And so the band played on...

"Well, he is still out then.........". Maku would say. Even as he did though the body before him twitched, unseeing eyes flicked left then up before looking at the floor again. Clad in his full war attire, the Raikage hat sat princely on his scarred brow.

His friend had gone through many changes to attain the power he was after. Maku could feel it radiating off him, eating away at the energies of the room. Food had been left on the table but had long since rotted away, yet untouched. The servants of the kage dared not enter here. No one with hope of life entered here.

Maku stood in his new war attire. His cloak had been tailored to fit better as an under cloth to buffer his frame from the carbon fiber construct. How fitting he stood before Youka Tau in an armor he had worn to go to war, though it had looked much different at the time.

"Well, what did you want?" He would say cooly. The clone of Youka would step from the shadows. He had trained Akuoy with some of his own space time, and he had developed more. The creation had called and he had answered. Normally they didn't get on, which was ironic given Youka was his only true friend. However in light of what stood before them, they had opted to put it to the side. For now, Maku remained serious.

Forcing back a sneer the living clone didn't rise to the bait. Such was the man, an annoyance. Yet one that commanded great power behind the guise of a fool. Youka had I trusted much to the clone, including ruling should he have died in his quest to claim the plague. The plague prince now however, lay humbled by the grief of man.

"Lord Mortarion entrusted this to me, when you first came back.....". He would say in hushed tones looking at his master. The trickster had placed him under some genjutsu, he didn't know what he was seeing, but there was little doubt it was a visiage of rest. "The plague lord said should he be incapacitated you should have it". Pulling out a scroll sealed with a symbol for decay he reached out for it to be taken by the blonde haired idiot.

It made him sick that these two were above him. That he had been created and forced into their subjugation by rules of his word. Yet, that was the way of survival, and that had always been his way. He said he would watch over Mortarions body, he had. He said he would protect kumo in his stead, he had. He said he would deliver this message, and so he had.

Reaching he took the battered parchment. It looked older than it should, but everything the self proclaimed lord of decay touched these days looked that way. Really, if looking and having possessions this ugly was the price of this power, he would pass every time.

"Thanks clone." Maku would say unable to give the slight. He knew how much the creature despised his disposition in this world, and this small slight was easy to deliver.

Opening the scroll the wax seal would break with a satisfying feeling. He licked his lips, before they turned to a frown. He spit on the paper before balling it up, and tossing It to the side of the room. "Damn you................may the gods damn you as they surely have damned me." He would say to the unseeing and I hearing body of his friend.

Stepping forward he would slap the man, before leaning in, kissing the putrid priest on each cheek. His lips burned from the touch, but he relished in the pain. The Kyuubi could heal him later anyway. "Fine, but when you wake up, I'll have a job for you." He would whisper into the man's ear so only he could hear. "You've missed so much, I'm doing what you asked, you better hold up your part."

Reaching he would lift the hat off of his head, holding it loosely in his left hand, the akatsuki ring catching the light of the lone candle in the room.

Watching he was puzzled by the mans actions until he lifted the hat. The meaning of the action hitting him a second after it happened. "You've got to be kidding me!" The clone would shout rushing over and grabbing the balled up paper. Unwrinkling it he would read it before tossing it aside in a similar way.

"Why you.....". He would hiss. "You who abandoned so much, who can't even even hold his attention to get through a sentence or two....". His anger was at a boiling point. His armor of sorrow clinked as his body shook. He couldn't believe what he had read.

"Calm down sport."  Maku would say placing the hat upon his golden locks.  "If you think about it, it's because I'm the only choice.  I've got a touch of expierence, a touch of charisma, and yea........". At the last word the entire room would become engulfed in golden light.  A cloud of red mist began to form around his body as his chakra was unleashed.  The pendant that danced at his breast plate took on a deeper shade of purple.  His chakra radiated out with a sensory power of 300, a display of his strength to end the conversation.

"I'm the only one who can."  His lips turned all the way up, bright whites shone.  A twitch made him snap around as it had moved in his peripherals.  However the life less body of Youka Tau made no further movements.  "Watch him for me, and look for my message."  Maku would say calmly.  

There was a lot to think about,  but Youka had called in an old favor.  He thought the man never would, but with it plain on paper in the priests script there was no way he could refuse.  They had been through so much, he was the only being living or dead who could strong arm him into doing what he asked.  

With one last look at his best friend, Maku would vanish with a snap, the same way he had arrived to return to his room in the Hoshigakure slums.  The hat stayed with him, but he brought one more thing back to Hoshi with him.  

The title of Raikage.  

(Exit.  Claiming Raikage, Making Mortarion the deputy Raikage)

Turning Akouy grabbed the knob to leave the room. His fury knowing no bounds his intent was to dispatch several more prisoners until he bled his own rage into the death throes of others. As the handle turned however, a voice caught him off guard and he felt a chill go through his spine.

The display had shaken him, and provided him with something that he had needed to escape the prison of his friend.

""Bring me water Akouy, and some bread." The voice of Lord Mortarion though soft and somewhat weak still dripped with power. The visions of his life had ceased. He had seen and lived out three lives while under the genjutsu. One was his current, taking him to this very moment. The second was what would have happened had he joined Maku in the after life, and the third if he had simply forgiven Akihana and continued down the path possibly even leaving the world of violence. In the end, all he had to do was make a choice to escape the genjutsu, and the choice had been made.

He was the plague prince, and soon the world would remember him as the true demon of shinobi.

(Exit, handing the position of Raikage to Maku (don't mess this one up like you did Yuki you bitch) and moving to deputy Kage)

Denied, as Maku has active Hoshi threads at the moment. I do not see a problem if the same claim was used after he has exited all of those threads however.

Reclaim as all my hoshi topics are exited from

Approved.