When the comforts of civilization begin to dull our senses, we must never forget that in the beginning, there was war. And war. And more war. Long before there were empires, there were humans consumed with greed and the hunger for power. Resources, territories, information—these were the forms of sustenance upon which we preyed. Today, we call such habits vices. Oh, how arrogant we have become! Are we not still impelled by those primordial emotions? Is the advent of war so far-fetched? But alas, for you to truly understand, we must dive deeper into this land’s half-forgotten past.
There was a time when might was the only law that humankind knew. Fearsome clans roamed throughout the land, seeking amenable grounds within which they could take root and opposing forces against whom they could test their mettle. Given the irregularity of nature’s bounty, certain regions appealed more than others, and dominion over such coveted territories became the spark that ignited the earliest inter-clan wars. These fierce, internecine affairs tended to conclude only when one side had decimated their competition into oblivion, and many clans of story were rendered extinct during this period.
The victors of war, having claimed their territories, often made truces with surrounding locals, offering protection in exchange for access to the yields of agriculture. Over time, certain communities emerged as more dominant than others, either due to numbers or sheer talent, and their rapid expansion would force smaller, neighboring communities to either collapse into their fold or be devastated. When the dust settled, humankind found itself divided into the five major territories that we are familiar with today. And was the bloodshed over? With our lands obtained and our bellies filled, were we finally content?
06/01/2023 June is for Juggin
We made it y’all, another month of OTA, and fresh off the press we have another promotion ready. Leaving behind the opening bonus sadly, we welcome the jugggggg! June is for juggin AKA working hard, so we are making it a double rewards month for every mission completed! Yes we said it's double rewards, now you all can really get into the thick of those builds if you work hard enough. And who knows what you might uncover in the process. AND all jobs are free to enroll no quest EXCEPT ANBU(Black Ops) roles.
OOC: Takes place shortly after the 'Stolen Lives in the Stolen Fort' event had come to a close, and the happenings in Battle Field 2.
Yuurei advances, as a lone, cloaked figure. To say it had been a weird 24 hours would have been an understatement. He hadn't even wanted to go to Kaminari no Kuni, and yet here he was, dusty footsteps making their way across the land towards the south-east of Kaminari no Kuni. The memory of the events that had unfolded during the siege on the stronghold were somewhat blurred, as if he had imagined some of it, and in all truth he wasn't sure if what he'd seen and heard had actually happened. He remembered seeing the mist and clawing at earth beneath his palms - the dirt under his fingernails also spoke to this - and darkness. Darkness he was familiar with given his heritage, but what he wasn't familiar with was being subjected to it beyond his own control. He was sure there was a rational explanation as to why it had happened, but right now just recollecting it made him feel uneasy.
Why had that voice been so familiar? Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he trudged on through the mountainous landscape.
As a shinobi, he had often heard tales of monsters growing up, whether those monsters come in the shape of humans, or something all-together supernatural such as what he was sure he could remember seeing on that battlefield as he slunk in the shadows. He hadn't had a good look at it, but that roar was something that also reeled in his head. He'd heard the legends of the tailed beasts but hadn't actually seen any in real life - was this what was unleashed back then? Certain details of the battle were lost to him, and unfortunately having returned to a desolate scene, he had no-one left to support that what he'd seen was in fact reality. He was even sure he'd seen - or heard - the Shodaime Hokage, but he couldn't have been sure.
Planting his thoughts firmly on the here and now, he focused on returning back to Konohagakure. He wasn't sure what would meet him upon his return given his disappearance from the battle, but at this point what did he have left to lose? As tempting as it was to divert his focus to the bountiful plantlife and herbs that grew in the country, the last day had left a sour taste in his mouth and a healthy amount of paranoia. Step by step, his golden eyes scanned his surroundings - despite the civility that had been demonstrated on this particular mission between nations, he was still in foreign territory and had to be vigilant if he wanted to make it back home in one piece. 'Psch'- 'Home'.
In the midst of the early night where creatures and fiends of the dark aimed to move beneath its protection, Chae watched momentarily as the sun slowly set into the horizon. Knowing he needed to get back to Chiatsuki and their makeshift camp; with that in mind; a flare of chakra hastened the gathering of nightly resources.
Along the pathway in which Yuurei walked, a handful of meters adjacent do the pathway itself is where Chae remained exposed to all onlookers. Standing within a family of small tree's, ninjato drawn with both hands gripped against the hilt & the right firmly rested beneath the left; bright blue hues of Raiton chakra soon enveloped the blade in its entirety from its edge notch to the tip.
From Yuurei's perspective at first glance, could've easily been described as a flashing blue light that screamed with the power of crackling electricity. With a downward swing of the arms at an angle, the Charged ninjato passed through the tree as easily as it would pass over open air. Both the blue hues and the chakra itself calmly subsided as Chae returned his ninjato home behind his waist strapped horizontally.
"Firewood collected...this should be enough to start a fire that'll get us through most of the night."
Gathering an arm-full of firewood and hoisted over his right shoulder with a single are, Chae stepped forward and onto the pathway that even he himself once walked. Through his peripherals, a lone figure slowly approached. Clad in his battle gear, his face had been bare, open for all to see as his face mask had been left back under Chiatsuki's supervision. Standing at a side-from from Yuurei's point of view, Chae's head and eyes turned in tandem.
"I mean you no harm, I'm just out collecting firewood to prepare for the cold night."
Sincere within his claim, he waited for some form of a response.
Hours passed with little to no disruption, bar from the occasional obstacle course that Kaminari no Kuni's great expanse provided. The day was soon coming to a close, and the sky, already having been an ominous shade of grey earlier in the day from the country's tumultuous weather patterns, had become enveloped in inky darkness. This had only effected his course of travel slightly, meaning that he just had to be a bit more careful when traversing any particular uneven terrain to ensure that his footing was stable. With his eyes having since adjusted to the darkness around him, he continued onward, until that is his ears pricked at the sound of footsteps nearby. Unsure if they had been made by an animal or a human, Yuurei paused in his steps and listened further - whilst not being a hunter in profession, being a shinobi he was familiar with identifying the sound of different footsteps. Whatever it was, it definitely had two legs, and shortly revealed itself on his path, an approximate distance of 12 meters away.
"I mean you no harm, I'm just out collecting firewood to prepare for the cold night."
Whilst it was in Yuurei's nature to not believe anyone, let alone that of a stranger, he could see up ahead with his tracker there was some semblance of cohesion in his story as the boy, far younger than he, was carrying what seemed to be pieces of wood. But his resignation of calling the night 'cold' - shonibi, especially men such as themselves, had always been trained to show no weakness - and so the sentence struck a strange cord with Yuurei that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Upon closer inspection, there was something very familiar about his face - 'The Kirigakure-nin from the battle..?' He was sure of it, even without activating his innate abilities as a sensor. This, before him, was the individual he'd caught sight of earlier that day - or had it been yesterday? He wasn't sure how long he'd been out for.
'..lastly, another, closer on approach to the third with a chakra source unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Yuurei made a note of this as it was otherwordly - was he seeing things correctly?'
He noted that he'd had a slight change of clothes, but nonetheless it was the boy from earlier. What he couldn't see, his Kagura shingan deactivated to avoid any alarm from the other party at the sight of handseals bein formed, was the immense chakra pool which he had detected. That wasn't something that you just forgot easily. Treading carefully, Yuurei further approached the figure by 2 more meters, closing the distance between them further, with his arms loosely raised to suggest that likewise, he wasn't in the market to do any harm to the boy. Moreso, remembering what he'd seen there and then of his power, he didn't really want to try picking a fight with him either - he had better things to be doing.
"Where's your friend?"
Perhaps he was being bold by asking, but he coudln't be sure if the Kirigakure team had seen him on the field - from what he could recall, they had been quite distracted otherwise with the events of the battle. But, his words suggested that he had seen them at some point at least, or enough to recognize that there had been one more person alongside him at some point during their travel to Kaminari. If he had seen him earlier, then he would know that they would have been sent there on civil terms, and a small part of him hoped that this would still be upheld. Where did the other shinobi go? With his arms now lowered and ready to throw some handseals at the slightest chance of attack from the boy, Yuurei stood tall, looking on at him for his response.
Where was his friend? No there'd been no way the man before him could've possibly meant Chiatsku, especially considering they hadn't been seen by anything since their arrival from Mizu no Kuni. Chae's eyes squinted and his focus narrowed while his mind withdrew from one memory bank to another until finally....it clicked. Although brief, the only other instance where their faces had been revealed was Ishi no Toride.
Chae wondered, just how many personnel had been present, even ones that went unseen by the advance party during the event(s). His free hand calmly rose to softly pinch his chin.
"You must mean...Ichijin...from Ishi no toride. He was teleported back home, my brother an I ventured back out into his country side hoping to find answers but we've yet to discover anything new."
Hearing first hand from the boy that his partner had been teleported back, Yuurei's eyes narrowed, and he made a note of the name 'Ichijin..'. When he'd come to, there wasn't much activity left on the battlefield and he had found himself alone. Had anyone from Konohagakure been there apart from himself? If so, he hadn't seen them. But, Kumogakure and Kirigakure's involvement - that's something which he was sure he hadn't daydreamed, and the words of the figure before him did bring some confirmation of that to him. It was reassuring that at least he wasn't going completely mad.
If he was out here with his brother, where was he? Though Yuurei had been keeping watch of his surroundings already, knowing that the Kirigakure shinobi may have a partner closeby solidified the need to stat vigilant - and if he had the same mysterious chakra signal as his brother.. that would be unfortunate. Due to the expansive sea that parted Hi no Kuni and Mizu no Kuni, he hadn't made a habit of travelling out there, but from the rumours passed around by Konohagakure shinobi, it equally didn't come across as quite the holiday destination. "Answers?" Yuurei inquires. Was he referring to the incident earlier at the battlefield, or something else? "What kind of answers could have you out here, camping as if it were some academy field trip?"Ah, there it was - a Yuurei classic. But - in his defense, the boy did look young. What could the Kirigakure shinobi be looking for in Kaminari no Kuni? The hidden village, perhaps - or something else? Whilst his tone was inquisitive, it didn't exactly come with the tone of someone who would openly offer to help.
"You know.."
He pauses, his teeth biting down on his bottom lip before choosing his next words carefully:
"I saw you earlier, at the stronghold"
"Your chakra, it's unlike anything I've seen before"
".. What are you?"
Keeping his distance, the tall, black-haired man stood patiently. The Kirigakure shinobi may be looking for some answers, but Yuurei had questions on his own. He had his suspicions, but wanted to hear it first-hand from the boy himself.
Chae's shoulder momentarily lifted and adjusted the Firewood he carried over his single shoulder, feeling the idle weight that pressed into his muscle. As the conversation progressed, Chae continued to listen, thinking about the night of the stronghold as well as the largest issue that weighed on his mind Ramuh. Since those instances occurred, Chae's mind had been swarmed with questions that had no immediate answer, questions he remained ever determined to uncover.
"Yes answers...I've never seen anything like that on the night of that stronghold infiltration, and I'm looking for someone here in this country that has the answers to a great deal of my problems right now. Answers that'll help me deal with everything we saw back at that fortress"
His words alluded to Ramuh, the legendary raiton practitioner and war hero of Kumogakure that brought many of Kumogakure's enemies to heel. Every so often Chae's eyes removed their gaze from Yuurei's own to look over his frame before returning to his eyes.
"What do you mean unlike anything you've ever seen? As far as I know my chakra is pretty normal."
Suddenly, his eyes cut low and towards the ground the moment his mind recalled upon blacking out after having met with mochizuki, and remained unaware of what transpired during his stint of unconsciousness.
"What is it that you see with my chakra exactly? something....irregular?"
Narrowing his eyes, Yuurei watched on as the boy spoke - he too had several questions about that night. Unfortunately, he wasn't on such good terms with Momochi as to carelessly stumble in to his office and ask why he'd been there, if he'd even been there, that is. Could this Kirigakure shinobi help fill in the wider context he was missing to that whole event? "It was a bijuu, wasn't it?" he'd ask bluntly, pressing on the last two words. Everything from that night was patchy, but the things he could piece together pointed towards it - with something like that unleashed, it was no surprise that the Shodaime himself had mysteriously turned up out of the blue. The place was long deserted when he'd come to.
"What is it that you see with my chakra exactly? something....irregular?"
"How old are you - thirteen? Fourteen?" he asks as his tracker studied the boy before him. He suspected he was a bit older than that, but it was within Yuurei's nature to belittle. "Not old enough to have power like that, anyway" he comments, referring to the absolute wealth of chakra that he had sensed running through his veins. He knew very few fully-grown adults who boasted such a large signature, but from what he could recalled there had definitely been something foreign there, lurking beneath the surface like a shark in the shallows.
Stepping forwards one meter more towards him, his brow furrowed, as if trying to piece together something. "Can you not feel it?" he asks with curiosity 'I guess not..'. Yuurei had been very sure that it dwarfed his own a few times over - perhaps being a sensor made him hyper-aware of his own reserves, but surely the boy would be able to tell? Such power did make him somewhat jealous - the things he could do if could wield it - but perhaps its origin couldn't be put down to something as simple as genetics.. Patiently waiting for the boy's response, he watched on, hoping that the discovery wasn't going to send him in to crisis - he'd never been good with kids, even back when he'd been one.