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(K)iyoshi (H)yuga

{ OoC: }

XXXXX
XXXXX Kiyoshi rested the sword on his shoulder. "Kiyoshi...Kiyoshi Hyuga." He said looking up and down the boys body, stabbing him was still on his mind lol.

Current Background Music
Current Mood: Tired
Current Wear: Picture

Chakra Points: Genin: 31/31
Medium Chakra level : +3 chakra points/10 max chakra points

Hyuga Clan:
Bonus: -2 chakra point cost on all jutsu (stacks with other bonuses)

Speed Shinobi:
+1 rank to Move, Dodge, and Attack speed

Chakra Control:
-1 chakra point cost of all Genin techniques, 2 for all Chuunin, Jounin, and Kage techniques
-2 Posts for Training
-Can perform jutsus that are two or more ranks below you without hand-seals

Duo Ushio
||A-Rank||God of Death||Sealing Master||Hyoton||


xxxxxxDuo grinned as he opened the container in which he had hidden himself in. He had manage to sneak on board a cargo ship traveling from Kirigakure to Konoha. "Gah...this Hero Water better be worth it," Duo whined as he got out of the cargo box and patted himself down from all the dust. He had managed to hide in the cargo of the ship, and to his surprise security was more lax than he thought it would be. "Tea leaves...tea leaves..." Duo said as he wandered through the hold trying to find the box in which his source had informed him. He had tried opening five boxes already before stumbling another box marked for Konoha. Lifting up the latch, Duo grinned as he finally found the container he was looking for. "So this is it...this is the infamous Hero Water that everyone was talking about. For decades I've been looking to increase my power, this is how I will do it," Duo said to himself as he took hold of the water and poured its contents into his water bottle. "Now its time to get the hell out of here...maybe wreak some havoc along the way," he grinned as he removed a brush from the back of his waist. The brush emerged from an ink vial that was strapped to his waist in order for Duo fully utilize his sealing jutsu.

"Lets see now, a swish of the brush here and a swish there," he said as he finished the final brush stroke. "Now the seal is in place...time to go," he grinned as he dashed out of the cargo hold. Walking into the hallways, Duo looked around the corner to see that only a single guard was patrolling that particular hallway. "Hmm...there is no reason for me to expend needless chakra on these weaklings. Getting out is the first priority," he said as he formed a series of seals with only his right hand. Suddenly the seal in which Duo had drawn only moments ago shone brightly before bursting into flames, causing a massive explosion in the ship's hold.

The guard quickly turned after regaining his composure, running directly at Duo as he came around the corner and lifted up his knee. By doing so, Duo was able to ram his knee into the guard's stomach, knocking him down to his knees. "That was my cue to escape," Duo exclaimed as he began dashing out of the ship and jumped into the open water. From the shores of Kirigakure, anyone would be able to see the flames of the cargo ship brighten up the night sky. Something terrible had just happened, the ship wasn't even that far away from the shore before it was destroyed and sunk into the depths of the ocean, killing countless innocent lives from within. Leaving no trace as to who it was, the higher ups who knew what was the cargo of the ship would no doubt realize that someone had betrayed them, and that the Hero Water was now in the wrong hands.

Zdura
Rogue | Crystal | Jounin
Support { Sealing } Combo
~

Zdura followed silently for the most part as Luo led them to the docks. The man had spoken a few times, but hadn't really seemed to be looking for a response, so he simply gave the appropriate nods or short answers. Once they reached the docks, Zdura found himself faced by the largest, and certainly fanciest ship he'd ever seen. The thing bore both the flag of water country, and the symbol of Kirigakure, indicating it was the Mizukage's personal vessel. He had to restrain himself from whistling in appreciation of the sheer scale of the thing, and then moments later from chuckling as the Mizukage himself seemed unimpressed, and even turned off by the ship. He was happy for his mask, as it mostly hid his grin as the two walked straight past the boat. He didn't know what boat Luo intended to take, but obviously that one wasn't on the short list.

After the short conversation with a dock hand, and Luo's statement to Zdura, the clone smirked, simply waving his hands at his own body. He was certainly not one for massive displays of wealth. He'd been well off back in Kariko, but never wealthy, and certainly never went out of his way to spend what money he had on extravagances. Soon enough they were aboard what was apparently the man's personal family yacht. It was, as Zdura reasoned during the short tour, certainly not a simple and cheap affair, but it certainly sent a different message when it pulled into the harbor than that other beast would. An appropriate choice for a diplomatic occasion, he thought.

He found himself a bit surprised, though he probably shouldn't have, when the young kage "invited" him to share the main quarters of the ship. On the one hand, he'd be in the same room with the man as he slept, which most would consider a danger with someone they barely knew. On the other hand, he would always be in the same room with the man, who was certainly capable of looking after himself. That left the question of whether the arrangement was truly mission related, or simply to keep an eye on himself. Either way he simply nodded, following along as the tour ended back in the kitchen, and Luo put on a pot to boil before sitting, and the promised conversation finally began.

Taking a seat of his own, Zdura nodded to indicate he'd understood the request, but remained silent for a long minute, before finally speaking. "You'll understand if I keep some information to myself. Otogakure may have fallen, but I will make it no secret that she still holds my highest loyalties. Anything you want to know about myself I'll freely give, but when it relates to Oto, I will be rather picky on what I say." With that notice given, the man leaned back a bit in his seat, eyes half lidded as he sorted out where to begin, though he remained alert, his other senses visibly stretched to compensate for any loss of vision. As Luo had said, the mission had already begun.

"I suppose the logical place to start is when I was young." he finally continued. "I am no stranger to the destruction of a country. I was born in the middle of a war that was tearing through our lands. A dark time for the entire rice country. The country is rather strategically positioned between three different large shinobi controlled nations. Fire, Lightning, and Earth. Besides that there are several smaller countries in the area, also boasting of some meager shinobi forces. That we would become a battleground in other nations wars was no surprise to anyone."

"I was too young at the time, obviously, to know who was fighting the war, and strange as it seems, I still have been unable to find out. But in the end, when I was around four years old, someone struck rice, intentionally. My best guess is that they were striking against Otogakure, even though it did not exist at the time. Orochimaru made many enemies in his time, and his stain has hung over our country ever since. It would not surprise me if that were a retaliatory strike for something he had done."

"Nevertheless, the country burned. The fields were destroyed, homes demolished, and ninja were swarming the country, killing anyone who got in their way. Through all of that, somehow, I ran. Barely more than a toddler, I ran as far from the fighting, noise, and fire as I could. I can't remember much specifically after that. I was eventually found and placed in an orphanage in Fire to grow up" Zdura paused there, both to catch his breath and reorder his thoughts. The next stage of the tale was dangerous territory. Luo surely had someone out searching for information on him, and if they searched long enough, they would find Yasashii. His story needed to match anything Yasashii told, or at the least not contradict it. Well, Yasashii was posing as a simple civilian if all went as planned, so if he simply took the shinobi side of the tale, he should be fine.

"I told you back in the bar that that boy reminded me of someone, with his need to prove himself. You probably already figured it out, but I was referring to myself. When your home is torn away from you, everything you know destroyed, and there is nothing you can do to prevent it, it scars you. You feel weak, pathetic, like you can never accomplish anything. That feeling is one of the worst a human being can ever feel, and one we fight against with every fiber of our being. Just like that boy, as I entered my teen years, I started picking fights. Boys my age, then boys older than me, eventually I even started picking fights with genin that came through the village I was in on missions. It didn't matter to me if I won or lost, nor did I care about the pain of any injuries I sustained. They would knock me down, and as soon as I was able, I would be at it again. I had an enemy I needed to defeat. An enemy with no face, so I simply fought anyone I could."

"Eventually, an old man came across me. I'd just had another fight, one that I won, leaving two older boys with broken limbs behind me. This old man, barely able to hold himself upright on his cane and with bones that looked ready to shatter just from standing on them, challenged me to a fight. I was ready to just ignore him and walk away, when he made an offer. He said that if I won, he would give me anything I wanted and then I would never see him again. But if he won, I would have to serve him as an apprentice until the day he died. I thought it was an easy opportunity. The old man was weak, frail as could be, but he had a pouch the size of my head hanging from his belt, that looked quite a lot like it held gold. I accepted the challenge, got ready to charge, and woke up half an hour later on the old man's kitchen table with a splitting headache." Zdura broke out laughing at that point, remembering the event. At the time it was confusing, and then humiliating, but in hindsight it was one of the most hilarious moments he'd ever had.

"The old man was a retired ninja, living out the last of his days in the country. He took me out with his cane before I could even move. But he made good on his promise, as did I. He only lived for another few years, but in that time he taught me everything he could about sealing, and about being a ninja. The equivalent of your village academies I suppose. I owe that old man my life. He took a rage filled teen who could think of nothing but the next fight, and turned him into what you see today. Taught me to control my emotions, and think as a ninja. Sealing gave me an outlet that fighting never did, as I learned an art that created new things, rather than tearing everything apart. And the occasional chance to blow something up didn't hurt either."

Zdura stopped, a small smile on his face as he heard the distinctive whistle of a boiling pot. He needed to order his thoughts again anyways, and that marked a good stopping point. "I think the pot is done." he said, smiling still. He would wait until Luo was ready and settled again before continuing. He needed the time to consider what to say next anyways. And who knew, Luo might even have some questions already.

~
[Chakra: 205]

Right, good stopping point, since this post really is getting too long now. XD

Zdura
Rogue | Crystal | Jounin
Support { Sealing } Combo
~
Zdura sighed at the question, leaning back into his seat and letting his eyes drift to the ceiling above. "That's skipping ahead a bit, but no. To this day I don't know if it was one of the sides in the war, a third force that slipped in, or even just a conveniently timed assault by bandits. I don't know if there was even a version of Otogakure in place at the time. If there was, they kept to themselves easily as much as we did." That was a bit of a sore point with him actually. The entire reason he'd initially gotten so deep into information trading, and eventually formed his own network, was to search for the perpetrator of that attack, and yet he was never able to dig up so much as a single name.

Leaning forward again at the sound of china, Zdura smiled and accepted the teacup with a nod. As he was reaching forward to take it from the table though, he frowned as a thought occurred to him. He was used to being offered tea during a meeting, having met Kye in private many times over the years, but unless he severely underestimated the man before him, this wasn't simple courtesy. It would not have escaped the kage's notice that in the weeks he'd spent in Kiri, Zdura hadn't removed his mask in public even once. Truthfully he hadn't removed it at all, and had never intended to. Even with Yasashii's skill in shifting a clone's appearance, he was still far too similar to the man to pass any level of scrutiny, and there was little chance that scrutiny wouldn't be made once Yasashii had been connected to him.

But what to do about the tea then? Rejecting it now would be quite rude, especially as it appeared to be a rather rare, likely expensive blend. Asking for a straw would be little better, and ruin the flavor of the tea at that, not to mention scalding him quite severely, though that was less of a worry to one with no actual skin. A solution, albeit not a great one occurred to him momentarily though, and he opened his mouth to provide a short explanation. "In Otogakure, one of the first things we stress to our students is secrecy. As a village with no walls, every shinobi holds two identities. When not on a mission, they go about their daily lives as a typical citizen of the country, blending into the civilian population. When on a mission, or exposed to other ninja, they take on their shinobi identity. For many that is as simple as wearing a mask. Some have entire full body disguises, some live out one identity or another in a permanent henge. One particularly creepy lady literally changed into a spare skin when on duty. As I'm sure you've noticed by now, Whenever I have been in public I have worn my mask, or utilized a henge when discretion was needed. Until the day I can return home, I consider myself permanently on duty."

His explanation given, Zdura, rather than setting his cup aside as one might expect, bit down hard on his mask, tearing a thin slit over his mouth before raising the cup to his lips for a short sip. His teeth now visible in a small grin, he regarded Luo with humor in his eyes. "But for such an exquisite blend, I can spend a few minutes repairing a piece of cloth."
~
[Chakra: 205]

Hm, think I'll cut it there just for reaction's sake. It only struck me when I went to write the post what Luo was up to, which I actually consider a bit embarrassing. Hopefully his chosen tactic isn't as offensive as those he discarded.

Also, do we need to create an "Ocean" thread? It would make some sense. Not that we actually seem to have left the docks yet.

Zdura
Rogue | Crystal | Jounin
Support { Sealing } Combo
~
Zdura smiled again, at the lack of negative response from Luo. No doubt the man was disappointed of course, but at least he wasn't going to push the matter. Heck, he'd probably have pushed it himself in the same position, so he counted himself lucky.

Relaxing back a bit, he took a long slow sip of the tea as he considered what to say next. Things got a bit more complicated, and harder to follow after his apprenticeship ended. "Where were we..." he muttered quietly to himself as he focused in on where to go. "Ah, yes. After my master died, I was alone again. For a short time I came close to returning to my old path, but it felt very much like a betrayal of the man's trust, not to mention his training made it likely that what had been bruises and broken ribs before would be much worse, potentially even fatal. Even at my worst point I'd only ever wanted to kill one entity, which, unfortunately I could never locate. So, I established myself as a mercenary. I was old enough, and well trained enough to pass as a genin, so I began taking missions directly from small villages, rather than using a ninja village. I did fairly well in fact, since I was cheaper and more easily accessed than a village genin."

"Of course, eventually I hit a wall. Missions I was sure I could handle were denied to me, simply because the clients wanted proven, skilled shinobi. Chuunin, or entire genin squads. They were willing to pay the extra price just for that title, and it was cutting into my work, so I decided something had to be done. It was ridiculously simple to enter the chuunin exams under a false name, as an entrant from a minor village that hadn't made any major moves as yet. The Village Hidden in a Puddle I think they called it. Appropriate, since their funding dried up that same summer and they broke up." He stopped again then, smirking slightly as he took another sip of the tea. The village breaking up hadn't been part of his plan at the time, but it certainly made hiding his paper trail, or rather the lack of one, significantly easier.

"I passed easily enough. It was a solo event that year, no teams, so nobody really looked at me twice. The knowledge portion of the exam was simple, as I'd known most of the material for years by then, and what little I didn't was easy enough to figure out. The survival portion, well, I'd spent a fair amount of my life surviving on my own anyways, so the survival was simple. It was one of those years where they forced you to fight other teams, the scroll test. You would be surprised how few genin could spot a trap right in front of them. I set up camp in the middle of a clearing and just sat and waited until a target fell into my lap. Didn't even have to lift a finger when they blundered into my seals."

"You'd think the final tournament would have been harder, but yet again genin don't know a trap when they see it, and walked right into it, one after another. I got to the semi-finals and dropped out. A finalist in the chuunin exams gets a lot of recognition, but the winner is marked for life, and I didn't want that level of recognition. I was passed with flying colors, intercepted the message to "My" village stating it, and forged my own promotion and credentials. Problem solved, I started taking on C and B ranked missions that I wouldn't have been given without."

Smiling, the man took yet another sip, remaining quiet as his eyes watched Luo. He'd only breezed over most of that story stage, so a break now would be good, both to allow the man his questions, and increase the suspense before finally reaching Otogakure. He may be trying to gain trust here, but he was still a part of Yasashii, and Yasashii did like his dramatics.
~
[Chakra: 205]

Sorry, sorry. been busy the last couple days.

Zdura
Rogue | Crystal | Jounin
Support { Sealing } Combo
~
"Mm." Zdura nodded a simple reply to Luo's compliment, as he continued to nurse his tea. He probably would have said something in reply, or continued his story directly, but found himself a bit distracted by the growing sensation of movement he was getting through the ship. Setting his cup down, he looked up again to Luo. "If you wouldn't mind, could we move to the deck? I must admit I have rarely been to sea, and never on such a vessel as this. It would feel a shame to squander the experience hidden away below deck, and waste the view." It was an interesting feeling as he said that, being able to tell the whole truth, without any twists or manipulations. As he lived in Kariko there was no point to going on ships. Close to the sea as the country was, there was little trade by water, since the country was a mountainous region. And even before that during his mercenary days he only ever rode very small merchant ships. The larger trade corporations and private individuals who used larger and grander ships either had their own personal security or hired village ninja. A simple mercenary could never land such a contract, so while he'd never held a particularly strong interest in the sea, it truly would be a waste of a first time experience to spend it even in the most beautiful of cabin spaces, rather than on deck.

[Exit]
~
[Chakra: 205]

Kind of a short, semi-pointless post, but there wasn't much filler to be had, and it seemed a request he would be inclined to make. I certainly wouldn't want to spend my first ship launch in the hold.