Kakugo [Private, Solo, Flashback]

It was cold.

Unbelievably cold.

It was so cold that livestock, insects, and all things living froze to death, lying on the white ground to be swallowed by the incoming avalanches. Life morphed into frozen blood. The ground froze over. The sky roared as hellish snow - innumerable in number fell from the murky horizon, brutally pelting to sheer agony anything that dared to enter its domain of purgatory. The prevailing snow and hail along with tumbling avalanches of ice that fell off the mountains of the Haven Country Outskirts left anyone unfortunate to be in there blinded with snow. Corpses - naturally preserved with - littered the domain of the natural disaster, combining with the avalanches to dye them red with blood. This world of white...was unnatural. It was as if the gods from above decided to enact their rage on the mortal realm in the form of a once-in-a-century blizzard that would annihilate all life in the Haven Country Borders. What seemed to be a normal winter day, morphed into a hellish evening in the outskirts of the Haven Country. With no warning, a blizzard brewed, indiscriminately claiming the lives of all, from the bandits to the children, to the innocent. It was as if the gods wanted all life to suffer to prove an ominous point to the Shinobi World...or, they were simply sadistic beings who took pleasure in wreaking havoc. Either way, there was no doubt that this unnatural evening was simply hell...

"Lady Misaki, we must return to the cabin! Today is too dangerous for us to make our way to the orphanage. It's unexpected, but a change of plans is necessary," A man, wearing mounds of warm bear hide to protect himself from the frigid cold spoke in haste to the woman hiking in front of him. Even when the world was seemingly falling apart, a man and woman were able to keep their form to trek through the bloody avalanches and pelting snow. "...I cannot do what you ask. If this area is snowing so indiscriminately, claiming the lives of the innocent in such a gruesome manner, what on earth will happen to the orphanage? It's only a kilometer away from here, so we must keep on to check if the people - if the children are okay. As director of the orphanage, I swore on my life that I would make sure not a single child would die in my care. Today is simply a test of kakugo." Her words were fire, cutting through the icy land that was the Haven Country Outskirts, and that fire brought life back to the man. "...Indeed..." Resolve in their blood, they continued even in the face of calamity. They trekked through the corpses littered on the ground, never unwavering nor turning back. As much as Misaki despised to see lives lost through unavoidable genocide, she couldn't lament on the dead, especially when others were relying on her. Marching through the trenches of snow and corpses for hours on end, the duo finally came across a mountain peak, the only obstacle left in sight. Thankfully, the avalanches subsided yet the blizzard was still as powerful as ever. It was set in stone; they would have to climb up the mountain, through the upward force of the blizzard, to reach the orphanage. All other paths were blocked off through the snow and mounds of corpses combined with avalanches...

"By the grace of God..."

They climbed.




Coughing, wheezing, inhales yearning for air, and bated breaths proliferated the snowy mountain peak. Being at the peak of the mountain top of the Haven Country Outskirts, the blizzard was less violent and the avalanches of blood subsided. However, the climb up the mountain was less than favorable; having to dodge those avalanches and fighting against the heavy winds of the blizzard was brutal, to say the least. That hour of climbing felt like days of arduous travel, wearing down the bodies of the duo. But at least, they could finally rest. The man, hungrily gasping for the frigid air turned his head to the environment. The blizzard seemed less intense and thankfully, there were no more corpses at the mountain peak. Many meters in front of him was a reminiscent valley that led the way to the orphanage...They were almost there. "Lady Misaki, we are almost there! We simply have to follow the path to Shugendo - huh?" The man paused as his smile dissipated; for some reason, Misaki was crouched down as if she was grabbing something from the snowy plateau. With blank curiosity, the man approached her with a hint of suspicion. Advancing step by step, Misaki's position did not seem to waver at all. It was as if she was extremely fixated on what she was grasping. Was it loot, was it a precious artifact, or perhaps some sort of old shinobi tool? The man's thoughts were running wild as he approached her, but when he looked over her shoulder...all of his suspicions disappeared.

It was a child.

Amid calamity, a child remained on the top of the mountain plateau. Amid death, a life lived on. Amid hopelessness, a fragment of hope shone like a miracle. Yes, that was the word - it was a miracle that the child held on to life so instinctively. Wrapped in a small wool blanket with little to no protection against the frozen wind, it was as if the gods took mercy towards the newborn. The newborn adorned silvery-white hair akin to the very hellish blizzard surrounding him along with unnaturally pale skin that once again mimicked the environment. Judging by his pale skin and erratic breathing...there was no doubt that the miracle would subside and the blizzard would claim his newborn life. There was only one thing the woman holding the child could do...


"I'm taking him with us," Misaki firmly decided, standing up and carrying his wrapped body. "Come, you said that that Shugendo is right past this valley, correct? We'll take this child to the orphanage and raise him with the other kids." The man, flabbergasted at her sudden decisions retorted, "Wait, what? This is too sudden - I mean, we don't even know this child's parents for heaven's sake! We should think twice about bringing him wit-" "Yes! We don't know even know who this child's parents are! Do you want to know why? They abandoned him. They left him to die in a blizzard because they couldn't take responsibility as parents to protect their newborn son. I don't want to know what type of scum birthed such an innocent child like this. I can't leave him to die," Misaki interrupted the man, replying with the force of a meteor. With that, she sighed for a moment, looking at the child with his eyes frozen shut. "...No one should have to live without having parents. Therefore, I will become his parent." She said, before trekking towards the valley. The man simply nodded silently before walking with her.


The child finally opened his eyes, revealing an emerald green color as the woman carried him. Staring at the woman with pure wonder, the woman would merely smile at the innocent child's expression.


The world materialized in a swift daze, filled with the vibrant colors of the summer day. The ethereal afternoon daylight reflecting against the clear windows gave some semblance of light. The light soon covered the entirety of the room, pushing back the seemingly eternal darkness that swallowed it whole. Gleaming brightness flickered between the eyes of the currently slumbering patient, making his eyes open lethargically. When the patient’s eyes opened, he was shocked. The room was unbelievably white and clean, with contrasting black, white, and red medical materials embroidered with the Hoshigakure insignia were stationed around the room with orderly chaos. It made him feel so at ease like he could fall under an eternal sleep and still be comforted by the tender warmth of it. The room was unfamiliar, so was the seemingly soft bed he lied on. He didn’t know who he was, rather, his past memories weren’t coming to him at that moment. Yet, even if the room and bed were unfamiliar, he had a feeling that he had been to rooms similar to the ones that he was in, but in a different position. Sooner or not, his memories slowly seeped in like a searing migraine…

The exams...

Zeo Kamigawa...

Gin Akimichi...

Memories flooded back in the understudy of Hoshigakure's once-vacant mind, infiltrating his previous thoughts and subjugating his ego. He defeated Zeo in a one-on-one duel during the first round of the tournament, making a clear declaration in his very being to destroy anyone else who came in his path to bring glory to the village he loved above all else. He was the only genin left that hailed from Hoshigakure after the first round, as Kouma Yamaguchi and Tsunayoshi Hatake were defeated by stronger genin in the first round. Yuuma Fujiwara also dropped out after he was victorious against Gonk Hoshigaki for personal reasons, leaving Enishi to be sole hope for Hoshigakure's success in the Chuunin Exams. Everyone was relying on him. Everyone was rooting for him. For the first time in his life, he felt valued, he felt confident, and he finally found a will to live. He wanted to be this village's beacon of hope when it mattered most. The understudy...no longer wanted to be an understudy, he yearned to be the main actor in this world of chaos. He only needed to beat one more opponent to be declared as the "Strongest Genin in the World", so when the day arrived, when he was at the brightest stage of his life...what happened?

Within the instant he stepped foot in the arena, he lost.

Humiliating. Gin Akimichi defeated Enishi in his first move, stabbing an arrow barbed with poison straight through the Medical Genius; no amount of Medical jutsu could evade the sudden move. The understudy was paralyzed with fear to the point of stasis. In that instant, not being able to react - not being able to move when the time was necessary was a sin of combat. Thus, performing that sin spelled defeat. Enishi hesitated, so he lost. The Chuunin Exams was not a battle of fancy jutsu and abilities, but it was a battle of kakugo - being able to act with decisiveness towards any situation. Enishi failed. Terribly. Even if he got second place, he brought the village he cared so much for - utter shame. Second place was the first loser after all; it was not something to be proud of. "What's the point of being a shinobi if I can't even do anything when matters the most?!" Enishi darkly thought, tearing into his flaws and shortcomings like the peeling of skin to reveal an ugly tissue. Animosity, rage, and self-loathing bubbled from within, threatening to spew out like flames. Enishi grit his teeth still lied down on the hospital bed. "Why am I so useless?!" Enishi tried to rose upwards but was struck with searing pain as if an electric knife was slicing his body apart one thousand times over. He instantly stopped; this wasn't some sores from combat, but it was different...far more insidious. "Is this the aftereffects of the Paralysis Poison?" The understudy quickly thought, remembering how certain elements could bond in the periodic table to create extremely dangerous poisons. This was poison was most likely the effects of some sort of alcohol and chemical to paralyze the body and kill cells. A short yelp of pain escaped from the understudy's mouth, unable to control involuntary reactions to his painful predicament.

"Ah, you're awake!" A voice said as the door to the hospital room opened with a small creak. The understudy turned his eyes to the voice as he couldn't move his head - paralysis was a bitch. But, it soon showed to be a nurse with a relieved expression on her face. "Awake? Excuse me miss, how long was I unconscious?" Enishi inquired, he couldn't be out for that long- "Three days." "...Huh?" The Jugo muttered, utterly stupefied and speechless at how long he had been in his comatose state. Three days, 72 hours, 4320 minutes. No matter how much you change the numbers, that was too much time lost simply being asleep. "Kurosawa-san, you really pushed yourself hard the past few days because of the Chuunin Exams. To be honest, we were expecting you to be in a coma for at least two weeks, not to mention the recovery time needed to heal your body from the Paralysis Poison in your bloodstream. However, it seems that your body heals astonishingly fast from injury and even filtered out some of the poison's toxins so the antidote imported from Kumogakure apothecaries could kill off most of the neurotoxins in your body." The nurse explained with great detail, allowing Enishi to ruminate on his predicament. It always felt odd for him to rely on people - especially those who worked at the hospital, but there was no way he was getting out of this.

"Unfortunately, your body will still suffer from moderate to high levels of numbness and paralyzation for the next four to five days, especially in the lower body. Crutches will be highly recommended to use We request that you stay in the hospital for another day just so we can monitor your blood levels to see if the poison reemerges in your bloodstream, and also so that the wound in your chest doesn't get infected...Again, please let yourself rest, you've done well." The nurse said with a smile that threatened to blind the Medical Genius at how bright it was. A pang of guilt resounded through his body; people still believed and congratulated him even when he failed at the biggest stage...This type of kindness...scared Enishi. Despite his qualms and guilt, he pushed it away to the depths of his mind and immediately flashed his signature angelic expression. "Thank you. I greatly appreciate your work." He spoke gratefully, instantly emphasizing how arduous it was to be in the medical profession and taking care of patients. "By the way miss, did Doctor Kurosawa go to work today? I was wondering whether I could talk to him for a second so we could find a way to split my medical bills. As it turns out...I'm kinda broke." Enishi said sheepishly, blushing a bit at his incompetence. He regretted splurging all of his ryo on equipment for the exams that only a single percentage of equipment he bought, he actually used. What a waste. Nevertheless, the understudy's question was light-hearted and innocent, so he hoped for a light-hearted answer.

Silence.

The jovial expression of the nurse turned into something more...dejected. Her face was riddled with sadness as if she was ready to release a truth that could shatter the life of someone instantly. Her composed frame shook for a moment before she regained herself. She took a deep, raspy breath of sorrow before morphing into a visage of complete neutrality. Enishi instinctively tensed up even with the paralysis embedded in his body...what she was about to tell him couldn't be that bad...right?

"Suguru Kurosawa passed away last morning."




He couldn't stop running. If he stopped, then the inferno of grief behind him would surely devour his very soul. Running was like stepping on fiery knives, torturing every single cell of the understudy due to the effects of the Paralysis Poison. But if he stopped, everything would be over. What the nurse said wasn't real. He couldn't accept it. Suguru Kurosawa didn't die, he was still alive! Right before he left to participate in the Final Round, Suguru - his adoptive father wished him good luck and even saw the fight before his very eyes. There was no way that lie could ever possibly be true. It wasn't that Enishi denied the possibility that Suguru died, it was that the possibility of him dying simply didn't exist to the understudy. After all, it was better to be deluded than to face reality. At least with delusion, one didn't have to risk being confronted with the harsh truths of life. A lie hurt less than the truth to the understudy, so, he wanted to prove that the nurse was lying. But, the Medical Genius forgot one simple thing: the truth eventually reveals itself. He knew it deep down, but he didn't want to accept it.


"Shit!" The understudy cursed, seething in agony as he ran down the streets of Hoshigakure with a hospital gown and his signature trenchcoat jacket slung on. The fiery knives of the paralysis stabbed indiscriminately through Enishi's body. He couldn't yell or the paralysis would induce pain. He couldn't blink or else the fiery knives would infiltrate his eyes. It was all too painful for him to even form a tear. All Enishi could do, was move forward. In order to prove that Suguru was still alive in the mind of the frantic Jugo, he needed to go to the place where only the dead lie.

The graveyard.

Hoshigakure was known for having quick funerals, so Suguru's funeral would have most likely have happened during Enishi's coma - the day of his death. The understudy wasn't the doctor's blood relative, therefore, none of his family and friend groups would acknowledge the Jugo's presence as necessary. If Suguru's tombstone was in the graveyard owned by the clergy, then...Enishi would have to acknowledge his death. "Goddamnit, don't go out like this!" He begged in his thoughts, ignoring the searing pain in his body and reaching the entrance of the graveyard. Rain began to drop down as the clouds grew gloomy surrounding the area as if it was an omen, signaling for what was about to occur. Enishi gulped, slowly walking through the graves - ignoring the pain of his legs and instead reading the names of the tombstones. The rain got heavier, to the point of obscuring the understudy's vision due to its sheer intensity. Unfortunately, it couldn't shield Enishi's innocent eyes from the utter dread right in front of him.

Suguru Kurosawa's gravestone.

"..." His body couldn't sustain his weight any longer. No longer paralyzed with the aftereffects of poison, the feeling of grief paralyzed his body. The inferno of grief finally reached Enishi, no matter how much he ran away from it. Tears merged with the rain, falling to the ground methodically, leaving the understudy left to slowly wrap his head around the truth he was trying to ignore for so long. Suguru Kurosawa is dead. "I thought...his injuries from his time as a shinobi were merely superficial and healed up...He-he wasn't supposed to die so early. Not like this. Not like this. Not like this!" Enishi's thoughts spiraled into disarray, unable to piece sound reasoning together, and like a dam, he finally exploded. Ire, grief, regret, sadness, wrath, and most of all...hysteria coursed through his body. He just cried. For the first time in years, he was bawling his eyes out. He didn't know whether he sobbed for minutes or hours, but, he simply cried until his throat nearly bled from episodes of weeping. The Medical Genius of Hoshigakure, simply crumbled.




The rain was unrelenting. What seemed to be the beginning of a beautiful day turned into a monstrous squall. The wind was steel, smashing against anything it touched and threatening to pin it down. Yet, someone stood against the wind. A lone Jugo, tears dried yet body drenched in rain, held a single letter in his hand. Right next to the gravestone was a letter with chakra-infused properties only accessible to Enishi's chakra signature to open. The letter, due to its unique nature, was waterproof and thus did not get ruined by the rain. The understudy immediately read it, and the information it carried...would be something that Enishi would carry for the rest of his life.

"Dear Enishi,

Damn, I guess I died earlier than expected. I bet you're probably wondering, "how did he die so fast, I thought his injuries from the battlefield were healed by now?" I lied. Apologies. I couldn't bring myself to tell a twelve-year-old boy at the time that his adoptive father only had a few years left to live. I'm sorry I misled you. It was cruel of me to not tell you the truth at the time. It wasn't you who was scared of hearing the truth about my situation, it was me and me only. You probably won't forgive me - which is fine, I can't forgive myself either... But in case you haven't burnt this letter and cursed my name, I want to atone, by giving you all of the knowledge I've acquired.

Enishi, after observing this "curse" of yours, I've seen that your expert use of Nature Chakra is more likely to be from a bloodline than some sort of deformity. It's just a theory, however. If it is in fact a bloodline, it is extremely rare. People will hunt you for your blood and body to gain your power. The ability to wield the power of a sage is highly coveted throughout the Ninja World. Because of this, make sure to not squander the "curse" you have. Never accept transplants from other clans; you must keep your ability as pure as possible to not dilute it with other not as potent abilities from other clans. To prepare yourself in gaining strength to preserve your life, I've prepared everything in my labratory for you. All of my techniques, valuable notes, weapons, and armor are located in the labratory. Please engross yourself in this material as soon as possible. The sooner you get stronger, the more of an asset you can become towards Hoshigakure.

Destroy this letter once you have understood everything.

I believe in you, son.

-Suguru Kurosawa."

Understanding everything that the late Kurosawa said, Enishi would have to become strong - strong enough to not become Suguru's understudy anymore. Power was the only constant that ruled the world. The Jugo yearned for such power, so he needed to make his bloodline as pure as possible and train as much as possible.

Therefore, he disposed of his Uchiha kidney in his body.

Utilizing Chakra Scapel to surgically remove his Uchiha kidney while simultaneously healing all injuries and lacerations with Mystical Palm, Enishi would remove the part of a foreign clan from his body, leaving his whole body pure once again. He would bury it right next to Suguru's grave, as a reminder that there was no turning back. Walking away, the understudy would feel a rising emotion...

Kakugo.

[EXIT]

TWC: 4037

Claims:
Using the effects Chakra Scapel and Mystical Palm to remove the left kidney of Enishi Kurosawa which possesses the transplanted bloodline of Uchiha Genetics attained in this topic. Now with the Uchiha Kidney removed from Enishi's body, his sole bloodline is Natural Berserker.
Now with one singular bloodline, Enishi is now eligible for Clan Pureblood. Using 1500 WC [25% max stats discount] to get Clan Pureblood [1500/1500.], barring him from any future transplants for better or for worse.
2250 WC [25% Max Stats Discount] Towards Sage of the Purest Path [2250/2250.] 
287 Leftover WC will be thrown into the voooiiiiiiiiiiidddddddd

Approved