moving side to side.
678

This guy was acting more and more creepy, though he was certainly within the normal range of psychos that Ryusei had to spy on before. None of them had had supernatural abilities however. the detached hand dangling on strings however did not go unnoticed. Interesting. The strings were apparently quite capable of holding the body up, so presumably he had some control over the threads then.Why he was reaching for Ryusei's heart though he didn't know yet. He was a little suspicious though, and Ryusei would ask him and others as well about that ability later, the thread thing.

For now though he would kinda play along.

"Honestly, I don't know that much about my own clan, I only recently found out myself, I was hoping you could help me a little with that, truth be told. What DO you happen to know of my clan?"


He stopped to consider for a bit, ignoring past the other's attitude, and assuming he was ultimately trying to be helpful. A break in the conversation with the vague humanoid shape and this other fellow jumped in and asked what Ryusei saw. Ok, he was not sure how much this guy really knew then.


"Well, I am suddenly seeing this vague humanoid figure, but from the sounds of it, you aren't so I might be a little psycho. Honestly, I have been starting to hear little voices in my head as i traveled towards this city before, slowly increasing in volume, like something awoke. Maybe I'm one of those afflicted with Schizophrenia. Hmmm."

"One sec."

The humanoid began talking in Ryusei's head again, he hoped the other guy would not start talking too or he would get confused between the simultaneous voices. “Hello? Oh wait, I guess you can here me then. Mmmmkay. I will assume you can hear me proper now, took some time for you to be aware of me tbh though I was kind of a sleeping this here time up in your head. So yeah. Any questions?”

Ryusei was kinda taken aback. His response was verbal and easily audible to both the mysterious figure, and this other fellow, mister strings, Yazu. “Uhhh, yeah I have questions? Like to start with, what are you? Why am I seeing you? Especially now? And why can’t Yazu see you? And where do you come from? Are you an assassin sent out for me?”

Ryusei asked questions faster and faster until they all kind of jumbled out in a big mess.

The hidden presence felt like it blinked several times, in surprise. When it responded though it sounded like an echo in Ryusei’s mind, not really audible to others. “Wait, has nobody told you… ANYTHING???” The last word contained several sentences of outrage. The voice sighed, as the apparition became a little clearer. Clearer was a generous term, it was still a little hard to even see the outline exactly.

“Alright, I will try to start from the top. I am a manifestation of sentient chakra within you.”

Ryusei’s befuddled look was obvious to everything, including a sentient chakra with no eyes.

“I am part of a greater whole, that is implanted in you kinda, at birth. And before you ask, this IS kind of related to your clan. It’s something given to all members of the Shinkou who start to awaken their bloodline. So yeah I’m a manifestation of your Yuumei, that’s your personal chakra element thingy. Let’s start with trying for some basic chakra vision shall we?”

The voice sounded a little impatient.

“Try focusing chakra around your eyes.”

Ryusei kind of tried to asap, and felt a kind of switch being flipped, butnot really something he was starting so much as from the Yuumei instead.

The only thing he could think of to say before his vision changed was “Ummm, do you have a name?”

"Weeeee!" Comin' straight out of Compton, a crazy muthafucka named.....

Kozata Shinkou sped down the alley at full speed, tossing the lightning heart he got with a note to Yazu as he sped past. The note would apologize that he couldn't get BOTH hearts. The moment he did, he'd teleport into Mukou.

"Toodles!" 

[exit, not claiming anything
sry guys, may have to travel from Kiri for a bit ;)]

Yazu would smile as the boy had asked him about the Shinkou, he didn't have any knowledge of his own clan, what an amateur.  Nonetheless, Yazu would try not to judge, though respect came hard in this village, it was hard fought and hard earned, not freely thrown at any lay about like in Konoha.  Yazu walked forward reattaching his hand, now having no intention of harming the strange ninja who had wandered to his neck of... the island.  Instead he would do his best to tutor the poor young chap with what he had gleaned from his several chance encounters with Kozata.
 
Also he had this really interesting jutsu he wanted to learn, small part of his own imagining though a slight break off from a canon jutsu.  Though the parts he wanted to customize was appearance only.  Ironically he felt that it would help in this situation, to both guide ryusei on a path to discovering his clan heritage but also leading Yazu to ultimately learn exactly what was going on in his pals head.  The Medical Eye Mind Reading jutsu.  By performing signs with his eye he was capable of implanting said eye within the mind of his opponent and gleaning and reading that opponents mind.  Absolutely paramount ability for life as a shinobi of the Hidden Mist.  Insight was worth more than any amount of ryo.
 
"Well, Ryusei.  What I do know about the Shinkou is they seem to reliably have multiple personalities living within them, though show no signs of personality disorder.  Seeming very intact with the extra voices with their head.  Additionally, they have a kekkei genkei which includes shadow or darkness or something relatably along those lines.  As it was explained to me you can control "Darkness" though i do not understand its nature.  I simply know that you can, not what it does."  Yazu would announce to Ryusei just befre ryu would begin his rambling to whatever entity lurked within his head.  Yazu thought about how interesting it might be if this voice was anything like Dio.  Dio was a monster just like him, and how he enjoyed being around him.
 
Yazu would only simply step aside and allow Ryusei to have a moment to find a firm grip on what currently ailed him.  Yazu would retrieve the Mind Eye reading scroll by extending his thread arm to grab it and pull it back to himself. "You are not schizophrenic, listen to what the voice has to say and discover what powers you can unlock.  Unless that voice is telling you to kill me, in which case you should warn the voice he knows not whom he trifles with."  Yazu would declare firmly while opening the scroll and trying to avoid Ryusei's frontal vision to allow him to continue his hallucinations long enough for him to enter the mind and give some positive, or negative, reinforcement.  Yazu would concentrate on the ability manipulating his chakra within his eye, and doing as the scroll instructed would begin weaving motions with his eye.  This was much more difficult than hand motions and he struggled for a while.  Until finally he felt a knock of chakra release from the eye and saw himself momentarily gaze into Ryusei's mind and gain a general mental image of the person Ryusei was talking to.  The jutsu was fleeting and lasted less than a second but it helped Yazu to realize he was heading in a positive direction.
 
It was at that time Yazu would sense the mark seal nearby.  And just as he looked up he would notice Kozata hanging half assedly outside of Mukuo, the dimension he had created.  Yazu's inherent reflexes would kick in as he caught the flying blood covered heart midair.  It still felt warm, and tingly to the touch.  It must be the twin's heart Yazu would hypothesize.  Just as he thought that Kozata mentioned not being able to retrieve the second.  Yazu's disappointment lasted only a moment as he felt the fresh blood running down his arm.  A chilling tingle went up his spine, of excitement and anxiousness.  Yes...Kozata had exacted vengeance, hopefully in the most destructive way possible.  Yazu was elated.  Since he was no longer wearing his typical Kimono he would simply go about his ritual, ignoring the boy while he did it.
 
The threads would unwrap from along his clavicle and down the center of his chest, opening and exposing the writhing mass of threads within him.  The black threads seeming to reach out eagerly trying to grab the heart.  With his right hand Yazu would place the heart within letting the threads take it from his hands.  Yazu would begin laughing maniacally, overjoyed with the recent acquisition.  Hahaha, the twins not only were dead but the heart was compatible with him.  He could feel the tingling of electricity run through his body as small static electric bursts ran through him.  Oh, the power.  He would fall to his knees while his system assimilated the heart into himself.  He would hunch over and if Ryusei looked over at Yazu he would witness a white mask with blue markings seem to grow out through his back and position itself in the center of his lower back, while Yazu's entire body would writhe and move very unnaturally.  After said assimilation was finished he could feel the currents running through him.  Yazu would stand and shake himself off.  It was a rather gruesome scene but not one that someone who has been a part of Kirigakure would find too gruesome.  After standing Yazu would smile and keep watching Ryusei always appreciating the shocked and stunned expressions on the faces of those around him as he tapped into his unique jutsu.
 
If Ryusei continued talking to this strange figure Yazu would rush to complete the jutsu so that he could help.
 
978
TWC 2454

posting tomorrow if i can D:

(IDR if you need to train lightning element but I can if you want help)

“Do I have a name? Not really.”

Ryusei thought about this for a sec. Speaking internally he said “Well, that’s a shame, we should try and fix that?”

Yazu began to speak though so Ryusei shut his trap.

Ryusei stood in awkward fascination as Yazu spoke. KK will listen to voice. Not Shizophrenic is good, it would be hard to explain that kind of condition to the Mizukage for sure. He was supposed to be able to control some darkness or shadow thingy? Cool beans!

Then all of a sudden….

What the hell?

Firstly, Yazu seemed to change in appearance, it felt like there were multiple chakras existent within him or something.

Secondly, there was suddenly there was an organ with a note attached. Wait, was that a heart?!?

He opened his mouth in astonishment, his hair blowing in the trail of wind that would have formed in Kozata’s wake. That he could notice, even if Kozata was really travelling too fast for him to sense.

However, the inner voice seemed to gasp. “That’s a heart? WTF?!?”

Wait, a heart? “What do you mean?” Ryusei inquired internally to the voice.

Closer examination from a  bit of a distance did indicate that this was likely a heart. But what was the heart doing with Yazu – oh. So those threads seemed to be everywhere in his body. What did he think of this? Well, we can see that from his quip to Yazu.

He was certainly agape, but by this point he was starting to expect weird ass stuff from ninjas, the longer he was in their company. He would probably be jaded soon at this rate, with simple things like body replication and teleportation, and hyper fast movement, things he seemed to have already witnessed to a degree, directly or no. He did link this weirdness involving the organ to Yazu reaching for his chest earlier, logically he might well have a way to extract hearts. Perhaps it was impulse driven, or such, cause he stopped himself, even though this area was kinda deserted. Ryusei made a mental note to not wander around by himself until he was stronger, most certainly to avoid the more deserted areas, if this guy was clearly allowed to do as he pleased, there were likely other weirdos out there as well. That being said, this guy seemed to be chilling out a little bit though its hard to tell with maniacs. For now though he was not going to tell Yazu the conclusions he had already jumped to, in case it mattered later. This guy seemed to be becoming more friendly, no reason to put that off now. The chakra vision flared in and out, making this seem even weirder. It seemed to Ryusei that there were lots of little clumps of chakra, aside from the one forming around the heart that Yazu seemed to be… absorbing?

He had to pick his jaw off the ground first though, so to speak, before he could speak properly. After Yau had finished trying to assimilate the heart, of which Ryusei watched the entire process, he spoke. “Well. I’ve had to hunt down cannibals, necrophiliacs, and spied on all kinds of hedonistic perverts for other people, but I think that takes the cake. If you don’t mind, I’d like to ask some questions. Firstly, I’m betting that a lot of people are not enthused about that technique of yours, but clearly someone high up does, if you are allowed to wander freely here? Was that a lightning heart? I see no other reason for there to be sparks otherwise unless this is a lightning based tech? You have a bunch more of those… heart based thingies? What’s the deal with the mask? Is that some kind of way to measure your collection or something? How do those hearts help you?”

He paused for a bit. Then he continued. "I can keep a secret if need be but I really wanna know! I can tell you one of mine too if it helps."

He was grossed out a bit but interested at the same time, this being entirely new for him. He had to be reminded by the Yuumei thingy that he was here to learn about that stuff too. “Oh, and if you already know something of my clan abilities, I’d wager that there are others in this village with the same clan?”

The mental image facepalmed – “Of course you idiot. How else would he know? It is not like the Shinkou go writing books about their abilities.”

Ryusei piped his voice again, ignoring just a tad the Yuumei. “Who do you know here that is a Shinkou member too? I will probably track them down and ask them stuff too so I don’t take too much of your time.”

“Focus”

The Yuumei spooke in his mind again. “Focus on your chakra vision, draw upon my power.”

Suddenly Ryusei could only see Yazu in a weird sense, he looked kinda like the humanoid figure in his mind.

“Ok, looks like that’s working.” He spoke aloud, partially to let Yazu know that he wasn’t JUST standing there, and of course partially to let the inner Yuumei know as well, the Yuumei not having the benefit of a mind reading thingy.

“Oh yeah, I should give you a name.” He murmured aloud, unintentionally. “How about… Crux?”

The Yuumei was taken aback a little bit. “When did I ask for a name?”

Ryusei replied back, this time internally. “Well, it feels rude to me to keep referring to you without one, it should make discourse easier! And, you are sentient! I can’t very well go around telling people “My inner Yuumei says this”! Cmon!”

As such, a few minutes or arguing would pass back and forth unless something happened in the real world that might change this, so to speak. Eventually the Yuumei gave in. Crux it would be henceforth. Ryusei didn’t push for the Yuumei figure to change to a more distinct form however, he felt such endeavors would hardly end well.

(1382+??? = more than enough for first stage I think, I’ll add laters)