Don’t call it a comeback [P,NK,IO]

The time he had been away was starting to eat at him. He had not made much progress in the sense that he trained everyday, but his mind grew exponentially as he remained among the slummy areas of the village that took him in a month earlier when he was attacked by his former friend, Gisei Uchiha. During this time he learned some deep truth in the fact that since the Kiri takeover there have been rising accounts of serial killers and the like attached to the village government. Kenjiro made it his mission to begin stopping the madness that was taking the village he called home, by storm and putting an end to it before anything grew out of his realm of power. To that end he made contacts of those in the underbelly itself, becoming the very person that had tried to kill him.

He had become Gisei as if he was a man of the slums. He won people over in the name of his enemy, because, when the time would eventually come he would make those loyal to Gisei his allies by revealing who he really was, Kenjiro Uchiha. As he returned to the slums that day he found that his compatriots were all gathered where he was staying currently. When he got here close to them he revealed to them that this was the day they got themselves armed for the coming battle that he had been telling them about. He had knowledge that the real Gisei was gathering his own troops of ninja with ties outside the village to hopefully move outside and become another missing ninja.

The team that he had gathered consisted of a few black sheep of some prominent clans in the village. An Aburame ninja, a female they all called Roach. A member of the Inuzuka Clan, shizu and his partner, a pug named choju. There was an Akimichi boy known by muscles, and the twins, mau and mai Of the Hoki Clan. The group was strong and knew how to operate in the shadows...one might even call them...shadow-runners. They were all loyal to Kenjiro, or as they knew him, Gisei. This made the work that has taken a month to do all worth it as it felt like he could take on a village with these “throw away’s” that their respective clans have shunned for some reason or another.

“So here’s the plan. We go into this guard house at exactly noon, no guards on site, it’s a simple grab and go. I threw my contact a few ryo for the info. Once we grab a few weapons, make sure you limit yourselves to small goods only...maybe a few swords but nothing that looks new. We bug out afterwards. If we happen to get spotted I will pop some illusions to get us out of harms way. Everyone good?” Kenjiro asked as the group of five thugs agreed to the plan and Kenjiro checked a watch he pocketed earlier to see that it was getting close to the appointed time as he motioned for the group to move out.

This was not the first time Kenjiro had done this, though it was the first time he accompanied his team on the job. Afterall when this ended he wanted to make sure that there was no ties to him unlike the man he was portraying. His anger boiled inside of him as he had to resist the urge not to let his inner voice become the voice of reason. His team looked at him for a moment, but nobody asked if he was alright. The person that they all knew would not show weakness, so neither did they in the form of compassion.

It took the group about 15 minutes to traverse the tops of the village buildings to get into position around the guard house. With a few seconds left to spare Kenjiro activates his Sharingan so that he could make sure the coast was indeed clear, and upon confirmation as the last guard left. The new guards did not arrive yet, so Kenjiro gave the order as he oversaw the operation.

The group was quick to move in and infiltrate through the front door as they did their job Kenjiro kept a lookout for anything out of the ordinary, they had two minutes before anyone was supposed to show up anyway.

WC:733

There were whispers, of course. Rumors. Quiet talking of musterings among criminals and rabble within the village. Little talks about order from the chaos, of... actually organized movement. Being that the Uchiha clan controlled a good portion of the military police still, some of this information was bound to have an effect on Kozachi at one point or another. So it was that the great predictive genii of the Uchiha clan had handed down to her a mission of their own devising. Not one for the village, but one that she was still bound to do nonetheless. Bound not by patriotic loyalty, but by filial duty.

It was a low level mission... one truly manageable for a genin of her caliber. The clan still didn't know about her advancements, didn't know about whatever talent she might possess. That was all very well and good. She didn't want to attract undue attention. Power brought down all kinds of misfortune, so sometimes it was better to hide it. Kozachi was getting good at discipline. Or at least, "better" could be a more appropriate term. Her outburst in the basement of the academy seemed like so long ago, now. It was a point of both pride and shame for her.

She arrived at the location of her mission, and concealed herself with ease. Waiting made her a little bit uncomfortable, but it was all for the success of the mission. There was the nagging concern that she was becoming a little agentic, but wasn't that the case with every shinobi in every village? Blegh. Of course she didn't have time to think about this crap. Outside, she heard the sound of the guard being changed. Right, that was the window that she had been told about. This portion of time, poorly managed by whoever owned this damn building, was a weakness.

Now, to count the seconds. Time ticked slowly by as she settled into her hiding place. She wondered who would have the tactical prowess to try and conceal the movements of the criminal rabble so well. Finally, she heard a slight disturbance. Just the breeze? No. She knew better than to assume that. She stood up, standing now in the atrium to the building. The front door was before her... wait, they weren't stupid enough to enter that way, were they? she thought, as she weaved some handseals. As soon as the door opened, her eyes blazed red with her bloodline.

Several unfamiliar chakras presented themselves, and were immediately faced with a rather large fireball careening down the short hallway towards them. However they decided to avoid it was up to them. Nevertheless, with this trespass, these criminals were as good as dead in her eyes. If they'd been successfully dispersed, she'd walk out, tossing her hair slightly to free it from where it'd been sticking to her neck while she'd been hiding. As she did so, fire chakra would coalesce around her, and with a few deft motions, would become grinning heads of fire, primed and ready to kill at her command.

Property damage didn't really matter to her here. Whatever she did would just be covered up by the skilled force of the Uchiha clan, and blamed on the miscreants. So, she could go all-out... just as she had grown to like.

"You'd better get out here and surrender yourselves." Of course, to her, merely shooting out some fire techniques wasn't enough to intimidate most people. She had to show cold, bitter resolve, or they'd never comply with her.

If there was a fallen comrade about (let's just assume it's the Inuzuka kid), she'd cause one of the demon lanterns to descend, and press itself into the side of his face, right about where his eye was. If he didn't receive aid immediately, he'd be disfigured for life.... just like him.

She'd give all these motherfuckers something to remember Ken by.

[WC 651]

The group dodged the attack in various ways as Kozachi made her move. The televised fireball moved quick and its destructive force was enough to alert any nearby authorities of course. Shizu and Choju were not as lucky though, going with the defensive movement instead of a dodge their earth wall was shattered like a child punching over foam play bricks. Kenjiro watched from up top on a roof as he smacked his hand against the roof before standing up. The mission was shot to hell, the chance to get enough weapons to fight Gisei would have to wait. He needed to talk with his sister, and fill her in on what is going on.

He jumped from the roof and onto a nearby tree before falling to the branch and dangling before landing on the ground in one fluid motion. He was just a single meter from his sister now as he spoke in his usual tone to his sister.

“They are following me Kozachi, let them go for now. The authorities are already on the way, it would be best to vacate the area before anyone else noticed us.” He would say as he would awaken his own Sharingan as his chakra would flare up showing his sister his true self. Next he would address his team in a different more commanding tone.
“Leave the area and do not loiter. Get back to the slums and await further instruction.” If Kozai allowed them to leave then Kenjiro would motion to a nearby wall where they could talk.

If by chance Kozachi did not let the group go Kenjiro would be forced to walk closer to her and pull his hood down to reveal the burn on the side of his face and telling her it has to do with the burn being his reason for his team getting caught, hoping that would be enough for her to go through with the above mentioned actions of letting the team go and following Kenjiro.

Once away from the commotion Kenjiro would duck down and keep his hood pulled down, or pul lit down for the first time as he would cancel out his chakra and act like he was out of energy.


“This can easily be explained...”. He would begin.

WC:380

Kozachi was about to resort to more... drastic measures when she saw a rather familiar chakra. She almost couldn't believe it at first, but then the anger came. No, not just anger. A whole goddamn cocktail of emotions. Anger, and also relief, surprise, and no small amount of curiosity. So, it seemed that he was the one behind all this bullcrap? Or at least, he was a major part of it, that by itself was safe enough to assume. Either her brother or someone with similar genius could organize half-brained pigs like the ones she'd just shot a fireball at. 

Well, she was certainly happy that Ken was alive, at the very least. But that wasn't the most pressing thing on her mind right now. She'd allow the other ones to leave, much to her chagrin, and followed Ken to where he indicated. By all rights, she should just fry them all now, but that seemed premature, given that she knew how Ken worked... or did she? Would the Ken she knew and loved have gotten himself involved with scum like this? It boggled her mind. Naturally, the moment he started talking, he began to make excuses. Man, what had happened to him?

"Ssh!" She began sharply. "I don't want to hear it." He should know better than to try that kind of thing with her. "I don't give a shit if you want to make garbage like that into your suboordinates. But you'd damn well better tell me about it next time!" Her pent-up frustration was reaching a peak, and so quickly, too. She was inadvertently giving him that angry-pouting look again. "What if something had happened to you? I would have had no idea? Why didn't you worry about me? You're SO SELFISH?!?!!" She was real close to his face now, giving him the good old fashion stage-whisper quiet yell.

Some old fuck passing by assumed the two were lovers having an argument or some shit and walked on, chuckling. Disgusting fuck. Men could get so weird sometimes. The only one she'd ever felt much of a concern for had been Ken, but now he was acting all weird too. 

Only after she had finished with what she wanted to say would she let him speak. Having already dispersed the demon lanterns, she was left with a few options against Ken, who she remembered wasn't very good in the strength department if he decided to spring a surprise attack.

[TWC 1062]

The air between them had become tense as she followed him to the alley.  It was not as dark as he would have preferred actually, so as he began to speak and she silenced him before going off on him he kept his attention on the matter at hand as he made no aggressive moves towards his sister.  He was doing this for his family after all, and when she finished he sighed before looking at Kozachi.

"I did it for my family, I am sorry you all have worried about me, but if that bastard knew that I was alive he would surely come after you next.  You have no idea what he told me when he had his blade shoved in my stomach..."  Kenjiro said as he showed the wound that seemed to scar weirdly due to the care he received.
"I took that wound and when I awoke I was patched up and sealed by third rate medical jutsu.  I learned that the ninja that did this is planning on dragging a few others along with him when he tries to escape.  So I hatched a plan to stop him.  Once I was done...I would have come back.  However, because of what just happened...I now have to start from square one."  He said as he sighed with frustration, but he was happy to his sister.

"I am, however, elated to have run into you even though it now puts you in the middle of things.  In that regard, I need to also find him and attempt to document how deep this pit goes with all these fucks attached to it."  He said as he looked at his sister hesitantly before giving her a hug, he had never been affectionate as her older brother...but still, he felt this was the right thing to do.

WC:300/1,413

For the family? She supposed that in some deluded, misguided mind, that might be the case, but her brother...? Had he really deteriorated that much since he'd left? Her anger had calmed now. Rather than a raging fire, it was now an insidious simmer. She would normally have advised him to let the other clan members take care of these things, but had she not crossed that boundary herself, in the academy basement? She couldn't say anything to that effect without bringing the same argument to bear on herself. No regrets, she thought. All she had to do was to keep moving on.

"Alright." She spoke, ensuring that she didn't interrupt her brother. "Do whatever the hell you want. Go out there, face some unknown danger alone... or worse yet, with trash like them." She spat out the word "them", obviously referring to the cohorts he'd brought with him before, and who by now had fled the scene. "Next time, just make sure I know about it." Her voice, too, was calmer now. "If you'd died, and I was left wondering, hoping that you were still alive..." She left the sentence hanging, impressing into Kenjiro just how awful such an ending would be.

She crossed her arms, glancing at the ground before looking him straight in the eyes.

"So? What are you going to do next?" No doubt, he was going to keep going with whatever this investigation was. It's not like she'd stop him. No, he was family, and she wouldn't get in his way. Still, she had a duty to the clan, and that meant that she couldn't exactly help him either. For the first time, he'd be going out there without her support. And for that...

... Kozachi felt *nothing*.

Well, not exactly. She felt a little bad, but Kenjiro could easily support himself. He didn't need her anymore, and his actions were a sign of that.

[TWC 1381]

Kenjiro looked at his sister then, she had changed, and as the wind blew through the area it was like the winds of change. Her words were harsh and cut him deeply though only metaphorically...but she was in the right to do so. He felt bad for doing what he did, but he also felt that it was the right and only thing to do. Instead of clamming up and just leaving it though, he came clean about it all.

"My plan, though shot to shit since you swooped in and decided to be the wrecking ball on the people I'm working with, though this explanation is long...stick with me here I am not a bad guy here." He started off trying to defend himself, remembering Gisei as he had helped him at the very beginning...like a mentor...a friend. Then there was the incident in the basement of the academy.
"I am doing this so that I can be at ease with all the shit that has happened with me, and with this village...I am sick of how uniquely unfair it is for anyone that doesn't want to show off to make it around here. With the new regime its either you ally yourself with the fucking devil, or you just become another number in the legion." He started in as he had to take a breath as he noticed his voice growing louder.
"I am fucking bitter, and I am determined to put the bastard that tried to kill me behind bars in a very deep and dark hole that he can't get out of. I want him to grieve for his wasted life...I want revenge. I am not like him, I have my humanity...I won't kill him nor would I do it for fun. I am going to find him and get answers so that I can turn the info into the village judicial forces." He finished as he looked at his sister, still breathing heavily as he realized he went on a tirade without realizing there were alone and there was nobody to impress...he got worked up over stupid shit again.

It was like he was wearing blinders.

WC:360/1,773

His words were... odd. The old Kenjiro wouldn't have said anything like this. What had really happened to him out there? Well, his trauma was his to keep, she supposed. After all, what he was saying really pissed her off. Was this really his new outlook on life? This went against everything they'd been taught, everything they'd ever known. How could he- no, how DARE he speak to her like that? Her face twisted in an angry grimace as she grabbed him by the front collar of his shirt, bringing her face close to his. She knew she was physically stronger than he, and was thankful for it.

"The hell are you talking about!? Whining about 'unfairness' and 'injustice'... grow up!" She shoved him away from her, disgusted. "We've known about this from the moment we could talk, and now you're complaining about it? We're supposed to endure and survive all of this turmoil, not struggle uselessly against it. Being 'part of the legion' isn't what you think it is, Ken." She quoted one of the old texts, "Weren't we taught that 'There are many paths to ascendancy, some more treacherous than others'? Have you really forgotten all of that already? The ends justify the means, Ken. If I have to align myself with this new order to get there, I'll do it. You should think about doing the same."

She wasn't quite sure how he'd reacted, and suddenly slightly regretted being so forward with him. The furious expression on her face softened imperceptibly, but she didn't back down. She'd committed to this, and her nature wouldn't allow her to withdraw so simply. Still, there was something else that pissed her off. How else would people succeed in the village without "showing off"? Distinguishing yourself from other people and out-competing them was just how the world worked. Why would anyone but the losers want any differently? She knew in her heart that Ken was no loser (how else would he have rustled this crew of horse-shit criminals together and led them?), but she was hoping that his mentality hadn't changed too much. Naturally, Kozachi wanted her brother to be strong and successful, and this didn't seem like the best course for her. If she couldn't persuade him, though... she didn't know what to do. Was she more loyal to her brother, her clan, or her village? The advent of such a critical decision was coming.

[TWC 1786]

As he spoke to her, he could feel her anger like a raging flame burning...it was threatening and at one point downright frightening, but now it was just like most people that he had seen since he left his home. Still, though he hated making his sister mad it was bound to happen since she found him this way. The grimace she showed to him before letting out her frustration gave him something to fear though. His stance changed just before she unleashed her fury.

When she pushed him and began to speak it was like venom was dripping from her mouth as she spat those words. She continued on, bringing up the Konoha always had some sort of injustice and unfair air surrounding it. However, something definitely was different about her. She had accepted the way things were in the village, and the justice she sought was different from when they were investigating that damn television channel. The way she spoke was aggressive, yet he understood why she spoke that way...there was nothing to hold back her feelings like when they were kids eager to begin their training...hell they were still kids, except now they were able to see the big picture. When she paused, he went to speak but he could tell that there were two ways to react here...this was it...this was their crossroads.

"Goddammit, Koz...I know that there is a bigger picture here, don't fucking act like I don't see it. We were both raised the same way, and we trained ourselves privately to ensure that we could escape or fix the shit that was wrong in this village. This shit..." He started as he motioned to the area they came from to the scars on his face and his chest as he opened his shirt.
"But I want...no I NEED to find this guy. He wants to become a Missing-Nin, I am not as strong as you with control over ninjutsu, I have to rely on more sly means to make sure I can do what I want...you catching me has shown me that trying to fight fire with fire will get those under me killed if I continue to act like this." He said as he stood his ground, thinking for a moment before speaking again.
"I love the village despite being taken over by Kiri, and I will capture this fuck with or without your help. I won't..." He sighed
"I won't kill him, I will turn him to the authorities once I figure out a plan. And I will go home and quit pretending to be a vigilante, but I have to finish this to stand out and find my place in the village. I know that this means we may be enemies soon, but I have to do this." He finished as he stared at his sister, not knowing how this was about to go down. He very well could get knocked out or be placed in a stance to fight his own flesh and blood.

WC:505/2,278

Kozachi's anger couldn't last for long, not with Ken, anyways. She knew better than to be upset at him for a long period of time. After all, recreant or not, he was still family, and that was what mattered the most. Calming her self down, Kozachi gave a soft sigh. Well, in the end, no matter what she said or did, her brother would do what he thought was right. It was that sort of dedication to his own perception of righteousness and justice that made him so unique... and it was that same property that she lacked. Her dedication was less to a concept and more to the concrete. The family that she belonged to, and the village that she was a part of. Things that she could see with her eyes and observe with her senses. Though she couldn't understand for what Ken was feeling, she could certainly empathize with him. 

She crossed her arms, giving him a flat, matter of fact look. She had better things to do than to stand here, lecturing her older brother. Might as well cut him loose, give him his time to pursue his project or whatever it was. But still, she'd give him the business in no uncertain terms.

"Alright. You want your chase? I won't stop you. But when you come back to us", and she made sure to put an emphasis on the 'when', "you'd better be prepared to accept whatever consequences the clan and the village impose on you. Maybe you'll get lucky and Konoha will never notice, but you can bet your ass I will." Tacitly, this was an attempt to make it clear that she still disapproved of his life choices, regardless of whether or not the village forgave him for his activities. It was no simple matter for him to pursue his own personal goals; he was still accountable to other people. 
[TWC 2103]