Starring:
Date: June 8, 2013
Summary:
Yuuto plays a rather skillful prank in putting graffiti over the Administration Dome within a second's time using his skills, but winds up getting a tour of the jail for his efforts. This tour, however, has a rather unexpected result as he comes face to face with the man who tortured him for years.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"A Painted Image And a Truth Revealed"
Village Center Area, Jail - Sunagakure
Most artists tend to be labeled a bit off-beat in one way or another. However, they are generally still in touch with reality, whereas the artist currently sitting at a table at an outdoor restaurant in the Village Center Area of Sunagakure cannot be labeled with having that quality. He sits with a fairly large scroll rolled out on a table, dipping his brush in ink once in a while as he hurriedly creates a rather mixed and odd masterpiece.
Outside this disturbed young man, Sunagakure appears to be having a fairly normal day. With the approaching set of the sun, many have retreated into their homes or toward restaurants to grab a meal before settling in for the night. This area has a fair amount of traffic still, as there is still enough light to remain comfortably outside and enjoy the evening as the lesser light cools atmosphere down a bit.
Back at that table, however, the disturbed young man seems to be a bit frantic in how quickly he puts the image he draws to paper. A light grin rests on his face, though. Perhaps he's just trying to get it done while there is still enough light? Were one to get close enough without backing away as many do when he casts his odd, rather intense glare toward them, one would see a large array of figures on the paper. A smiling woman and a young girl appear to be the center piece, yet they are surrounded by some rather horrific monsters and natural beasts. There doesn't appear to really be any pattern to how they are place, the creatures not even grouped by type. One might wonder exactly what's going on in his head right now, but most would probably rather not know.
Ah, Sousa would always rather know. All else held equal, of course, which it never is. There are things which are dangerous to know, in which case the value of the knowledge has to be weighed against gaining it — if one even has the choice before finding out about it. There are also tradeoffs of knowing one thing versus another — for example, in order to know where a single grain of sand is for any given length of time, one would have to keep close observation on that one grain during that entire period, which means one is foregoing knowledge on all the trillions of other grains…not to mention plenty of other, probably far more interesting stuff than sand. e.e And to top it all off, a human brain has a theoretical limit on how much knowledge it possibly can hold. Just think about how much storage it would take to know something like, 'What is the exact configuration of the neurons in my brain?'. That's right, it would take at least your whole brain to know your whole brain. It's only a vast degree of abstraction which allows us to store a micron-thin functional 'knowledge' of the world around us. So in that sense, you could say that Sousa (along with everyone else) is INCREDIBLY selective about what he wants to know, as he can only take in the tiniest fraction of what there is available to know. :o
But in the more pedestrian sense, yes, Sousa is a generally very curious individual, and likes to know things. And knowledge about psychology, particularly of the unusual (typically read 'unhealthy') variety is relatively high in the percentiles of things he likes to know about. And as it happens, Yuuto is a person of interest to the administration of Sunagakure. So when Sousa, wandering along the street in one of his disguises, spots Yuuto at work, he stops to observe for a bit from a distance. e.e
After a few more minutes of frantic movements of the brush, Yuuto finally stops to look over his work. He holds a certain amount of scrutiny in his eyes as he looks it over, seeming to judge every minute detail. One might wonder exactly what the significance of this particular piece of art might be, as he was rather frantic in getting it done, yet seems very particular about how it looks. Of course, that could have something to do with one of the disorders his mind has due to the years of torture he underwent, but it might be hard to say.
However much one might wonder what the purpose is, it becomes clear all too quickly as the former shinobi suddenly forms a hand seal that would literally send his creation flying off the page to go over the surrounding buildings and crowds and slap right onto the Administration Dome. Rather than splatter as one might expect of ink, it actually takes on a perfect shape around the dome, each piece looking precisely as it did on paper. Yuuto takes a moment to observe this before rolling up his scroll and standing to try to move into the crowd and disappear into them before ANBU or any other high figure of the
Sousa watches while the ink flies off on its journey. He jumps onto a nearby rooftop in order to see where it goes. Ah, the Administration Dome…interesting choice of destination. A shout of defiance, or perhaps a cry for help? Almost certainly an attempt to get attention, in any case. And the characters in the drawing…a maternal figure? Very likely, but if that were all, he likely wouldn't have bothered with the contrasting smaller girl. A closer look might reveal more detailed hints…oh, but actually, these circumstances are a convenient opportunity to…progress Yuuto's mental development, and not because of the particular images he drew.
Sousa spots Yuuto again before he disappears and follows him along the rooftops. Once he's reasonably certain of Yuuto's path, he discards his disguise and drops down near a pair of chuunin on guard duty. "I believe you will find the miscreant who vandalized the Administration Dome just now coming from that street carrying a large scroll," Sousa announces, pointing. "Detain him and take him in for the standard first-time-offense treatment."
Just as Yuuto believes he is about to get away, he notices something appears to have gone awry as a pair of figures appear to be encircling him. He turns into a nearby alley, trying to get away, but he ends up being frozen still as a Genjutsu hits him. "Well, that didn't go as planned," he grumbles, glancing around just in time to see a binding cloth wrap around him for him to be carried off.
After several minutes of being carted, the cloth would finally be unwrapped from Yuuto's body to reveal that he's been brought inside the jail. He blinks a few times as he looks around, peering at the tightly locked cells. "The heck are we doing here?" he asks as he peers up at one of the two Chuunin standing in front of him. "We're giving you a tour of where you're going to end up if you keep doing things like that. You may have issues, but you're going to have to deal with it and straighten up, or you're going to end up locked up in a place like this for the rest of your life."
Sousa follows at a distance while Yuuto is brought in. He's not too worried about being implicated in the little event that he's orchestrating, but it'll be more convenient if nobody ever connects the dots. People have a way of reacting vehemently whenever a psychological experiment produces results that were unpleasant for the test subject. Never mind that it might've improved their lives, and knowing the results either way can help make things better for countless others in the future, oh no, it's all about the short-term reaction. e.e And anyway, psychological experiments are particularly prone to being affected by researcher bias. Best to set up a double-blind trial, where neither the subject nor the experiment workers know what's really going on.
After Yuuto is brought in and the chuunin start showing him around with a lecture, Sousa enters another part of the building and speaks to a warden officer. "I need to interview special prisoner SK-Roh. Please have him escorted to the interrogation room." Sousa sits down and waits while the officer goes to arrange the meeting. Now, if only nothing unexpected happens to alter the timing…
Without much of a choice, Yuuto begins following the Chuunin escorting him through the prison. This place is definitely gloomy. It kind of reminds him of where he was stuck for a few years, definitely not a place he wants to end up. Of course, this makes him want to draw up a bit, hoping to get out of here as quickly as possible. As they walk down the hall, however, he has to take a double-take as he spots something he doesn't believe. He brings a hand up to rub his eyes a few times, trying to figure out if this is just an illusion or not. It's hard to tell, really…
From down the hall, what Yuuto sees is more real than he realizes. Prisoner SK-Roh, the man known as Scarecrow, is being brought down the hall to meet with an interviewer. As he locks his eyes on Yuuto, his eyes show a rather tainted amusement at the young man's confused and disdain at trying to figure out if it's him or an illusion. Whatever facial expression he may be wearing is hidden by his creepy-looking mask, though one might assume a wicked grin rests on his face.
This situation continues to get more and more intense for Yuuto as he tries to decipher between illusion and reality. It grows worse, as memories flood back more and more, and he begins to see the monsters from his hallucinations wandering the halls out of the corners of his eyes. Finally, the pressure builds up too much, and the former shinobi shows that he apparently hasn't lost all of his touch as he snatches a kunai from the belt one of the Chuunin at his side and lunges across at the prisoner with a gale of wind that forms pushing him at a rate fast enough that he hopes to strike before any of the guards can react with a swift strike directly at the man's face. To Yuuto's dismay, despite his shackles, the man manages to move out of the way enough to avoid serious injury, though the bindings of his mask are rent, and it would begin to fall to the ground.
Sousa hears shouts from somewhere in the building. He pulls a notepad out of his robes and begins jotting on it. Test subject has encountered catalyst, awaiting further results…
The light sound of the cloth of a mask hitting the ground is the last sound for what seems to be an eternal moment as the intensity in the room reaches a whole new level as Yuuto sees something he can't believe. He had heard of Souta's disappearance after his kidnapping, but he always thought the man he knew as his adoptive father had simply gone looking for him, and he's certain most other people thought that as well. However, what he sees before him is nothing other than Souta himself, the man who raised him alongside his adoptive mother, staring back at him with a small trickle of blood coming from his head ann the mask of the Scarecrow laying at his feet.
"No… It can't be," Yuuto stammers as he stares at Souta. "Why… Why are you here?… Why do you…"
"Shut up, boy," the dark, taunting voice of the Scarecrow rings out as he stares right back at Yuuto. He almost looks sad, but then a large, mocking grin would cross his face. "They didn't tell you, huh? Well, that's too bad. Guess you didn't get the chance to adjust your broken mind before you faced it, but it's true. I raised you as my own, and then I plucked what was mine right back out. Too bad you turned out to be useless."
Yuuto stares at the ground as Souta speaks for a long moment until that last phrase, and he'd suddenly leap to grab him again, only to be dodged while the guards stare on in confusion for a moment. "Portrait!" Yuuto shouts as he swings wildly at the man. "You killed… You killed my mother… your wife… my friends… my girl… All for what? Some stupid power?!" he almost roars, and suddenly his movements would get a lot faster and more precise as he manages to grab the shackled man and pin him against the wall with his hand against his throat, yet his head is lowered, black hair hanging down over his face.
"Yeah… What do you think you're going to do about it?" the man retorts tauntingly. "You're weak… Nothing… Just a shell of a kid who was once a half-way decent shinobi."
It's very tempting to go and see first-hand what's going on, but Sousa contents himself with listening to and recording the shouts, which are loud enough to be discernable now. The guards make some attempt to separate the two, but it's a bit half-hearted as they're pretty curious what's going to happen next too. c.c It's human nature, after all.
The guards' attempt as separation appear to be rather null, as half-hearted as they are, as Yuuto seems to have regained his strength as a shinobi, at least for the moment. His grip tightens around Scarecrow's throat as his head turns up slowly to look up at him. "You… will… pay," he says just before his face finally becomes visible. When it does, he holds an insanely intense look in his eyes, which have taken on quite a change. The irides have become a solid red, his left eye containing a single tomoe. A curious thing has happened with the right eye, perhaps the effect of years and years worth of rage built up inside him. It has two tomoe, creating an imperfect second-level Sharingan, or an improvement over the first, however one might see it.
"Heh… It's about time," Souta says with a grin as he locks eyes with Yuuto, gazing upon the young man's eyes like a possession he plans to take. "Looks like all my work finally paid off."
One can feel an incredible amount of bloodlust filling the room, and things haven't frozen. Yuuto still holds the blade, and he swiftly plunging it toward the throat of this man who's toyed with and destroyed his life and his sanity. "Die," he voice says coldly, as he expects to end things here and now, but the guards are quite likely to intercede before the blade can actually pierce the man's throat.
Okay, the guards might be curious about what would develop here, but they can't stand back at a clear attack on someone's life, even a reviled prisoner. The killing intent filling the room gives them enough warning to grab Yuuto's arm and restrain him from getting the knife to its target. "That's enough! Get him OUT of here!" The chuunin who brought Yuuto in drag him away, while the others move Scarecrow back to his cell.
The warden officer comes back and finds Sousa tucking away his notepad. "Ah, Kazekage-sama, my apologies for the delay, but there was an incident with the prisoner. It's under control now, but we have to treat a minor wound he sustained and perform a security check to make sure nothing was planted on him before — " "Ah, nevermind then," Sousa replies casually. "It actually wasn't that urgent a matter that I speak with him. Perhaps I'll come back another time." Sousa leaves the bewildered warden and heads outside.
Though struggling, Yuuto is dragged outside the jail. "Let me go! He deserves to die!" he growls out as he is pulled away. Once they are outside, he would turn and slam his fist against the wall and then the other, repeating this process quite a few times. "Save him now, yeah… But I'm going to get my hands on him sooner or later." It is then that he notices something… different, which causes him to stop. He glances at the Chuunin who dragged him out, blinking a few times as he looks between him and something invisible.
"I… I can see it now," he says as he looks at whatever's there. "I can see… that you're not real. You have no chakra… But you haven't really been here since he killed you, have you?" With that, he'd fall to his knees, a bit of blood dripping from his bloodied knuckles as he stares at the ground.
Sousa comes walking around the building as though on his way somewhere else and spots Yuuto and the perplexed chuunin. "My my, the tour seems to have had a profound effect on him," he remarks. "You didn't do anything drastic to him, did you? Disfiguring a building with ink isn't that large an offense." ;)
Yuuto seems to largely ignore the conversation between Sousa and the Chuunin. He stares at the ground for a long moment intensely, clenching his fists. It's a few moments before he finally stands back up and turns to look at Sousa, eyes still bearing the new Sharingan. "Kazekaga-sama… I want to start training again."
