Fallacy

How much time had passed since Youka had awoken from the slumber that had been forced upon him? What has become of the world he had left mid campaign, had his efforts traveled further than just Kumogakure? Did the world change as he had planned before his time was effectively cut short by his own hands? There were quite a few things that passed through his mind as the husk of a male shambled through the halls lethargically. His appendages still not used to supporting weight even what little he did weigh now it was to be expected though when one’s body was sustained through IV’s. 

Using his right arm his hand pressed against the wall bent in to support his weight and balance he slid forward dragging the last of his serum beside him on a stand with wheels and bags attached. The frailness of his body attenuated by his shadow that pulled forward flickering in and out as the candle flames danced from the wind escaping into the halls. Each forced step that he took he could feel his body growing heavier and the strength to push ahead into the room he needed to reach falling. There was always something he found calming by walking down these halls, the silence, the darkness, the peace, he knew he belonged in it. Today however those thoughts weren’t with him it was simply one leg in front of the other, step by excruciating step. Cornering the hallway into a door frame his head leaned against the wall as fatigue is what he assumed there was the expression that adorned his face.

One step into the dim lit room via low hanging light bulbs he flared what little chakra he could muster activating the various machines. In the Back of the cluttered room machines began to white whir to life and various faint beeps and ticks could be heard prattling away. Taking another step caused his body to lurch over as he gripped the wall with his free hand and vehemently coughed into the other. This fit lasted for about fifteen seconds before he was able to regain his composure. Drawing his hand back and opening it the semblance of what once was human saw blood mixed with mucus and another substance he couldn’t place. A low audible grimace escaped his pursed lips accepting that his body was fighting him still even now there was little he could do to fix what was affecting him.

Standing straight, well as straight as he could once more he dragged his legs across the ground till he was in front of a chair and he lowered himself into it. A sigh of relief as the pain in his legs subsided to a dull pang throughout his body. Moving himself in front of a makeshift printer it began pushing out paper while etching readings across it stopping every so often to mark certain things before ticking back and continuing. Reaching for the paper it easily ripped from the machine, moving himself under one of the hanging light bulbs to read the results. Gripping the wooden table in front of him as he read the results everything there was true from the failing organs to the reduced physical capacity he was no longer able to exude. Has he been in his prime gripping the table would have splintered it, now his fingers ached and his nails bled slightly. The once proud disease doctor with strength unmatched was now permanently gutted from his time in suspension.

Pushing himself back into the chair and shifting his weight the chair rolled towards another desk which held various logs and books he had written to document his condition and the process he was going through to either cure it or slow it. Leaning forward he let out a sigh before taking in a deep breath attempting to hold it in letting out small breaths here and there. It was beginning to hurt his chest and placing  his hand against it he could feel his light heartbeat and looking down his chest was flat, his rib cage clearly visible. All muscle mass had vanished even more so than what was already taken from him the first time.

Digging through the catalogs on the desk he found one that had been written just before Kumo’s fall. Inside it documented his condition and how it would effect him during any long engagement. The condition and its effects weren’t as severe as they were now, his body would no longer be able to carry the burden of his exosuit or the multiple armaments that adorned his chamber. Starting a new log he began writing the varying things he was experiencing and the fixes he would attempt to create. For now however he’d have to suffer through…which was nothing new to the male, simply more of the same just in isolation.

Youka we’r wrote for some time attempting to put to paper everything he could remember that had happened from his first sleep till now. Things such as the transformation of Kumo, to the marriage to prevent him from destroying Hoshigakure. Taking a moment to think he looked up, in front of him a picture of a time forgotten, Akihana sat in a ornate chair, her golden hair flowing into a Loose braid that hung over her shoulder. In the Picture she wore a simple blue dress that heels to her figure and still held all her modesty. It was against his wishes that she wore it and he had even provided a black alternative which she had smiled at but declined. Her eyes were fierce in the picture only lessened by her trademark smile that she always wore, even when addressing him in frustration. Grabbing the picture he’d lay it down face first. She had been a distraction from his goal forced him into a roll he had damned others for partaking in…he missed her. Committing to continue writing he vowed that would be the last time he thought on her she had attempted to culture him and for that time frame he had been defanged and his motives and plans forgotten all for the sake of something so foolish as love and acceptance.

What were these things to a demon, to disease, to inevitably? They were a fallacy a dream never reached, a goal never met, and time…wasted. Another grimace floated through him, she was forgotten and for the things coming it was better that way. Maku…there was Nothing to say about the man, that’s how their relationship was. They had met on a happenstance occurrence and somehow that had transformed into the two traveling together working under the great Echo Uchiha and eventually becoming some of the most wanted missing nin. Youka was sure that he was dead now and unfortunately he slightly felt to blame for that fate. Killing entire villages and hanging bodies wasn’t what Maku was meant to do and his life would more than likely have been drastically different had they not met. Another reason why him doing this alone would be the best course, he’d bare the burden alone and fall alone. Maku…a fool of a man.

As he finished writing and stowed the books away once more for safe keeping his eyes turned to view his IV drips dry and slowly he’d remove all twelve injections from his skin one by one showing the needles and tubes to hang from the structure. Soon he’d be back to normal, or at least what was considered normal for him. Leaning back, his eyes looking up at the hanging bulb his thoughts wandered to that of Kumogakure, who was now sitting as the Raikage? What had become of the ninja under him, maybe a visit when he was whole would answer those questions. Or maybe not, it hadn’t been by ceremony that he acquired the title and at the end of the day a fugitive was just that.

The only thing note to cling to was his goal. Everything else had been a lie, not even a half truth. He was put on the world for one thing and he did it well in the past. No longer were his thoughts or desires stretched and pulled in different directions, the good work would begin soon, a pilgrimage you could say. For now the focus was on returning to optimal condition and sadly that meant learning how to control his body one more time and the differences it would bring. Bringing himself to his feet slowly he could feel the threads in his body beginning to maneuver once again. His slow march to the medical cabinet began, he’d need the vitamins and cocktail he made previously for his condition before the pain became unbearable once again.

WC=1465

Life rarely is what one would wish it to be.  The only fallacy life ever told you were the ones you said to yourself.  In truth life was the great truth, even if most didn’t wish to see it that way.  They wanted to see the unwritten, the maybes and happenstances.  They wanted to see that there were distractions, and blame them for how life turned out, but in truth, they were nothing but fools.  Life happens to you, and there is no such thing as a distraction.  Your continuum moves forward even if it isn’t the direction in which you wish it had been.  The last couple days, Maku had come to that understanding.  It was a comfort in some ways.  To look at each thing that happened, and to know it was what it was.  No hidden meanings, no secrets, it merely….was.  

I’m his youth he’d acted on impulse with singular minded goals.  He’d met people, and some had been used, some discarded, and some cared for.  None more important than the other, because each was a purpose to lead him to the next.  His time with the Fang country had been difficult in their own way, a way that even the bloodshed of war hadn’t been.  It was ironic he thought, that amongst the death he felt alive, and amongst the living he’d felt himself nearing death.  It would be easy to blame things on fate, distraction…..but that wasn’t the truth…….

He’d practiced genjutsu nearly his whole life, so truth and lies were an integral portion of his being.  Now, he found himself even more than normal drifting between the two.  In his waking ours, he saw truth.  He’d accomplished some small missions, he’d flexed his muscles in a way they hadn’t moved in so long.  Even so, he longed for sleep so the lie could hold him the dark.  She was a beauty, warm, and she sought to satiate his desires like few had been able to accomplish.  She showed him a world that did not exist, and yet it was a world that he could be proud to be in.  There were equal parts death, pain, all these things wouldn’t never be left wanting to the world of the shinobi.  Even still, it also showed commradery, and a family that he had merely pieced together under the light of truth.  He had the powers, he could place himself forever in that sweet lie.  He could lay with her forever, cuddled in that soft embrace until his body dispersed to the ashes and dust that each of us were made from……

These thoughts had been harder to ignore the last several nights.  His dreams had ceased and that world that he wished to live in refused to show itself.  He could do it, he could cast the genjutsu powerful enough to send himself to such a place, for if he could imagine it, he could lie it into being.  To turn such a road though, to fulfill the suicidal tendencies that he had thrice avoided…..it seemed unfitting.  He didn’t find it cowardly, but anticlimactic to a life that had done so much, and yet accomplished so little.  No, he couldn’t yet.  At least, not without a final visit to a friend.

His last dream had shown a Youka Tau in full regalia.  Alive and strong, a man that defeated his demon and had become the man that he should have been.  He longed for that Youka Tau to be true, just as he longed for the satisfied Denkitiki, and the cared for Akihanna.  How he was apart of all their lives, at the same time.  Not flirting between lives, but all……in a single place…..at a single time.  It was something that would never occur.  Something that even his dreams had now rejected.  He had seen Den, content with blindness living in squalor yet appeasement.  He was satisfied.  He had seen Akihanna come and then go in whatever mission she was on.  To sacrifice some piece of herself for others as was her conviction and cure…..this was satisfactory and he could leave her be.  The only one left, was his chosen brother.  

He would look upon Youka Tau one last time.  He would rip open his tomb and lay his eyes on the corpse.  He would see the man dead and gone….then he would be satisfied.  Then, the last person in the most important people of his life…..could be dealt with.  Himself, you might as well save the best for last right?

His bare feet padded across the wooden floors of the Akatuksi house.  He’d had it built through the use of his own Mokuton, a black hole with red clouds, a homage to their group.  He’d created the pond and garden for a desirable place that one could live.  Inside the home was well furnished and delightful, but like some many things a cover is no way to judge.  Bare feet moved from hardwood to dirt as he made his way through the basement.  Pressing the stone to the side the original hideout would soon be revealed.  The area above had been his domain, below had been the demons.  

As soon as the stone was moved, he knew something was off.  A feint clicking, the sound of paper.  He’d barely made a sound, so he was fairly confident he hadn’t been heard.  The dirt and dust moved easily beneath his feet, helping disguise his steps to that of nothing.  He was a ghost in a haunted place……seeking uninvited devils.  With a lithe step born of a lifetime of shinobi training he came to the entrance of an occupied room.  His eyes studied the room, his jaw slightly ajar as the corpse removed tubes carefully hanging them up.  

Mixed emotions ran through his body.  From joy, hatred, indignation…..you name it, it was felt.  What finally came out however was a much more simple expression of emotion.

“You look like shit.”  He’d say leaning against the doorway until the man turned around.  Seeing the man in full view he made a disgusted face.  “I take it back, I’ll offend the excrement.”  

Their long history would make it clear who stood before him.  Though for his part Maku looked different from the last time.  He wasn’t the cosplay of a mummy that Youka was attempting to pull off, but different.  Blonde hair was gone, not having dyed it since his self induced exile.  Now his natural straight black hair was pulled back in a top knot.  Eyes a blueish green, the mangekyo hidden away.  His body was certainly stronger than Youka’s though he was not the same fast twitch fiber being he had been upon their original campaigns.  Further…….because remember he believed himself to have been alone………he was mostly naked.  A simple pair of black silk boxers with red cloud patterns where the only thing between Youka’s eyes and more of Maku than he had ever cared to see, at least that he would admit too.  For his own part, this didn’t seem to bother the young man, modesty had never been a strong suit.  

“Can’t you do anything right?  Even die?”  He’d finally say after a few seconds of silence.  

TWC - 1202

Rummaging through the glass cabinets on the east wall Youka was looking for a very specific medicine that he had used to slow the advance of body failure before he went into a self induced sleep. The concoction was used to not only slow the rate at which his hearts pumped blood throughout his vital organs but forcibly reduce cell degradation via forcing his body into removing any state of senescent cell growth. The whole ordeal was rather time consuming and bore little fruit in major medical fields however it did exactly what he needed it to do for the time being as he needed to separate the senescent cells that were in fact speeding up his decline with the very few that still created senescent secretome. The logs he kept had isolated some of the causes of his condition and he was going through the list one by one to see which were helping and which he needed to abandon to move forward with. Medical just and just the medicinal side in general was fascinating and also down right irritating because none of it was set in stone to be correct and it was made even worse due to the nature of his bodies composition.

Moving the last few vials to the side before reaching the one he needed his body once again decided to revolt as the feeling in his arm left momentarily and the connection between it and his brain went dark. The arm slid out of the cabinet dragging with it vials and other medicinal supplies, he watched with disdain and irritation in his eyes as the glass vials holding years of research and perfecting shattered on the ground beneath him seeping into the earth. Grimacing under his breath to signal his clear agitation the rogue arm once again fell under his control as he rotated it and squeezed a fist tight to ensure he could indeed feel. Moving over to his aperture he lifted the tubes up from where they lay and hung them around the loops. Once he was in the process of this he heard a voice that for a moment he though were the voices of old calling back to him, he knew if that were the case that his regression was more along than he thought. Youka afforded himself the time to turn his head into the direction that he had assumed the voice had come from... it couldn't be who he had thought it was. The likelihood of that man arriving as he had woken up or just simply him still being alive were all idea's that seemed too good to be true, especially in this era.

Maku wrote:“You look like shit.”

What had he expected the man in from of him to say, it was true to his nature to not allow any one moment to be too serious. Even now his words always held a jest in them, the emotion behind them though clear and serious, it indeed was one of his greatest strengths. Youka took it in and he could feel something that could only be explained as ease was beginning to wash over him, and at the same time he muted the feeling as if his friend was here their fates were always going to be intertwined...for the worse. Youka's dry cracked lips opened slightly as he attempted to say something his breath drawing in and being cut off by another quip from Maku.

Maku wrote:“I take it back, I’ll offend the excrement.”

The husk of a man couldn't help but crack a small smile in his allies direction before it hurt too much to even hold those muscles in place. Sitting back down in his chair, his energy spent he looked up at Maku through his hooded white robes. So much had changed, before him wasn't the same man he had left, sure his wit was in tact but his appearance showed that time had weathered him, he'd learned more about himself and more than likely the world as a whole. The blonde hair that Youka had constantly spoke to his friend about was now black, it fit him much better and showed a matured person who knew exactly what needed to be done. His visitor was also half naked, Youka shook his head in disdain briefly it was behavior that was expected of Maku but that didn't make it anymore upsetting to see whenever it happened.

Maku wrote:“Can’t you do anything right? Even die?”

Death, such an interesting concept when it came to these two, there were definitely times that they should have passed and indeed they were always toeing the line...flirting with the mistress of death each time they got together. Youka once more attempted to speak and this time he wasn't sun off but no words escaped his lips, the time that had gone by rendered his vocal chords mute and under developed. A slight cough instead coming out, verbal communication wouldn't be happening any time soon it seemed. Beginning once again he picked up the tubes and needles that hung by the chair and started setting them up for reinsertion into his arm. With his free hand he'd point slowly to the array of vials and serums that were across the room, hopefully Maku knew what it meant and he'd help his ailing friend. He didn't have the strength to move anymore and more than likely it would be this way for a bit longer there were things he wanted to say but right now they would have to settle for simply seeing each other...for better or worse

WC=2401

Watching the dilapidated visage if his king time friend wasn’t easy.  It was never easy confronting mortality or the passage of time.  How it moved through our day to day life, like a shadow.  You knew it was there behind you, but in the business of the noon day sun, how easy it was to forget it was there, always at our feet.  Not until the dusk of our lives do we often look out and see just how long it has gotten.  Now was one of those times.  He’d seen himself, but he was still strong, still a man in his youth.  His descent into madness and power had not cost him those things.  He had worked ever with his energies, with his very soul twisting and turning reality, manifesting will and elements, it had taken its toll perhaps, but not in the way it had done on his friend.  Maku was human, natural, fitting within the scope of what one should be.  Youka had always walked a different path.  His hands had delved into the muk and mire of the unnatural.  He had pushed and twisted what one could be, what one was supposed to be, and now it showed.  How hard had he held onto strength, and look where it had gotten him.

Rolling his eyes, he meandered at a pace as he pleases to the tray.  Lifting it unceremoniously, and with only a shadow of a care he’d bring it over to the man, letting it plop down in front of him.  The coughing fit had subsided from the man, if that’s what he even was.  The fragility of the man was even more repulsive up close.  His arms that had once been like iron fibers weren’t even worth picking up for firewood.  Maku’s hand flicked out, sending the hood away from the man’s face, his own once again twisting into one of revulsion.  “You know, you were looking rough last time but this is a new low.  How’d you even get out of that tomb…..I made it so pretty for you and everything.”  He’d say, sitting down, letting Youka do the work in regards to the tubes and vials, if the man did want to die having Maku do anymore than gopher for him was a sure way to get that done.  

No doubt the man would not be able to speak as of yet, which in truth wasn’t really a problem.  “I mean I put a house above your head, I’ve continued doing……things.” He’d say gesturing loosely.  Not things that were particularly valuable perhaps but they were no doubt….things.  “Meanwhile you just nap careless as you please.  It was that black sludge monster thing you let inside you that’s what did it.  You always told me “Maku be careful who you go inside” and then look, you don’t heed your own advice and this is what happens.”  

He wasn’t sure why, but this proximity had brought out a talkative side he hadn’t had in a few years.  No doubt this was of great comfort to Youka Tau.  As he carelessly watched him insert whatever god forsaken instruments he utilized Maku would keep himself busy by being nosy with whatever was on the table.  Most of it was if no interest until he got to the photograph.  His eyes looked at it, but it wasn’t the person he remembered.  It remainder him of her faux royalty days.  When she played dress up and pretend within the castles of Hoshigakure.  That place had been nothing but fake as he thought back on it.  Even more so than his time within fang country.  

The picture brought back a mixture of emotions and feelings, though despite what one might thing none revolved around the man in front of him, and his own relationship with her.  Instead it more reminded him of his dreams he had been enduring of late.  The emaciated man sat before him, but Maku saw instead a red haired priest, tending to the hero water shrine.  The picture was of Akihanna wasn’t of a fake princess, but instead a Tokubetsu Jōnin that he had little faith in.  The man who placed the IVs wasn’t Youka, but a tall and healthy Denkitiki, eyes intact, and fingers deft.   How much easier life would be with that team…..

As the thought made him smile at nothing, it all faded away.  There was no Doctor, no vibrant Akihanna, Youka was frail and weak, and he….he wasn’t sure what he was.  With a flick of the wrist he sent the photo away, it crashing to the ground in a shattering of glass.  He’d let out a sigh, his elbow moving to the table and resting the side of his head on his hand.  Legs crossed, he feigned an interested look at what the once priest would be doing.

“Do you want to try and eat something?  I can make something, or are you still too….”  He’d motion a hand upwards like pulling a rope before sticking his tongue out and crossing his eyes.  He’d smile before returning to a normal seated position.  He wasn’t sure if the man could eat yet, but it seemed a normal thing to ask, and there was very little normalcy in this place.  “Not that I don’t like your improved self, but when might you be able to talk again?  I’ve always carried the conversation but I need a break every once in awhile.”  He’d eye the man closely and wait, attempting to discern gestures and intention, though anything beyond a certain point wasn’t something he could normally discern.  

As he waited, the man in front of him morphed once again.  Younger, stronger, more vibrant with bright red hair tied back.  Den returned administering first aid, and Akihanna stood in the back, preparing them a snack.  Maybe it wasn’t real, maybe it was a lie…..but what was a lie to a master of genjutsu.  Reality often times was disappointing, and like he had often said….never met the truth get in the way of a good story.  

TWC - 2213

Still sitting in his chair he wondered how god long time friend actually viewed what was now in front of him. When Maku had left for the first time and more than likely a few more times after that he had seen Youka in his prime, his strength exuded from his body telling all challengers that would never be enough. Now he was skin and bones barely able to keep hire own body weight up, the only thing he had that was still strong and in the fight was his mind. It constantly ran overtime thinking on ways to twist this into a positive how to better use his abilities in the state he was in now. It would be a hard fight for sure, more up hill than down but he always rose to the occasion and this simply would be one more step towards the end. Youka stared at God long time friend as they both exchanged eye contact for some time, they both knew how and where to look inside of the other to see exactly what the other was thinking and going through at the time. They had been together through it all, each loss, each victory had given them something but tore things it took were always more.

Hikarishi, Rakka, Kaede, Demetri, Koroshi, Echo, and various Kumogakure ninja when it was weak, stagnant. All these had come to interact with the evolution of the two mostly through death and destruction but it had served as a way for them to move the world it was just unfortunate that it also took away their ability to feel. Youka could see it in his friends eyes and it was dark, not a void yet as it was with himself. Maku still has one foot in the realm of humanity, he was able to turn it off if need be but it was there non the less. Possibly if they still had closer connections they’d follow a different path, Denkiteki, Xyxer, Takeo, Naoki…. A group of misfits that somehow worked. They weren’t necessarily friends, our comrades in arms, just people tired of the wheel and for a moment in time they had reinvented it. Perhaps if they still breathed life Maku and Youka could stay in the realm of human and complacency. The former Raikage has known a time of peace even if it was forced he had known what it meant to be a protector of others, Kozan, Ashur, Vigil…just a few of the ninja that had placed their faith in him…all pointless and for naught, he was a destroyer, a defiler, the slow encroaching plague. There was no place for emotion, it had cost him his plan before he didn’t need that again.

He watched only following maku with his eyes as the male took a stroll at his own pace to get the medicine that was needed. It slightly annoyed Youka, however it was overshadowed by the memories of their times in the past and having something of that back was…nice. As the tray was placed in front of him Youka was cut off from actually utilizing it as his partner went through his features with a even more fine tooth comb even moving the hood back to fully take in what time had done. Maku asked a question about how the decrepit male has made it out of his tomb, to be honest it was very difficult and Youka was sure he had broken a rib climbing out and rolling hitting his side on one of the corners.

Youka had begun inserting the medical supplies into their respective bags and IV drips while maku went on a tear of conversation mostly about nothing important. These were the talks Youka was good at drowning out with work or just busying himself. Once his friend started it was rate he’d go silent again for some time not being able to speak as well during this time was starting to feel like a blessing as there was no assumption that he’d return the conversation.

Focused now purely on rendering the needles into his skin Youka happened to give a side glance as maku had gone silent for a moment. His friend now held the same picture that he had looked at and again there were no smiles or glittery eyes to show a time passed where everything was well. Just a blank state that felt heavy for a brief moment before the frame was tossed and shattered against the hard floor. Youka’s attention went nah to his own work and he slightly shook his head as a sign of disapproval for what had just transpired but he felt the same way if he was being honest. The drips were now active and the medicine was solely making its way into his body once more. A sigh of relief escaped as he felt the pain melt away and be replaced with a slight euphoria.

At the mention of food Youka simply pointed to his drips with a bony finger devoid of any fat. All he needed at the moment was in these bags, with another gesture he’d nod towards Maku and then in the general direction of where he had put some stored food that was meant to last a life time till opened. Once more he tried to speak, this time sounds coming out. However the pain in his throat quickly halted anymore attempts for the moment he still wasn’t ready. Slightly tweaking one of the bags to increase it’s out put he leaned back in the chair and raised one eye brow towards his friend attempting to gain some more information on exactly what his friend had done since he has been gone.

TWC= 3358

Ignoring the disdainful head nod, Maku continued on with watching the man work on himself. He briefly wondered what the Youka of old would think if he could see himself now in this state. What he would think of how low he had become, and what that Youka, the Youka of all those years would have him do. An image of the red haired man in a goliaths armor, trudging through the snow tore through his mind. That man, what would he have insisted be done. Let him regain his strength, or end his suffering. The Raikage Mortarion, what would his response be to such a state? Let him wither and squirm, planning away in the dark hidden away from the world? Or strike and devoid the world of one more helpless creature. These thoughts only intensified as he could see the relaxation that the drugs had given him. A man of many vices, addiction was not one of them. To be so consumed by a single thing, it sickened him....there were so many pleasures to experience after all. It was a flash, and only for a moment. He may not be what he was, but it wouldn't take much. It wouldn't take much to end Youka now, save him from such suffering and destroy the weak as he was so prone to do. He could feel the burning in his eye, though it had not changed. He wouldn't even need to lift a finger....it would just take a look and black flames could take the man to the hellfire that bided its time for both of them.....

Then the moment was gone. Perhaps a Maku of the past could have done the same, but now....no not now. The world was too boring, and selfishly he wished Youka to survive, to be able to speak. To chastise him for his rants, to berate him for spending a fortune on a random basket on the streets of old Tengagakure. These were the moments he longed for....and they would not come to fruition if Youka was gone from this world. To many others had come and gone, but here was a pillar of stability. Here was at least a constant, and he knew what he would receive. Here....was an addiction, and in realizing such a thing in himself...he hated it. Though, it wasn't possible to banish it at the moment.

Watching the direction of the skeletal finger, he stood and moved himself to the cupboard. Opening it, he would find several bags of freeze dried.....shit. " I'm not eating this garbage. Do you even know who I am? I know you have been feasting on worms and maggot eggs, but I own two restaurants, I've cooked for Daimyo and oligarchs alike.....this garbage." He would slam the door shut. Rolling his eyes in a shadow of the old dramatics. Then a moment passed, and he re-opened and pulled out a bag with a pink label. "Well, I have always liked the ice cream kind, but that's not the point." He would say with a benign finality. Resuming his seat, he would pop open the bag and begin eating the delicious pink powder concoction. Sometimes the cheap and simple were as good as gourmet....besides it said gourmet right on the bag, so must be good right?

He watched as drifted in and out, the medications taking their work to the extremes. He watched closely at the rise and fall of a struggling chest. "I wonder why you've hung on so long...." He would say quietly. No more of the boyish humor, but the somberness of soldiers who had been and seen the front lines to many times. "I....don't know why I have. So, I don't know why you have either. I would have done it you know.....I would have just been....done." Still just barely above a whisper he couldn't even be sure his old friend heard what he was saying. "I was there....I sent you that key, months had gone by maybe more. For me it was a moment. I was ready to walk through the door and be done. It would have been so simple....but I was afraid. I wanted a reason to come back and I used you for that." Leaning back, he would finish the rest of the bag. Still considering....still thinking on that moment. "God damnt, I was so close!" Standing his chair would topple back, eyes changing to crimson. The Eternal mangekyo blazing not just with the curse of hatred, but with real anger. Anger that had been bottled up for too long with no outlet.

"I WAS FUCKING SO CLOSE!" His voice echoed throughout the chamber, shaking away undoubtedly some of the sedative effects of the medication. "I WAS SO DAMN CLOSE! Now what, what...what.....WHAT ARE WE EVEN DOING ANYMORE!" His voice moved from shouts to normal words. "I STILL SEE THEM, I SEE THEM ALL......AND WHAT WORRIES ME IT ISN'T EVEN ALL OF THEM.........WHAT WAS IT FOR, WHAT WAS IT FOR! FOR THIS!" On his final words black flames erupted around the room, items and vials exploding in the suffocating heat of being so close to the black flames. "THIS IS IT THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE, ARE WE PROUD......WOULD ANYONE BE PROUD? I NEED TO KNOW!" His breath came heavy, chest heaving as sweat and pain touched his skin, no doubt even worse for the crippled man before him. Falling down, the flames would recede, until they vanished entirely. His hands would scratch at his face, beads of blood falling onto the floor as nails raked down. The wounds were nothing but superficial lacerations.... exactly what they had been on the world. How he wished, prayed he could have the old confidence. The ability to imagine even for an instant he had been important to the world, that he had been.....something to someone that wasn't a determent.

"I have.....come so close.........but I just can't do it. I keep coming back....." It didn't need to be said what he meant, the meaning was clear. "God damnt......fucking talk to me!" Standing again, his arm would shoot out, twisting Youka's face to look into his own eyes should the man have looked anywhere else, the Tsukyomi activating and ensnaring his mind.

It would seem like just a blink......but the world was changed. The two men would be in a place that Youka Tau had never visited, and one that Maku himself only remembered in his most distant memories. Beyond the priest, the great tree of Takigakure stood tall and solid. Around them the sound and smell of water, falling by the millions of gallons. A shrine to the hero water, in the center of Takigakure at its prime. Maku himself was dressed in standard jounin attire, complete with Takigakure headband on display, tying back long blonde hair. If Youka looked down, he would see himself in a similar style, though reminiscent of his priest wardrobe he'd had so long ago. No longer weak and decrepit, he was as Maku had seen him in his dreams. Strong and a fellow Jounin of Takigakure himself, though he would not know that. None of it was real....it was merely a reality that he wished so much......that he just wished was real....."Now talk...."

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Watching his long time accomplice he could see the subtleties in his walk, the way he spoke, and his facial expressions, all things that someone else not knowledgeable of Maku would simply take at face value. They would look at him and see a theatrical characterized version of how humans acted. All the faults that they had, all the joy they felt, and even the successes. Maku was their personification magnified exponentially, as such he felt and he showed emotion. Youka most of the time payed it no mind he had let go of those things a long time ago but having them around I’m the body of someone he could trust wasn’t a bad thing. Right now however he could tell his friend was fighting something, a urge, a deep itch to act on a singular desire for better or worse. It was a face that Youka knew all too well as he himself had gone through the very same thing countless times alone most times in the darkness screaming at the moon. That feeling never really went away at least for him it didn’t, not until he decided to bury everything never to see the light of day. Maku however had the emotion to act and often he would without the tempered mind in the heart of the moment, his friend was smart but he still needed to feel. Somewhere Youka knew that he was the same in that regard he had just done a better job at forgetting it existed. Even though his body was frail and declining Youka’s spirit stayed unmoved his sunken eyes meeting his colleagues showing no emotion just dark brown almost black pupils meeting his partner. At the moment it was all he could muster, he hadn’t even attempted to muster anymore chakra after coming into the room and activating all of the equipment.

They would start this way matching eye contact till Maku made his way to the stored food that had been prepped for shortages. The tension in the area only broken by his friends famous use of puns, witty comments and always a story of how he had something grand before. It was a tried and true method that still worked even now. It wasn’t meant to taste good or be good only provide sustenance if what Youka thought to himself as his counterpart sat back down and began eating. Youka for the moment was still sitting in his seat arranging the next set of drugs to be administered and hopefully the last set he’d need. Maku opened his mouth to speak again and Youka wondered what one liner would come next what half joke half truth would he have stopped and ready to fire in this situation. Instead his ton dropped and took on more of a somber tone causing even Youka to pause his actions and give his partner the full attention he could muster.

The questions were serious and he watched as Maku battled something inside himself as well attempting to find the correct words that he wanted to say. Why did Youka hold on, why was he still here, those questions at least to himself seemed so easy to answer and maybe it was because he’d already gone through this phase of rejecting one’s self of attempting to find anything that would make it make sense. Why did he hold on? He had to, until he was stopped or until the work was completed he had to just…be, it was his duty nothing more nothing less. The man Youka was listening to now was broken…. Maybe has been broken for some time now and hadn’t had an outlet big enough to stare into and see himself to sound off to. From what Youka could glean Maku had tried, or gotten very close to ending his own life, a coward, the lowest of low going off, having a happy ending via suicide? Youka’s own anger and malice boiled over slightly as he gripped his chair calming down his eye twitched for a moment disgusted at his friend for the mere notion that he had thought such a weak thing.

They had both taken lives, killed women and children. Uprooted and torn apart families for their own gain. They both had taken on the role of gods deeming who lived and who died. No, there would be no easy way out for them and their transgressions. No retiring, no suicide, they would both die a horrible death in the field of battle as they were meant to. It was what they deserved and if it didn’t happen they’d keep going until it did. Fate would not be kind and karma would ensure they indeed reaped what was sown from this generation or the next.

As Youka’s anger subsided his partners seemed to grow as he stood up, the all too familiar gaze of the mangekyo sharingan now piercing him. Maku has changed his psyche had taken a hit some time ago during Youka’s absence. Now maku was yelling almost screaming the same phrases over and over, this was pure rage at the situation, anger at the both of them, hate directed at Youka for disappearing and coming back. Every emotion that he had was manifesting now only emboldened by the sharingan as well being a conduit for high emotion. The room erupting into black flames, the temperature rising as Maku few more irate. Youka looked to his left and his right slowly as his medical supplies melted or exploded into a mixture of glass and serum, even his next batch that lay before him was becoming soft and pliable as the glass warped due to the heat. Youka’s skin however was numb, he didn’t feel pain the same way humans did, the threads inside him however squirmed and it was becoming harder to breath especially with his circumstances.

All the ailing male could do however was sit and absorb his friends pain for the moment, he couldn’t speak to tell him there was purpose and he wasn’t going to stand and comfort him. Maku didn’t need comfort, he needed purpose and goal just the same as Youka. With Maku falling to the ground in front of him the flames also subsided however the damage was done. It would take some time to not only repair the room but also acquire the materials that were lost over again. A sigh escaped his lips just as his friend stood up once more with a pain stricken face of emotions running wild. His hands reached out to grab the decrepit aging leather skinned face of Youka meeting gazes he knew exactly what came next and he allowed it to be so as he blinked one moment inside his medical bay and opened them once again in somewhere very foreign to him.

The location that been projected into his mind was nowhere he had been before, none of the landmarks or buildings struck a chord with his memory. It all felt…peaceful. Scanning the area he found Maku with changed attire and matching headband again with a symbol of a village that was lost to him, wherever they were only Maku had been here before or this was an elaborate imagination that maku had and with the sharingan behind it either of those choices could be right. Youka looked down briefly before asserting his eyes all together at his own attire the clothing choice of times past when his own mind was fractured and broken yet his body was still youthful and proud. In this reality if you could call it that Youka knew that all things were at the will of the creator and him being in this state meant he would also be asked to speak and as the thought passed his mind Maku made it clear by telling him to talk.

Walking closer to his friend before stopping about a meter away he’d let out a sigh before beginning. “What would you have me say, you fool? Deep down I think you already know all these answers, why I persist, why you must persist. None of this is new” Youka would walk by his friend to the fountain with the water and place his hand under it feeling the sensation of it against skin he knew wasn’t actually there. We are relics that must war, that must bring about change. You already know that no one will be proud of us, no one will cheer our arrivals or departures.” Youka would turn his face back to Maku’s as he sat on the brick fountains surface speaking once again. We will see more of them my friend, more faces to forget, names to leave to the wind, all these things shall pass…yet you knew this deep down all along. Ever since we met I think you knew exactly the path you set out on. We don’t do this for ourselves, we do it because it’s the role we play. We move forward and we devour everything in front of us till we are full yet we shall never know the feeling of being satisfied…”

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A comfort, but a false one. In seeing his friend back to a healthy and strong form, to imagine what was and how it could have been. How he hid away in his stories finding the meaning in a false life. All of these thoughts rushed through his mind, as his mind rushed to make sense of it all. To make sense of years of work, years of trials and tribulations, and the reconciliation of so much. There was always a price to be paid, and Youka Tau even now seemed to have no worries for such a bill. Any sense of comfort form the falsehoods of his created reality of course where shattered as the man began to speak. He offered no comfort, he offered no excuse. In truth, I’m a very real sense he offered nothing at all. The man simply was, his goals and motives more akin to a force of unfeeling nature than that of a man. He saw the work as an inevitability, and a duty, regardless of consequences. It simply was, because it was his nature. If a tornado could feel, and it could see its victims and path……Maku wondered briefly if that’s how it would feel….or maybe a landslide was more appropriate.

“For a man with so many hearts, you manage to shrivel each one of them.” Maku would say before sitting down. There had been no chair, no reason to sit, but even so as he did with jarring sensation the world would change. Here were illusions and truth where as he decided, as real as when he had controlled Discord, at least here he had this much. The scene around them was still in an idealistic Takigakure. Now however within the confines of Denkiteki’s hospital office as Maku had dreamed it, and as he had written it. He was sitting behind the man’s desk. Youka uimself would find himself sitting as well. Should he look around he’d note to be at the seat opposite. The room was decorated in fine tastes, with a large compendium of books details everything form the study of kekkai genki, medical procedures, and the very study of medical ninjutsu. Of course all these were blanks and for show, but he needn’t know. Strewn across the desk where vague reports, hospital staff, upcoming procedures, all the things one would expect. Finally, along one of the walls a large framed staff roster was visible. At the top Denkitiki Hayato, beneath him two chunin and one special rank jonin……the special rank a blonde with yellow eyes that Youka would have to issues recognizing.

Where it hadn’t been before a meal was in front of them. In front of Maku a baked Alaska still steaming form extinguished fire, in front of Youka, whatever dessert he enjoyed the most. Even if he didn’t need or thought of such things the idea and memory would spawn deep within him, giving it credence in this world even if in the material it may not have. Call it a security blanket, but he was already beginning to feel better. Here in the creation of his own devices, a place where his feelings made the world and they could be dispersed and integrated….it was……cathartic to say the least. “You don’t think I know that? I’m aware of the work, if the needs. I’ve been here the whole time, I was a child when we met. I’d been out of the academy not even a year….did you know that?” He’d say, pleasantness returning yo his voice. He’d shared much with Youka, but rarely spoke on hard specifics of his childhood . There hadn’t been a point, and there wasn’t much to tell.

“I wanted to be the best, to prove that our little village had squandered when our leader had proved absent. I wonder what would have happened if I had any patience, but that’s something we will never know, and I doubt I’ll learn now.” He’d take a bite, the illusion tasting even more delicious than what he could do with his own hand. “That’s why I took part of slaying Echo. Which by the way, did you know people say we didn’t even really do it? As though it was his idea, and his time…..what utter nonsense. The things people listen to and believe.” He’d almost chuckle at the silliness of these rumors that he’d heard as time elongated the time in which Echo was around and that in which he was not. “Still, I never did feel satisfied so that much you have right.” He’d say between bites. “You know there’s a genjutsu I learned, much later. It produces a mirror and shows us as our ideal self, as our most satisfied. I can replicate it in here. Why don’t you go have a look?” He’d say pointing at one of the walls were a mirror now stood that hadn’t before.

He’d wait and listen or watch as Youka did was Youka would do. He’d give the man a chance to say something, anything. Then he would continue. “You know, Akihanna,” always placing emphasis on the wrong part of the name, saying it in a way only he had, like a purposeful misspelling, “also talked of the work. I ran into her in fang, she tried to drag me to something as well. Some kind of mission; something important, just like everything always is. I almost did it, then she was gone”

Silence hung for a moment. As he stared into the eyes of his long time friend, of his chosen brother. Even with everything that was how he felt about the man, and would likely always feel. I won’t have that again. You talk of the work and what must be done, like I care about any of that. I might come, because it could be more interesting than what I’m currently doing…..but I want you to know…….if you try to leave, if you loose inspiration and step away from the kingdom…..(afk so to speak) I will kill you. This time, making sure there are no resurrections. No magic, no last schemes, none of that.” He’d say, with a pleasant smile. Much of the anger he’d felt had drained away at this point. He wasn’t sure if it had needed to be said, but to once again to be dragged kicking and screaming into the world, he’d not tolerate abandonment as well.

“Now…..I won’t pretend to be the pragmatic man that you are, so pardon my outbursts.” And like that, the trauma, the nightmares, were buried down once more. Though the dirt was freshly disturbed and never really out down. That’s not how trauma works…..it never goes away as hard as we may try, it is always there waiting and searching for it’s opening for control. He’d gotten some of it out, released the steam and then manifested the rest. It was tired, it would rest….but it would likely be back.

“How long until your on your feet. No doubt this is a more pleasant form, but honestly I’m not sharing a house with a mummy…..it’s creepy. I put a lot of money into making your hideout a home ya know.” A true, Maku quip, and smile.

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Youka never changed facial expressions as his friend spoke, which wasn't something that was new, to be honest he never really showed much expression ever when it came to anything. Everything that had happened or the things that he had caused forced him to push all those things aside for the bigger end goal. His friend was afforded the same luxury and with the time they had spent together Maku would take no offense to his behavior.


“For a man with so many hearts, you manage to shrivel each one of them.”

At this remark it forced a soft but quick smirk to cross his face before disappearing once more once again being replaced with a dead pan expression once more. He'd reply with a monotone matter of fact once again allowing his right hand to go through the water as he spoke. It never ceased to amaze him how intricate and deep these illusions could be and just how masterful his partner had become at weaving them together. "These hearts...they beat only for the purpose of furthering goals, their previous owners used them ineffectively." He'd pause his speech for a moment thinking on each face that the organ had once resided in pumping blood throughout their body. As this happened his hand was no longer in the water, now it was by his side left hanging in the air beside him as the landscape had changed once more to that of what could only be described as a medical area. It was a lot cleaner and more well maintained than his own, whoever had used it was of a different medical background of Youka. While he used his hands to dig into bodies, this room felt as if the medic used precision tools. Youka wondered what exactly Maku's connection was to this place and these images he was being shown his eyes trailing around briefly before setting on the wall that showed a roster of names. He noticed Denkitki's name and of course Maku's, there was another name that he didn't know. So these images weren't just imaginations they were Maku reliving a time that had passed. 

Taking all these things in he'd file them away mentally before continuing on with his speech once again turn back to face Maku looking at him in the eyes. "They used emotion, led with love, care, greed, sadness...whatever it was that they felt, it was inevitably their downfall and the reason it now beats inside me. I can't afford to carry out what must be done if I feel as they felt and act as they acted...they were weak each and every one of them and their friends and lands suffered for it." Now that he was looking directly at his friend he noticed that food had somehow appeared in front of him and looking at the table in front of him there was a bowl of plain rice, nothing else, it was all he needed.


“You don’t think I know that? I’m aware of the work, if the needs. I’ve been here the whole time, I was a child when we met. I’d been out of the academy not even a year….did you know that?”

Maku was speaking about their past and the fact that he had begun teaming up with Youka at such a young age but his abilities couldn't be denied even at his age."No, I didn't know that..if I'm being honest I didn't care either, you were good at what you do and you wanted something different than what you were doing." Youka began to eat the rice that lay before him, even though he knew it wasn't real he still partook of the fake food and allowed his mind to remember how it tasted and felt as he chewed the whole time knowing none of this wasn't actually happening. As he spoke Maku mused some more of his past and various other things he had planned to do that never came to be for his village as he chose a different path. Youka looked up once more from his bowl as Echo's name was mentioned, it was one of the things that had happened that in the past Youka could have felt as regret, not for the death but for how it happened the male had been a help in propelling them both forward and then had been snuffed out. Putting his bowl of rice down he'd speak again "Let people say what they will, I care not for their ramblings and I know you don't either. Soon people will say the same of us or some other story they heard from someone who heard it from another."


“Still, I never did feel satisfied so that much you have right.” He’d say between bites. “You know there’s a genjutsu I learned, much later. It produces a mirror and shows us as our ideal self, as our most satisfied. I can replicate it in here. Why don’t you go have a look?” 


Leaning back in his chair away from the bowl he'd sit intently looking in the direction of Maku as he spoke. He'd answer in turn with each statement made. "I know the feelings I've said nothing ever feels like it's enough and I don't think I will have that feeling even when everything is done...it will just be complete." Maku pointed in the direction of a mirror after telling him what it did. Not missing a beat he'd respond as his head turned back to his friend "I am perfect the way I am now, it's as it is meant to be anything else is a fallacy I will not indulge." With that remark the conversation carried forward into it's next destination.


Maku began another conversation that involved Akihana and as the name was spoken Youka's gaze turned towards his friend his eyes semi filled with rage before subsiding again to melancholy "I won't hear her name, Maku, she is gone. That is the end." The silence that followed was deafening as they sat across from each other now in complete silence. Unfortunately that name was still going to be a trigger as he had just recently decided to block her out.



I won’t have that again. You talk of the work and what must be done, like I care about any of that. I might come, because it could be more interesting than what I’m currently doing…..but I want you to know…….if you try to leave, if you loose inspiration and step away from the kingdom…..(afk so to speak) I will kill you. This time, making sure there are no resurrections. No magic, no last schemes, none of that.”


This next form of dialogue was interacted with as they both argued back and forth with each other Youka responding as Maku spoke.

"You won't have to." On the topic of the work that needed to be done." You should care. it involves you." With his friend saying he might not come."Do as you please, Maku, the outcome will be the same. What exactly are you doing, it looks to me as if you're living in your head. As for me leaving, I won't...kill me and ensure there's nothing left of me to come back or be used." Standing up from the table Youka would lean over the chair before he answered the next question.

"If you wouldn't have had that outburst that burned my lab I would be back on my feet by tomorrow....however as it stands I'll be at least another day now for what is left in my system to run it's course and my body to respond naturally. I'm sorry you'll have to deal with this...mummy for a little bit longer."

Standing up he'd look around the illusion once more before looking at his friend again.

"Now let me out of this genjutsu."

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There were many times he felt the rage and indignation flare up, however these were pushed down.  He could have interrupted, he could have even had Youka’s very mouth disappear, after all….here in this place everything was and could be done at his will and whim.  It was one thing that the man said though the really drive it all home.  Not his demanding of subjects not to be spoken about, and or his solid stance on what he would do despite not accomplishing them before.  It was him calling him out on living inside his own head.  He didn’t think such a statement would hurt like it did, after all he already knew it to be true.  He had chastised himself for the very same thing, always the first to laugh at himself so when others did it, the pain would be that much less.  This time however, it did nothing to soften the blow, instead the words ringing true.  He didn’t know if or what Youka Tau saw in the mirror, but he found he didn’t even want to know.  He knew what he saw in the mirror, and that was nothing.  Because nothing could fill that void, nothing would be so satisfying as to make him quelled.  

It wasn’t until he asked, no demanded to be let out of the genjutsu.  To which Maku merely rolled his eyes.  “You could at least say please.”  He’d say taking the last bite of the false hood desert.  Savoring the taste that he knew wasn’t real.  Standing he’d walk over, staring at the man who fought so hard to have no emotions.  For all his bluster though, however small he believed that a fragment of his old self was still there.  The piece that had crafted a golem to dance for the people of Iwagakure, the man who had found small joys during their time on the road.  All of these things where there just buried, and in the moment; for now, he found that that was ok.  Within the genjutsu Youka would not be able to move, forced to stay still by the compulsions of the genjutsu.  Walking forward he would embrace the man, giving him a hug he could not escape and he could not return.  Right now, he didn’t need it to be returned but he needed it not to be escaped.  “For what it’s worth, I’m glad your back…..but I’m not apologizing for your lab.”  As he let go the image broke, everything around them shattering into a million pieces, only to be returned, Maku’s hand in his chin.

Letting him go he’d walk walk back as though nothing had happened.  No doubt the feelings of strength that his friend had felt would be missed now as the weight of his weakness would feel ten fold after the strength of his youth was so vibrantly relived.  Nearly no time had passed, not even a single drip from the fluids had fallen, and yet they were back.  “O well, we will see how it all turns out I guess.” He’d say his back to the man.  “I’ll leave you to some of your medical ministrations.”  And with that he would walk out of the door.   And exited the underground potion of the hideout.  Making his way through the hallways and past the stones up the stairs, and out the front door.  Standing in the porch he felt the cold wind in his mostly naked body, the remnants of Yukigakure that still chased after him, he’d icy fingers seeking the nape of his neck.  Despite the knowledge of this, he couldn’t deny that it felt good.  He wondered if any in The land of snow remembered him, and how they felt.   But cold he suspected.

It would be some time before he returned down to the medical bay.  Instead occupying his time by getting dressed and having a proper meal, rather than the powder concoction he had consumed down below.  In total he wasn’t sure how many hours had passed, but it was near dark when he finally decided to once again see how the man was doing.  With a full belly, and emotions worked out, it was almost a different man that descended to the medical bay.  There he would find his friend caught up in whatever malevolent medical mess he had procured for himself.  On the table he would lay a document, as well as contact information. “I know you are all gung-ho to get to the great task, but I think I’m if we are going to do anything it would be wise to consider it with a wee bit of intelligence.”  He would start, a smile on his face.  Pulling out a harmonica he’d play a quick tune before placing his finger into he contact information.

“This is the new Missing Ninja broker I’ve been using for jobs.  Mostly I’ve been on the straight but coming back here, I needed a different way to fill the cophers.”  He’d begin, “Ole Jack the man in black is dead.  The guy who got us our old jobs, this is the man I have to replace him, goes by Hook, thinks himself a pirate but he does a damn good job.”  Maku would say moving the paper out of the way to reveal some of the assignments that he had been completing while Youka had been asleep.  “I think it would be wise for us to do a few.  Stretch the muscles and make sure we are too shape.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been in a proper tussle, though I’ve survived a couple assassination attempts.  You it’s been even longer.  I know what you were but it’s even more evident what you aren’t noodle arms.”  He’d say with the quip.  He was taking advantage of Youka’s lack of a voice.  Wanting to get out his portion of the plan before he was berated with ideals and meloncholy words.  Despite what the priest thought; they were not ready to take on the old mantle.  

“I also think it would be wise to assume different identities for the time being.  You may want to do all this but you have no clue what’s going on or who is doing it.”  As he spoke he changed the document over to reveal the falsified ones that Hook had made for him.  His new look as well as name were listed on the documents.  If he looked he would notice that it was all up to code with any major villages record keeping.  Detailing him as a former shinobi of Takigakure as well as mercenary.  It listed the jobs he had accomplished, though heavily doctored to show a certain legitimacy. “This is what I’m going with.  It’s be hard to checkout and it’ll appears to be on the up and up.  I don’t think it would be the worst thing to do a bit of spying before we end up dying.”  He’d say with a smile at the turn of phrase. He’d watch the mummy of a man as he went through all these details, knowing now that he could hear and understand everything even if he was unable to converse appropriately just yet.  

“Finally….”  He’d form a couple handseals and then take up a scalpel making a tiny incision.  Letting the blood drop on the table he would put his palm in it, the cascading black lettering spiraling away from it.  A poof of white smoke, and then an odd looking three eyed toad would appear.  “I think it would be wise for you to sign a contract.  I know you’ve used summons in the past, but, it might be advantageous for us to use the same ones.  We could use the aid and these guys will help.  They are from Discord after all.”  He would say as the three eye toad unfurled a scroll that bore a single contract name up one it, Maku’s.  He would give Youka time to consider and then sign should he wish before dismissing the toad.  Gathering up all of his documents he would make sure they were all safe before standing once again.  He could practically see the weariness on his friends face, and in truth he felt it too.  Using two of the mangekyo techniques so close together was no small feat.  It should have been, but these days not so much.  

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