The Ragdoll and the Wraith's Shadow

The distorted voice of Ryuuzaki came from underneath the Darkened Skies armor, low and impactful, and with valuable insight that the Raikage could use in the pursuit of power. He nodded to Ryuuzaki before turning to Kenshin, whose smirk had widened in between talking about his old friend and talking about cadavers his old friend had sold him.

Noboru Kaito listened intently to the words of Kenshin, trying to wrap his mind around the words being spoken. For some reason, the words seemed to be coming into one ear and out the other just as soon as it checked in; this kind of thing was boring Kaito out of his mind, and the reason why he needed to hire people better than him at paying attention to these things. While Kaito was worried about the power gap between the Kumogakure and the rest of the world, and wished for his soldiers to become more powerful, this was something he felt was… beneath him, somehow. He should just delegate this to his medical officer in the future instead of coming personally, and he could compensate Kenshin as a person later on by having him as a guest in the Kumogakure so he could catch up with his old friend. Instead, he brought his free hand up to his hat, removing it and snapping his gloves and hat onto his pocket dimension. “Hm”, he hummed to himself, “those are quite a few choices. I would like a quote for one Akari Eye, and one organ. Two Uzumaki organs, two Jugo, two Senju. We may still be able to slip an additional Uzumaki and Jugo organs, so account for those additional organs.”

Kaito brought his left arm across his chest, and rested his right elbow on his left hand while the right hand came up to rub his chin. The right side of his face was hidden by the leather patch, and his red hair was finally happy with breathing some oxygen. While Kenshin mayhaps prepared some corpses or crunched numbers, Kaito asked a question he had been wondering about. “What do you know about the advanced stage of the Uchiha’s Sharingan?”

Kaito’s question managed to shock Kenshin into a moment of exhilarating stun, something he was sure was a rare occurrence in his life, but it was short lived as he soon resumed his ear to ear grin. Kenshin wondered if Kaito had run into a roadblock with his Sharingan, which he assumed Kaito had, nothing but the pitch color of the eye would’ve given it away, and more, it wouldn’t be the one underneath the eyepatch. The corner of his lip couldn’t help but dig into his cheek, his lips pressed to avoid grinning back at the perceptive man. How could’ve he come to such a conclusion? The answer wasn’t too far away: Kenshin enabled the eyes, and one of the red eyes was clearly a Byakugan, the veins along his face giving away the mechanic of the dojutsu. A combination he was familiar with indeed. “I guess no one can hide anything from this eye, huh?” Kaito went ahead and undid the patch, allowing his skin to breathe for a second in the cool morgue. “I might’ve expected as much from one such as yourself”, said the red head, now staring Kenshin with a dark eye and a white eye. “I didn’t want to enable my dojutsu in the hospital, y’know… never know who could see that and think I’m up to no good.”

It’s more advanced forms, he said… peculiar choice of words, if Kaito could say so himself. He went on to say that he knew more than most, which was just as much of a coincidence as Kaito could hope for that the man he inquired about this asserted to knowing so much. “Well, not so much a roadblock as much as I have a nagging sensation something is wrong with it. When I used it -- the other, advanced form of it -- I felt a pressure at the back of the eye, as if something was pinching my nerve there, and ever since I have had this blurry spot in the middle of my vision. I haven’t used this technique much after, to be honest, and haven’t had the time to have my sight checked either, but I have this sensation that it is a bit of a coincidence, but wanted to make sure. Also… what do you mean, more advanced forms? There’s more than one?”

The Ascended Sharingan which Kaito now possessed, even if it was not the real name, seemed to be something Kenshin was also familiar with, at least as far as Kaito’s experience went. Yet, in Kenshin’s estimation, the eye’s sight would deteriorate the more he used this ascended Sharingan stage. This worried Kaito when he heard it, even though he had only used it for the purpose of training with this technique, it had already created enough of a distraction that he considered glasses, and if he were to use it more, it would render the eye blind. This seemed absurd, but made sense: such power needed to have a trade off.

The solution was simple: to trade eyes with someone else whose Sharingan was of the Ascended variety, would afford one the Transcended Sharingan, as Kenshin called it. The names seemed silly, but he wasn’t one to talk about naming conventions, considering his Fearless Giant Flash. While Kenshin explained these, and just before he mentioned the Evolved, new Sharingan, he had kept a somewhat composed expression. But, as he prepared to showcase his eye, his grin returned and he closed the eye, and when he opened it once again, the red had given way to a deep purple, a series of rings holding vigil over the pupil. The Sixth stage of the dojutsu, belonging to the Sage of the Six Paths and a few other legendary figures across history… the Rinnegan.

Kaito sighed. “I don’t know much about history… I’m just a cook and a violent man. I appreciate the dramatic introduction, but I have no clue who the Sage of the Six Pants is. But, I gotta say, you certainly know how to inspire and keep attention. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an eye like that, which gives credence to your story about how only legendary figures got their hands on it.” A small compliment could go a long way. “So, let’s say that I, by chance, manage to switch this eye of mine with someone else’s, and instead of this Ascended Sharingan with an expiration date I gain a Limitless Transcended Sharingan. How would I get that kind of power inside my orbital bone?”

The tale of the Sage of the Six Paths was a gripping one, to be sure, and likely more entertaining than the tale of the Sage of the Six Pants. Hailed as not only a forgotten legend, but also a shinobi legend. This was certainly interesting, as for the most part, legends had a way of being general folklore, but they usually touched on ancient ways of explaining natural phenomena; for a legend to be associated with something as mundane as a military organization for those gifted with the ways of the chakra was a different story. This Sage, as Kenshin portrayed him, was someone who gifted this chakra onto the humans of the world, as a means of connecting with others through the Ninshu religion, and only later on this chakra began to be used through ninjutsu. A corruption of the gift, how humane. He didn’t quite understand how Ninjutsu was an insult to Ninshu, but he surmised that Ninshu must’ve been a way to peacefully connect individuals through Chakra, and the violent and martial application of Chakra contradicted the original intention. This explained the Medical and Sensory specialties, how they healed and connected individuals. Kaito nodded along to the tale.

Given the potency of their chakra, this Sage was said to be capable of great feats, such as the creation of the Moon. Finally! The silly hyperbole only a human could come up with, an attempt at making what was likely the first human to use chakra into some sort of godhead for this ninshu religion. Yet, Kenshin swore by the power of the dojutsu, and that should the legends be true, the Sage was indeed the pinnacle of what a chakra user could ever hope to achieve. Kaito scoffed, “If this dude really put the Moon up there, then I would stand by that statement too… but come on. Really? The Moon?” Kaito wrinkled his lips and shook his head. “Bit too much of a push for goodhood by these religious folk, if you ask me.”

He heard Kenshin’s reply to his earlier question with baited breath lest he missed some key piece of this critical puzzle. Ashura and Indra were the names of the sons of the Sage, one who inherited the chakra and eyes of the Sage, while the other inherited the body, vitality and essence. He already had the components of Indra, the right eye -- an Ascended Sharingan -- and his liver, and should he want to awaken the Rinnegan, he would also need the power of the Senju in order to progress. “I see”, said Kaito, “this whole story was rather interesting, I’ll tell you that right now. I’ll have my own scholars work on this so that our Thunderpeak can have a proper retelling of the lore.”

Kaito rubbed his chin with his naked hand, pondering. “All right”, he started, looking to the side before focusing back on Kenshin. “So, I’ll take the Senju organ implanted into me. And my Shadow can take the Uzumaki and Jugo as well if he wants”, he would look at Ryuuzaki for his impression, and if he refused it would all be the same to Kaito. “How much would this all be?”

If Kenshin accepted to implant the organ onto Kaito, the redhead would remove this robe and the top of his armor, unfastening the many belts that kept it in place, and lay on a table so Kenshin could implant a Senju bean onto his torso.