Haven City Blues [Dave]

The golden Hyuuga waited for his meal. The smell coming from the kitchen made his mouth water. There was nothing new there. That was his brain’s natural reaction whenever he was the Blue Lobster. Still, twenty-five full minutes had passed since he had entered his favorite seafood restaurant in all of the City of Haven. Each one seemed to live longer than the last second. Suppose, part of the Chuunin was glad that a delayed seafood plate was his most significant problem. The past two months had been a living hell for him, training day and night in the Hyuuga martial arts.

Toneri was as skilled a swordsman as any in Haven, but he never claimed to be a Gentle Fist Master like his older brother. Thus he was heavily dismayed by having to rise early in the morning for roadwork, then do a hundred pushups, a hundred sit-ups, lift weights, rest until the afternoon, where he had to work on his taijutsu technique by shadow boxing or kicking tree logs. On the bright side, his muscle mass had grown. It was good to know because, like every second son out there, Toneri had hints of narcissism.  Still, his true victory was when he finally achieved his goal to execute the Eight Trigrams skill tree. If he had failed, it wouldn’t matter if he had surpassed the Winter Knight in size.

How much longer? He wondered, his stomach chumming as he looked at the half-empty glass of water the waiter brought him. When he entered the store today, there was a seat waiting for him at the bar. He initially believed it was their lucky day. After all, this was a high-in-demand restaurant with both locals and tourists visiting. But his happiness was short-lived since preparing his favorite shrimp spaghetti with marinara sauce seemed to take on forever.  He did not dare to look around the crowded restaurant and people eating no that would only serve as a knife to his stomach.

His stomach was already suffering. Not from hunger but from the side effects from overworking himself since they had started kicking back a while now. Toneri's entire body ached, and the Golden Hyuuga felt like he was a hundred years old. He knew that he couldn’t train in taijutsu with his body in such a condition. So if Taijutsu was out of the question, then "There are other jutsu areas for me to train. But which one does it for me right now?" Toneri asked himself for the hundredth time today.

He had decided that Iryojutsu didn’t cut it since, despite understanding it, in theory, he never attempted to use any technique. Genjutsu appealed to him more, but Toneri never fancied himself an illusion conductor with the Gentle Fist and all. Besides, it required too much spiritual work that he was unable to do. Ninjutsu perhaps was the way to go. His realization was followed by another question, one tougher than the previous one. What kind of ninjutsu? Toneri was interested in fundamental techniques since he knew of his affinity. Ever since that particular class in the Shinobi Academy, the small piece of paper he had shrunk. However, shooting thunder like a deity was unmarked territory for him, and with all that physical training lately, he wasn't fond of the idea of working on something from scratch. 

“I have to do a switcheroo on my training camp.” Toneri figured, scratching his jawline. Toneri’s thinking ended as soon as he noticed the waiter coming towards him holding a plate. "For our dear Kage's brother." With his meal finally in front of him, Toneri used a silver fork and dug into it. The taste of spaghetti mixed with the crunchy shrimps and sourness of the tomato dressing exploded in his mouth. Seafood always made him feel like he was sinking deep into the ocean surrounded by marine life, but the same sensation was missing this time. It was not like the meal was lacking, though. Most likely, absorbed in proceeding with his training that he could not enjoy it. 

Suddenly he was not hungry anymore. Dissatisfied, he stood up and reached the pockets of his tunic, pulling rough paper and metal coins.  Placing them on the table, he made his way towards the exit of the store with a slight frown. The waiter took notice of him and proceeded to ask if there was something with his meal. “The shrimp spaghetti was great as always.” Toneri immediately responded with a smile, “I just feel a bit under the weather.” He assured the waiter with a lie.

Exiting the Blue Lobster, he decided to take a walk around town to clear his head. With every single step, he took cold wind brushed against his face. A country was straight out from a fairytale where fields of blue, red, and golden roses stretched as far as the eye can see. But lately, it was only getting more relaxed around the Hoshigakure. Even so, the market was bursting with people's flowers everywhere, and the summer wines smelled so good that one could get drunk just by breathing the air. 

“I knew I’d find you here!” Natsuki proclaimed her smile wide and bright, her lilac eyes upon him. Toneri’s twin sister could always sense where he was. Without uttering another word, the twins began to make their way from the City Square onwards to the Water Gardens to train.

It was then that they passed by peculiar a ninja shop that was selling “Books, Bodies and Beyond”!? That merchant would have made for a rare sight before Hoshigakure’s since Ayato outlawed the transplants. “We might as well take a look, and see” Toneri suggested to himself and walked towards the shop.  

WC: 951

The merchant, noticing their presence, turned his attention to Toneri and Natsuki. The Golden Hyuuga remembered what Ayato had told him once about that individual. “Everything is for sale when it comes to the Terumi. If he had a sister, he’d sell her as well.” Nobody was safe from Ayato’s fire when they pissed him off, not even his closest friends or his de facto underboss. The two had participated in Valen's coup and were on the winning side of it. They had scattered the turncloaks in the wind and put the strugglers that remained behind to the sword.

Akabayashi Terumi, how may I be of service to you?" The vulture said as he stared at the duo, seemingly recognizing them. Toneri decided not to respond to that and instead examined the Nova Corp shinobi. “This is not your average ninja shop selling shinobi gear such as blades and scrolls,” Toneri noted as he and Natsuki walked in, his voice sharp as a whip with the local accent of Haven.

“It seems the people of Hoshigakure have found a new love towards reading art thanks to you, sir.” He said, looking at the books placed at the table. “However, I am confused, and I can’t understand how your shop is popular even in circles that don’t read any. Are you sure you are not selling any other product? A product that shinobi of the village looking for augmentation in their strengths could use?”

WC: 247

“Ah, sir, your services are very well appreciated, it seems, a bad name or not. However, I’ve heard that people come different once they enter this shop.” The Chuunin said and pushed a Golden lock back to his forehead. The vulture did give the information needed. Curse Marks, a dreadful name to be sure; however, power is meant to scare others, not please them. And Toneri had enough of easy mannerisms to do the latter. It was the former that he sought and was willing to cross any line to get there.

“Unfortunately, I can’t honor you with his patronage but maybe..” The Golden Hyuuga paused, his thin lips forming into what appeared to be a smile. “We could help each other. My brother recently went out of his way to get a transplant. Not for himself, of course; there is no stratosphere this would happen.” Ayato was a holier than thou prick that believed true power comes from within. “Little or many, we Hyuuga fight with what we have.” The Kage couldn’t go a single day without that sentence, as if his livelihood depended on that.

“A boy received a crippling injury during the Chunin Exam and required crucial medical assistance and surgery to walk again. He required the type of reinforced organ that only the Kaguya clan could provide. So Lord Seventh bless his kind heart, went out of his way to secure it for his young Genin." And coincidentally, Dusk Tachibana had pieced up a Kaguya recently. Some dipshit traitor named Cole. Toneri left that part out, however.

"But in his worry, my brother secured too much DNA, and one organ was deemed surplus; after further evaluation, so Ayato ordered me to dispose of them." If Akabayashi had the wits gods gave a goose, he would see where Toneri was going with this.  One man’s junk, another man’s treasure. The Hyuuga second living son reached for his storage displacement dimension, the magic of space and time filling the world around them. A jar appeared and on Toneri’s rough, calloused palm.

“The practice of transplants is despicable, but I find organ donation a noble cause. I should leave this with you in the name of medical research. You are my brother's trusted companion and a man of the Nova Corps after all.” You can honor my donation here with a curse mark. Make them two, one for me and one for my sweet sister.”

WC: 406
TWC: 1604

“ I’m not going to pretend I understand what any of what you just said means.” Toneri would say, feeling his face puzzle. “Not to be rude, of course.” The rest was a confirmation of the exchange of favors. The Golden Hyuuga would hand over the flagged organ for disposal, and the Vulture would check the quality of its meal.“Why is that creep even in Hoshi?” He thought to himself. “He is a step above a missing Nin if that. I begin to see why my brother avoids him like the plague.” The Chuunin felt his earlier confidence leaving him.

Toneri and Natsu would still follow the Nova, though, when he urged them further inside his scavenger cave that he called a business. “I’ve come too close to power to let it slip from my hands.” He would be the first to receive a transplant, with Natsuki looking after him. A worried look on his sister's face. She would prepare herself when it was done one way or another, with Toneri taking over the guardian role.

WC: 176
TWC: 1780

2x 6 sided dice, 1-5 they live

[EXIT]

Claims: 
Successful application of Curse Mark to both Natsu and Toneri
-1 Kaguya kidney from Cole Kaguya's body

With a 50% LC discount for Curse Mark Transformation, a jutsu the original knows.
1000/1000 to train the first stage for Toneri
780/1000 to train the first stage for Natsu