Prologue

Nemui Tatsu sat upon the brow of Lord Third's great stone face, taking in the bronze sky as the sun set on the Village Hidden in the Leaves. He took several deep breaths as the cool breeze washed over his face.

Tatsu was not a substantially large man; he stood at roughly six feet – not much taller than the average male shinobi – and had a lean body covered in tone muscles. His golden skin reflected light in a soothing manner, making him look like he was made of caramel. He had long, thick, jet-black hair he kept tied back in a style reminiscent of a pineapple, and his face was covered in a full beard about an inch and a half in length.

His eyes were his defining feature – dark brown, almost black, and framed by full lashes, but the thing that stood out about them most were the lids. They were half closed almost all the time, like he was constantly tired. No, wait, not tired.

Sleepy.

He wore a white coat that came down to his knees, with sleeves that reached his wrists – though he kept them rolled up to his elbows to show rough hands with fingernails painted black – and a collar that covered up to his chiseled jawline on either side. The coat was open on the front, revealing his gray, long-sleeved fishnet top, which was tucked into his somewhat baggy black pants. A weapon holster was attached to his right thigh with white tape. More white tape started just below his knees and continued down into his black shinobi sandals, which – like most versions of the footwear – were open on the front to reveal toenails painted the same as the ones on his fingers. On his belt hung a standard tan utility pouch on the back-right, a waterskin with an unidentifiable blade hidden underneath on the back-left, and a forehead protector bearing the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Sand attached to a red headband on the front-left.

The Sand emblem had a horizontal line cut through it.

Tatsu had been here once before, on a diplomacy mission several years earlier as a bodyguard for the Kazekage, long before he'd become a rogue ninja. They were here to discuss plans for the chūnin exams, which were to be held in the Sand Village at the time. He remembered the feeling he'd gotten sitting across from the Third Hokage and his companions, even to this day.

He wanted to fight them.

As he sat in that room, staring into the soul of the late Hiruzen Sarutobi, he wanted nothing more than to test his mettle against the God of Shinobi right then and there. For obvious reasons, he stayed his bloodlust. Now, he had nothing but regrets for not challenging the old man in that cramped office. Both he and one of his two bodyguards – his son, Asuma, a member of the Guardian Shinobi Twelve back then – were now dead. The fight he'd wanted most would never come.

Of course, the overwhelming urge to prove himself in combat that had been awakened that day never subsided. No, as a matter-of-fact, it'd only gotten worse. Far worse. Every day he felt more restless, wanting a fight to the death with the most dangerous warriors to make him feel truly alive. Eventually, the need overtook him. That day, he assassinated the Fourth Kazekage's entire ten-man Anbu guard and then fled his home. The ordeal left him with an empty feeling he'd been unable to shake since. They were pathetic, hardly a challenge at all, and he sacrificed his homeland to find that out.

Now a wandering rogue, Nemui Tatsu travelled from nation to nation seeking out the most powerful shinobi and challenging them to a fight. To this point, none had survived. None had given him what he was looking for.

He decided it was finally time he returned to the land where this bloodlust was born, to find the fight he'd been chasing ever since.

These would be his hunting grounds.

"Hey! What are you doing up here?"

Tatsu lazily turned his head to make eye contact with the person who'd spoken. He found a young ninja – a chūnin, by the look of his vest – with short brown hair and a begrudged look on his face. He was wearing a Leaf headband.

"Can't you see the fence?" he asked, pointing at the waist-high barrier several yards behind them. "No unauthorized personnel are allowed beyond that point! It's clearly labeled!"

Tatsu let out an inaudible sigh, slowly standing and brushing the dust from his pants. "Apologies," he said in a low tone, "I must've missed that." He flashed a small, charming smile and began walking over to the visibly nervous man, who then took notice of the scarred headband hanging from his belt.

The Leaf ninja drew a kunai and shakily yelled out, "identify yourself!"

Tatsu paused for a moment, then gave a short chuckle and continued walking toward his company. He kept his deliberate pace, ignoring the chūnin raising his trembling hand with each foot of the distance covered. Finally reaching him, he walked into the kunai and pressed forward, and the young man did exactly what the rogue ninja had predicted by relaxing his arm and giving way to him. Tatsu placed a hand on the boy's chest.

"I am the end."

The palm of his hand crackled with lightning as he sent a shock directly into the chūnin's heart. The young man's eyes went wide for an instant before the life left them and he slumped to the ground like a sack of soil.

Sighing again, he straightened his coat and then reached under it to grab something that was hanging on his utility holster. He pulled out a black mask in the shape of a dragon's face with half-lidded eyes. Placing it on his head and aligning it with his face, he turned back toward the village and put his hands in his pockets.

"Yes. The end."

Author's Notes: This is an original character I created several years ago with the intention of eventually making him the main villain of an epic I'd been planning for some time, but alas, that story never came to pass, and my outline for it is gone forever; it's not a total loss, however, as I remember every detail of the character and just decided to make an entirely new story for him. Let me know what you thought of his introduction!