The Snake leaves his lair (Open/up to 4)

(Feel free to timeline this post, if anyone wants to interrupt the incident go ahead)

It was not often that Den left the university. Most of his time was spent either there or in Sanctuary when he wasn't off in the countryside searching for clues about Minorin's killers. Unfortunately though as the Hoshikage he was sort of expected to have some sort of presence within the village. It was not just because the council told him to walk among the people that Den chose to do it this day though, he had received an interesting message from Shou. Natsumi had told the Snake Sage her grandfather wished for his family to make a contract with other shinobi from Den's village. Apparently he had spoken with the the other Great Dragons and found that some of them had allowed shinobi to make contracts with their descendants as well.

Den had never traveled far into the sage region his snakes were from, staying only on a small island he had originally thought had housed all of the Giant Snakes and had also believed had been near the original Kirigakure. Shou and his descendants lived in seclusion on that island, the only person they had made a contract with before Den was his father. Now however it seemed Shou was become more interested in the outside world. After finding out that other snakes had multiple summoners Natsumi had been sent to tell Den to find suitable candidates to sign the contract. Shou wanted him to take the contract keeper with him while he searched the village so that the elderly snake could also have a say in who signed the contract.

Den was dressed in his brother’s robes as he walked through the streets of Hoshigakure, the newly made Hoshikage hat atop his head as well. It was styled like the hats of the other kages of the great nations. The Snake Sages footsteps made no noise as he led Nori, the 7 meter long snake that help a scroll in his mouth, through the streets of Hoshigakure. Civilians made way at the sight of what to many of them seemed a monster, Den had never summoned a giant snake within Hoshigakures walls before and doubted the inhabitants had ever seen one before.

This was proven after Den had only walked a few blocks through the streets of Hoshigakure, a man dressed in some sort of religious garb Den didn’t recognize approached him, holding some sort of object in front of him as though he was using it to ward Denkiteki off.

“What is this demon you’ve brought into our village?!” The man shouted out in anger and fear as he stopped about 3 meters in front of Den, who had also stopped seeing as the man had put himself directly in Den’s way.

Looking around and noticing a number of civilians were staring at the two men and the giant snake Den knew he had to say something. He had avoided using his snake summons in public for this exact reason, however seeing as Shou wanted him to make a number of his villager’s sign the snake contract Den figured he’d have to at least try and get the people of Hoshigakure used to the sight of the beasts.

“I assure you this is no demon friend, merely a giant snake from a far off land. I’m taking him to meet a few of the shino..” Den’s voice was quiet, and while the street had grown silent enough that his voice could be heard by a few onlookers the sound of his words still didn’t carry far and it was easy for the man in front of him, with his loud booming voice, to interrupt the Hoshikage.

“And do what? Have those shinobi sign their souls away! Don’t think I’m ignorant of your shinobi devil arts, you signed that contract with your blood and intend to have others do the same! I will not allow any evil serpents steal the souls of our people!” As the man spoke he seemed to grow angier with each word, his voices tone becoming strained as he seemed to give into the anger that had drove him to confront Denkiteki. As he said the final sentence the man pulled out a knife with his free hand and started charging towards the Hoshikage.

As the man approached Den was silently thankful the man had made such a rash action, as it hopefully would make him seem crazed in the eyes of the onlooking civilians. He would have had better luck if he had simply stuck to attacking Denkiteki verbally as the Hoshikage was a poor orator.

The man attempted to stab Den in the heart but hadn’t accounted for the robes Den wore to be stronger than steel. The knife slid off the fabric as though Den were wearing armor and the man’s eyes widened in shock as he came to a realization that his assassination attempt wasn’t working.

Den turned to look towards two members of the Queensmen, a form of police consisting of non-shonobi that had all but been destroyed by the missing ninja plaguing Haven before Denkiteki and Akihana’s arrival, who had showed up at some point while the would be assassin had been screaming at Den. “Would you two mind taking this man into custody?”

Nodding the two quickly got on either side of the culprit, who tried one last time to stab at Den, this time going for his neck while he was looking at the Queensmen. This time Den moved his hand, at 100 speed, to grab the man’s wrist before the blade touched Den’s body, though honestly the Hoshikages skin was durable enough that the man couldn’t have pierced his skin either. Gently holding the wrist of the man until the Queensmen were on either side of him and had grabbed his arms Den didn’t both er with any words for his attempted killer, who was now baffled into silence by the events that had transpired.

As the man was dragged away Den decided he would try and address the small crowd that was present, “Everyone, I promise you that this giant beast has nothing but good intentions for this village. He is not a demon but an animal from a far off land. His kind will be helping in keeping this village defended, in keeping the men and women who have attacked this land away from our homes.” Den could tell that his words weren’t particularly moving, but hopefully he at least somewhat eased the minds of the people present.

Looking back towards the snake Den could tell that Nori had something to say, however the Hoshikage had warned the snake against speaking. A giant animal already seemed like a demon to the people of Hoshikage already, if they knew the snake was capable of intelligent thought The Snake Sage doubted he ever could convince them they weren’t.

Keeping his chakra senses active as he always did Den would continue down the road after speaking to the crowd if no one spoke up, he’d start heading towards the homes of a few of his shinobi, though he was hoping that Nori drew enough attention that some of his shinobi’s would come to him. Kokou gathered nature energy for Den as he moved through the city, The Snake Sage wanting to be prepared in case a real threat appeared.

The young male had been in the crowd for some time looking at the male who has attempted to stab his teacher because of his beliefs. Of course the young male had known that the Hoshi people had been ever....distant from the ninja arts but Den meant no harm. Seeing the man taken away saddened him a bit, but he wanted to make a different approach to this. So dusk did what dusk did best. Hug things. From that moment he ran in a full sprint just passing by den and hugging the snake...well where he cpuld," snake is frrriiieeeennd," of course he would get odd looks and probably from den as well but eh.

"Young Prince"

Arashi internally groaned at the title left to him.. even more so now that he was taking the place of his mother before him, and therefore was being addressed much more often than before.  Sighning, he turned to the Queensguard.

"That would be Arata, I'm not that young."

"My apologies, Prince Arashi.  We've received word of the Hoshikage walking among the village.  I thought you would want to kno-"

"Hogo"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Hogokag- nevermind.  Just some of the ideas that I've been meaning to talk to him about.  Where is he?"

"Just entering the main drag."

"Excellent.  Let Arata know where I've gone.  I'll be nice to see him while I'm preparing." Arashi said, standing up and wrapping a scarf around his neck before leaving.  He didn't even wait to hear of the assignees who would be watching him.  He didn't need it, and he didn't care.

Arashi had arrived just in time, it would seem, as the Kage had already made a scene with the locals.  Or rather, they seemed to make a scene with him.  What looked like verbal assaults turned physical, and before Arashi could think about flash stepping in the way, it was relatively over.

"You two.. get him.  That's clearly an unprovoked attacked." he told his guards, who moved in to intercept the religious man.  Arashi stood in the crowd, not drawing attention, until after the situation was over, and the guards walked past him.  Arashi asked them to personally handle the matter, and turned just to see another younger ninja.. clearly a ninja, suddenly embrace the snake. Arashi smirked, and then walked up to Den, giving a slight bow.

"Lord First, glad to see you about the village.  How are things going?" he asked, showing the respect despite knowing the man personally.

The weights wrapped around his wrists pulling his arms down, Shiro holds the hands steady behind his head as he walks along the road. These newly applied weights are advanced from his older ones. With a weight of ninety pounds, Shiro uses his strength to keep his arms held up. All of this training, though rigorous, is towards the Daytime Tiger technique. For the past month, he has been putting himself through extensive and long-term muscle use in his arms.

"Today may be my scheduled day to relax but this training isn't something I get to put off regularly. Come to think of it, I haven't let these weights come off unless I'm putting on heavier ones after getting too used to the lighter ones." Shiro looks up into the sky and peers through the clouds at the blue background. The wind is low and the temperature is higher than average. Today's humidity is normal for the village of Hoshigakure and Shiro has gotten used to the climate of the area having been born in the village. "And I'm getting closer to having that Daytime Tiger down. By the time I get to one-hundred pounds with these weights, I'm going to attempt the jutsu one more time. If all goes well, I will have acquired the technique." His arms burn as his muscles tire. The biceps, close to cramping, begin to weaken. Finally, he lets them down and his arms fall to his sides. Exhaling deeply, Shiro continues. "Maybe one-hundred and twenty..."

Shiro's attention is diverted. For the past few minutes, he had been staring into the sky and now, out of the corner of his eye, he sees the colossal serpent that has been drawing a crowd of civilians. Running over to the sight, he catches sight of a... seldom seen sight.

"Lord Hogokage himself, huh?" Shiro thinks, slowing his pace and stopping a few meters behind the ninja currently greeting him so as to wait his turn to make the Hogokage's acquaintance. "Of the fifteen years that I've lived in this village, I have yet to personally meet the head of the village. A shinobi who doesn't even know the kage of his village is unheard of. With this turn of events, I'll take the opportunity to get to know the First Hogokage personally. After all, connections are what will get you places these days."

(397/397)
(397 towards Daytime Tiger)

Another day passes and Atem is still oblivious on where to find the cave of snakes also known as Ryuchi Cave, it was kind of odd that it was called this due to the fact that Ryu meant dragon. This could have been because snakes are essentially lesser dragons if anything. They have been forsaken by god which is ironic since this village revolves around many. "How could such a beautiful creature be stripped of it's wings and even it's legs. Modern philosophy has taught me that Satan or Lucifer was once a snake and he was also a beautiful angel, not only that but the most beautiful of them all. Anyhow, I don't want to talk myself into a hole so I figu-" Atem stopped in his tracks, from 35 meters away Atem could here the flickering of a tongue that was fairly similar to that of a snake.

Atem would turn on his bloodline's ability to sneak up on this majestic creature, he wondered if this was a ruse because in Hoshi having a snake would cause an uproar from all of the religious people in the village. As he got closer he could hear a man who sounded outraged and was using religious terms such as 'demon' and 'devil'. "Seems I have thought to fast, I should have known that Hoshi would never close their mouths when faced with something out of their ordinary lives." Atem sighs. He then sees two guards carry away the man who was making all of the fuss and another man enter the vicinity of the man with a now fully visible 7 meter snake that looked as majestic as the one he had seen in the desert.

As the boy spoke his name Atem recorded it, ingraining it into his memory, "Arata, eh?" He asked himself making a mental note. Now 15 meters away he heard the boy say 'Lord First.' "So, that's the Hoshikage, I see. Black hair, blue eyes, mid twenties." Atem said to himself making another mental note of the man who runs the village. "Well, I guess it's time to introduce myself." Atem said with his bloodline still active and moving as closely as possible to the Hoshikage, once 5 meters within range he would be covered by the crowd, but on his way he would make no movements that made him look out of place. He seemed as though he was just a normal bystander who was admiring the snake. Finally well within the crowd Atem would suddenly burst out of the crowd on Den's left seeing how he would react. "Boo." Atem said knowing he would be figured out long ago, but still attempting this charade per his nature.

(Gonna close the topic for now, no one else join! I'll open it back up as people leave, for now going to rp with these 4. Will try and have a post up in a few)

A young man with white hair strolled through the streets. Much more clean than the last time he had been walking around mind you. Takeo had scrubbed up for the occasion. His hair however remained unruly and long, it was his most defining feature after all. His clothing was nice and clean for the first time in forever. A loose fitting long sleeved shirt was worn. Loose because there were many things he needed to wear underneath, mainly Bararaq Sei and his jounin armour. On his neck with his no longer sonic screamchoker, though that was hidden by the mask which now served as a neck warmer more than anything else. Oh yeah and he wore black trousers and his bitchin' heels. Also a banging bracelet. So stylish.

He kept his eye which housed the Byakugan shut, because well it seemed to freak people out. It remained active however, allowing him to scan the surrounding area with ease as he moved. The effect was rather wasted. He wasn't out for sightseeing today. No, he was searching for a man. And not in that way. Nope Takeo was completely heterosexual. He was searching for a certain man, in a non-sexual way. Said man was Denkiteki Hayato. Someone he had assumed dead. Takeo's second meeting with Akihana had provided him with much information. Particularly that Den was alive and currently the Kage of Hoshigakure. Quite fitting. The leader of a village full of degenerate shinobi. So yeah, that was why he was out in the town.

Naturally as he strolled, he heard whispers. News travelled fast. Some sort of altercation had occurred further in the city. Something about a snake? Takeo shrugged, and headed in that direction. Given his natural speed, and gifted vision, he found the location rather quickly. Strolling past some of the civilians who were just gawking at the giant ass snake. His chakra senses picked up several somewhat strong chakra signatures. It seems the shinobi were out in some force. The number was in single digits, but it was still a decent amount of a village. Takeo spotted the person he was looking for with his Byakugan, and made his way towards said person. There seemed to a clearing almost in the crowd. Natural given that they didn't want to get close to the 'monster'. Moving out of the crowd and into the clearing, he stepped into the path thingy. "Deeeenn~" Takeo called out in a sing-song voice. "I thought you died, let's make that actually happen." He held his arms out to the side. Waiting for any sort of response before he bothered doing anything.

As the man spoke Den felt multiple chakra presences, all but one familiar. Whoever it was nearly had chakra as potent as Arashi’s, which was impressive. Other than those two Dusk and Shiro were present as well. None of the shinobi directly intervened with however so Den’s actions weren’t changed. When the second largest signature disappeared however Den began to worry, was this another rogue ninja that had managed to sneak into the village and not a Hoshi ninja like he had originally thought?

After looking back from Nori anyone paying close attention to the village leader would notice a change about his person. He hadn’t wanted to reveal his sharingan but unfortunately his sensory abilities couldn’t yet counteract suppression, his advanced doujutsu gave him the easiest means by which to identify the person who was sneaking up on him.

Den scanned the crowd with his chakra vision as Arashi approached, spotting the one whose chakra was completely suppressed easily enough. He was taller than average height and appeared like a dark mass moving through a crowd of chakra to Den’s vision, causing him to stand out. Keeping his three tomoed eyes trained on the boy, whom he now recognized form one of his files as a genin of the village, Den listened as Arashi asked him how his walk through the village was going.

“Well enough I suppose, all things considered.” Den would motion towards the giant beast whom was being hugged by Dusk before continuing, “I decided I’d try and introduce my friend Nori here to some of our villagers, the Snakes of Ryuchi Cave are interested in lending more support to Hoshigakure.” As he spoke Den would turn his head to look at Arashi. It was as he was speaking that he realized he couldn’t hear the movements of the boy whose chakra was suppressed, it was almost as though he was employing the silent killing technique of Kirigakure.

The boy was trying to not look out of place but unfortunately by moving towards Denkiteki he was doing just that. Most of the actual civilians were standing around, confused by the events that had just happened, but even those who were leaving now that the altercation had ended made sure not to move closer to the large snake or the leader of the village. Him moving forward, added to the fact that he was tall and had a distinct symbol tattooed onto his forehead would have made it easy for Den to spot him again even without his sharingan. As he finished speaking to Arashi he quickly scanned the crowd again and spotted the chakra suppressed off to his left, rather close now.

“It seems one of our shinobi is trying to sneak up on me as well, gave me a bit of a scare for a moment. Have you met him before?” Den would nod in the boy’s direction as he spoke, sounding a bit amused, but in truth he was just relieved that it wasn’t a hostile shinobi sneaking up on him. Hopefully the boy would step forward rather than continue with jumping out of the crowd to say boo but if he did the Snake Sage would simply chuckle and respond with, “Well hello to you as well, its Atem correct?”

It was as he finished asking the question that a chakra signature more familiar than most entered Den’s sensory range. Even after all this time Den doubted he could ever mistake Take’s chakra for anyone else’s. Den had been vaguely aware of Takeo’s presence in the village but had chosen not to confront him, unsure of his intentions. Xyxer had sent a messenger to Den saying that they no longer had any quarrel but that didn’t mean Takeo had forgiven Den.

“Takeo..” Seeming all the sudden distant, Den turned to look past Arashi, Shiro as well, to see Takeo as he approached at a rather quick pace. Should none of the shinobi present move from there spots Takeo would move past Shiro as he stepped out into the opening in the crowd, though there was at least a distance of two meters between the two of them as Takeo walked by.

The Fourth Tenkage made it very clear as to what his intentions where, which lead Den to frown. Den would step around Arashi if the Chuunin hadn’t already gotten out of the way, the village leader didn’t want the boy, as skilled as he was, between him and Takeo should his former squad mate attack.

“I had hoped when Xyxer had sent a messenger to me that it meant you wouldn’t want to fight anymore either. I’d prefer we didn’t do this, but if we must can we go outside of the village first?” The two stood 7 meters apart so Den spoke up so his voice would carry the distance, though despite the death threat Den didn’t seem to alarmed, just the amusement he had shown towards Atem’s antics was now completely replaced by Den’s normal solemn tone.

As he waited for a response Den would feel his body absorb nature energy from the world around him, his body naturally doing it on his own as well as Kokou meditating within the sage. It seemed that Den had been right to have Kokou meditating while Den left the university.

Nori:
Nori would just sort of helplessly look at Den and the boy in front of him as Dusk hugged him, the snake not really sure what he was supposed to do. He couldn’t really move now without knocking the boy over, and then some guy showed up saying something about killing Den so the snake honestly thought he should probably leave, he wouldn’t go back to his home just yet but he was ready to disappear in a puff of smoke should anything happen.

-1 AP for sharingan
+1 AP from juugo bl
2 posts of Sage Mode stored in Kokou now
1/20 towards Nexus of Energy

Well there you had it. Dusk had been hugging a snake and he did not complain about it one bit. His arms barely even managed to wrap around the reptilian new friend of his, but that didn't stop him a single ounce. While he had been doing this his ears trained on the others listening to the conversation and taking in names. Atem. Takeo. Well new people meant new friends and hugs so Dusk wasn't complaining much here. When the white haired male had been saying something about Den dying and wanting to recreate it or whatever, Dusk let go of the snake before turning to the male who had his arms out...Hug? Well since the male had opened his arms, Dusk was not gonna let the opportunity pass him by, and since he was also threatening Den (or so he thought) he would do what he did best....Mitigate. So the blue haired male waddled over towards Takeo and providing he made it to him, would embrace him in the happiest hug ever (no homo). There would be some squeezing followed by some nuzzling of the sappy variety, simply staying there and hugging him unless Takeo did something to him.

Actions Done:

Hugging the fuck outta Takeo

As Den spoke, Arashi gave a grin, and nodded.  "I guess even fully shinobi villages don't get to used to summons and ninja animals.  Oh well, better now than when we are attacked, right?  At least they'll know who is on their side." he said, glancing around at the scene.  There were some clear looks of understanding, and even acceptance, among the faces of Hoshi.  It was clear that though the village hadn't fully accepted the shinobi world, there were those that had started to almost welcome the unusual sights of ninja and their companions and tools.  It probably also helped a great deal that they had taken to Arashi being the so called crowned 'prince' of the royal family.  They weren't about to move against the Royal blood.

Den mentioned one of their own shinobi trying to sneak up on the pair, and though Arashi didn't yet sense anything, he could figure who Den was talking about.  "I haven't had the privilege to meet them yet... with Akihana's departure the Queensguard are even more protective of me.  I've told them repeatably that I can not only handle myself, but I can easily slip from them, but mom said it probably gives them a sense of purpose.  I've read on the new class, though... I think that's-" he was going to answer when he was cut off with a boo from the shinobi, and Den immediately addressed him.

"Atem... right.... good day to you." Arashi said in response, nodding to the younger ninja.  

Unfortunately, this didn't last long as suddenly Den seemed to stiffen up, and the single name muttered gave him the information he would have asked about it.  The shinobi turned as Den walked around him, and looked to the target.  The feeling he was getting from this figure was chilling, and for a split second it reminded him vaguely of Youka.  Not in the sense of being the same person, but the sense of someone with malice intent.


"Atem... get the others and clear the streets.  Tell the guards that Arashi is calling for them to secure the streets.  Something tells me this will not be good." he said, the happiness in his voice giving way for more of a solemn acceptance.  This was his village, and he was specifically asked by his mother to protect and defend it.  And now the ninja of shinobi were being given that first chance.. the chance to prove themselves to the village of Hoshi.

As he stepped to the side of Den to show support, confident that the people of Hoshi were being taken to a more secure location, he watched in horror as one of their genin decided to stop hugging a giant snake and instead... hug this Takeo person.


"Dusk!  Get away from there!  Go protect the village." he shouted, standing in solidarity with Den.

"I'm guessing this is a friend of yours, Lord First?"