[294]

 

- spirits pace -

"Through the shadows cast by their graves"

It had been... a very long time. It'd not felt like it, at all, but what was the passing of decades to a timeless being? Unit 294, the D-ranked Missing Ninja, Angel of Death--was returning to Sunagakure. As in accordance with the ranking of his departure from the village, there hadn't been any apparent animosity toward him and the nation of Kaze no Kuni. Everything--which had been discovered recently due to the aid of the Kazekage's daughter, Arashi--had been a great spur of unlucky coincidence. One after the next, leading into a series of mishaps that resulted in a rogue shinobi who had no memory or awareness that he had been gone for so long.
    Perhaps if he'd been sent on a lengthy mission that would have taken the span of years to complete to begin with, it would have been another matter.
    But, no. This was no such thing. Shippai were not often meant to take on such difficult tasks, and Unit 294 even in his expertise, had been no different. Quick and simple missions--leave, track, kill, return. He was good at what he did, and he was skilled in performing quickly and had been reliable for all that he did. But if he was sent to kill a man who, by pure coincidence, died within the night the order was given--Unit 294 had nothing to actually search for. A ghost was not so easily hunted, and so his search had gone tirelessly for the past two decades, with no way of knowing it had been a pointless hunt and no way of realizing that two decades had passed him by. He'd not abandoned his village with intent. But he had gone missing nonetheless.
    Though, thankfully, as a sudden strike of luck that had caused him and the princess's paths to meet, he had been found. He had been informed. Word had been sent, and then, with the help of Unit 77--Shippai Tsuneo--Unit 294 was able to return to Sunagakure with at least some shield of understanding that it had all been a great big... mishap. Unit 77 had seemed quite pleased to be reunited with his kin, but Unit 294 still remained possessed by fear that the Kazekage would not view things in the same light. And, really, there was only one way to know.
    Unit 294 had done what he could to refreshen his image. With little worry of distress or wear, Unit 77 had reminded him that humans often felt discomforted at the sight of blood. And, so, the shippai had attempted to mask the stains on his persons and clothing with sand as he'd traveled back to Sunagakure. Perhaps a gesture that would be appreciated, perhaps viewed as humorous. Either way, when Unit 294 was expected to share an audience with the Kazekage, the shippai would approach with as much reverence and respect as he could. Eyes not daring to meet his new leader--as he had been gone nearly the same length that Takato had been in power--and the puppet would kneel before his ruler. Likely, there was little need for him to speak first--and in old traditions, it could be seen as rude when in the presence of an authority. Besides, with the escorts having likely already informed the Kazekage, there was little to no chance that the man didn't already know who he was meeting with.

Oonakayama Takato

SPOILER: Click to show

SAs Active:

Unflagging Endurance

Armored Bodies

Titanic Speed

Enhanced Sensory

Enhanced Reflexes

Shin of GS + Adox

[Oonakayama Takato]

This Is For the Future

For The Days To Come

The Kazekage awaited upon his throne, the hat casting shadows over his features as his index finger began to tap one of the handles. A sense of trepidation invaded him as seconds continued to tick by. The hushed whispers of the members of the council present could be elucidated as murmurs at the edge of his hearing until the sound of groaning ancient metal disturbed the fictitious silence and replaced it with the steps of the mortal and the eternal. He saw a figure draped as a man, features that spoke of unnatural perfection as steps echoed in the hall and the single figure followed led by a platoon of shinobi until they stopped.

Silence returned like a shroud as eyes that were hidden under the shade of his badge of office saw a figure that had seemed timeless. The toll that all in this room had experienced had been ignored by the construct that lay before all of them as an amalgamation of the sacred and the profane and save for the wear and tear on its clothing, Takato would have thought that before him there was a strange and still man. In truth he didn't what to tell the Shippai, there were no words of congratulations to be had. If anything when he saw it through the lenses of his antecessors, he might have wanted to order the construct disassembled.

"Two-Nine-Four." He said, feeling rather impersonal to use its designation as he didn't know whether or not it had a name. "Why have you returned?" It was a fair question. It was perhaps the only question that he could act a being that for all intends and purposes had broken the protocol rather than to continue with the sequence of orders. "And why return now after all tis time?"

@tag

---

notes

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[294]

 

- spirits pace -

"Through the shadows cast by their graves"

It was a fair thing to ask--surely something that everyone in the room was curious about. Why had he left? Why did he dare return, now? If he was a nukenin, then surely he'd had traitorous intent when he'd defected from the village, and it was only reasonable that any leader would be hesitant upon their return. After all, a rogue shinobi returning to their home village rarely meant anything good.
    And, at first, Unit 294 wasn't sure what to say or how to answer.
    He would tell the truth--of course. But the truth was... humiliating.
    To admit to the Kazekage in front of all the councilmen and guards in the room that he, Unit 294 of Sunagakure, the Angel of Death... had spent the past twenty years on a wild goose chase... that he had left the village with intent on completing a mission, but never returned--because that mission could not be completed by a mortal or even a god--and due to his inability to sense the passing of time, carried tirelessly through decades in an endless search without realizing what was wrong... To announce that he had not betrayed Sunagakure--he'd merely been lost to the ages.
    He was mortified to admit it.
    "Kazekage-heika," Unit 294 addressed the man formally, not raising it's head as it spoke. "This one had not once intended to stray from Sunagakure's service. In these past years, my allegiance has not once swayed. But under the Kazekage's predecessor: Chikamatsu, Saburo-sama, I was instructed to leave the village to perform an execution on a target." Just as he had, countless times before, without fail. "Unbeknownst that the man I sought had already died before I could track him down, myself. Time means little, to an immortal. And my memory often fails me. It was not until, by chance, I was acquainted with Oonakayama, Arashi-denka, and by her grace, was made aware that twenty years had passed since my initial orders and that it had been a task of the impossible." To kill a man who had already been slain... "Under her instruction, I assisted her in a brief task of exterminating some criminals who had been hiding in some underground ruins, and from there then made my way to return here."
    That was the truth.
    Unit 294 only hoped the man would believe him.

Oonakayama Takato

SPOILER: Click to show

SAs Active:

Unflagging Endurance

Armored Bodies

Titanic Speed

Enhanced Sensory

Enhanced Reflexes

Shin of GS + Adox