Lament for the fallen (P)

That day was different. For the past few months, ever since he was left in charge of Kirigakure by Xyxer, Naoki was spending his days playing the political game and undertaking his scienfic pursuits in the grand academy. He liked doing both of those things and he liked how they played into his long term goals. This was a period of relative peace, a period of preparation and he had a feeling that things will start moving at a very fast pace soon, as if a storm was slowly gathering on the horizon despite the Hidden Mist always having a storm on the horizon. And so he proceeded to play the game and gather knowledge, to gain as much ground as he could, to bolster his influence in the village and possibly outside of it. That was most of his days, but that day was different. That day he decided to take a break and instead of looking ahead take a look back, and remember the faces of the past.

Stepping into the shinobi graveyard the deputy Mizukage had his manipulated fabric appear as black shirt and pants, with sash around his waist. Steps of his sandals would resound in the quiet mist shrouded atmosphere of the graveyard, there did not seem to be anybody here this early in the morning and he did not bring anybody with him either.
Stepping off the cobblestone pathway the Uchiha man would make his way between the graves. The grass under his feet would make almost no sound as he would stop at the two graves side by side. 'Gave his life for the village and his students' and 'She died a hero' is what was inscribed. These were the graves of Kaito and Nami, his two childhood friends and teammates when they were still Genin. They were buried together because they both died on the same mission, one that Naoki was leading - it was his first mission as a Jounin. While Kaito did actually give his life to protect his Genin student, Nami's death was as much her own fault as it was Naoki's for failing at leading. He has long since forgiven himself for it though. The best he could do was ensure that he did not needlessly lose any close ones again.
Standing in front of the graves Naoki would retrieve a few sticks of incense from the sash around his waist. He would ignite three, blow them out and put them in front of Kaito's grave. A silent moment would be spent collecting the memories made together before Naoki would thank his childhood friend and turn to the other one. Three more incense sticks would be made to smolder and then put in front of Nami's grave. He would spend a moment remembering their time together as well and then thank her for it, as well as apologize.

Raising his head the man would scan the field for two more graves he wanted to visit. He would slowly and silently move through the field where the dead rested, a field of sorrow. When he stopped, the grave before him was one he made himself back when he was the leader and the village was called Shimagakure. This was the grave of former head of the Senju clan - Rin, whose corpse he obtained from Denkiteki when the man visited Shimagakure. Naoki would clutch his right arm, which used to belong to Rin before being transplanted by Denkiteki to give the former leader powers of the Senju. The right hand would retrieve three sticks of incense, lighting them with simple Katon the dark gray haired man would put them in front of the grave. There were no memories to relive or thank for here, but Naoki would bow and thank nonetheless. After all, if not for Rin's wood release he would have perished in Kumogakure, crushed by Hikarishi Uchiha's technique. And he expected those Senju powers to help him even further.
The final incense offering - three sticks, would already be in his hand as he made his way to the fourth and last grave he meant to visit that morning. He would put the smoldering sticks atop the grave of the one called Sanada. He too was a Chuunin of Shimagakure and died while on a mission with Naoki, although it had nothing to do with Naoki's leadership or the mission itself. Sanada was his friend in a time of great loneliness, his best friend some could say, though Naoki did not categorize friendship that way. The Chuunin also never won a single match of Shogi against the former leader. His death came from his excessive smoking, he died of lung cancer. Naoki would recall that day, while his hand slipped into his pocket and retrieved the pack that Sanada used to carry with him. He would remember the vanilla scent of them. Naoki would light a single cigarette and exhaling a small smoke lay it down before the gravestone. And then all the loss and sorrow would hit him. It was as if everyone he has ever made friends with in this world has left him and only enemies remain. In vanilla scented mist he would feel himself crying. Some rational part of him told him to let it happen, to go through it. And so he did, standing there for a few minutes before forming a seal of confrontation and disappearing in a bubble of chakra.

905 w.
[Exit,
+4 AP
Obtaining Sigils of Virtue with 554w., spending 10,463 ryo, 215 OOC WC I had
319w. to complete training Marked Area Circle Seal with discount which was at  (431/750)]

Approved.