Recollection [P]

Sat Jan 27, 2018 4:46 am

Damon looked outwards towards a crystal clear lake in the northern forests of Hoshigakure. The chuunin was sitting, with his knees drawn up to his chest, resting his crossed arms atop them. He had never quite been here before, instead most of his time was spent within the city itself. The Uchiha really needed to get out more; he had spent far too long cooped up inside of the city. He thought back to before he had settled down in Hoshi. He used to be able to travel, see the world in all its splendor and all its horror. Life was two sides of the same coin, equal parts beautiful, like this lake, and horrible, like the cruel reality he was being forced to accept. Every day seemed the same now, like he had fallen into a rut. Damon found it hard to motivate himself, hard to focus. He looked down at his hands. Should I even be a shinobi anymore? The image of Kenshin came to mind.

"Now I want the two of you to truly think about this... imagine yourself in my shoes for a moment. It's a night just like any other, and you're simply doing your duty as a shinobi and standing guard over one of the villages gates. A cart approaches the gate, but you feel an unfamiliar chakra signature hidden amongst the supply crates, so you call for the driver to halt before he can exit the confines of the village. You had not threatened the owner of the chakra signature in any way, simply made note of the fact that you knew he was there... but almost immediately after you do so a veritable tornado tears through both the cart and the cart driver and flies for the gates. How exactly would you have reacted? Watching as someone that swore they would protect the inhabitants of this village tear one of those very people to pieces. Would you have let him escape? Would you have tried to capture him and run the risk of him trying it again in the future? Or would you shoulder the burden and put him down yourself? Like it or not your friend killed a civilian in his mad dash for escape... tore the poor man to pieces before he even got the chance to scream. You know as well as I that in a village like this his fate was sealed, even had I captured him the best case scenario would be him rotting in the palace dungeons for the rest of his days. Worst case... public execution, where he is painted as a demon, a monster, a murderer... he would be ridiculed and shamed for all to see before finally being put down like a rabid dog. By comparison to either of those options what I did to your friend was kind, he simply went to sleep and never woke up... he felt no pain, he did not suffer, he simply went to sleep.”

Damon looked out towards the lake with his head peeking out from his knees.

“I am not asking you to forgive me for what I have done... because if I was in your positions there is no way in hell I would forgive me. The only thing that I am asking of you is that you think about this logically. Hate me if you must, I couldn't care less... just don't do anything stupid because I did what I swore I would do the moment I put on this headband. What neither of you seems to realize is the true reality of what a shinobi is... we are not heroes, we are killers. We risk our lives to protect those weaker than us not out of the kindness of our hearts... we do it because they provide us with a place to live and continue to fill our pockets. That is simply the reality of this accursed world. If you don't like it, then do something about it, try to change the course of the world just as many others have done in our bloodstained past... and die just like all the rest."

The boy shook his head, trying to throw the memory out of his head. His rate rate increased at the mere memory of the stitched and scarred jounin, causing him to look around and check his surroundings. Why am I letting him have such an effect on me? But try as he might, Damon could not forget that day. It was etched into his mind, into his thoughts, into how he chose to look at the world. There was no forgetting that night, Kenshin’s speech memorized.

”I am simply so detached that I simply don't care.... this world could burn and I would do little more than rejoice. Because maybe... just maybe, something truly beautiful could be born from its ashes."

Damon stared at the still water. Is that my fate if i continue down this path? After a moment, he stood up and brushed himself off, determined to direct his focus. “Alright, let’s see how this summoning contract works.” He signed the seal of confrontation and placed his hand on the ground, performing the summoning jutsu. This was not for his specific summon, but rather the particular wolf that held on to the summoning contract. The relatively small wolf was only about 5 feet long from nose to tail, and about 3 feet tall. He was also one of the few of its kind who was able to speak like a human, which meant that Damon knew his name. “Hey, Kipa.” The wolf looked around, taking in its surroundings. “Damon? What a surprise, I haven’t seen you since the feast.”

---

Trees surrounded him, nearly blocking out the skies above. In the distance, he heard wailing, but he had to ignore it. That was not his plan. The trees were different than the ones in Hoshigakure, in Haven Country. No, this was a different beast entirely. He trekked through the wilderness, searching for summons. Yurei had been bragging about his own summons, so Damon knew that if he were to stand any chance in the chuunin tournament that was taking place soon. He was aware of his own shortcomings, how much he had been slacking in his training habits by a long shot. He was probably heavily outclassed in the upcoming rounds. This had led him to seeking out a summon to make up for his shortcomings, in the same way that Yurei had. Especially if he were to face Yurei, he would need a summon in order to clash against his owl. The Uchiha had always had a fondness for the moon, so he chose to seek out a race that shared this fondness: Wolves. While it was true that Hoshigakure had its own wolves, he did not want to risk facing someone in combat and having a shared summon. No, it was better to go at it alone in regions he was still familiar with back from his traveling days.

He looked up at the faint stars shining in the sky with a smile, the day fading into night. He missed this. Being in one spot for so long was starting to wear him out; he was a free spirit and needed to roam more. The only reason he did not leave as often as he liked was due to the pressing dangers faced outside of the village walls. Especially now, because of his eyes. Kenshin had had a sharingan as well, but he was no Uchiha. No, he had it transplanted, like mentioned in the book Damon possessed in regards to kekkei genkai. He just did not want to be targeted for his bloodline. He needed to get stronger.

Howling came from the distance. Exactly what he was searching for. Wolves. He continued through the forest until he reached the treeline. Looking out, he saw a large city that seemed to expand to the mountain tops themselves. The Village Hidden in the Clouds was well named. The boy marveled at the sight before looking down towards the gates. He could smell the stench of death from his location many meters away. How does anyone live there… His thoughts escaped him as he traveled away from Kumogakure, towards the sounds made in the night.

The full moon and stars had been his only guide through the mountainous landscape. The howling became more scattered, seeming to come from several conflicting directions. Each time the boy changed his course, he found himself more confused and lost. His pathfinding had taken him back into a large forest, with the largest trees he had ever seen, some up to even 50 meters tall. That was when he had heard the whimpering. Running around a variety of flora, Damon found himself running across a small, pale wolf, roughly 1.5 meters in height and 3ish meters in length. It seemed to be injured, but one could never be too careful. Damon hesitantly approached the injured creature with caution, trying to get a read of what was causing it so much pain.

Upon further investigation, the wolf snarled at him, trying to get into a defensive stance. The Uchiha spoke in a soothing voice, trying to calm it down, “There, there. I’m not here to hurt you.” As the story goes, Damon spent some time taking care of a thorn in the scary animal’s paw. A classic. After he had taken care of it, he looked around and noticed that he had been watched all the while.

Damon was soon led to an enormous cave surrounded by wolves, all tearing into meat. There was not much else he could do besides follow their customs, lest he insult any of them. Damon looked at his portion of red meat, but he was not going to eat anything rare. Instead, he quickly one handedly signed the seals for Fire Stream, cooking his meat until it was at least medium well. The sounds of eating would soon come to a halt, their meals all scarfed down like that of… well like that of hungry animals. Damon had finished most of his portion by the time dinner time seemed to be over. He looked up, where wolves made various noises in communication, some using head motions and other body language as well. Some spoke in the human language, but Damon was too far away from them to hear what they were saying...

---

“Damon, you there?” Kipa said to the dark haired boy. “You just looked off into the distance and went really quiet.” Damon rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was just lost in thought there. Do you mind showing me the contract?” Kipa responded by opening his maw, and allowing for a scroll to come out, thankfully saliva free as it fell to the ground and extended itself. There were not many names before his, but the most recent one before any blank spaces had several characters on it, written in blood.

ウチハデイモン

Uchiha Damon.

He was not entirely sure as to how summons worked and planned to find out. His chakra levels were high in comparison to his other attributes, aside from his speed. He was curious as to what level summon he could muster. “It’s pretty self explanatory. Just think back to your time in our land and try drawing one of us towards you. Try not to summon me in battle, though, I’m not much for fighting.” It was rather odd in the wolf’s society, as they regularly held trials of strength, whether it be through their own style of taijutsu or ninjutsu. Their culture surrounded fighting, and Damon was forced to beat one of them by fighting. “You use your chakra in order to determine who you’re going to summon. One of us will appear depending on how much you use, as long as you made a good impression on them back in the Land of Lightning.”

I can already picture him… Damon grinned as he bit his thumb and placed it on the ground, using the summoning jutsu. The wolf in reference was to one of the largest he had seen in the cave. A goliath with silver fur and intimidating black eyes appeared from the smoke, its hot breathe escaping its nose and blowing away the smoke. Faint traces of lightning dashed around its body, emanating his raw power.

Assert your own dominance. He clenched his fists and stared down the beast. The two remained locked in a gaze for a few moments before the wolf seemed to accept his confidence. He stretched his shoulders and looked at Damon from his impressive height. “Alright,” he said, trying to keep his voice level. “Do you have a name?” He looked at Kipa after waiting a moment, looking up at the giant mass of muscle and fur and whispered to the side, “Does he have a name?” Kipa began to open his mouth but a earth rumbling snarl cut him off. “So, you won’t tell me your name. I guess I’ll have to name you then.” He looked up at the beast, its canine form reminding him of Esu. “Akio.” The wolf seemed to accept its name, potentially curious of the meaning behind it.

--Exit--

WC: 2289
Claiming: 11 stats, remaining 1500 holiday WC and 25% coupon towards Akio (1500/3750), WC (2250/2250) to unlock the summon

Sat Jan 27, 2018 10:01 am

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Recollection [P]

Recollection [P]

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