Some time after the First Tower arose in the Land of Rivers, right inbetween the Land of Wind and Land of Fire, Mune approached and offered to aid the clandestine group known as the Takokujin, run by "Uchiha Yau" (at the time calling himself "Rain"). Her offer was accepted and she then worked with the group as their chief provider of medical aid.
At the time that the Second Tower was discovered in the Land of Waterfalls, Mune was silently called away from her tasks with the Takokujin by Amuro. She was instructed to offer the Takokujin aid from her "master" in the form of information, finances, and other resources, if the mission to claim the Stone of Body was successful. Further, every individual member of the Takokujin who participated, and any allies he or she brought along, would be paid for their assistance as long as they made a significant contribution of some kind. Only Iga Ryoji deigned to accompany Mune on the journey from the Land of Rivers to the Land of Waterfalls. The mission was ultimately successful.
After this, Mune journeyed about, sometimes doing tasks for the Takokujin, other times working for the Tao Shih — though what she ACTUALLY got up to was not necessarily known to the former group or even that the Tao Shih existed. However, Mune made significant contributions when Rain and the Takokujin moved to claim the Master Seal and remove the ruler of the faux-Hidden Village, Higuregakure, from power. They were successful in this endeavor, and soon enough the Village Hidden in Twilight was under new leadership… Though Uchiha Yau insisted he did not wish to rule them and would rather they be free to live and let live of their own accord. The people of Higure would hear none of it, and soon, Yau/Rain was the leader of a "neutral" village. Mune was deeply disturbed by Rain's allowing the woman he loved to give her life to the Master Seal just to activate it — and thus give Rain power to do many things that remain a mystery to this day.
She was no longer interested in aiding the Takokujin, but she still had her assignment from Amuro. First, however, she and most of the other Tao Shih journeyed to a place called "Ankoku Cave" in the northern Land of Fire, on the border of the Land of Fire and Land of Rice Fields. Ankoku Cave is a bad place. Mune helped her allies fight a creature composed of and molded by the evil of all human beings from the very beginning of humanity's existence up until the present. The creature, referred to variously as the "Yin Beast" or the "Beast of Blood", was Sealed away by Amuro with the aid of the Tao Shih, but it was very draining for the man and the cave was still tained with the raw essence of malice, evil, and SIN even after they left.
Mune was deeply impacted by her experiences in Ankoku Cave, and they drastically accelerated her plans and increased her efforts to discover the Elixir of Immortality. She feared death more than ever.
She had aided in taking over Konohagakure temporarily when Rain, the Takokujin, and the hired aid from Higure and the Land of Rivers in general, but the control over the Village was not meant to be permanent or even long-term. The Takokujin mostly withdrew after Rain was both captured and allowed to escape with the aid of Uchiha Fuyu and her "Loyalist" group. It was not until a seemingly-undead Genjutsu master was revealed as the one pulling the strings of Konoha's Elders and then defeated that the Village was returned to its rightful ownership.
Mune had already left a long time before that. She had studied what she could of Konoha's records, medical data, and so forth, and then departed when she was informed it was time to do so. She did not appear in the company of the Takokujin again for quite some time.
Mune found herself healing Datura's wounds in Fuuma Alley after an "accident" with a mirror, and then further aided in treating and healing the Progenitor of the Okumo Clan, Okumo Raa, at Datura's request. The next time all of them came together was in Kusagakure, just prior to the First World Ninja Competition being hosted there, in the Land of Grass. Mune not only participated in the tournament in Bracket 3, but she also offered her services as a "freelance" Medic-Nin to ensure no fatalities or permanent injuries were incurred within the formerly not-entirely-trusted "safety barrier" that covered each arena. However, this was simply a cover that would allow her to obtain blood samples and similar biological data from the various types of ninja who were competing.
Her knowledge and skills advanced enormously during the competition, as she had entered with very little in the way of combat prowess and most of her medical capabilities were oriented towards analysis rather than just "healing people". Pushing herself to new levels of mental and physical ability, Mune defeated her opponents one after another… And yet she also released a weapon upon the battlefield of a simple tournament that could have potentially killed not only her opponent, but Mune herelf, the spectators, and the entire Grass Village. Futher, this weapon of mass destruction was used MULTIPLE TIMES. This caused a great deal of concern amongst various authorities, but some of the suspicion was suspended temporarily after a startling revelation.
A Jounin of Kusagakure not only prevented the Village from being wiped off the face of the planet by a monstrously large and insanely powerful tornado that appeared from nowhere and advanced directly upon said Village, but he also was revealed to be the Legendary Ninja who had been thought deceased during the Clan Wars, years ago, Yotsuki Raiga. He had been drained greatly during his struggle with "The Storm", as he called it, but Raiga had survived and been mostly uninjured. Something even more amazing than the sudden appearance of Raiga in the middle of Kusagakure also took place. Raiga had mistaken Mune for his own daughter, long dead, Yotsuki Makoto. The truth was that Makoto was Mune's late mother, making Mune the grand-daughter of Raiga!
The reputation of Raiga did much to cause OPEN suspicion towards Mune to die down, but many still harbored fears about how a woman like this, with skills such as Mune possessed, could have wandered free, unknown to most, unaffiliated with any Village, and yet do so well in a tournament in which enormously skilled and powerful ninja of the Five Great Shinobi Nations were also competing. Mune had a match against Kanami, a fellow member of the Tao Shih. Mune gave up after a variety of confusing, painful, and exhausting clashes, and she did not lay a single finger on Kanami herself. Mune could have kept going based on remaining energy level alone, but when she realized how hopelessly outmatched she was by her opponent, she knew there was no victory to be had at that time.
Kanami had power even greater than what Mune possessed. Mune knew this terrified the various Village leaders and officials, and that was just fine. The objective of the Tao Shih in having Mune and Kanami participate in the FIRST place was to inspire that fear and distrust, motivating the nations to heighten their security, to advance the training and recruitment of ninja, as well as to stockpile weapons in the event that more unknown powers appeared or threatened the tenuous peace.
However, Mune was not satisfied with having to give up to Kanami. She knew how the actress looked down upon her and how Kanami saw herself as superior to the Medic-Nin. She didn't like that at all. She resolved that the next time they fought, she would be the winner.
More matches were fought, but before Mune and Kanami could have their rematch in the final battle of Bracket 3, a crisis of sorts emerged. Datura needed help. The Tao Shih was called to aid the "Lady Ryoko" (Datura's alias while acting as a singing and dancing sensation and as the consort to the Daimyou of the Land of Grass). Mune and Kanami agreed without speaking to each other on the subject to suspend any animosity between them and work together temporarily, as long as Datura was in danger. The group wound up travelling all the way to the Land of Whirlpools to convince the Seal experts of the Uzumaki Clan to help Datura by removing an infectious presence from within the rogue Yamanaka's very soul.
The Yin Beast had managed to slip the most infinetesimal fraction of its over-all wicked Chakra into Datura within Ankoku Cave. It was driving her insane and killing her. It had to be sealed, extracted, or destroyed somehow. Everyone in the Tao Shih came together to help Datura. They even journeyed inside of the kunoichi's mind and soul via a special Seal in order to free her and battle the infectious Chakra. Much about Datura was revealed, including her past as "Yamanaka Ryoko", how she murdered her own sister, and what came afterwards. Mune fought alongside Amuro, Kanami, and Shinji against the psycho-spiritual manifestation of the Yin Beast's power. Amuro identified it as "Darkside", but other than that, little was said of its nature even afterwards. What was determined was that it was gone and sealed away forever. And Mune hated Datura for what she had done. She told Datura so, but she still fought to help the woman she had come to think of as an ally to escape that prison of nightmares within the Yamanaka's own mind.
Datura was saved. They all got out alive. It would take time for Datura to recover physically, and she might not fully recover mentally, but she also had some of her murdered sister's own spirit residing within her now. Yamanaka Riku had forgiven her sister long ago, and her love would nurture Datura's own spirit back to a healthy state… Even if not a particularly PURE state.
Mune and Kanami returned to Kusagakure. However, another problem had emerged. Kanami's use of the spirits of the dead who had blessed each of her Nogakujin Masks to aid in saving Datura while within the mindscape of Datura herself had an unexpected side-effect. The mask of each dead woman began to alter and mutate Kanami. The more Chakra she used and the more injuries she received, the more she was physically altered. By the time that Kanami had her match against Kara, a Puppeteer of Sunagakure, the mutation had advanced enough that healing from a serious injury incurred during the match had drastically warped the actress. As Shinji was to receive a Cursed Seal from Amuro that required medical aid during the procedure, Kanami was supposed to receive augmentation via Medical Ninjutsu, and Datura was supposed to receive training Seals from Amuro himself, and the resources need for all of these things were located on the five sub-floor of the Tao Shih's secret base, Mune agreed to travel to Level 5 and save Kanami's life.
Unfortunately, the FULL Beast of Blood had been stored on Level 5 previously, and had been released at some point through the greed and foolishness of the Tao Shih's former Head of Research. The experiences on Level 5 were horrible in a way that formerly only Ankoku Cave had been horrible. It was the closest thing Mune could imagine to visiting any form of "Hell" without dying first. She did not believe "Hell" actually EXISTED, but since then, she has begun to think that the Beast of Blood IS Hell in a way. It is a living, thinking, bodiless culmination of all evil, violence, and negative emotions. It is a force of raw madness and death. It is all nightmares that have ever been dreamt given an ever-changing form. The Beast of Blood is torment and death and without the Seal that Amuro applied to it, it would be free to cause the extinction of ALL life on the entire PLANET.
A piece of it had wandered on Level 5. The only word that Mune could think of to describe it was simply: "horrors". However, Kanami was saved, Shinji received his Cursed Seal, Datura received her lessons, Amuro obtained a new left arm (if an arm made out of Void can be called such) and even Tomoyo, the adopted daughter of Amuro, made an appearance and aided them in battle. They left that place, Amuro sealed it away with his Munashiigan, and Mune has not gone back to that level since.
Tao Shih
