Bane of Hyuuga [P]

In modern history, no man has had so much involvement in the politics of Hyuuga without sharing the bloodline they covet so much so much as Xyxer had. He'd curated Haru Hyuuga from his tenure in Tengakure, enabling him the freedom to be ANBU, yet his power had come at a cost greater than the sanity of the man was willing to allow. Xyxer had little care for the emotional liabilities of his former ANBU Captain, and Haru had proven to disappoint him when the grand secret had been revealed to the head of the Hyuuga clan. The man had responded with pure fury.. disdain for his superior.. the Hyuuga never truly knew their place, believing their noble accomplishments in the faded ruins in an endless desert of time still earned them validity and credit in the modern world. That was not how it was. Here, you make your own legend, or you fuel anothers like wood to flame.

Yet alas, Aryll had been on his mind on this particular day. The silver-haired gearhead, the destined clan head for Hyuuga since her brothers unfortunate incarceration by Xyxer. He remembered their scuffle with great fondness, the man had shown great strength despite his flawed ideology.. Aryll could have been something great if she could have surpassed the frailty of her own emotional barriers. While Xyxer wandered down the roads of this district, his bandaged sword propped up from his back, the thoughts of his Hyuuga subjects in Kirigakure ran through his mind like rabid dogs. Why were the best Hyuuga within Kirigakure, rather than anywhere else?

Konoha's shinobi had failed them.

It was apparent to all who saw it that what power they held onto was little more than ceremonial. They'd fought lost and been conquered, and now they hosted the village that had beaten them. The Hyuuga could see it on the faces of those that wandered the streets, they were cautious of foreigners and at the same time they'd grown used to them.

Time and time again they'd been forced to open their village to others since their fall at the hands of Xyxer, it was an annoyance they were forced to tolerate because their shinobi lacked the ability to prevent it.

It was almost saddening to see the downfall of a village his mother had held in such high regard, their figures of legend that rested on the mountains above them holding little weight in the world they found themselves in. Komon had taken to the streets to learn more of the village, to see how life went on in the face of a lost war and he had found it distasteful.

As he turned one last corner however, his eyes fell on a face unlike the rest and untouched by defeat. The lord mizukage.

A familiar sight came across the path of the Mizukage, one that he'd only came to know recently..

Komori Hozuki.

It was queer that he no longer had the eyepatch that he had the other day, and this could very well be a henged clone of the man without it. A quick appraisal of his body yielded no convincing sheath of nuibari, and to leave such a weapon behind was foolish.. or maybe it wasn't if he had anticipated to interact with Xyxer.

The greyish eyes of the Mizukage, steadily transitioning into a more feral amber since his departure from Kirigakure due to his genes reverting back to their original form, locked onto the approaching figure. Xyxer himself directed his course towards the man he'd caught sight of, his blue hair now seemingly the lesser of two colours in his hair, with white now the primary.

He didn't bother to call out to the man just yet as he studied him during the closing of the gap. Yet he offered a light nod towards Komori during his advancement, still scanning for a sheath that could reveal the possibility of a new legendary blade to the armoury of Kirigakure.

The mizukaqge's eyes were analytic in nature. When they glanced in your direction you could practically feel him pining for a weakness, something Komon refused to show him. Kumogakure had embarrassed itself enough with Ryuka's antics, and the others losses. He'd continue in the direction of the mizukage until the man offered a light nod, probably mistaking him for his brother a misconception that they Hyuuga would take upon himself to clear.

"Lord mizukage" He'd say as he lightly bowed his head giving the mizukage the respect that came with his title, Komon believed in tradition and ceremony. "My brother Komori sends his apologies, he's sent his deputy kage and myself in his place"

"My name is Komon Hyuuga"

It appeared that Kumogakure was capable of raising their shinobi properly, with mannerisms and gestures befitting a civilised village. How interesting.. maybe the rotting corpse Xyxer had cleaved was the best thing for that redundant village. Oh, how Xyxer recalled the towering, orange behemoth roaring in the midnight sky when he was destined to descend upon that village with his band of brothers. Kyuubi. He was unsure on how he knew the name, but as of late he'd been able to put the name to the imposing beast. Had this boy been one of those to resist the invasion?

A light smile graced the features of the Mizukage, yet upon the revelation of his name there was a brief display of confusion on the features of Xyxer. Temporarily, perhaps, an emotion of weakness had been shown by the Mizukage, before his features lifted up into a wry smile once more. He'd learned how to copy expressions rather well during his years of growth. "Komon Hyuuga." Xyxer addressed the man, his head nodding a few more times while he breathed in the distinct air of the district. "You look a lot like your twin. I almost thought we met before."

Now a multitude of thoughts ran through the mind of the tyrant, pondering the strength of the polite man that stood opposed to him at the moment. Had he been at the Summit to defend his brother? Xyxer had desired the presence of his own twin, a man with the esteemed white-eye of the proud Hyuuga dynasty.. or perhaps their situation had been more familiar, and Komon had been left behind to protect the village. Such knowledge was dismal at this point, so his lips parted once more to ask a simple question, "How're you finding the district of your ancestors?"

At the mans mention of him looking like his twin he couldn't help but crack a thin smile. The Mizukages powers of observation were nothing short of brilliant. "That is the meaning of the word lord mizukage" He'd say with a faint hint of laughter. They had in fact met before, but if the leader of a foreign nation was unaware of that then Komon saw no reason to reveal it, his identity as a member of kumogakure's anbu agency was better kept secret.  

The mention of his clan however did peak his interest, ever since his days as a child his mother had lectured him about the proud and powerful hyuuga clan back in Konoha. She'd spoken fondly of it, almost as if she'd regretted leaving it. The tales and stories she'd shared with him had lured him here, in search of shinobi that matched her praise.

But its streets while grand in architecture and wealth, seemed vacant of such shinobi. And he'd begun to worry that his mother had over inflated the worth of the district behind fond memories. "My mother always spoke well of it when I was a child." he'd pause as he looked to the left and then to the right as if to search for something he was missing. "Its easy on the eyes, but I fear her stories may have been exaggerated"

There was a faint smile on Xyxer's own features as he listened incredulously to the reply of the Hyuuga male. It appeared that Komon had forgotten that not all twins were identical, yet he wouldn't call him out on such a petty thing. Instead, he would merely think it. Better to keep a man in relatively high spirits when he knew of the reputation that surrounded him, and being alone in a rather unpopulated area with the man was likely not the most soothing of events to transpire.

For a moment, there seemed to be a look of longing on the face of Komon, or perhaps that wasn't the appropriate word.. disappointment? His words that followed soon indicated as much, as the stories of his mother had festered within the boy to the point where the Hyuuga district was a grand location to him. Having grown up on the tales of the glorious Konohagakure, home to their clan.. Xyxer could only imagine the hollow feeling he was experiencing.

His own icy eyes glanced up either side of himself to look at the district that almost matched the fabled ghost clan of the Okinaga. His own experiences with the Hozuki clan had been few and far between, yet he hadn't dwelled on thinking about them much. His own ideology had vastly outgrown the confines of a single clan, yet.. origins were important. "Time defeats even the greatest of people, Komon." Xyxer responded, almost in an attempt to steady the man. He'd seen the deterioation in many phenomenal people.. to see the minds of intellectuals slowed to a snails pace due to the rigor mortis of aging.. the greatest enemy of all was to let your flame dwindle and eventually perspire. To blaze into a roaring inferno, burning passionately for all to witness and remember before your fuel was extinguished.. that was a legend.

Lifting a single hand up from the side of his body he rubbed at the corner of his lips tentatively, pausing while he thought on the peculiar situation he found himself in. The last time he'd interacted with a foreign shinobi alone he was sure there had been a fight, a time long ago.. when he was still an ANBU Operative in Old Kirigakure.. Was that the true Kirigakure? He was no longer sure.

"There is still time to rebuild the legend of the Hyuuga, even if not in the home of the clan. How is Kumogakure these days?" Interacting with Shinobi from different villages was always a hassle, what if they took certain questions as prying for intel? How exactly did you smalltalk with the shinobi of a village you may one day invade, facing said ninja on the battlefield so that the infernos could roar with intensity until one snuffed itself out before the other.

In his short life the mizukages words had proved to be true. Youka had once been an untouchable presence to him as a genin, producing enough sheer terror in his people he was able to control the entirety of lightning country through fear alone, his rot had infected the village and turned it into something truly repulsive. But even now his scars were healing, nobody had seen him in nearly a year the people of kumogakure had grown emboldened, and his rot would soon be dealt with. Komori had spoke of it before they'd left for the summit.

He'd nod at the statement, finding himself to agree with it while letting the man continue to speak.

His next inquiry came not of they Hyuuga's district, but of his own home and how it fared. Truth be told, the reigns of power were unclear, and the village was an unorganized mess, Komori needed to go public with Raikage and soon. But this was the leader of a foreign nation who seemed to enjoy engaging in conquest, so Komon would withold that information. "Better now than in the reigns of Youka and Maku" He'd shrug.

"Although our genin seem to require more dedicated training" He held no doubt that the mizukage had seen Ryuka's antics and the elimination of mara and zyxis, and he felt it better to address it then leave it hanging in the air.

"It appears we may have overlooked those duties during maku's campaign"

Faint amusement crossed the face of the Mizukage when Komon spoke about the village being in a better place without the infamous duo. He was fully aware of their nefarious nature and how perverse they had became in the corrupt world, yet they had been the silver lining for Kumogakure. Prior to them, a fool had held power in that rotten vill- For a moment, something stirred within Xyxer. Something primal. A fool had held power in that once great village, yet time had defeated it just like the legends of old. Sycophants and asinine fools handed down power down to the next lowly shinobi craven enough to do their bidding.

Youka and Maku had ended that cycle, even if they had contributed something some would call rather.. negative. Numerous sources cited how decrepit Kumogakure had became under the lordship of Youka, the man that had once feigned priesthood, yet to what deity was uncertain. Xyxer had not cared. Although, perhaps, caution could have been raised when he'd brought those kidnapped shinobi to his village.. Might makes right, they should have ousted him sooner if they were so concerned with his ruling.

Komon brought up the elephant in the village, and he could almost see the pain that was on his face from the embarrassment the shinobi had caused when he fled from the sole shinobi of Konohagakure before even initiating combat. "Strife makes strong shinobi, you should have taken them on the campaigns alongside you so they could learn how the real world works.. not poxy teachings from an academic who doesn't know what being a ninja entails." Xyxer replied, somewhat defending the ones that had been eliminated rather than gloating over their failure to the village.

A light shrug unburdened the shoulders of the Mizukage, almost as if a weight rolled off from his shoulders while he continued, "Their loss here will serve them well in understanding their place in the world. Nobody wants to be at the bottom, they'll grow from it and nurture a desire for strength. You should believe in them more, Komon." Xyxer continued on, having only found revolt in the acts of one, yet he could not be held as a measuring stick for the village as a whole, no matter how amusing that'd be.

Kirigakures leader seemed to mistake his admittance of the genin's recent failures, as giving up on them. The reality could not be farther from the truth. "You know... A friend of mine once told me, that if a villages victories are ours to share, it means the same for it's defeats" He'd say, looking to the faces of Konoha's pedestrians he'd noted earlier, It was obvious more now than ever that Senshi had been right.

"I have no intention of giving up on them, and my belief in them is not a problem" The hyuuga's eyes would glance in the Mizukages direction "Every loss kumo took in these events was mine as well" He'd pause to catch his breath, noting that the air was cold enough to see his own breath. "It's my job to make sure that we don't lose again"

"Simple as that" He'd say as he gave a shrug.

If the topic passed he'd ask a question he'd wanted to for a while. "How's Kirigakure?" Komon would pry and if no reply came he'd follow up. "After this trip I'll have visited every major village but it" He wanted to learn more about the fabled island village.