Dark Vii (part 1) - Mokuton
I wasn’t born into wealth or a higher cause. I wasn’t bad off either. I watched my father after his mother died. Waited as he mourned away from home. I learned then what it meant to have people disappear.
I’ve always had an abundance of energy. A knack for manipulation, and used this to bring people to my side. A will to know more. I sought out tales of skill and technology even as my belly grumbled for food.
I started schooling at five. I grew restless at seven. At nine I became vengeful. It was then in my twilight hour that it was discovered that i bore the wood release. An ability not seen since the second shinobi world.
It was then that I died. An accident attributed to one of my meltdowns. or so they told my parents. I awoke in a dark room, with a hood over my head. And they told me that I’d gone too far. That my parents had to let me go to save themselves.
I saw their heartbreak in my memories. I knew losing me would kill them. I was told that if I became stronger I could see them again. Ironically, that promise was one they couldn’t break. One they never should have made.
I became a ninty pound fighting machine. A seige weapon. Tenacious enough to fight ten people as easily as two. Numbers became my power. I found I could feed off their chakra and hamstring their techniques.
For the first time in generations, the instructors in root knew doubt. They knew I could spark a rebellion. They knew I could reap handfuls of genin hopeful from them if I wanted. They knew if any one of them tried to interfere they would come away with injury.
This is Root. They obviously didn’t hesitate to do so. At first. Physical scars would fade. My teeth sank deeper than that. My wrath challenged that which made them root in the first place. When I went down, I went down learning. I came back with the antidote. Respect. Gratitude. An unkillable love of war.
They couldn’t break me without breaking themselves, and in relying on each other made it exponentially harder to do. A day came when I turned my back to the watchers. They decided I was too dangerous to live.
I was too gregarious and paranoid to be caught alone. They took my bunkmate hostage, and threatened to kill them unless I let myself be captured. I don’t know how i did it, but something in me snapped. I refused. I attacked the ninja who had positioned themselves to restrain me. I felt their chakra where their bodies brushed against mine. I met the gaze of the captive and captor. My anger and question were enough and they decided to make an example.
Blood flowed, and I lunged. The two beside me were slammed to the side, and claws of green struck the captor senseless. My hand wrapped around my comrade’s neck, and I clamped down hard. I turned my gaze back to the other two, and something visceral shifted through my body.
I growled. No anger. No fear. A wave of contempt that wrapped the barracks like a snake. The two root shinobi halted barely a step from where they landed. Something compelled them to walk away. I looked down. not with my eyes but with my palm and measured the strength of a heartbeat. A nervous child peered into the room and I barked, “Medkit, now.”
The rest of the night, I remember nothing but darkness. A scar formed beneath my palm. I mostly needed the supplies to look like I knew what I was doing. It took more idiots than one to reopen a collapsed artery, and the one gifted medic in our group managed to staple and stitch them back together.
It wasn’t a perfect fix. The assassin took the shine out of our comrades eyes. I can’t help but tell myself that I failed them, but at the same time I’ve never seen my peers so strong.
My will to challenge the watchers spread like wildfire, and rumor prospered in its wake. Ninty percent of us managed to strike a deal to keep our silence and play by the rules. It’s wasn’t a small deal either. We had enough leverage to form a tight ship for everyone, and there is still something that the root fears.
I’m still around, and there aren’t enough turncoats handy to protect them from me.
[Chakra absorbtion.] [Wood style: Man-beast mimicry] [Senju sage mode.]
