Hundreds of faces, thousands of lives.
He had wronged all of them wearing the masks, betraying their hearts.
Urei walked through the forest outside of Amegakure, Itachi Uchiha, a man willing to sacrifice his life for his one shot at redemption. If only it were the same for him, if only he could let himself die and make right for not just those dead, but those lost.
Once a ninja, he realized a certain truth in all his dealings when he faced one of the last remaining Uchiha. Though they only uttered a few words, Urei put the pieces together, Itachi's betrayal. Feeling no better, Urei wanted to save light, as if being a ninja had been a terrible burden and a sin all his career. Racked with a certain guilt. He had erased entire towns, villages. Down to the last infant.
Things weren't so simple, at least they didn't seem so.
He began his trek across the entire continent to find all those he was responsible for, the lucky, the rare, the survivors...well the ones he could remember, not too many in all honestly. Some were dead, some were gone and not to be found, but most were where they were left. But almost all of them wouldn't bring themselves down to his level. They took a reparation fund and left it at that.
But apparently some felt ready to abandon their souls for revenge. It was fine, after years of persuing forgiveness, he was tired, he could finally rest now.
He had removed the scars on his body...or whatever could be removed. His face, his chest, limbs, but not the large scars on his back. They were too severe but it didn't matter. A memento then.
Once again nameless. The names of the past rested with the people that hated him. Faceless, faces only left in nightmarish memories, voiceless, drowned out by the rage of the people. So then what was left? Something...
He walked through the woods of some uncharted region, well in his mind. He had lost himself to the wildness a while a ago. Ruffling his white scruffy white hair, it had lost its sheen a long time ago, the color long faded. The tattered tail of his white and black jacket shuddered in a slight breeze that blew between trees. A ninja headband, an indiscernable symbol, scratched out, was stitched to the shoulder. A plain white uniform shirt and grey long baggy pants, both dirtied.
Someone had been following him. As he stumbled through the woods something leaped down behind him and held a blade to his throat.
A feminine voice whispered with anger, "You monster...now you die."
Who ever it was, she was waiting for him to respond, but he did not.
"..."
He waited for it to end, irredeemable life, done with its sins and its duties. Instead he heard sobbing.
"Say something you son of a bitch!"
He couldn't think of anything in particular...just something out of place to be said, "Sorry...".
In a cold detached tone, remote of any sense of care.
The blade against his neck loosened from its fixed position, slowly sliding down, until it was released from its wielder's hands. It fell to the ground and embedded itself in the ground, a wakizashi.
Urei felt hands grinding across his back, he could feel the girl's trembling and it echoed in his own heart. He felt for once what he had really done to someone.
Eventually the hands fell away from him and he could hear her drop to the ground. The crying was louder, and far more vigorous, like that of a child.
He contemplated on his situation, what could he do...
He turned around and ducked down close to the girl and laid his hand on her shoulder. She was too restless to consciously shake off his hand.
"Who are you?"
For a moment she stopped and looked up, she thrust herself at Urei tackling him unto his back, "DON'T FUCK WITH ME!"
He stared at her with both his natural eyes, blind and seeing, seeing someone slightly younger than him, dark brown hair, the back tied back in a messy tie, bangs pushed to the side and the side poking his face slightly; fierce brownish-red eyes and an innocent face. She gasped for a moment, taken aback by the apparently grotesque eyes. Or maybe it was his stare, it was serious, it told her he was not lying.
"Y-you. Why'd you kill my parents?" She was sobbing again trying to smash her her head against his, being unable to control herself again in fits of emotional rage.
Urei opened his mouth but couldn't answer for a moment, a life done with its sins and duties, he was skeptical.
"I...I was paid..."
He received a good smack to the left side of his face. He couldn't complain, it was more than deserved, it was required.
"Y-y-you bastard!"
The girl was still crying, her tears falling on Urei's face. She wasn't really going anywhere with her situation, but how could she. Oh, wait.
"Three years ago...you...you came and killed my parents. I KNOW it was you. They were the artists...do you remember that?"
It would have been awkward if he wasn't responsible, it would have been, but at this rate he was most likely responsible, civilians were not outside his boundaries.
"Yes..."
The girl's rage flared, her face showing it, she wrinkled her nose and gritted her teeth screaming a cry of sorrow and anger.
"Do you know what you did to our family?"
He couldn't remember everything he'd done wrong. Though he did try. His memory was far from perfect, though his abilities helped record important details.
She was still crying, gasping for air between sentences and sobs.
"Now that I've found you, now you WANT death?"
Urei continued to stare at her face to face, mere inches away.
"I don't want to die...but..."
She looked puzzled for just a brief moment. "I! SAID! DON'T FUCK WITH ME!"
She emphasized the last part, tears streamed down her face and continued to fall on Urei's face, like rain. She started beating on him, where ever she could... He reached his hand over around her swinging arms and wiped her left cheek of her tears, she didn't seem to notice, her unbearably grieved look alluded to the reason.
"If it will make anyone feel better, I will die."
For a moment she gazed, a baffled look spread across her face. But in an instant she snapped to, her eyes regaining their intensity and her teeth gripping again.
"You think you'll be forgiven that way?"
She smacked him again, across the face.
Urei took the hit and fixed his sight back on her.
"Then what should I do?"
Once again she had the bemused countenance.
"Y-y...I...You're coming with me."
She didn't want to actually kill or hurt anyone, she may have trained and honed her abilities as a ninja for this moment but when it came down to it, she had never trained herself to kill anyone, she lacked the will.
Though her brother was an entirely different matter.
She got up, still crying. "You're going to work for your forgiveness."
"I don't expect forgiveness..."
She tightened her muscles reflexively. "WELL YOU CAN'T MAKE ANYTHING RIGHT BY DYING!"
Urei laid there, "It's up to you then..."
The girl leaned over and grabbed Urei's hand, it was freezing cold, literally. It was like he was a corpse, no body heat. She reeled her hand away immediately and instead gave an order, "Get up. We're going to my place."
She went ahead wiping away at her face. She didn't understand her own gist of things but she didn't want him to simply disappear and have everything become a waste.
"Don't you want me dead?"
The question rang through the girl's head.
"I do"
A simple and cold reply.
She didn't even glance back. She was leading him to Konoha, where she had been living for several years since her parents were murdered. Her brother was a Hunter ninja for Konoha and she went to live with him. Urei had been a konoha jounin known as Yu Jin and a ROOT spy with an alias Urei Shi, though he was more of a freelancer, Danzo knew how he worked..
He willing followed the girl back to Konoha, he didn't bother asking her name, it wasn't necessary. He simply followed her straight to the gates, and through them into Konoha, and eventually to her home.
"Sit."
He sat, she immediately began pummeling him left and right until her own fists were beginning to wear and the skin on her knuckles break. Even the hardened hide produced by years of arduous work split and tore.
"So you intend to torture me?"
She took a step back, "No you sick freak."
He straightened up, to set up for another attack. "Then what are you going to do."
The girl took another step back and then receded into her own room, shutting the door. He could hear the water turn on on a faucet. He waited several minutes before she came out in baggy light clothing, probably pajamas. She grabbed a seat and pulled it parallel to Urei and took a sat. For hours she watched him, until she finally fell asleep, snoring loudly. Urei went into her room and grabbed a small blanket or cover of some sort and brought it out for her. She was awake but realizing he was gone only opened her eyes slightly. She saw a dim shadow amongst the lightly shaded darkness caused by the moonlight and clamped her eyes shut and bit her lower lip. Dammit, I made a mistake, letting him live. She realized that she didn't have mercy for him, it was merely that she feared him. He was literally a monster, inhuman, down to his own regard, disgusting yet terrifying. She gulped, trying to ease it down unnoticed, fearful he might kill her here.
She felt the blanket lowering on her and thought it was blood and death casting over her, but she could her Urei take his seat again. She gently opened her left eye a bit and saw a cover over her.
She opened her eyes a little more and tilted her head to get a look at Urei while appearing to look as if she were asleep. She could have sworn he was crying as he stumbled with whispers, "I'm sorry."
It didn't ease the pain, it just made her doubt her own perception. Was this person really the suspect? The evil villain? Somehow it seemed as though it was distorted. She was disgusted at herself for thinking light of him. Today was one huge mistake.
What was going on?
The girl, Kana woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast. For a moment she thought her brother was home already but realized it would be days before the likely return of her brother, missions usually lasted even longer than the given time frame. She stirred about and opened her eyes to see Urei in his dark clothes, with his coat sleeves rolled up, standing in front of the kitchen stove frying something.
Her eyes widened, "What're you doing!"
He turned his head to look at her, a bit hard since she was aligned more to the right. He had to turn the opposite way to see her. "I'm making breakfast."
He set down a shallow but wide bowl on the small dining table infront of Kana. It was an unusual breakfast, fried rice...
He took his own seat across from her, for some reason she could feel anger rising up. She reached for the bowl and held its underside, she lifted it spilling some and threw it at Urei's face. The hot rice hit his face first, then the porcelain bowl's surface, which shatter against resistance.
"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"
Urei kept his stoic face though he was bleeding due to parts of glass glass.
"Sorry..."
Kana stormed out of her own house, unusual, shouldn't Urei be the one to be kicked out instead?
He began cleaning up the broken glass mixed with rice, egg, and vegetable. Into the dustpan they went, until they went into a hard case garbage can, at least for now. He moved to a mirror and began to pick out small pieces of glass embedded slightly in his forehead. Most of the damage was done by cuts from stray pieces rather than pieces that stuff themselves in his flesh.
Urei turned to the door and thought about going after Kana, but there was nothing he could really do...he was the source of the problem. He instead took a seat on the wooden floor and set himself up against the wall near the entrance. Conveniently it was parallel to the large glass sliding door. He watched the sun rise and later set. But still no one returned.
He got up and left the house for a while as well, going out into the town, hopefully people wouldn't recognize him but with his past it seemed doubtless. By the time he returned she still hadn't returned. He took back his seat and waited the entire night, unmoving.
It was about 1 in the morning when Kana walked in holding a few bags. Urei was still awake but she thought he was sleeping; he had his head facing down, and from an angle his face wasn't visible at all.
Maybe she took pity on him, she went and brought a blanket over to him, in fact the same she used earlier, it was far more convenient then pulling a new one out the closet. She draped it over Urei and closed it off a bit. She moved her right hand up to Urei's face and touched it, still ice cold. He didn't look up or give a sudden shout. He whispered, "If you need anything..."
The rest was easy enough to infer. Kana turned away and walked to her separate room, Urei could hear water rushing again but just for a moment. A moment a thump was heard and it was silent.
This time Kana woke up before Urei could begin making breakfast or anything. She walked up to him and crouched down next to him. He looked at her, on the left side.
"Yes?"
She didn't look particularly happy but not mad or sad either. Almost stoic but a bit more casual. "Why are you so cold?"
He turned his head a bit more. "Cold? Am I being inconsiderate?"
She shook her head but then caught herself; he was. Well as far as she could tell, he seemed so machine-like that it disgruntled her, and made the entire reason for bringing him home pointless. He made everything seem...underwhelming, he MURDERED her parents and now he was acting like a tool that did things ahead for her. There was nothing to feel towards that. But at the moment that wasn't what she was referring to. "I meant your body temperature. You're freezing...but yes you are inconsiderate."
"...I'm...freezing?" He moved the blanket aside and touched his hands together. He didn't feel anything wrong.
"...You...can't tell?" Kana grabbed his hands with her own. She clutched them tightly trying to cover as much surface area as possible. "How about now?"
Urei couldn't tell a difference but said nothing.
Kana inquired, "is that it? Warm?"
Urei just stared at her. Once again she took a fearful approach, Really a monster? Backing away slightly and then moving past him Kana touched the wall behind him, then the blanket, and the chair nearby. They felt normal...well the blanket a bit cool but probably BECAUSE of Urei. It was him...for some reason he was cold...like a dead man, there was virtually no heat. Actually more like he eminated cold, if that was even possible.
She noticed heavy bags under his eyes. "Did you sleep?...Do you ever sleep?"
He shook his head and Kana wrapped the blanket a bit tighter. "Sleep, when you wake up I'll make soup for you."
He stared at her with both eyes, she seemed disgruntled all of the sudden. She stood up and turned away, walking back into her room. She started to pity him. Scary, yet at the same time she couldn't help her own feelings. Well, she was a nice girl, practically a saint - she smirked for just an instant.
He couldn't feel anything, to be honest. He tried to recall distinctions in touch. The last time he felt the warmth or the touch of anything...he couldn't remember.
In her room Kana thought about it, she felt like she was taking care of a child or a pet. But that was the same man who killed her parents for money...blood money, then again that was common for ninja, she was one too...well supposed to be, at least not a very good one in retrospect. She was more comfortable caring for him than getting mad at him, frustratingly. It was somewhat nice to think that a murderer could become so...docile. She thought of her brother for a bit, he was assigned specifically to assassinate, she didn't like the thought of it.
Well for now , she would have to look after him...or for him, he was still potentially dangerous.
Kana quietly slipped out of the house while Urei was asleep, he listened to her advice...or rather commands...
She went out to buy groceries for lunch. Which reminded her, she skipped breakfast. No matter, most people ate lunch in a few hours, the wait was short.
Konoha had changed since the years passed, a lot had happened, Akatsuki namely, a new Hokage already, and more.
She dropped by the market area, taking a stroll down the stands rather than going to the larger stores, usually better deals and fresher material, but some people didn't trust the farmers who came to sell their goods.
She picked out a bushel of carrots, a few balls and cabbage, onions, turnips, and a chain of garlic. All in one basket, next stop was the butcher shop. She got a 3lb. slab of beef and had it wrapped in its own bag, but everything still went into the same basket.
She ran into a friend, good timing, she was done shopping. "Asa! Hey!"
The girl turned around, her shoulder length red hair swinging as she turned to greet Kana.
Meanwhile...Urei pretended to sleep, it had been a few hours since he was supposed to go to sleep. There was no way he ever could. Everytime he closed his eyes he saw...terrible...things. So he stayed awake, now staring outside, wondering why someone who should hate him would show compassion. Or was she a fraud. But it didn't matter, he would have to take care of her, he promised.
Kana returned home a bit later than she expected. When she entered she saw Urei awake but unmoving; awake? Seemed more like a dead body.
He turned his eyes to her, his blind eye was seemingly replaced by a working one, same colors as the dark green on the other side. "Welcome back."
She noticed it, "Y-yea...I'll start the food."
She was a mediocre cook and had trouble preparing the soup, but not the rice, even children could use a rice cooker. But hot broth? Maybe it was too hard, she hadn't cooked anything like it in a while.
She managed and set the food out on a table and called Urei over. "Come eat."
He got up and took a seat across from Kana, who responded by staring indirectly at his eyes. She couldn't help but ask, "What happened to your eye?"
He tasted a table spoonful of the beef broth but it was bland. "I covered it up."
It was inevitable, the question of what, then how. "How?"
He ate timidly, not eager about eating, he didn't want to explain so he was vague. "I was a ninja."
It should have been self explanatory, but it didn't seem to fit, henge on JUST his eyeball? Weird. "Well...wh-how did you go blind?", she asked nervously. It would be bad to hit a nerve.
His answer was in fact, unnerving. "I clawed it out."
She felt like she was going to puke into her soup bowl, but then that would just make her sicker, so she held it in as best she could, very well apparently. "Y-y-you...clawed your...eye out?" Obviously he didn't mean he pulled it out but he was the one that destroyed it.
His answer was still steely, "Yes."
She didn't understand at all why someone would do that? She was unsure if she should prod into the life of someone so disturbed but..."Why? Why would you do that to yourself?"
Urei looked up at her, his eyes softening...no...not soft, but weak rather. They were hiding a tragedy, it was obvious. It was often said the eyes are the gateway to the spirit, if so, his was tormented and broken. Yet his voice was like a machine, unbreakable, unbendable, cold and unfeeling. "I did a lot of things to myself...that people would find strange. It's no different."
Kana noticed he made it seem like he did it for the sole purpose of self torture. Though she wasn't the brightest she could tell there was something beyond masochism, suddenly she became intent on finding the reason. Before, she thought herself a person caught in a crossfire, her parents death caused by a stranger easily dispatched, but now she was on a quest to free a chained heart.
She didn't want to be so bold, but she called Urei out impulsively. "You're avoiding the question. I asked why", she said sternly.
He looked down at the broth, the steam gently pressing against his face. "You have no reason to know", he seemed defensive.
Kana noticed immediately his tone, she was sure that there was something behind it. But for now she withdrew from any further personal invasion, she didn't want to provoke anything.
But time for answers. "..." She didn't know his name, so she stumbled for a moment but Urei knew she wanted to speak. "Uh...if you killed my parents...why are you with me now?"
He looked up, though his face was parallel to hers their eyes never met. "...You wanted it."
She cringed, a bit redundant to ask that. Well he wasn't lying...apparently, or seemingly rather. But that didn't really answer anything. "Why are you so willing to do serve me?"
This time he looked straight into her eyes, just to answer, "I promised...I would take care of loose ends."
Freightened for a moment, "You mea-?"
"No, I'm going to do what I can to make it up to you", he replied.
She was bewildered at this point, "Well you took a long time finding me", simple sarcasm.
His excuse was simple and valid: "Couldn't find you", yet so ridiculous for this case, he murdered her parents and made some crap vow. "You bastard..."
She felt like crying again.
"What did you do with the money?", she quietly asked. She planned to burn it, the soil in which the root had been corrupted.
"I used it..."; by no means was he anymore aware of the situation than he was before. He still wasn't sure if he had killed her parents but he answered anyway. It was a fairly normal response though.
"There's some left." Her tears hit Urei's face. He still had the money on him, though not the exact money from the job, from his career. "It's in my coat."
Kana was still on top of him but the last of the tears were coming. She stood up and demanded,"Give me the coat...now."
Urei slide it off while sitting up. Kana took it and went to the drawers of the kitchen. She slide open the top drawer on the edge of the left counter top and pulled out a small lighting torch and opened the container for the gas, letting it spill out on the white coat now stained yellow. She sparked the lighter and walked to a larger basin in the kitchen, dropping both objects in she watched the article of clothing light on fire. There was no peace to be had despite what she had done, it was empty.
Kana turned to Urei again, who was from her point of view standing before the window, the sun casting light around the room but darkness on him She glazed a cold look. "You're a monster."
Despite how short a time and how suppressed, he was once human, succumbing to his guilt. "I know..."
For a moment she saw a machine, cold and unfeeling; she saw a devil, malicious and vile; but in the end all she saw a sad man who had a broken spirit. He was the one that destroyed himself.
Maybe it was because she was raised by such benevolent people and accepted their ways, because he was pathetic and pitiful, or maybe because a part of the human soul was good despite everything that worked to corrupt it, she walked over, almost intending to embrace him. "..You're no- nevermind."
"So what now..." He didn't particularly care for what she was going to say.
"What do you mean?" Kana inquired. The atmosphere was just a bit tense but also awkward.
"I mean you don't plan on killing me, and you've already done whatever it is you wanted to...are you...okay with this?" He turned his head slightly towards her, only his cheek and chin were visible.
She pulled her eyes together in an angry fit, she strode up, turned him around and delivered a powerful backhand, his face was still unpleasantly cold. "No! It's NOT okay! You're not just going run from this!"
He turned around again and opened the door. "Don't worry."
She had no idea what he meant by that but he walked out the door and left. Did he mean he would be back? But when? Or would he really?
She looked out the door but he was around gone from the hall. He moved fast. She grabbed her black thin spring jacket and ran out pulling up her hair as she ran for the stairs, oh forgot to lock the door.
She tailed him as far as the market area, he disappeared into the crowds. Where could he be going? She decided to take a break and go visit her favorite sweets shop. This entire...thing, these events, were depressing and overall strange. She didn't understand why she didn't kill him. It was a gut feeling...no, rather an insecurity. She wasn't absolutely sure about him, that he was actually the killer, though he very much matched what she recalled of the assassin.
He was waiting for her outside the building. A chilly night too, probably wasn't good for him to stay out in the cold...but then again he might have been colder than the night already. Kana ran to him when she saw him. "Have you been here the entire time?"
He nodded sullenly. She took his hand and tugged gesturing for him to stand, he did as she wanted. She buzzed them in and they returned to her apartment. Still unlocked, fortunately nothing was taken. She glanced at him, cold...not just his touch. Yet she couldn't shake off the trailing uncertainty. He seemed a bit young...really much too young.
She pulled him inside her own room. "You can sleep with me tonight."
Her bed was a small single. Ah, she went into the closet and started pulling at something, an extra mat. She pulled it down on the floor besides her bed, "Wait", she went back in and pulled out a blanket this time. Kana laid it on mat and then grabbed a small pillow from her bed and put it on the new spread. "Your bed."
She flashed a smirked at Urei who only looked bemused.
It was already pitch black outside, the tiny sliver of moon being unable to overcome the darkness, time to sleep it seemed. Kana went into the small side bathroom attached to the room, the door closed, a yellow light went on under the door, and various noises could be heard. She came out wearing pajamas, a button shirt and long baggy pants both with incredibly long sleeves. She climbed into her own bed and slide under the covers with a sigh of contentment. "You should go to sleep too."
Urei stood there for a moment before getting down. Kana looked down from her bed, "Do you need clothes?"
His answer was a simple, "No", and around him the mysterious dark cloak and clothes he wore disappeared leaving a white sleeveless shirt and grey cargo pants, his shoes ceased to exist altogether apparently. Freaky...maybe a ninja trick, seemed useful though - maybe she could make him teach it to her.
He moved the covers and then pulled it around him. "Goodnight", were the last words he heard from Kana before the light snoring started, soon after he was asleep too.
Urei could feel something warm, it felt sadly familiar. Oh, a memory. He unconsciously longed for someone, "Airi..." he murmured. Kana had fallen halfway onto his makeshift bedspread, laying on her side, her left arm stretching across his chest. Urei reached over and shook Kana, waking her for a moment for her to pull herself back up to her bed, she blinked her eyes open to see Urei was crying. She couldn't stay up, so she slipped back into her own bed and into dormancy again. He pulled his arm away and curled himself into a fettel position awake. He had noticed that he really didn't feel anything anymore, it was all just some sweet dream that existed in his brain. Tears leaked down.
A moment before he began to squirm his way out of the covers he noticed Kana's face. It looked soft and peaceful, like a sleeping child who had no worries. Quite unlike before. Her cheeks were round and blush, almost perfect, not raised and gaunt or bony. Her nose appeared soft as well, rounded finely a perfect length down and forward. He couldn't see her eyes but her forehead was a bit shallow and smoothed, unlike some people who appeared angry due to heavy brows. Her hair was hanging down towards the floor since they were horizontal at the moment, but her bangs seemed lofty as they slightly covered her left eye. However...her long hair seemed a bit messy for now, usually she had it tied up but now it was loose and wild. He crept out as softly as he could, he managed to pull himself out of the sheets quietly but heard some soft mumbles as Kana reached for something. He pulled the extra pillow she had given him and placed it in her arms, she hugged it close to her body with a mutter of contentment.
Slipping out of the bedroom there was thought about breakfast. Maybe just something simple. He closed the bedroom door silently, holding the knob until after the door was shut, not allowing the lock to click into place. He got out some supplies, namely a frying pan and a spatula. Next...the consumables. Looking in the refrigerator...none, for a girl...she didn't spend enough time in the kitchen. Urei went to the large window viewing Konoha and opened it just enough for him to slip out. He jumped down from a few stories, not much, and landed on the sidewalk. Luckily a fog had set in...well not like it mattered, no one was awake. The sun was far from rising, in fact...it was still dark. It wasn't night but the sun was several minutes away.
Still, he rushed over to the market place, bread, eggs, and bacon. He went to a small convenience store first, bread and bacon...he went about the frozen section for some packaged bacon. He whispered to himself, "Though vegetables are ok..."
For a moment he stopped and thought of Rin...Never again...well unlikely in Konoha anyway, a smile crept on his face. He wondered what she was up to these days after he left. Previously a team mate of his, ah, that reminded him, where was Nar-. The expiration date for the back he grabbed was tomorrow, not good, it should at least last a few more days. He grabbed a different package of bacon, the best one he decided, 3 days from now. He returned to his reminiscince and chuckled sarcastically only to realize whatever he was recalling was hazy, more of an unconscious gesture than a thought. His smile rolled into a grimace.
He moved on to get the bread in a different aisle...two rows away, small store. He picked the one with the latest expiration date. The shape of the bread wasn't really important, all of them seemed the same, but it had to be edible long enough to be eaten. He took both items up to the register, a young man was sitting on a stool. He had short cut but slightly wild natural auburn hair and sharp features, mainly his eyes. A familiar face.
Urei reached for his wallet and reached in to pull out cash, he remembered. This was nearly all blood money, only some of it was made from regular jobs. Still... He pulled out a few bills to cover the charges and the cashier ringed it up, "Thank you, come again."
Moving back into the market streets he saw there were lanterns up in several stands, meaning they were now open. He saw some random passerby as well, going about their business, selecting the best produce, having breakfast at small shops, the normal thing
As he walked for a stand run by a stout elderly woman he felt the Earth beneath him tremble. He fell to the ground and nearly on his groceries as the earth disheveled beneath him. He looked to see if his cargo was safe...it was, that is...until the stone fell on the bag.
As a large unshapely boulder began to fall towards him, Urei pick himself up with his hands and performed a tumble backwards landing on his feet to avoid it. The ground was pushed out from within, the edges of a hole now collapsing as sediment. Large...enough for vehicles to fit in, or maybe a decent attack force. Most people in the area heard but didn't see. Seems like a perfect time to at-
Large objects began to fly out of the hole, coming in streams. From their shapes they were obviously human...obviously ninjas leaping out. An attack while Konoha was asleep. Not too good. A trio jumped out at Urei, for some reason they had little trouble tracking him. He ran across the streets to lose them but they continued to follow him, earth ninja.
He turned around and made a dash for the closest one, it was a male figure, wearing an ANBU-esque mask exceplt the core color was black instead of white or light blue. He leaped forward with his hind foot and deliver a knee to the enemy's face while they were still rushing towards him. Urei noticed the other two, a short stout figure, and a large bulky one. He simply leaped on top of the short one but the larger one seemed much more aware of his situation. He performed unusual handsigns and the earth near Urei rose up, extending spikes up and towards the center. The usual evasion, jumping to a different spot. Urei performed a dash, his feet touching the ground maybe twice, and stopped infront of the large man who was performing handseals again. He stopped when Urei suddenly appeared infront of him and leaped back, but it was too late. Urei delivered a side kick knocking the man's breath out, then a pull, the end of which was an elbow. The final move was just a high kick to the chin knocking the last of the fodder out.
Everything was inevitably tougher when avoiding killing. Urei could hear screaming and shouting starting to rise up in other parts of the village. He could hear fighting now too. ANBU must have started the retaliation, it didn't involve his personal priorities...yet...somehow there was a feeling he was part of this commotion.
Urei ran through the streets eying fights and occasionally taking out some fodder that got in his way. Hopefully Kana was awake to at least defend herself need be, or maybe it could pass while she's asleep.
Urei saw the windows were closed from outside, and once he got in and up the door was locked. Apparently she was asleep, the fighting hadn't done much collateral damage yet anyway. He let himself in by lightly knocking on the door, his clone opened the door and then silently vanished from sight, no smoke oddly enough. Immediately he ran to Kana's room and found she was dressing. How awkward.
"H-HEY!" She threw an article of clothing at Urei's face and for a moment it obstructed his view until he removed it from his face. The pajama button shirt...it smelled - nice that is. Kana shoved him out and came out moments later wearing the same outfit she wore the first day she encountered him. Baggy dark pants with the sides cut out around the thighs and the lower leg and ankle carefully tied with gauze. The upper shirt was a wrap that came together on a vertical closing. She was wearing a kodachi on a strap behind hanging from the cloth belt and her konoha headband hanging from her neck under her chin. Her hair was tied up in a wild bunch and she seemed ready to fight.
Urei put his face on his hand again and it changed. Rough naturally grown brown hair, a bit wild and spiky. Hazel eyes and a sharp handsome face. Around him a jounin outfit appeared around him and he tied a Konoha band to his upper arm, an old outfit he remebered. Typical of Konoha ninja.
Kana's jaw dropped for a moment, "What...the hell?"
She stared at him, why was he wearing a konoha headband, who was he supposed to be? Would anyone believe that he's actually a konoha ninja?
Then it struck her, his face looked exactly like a former ninja who was recorded as a missing nin, a traitor? She gained access to the extensive library since she became a chuunin, and went through a long history of konoha ninjas. He just disappeared one day during a routine patrol yet no ANBU ever saw him leave or run from Konoha. It was weird so they labeled him missing in the records, he was a full jounin too, there weren't many, just a handful out of the populous village...well at least back then.
"Let's go."
Urei turned and was about to leave the house, he looked back to Kana who wasn't going yet but he turned back to shake her out of her apparent trance. "Oh!"
They left the complex to face off against a team of Iwa fodder, they were quickly dispatched without lethality due to Kana's raiton. Out of the people affected the only one immune was Urei much to anyone's surprise. It prompted the question, "Who are you?"
He pointed her in a direction towards the kage's office and told her as they sped through the somewhat empty streets minus a few battles every other turn. "I'm a lot of people."
It didn't seem like normal henge, there were several ways to see through henge no matter how perfect the process was because the skill was not. She followed closely disabling any attackers, avoiding kills, it was tiring for a chuunin - good thing most of them were chuunin and genin too.
They arrived at the hokage office to see the front of the building's second story explode without fire...it was like it was blown out by impact alone. Someone flew out and landed before Urei, preparing handseals.
Kana called out to her leader, "Hokage-sama!"
Kakashi turned his head for a split second, the sharingan stared back. Urei noted...Kakashi used to have it in his opposite eye.
A giant pillar of stone flew at them diagonally and from the ground infront of Kakashi a similar pillar countered. The dust and mist began to clear and a woman's figure was standing amongst it. "Konoha, prepare to face the consequences!"
Four smaller pillars rushed at the Konoha nin but was met by a wave of rolling earth. Kakashi jumped back to level with Urei and Kana. "You two stay out of this!" He once again looked behind him, this time to see Yu's face clearly.
"Y-you!"
He performed handseals to counter another attack, this time a barrage of earth projectiles met by a solid wall.
"Anyway stay back."
Kakashi released another set of handseals by hitting the rock wall sending it flying at the woman who was attacking.
When the dust around her cleared the Tsuchikage couldn't see Kakashi, only his two underlings. "Damn you Hokage! You left your own to die!"
She set her foot forward to leap forward but was instead pulled down into ground. It was for a Tsuchikage, a master of earth to pull herself out...too bad though, Kakashi was waiting.
His voice echoed, "Time to end this... Raikiri!" He was holding his signature raikiri when the Tsuchikage was only half way out of, he thrust by the time she had pulled all of herself out, too late it seemed.
The tsuchikage had her eyes closed, she could still hear the screech of the Raikiri however. Urei's hand was holding Kakashi's shoulder, keeping him from making contact. The ends of Kakashi's attack were numbing the Tsuchikage's stomach, she began to feel sick before reeling away. It was a close call
"Kakashi...don't. This is my problem."
Kakashi let his raikiri fade since it still took too much chakra to sustain for long, "You...why are you here?
Urei looked back at Kakashi, his head tilted, his body facing the Tsuchikage. He turned his head back to match his body's direction and looked down at the tsuchikage, she was young, really young. Maybe her twenties, younger than most jounin. "I killed your father, the former tscuhikage...just me, not Konoha. I abandoned this village a long time ago."
Shock hit everyone within range. Kakashi widened both his eyes revealing both sharingans. "What?"
The tsuchikage pulled back her legs and pushed herself up with her legs. "You! Bastard, you're going to die for that"
She looked ready to attack again, but Urei's hands caught her arms and held them steady.
"Don't...pull your troops back. Konoha is not involved at all."
He showed her his real face to her. "If you want to hate anyone, hate me."
He let her go, and she reeled away as if she had slow reflexes. Moments of awkward silence led to the tsuchikage radioing for iwa forces to retreat. She turned away from Urei for now, but in her mind she was dead set on killing him, she ran away.
Urei turned back to Kakashi, who was waiting idly, and Kana who was frozen by shock. Kakashi walked up first, he still wore his signature mask after all this time but had two 3-tomoe sharingan. What happened to his other eye and where did he get the new sharingan? Moving along, "What do you mean you killed the tsuchikage? Is that why you went missing?"
Urei avoided Kakashi's eyes for a number of reasons, instead staring at Kana. "No, it wasn't. I merely left the village."
Kakashi let out a sigh, "You know if you just leave like that you get marked as a missing nin. Everyone assumed you were a traitor, leaving right before some chaos..."
Urei nodded acknowledging it, "So I was told, Hokage..."
Kakashi focused his sight on Urei's eyes and noticed he was avoiding eye sight. Half glaringly and half squinting Kakashi inquired, "Why exactly did you leave the village, Yu? We could have used your help when the Akatsuki invaded."
Urei set his eyes to directly face Kakashi, "You did get help."
The mask of Yu faded away to reveal Urei's face, a blind eye and pitch black pupil in the other. The remnants of the scars weren't easily visible but for someone with an eye for detail could see the leftovers.
Kakashi's eyes widened as the the rest of Urei's outfit reformed into a shady cloaked get up. "Wh..." He stopped and simply let out another sigh, this time returning to the note of Urei's response. "What help...", he inquired.
Urei simply walked past Kakashi and moved to Kana, shaking her shoulder and softly asking to return to her house. "Let's go, I need to talk to you privately."
It was obvious what the silence signified, Kakashi turned around and slung a kunai at Urei's back. An excellent strategy, their eyes met and Kakashi's sharingan changed their form, the genjutsu was cast. That is...only to be reversed. Kakashi felt the genjutsu break and his MS disappear, before long he lost his sight too, under his breath he cursed, "Damn."
It was a seal. One that was designed specifically to counter doujutsu attacks.
Kana was snapped back to reality, "A-alright..."
Urei turned to Kakashi, "The blindness will wear off, and so will the seal, it's only meant to hold doujutsu for a couple minutes."
Kakashi's face scrunched up with a slight anger. "That kind of technique could have saved countless lives, Yu."
"Sorry..."
Urei looked at Kana to see her angered. "Y-...err. Urei! What the hell are you doing!" She seemed incredibly mad before releasing her tension to softly question herself, "Urei?"
He went on ahead, "It was inevitable, he tried to use his Sharingan. Anyway...this is taking too long. I'll be going to Iwagakure, to settle things."
Kana and Kakashi both perked up at this. Kana questioned his motives, "What? What're you going to do?"
Kakashi thought he knew well, but left it a question to be sure, "Are you going to...assassinate the new tsuchikage too?"
Urei almost grinned at the thought, his mouth starting to split, but he forced it down. The thought of blood lust. "N-no! At least...I'll try to settle it without killing anyone"
Kakashi thought about it for a moment, it would be good if Urei could make peace with Iwa technically on the behalf of both fire country and his own person. "Only if you can complete the mission."
Kana looked distressed, "How long will it take?"
This time he felt like smiling, for joy. He felt this way since she spared him actually. "I'll be back soon...", his speech was confident. "for you", this time a whisper, just as confident yet a hint of sadness. Life must have hated him.
Urei moved quickly through the canyons into the Iwagakure region, the crevice was deep, going several hundreds of feet into the earth, it was actually under the sea but there was no water except a stream that miraculously trickled down the path. He was moving along the side on a trail carved into the canyon walls. He soon met the closing end and jumped up to the top to see the entrance to a forest road. He dashed down the linear trail.
He had crossed a lake, it was very nostalgic...maybe they never found the bodies...He had passed through the cliff zone and headed straight to the village. The shinobi were all expecting him, he was escorted to the Tsuchikage's office, unexpectedly silently.
The escort team let him into the office where the woman from earlier was waiting her back turned to Urei, she was facing the window, the town. It was cloudy out...the sun was lightly shaded, the village received a delicate amount of light, enough to make the reflections shimmer but not enough to blind someone.
"You know...the last Tsuchikage...my father...was a bit of a dictator..."
Urei stood with his arms at his side, knees slightly bent, waiting in a fixed position, not proud and defiant, nor pitiful and unsightly.
"But he wasn't terrible...he was our leader..."
She turned and formed handseals and let stone gather around her hands, forming gloves.
The iwa nin moved in to restrain Urei but the Tsuchikage raised her hand to stop them.
"I want to fight you, to see what kind of monster could kill a kage and his elite team and simply walk away."
She placed her hands on the ground let the rock palms stick, they revealed a summoning seal and with a poof some sort of mole mole appeared. She told it to summon Urei and her somewhere. Urei complied by stepping forward and in an instant they were gone.
It was a completely flat field with no greenery or foliage at all, it was about 100 acres if the entire area was to be the battle ground. This was new, a ninja... requesting a duel instead of simply sending assassins or assassinating the target.
The Tsuchikage had the stone gloves around her hands again. Like a ninja should, she vanished and reappeared in a gust of smoke before Urei and delivered a powerful punch in nearly no time. It was obvious she had strong taijutsu, except...
She stopped after the first hit, there was no instant kill combo following or a sneak attack. She simply stopped. The punch to Urei's face made him twist his head to the side upon taking it.
"Fight back."
He spread his arms and left every spot of his body open wide for attack.
The tsuchikage was enraged, "FIGHT BACK!"
She delivered a punch to his stomach, it should have killed normal people with ease but Urei simply took the hit and stood still.
He opened his mouth, but said nothing, his mouth clasped shut. Contemplation of battle.
The Tsuchikage responded first, "Fine." She then began beating him as viciously as she could, rock forming and reforming at her fists with every hit.
It was no foolish decision of regret or guilt, Urei had unsealed his kekkai genkai earlier and right now he was being protect from every blow, by an extra layer of skin that dispersed the chakra through a redirection. He had no intention of dying
She kept at it for hours but seemingly did nothing to affect Urei. She was tired and worn out, breathing in and out with heavy accent with each breath. She staggered back and nearly fell. Urei walked up to her and she thought she was going to die.
"Is this how you killed them? You wore them down? Freak!"
He pushed her to her back with her index and middle fingers, letting her simply fall, but she got back up, rising the same way she fell.
"I will kill you for sure!"
She slammed a stone covered fist into Urei's chest close enough to send him back flying; she began the handseals for her ultimate jutsu.
Urei thrust his hands into the ground to slow his slide as he touched with the ground. He steadied himself, rising to the sight of dark violet chakra forming around the Tsuchikage.
She screamed with what seemed to be the last of her life, "Take no Kigen", rise of the mountain. What would seem like a hyperbole, was actually true to its effects. The ground began to tear itself apart from all around and began to pull towards Urei who could only dodge so many, his movement obstructed. The stones began to clump trapping him while the Tsuchikage held her final seal.
"It's over."
Just a moment before his right side was sealed Urei sent a single thread across the Tsuchikage's exposed throat. Her stance was perfectly exposed. It could have been accidental however it went through the neck deeply, cutting it at least a fifth of the way into the flesh. The stones and dirt around him began to break down, he struggled to pull himself out of the mess to see his opponent lying on the ground with blood pooling at the neck. She was choking on her blood and bleeding out at the same time. Medics and jounin of the village arrived from where ever they were hidden. "Stop!" For a moment, Urei grinned maliciously, catching a glimpse of his potential opponents. More and more he felt the urge.
Kakashi and Kana sat at the ramen place, it wasn't that rare for the Hokage to be roaming in public, just that it was barely afternoon, and a rainy one at that.
Kana was treating the Hokage to lunch of course, two bowls slide on the counter as an aging man told them to enjoy.
Kana broke her chopsticks and forgot to say anything. Kakashi turned to her, "I bet you're worried about him."
Kana gave a suspicious look but conceded with a sigh, "Yeah..."
Kakashi slide down his mask and put a chopstick full of noodles into his mouth, slurping up the ends. "Don't worry too much, he's powerful...He can control light you know, we've never even heard of such a kekkai genkai, well until recently."
Kana's eyes perked, "Light?" It was a ridiculous notion but the hokage was telling her himself and he was around when Urei was originally a konoha nin.
"Yep, light."
Well that was all that was to be said about Urei's powers.
"Ah, well, here's something you might be interested in," he took out a pack of bound papers, "it's somewhat of a biography." He tossed the stack at Kana.
She nearly dropped her chopsticks, fumbling them. "A biography?"
Kakashi took another bite of the ramen and nodded his head. After swallowing he warned her, "It's...kinda...depressing."
He got up and was about to leave, "Ah well, time for me to go, think you can cover the bill?"
There was no time to react, she didn't even have a chance to think to object since he just left.
From what was legible, some not due to stains, Kana could tell Urei's life had been terrible. But up to this point, if she could leave the past behind then so should Urei. Kana realized the issue, Urei was someone who lived in the sins of his past. That was why he was so sullen all the time, why even though he seemed to turn over a new leaf he wouldn't truly change.
There was someone else like him...Kana's brother, Oten. He would never let go of the past, it was a good thing he was away on a mission to foreign lands...or maybe it wasn't, there would be no time to explain things.
She continued reading. It became more and more alarming, his behavior that is. Even in Konoha it seemed that he was practically two separate people. One was just a tragic man, the other a crazed killer. It was questionable though, she realized once again that the profession of the ninja was to kill. She felt awkward, having never killed anyone - to her own knowledge at least.
Urei made his way back to Konoha, hurt. they managed to save their kage and they beat on him until he had no more endurance to keep up his defensive techinque. The last thing she did was tell them to let the "useless dog" go. He realized he almost killed them, it wouldn't have been too tasking had he taken them out immediately. Maybe she had no reason for releasing him, or maybe it was to avoid war. Neither option made much sense really...maybe Naruto had gotten to the world like he promised. Those days used to be good.
Kana finished reading Urei's life story...or what was available, it was obvious tons of parts were still missing, huge gaps between the years and oddly enough, perspectives that made it seemed like Urei was alive a hundred years ago. She noticed though that some pages seemed to be torn. Sure lots of records were damaged when Akatsuki's leader attacked back then...but these were made by a human.
Kakashi sat in his office, it was still raining and the afternoon seemed so dull. He let out a sigh and looked at a folder with Urei...no, Yu Jin's photo and several pages of the "biography". In the photo he was standing with a famous someone. As a chill went down his spine the hokage knew that the reappearance of such a man was going to bring about a commotion.