Everything the Light Touches [MAX]

An awful stench assaulted her nose as soon as the petite genin came into view of the tall walls that marked Kumogakure’s village perimeter. It was the first time the genin was actually there in person, having only seen it from a distance. She wasn’t sure why but something urged her to pay the gates a visit. Saya was convinced it was because she was beginning to feel the absence of her mother’s presence. It had been a little over a week since the administration had taken her out of hospital duty and into whatever they had tasked her with. The daughter assumed that they sent her mother off to aid in the war efforts.

Maybe hanging out and around the walls would help relieve a bit of her anxiety. Saya approached the first wall. It looked normal, aside from knowing about the explosive tags attached onto its surface. There were guards stationed at the entrance and they looked bored, slouching against the small stand erected by the gates. She waved and passed by them without saying a word. Most of the shinobi usually crossed over with ease because of their status. However, civilians had a harder time; they had to produce identification papers and what not, clearly dividing Kumo’s citizens.

Saya ignored the looks she was given as she walked the streets. This was the outer ring of Kumo, where the other people (at least the ones who took some time to join) resided. In this area the scent of death and decay was profound. Though she was used to the smell of “clean” death in the hospital, the type that wafted through was sickening. Her stomach roiled, wanting to empty its contents on the cobbled ground.

”Urk.” Saya gagged, heaving once before covering her mouth while the other hand clutched at her stomach. There was no way she was going succumb to an embarrassing scene just because the smell didn’t agree with her. More so since she was now a full-fledged ninja and the eyes were watching. They were suppose to live and breathe the acrid scent, not become queasy.

Max would be wandering around the town, Napa wrapped like a mummy on his back. He hadn’t been doing a whole lot as of late, as most of his pals had been deployed to various areas for the war efforts. He was supposed to go as well, but his superiors realized quickly that if most of the ninja were off at war there would be little standing in the way of an attacker. Max hadn’t been much alone, but he believed that Senshi was also still in the village. He wasn’t entirely sure though.
 
It hadn’t been too long into the day but it felt as though it had to be past breakfast, Max noting as his stomach growled telling him it needed something to eat as quickly as possible. Making his way to the convenience stand would be the first thing that he would do, purchasing a large sized chocolate bar. He would unwrap it and bite off a chunk as he made his way to the gates. The last time he was here was right before his first encounter with the newly appointed war general Maku. That was… an unpleasant memory.
 
Not wanting to scale the walls, Max would walk through the checkpoints without any hassle from those watching the gates. Paying them little mind, he stepped out and gazed into the swamplands that surrounded Kumo. It was a putrid place, but it was something that one gets used to. The stench here was no worse than Max’s own shack in the cemetery where he makes his puppets, though the boy was learning to keep his clothes distant from where he works on his creations. People didn’t really appreciate the stench of rotting flesh. Max hadn’t put much thought into it before, but now that he had made some “real” friends around Kumo he tried to keep from assaulting their noses.
 
Max had been one to try and keep up on who was who in the village and all of the things going on within his village. He regularly spent time just walking around the village and observing the citizens of Kumo. There was one presence that he hadn’t seemed to feel for a while, and though he couldn’t confirm it for sure he noted that he hadn’t seen him much around the village or anything. Max of course was speaking of the Raikage, Mortarion. Maybe he had been torn up by the absence of Lady Akihana, and didn’t want to interact with those around him.
 
And sure enough, he notices someone new. Despite knowing many of the folks around Kumo, he hadn’t yet known them all. This was something that he made particular note of as he spotted the face that wasn’t familiar. It was a young girl, though she appeared to be older than Max was. She also carried herself differently from the common citizens and had on garb that wouldn’t hide her occupation. She was a kunoichi, likely of the Hidden Cloud village considering that nobody questioned her being here at the gates. She seemed to be upset over something, as she was holding her mouth. Was she crying?
 
He had learned to be a lot more social from his regular interactions with his friends, and so Max would approach, waving to the new face. The boy had on a plain white shirt that had been fairly clean (much cleaner than his old dingy jacket). His metallic prosthetics would gleam, reflecting the like caught on them by the sun as he waved his replacement arm. He would approach the girl, noting that she didn’t seem to have tears in her eyes.
 
“Hi, my name is Maximillian Yamaguchi, but my friends all call me Max. Might I ask your name, miss?” Max would inquire, his words kinds and sincere. They held an odd sense of innocence, though anyone that knew him could sense beyond this.
 
Upon hearing a response, Max would ask at an appropriate time. “What brings you out here?” He would say hoping to stir up a conversation with the new shinobi.


Waiting for a response, he just takes another bite of his chocolate. He seems completely un-phased by the stench of death surrounding this place. He would look back at his mummified puppet on his back, almost as if he were listening to something though there would be no sound.

There was a movement that caught her attention - a young boy waving. Saya tried to collect herself, taking a deep breath through the little spaces between her fingers. It was hard to do so, but she believed it was a way to get used to the atmospheric stink faster. The dark haired genin, for a moment, wasn’t sure if the child was trying to catch her attention or was it someone else. Dropping her hands to her sides Saya took a quick look around to see if anyone else in the vicinity would respond to him. Alas, it was only her that seemed to have noticed his greeting.

The notion of the blonde trying to grab another person’s eye was dashed away once he stood in front of her, introducing himself. She blinked, taken a bit by surprise. This was quite an unexpected turn of events, having gone through the day on autopilot. ”S-Saya. Saya Kirihara.” There was a sort of dumbfounded tone in her voice as she turned towards him fully. Her amethyst eyes roamed over the stranger.

He was small. He was almost a foot shorter than her if Saya had to guess, and nevermind about the weight. If it wasn’t rude or completely weird, she could probably pick him up and carry him easily. Blonde with blue-gray eyes. A somewhat uncommon color around Kumogakure. In her opinion at least, or she simply didn’t run into people with that type of unique coloring. The other thing that caught her attention was the thing wrapped like a mummy hanging across his back.

The synapses in her brain fired off, connecting a few dots that she should have understood the moment she laid eyes on him. Max, as he had given his name, stood in the middle of the street without any reaction to the foul funk that permeated this section of Kumogakure. He was even eating a chocolate bar oh so casually. Was he... ? Saya didn’t need to finish that thought. Of course he was, and if that was so then it was safe to assume that he was also a ninja of Kumogakure.

”Ah, I’m here to look at the walls.” As always Saya kept her words to a minimum. He asked a question and she answered. Max’s presence did pique her interest, however, and she decided to throw his question back at him. ”What are you doing here?” Perhaps he was going out on a mission? Another quick glance at the simplicity of his clothing told her otherwise. ”Do you live in this section?”

It was another failed thought on her end. Max couldn’t possibly live in the outer ring. Only those that joined the new kage nearing the end of his campaign was accommodated here whilst most of the shinobi of the village were in the inner district. Or, maybe, Max had a special circumstance to his living arrangements. However, it would only be moments before Saya would know for sure.

Max would listen as his peer spoke, taking note of her name. Max would offer up one of the miniature bricks of chocolate on the opposite end of where he had bitten off. Most folks didn’t appreciate other people biting off of their food. The look on her face was an odd one. Something was upsetting her, but he couldn’t tell what it had been. She was holding her mouth… and nose. Ah, so she didn’t like the smell of the rotting swamps. Max didn’t think too much of the smell, considering that he had consistently reeked of death for a few years. Maybe he had grown accustomed to such a horrid stench, but it was probably for the better. There wasn’t a whole lot of Kumo where one could fully escape the death and decay.
 
Whether or not she accepted his offer of chocolate, Max would just continue to eat his breakfast.
 
“Saya Kirihara, huh? I’m going to just call you Saya. The walls are neat, but they aren’t as good of a defense as one would hope. They have little defense against a target in the air…” Max would say as he turned his head to gaze up the wall, thinking of how long it would be before the rest of the nations decided to retaliate against Kumogakure.
 
“Me? Oh, well I don’t ever really have much of a plan. I kinda wander around and do whatever seems fun. It had been a while since I messed with the Rot monsters, so I figured why not fiddle with ‘em?” He would find himself seriously disappointed that he didn’t buy some tea at the stand before coming here, as he now had nothing to wash the chocolate down with. “Live here? Oh, no. I live on the outskirts of town by the cemetery. I have a cool little shack near the back of it. It’s a pretty cozy place and doubles as a work space where I can get some peace. Much quieter than the orphanage.” Max said all of this with a pleasant smile, his mind wandering to thoughts on what he was going to build next. Probably something big… and really cool, too.

Snapping back to the present, Max would inquire about a few things. “So, have you seen them yet? The monsters surrounding Kumo, I mean? They are pretty cool looking. Wanna see?” Max would ask Saya, wondering if she would want to see such horrid creatures.
 
“You don’t look like you spend much time outside the village. Don’t worry, you get used to the smell. Until all this mess gets cleaned up we will just have to deal with it, sadly.” Max looked back out to the surrounding area of Kumo. Hopefully Kumo and its citizens wouldn't have to live in such conditions for very much longer. With new land being occupied at this very moment, relocation was a very real possibility for many of the citizens. 

He wondered just how far out they would have to go before they encountered one. That is of course if Saya even wanted to see some more of the defenses that Kumo had in place. If not, Max was sure that he could find something else fun and entertaining to do.

Forward. That was a word that she was beginning to associate with the kid in front of her. There was another that she wanted to attach to him, but it seemed to escape her thoughts for the moment. Perhaps, if she were to continue spending time with him, the word would reveal itself. Saya blinked at his small offering before breaking off the corner piece and plopping it into her mouth.

”Thank you.” A quiet statement of gratitude.

It was certainly a weird combination for her. On one hand, her mouth and taste buds were singing praises for such a delicious bite. On the other end, the stink that was gradually fading away continued to wreak havoc on her senses, conflicting with the sweetness provided by the chocolate. Fortunately, before she could linger on the oddity of sensations, the blonde swept her away into a conversation.

He quickly mentioned “rot monsters” to which she was already hooked into wanting to see one for herself. Max didn’t have to ask her twice if she was willing to go and check them out. While Saya was eager to see them, she was also skeptical about them. She had heard of them through the marketers that sometimes sold their goods in the district as well as her fellow classmates back in the academy.

Shaking her head at his question of seeing the “monsters,” the genin did make a little note that he was an orphan. He didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all unlike her, who still had a slight obsession with finding who her father was. Didn’t he feel lonely? That was her immediate thought as she replied, ”No, I haven’t but I’d like to see them. They’re real?”

Following Max’s gaze the girl became aware of the state the district was in. It was certainly not as posh or “clean” as the inner village. There was an unfamiliar pressure in her chest as Saya eyed the less than fortunate. She couldn’t hear the yells and shouts of people trying to vie for customers, but rather the silent moans and cries of citizens who nearly had nothing left.

”I’ve never left the village,” Saya commentated, shamefully returning her gaze back to the boy in front of her. ”The smell is… tolerable.” And it was. The stench didn’t bother her as much anymore, moreso after she had taken a small segment of Max’s chocolate.

”So, where do we find these rot monsters?”

Max would happily nod his head. “Yeah, they’re real. Be careful though as they can be dangerous if they manage to catch you. I’ve never seen them catch someone, but they look like they could manage to do some real damage.” He would finish the remainder of his chocolate and begin to walk over into the swamps of Kumogakure. Listening to the puppet on his back, Max would nod his head, “Yeah, so Napa says that I should inform you that they can shoot a thick, tar-like substance to coat you and slow your movements. I’d avoid getting too close unless you can reliably avoid it.”
 
“I can’t blame you for not spending much time outside of the village. I wouldn’t expect many people to do so unless they were given a mission.” Max would look back to Saya, gesturing to the muck that he had been standing in, “This isn’t what many consider a pleasant place.” He wouldn’t seem at all bitter though. The boy in all honesty seemed pretty… happy. It might have been odd considering everything that he had been through, but he had only gotten more and more good news. Max was probably the happiest he had been in a long time. The smile across his face wouldn’t budge.
 
“The monsters are out in the lands surrounding Kumo. There might be some places you will need to use chakra control to walk on the marshy terrain so that you don’t end up waist deep in… well, rot water.” The boy would walk onwards, slowly as to make sure that the two of them didn’t get separated. It wasn’t that he underestimated his peer, but that it was always safer to travel in pairs while in dangerous lands.
 
Realizing that it was going to be a quiet and awkward trip if nobody said anything, Max would break the silence. “So what are your strengths? If we do manage to get in a mess out here, it would be best to know what one another can do so that we can react accordingly.” It might have not been the most interesting topic, but it would serve the purpose of not only dispelling the silence, but also informing them of one another.
 

“I’m a ranged specialist. I focus on using my pal Napa here to keep the opponents at a distance.” He would say as he used his thumb to point to the mummified puppet on his back. “How about you?”

The ninja in her took over once Max started talking about the rot monsters. They were dangerous, he told her, with the ability to slow her down with some tar-like substance. Saya had never encountered such a technique, leaving her slightly disturbed yet apathetic. It was one of those things she just had to experience to really get it in her head. She tried to imagine it in her mind, but all she saw were goofy animations of a shadowed creature trying to spit at her.

She kept at an easy pace with the younger ninja, wrinkling her nose as they neared their destination. The blonde boy continued to inform her of the things outside of the inner district. It was all relatively similar to the stories she had heard, and it was a bit surreal to someone as privileged as her. A sort of childish excitement coursed through her, almost blinding her to Max’s mood. Almost.

While Saya was on the high of seeing rot monsters and exploring the odds and ends of Kumo, Max was more than familiar with the area. Odd was what she wanted to call him. Why would he be content in living around such conditions? And, this just occurred to her, but who was Napa? Saya had missed her fellow genin “listening” to his other companion, and so she found herself slightly confused. She wanted to ask him about “Napa” but the topic of conversation turned after a moment silence. That was probably her fault for keeping her mouth shut when she wanted to ask about things.

”I’m not too sure,” Saya admitted. Her hand clenched slightly when she realized that she wasn’t that great at fighting. ”I guess I’m pretty speedy and I can heal minor wounds, but I’m not sure how I’ll stack up to the rot monsters.” Not knowing how she compared to her opponents scared her. Always had.

The academy spar sessions had been easy, but only because everyone was predictable. They used the same swing and tactics taught by the teachers. It wasn’t hard to counter them, but that also meant that she also used the same style. Her mother, of course, had been quick to deter Saya from sticking to one style. Fighting against enemies that she knew nothing about was a bit frightening.

”Is Napa your...” As their surrounding changed the more they neared their destination, Saya glanced at the wrapped up mass on Max’s back. ”Puppet?” The girl’s tone was hesitant. Though it had taken her a while to piece it together, Saya didn’t want to unintentionally insult him by calling Napa a “thing” or a simple tool. At least that’s what she took from him whenever he mentioned the marionette.

Max would listen to Saya speak as if she weren’t a capable shinobi. “You passed the exam to make it to Genin. You shouldn’t doubt yourself, especially against the silly rot monsters. Plus, they really aren’t the brightest of folks. I wonder what made them the way they are…” The boy would say as he used the Water Walking Tech to walk across the swampy marshlands. Luckily such a trip had been fairly normal for the boy, but he was hoping that
 
He had been in this area before, as this was one of the areas he frequented to mess with the monsters. Looking around he would spot something moving around, the water rippling from the motion. Max would look back to Saya and place a finger to his lips, signaling to her to stay quiet. He would then point at the beast, making sure that if she hadn’t noticed it for some reason she would be able to do so now.
 
With a whisper, Max would speak “That’s one of them. It is quite formidable it you get close to it. Luckily we shouldn’t have to worry about it from here. Wanna throw stuff near it and see how it reacts? It’s normally pretty fun!” The boy would ask in an excited whisper as he scans the area for any floating logs or such to launch at the creature. Spotting a nearby stick, he would walk over and pluck it from the swampy waters.
 

He would of course wait to make sure that Saya both wanted to see the creature react and was ready before he would lob the stick near it. He would avoid hitting it directly, as that might manage to truly provoke the beast and cause it to chase them.

Max’s words touched her. That was kind of him to say something in hopes of encouraging the dark haired girl. She smiled at the blonde child, following a step behind him as they surface-walked through the marshes of Kumogakure. Though what he said was true and it did make her feel better about herself, Saya was still apprehensive about her skills. Mostly due to her lack of offensive techniques. Call it greed or fear, but Saya hungered to become stronger.

”I guess you’re right. Thank you.”

Going to see the rot monsters would be somewhat of a challenge to her. Even though her companion had said that they weren’t all that smart, the preteen still wasn’t confident in her combative skills. More so when Max stopped their trek and pointed out a figure in the distance. She took a step forward, her amethyst eyes narrowing in concentration. The rot monster was standing still, swaying slightly though Saya had thought she was just imagining it.

Seeing Max pressing a finger to his lips, she nodded in understanding. She swallowed thickly, watching both in excitement and trepidation of her guide’s actions. Just as he had spotted a stick, Saya had found one a few feet away and picked it up before walking back to Max. ”Yeah!” Saya whispered back, hands clenching in front of her chest. ”You mentioned it earlier, but they were made like this?”

Her eyes shifted over to him when he threw his own stick at the creature. Though it remained still for a mere second, the rot monster cocked its head towards the sound of water splashing before it began to shuffle its way over. ”What else do they do? You said that you played with them from time to time.” Saya was curious.

Max would simply smile as he watched the creature move. It was quite the sight to behold, as the creature was more beast than man at this point. The stick was attacked with haste, the creature not seeming to be happy about the intrusion. 

When asked about them being made this way, Max wasn't sure how to answer. He knew nothing for sure, though his travels around the town have always made him pick up on things said by the villagers. His tone shifts from happy to a much more somber one, "I heard that they are the husks of those that doubted the Raikage and resisted his rule. I don't know whether or not it is true, but I could easily see it being the case. The Raikage has done..." Max cuts off here, not wanting to go any farther down this train of thought. Some of his thoughts would easily be considered treasonous, and he didn't want to cause any rifts between himself and his new friend. He would shake off the thoughts and his tone would change back to a happier one, "Of course that is just a rumor! Who knows for sure if it was true or not? I surely don't." 

When asked about what else the monsters could do, Max would smile and find yet another stick. "I' could tell you, but I'd much rather show you." He would say this while visibly connecting his chakra strings to the stick. It wasn't going to be as effective as it would be with a puppet, but Max had little intentions of engaging the creature with a 'real' target, especially if what happened next was what he had expected. 

Using his chakra, Max would lift the stick up and guide it over to the beast. Using it much like a bat, the boy would strike the creature several times before it would let out an odd scream of sorts. It would then spray a thick, viscous substance. It completely coated the stick and two more rot beasts would rush towards the stick and hit it with their own spray. The stick would be rather heavy and Max would let it fall to the swamp as the three beasts attacked away at it. 

"See they can call for backup, along with that nasty stuff they spit." The boy would finally say in hushed tones. They would have to be even more careful now if they were going to avoid detection.