Welcome home (Private/IO)

Miyamoto, Terumi...no longer a boy, but not a man...lost to despair, and given in to his more basic instincts.  The years had not been kind to him since he decided to leave Hoshi the first time, and now he was alone...no tears left to cry, and even if he wanted to...there was nobody to shed them over or with.  

The sixteen-year-old sole survivor of his family was just awaiting his trial, as the last time he remembered throwing someone in this dark and damp place...they died promptly after, but yet he was still alive.  

Why...

The teenager smiled, his black hair had turned ashen and his face had even begun to transform to a look more of his father than anything, but one would not know it in the darkness that was the Hoshigakure Dungeons.  Perhaps he would be a slave, or perhaps they would just extract his blood and use him as a dumb lab rat.  He did not care, fuck them, in his book the villages had nothing but blood on his hands.  His mentor left him, his friend and rival let him leave without even a word of advice, those closest to the young Terumi had turned their backs, and he just felt that old voice in the back of his head finally came back and reared its ugly head.

"Miyamoto...my old friend, we have not talked since your mother's death...it felt good to do away with the ties of this world didn't it...remember the power you wielded...remember the strength you so desperately pleaded for...I know I do.  Remember, we are the same after all, only death separates us...and still, you live and they even feed you.  Would you like to leave?"  Miyamoto breathed in and then exhaled as he felt the steam roll out of his mouth as he wanted to rage, to let loose...yet he was in chakra sealing shackles, and as he opened his eyes the familiarity of the cell he had been staying in for nearly two months became clear.  A tray of fruit had even been placed there for him to eat at his earliest convenience, and he wanted to ignore it, but his stomach growled in such a way that he felt the hot water feeling in his mouth as he was at the point of severe hunger pains.


"Yet here I am...guess I will prolong the inevitable."  He walked to the tray and ate the fruit, surprisingly each time he would bite into something that he thought would be rotten and given to him out of pity...it was the opposite.  He remembered the komodo's in the Dragon's Ravine...their hospitality he just ended up betraying when he left the village.  He would probably never understand emotions or these feelings, and he even chuckled as he thought about it some more, and that laugh grew into something that was more menacing and confused rather than jovial but it would still be unsettling to hear it.  
"When I leave, and I will leave...I will find those fucker's that are overly responsible for the bad things in this world...and I will turn them to ash, for in this damned world there is no such thing as justice...but if I have to be the bad guy so others can be happy...then it won't be too bad to die by the blade someday, I would even take death now if they offered it...knowing Hoshi though, they won't just kill me outright...they are weak."  Miyamoto said as he finished the fruit, throwing the core's and seeds back to the plate before going to the center of the cell and sitting down to meditate.  As the world faded to black once more, he had a singular goal in his head...


He must get stronger...


WC:402

The rusty iron hinges of the wooden gate of the dungeons screamed as beams of light burst into the darkness. The rays of the outside world dispersing the shadows of the imprisoned man's cell. Two figures would make their laborious descent of the steep serpentine steps of the shithole that serving as the living quarters of the returned shinobi.

One, an elegant woman with eyes in the color of sapphire blue. The other a thin tall man with mismatched eyes. With his white cloak, Akabayashi Terumi looked like a ghost wrapped in seats. For her it wasn’t the fastest pace, to be honest, the corkscrewed steps on the interior were long and narrow, while her legs were still and sore.

When they reached the front of the cell, a smile formed on Shina’s face. Of pity or enjoyment that could not be said. However, she would let the boy traitor decide which one was worse than the other.

“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey” She playfully said her voice echoing in the steep cold walls of the dungeons. “Last time we talked you were a Chuunin on the rise to fame. I remember giving you a special mission back then. I have to admit few men live to their promise as well as you..." Miyamoto Terumi did not show much eloquence since he had been captured near Amegakure.To anyone that wasn’t the voice in his head anyway. Getting a reaction out of him would be a good start.

WC:244

Descending the spiral staircase, all the Nova doctor could smell was a sewer. While it was reminscent of his own capture at least they were feeding the kid. Based on the plate that sat inside the cell. On the stone floor sitting in the center of the cell a teenager who seemed to be in meditation. Shina would begin to speak as Akabayashi took the medical chart off the wall next to the cell. It listed details of his mental state and current physical condition. From a pure bodily aspect the kid was fine it seemed, his capture didn't cripple him in anyway. His mental state the complete opposite he was undoubtedly suffering some form of mental breakdown.

Glossing through the file he would see the name at the top Miyamoto Terumi. He was one of the Nova's clansmen, perhaps he was brought to speak to the kid as head of the clan. However until this psychosis was cleared negotiation would likely be off the table, maybe the other reason he had been brought. Akabayashi knew a thing or two about odd mental conditions with Kyousuke and Loghain he was becoming quite the expert. 

Finally, looking back at the one in the cage he would address him. "I am Akabayashi Terumi, Doctor of the Nova Corps and head of our clan. Care if we ask a few questions? Great. Why did you leave the village?" The Nova left no room between asking if Miyamoto cared and just saying great. It was clear this was an interrogation from his tone and body language. 

WC: 262

Hearing the words of a familiar female voice, he perked his head up...they were going to resort to this tactic after all eh?  Interrogations sure are fun, and then another presence walked down with the female, this time an almost familiar feeling swept over him which made his eyes glance up as he finished his daily routine.  He remembered the female, she had given him a mission that would have made him a jounin...it was what started this spiral that leads to this, and then the male presence spoke.  He introduced himself as a doctor of the ever so popular Nova Corps, and head of the Terumi Clan...what a joke.  The Terumi spoke and asked if he would not mind asking a few questions before answering that same question, leading into the ever so popular “why did you leave?” question.

Was this a game of chess, or were these two honestly thinking I betrayed the village?

“Firstly…”  He began with a sigh as he stared directly at the Doc from the Nova Corps.  “I was the Clan Leader of the Terumi long before you were considered the head, inherited from my father Worr Terumi, the fallen...slain Kage of Amegakure.  HE was the head before me, and now you hold that title, interesting but...not out of the ordinary since I was more or less considered dead until I was found alone in the ruins of a home I never knew.”  His eyes bored holed through the male as he took a glance over to Shina.  “I have been awake since I have been here, there is no rest for the wicked right...as the old adage goes.”  He then sighed and stood up and pushed the hair out of his face as he popped a few joints loudly and stretched.  “Next, as for your question on why I left.  Well, that was simple, I completed my missions, trained to become a jounin through the tournament, but failed to see it through.  Finally when my mentor left for the Kage summit, and my friends left or died here...the invasion of Kumogakure put me and my family in a tight spot, so at the end of the day...I chose to side with who I thought would let my family leave alive...there was no betrayal, I’ve never harmed a Hoshi ninja or citizen...I chose to survive, what else is a young kid supposed to think when faced with an impossible choice.”  He walked to the bars of the cell to show his face, his changed features, his scarred appearance…

“In the end, my choice only led me to forsake my family even if I tried to do good, in the end, I relied on luck more than I should have tried to make things work here where my home was...now I am the last of my particular family’s bloodline.”  He would then look at the male Terumi once more.  “Finally, I just wish to rid the world of delusion...I want to destroy those that seek to persecute and harm the innocent...I will not remain in this cell. If you both are here to get something out of me, you’ve already heard it. Tell your Kage...whoever it is now...that I seek asylum until Kumogakure is pacified. Then I will move on.”  

Miyamoto would just look beyond them and at the wall. He was not going to mince words...he wanted the fastest root to the outside world.

Wc:588/990

It seemed the kid still had some life in him as answered the Nova's taunt about who was in charge. From there the "kid" decided it was time to play on pity, something A long standing member of Hoshi wouldn't fall for. Akabayashi's parents died when he was young killed by the villagers of Haven before he was even ten, the person standing before him was really a "kid" as he described with the mentality of one to boot. Standing there after being stared at Akabayashi had half a mind to inform the boy of his actual age of sixteen. No one would see him as a child in the village Hidden in the Stars and as a chuunin no less. He was an adult by any description of a shinobi, in any village.

The man's face would stoic as usual throughout the conversation, but underneath the mask he wore, he wondered why he hadn't set the "kid" on fire yet. Prisoners didn't get to speak freely within the presense of Akabayashi when he asked a question he only wanted what was asked answered nothing more and nothing less, this is likely why Shina came. To keep the Nova's interrogation in check. You can't go hurting the friend of the kage, without repercussions. 

Shina would jump into the conversation after Miyamoto was finished. Addressing his current and past behavior. She would finish with telling the prisoner of why the two had come and to stop the pissing contest. The Nova would jump into the conversation immediately after.

"I am here to assess if you are capable of the assignment, physically and mentally." He would say looking quickly at the medical charts. "The mission we have is rather difficult and we need to know if you are all there. When did the talking to yourself start and would you say you are always cognitively there?"
WC: 312

His remarks and voice were met with reticule, a typical response in an atypical situation.  He listened to Shina who said he should have been a poet...it almost solicited a smile from the Terumi teen.  He remembered his missions, and out of all the ones he had completed he had one failure...and then to be informed by Shina that Kumo is no more and to hide or fight from and he wanted again...to smile...there was always evil...you just had to know where to look.  When he was informed that he was listed as a traitor, he wanted to blurt out “WELL NO FUCKING SHIT!”  Yet he did not...this was just an interrogation and he just did not care enough for this to continue.  There was the quip about the pissing contest with this other Terumi, but Miyamoto knew the ninja of the village when he was still there and this man was not someone he remembered...yet he was the head of the “successful” Terumi family…

Fuck em’...

The thought was brief, but the anger he had in his eyes was just a flash, and his muscles remained calm.  Miyamoto was not like a beast backed into a corner...he was just...himself...a ghost of the Terumi Clan.  Finding out his rival was not the Kage made sense, and then to be offered a chance at being free he gave a sigh as if to say “can we move on?”  Miyamoto was no charity case, he hated being weak, but he did not desire to fight this blatantly pointless struggle of words.  They would see it one way, he would see it another...such is the beauty and curse of free will and thought.  Then he was confronted by the man again, asking if he was capable mentally and physically, then he said that the job he was assigned to do was difficult and he needed to assess that he had what it took to make sure the job was completed. 

“If I was not capable mentally or physically, you all would have killed me in the field or executed me by now.  I came willingly, and now you want to make sure I can perform a difficult mission...Senior Terumi, you wound me.  As for if I am capable or not...if I die it is no skin off of your backs am I right?  You would lose a lone traitor, someone that is incompetent in your eyes.  As for the voice in my head...it started when I left Amegakure when I was a child if you are telling me that excludes me...well then I guess the talk is over.”  He was blunt about it, he could see that there was no merit in speaking with these two further, and also that there stood nothing to be gained.  “However, if this is a matter of a mission...just give it to me already, nothing in writing, so I can be sent off to dispose of whoever I need to dispose of for Ayato…”  He sighed and leaned back against the wall, his eyes finally revealed as he just stared ahead, not even at either person.  “For the official record, the reason we left was that I was a ninja and was expected to leave Hoshigakure, did you all never look through my house after I left?  I had to submit or be allowed to leave...but, this talk of my past is irrelevant at this point.  I am ready to see what is in my future.”  He said before looking straight at the Terumi that was sent to judge him, he did not break eye contact.

WC:615/1,605

SIDE NOTE:  Italicized text is inside of his head not aloud

Within the first half of the hour, the kunoichi fell into a natural rhythm, dedicating herself to what she did best - convincing others. A few moments passed until the guy broke down, she realized and maybe it was time to go home.

Only a few minutes in the former hero’s company were enough for Shina to gauge that he wasn't as helpless as he looked. 

“Tell me wonderboy, have you heard of the coffee shop at the crossroads?” The Kunoichi asked. Of course, everyone in the village knew what kind of business The Coffee Shop offered.  Everyone knew the types that would come in and look for work in that missing-nin hub. They almost always dressed in black, sometimes even in a ridiculously expensive suit. Their eyes often looked through you, held a blank gaze, a stance that radiated an air of ‘don’t mess with me.’ They were there for a job. They came, they went. Civilians feared them for a reason they knew.  That place could be described as an insult to the village, existing only a few miles away from Hoshi gates. 

“You are going there to try their coffee and talk. Of how distressed you are, and the desire to take vengeance on the village. Steal a page from Sasuke Uchiha’s book for all I care and rehearse it a hundred times. The Coffee Shop manager is a hard man to fool. But Lazy Leo, one of the main patrons there, has been on Hoshi's payroll for a while now. “

Or rather Hoshi’s mercy, the former Iwagakure shinobi had been caught red-handed with a stolen shipment of weapons ready to be sold into a nobleman from Bird Country. The nobleman had revealed himself to be Dusk, a Hoshi Jounin in disguise. And the only choice that was left for Leo was either the noose or become a snitch.

“He is a scumbag so whatever happens don’t think about doing right by him. He will never be your friend, Lazy Leo sells out his friends.” Shina made it clear.  “But with his vouching, we are one step away from the Coffeeshop manager bringing you to Jack Skellinger. Apparently, the crime boss is looking to recruit people for a heist job.” Jack never tried to match Hoshi’s power, sword for sword. But used Guerilla warfare that outmaneuvered all of those sent to exterminate him.

Upstanding village shinobi going missing out of the left-field was going scream set up, and Jack Skellinger was smart enough to see it coming from a mile away. Capturing a random missing-nin and having him play the part was not going to cut it either.  It had to be someone who could claim closeness to the current Kage. In Ayato’s case, with such a long spike up his royal ass, it was hard to even find enlisted shinobi who had that pre-established friendly relationship with him. 

Miyamoto fit the profile and was notoriously known for betraying the village. His capture and subsequent imprisonment were done in absolute secrecy. That’s why he was kept here in a different location than anyone else. 

And even if somehow the criminal gang were not interested in his talents. With how big the vultures people do get for bloodline limits and with the kid carrying two of them in the same body. He was in their own street slang “free real estate”. Too prime the fruit to resist taking a bite out of it.

“Once you get confirmation of the target. Once that degenerate pops up his ugly head to welcome you into his ranks or otherwise, you are to blast him to oblivion.” Miyamoto had always been fearless and kind of a wild card in truth. Willing to burn down a fucking forest to kill one guy. The threats to the half-mad lad’s life wouldn’t have found much success since all of his closest relatives were dead now. But at the same time the kid too prideful to just die in silence. If he was to die anyway for the crimes he had committed, he could be convinced to go out with fireworks. And take some fuckers with him. 

“If the mission is a success…” Shina paused for a moment. She was holding an iron key between her fingers. The fine red polish at the end shining from the light of the dungeon torch.“It shall be recorded that your departure from the Village Gates a year ago was a ruse as a double agent. And all actions you had committed since then were fully sanctioned by Hoshigakure to establish your cover with the Missing-nin groups that were a threat to this village and its people.”

She said as a key turned and the sound of iron hinges echoed into the damp air of the underground prison. The door of the cell was now open.

WC:800

Miyamoto of course knew what Shina had thought of him, her eyes were solid yet the inflection of her tone betrayed her perception of him.  Not that he cared, he was called worse, and berated far more than these two ever knew.  When she asked about this coffee shop, Miyamoto nodded and looked at her.  “I have heard about it.”  Was all he replied as he knew this was an explanation he needed to hear rather than to be heard.  The short and skinny was that he was to infiltrate the coffee shop, get in touch with a thorn in Hoshi’s side and then fucking destroy the place without a second thought, making sure that the target died in the process.  Once she was done explaining, she told him how he would be coming back into the village once he was done with this mission...should he accept it.  It was simple to brand one as a traitor, and even easier to spin a story turning the bad guy into a force of good.  Ninja changed allegiances all the time and he knew how fickle the world really was, even stepping out of the village gates there was NEVER a guarantee that you will make it back.  Once the cell was opened and the two freed him from his shackles he stretched, a few joints popped and his chakra began to well up inside of him once again.  As he stepped forward and out of the cell he stopped and held up a hand.  “I will complete the mission, whether I live or die...is up to me, but I am done hiding what I am.  I am seen as I am, and in the eyes of the village I am a stain, the act of treason I committed, the mistakes...all of it, I made on my own… and because of my decisions, my family died. That is never going to change, it’s part of who I am, they are not coming back. I never claimed to be a good man, even in the beginning, but I want to try to be a better one…”

Miyamoto put his hands behind his head and walked out of the dungeon, once above ground he noticed the two ninja that let him out were right behind him.  He promptly exited and made his way to the old Terumi house he once lived in, finding it surprisingly still vacant.  A sigh left his lips and tears welled up inside of him as he walked past the threshold and into the house proper.  His mother’s room was vacant and disheveled, the house had probably been looted not too long ago and well, there was not much left, and to be honest he wondered why the place had not been sold off or demolished.  After some much needed cleaning, and drawing some water, he even tested the lights to find out there was electricity...no doubt this was due to Ayato or someone…  He showered, cut his hair and then dressed in some old clothes from his brother, something that was packed away and never opened before.  The Amegakure style was still alive with his family, though this other branch of the Terumi family had him confused, he was not going to be seeing them anytime soon.

After the night ended and the sun rose up, he was already gone and past the village gates, no longer shackled by this village and now free to move on to do this mission...or to simply...leave.  The choice was completely his.

[EXIT]

WC:595/2,200

Claiming:

Shark Bullet B-Rank [1500/1500]
Thousand Water Needles x100  to make it [1500/1500]
600 WC to Great Fireball Technique upgrade to C Rank [600/1000]
44 AP