A Night at the Opera [IO, NK]

Kozai allowed the waves of the aria wash over him, like the waves of an unstoppable tide. Utterly glorious. The power of song was, of course, not a real power, but there was certainly something to what music could convey. The splendid composition and impressive voice of the singer made for something that even he could appreciate. The theater wasn't the best, but that could be improved. He could pull a few strings, have some rather generous donations made to the arts and performances here in Hoshigakure. And why not? This, too, was part of the knowledge inherent to the village.

He was sitting at the end of one of the rows, with his various paths locating around the room. His Asura, Deva and Preta paths were in various seats around the theater, not too close to him, while the Human, Animal and Naraka paths were located near the doors. Still, he doubted that he'd have to call on them, this time. He'd taken the other (living) library staff on a nice little trip to the opera. Most of them seemed bored out of their minds, which Kozai didn't quite understand. Could they not see the genius in the music?

The opera went into intermission, and Kozai stood up. Fifteen minutes. He had fifteen minutes before the glorious theater began again. Leaving his paths milling around the theater, he went out into the lobby and poured himself a glass of water. As always, he was suppressing his chakra, but it always paid to keep an eye out.


[TWC 257]

The light of the day seems to be fading away, and her time would expire soon. Most merchants and market women in Hoshigakure would be closing their shops at this time of the day to head  back home, especially for those who live in distant places. Those who closed late would have to pay the price of walking through the dark. As for Sakuragi, he was neither a merchant nor a businessman. The Divine Palm of Hoshigakure had been home all day, doing some random stuff that he  enjoys doing. He isn't some merchant who works twelve hours a days, seven days a week. Pretty boring. These workaholic rely on shinobis like Sakuragi to protect them. 


Meditation is the hyuuga's usual practice, the young genin involves himself in it so much that it had become an addiction. It seems like there's some kind of energy he draws from it, and he would not stop doing it, especially when this was what liberated him from all the pain he suffered, when his old woman passed away. 


The white eyed thought it'd be best to go out and catch some breeze , meditate on a rock or something like that.  He was dressed in his usual black cloak that reached, just below his knees, black pants, black shinobi sandals, and of course, bandages wrapped around his right arm and right leg. It was not his usual practice to go out with his village headband , the ready hyuuga would head out to catch the shadow.


“la la la la la...” an army of  angelic voices struck the area, the hyuuga could hear every high and low tone, but he could not tell the origin of the army. There are several theater in hoshigakure, so it'd hard to tell which one exactly. This is where the byakugan becomes useful. His meditation agender would immediately change to locating the theater. The white eyed would activate his dojutsu to scan the area, it took him no time to find out the active theatre, as it was well within the range of his dojutsu.


The power in song, is indescribable. To Sakuragi , it’s power is stronger than a poison’s antidote. Healing every bone and marrow and cell, is its’ forte, if one listens to the right one. The hyuuga would head to theatre, music itself, is perfect for meditation. 5 meters away  from the theater and the Opera went on a short break. At the entrance of the front door, a strange man would walk past him, the genin still had his dojutsu active, as his byakugan helped him to locate this place. Inhuman. He would notice some other folks in the theatre with inhuman body. For now, it is really none of his business. The hyuuga would walk into the theatre, taking the end of the row seat, directly beside the other guy that just left. To Sakuragi, he has probably had enough and may not come back. 


The scenery was quite beautiful, the performers were preparing for the next performance... this would be heaven on earth. 

WC: 510

Exiting this thread . Will make claims later

As the intermission wound to a close, Kozai noticed the young man walking into the theater. A curious situation, that he now found himself in. He recognized the other man, as being Sakuragi Hyuuga. *Hyuuga*. That this man was here, now, was to his mind, probably not an accident. There was a good chance he was an agent sent by the kage. Who better to scout and spy than someone who could see through any solid barrier? Simply outrageous. While Kozai had never sought to acquire the byakugan for himself, he had to admit that there was a great advantage to having such a thing.

Most importantly, however, his paths were there, and they bore the chakra receivers within their bodies. Furthermore, Kozai's own body housed the Stone of Gelel. If the young man activated his byakugan, he would be able to notice, and would report to the kage immediately. Last Kozai checked, he and the kage were not exactly on great terms... as such, this young man must be prevented from reporting to the kage at all costs. As Sakuragi passed through the 6 meter wide open doorway into the theater, Kozai would call out from the refreshment table, about 20m behind him.

"Say, you there, Hyuuga *shinobi*, what are you doing here? I would know the business of our resident military goons, especially at such an establishment." Kozai's pattern of speech would evoke more of the tone of an outraged civilian nobleman than a cunning shinobi or a librarian.

Kozai may have been dressed in normal clothes, without headband, but he was still as keen as ever to be on the watch for hidden threats. In truth, his enjoyment of the event had quickly been shattered.

The room was approximately 40 meters in width, and was square, leading into the midpoint of one side of a theater that was also square, but much larger, being 200m in width. As as a result, Kozai was standing next to a 2 meter by 5 meter refreshment table, and was directly in the middle of the room. He and Sakuragi, who Kozai was attempting to detain while he was in the doorway between the theater and lobby were the only ones in the room, but the theater beyond was crowded with others, innocents who had come for the performance.

Meanwhile, Kozai's paths would move. While the Asura and Deva paths would remain in their seats, about 50m away from the doorway in the center of the theater, the Preta Path would stand up and begin moving toward the door, albeit at a casual 5 speed, indistinguishable from the average civilian. The Animal Path, which was closer to the stage, about 90m away from the stage entrance, was in the center line directly between the entrance to the theater and the doorway, and would not move either. However the Human and Naraka paths would both move from their positions directly adjacent to the theater entrance that Sakuragi would pass through and, at maximum speed, stand directly in front of the doorway, blocking the entrance altogether, and preventing Sakuragi from moving through unless he were to go through them somehow. These specific actions, of course, would be conducted at the maximum possible speed, and power if applicable.

Kozai himself had no intention of letting another agent of the dubious kage get away from him. Yasaki had almost killed him last time by taking him unawares, and such a thing would never happen to him again.

(WC 582)

Path Stats:

The wishful thinking of the white eyed genin would become some fairy tale fallacy, as he would be interrupted by an unexpected situation. The Byakugan was still active. Infact, he was able to locate this theater, thanks to the wonderful ability of his dojutsu. 


A harsh voice would strike the atmosphere of the white eyed as he passed through the doorway that leads to the theater. Since his byakugan was active, he would immediately know where the voice came from. Also, Sakuragi could see the inhuman figures in the theatre, two of them blocking the route that lead into the theatre.  At first, the hyuuga was confused. These two rod imbedded humans certainly aren't security guards , so why are they blocking his path? 


The genin would turn around to face the man who was standing next to a refreshment table. “ Huh? What am I doing here...? I don't know what you're talking, but I'm here for the songs, The sound I head while I was coming here was really great, it got me”, he would respond to clueless man, and then continued, “ Who are you by the way? I don't think we've met before ?” he would say to the man if he's ready to respond. The man's tone  of voice was too harsh to be friendly, but the hyuuga would simply observe what would happen next. 


The hyuuga realise that even the man he was talking to have these rods imbedded in his body, is he a puppet or what? It's too early to be meddling into such things , so the boy would stay calm and observe

TWC: 777

Responding to a question with another question? This wasn't the best start to a conversation, but Kozai passed it off as the Hyuuga's youthfulness. His Preta Path would begin returning to her seat, but the two blocking the door would step aside as Kozai approached Sakuragi.

"No, we've never met, but I know who you are." Kozai would gesture into the theater. "Come, sit near me, young Hyuuga. We have something to discuss, I believe." If he was an agent for the kage, he was a very good one, and if he wasn't, then he would soon have reason to get close to Kozai very shortly in either case.

"I am the Master of Hoshigakure's National Archives. I'm sure you're familiar with it. I've heard the kage has taken some... interest in it?" Sakuragi didn't seem like the strongest fellow, but the magnitude of his chakra was astonishing. He'd seen levels like this before, of course, and it was nothing compared to the levels he'd felt from people like Echo and the mysterious entities in Sunagakure, all those years ago. Still, now that he had cornered a potential agent of the shinobi forces, he wasn't about to let an opportunity for subversion slip away.

[202]

The hyuuga guessed right. Truly they've never met before. The young lad would wonder why the stranger would suddenly question him about his presence in the theater, and even tell him to sit beside him. Regardless of the confusing situation, the hyuuga would follow the lone figure into the theater. The man made mention of having something to discuss with him. All these would raise nothing but confusion in the boy's mind. He would follow the man into the theater, and would sit beside him but would make no physical contact.

 Master's of Hoshigakure National Archives? That sounds familiar to the hyuuga, considering that he has actually been to the library once with Akabayashi. It was a moment , where he learnt about a lot of things, a moment where he learnt about the sharigan and all it stages. “ I can't really say if the Hogokage has any interest in the archives or not, all I know is that the archives housed many resources”, the hyuuga would reply to the young man. What exactly is this man up to? He was here for the theater performance, not to be on  some interrogation session. Thankfully, the break was still on, so two could still talk without much distraction.

TWC: 983

As the two of them sat down, the performance started back up again. Ah, yes. This was what he had come here for. Still, he couldn't focus too much on it, which was unpleasant. When the leader of your own village sends people after you, you tend not to notice things like music and entertainment. This is to say, of course, that Kozai didn't really believe or trust the Hyuuga, but he knew that he could still make something useful out of this predicament. The younger man had, at any rate, been acquainted with the archives in some way, which saved him a lot of time.

The fact that he claimed to know nothing of the kage's motives was disturbing to him. Time to take a diplomatic approach.

"I had some disagreements with the previous hogokage. Come to think of it, I heard a new one was appointed, and was hoping you could tell me something about him. As a master within the village, I had hopes that I could have a more amenable relationship with... whoever it is." Kozai knew that there was some kind of major conference going on internationally, but was not, as of yet, familiar with the events therein.

[203]

The show began as soon as they both sat on their seat. To think that his attention would be divided because of this stranger is not quite exciting. He came here purposely for the performance. Perhaps, something good will come out of this conversation. The man seems to have had some issues with the former Hogokage. Obviously, he isn't quite familiar with the new Hogokage, Ayato Hyuuga. At the end of the stranger's good speech, a wide laughter would strike the hyuuga's face, but definitely not loud enough to disturb the performance or other people around, “ There's definitely no way  you wouldn't have a disagreement with the former hogokage if you won't tell him your name” he would say jokingly. If the older man catches the joke, the hyuuga would expect the show-face guy to tell him his name, but if not, he would request for it himself. “ Yeah, a new hogokage was recently appointed. Hogokage Ayato, leader of the hyuuga clan and also my teacher”, he would pause for a second or two and then continue his goodman speech, “i wonder how you don't  know him, or even know his name. Were you not in the village when he was appointed the tittle, or did you just return to the village?” he would ask , and would wait for the man's response.

TWC: 1206

466 to completely learn Blade dance
740 / 2212 Sakuragi's Connection

Exiting this thread