[Uchiha Umetaro]

Umetaro found himself in the branches of a tree, over in the graveyard. He had seen a cat climb up one such as this and then dive out onto the unsuspecting head of a passerby, and his imagination flared. What a fun idea! Perhaps he wouldn't dive down and tackle people as they walked by, but scaring them from the bough of a tree... Yes... Humans weren't well trained to look up, after all. 

The monument of fire stood proud in the midday sun, as a few people visited the grounds. It was a big, wide open area, and Konohagakure wasn't really bursting to the brim with parks, so it was more visited than one might think. The monument to fallen shinobi and their Will of Fire certainly also gave people some incentive to visit. 

But overall, it was quite quiet. Umetaro liked that about the place. It made it easy to gather his thoughts, and up here in a tree, nobody would notice or bug him, right? Usually when he hung about here people made the rudest comments. Like, sorry that your minds aren't enlightened enough to see the transitory nature of all reality, but that's a you problem! 

Autumn was the season of death and transience, after all.  

[Hyuga Kayaku]

As the day came to a close and the sun began to set, casting an errie glow along the graveyard below. A masked figure patiently  waited for dusk inside one of several ancient mosuleme that littered the area. The structure seemed to be dedicated to a random forgotten family, the lone figure didn't care about intruding; they were forgotten after all. At least they had company for a couple hours as he'd remain within the tomb until later in the evening. Dressed in his usual attire, the Hyuga clan's once prodigal son had returned to Hi no kuni in preparation for his birthday. The first place Hyuga Kayaku decided to visit was the grave of someone very special to him. Avoiding people using his Byakugan Kayaku not only gained entry within Hi no kuni but  he also managed to avoid shinobi along the way to the cemetery. His ability to travel had become exceedingly less difficult thanks to his new wardrobe and the fact that no one were actively looking for him. The governments involved in his Kusagkure scandal had officially declared him to have fallen in battlagainst Chisai of Kusagakure; Kayaku were by all accounts considered deceased. Instead of refuting the notion of being defeated the Hyuga decided to reap the benefits of being the living dead. Having the world believe he died during his assault on Kusagakure awarded him certain benefits any missing-ninof his caliber could hope for. The first and most inportant was being underneath the radar and not actively being hunted. According to official reports his charred remains or what was believed to his remains were sent back to the Hidden Leaf Village. After a lot of political rhetoric his so-call remains were given to the Hyuga clan to dispose of. The Hyuga clan subsequently buried Kayaku within an archaic cemetery that survived the ravages of conflict and time. The hallowed grounds were known as Momento Mori Sanctuary and was situated in an area between Konohagakure and the old mining village of Seinaru to the west. It wasn't exactly far from the Hidden Village, however Seinaru and its surrounding areas sat at a higher elevation. Like Seinaru, Momento Mori were of great age, having been used since before the era of the Hidden Villages. Back then the cemetery were used by notable Hi no kuni clans of the time including a long dead generation of Hyuga. According n branch elders a distance generation of Hyuga used to bury side branch members here in Memento Mori; several miles away from the Main Branch memorials; who were seen as more important than the side branch members. A barbaric tradition to say the least, it would eventually be abolished after increased feelings of comradeship were fostered in by the founding of Konohagakure. That said, the Hyuga chosed Momento Mori to be Kayaku's final resting place as an allegorical way of denouncing his status as a Main Branch Hyuga. Nevertheless, the Hyuga decided to bring himself flowers every year around the time of his birthday to troll his former clansmen. With the sunsetting, Kayaku was able to move more freely inside the cemetery, he stepped out of the crumbling Mosule and surveyed the area before continuing. There were still a few stragglers, civilians and younger or unimportant shinobi within the cemetery. Albeit, there weren't anyone there that could really give Kayaku a run for his money. Despite looking as odd and out of place as possible no one dared to approach the man, he wondered if they thought him to be a ghost or oni. It wouldn't take long before Kayaku would reach his grave, it seemed some delinquents had defaced the memorial. Its standing stone marker had been struck and split down the middle, taking a look closer the Hyuga could see profanities and other deplorable sayings written on the broken stone. He sighed, before turning around and faced the only child within the cemetery. His Byakugan had picked up the boy's chakra during his earlier scan of the cemetery. Kayaku had developed a habit of being seemingly oblivious. It wasn't until he saw the state of his grave that he'd make his overall awareness known to the tree climber. Walking over to the tree the odd looking child were perched in Kayaku decided to get some answers. "HEY!! You…!!! Boy, do you know whose buried here?" Kayaku said behind his perpetually grinning mask, "The memorial has been vandalized. I'm trying to figure out who was the one to disrespect the dead". WORDS: It Wasn't created inside Konohagakure's board so i wasn't sure.  ended up thinking it was outside the village. Lemme know If you want mmr to Edit anything ^.^

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS THQ

[Uchiha Umetaro]

Huh? Was someone... trying to talk to him? Umetaro's eyes popped open and the entire tree shook as he moved. He hooked his legs around the bough and dropped down, hanging much like a bat. He crossed his arms and looked for the source of the voice. 

However, as the world was completely upside down, it took Umetaro several moments to actually locate his conversation partner. Man, people were always so demanding! Could they go five minutes without turning everything into a sermon about respect or whatever? 

And then his eyes focused on the blank, grinning mask staring back at him, and his red eyes lit up with delight. Woah! That's more like it! Maybe this was just an honor focused ghost. They existed, supposedly, if you believed the stories. And Umetaro, of course, did. 

"Is it your grave?" Umetaro asked, still keeping his arms crossed, but excitement obvious in his voice. He tapped the back of his foot against the bough he was hanging off of, causing leaves to fall to the ground around him. "Have you come back to wreak vengeance against the living??"

Of course, he didn't actually know who was buried there, or who had vandalized. Had it actually even been vandalized? Maybe the ghost couldn't see very well. After all, it didn't appear to have eyes. Or a nose. Or other distinguishing features. 

"I didn't see anything, unfortunately," he said, and nodded sagely. "I haven't learned the many eyed techniques of the spider yet, restless shade."

[Hyuga Kayaku]

What… the fuck… is this kid? Kayaku thought to himself as his Byakugan peered into the child's body; he was trained in the use of chakra, to what extent could only be assumed. From what Kayaku saw he had to be about genin in rank but this fact could be warped by chakra suppression. He'd eventually answer the child's questions, Kayaku weren't too old or too criminal to play along. "Well, I guess you can say, I'm a forgotten being… powerful in my own right yet still……. Forgotten" Kayaku was honestly winging it, as such weirdness didn't come natural to him. Ok, maybe it did but only when he were the one to initiate it. "Well, it isn't like I could just walk around asking who did it, could I? People aren't fond of fallen being such as myself.". As he continued to talk to the boy, Kayaku would take in his appearance, his words and actions. That old saying "It gets worse the longer you look", would be an understatement when it came to Kayaku's new acquaintance. He was tall, messy hair and unorthodox style of dress, his reddish hued eyes lurked within darkened pits. Within his mouth were several pieces of metal? Senbon? No, nails… Overall, the boy seemed to be more of a ghost than Kayaku was, if not a higher level of specter. Maybe a devil? An oni? He seemed far more advanced in this sort of thing to not claim a higher entity. "Umm… no I'm done with all the vengeance stuff. At least until I can reach the next level in my training. What about you? You seem pretty dead yourself? What level of evil or divine being are you?" Kayaku replied to the boy who said he hadn't seen what happened. Kayaku moved to remove his mask, he had already scanned the area and there were no other shinobi he could see… though he wasn't necessarily putting in any effort to do so. Still, if anyone had tried to their luck at bringing him into custody; the Hyuga would quickly use the boy as a meat shield, before summoning an ally that could aid his escape. Kayaku's physical appearance were something to be seen as well, having had a bad run in with Chisai that resulted in many darkened burn scars along his face and body. "Spider eyes you say? Care to tell me more…" . WORDS: Sorry for the wait...

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS THQ

[Uchiha Umetaro]

"Oh, no, I'm not dead," Umetaro said, and shook his head. "I'm an aspiring ghost. You know how it is: igniting the spiritual core, freeing yourself from the tethers of the material world. Of course, fulling dematerializing takes work and experimentation and... I'm working on it, okay? I'll get there eventually."

How unfortunate, to be stuck in this prison of flesh! Umetaro had been studying all sorts of ghosts and spirits and yokai and other such things, but he was still early in the phases of his research. It would take him years at this rate, but what were a few years in comparison to the infinite and yet singular nature of the universe? Umetaro could afford to take his time. He didn't want to do it wrong, did he? 

It seemed this wandering shade had issues with differentiating the living from the dead. Could his perception be altered? That was something Umetaro needed to remember, and put in his notes. He didn't want to lose all vision in his ghostly form: that wouldn't do. The point of the manifestation was to have total and utter control of yourself, separate from the illusion. Perhaps dying muddied the spirit in some way...

"The spiders would, perhaps, know more," Umetaro said, and nodded once to himself. "They have many eyes, and secret techniques that humans can only hope to make pale imitations of. I have only begun partaking in their wisdom, my path is... newly trodden, you could say."

[Hyuga Kayaku]

White eyed spider Kayaku couldn't hold back a chuckle as he listened to the younger shinobi; he was quite the oddball. "An aspiring ghost?. I rather live life, maybe open a Dojo. Ya know? The perverted old man that lives in the mountains" kayaku replied and then thought to himself. If he wanted to die so badly, all he has to do is ask. I don't mind helping. Luckily the Hyuga wasn't planning on making a scene and this kid was literally one in a million. If he ever became a Jounin the world might never be the same. The more Umetaro spoke the more Kayaku wanted to listen he seemed to have a certain charisma that made the Hyuga feel… well at home within the hidden leaf village; a bittersweet bout of nostalgia had taken him over. He hated that he still held a piece of Konoha within his heart. After all, his fate was sealed the moment he supposedly murdered his mother and father; the then reigning clan leaders of the clan. "Hmm? Konoha was once my home. How is it fairing… and the Hyuga clan? Tch…" Just because the man was considered a high ranking criminal didn't mean he never missed the life he had impulsively and haphazardly thrown away all those years ago. Since that fateful day Kayaku had been in and out of Hi no kuni. Although doing do was easier said than done. The great Hi no Kuni nation were a marvel within the shinobi world and it spawned similarly marvelous shinobi such as Kayaku. The efficacy of the nation's military forced Kayaku to use the training and information he had accumulated during his AMBU years to navigate through its borders. "Hey kid, what's your name? Don'tcha think Friends should always know stuff about each other." he waited for a reply which by now Kayaku expected an answer that vaguely if at all answered his question. Eventually he'd gather from context clues that the boy's name was Umetaro. "I'm Hyuga Kayaku, Hyūga no Borei. Whaddaya say about us going to find something to eat?" As soon as he had asked the question Kayaku would remember that he was supposed to be in character as some sort of specter. "Shit" he thought, a sensation of dread washed over him as he wasn't sure what the kid might do; Kayaku could hardly understand him. Gathering from what little was said, the boy is a shinobi and he's hoping to gain "spider" eyes. The Hyuga wondered, the spider's eyes sounded like a weird child's way of rationalizing Doujutsu. "Ok, so I'm not a ghost… but I've been blessed with the….." Kayaku paused to think of something that he would've imagined when he was younger. The boy's imagine and subtle pinch of dramatism was similar to his former genin squadmates; when they all used to rough house; during actual missions, no less. "The All Seeing White Eye" Kayaku finally exclaimed; he wasn't as good as he used to be at this sort of stuff. Nevertheless, the man tried to speak in a manner that the small weirdo would understand. Awkwardness settled in; and Kayaku's byakugan watched him… his chakra seemed familiar but it was too early to tell. What Kayaku could tell from the little he's seen, was that the kid's supply was particularly stronger. That was to say that he more than likely hailed from a founding shinobi clan. "Huh? What's with all this awkwardness? You're not prejudiced against the living are you? And we're like totally friends now. So we can't hurt eachother purposefully or snitch on one another. Ohhh, If you help me catch dinner I could probably answer some of those eye questions"

[Uchiha Umetaro]

"Ah, the Left Eye of Konoha, the Hyuuga," Umetaro said, and nodded. "I don't deal with them much, but they seem to be fine. They are one of the most stable organizations within Konoha, since the dawn of time. Well, the dawn of the village. Same difference, sometimes."

"I would not call us friends, Pale Shade of The Forest," Umetaro said, not moving from his position. "We barely know each other. You may call me Umetaro, for that is a name I currently hold."

You couldn't "give" spirits your name. They may in fact take it and you will lose your anchor in this world, forever doomed to wander nameless! That would be counter to all of Umetaro's plans. And what an odd ghost this was, unsure of its own status as alive or dead! Umetaro needed to be careful about how approached it. Spirits in such a state could be especially volatile when confronted with proof of their own mortality. He'd need to play along. 

"I would not attempt to harm you, should you extend the same courtesy," Umetaro said. "Though, it depends on what your idea of 'dinner' is."

There were too many tales of spirits consuming strange and inedible foods, due to the changes to their physiology. That would be a hill Umetaro would have to scale in his studies and experiments, but not today.