Hikage Mansion

[Kagemaru]

Pulled out of his cell not knowing what time of day it was, Jashinru blinked his eyes a couple of times as it seemed that there was only one ANBU escorting him this time. Well thats a good sign? Isn't it? he'd think to himself as he kept walking into the shadows, but then he saw the light of day...Wait! NO NO NO NO NO! but for some dumb reason he kept walking while he was rejecting it in his head and...nothing happened? Jash peaked out of his frightened face one eye open to see the ANBU performing a technique that was absorbing the sunlight. Sweet.

Upon reaching the Hikages office Jash was led to the door, and led there. No cuffs, collor or otherwise prison device on him, just there...huh. Jash took the hint and walked into the office, to see a familiar summon he hadn't seen in a long time. The pheonix Chikaru, apparently they were having another conversation, which Jash wasn't supposed to hear, as the bird flapped its mighty wings and ended up at the other end of the room.

Zau then began speaking about the situation at hand. He didn't tell her but somehow she ended up finding out on her own, upon hearing that fact Jashinru just sighed, and then there was mention of a gift. He looked down at Zaus desk to see that it was the engagement ring. His eyes went half lidded, and he heard the words 'you are now a rikuhii shinobi'. Jash would walk over to the desk and grab the engagement ring, and next to it a key with an address, it was also apparently for him.

Jash would remain silent and turn to walk out the door as the Pheonix jumped back onto Zaus desk with a single flap. Jash would then hear Zaus thoughts, of welcome. Jash would stop right before he hit the door, and turn his head back towards Zau nothing but a silent smile would be on the ninjas face, he then walked out the door closing it behind him. He leaned back against the door of the office opening his left hand to look at the ring, and the note attached to it. "I'm glad you found your home." Jash sighed and took off his engagement ring as well, tying the two in a note with the rope that attached it in the letter, he'd place both the rings in his pocket.

The two birds can't fly together if one isn't strong enough for the journey. Somehow you always know just what I need. Thanks Miyuki. Then Jashinru looked in his other hand, and dangled his apartment key in front of his face, as a big grin came upon it, as he dashed off out the front door as fast as he could, leaving a dirt trail behind him. AHHHH THE SUN IT BURNS!!! but he kept running anyways no need in stopping now he was half way there anyways.

Exit

[Zaulyl]

Post 1 of 5 - Kamisori no Kemuri

The clone filling in for Zau was bored-incredibly so. It hadn't had anything to do in days other than paperwork, and was mildly resenting it's original for sticking it here on Kage duty. But, a job was a job. That didn't mean, however, that the clone couldn't have SOME fun with it. While inside Zau's office, it began using his smoke. The black gas quickly filled the room, and the clone activated the Smoke Breath jutsu to maintain it's ability to breath.

And then, it got to work.

The clone began by flowing chakra into the smoke nearest to it's body. The goal it had in mind was simple-it was a clone, so defense was of the utmost importance to this clone. Creating a layer of defense around itself and between the enemy was desirable, but a simple wall wasn't much of a deterrent. The enemy would discover it, break through it, and then, they would be back to square one. No, a clone needed something a bit more likely to say "back the hell off" to an attacker.

And so, the clone would work with what it already had. Smoke was a corrosive material in and of itself-in just a few days, smoke can eat through metal. Slowly, true, but the property was already there-this clone just had to amplify it.

[Zaulyl]

Post 2 of 5 - Kamisori no Kemuri

The clone could feel it's chakra extending out to the smoke-and then heard a distinctive clanking sound, and began to notice that it could now see through chunks in the smoke. The smoke was cleared, and the clone looked down-various hunks of a black metal were on the ground. They were sharp, but dense and rough, like sandpaper, and, most importantly, too heavy to hang in the air as a defense-these would be useless for the clone's intentions.

The clone dispersed the chakra held within these smoke blades. It would need to work smaller than that-much smaller. Once again, it focused chakra to the area immediately surrounding it after filling that area with smoke. This time, it made sure to concentrate more fully on the individual particles, making sure they didn't clump together when he tried to make them more damaging.

As the jutsu wound on, it started hearing more clanking sounds-though, these probably should be more described as a clinking sound. And it was hearing them a lot more-dozens of individual clinks, as if metal rain was falling. It dispersed the smoke cloud and looked down to it's feet.

Like black metal snowflakes, tiny, razor sharp filings of smoke-metal littered the floor. The clone bent down to pick a few up-and as soon as he touched them, a tiny cut on it's finger opened up. They were definitely sharp enough-but they were still too heavy. The clone dispersed the tiny blades and once again got to work.

[Zaulyl]

Post 3 of 5 - Kamisori no Kemuri

The clone began feeding chakra once more into the smoke it created, focusing on creating even finer bits of blades-these needed to be so small, so incredibly tiny, that they were lighter than air, and capable of sitting in mid-air as a defense. The clone continued feeding chakra into the technique, and five minutes later, still heard no sounds of any kind of clinking nature.

It brought it's hands together slowly and created a Ho Bunshin. This clone ran towards the Shadow Clone-and at about five feet, running at full sprint, it turned into flames. The Shadow Clone smiled. The technique was a success, but fire clones were fragile things-just because it could defeat a Fire Clone, that didn't mean it would be a massive deterrent to a real ninja. The clone spread out it's chakra further than before, aiming to encompass the entire office.

As the chakra filled the room, the clone heard a few clanks at first-then a few more clinks-and then nothing. It took a while to get find the perfect level of chakra usage, but the clone believed it had found it. A crow flew into the room through the open window on mental command from the clone-it would fly around for only a few moments at it's maximum speed before the damage proved fatal and the crow dispersed into smoke, as it WAS a summoning.

The clone let the smoke and the jutsu disperse, and then went around to each pile of smoke metal projectiles and dispersed them as well. It knew that it had the range-the next part to work on was speed. It couldn't give away the secret of the technique to an opponent-it needed to be able to do this fairly silently.

[Zaulyl]

Post 4 of 5 - Kamisori no Kemuri

The clone once more filled the room with smoke, and flooded it's chakra out among the smoke. A single handseal had created a Shadow Clone, who would be further testing the smoke's abilities, as well as trying itself.

The second shadow clone had quickly made a discovery-it was unable to affect smoke generated by the first. To use this technique, the clone would need to first generate it's own smoke, and then perform the jutsu. It also made a few other discoveries-the smoke weapons, if ignored, would fade away on their own. That was all well and good, but they didn't want smoke weapons in the first place.

The first clone would periodically stop the technique and start over, each time hearing less and less sounds of metal striking the floor. Finally, there would come a point where neither clone heard a single metallic sound-and now, the tests would begin.

The first clone created a few smoke chains-he tried to make these razor sharp as well, but controlling the chains' in that manner while also focusing on each particle proved to be too much. The clone would likely not be able to use jutsu in conjunction with this technique-however, that didn't mean there were no possible combination jutsu. A few applications of Shintou revealed that the smoke could be pushed-and therefore, the smoke blades could be pushed as well. This could turn into a decent offense.

But now, it was time for the most important tests-how it held up in combat.

[Zaulyl]

Post 5 of 5 - Kamisori no Kemuri

The clones could sense each other through the smoke with their heat senses-that was all they needed. They didn't bother with turning on Smoke Sight, though they probably should have. The first clone tried breathing without the Smoke Breath jutsu and immediately felt a scratchy feeling inside his throat. He quickly reactivated his jutsu-the user was affected by the razors as well, it seemed.

The second shadow clone started by moving slowly. It felt pricks against it's skin, but if it moved slowly enough through the smoke, it found that it would not be cut by the razors. Quick movement, as with any kind of blade, was far more effective than slow. This clone created it's own cloud of smoke, and activated the jutsu upon it's own smoke-a grinding noise could then be heard, as the blades of smoke ran past each other. The second clone turned off it's own smoke cloud and drew a blade-the number one test was about to begin.

The clone started running towards it's creator, blade in hand, and felt parts of it's skin flake off. The first clone leaped straight up into the air, using the control afforded to it by it's bloodline to thin the smoke enough to not be cut. The second clone leaped after it, but found the smoke-and blades-in front of it suddenly thickened. And then, even worse, it felt chains of smoke wrap themselves around it's limbs. These chains started thrashing the second clone through the air, much faster than it would have dared to move otherwise. The clone dispersed into smoke-the defense was sound.

The first clone allowed the jutsu to disperse, and then fell back down to the floor. Soon after, the cloud of smoke itself would disperse-revealing horror to the clone. The entire room had before been finished in a rich mahogany-it was one of Zau's favorite colors. Each wooden piece had been perfectly smoothed and sanded, and was a work of art-and now, it looked as if someone had taken a cheese grater to everything in the room. The clone sighed-it had a lot of work to do if it wanted to repair all of this before the original got back.

[Zaulyl]

Zau's clone sat in it's chair, tapping it's chin incessantly. Zau had been considering something as of late, but never had the reason to carry through...well, this clone was going to eliminate the reason for a reason. The clone wrote a quick note, and then placed it's hands in a specific seal.

Almost immediately, the clone ignited with a strange blue energy and began decomposing, eventually bursting; but not before the strange energy spread to the chair and desk, quickly decomposing the immediate area as well, leaving only a rotted chair and a few inches of rotten table behind. Those who knew Zau well enough would know that the man had been in ANBU for some time before he was made into the Kage. And those who knew a few things about the ANBU rank would also know that they had a jutsu to decompose their bodies before their deaths, to prevent an opponent from finding their remains and giving away village secrets.

And so, since there was also no sign of him having left, nor was anyone told, there would be no reason to suspect anything other than the suicide technique Zau definitely knew being used to...well...to commit suicide-especially when one considered the note left behind. And, thankfully, Zau would realize what had happened almost as it went on, due to a shadow clone's ability to return experience to the original-he wouldn't return to Rikuhi and risk ruining the illusion.

And so, the Fourth Hikage of Rikuhi was "dead", leaving nothing behind but a note and the remnants of his suicidal jutsu.

A spark can never grow into a flame if it's always put out when it begins to glow too brightly. I leave you now for good so you can become infernos in your own right. Fight back against the shadow with the light of your flame.

The Village Hidden in the Shine will always burn the brightest. Goodbye, Rikuhi.

~Exit; Kage Position Emptied; Rikuhi Left~

[AleenaGrey]

Rin was not amused in the least as she stared into the eyes of one of the most renown Elite Jonin in the village. He was barring her path at the lower level of the mansion and utterly refused her entry. Fury did not describe the look in her eyes as she stared into his unflinching. Her gold eyes burned both so hot and so cold in the same instant. Her body was ridged with wrath that was barely contained. Only the sliver of her will that was unwilling to hurt one of her people kept her from slicing her fingers through the man's throat.

"Move, or you won't live in two seconds." Her voice was sharp as an assassin's edge and just as cold as one. Elite Jonin or not, Rin was confidant if he didn't do as she said she would be stepping over his body shortly. No one would bar her the right to see the scene of her husband's supposed death.

With tense sigh, he stepped back out of her path. Rin preceded with a sense of both urgency and dread. They had already told her what they had seen and found. Rin wasn't satisfied with their answers. They were just fools who thought she was grieving.

Zau wouldn't Kill himself. This she knew in every fiber of her being.

Her hand rested on the door handle to Zau's office. Hesitating for the barest of moments before she willed it to twist the knob. The door creaked open as she stood on the threshold of the doorway, staring inside. The office was a mess, to say the least. Melted chair, desk, the floor was ruined as if someone had poured acid all over it. It also smelled of rot.

"We think he used Self Eradication." Offered a tentative voice behind her.

Rin's livid eyes snapped onto the man who had spoken. "Not a word from any of you." It was an order if ever one. One they thankfully obeyed. Likely to humor the Kage's Widow.

She stepped into the room and studied it under a scrutiny like the which she'd never paid anything else. Rin scoured the room for clues and anything left behind. Truthfully, she didn't find much that wasn't obvious.

Still, Rin couldn't believe that Zau had killed himself. It just was not something she had ever considered he would do. Sure, he trained himself nearly to death for years upon years. Yet never intention only to just die. He -They, had withstood too much for him to just... give up.

Hesitantly, another reached out as if Rin might cut their hand off. Offering up the note. She took it into her fingers as she forcefully crushed the emotions that made her throat bulge. She read it, it was indeed Zau's handwriting and his usual flourish of words.

Rin held the note as if she would kill anyone who tried to take it from her. She stared at each of them with the wrath of woman and gods. "He is not dead." She said simply before she swept past them all. She couldn't stand the sight of fools.

-Exit-