Here is where shinobi can rent small homes to live in while within Amegakure. You must approach the desk and ask for the key for the home in question. [You must have the kage/crew's approval for a home within Iwa.]
The sound of the rain came to Shuurin's ears like the sound of a metronome. He could hear the sloshing his sandaled feet made on the sidewalk below him. Traversing the Residential District he really just wanted to get out for a bit. The Village was in for heavier rain the next couple of days and going outside was going to be a bit more problematic. Shuurin upon graduating from the Academy with his parent's blessing, took up the barrack housing offer. Simple nondescript and easy to manage was what he was after and Hidden Rain didn't disappoint. Out for a stroll to clear his thoughts the young Uchiha was dressed in simple clothing with a grey hood pulled over his head. Wearing his clan's insignia on his back he hummed a bit as he looked around the neighborhoods he was sharing his living space with. Placing his hands in his pockets he risked a glance up at the grey and overcast sky. Rewarded with rain in his face he returned his gaze back to the walkway around him. Between the drainage pipes and makeshift structures in front of homes through this section meant he'd have to pay a bit more attention to where he was going. He was getting nearer the edge of the Residential District which meant nearing the outer limits of the Village. While still technically within Amegakure the outer portions of the Village made up a large chunk of it's industrial sectors and water processing facilities. Thumbing the forehead protector he wore around his neck with the simple | | | | markings notched in it his mind wandered around the various purposes for the drains and pipes he started spotting. Aiming for one of the few spots in the Village with any kind of vegetation Shuurin had wanted to scope out the training grounds. Understanding the need to stay on top of things Shuurin was excited to finally get his start. It made him feel a bit wistful for the days of not having a care in the world. Pushing those quickly aside though he couldn't really think of anything he'd rather be doing now. Which is why dressed in more relaxing clothing than a ninja would really wear he was aiming for the training grounds. It'd be an all day excursion with the walk over there and everything if he didn't resort to rooftop lines of travel. Deciding to take a walk at a leisurely pace he figured it would also give him the chance to stretch out and be comfortable when he got down to actual field practice. By now his hood had started to absorb some of the moisture of the rain. Sighing, he realized that truly waterproof clothing was probably decades away. While one of his more weather resistant articles of clothing it still eventually took on water. The hooded flak jacket he had gotten on being a genin was laid out on his bed. Deciding to save that for on the duty and near future fashion decisions he opted for the one last day of comfort logic. Nothing was officially assembled as of yet so he had a moment to look a bit slouchy. By this point he had dug out his mp3 player and thumbed through a couple playlists. Opting for one the hometown radio stations he streamed their connection to his device and tapped a quick beat as a local rock band started playing midway through one of their tracks. Finding his step a bit more lively he continued on his way...
Arriving back through the maze of alleys and drainage pipes he had used the last time, Shuurin half stumbled back to his place. He had used up quite a bit of chakra training all of those skills and it was only now starting to replenish. Stretching as he walked his body had ceased being numb and sore from the sparring match. Pretty pleased with what learning he was able to get in Shuurin ran his mind over his own layout. Good with ninjutsu and a convenient elemental affinity for this land as well. He remembered his father telling him that most if not all Uchiha were Katon or Fire Release users to some degree. As such Shuurin's own affinities for Water and Lightning were curious. He suspected that was where his mother's genetics came in as she was a native from Amegakure and her brother and father were both Rain ninja as well. Aside from the Uchiha genes he was just another regular Rain ninja or so he thought. Nevermind the fact that he just studied three elements worth of techniques and intuitively understood how they worked. His large chakra reserves also were a tad unusual as well amongst his peers. Walking up the steps to his army provided apartment he pulled out the keys and let himself in. Once inside he fished around for the light switch momentarily. Still getting used to the place it took him a moment to find what he was looking for but when he did a pale fluorescent light illuminated the small space. Removing his shoes, he peeled off the wet and muddied training clothes and dressed in his proper garb as a ninja from the Hidden Rain. Black pants, a dark blue shirt and a silver greyish sleeveless rain coat with the Uchiha emblem emblazoned on the back of it. Readjusting his forehead protector around his neck he looked once in the bathroom mirror, grabbed something to drink and headed out.
It didn't matter what Shuurin tried to do but he couldn't get his Sharingan to deactivate. The sights and horrors from the Gates wouldn't shake his mind anytime soon. Talk about traumatic stress to your psyche. Every way the young Uchiha looked there were mangled corpses of the innocents. His eyes would not let him look away and he would remember all of their faces clearly for the rest of his life he realized.
As it were there were things that needed to be done here. He alone couldn't do much to combat the fires. His genin level water jutsu was pathetically inadequate. Only real thing he was capable of doing was pulling those from the wreckage that had a chance to make it on their own and applying basic first aid to those that couldn't move on their own. Through the residential district he ran stopping to help those he could. He kept pushing for the Village Gates as that's where it seemed the bulk of the fighting was currently going on. He knew he could lend very little to help the fight against the monsters at the doors but if he could get close enough to at least get an idea of what the situation looked like. Pausing near some blown out and collapsed piping and duct work the natural rainfall to the area was already doing a swell job of keeping the flames from spreading. Rain water was starting to flood the streets as ductworks meant to hold and siphon away were blown away. Hearing cries coming from inside a nearby small outcropping Shuurin stopped to pry away some fallen debris. With a heave and a grunt the sheet metal fell away with a clatter to the ground and he saw a few small children huddled around the center. Shuurin guessed they must of been pinned in when this part of town was attacked. Reaching in and helping them get out of their little metal death trap, Shuurin shooed them further into the reaches of the residential district that hadn't been attacked yet.
An explosion from further down the streets is what brought Shuurin back to the reality of the present situation. Head snapping up and eyes darting back up the small alley he had found himself standing in. Pulling his hood over his head, he leapt up to a drainage pipe and with a mix of chakra and primate genetics shimmied his way to a higher vantage point. Apparently being one of the few in the Village incapable of flight at this point, he climbed until he could get a better look amongst all the spires in the Hidden Rain. Looking towards the source of the explosion, he pointedly ignored the massive fireball that was the Village Gates. He could see as he looked through the haze and rain the chakra signatures of what Shuurin assumed to be the Barbarian's advance guard. So they've made it this far... he thought as he began to formulate a plan. Sure, he could go muck up the Gates and probably get caught in some massive crossfire. Even as he thought this there was a flash of white light at the Gates and his heart skipped a beat for those that might still be stuck there. I've got more pressing matters to deal with, he told himself as he looked back to the oncoming horde. So far it seemed it was only the most advance troops that had started to trickle into the streets. Their numbers here hadn't reached enough density that it would make fighting impossible. As it were the best he could probably manage would be a delaying action against their advance. Give those he had managed to help and others a better chance to distance themselves from these invaders.
Reaching into his tool pouch he was thankful he always carried two. This would make what he was about to do a bit easier to accomplish. Starting with a few smoke bombs he waited until the first few enemy troops had already passed. With his dark hooded coat and the rest of his ninja attire, he had managed to avoid being seen. Revising his earlier assessments when he had finally saw what was trickling in through the streets. Barbarians was accurate and he almost lamented what he was about to do. Senseless or not they had come into his home now and started s**t. Dropping the smoke bombs, the enemy Barbarians tensed and began to look around as the smoke spread for half a city block and filled most of the street. Relying on his Sharingan to help him zero in on his opponent's chakra colors. Sliding down the drainage pipes, he dropped back into the alley and two kunai flashed from his coat sleeves. Rushing forward into the smoke, rain and haze he came across the first poor sod blundering around in the smoke and lacerated his throat. Next came several slashes at another's midsection before moving on to a third. By now the smoke was beginning to clear and he had to move. Ducking out of the haze and rushing for the alley opposite the one he exited from he ducked in and around the first corner he could find. As the smoke cleared three dead bodies would appear lifeless in the streets as their comrades marched on a bit more warier than before. As he rounded the corner Shuurin was reaching back into his tool pouches. Ducking between drainage pipes and makeshift housing he pulled out a few paper bombs he had made up. Above the next alley crossing were a few pipes to filter the rain water away and there was a basic scaffolding going along the length of pipe that formed a simple walkway. Running along the length of walkway he dropped a few paper tags weighted with shuriken onto their heads. What he was doing was paltry and made no real difference. He wasn't severely depleting their numbers nor was he really causing them to change direction. What he was doing though was slowing them down and wearing them out. Taking away their sense that this would be an easy victory. They didn't know the Village the way Shuurin and the other locals did. Using that to his advantage Shuurin disappeared again back amongst the network of pipes and drainage systems. At this point the best service he could do his people would be to stay alive, fight well and drive these pillagers back.
thefire158
[Just a heads up since you asked to refrain from the Gates.]
[ T I M E L I N E ] (OOC: The following events occur a few days before the great invasion at the gates.)
Rain pelted against the closed window. Every now and then, thunder rumbled and lightning struck. The wind howled. A storm was passing by.
Hana sat besides the window, so that no one would be able to see her from the outside but she could still see the sky and the rain. Not like there was much to see. It was the dead of night, that time right before the earliest of risers awoke that was the quietest and there was no moon. As always, the clouds blocked out the meager light of the stars. The village hadn't developed enough to install regular streetlights. All was dark except for that split second when lightning would break the blindness, followed by a thunder that broke the silence.
The darkness only bothered Hana a little bit, though. She remained her usual self in it, and could feel, even if she couldn't see, the residents of the house across the street and one door to the side. The chakra signatures of these folks were relaxed. They were probably sleeping unlike the chakra signature that was in the same room as Hana.
Hana had signed up for this mission, with its incredibly vague instructions of "observe and report any suspicious actions made in the house at this address," with a distant cousin of her's, someone she hadn't met in a long, long time. She had learned only a couple days ago that he, like Hana and her closer cousin Masako, had joined Amegakure. Upon meeting, the two had agreed to catch up some time or do a mission together. The promise eventually led to this, the current stakeout Hana was participating in.
Hana would be lying to say that she wasn't excited to have the chance to catch up with him. All she had were fuzzy memories, but she could feel it. He had changed very, very much. She knew what those changes were and what they meant, but she still wanted to know the details of how and maybe why. Right now, though, she was worried for his health. He was awake, when he should have started sleeping about ten minutes ago, when Hana switched watch with him.
Moving her eyes away from the window and staring in the direction she felt his signature, Hana whispered, "Atlas oppa? You should sleep, you know. It's my watch right now. This might be the last night but it's still not good to slack off on sleep. Something can still happen during the day. I'll wake you up when it's yours, or..." She paused for dramatic purposes. Atlas probably couldn't see it in the dark, but a friendly smile was spreading on Hana's face, one that made clear her eagerness to hear news about an old acquaintance. After an appropriate span of time, Hana finished her thought, "Did you want to talk? It's been a while since I last saw you. Honestly, I can't believe we ended up in the same village."
Lady Forrester
Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2016 12:18 pm
Atlas' mind was racing with thoughts, bouncing around and rattling his brain. It had been a while since he consumed anyone, and hunger was festering within him. It was guilty pleasure. His sword, strapped onto his back, beckoned. It wailed at the absence of sustenance, gnawing at his very soul. How did it end up this way? Atlas had become the tool of a sword. It's almost poetic, becoming the tool of what is usually deemed as a tool. However, it wasn't all bad. With the loss of humanity, he gained so much power.
So hear he was, waiting. Watching. He accepted a mission to monitor the movements going on at this location. Not a very interesting assignment, but it was worth the money. It was unusually quiet, the only audible noises coming from Hana and the creatures of the night. Atlas sighed a little too loudly. Boredom was setting in, a poison fixated on making go to sleep. Sleep was difficult right now, something he couldn't manage.
There was another person here with him. Hana. She was a cousin of his, distant. Well, maybe she wasn't anymore, his blood had been replaced. They only shared visual features now. A set of grey eyes and dark hair. He remembered her vaguely. She was the quiet one among her peers. Always deemed too pretty for her own good. Romance didn't seem like her thing. It certainly wasn't for Atlas. Not anymore anyway. He remembered what he was like before. Happy, carefree, hasty. The transformation had taken most of that from him. Now he was gloomy most of the time, arrogant, hotheaded. It was all somber now. Unless of course he was fed.
Hana spoke to him. "I can't sleep." His voice was softer than his face would lead you to believe. Bruises and scratches were plentiful, yet small. She stopped talking, then continued, the tone of her voice changing ever so slightly. "Sure. Let's talk." Atlas turned towards her direction, he could only make out her shape. "Come closer." He preferred to speak face to face, just a thing of his. "Yeah it's pretty lucky, huh?" Atlas gave her a faint smile. "I guess you're curious as to what happened to me." Most people were. But the explanation was simple. He evolved.
[ T I M E L I N E ] "Oh dear, that's not good," was Hana's knee-jerk response to Atlas's apparent insomnia. When he requested that they sit besides each other, Hana took one last, futile look out the window. There wouldn't be much she would be able to see even if she tried. Trying to make as little noise, she crawled forwards to Atlas to fulfill his request, settling down about a foot in front of where she could feel his chakra and faced his barely visible face.
After getting as comfortable as one could be while sitting on a cold, wooden floor, Hana flashed an embarrassed smile at having been read so easily, "Yes, I'm quite curious. Eheh," a rub of the nose to make her embarrassment even more obvious, "So I guess you remembered that I could sense chakra. I was so shocked when I saw you in this village and your signature was so different. I almost doubted that you were you. Not to mention, you've changed a lot in other ways, but stuff like your more serious personality and your scars are all things that could have changed easily enough depending on what happened with your life. Your chakra is… different, though. Chakra doesn't just change like that. Wh-what happened to you?".
Fear and hesitation were becoming very palpable in Hana's voice. She'd only felt chakra like Atlas's current wave in one other man. She had tended to his wounds despite the fear his chakra signature made her feel… and was nearly eaten in return. Of course, she didn't think Atlas would do that. Because Hana firmly believed Atlas, someone she had played with as a kid, wouldn't hurt her, she was able to talk to him so freely. It was only the bloodline he now carried that she feared.
Actually, not even the bloodline. Just the vicious nature of the chakra carried by those of the bloodline. As expected of a power that controlled its host, it basically oozed a frenzied hunger for the flesh of prey, prey like Hana, and like any prey, Hana couldn't help but feel a tinge of fear until she grew more accustomed to it. These thoughts and feelings were clearly portrayed in Hana's wavering but still clear voice and her body's perfect willingness to remain close to Atlas's, "I've only met one other man with chakra like yours and-and I don't think I've read anything about it in books, but I can tell from just reading it, th-the signature that is. The chakra it's powerful but violent… f-filled with war and blood? It hungers, too, an insatiable craving for human flesh, right? All of that energy, it's centered in the sword… The sword hungers. An unending greed. Even worse than a Vladian's appetite for blood, maybe, but it doesn't feel as essential either?".
Now done with describing, in detail, the chakra she felt, Hana breathed a sigh of relief. When she began speaking again, her voice was no longer worried and scared but back to its usual tone with a dash of worry, "Anyways, what happened for your chakra to change like that? More importantly, will you be alright? Even if the hospital had spare body parts, it doesn't feel like long dead flesh will do anything to sate the craving. You can't kill just to eat someone either… right?". Hesistation returned to Hana's voice for the final word and if it wasn't black night time, Atlas would see Hana looking at him with pleading eyes. She wasn't so naïve to believe that people who would kill simply to eat wouldn't exist, but she would be devastated to know that the loud cousin she played with while younger would have fallen to such methods. Then, while devastated, she would be thinking furiously of a way to solve his dilemma.
Lady Forrester
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:50 pm
[timeline]
Armand waited quietly on the street corner, holding an umbrella. It was dark out, growing closer to midnight. He had tried to nudge a certain chuunin and genin to join him. He had an assignment for them. A retrieval assignment, of sorts. But...it would have to be done on this night especially. This night, the second anniversary of the massacre at the gates.
The Amekage waited under a glowing street lamp, all but silhouetted amidst the cramped buildings that towered high above.
Stepping from the darkness near the street corner, Nobuyuki allowed his crimson eyes to shift to the side to look at Armand. The Amekage had called him and the Genin Michio aside to speak with them, most likely to give them some sort of assignment or mission, hopefully it was indeed a mission and not some small assignment that required little to no attention or work from him. He was trying to acclimate to the new village that is Amegakure, the man hadn't really tried to make friends with any of the Shinobi or Civilians within the village, but then in the same sense none of them had approached him to befriend him. Not that he really cared too much, he came here to do his job and that's what he ended up doing at all times. He was a serious yet carefree person at the same time, when around his comrades and citizens from Uzushiogakure he was rather calm and kind, but when on missions or around Amegakure members he was more serious and unforgiving. Scratching his neck gently the black-haired man approached Armand, crossing his arms over his chest before leaning back on the heel of his foot. "Hello Armand, you wished to meet with me and Michio?" Giving the male a blank stare Nobuyuki waited patiently for his response.
Armand gave a nod. "Correct. You can relay these instructions to Michio if he is running late...since you'e the senior of this two-man team." It was about quarter to midnight, almost time for them to begin their mission. "Tell me, have you ever heard of the Black Path? It's an interesting legend, spread around through the caravans and workers in the borderlands. If you believe it, the Black Path is simply a long and winding road through the forests in the countryside. However...you can't ever just 'get on' the Path. You'll always just stumble upon it. It's truly an enigma...a piece of land that is completely unstuck from time and space." The Amekage kept spinning it as legend, but continually gave a few knowing glances towards Nobuyuki to see if he was still paying attention or not rolling his eyes.
"It's said that it's easiest to stumble upon the Path during midnight on an anniversary of great tragedy. See where I'm going with this?" Armand would procure a lantern from within his kage robe and ignite it, filling the street with a dull orange glow before offering it to Nobuyuki. "Your mission is to retrieve something that I might've er...misplaced while walking the road. My advice would be be to simply follow the old path out of the village, and go where your heart pulls you. You'll know when you're on the path, and you'll know the item when you see it."
Armand gave a wave of his hand. "You have fifteen minutes until your chances are optimal. Go now. And...my regards to the river-man."
