Starring:
Date: September 30, 2016
Summary:
A piece of the moon falls to the earth, containing the shape of a human within and the power of Kaguya Otsutsuki.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Project Akumu - Relic of Otsutsuki"
Snow Country
Up above, far into the sky so high that no one since the time of the rabbit goddess had ever reached it. That was where the great rock in the sky was. The great celestial body created by the first of the Otsutsuki clan that orbited the earth and kept nature in harmony. Few know that this body, known to all as the moon, contained part of the power of the ancient rabbit goddess. A sliver of her chakra contained within it. Safe, far in the sky, it was a symbol of guiding light in the darkness. Yet, the moon was not the only celestial body circling the great void beyond. It was a hundred years ago that another heavenly body struck the moon, chipping slivers of it into a slow and descending orbit that slowly brought it to it's inevitable destination of the earth. It was not sheer fortune that the pull of gravity had become so great that the great meteorite once a piece of the moon above descended in a ball of fire from the sky above. It wasn't just those in the Land of Snow that saw such a brilliant display break through the atmosphere in hellfire. The entire shinobi world witnessed the descent of a meteorite that contained fantastic properties similar to that of Hoshigakure's national treasure.
The burning ball of fire certainly had it's impact even before it had even touched the ground. It flew so close over Totoro and Yasuo's head that the temperature jumped by five degrees celcius. Enough that even in the late evening, the snow melted lightly, glimmering in the presence of the moon. Within the period of ten seconds in which the falling body began to burn did it impact the the earth. A flash that could be seen from miles, and even from the trees that separated the two hunters from seeing it crash. Though much of the piece of rock had burned in the atmosphere, the chakra it held only concentrated within what remained. The impact crater spanned six hundred yards. A giant crater that now entombed the legacy of a goddess.
"Yasuo, what the kali is that!?" Totoro said as she stood up from her log. The flame brought some fear into her, but that was before it struck the ground. It struck so hard that the very earth shook, going as far as to knock Totoro off her feet. Totoro and Yasuo had no idea what they were about to uncover. How were they to know? No text, nor documentation existed of a phenomenon of this scale. Totoro, for certain, was quite shaken. It was hard to shake Totoro. She was a strong woman who had been through and seen quite a bit. She was still a brave woman too. "WHAT!?" She said with an almost forced grin. "What was that? More shinobi magic!?" She asked Yasuo as she slowly picked herself off the ground. "Did you feel that? It just made it hot in the air! It was… YASUO!" Totoro growled. "I have no idea what to do! My heart is racing!"
Yasuo had been sitting near Totoro on the log sipping on a canteen when the rock came down blazing from the sky. When it comes, though, he drops the bottle and quickly activates his Byakugan as he stands up. What he sees as he looks up at it is astounding. The flames themselves are natural, of course, but that rock is somehow brimming with chakra. "… What the crystal…"
Once the rock has crashed, Yasuo stares in its direction for a long moment before looking over to Totoro. "You don't know what to do? Well, I do. Let's go see what the skull that thing is." With that he turns and takes off toward the crash site, rather curious as to what they'll find there. Of course, there's every possibility this thing will attract the people they're after too because it could be a great scientific find.
Meanwhile, almost equidistant in position relative to where Yasuo and Totoro was to the meteor impact sight, another group was set up. Heavily camoflauged, even enough to fool Byakugan, using seals and false plantlife, it hid a circle of wagons set up in a defensive formation with several tents close in proximity. Almost as if it was a position set up to do research yet. many of the scientists were currently performing careful surgery on some of the experiments. In one tent, one short haired blonde and exceedingly pale looking individual with thin rectangular glasses was overseeing the deconstruction and analysis of a subject. In his hand was a clip-board holding a scroll. He appeared to be taking notes as each organ was taken out. Raising his head, it was clear the man had a cyan steak of hair that zig-zagged up his head like lightning.
Each organ pulled out of the man was mutated in some way. Each organ seemed to be dysfunctional in some respect. However, it seemed that when the heart was pulled out the scientist lowered his head and uttered a command to his associates. "Stop… That shows promise." He stepped forward, a smug look on his face as he reached out and lifted the bloody heart, twisting it around with his wrist. "Do you see? The muscle is different than usual. It has a higher amount of white muscle. Excellent." - "What does this mean?" asked a lesser associate. - "It means that the heart is more powerful. With proper chakra application, the white muscle can be fed a proper amount of nutrients to keep a steady function. With this, we can bring the creation of the ultimate organism to the next step… If only we had his eyes… Well, I've certainly been surprised today! I doubt there could be more surprises on the way!"
Just then, the meteor descended through the sky, filling the tent with red light. The scientist, clearly a sensor, detected a strange presence in the sky. "I'll be… arked…" His smile would grow, "That's twice today…" The explosion a short distance caused his associates to drop to the ground and scramble, but not him. "Prepare a team to locate and extract what I had just felt to camp. I was getting sick of dissecting people…" The individual reached up, grabbing the collar of his coat as he turned to leave and prepare for the discovery of something amazing! Though, as he left, a special organ he extracted from a certain someone long ago trapped in a jar and coated with seals suddenly shook rapidly. The seals glowed brightly, and the scientist seemed awestruck. "THREE surprises!? Could this day get any better! My eyes are back!"
The destination was the central 500 yard crater with a steaming lump of metallic rock. The rock looked like an ordinary celestial object falling into the sky and burning as it reached the ground. It was, for all intents and purposes, a small piece of the moon. It was the arrival of a legendary object containing the very chakra of Otsutsuki. It was quite large, about the size of a human body curled up. The entire area surrounding this meteor was entirely melted away, and the plant life below seemed invigorated. The entirity of the fields not burned away bloomed white flowers that danced gently in the breeze.
Totoro had walked over to pick up Yasuo's canteen, tipping it into her mouth hopefully she tasted it's contents. The canteen was discarded. WATER. Guess he wasn't holding out on her after all. "Alright…" She says, kind of disappointed. One-track mind. She begins to head with him through the sparse trees, keeping up with him relatively decently. "I've got a feeling, Yasuo, that we're not going to be the only ones at the impact sight. Gut feeling. Probably just Snow Shinobi…"
Yasuo's eyebrows furrow as they race along toward that crater, the Hyuuga rather interested but a bit wary of what this thing could be and what could happen due to it. The burning around the rock is expected, but the blooming of the flowers around brings a blink. "What on earth is this thing?" he grumbles to himself as they run toward it."
"We most definitely won't be the only ones coming to see what this is. Stay on your guard," Yasuo agrees with a nod as he glances over at Totoro. "Even our enemies might want to come find this thing and take it in for study." Arriving at the area, he'd go down into the crater and stop about ten feet from the meteor. "… Is… that a body inside that thing?"
Is it a body? It almost has a chakra network. It might have been hard to tell, even as a byakugan user. "What? No, it's a @#$hersmn rock. Come on Yasuo. Are you high? That thing just dropped out of the sky and created this crater. I might not know how to read, or know many fancy words, but I know when something is impossible." Totoro seemed to remain near the edges of the crater, looking around and keeping her senses up. "… Everything smells like ash anyways…" Totoro seemed apt towards complaining, and even crouched down to pick up a rock that survived the impact. She seemed more interested in crushing the rock.
Probably a bad idea. With Totoro's sense of smell shot, and Yasuo focused on the rock, a ranged weapon would suddenly ring out in the air. A bolt seemingly bent on penetrating and killing Yasuo's drinking buddy. A heavy iron bolt, one whose location could be tracked to the forest on the other side of the meteor. A heavy iron bolt that seemed almost impeccably aimed. Of course, that was only the beginning. The scientist that seemed to spearhead this operation, with the blue streak in his hair, clapped his hands. That is when the enemy wagons started to draw out. Each wagon had a cover over it… Each wagon would be uncovered, revealing caged people… People? No… People no longer.
"My dearest patients. You're all hooked up with seals that will kill you at my whim. You will, and I repeat, you will capture the one with the ghostly eyes. Those whom do shall not receive another experiment upon their body. Oh! I'm feeling gracious too. Bring me the Hyuga, and I will let you see your family again! Not everyone at once." The scientist clapped his hads, and the gates opened. Humanoids slowly flooded out of the cages, all heading towards the meteor. "Welcome home, Project Akumu. We've missed you."
"It SHOULD be impossible, it's what I'm looking at. I have no idea how, but it's there," Yasuo says as he stares forward at the meteor with a puzzled look. He then blinks as he sees something coming out of the darkness right at Totoro. Without a second thought the Hyuuga moves in front of her and spins to try and throw up a shield of chakra before it can hit either of them.
While he does manage to shield her with it, the bolt, however, does strike him in the torso and send him to the ground, but he is happy that giant thing didn't hit her instead. Is he allowed to take care of her like that? She'll probably get grailed, but oh well.
Looking around at the wagons as he pushes himself back up to his feet, Yasuo quirks an eyebrow… He'd hoped to have the upper hand when they found these people, but it seems that is not the case. "… Totoro, this is who we've been hunting. Do not take them lightly," he says as he yanks that bolt out of himself and tosses it aside as he calls out to the demipeople being let out of the cages. "I am Project Akumu. He is sending you to die at my hands so he can pick out a good time to try and capture me. If you come after us, you will die and he will not care."
Totoro could have taken that attack. She could have. Yet, he took it for her. "What the… Yasuo…" She growled. "… Jones whip it all! I'm not a frail woman. If something like that could kill me, I wouldn't be around with you now Yasuo…" She got grailed. Well, at least Yasuo knows her at this point. As he pulled out the arrow that pierced his torso, blood started to drip out of the wound. Totoro was surprised that he was standing, given that she could literally stick a finger through his chest. That was the size of his wound.
Before Yasuo could even bring himself to his feet, Totoro spent absolutely no time bringing herself to the individual who spoke. The mindless many who marched towards the two with only the barest memories of those they onced love and knew. They would line up like a wall of individuals blocking Totoro from the real prey. The voice of a man who clearly had been experimenting on people for so long that he, too, had lost every shred of humanity he had… All in the pursuit of science and personal gain. Totoro's path forward brought her to one individual, whose body was bandaged heavily. If once there were eyes on this individual, there were eyes no more. This individual's face had been completely smoothed over. Well, Totoro would put more facial definition within it. She would lash out with her fist, attempting to cave in this particular experiment's head.
The quicker experiments would attack Yasuo. One appeared to have been modified in particular. He still had eyes, and a mouth. A nose too, but he lacked hands. Rather, he clearly was being tested in a particular kind of augmentation. Putting physical weaponry in his body, without said body rejecting said augmentations. So far, it appeared he was a success. His body not only refrained from rejecting the augments, but had clearly 'incorporated' them. "Project Akumu… I'm sorry. I've… Lost the ability to reject his orders any longer. Since you've been gone, he has perfected mental manipulation… I'm sorry…" The man promptly raised his arm, augmented with a sickle, and drove it towards Yasuo. "We're all beyond saving now…"
"Yeah, yeah," Yasuo says with a chuckle as he looks over at Totoro for a moment then blinks as she takes off right at someone. That's really not a great idea, but he doesn't really have much time to deal with that right now since someone else is coming toward him.
The Hyuuga furrows his brows as the man comes his way, seeming to actually recognize him. As he spins to throw up another shield of chakra, blocking the attack, he nods to the man. "Very well… I will put you out of your misery then." The sphere starts to crackle with energy then, starting in the centers and going out until it blasts outward in the form of lightning chakra to try and stun as many of these people he can at once without damaging Totoro or the stone.
q Totoro's fist was stopped. She had put her full speed into it, and it appeared that the only thing she broke was her knuckles. Her surprise was really showing. "Surprised?" Called the scientist. "It was I, Koruso, who implanted the DNA of the Murasame to increase their durability. Impressed? I can understand why. As you can probably guess, I've been playing with the DNA of many clans, and experimenting with 'implantation'. It's imperfect, of course… but…" It seems the scientist was cut off when Yasuo's ability was enough to knock over all but his most potent experiments.%r%t"Tch… Project Akumu… You've learned a few new skills. That only means your Byakugan has developed far more than it was when we last spoke…" The man would reach up and brush his blue lock of hair behind his head, as it was disturbed during the shockwave itself. "I suppose I need to kill you then myself. From a safe distance of course… …" He raised his hand, pointing a finger at Yasuo. A few moments later, a metallic bullet seemingly launched from his fingertip. This was a forbidden sort of combination.%r%tAs the bullet whizzed past Totoro towards Yasuo, seeking to strike him in the leg, Totoro would grab the stunned individual whom Yasuo's technique disabled. "*#$% off. You talk too much." Totoro said as her hands clenched the neck of the man whose body was made of 'Iron' and started to push him forward towards this 'Koruso'. A name that meant nothing. If successful, she would push his own augmented experiment into him and attempt to drive him into the ballista… Unless blocked, it would likely break the instrument that had first wounded Yasuo at the very least…
Yasuo lets out a growl as Koruso begins to brag on his work. He really wants to kill that guy… and it seems he might get the chance soon… except he gets shot through the chest by that finger bullet. Rather than cry out in pain, he growls as he hits a knee for a moment.
"You think it's gonna be that easy?" he asks before spinning his foot again to send out another massive sphere of chakra, this time charged fully with lightning chakra and large enough to try and wipe out a large number of the force.
Yasuo's chakra, oriented towards the lightning element, wiped out a large number of individuals that had started to coalesce on the Hyuga. Their previous stunning, at least some of them, had set them up to be devastated as the electrical field destroyed any plant life within it, and critically wounded any real life that hadn't abilities meant to absorb lightning. The screams were many.
Totoro's own charge had limited success. Although she had eschewed her normal inhibition to cause reckless destruction, there was one thing she learned about trying to slam one man against another in this situation. It didn't seem Koruso didn't care about the life of the experimented. He drove a makeshift spike of metal from his hand and attempted to impale Totoro through his own suboordinate. Those that were heavily shocked by Yasuo and not outright killed would attempt to crawl forward. Ceaselessly. There were too many in number. After two major wounds, Yasuo moving around as he has been seems impressive.
With a large number of the experiments wiped out, Yasuo now has a more clear path. He lets out a low growl, forcing himself to ignore the pain of the heavy wounds he's sustained in this fight as he prepares to charge ahead. "If you haven't figured out you need to stand down by now, you're going to die. If you prefer to die… very well." And with that he would take off right at Koruso to try and help even the score so he doesn't wind up killing Totoro.
Seeming to flicker to appear in front of the scientist, the Hyuuga moves into an absolute flurry of strikes as his fingers crackle with electricity. Each strike is aimed at the man's tenketsu, intent on ravaging both his tenketsu and his musculoskeletal system. "Did you forget about me, junior?"
Totoro's punch was strong, but her punch lacked… Precision. As the Inuzuka attempted a another punch that seemed to unrelent despite just moments prior being pierced through the torso with a bone made of steel, she still seemed to move forward to raise her hand and strike. "I've had enough of you… You're not even worth keeping around." This was moments before Yasuo appeared before him and laid his attack against the scientist. He was easily able to just move his head away from the punch, almost laughing at the poorly placed punch as he raised his hand and placed it upon her shoulder to grab her. Yet, inadvertently he used diagnostic abilities upon her.
Suddenly, she wasn't quite as useless as he thought. In fact, his smile widened. "Oh? That's something. Project Akumu has been making little projects of his own…" Instead of penetrating her heart with his next attack, she would instead attempt to cleave her arm off. "Good! Good… I'll save you for later after all!" His free hand, still bladed with sharpened bone, would slip up beneath her underarms and attempt to sever the dominant limb. Moments after, Yasuo arrived. He attempted to push away from Totoro, but it only left him open. He was unable to dodge every strike, but managed to use enhanced reflexes to dodge some of them. Either way he was forced to skid backwards through the snow as he grunted. Many of his tenketsu were closed, which restricted how he could shape his metal bones. "This is great. You see… What this means is that I can experiment on you without any reservation! I'll have a spare in the works!"
Little… projects… Yasuo blinks several times as he would have seen the chakra going through Totoro for the Diagnostic. He briefly glances toward the woman's belly, his eyes widening a bit as they focus… Has he really been so pre-occupied as to not notice that? As the blade comes at Totoro's arm, Yasuo moves in the way as he spins to throw up a shield of chakra to deflect the attack and try to shove him back with the attack… in a far from gentle way.
"The child will die before it can form if you chop her arm off and she bleeds out, moron," the Hyuuga growls out as he stares Koruso down. It seems his protection of the woman has gotten a lot less sarcastic now since, while she may be able to take the damage herself, having her take too much damage right now is a bad idea. Drawing his palm back, the skull-masked Hyuuga lunges directly at the scientist as his hand begins to crackle with lightning, aimed directly at the man's face to try and cave his skull in.
Before he could lob Totoro's arm off, it seemed as if Yasuo had driven him away from his hold on Totoro. The bone blade that had penetrated Totoro slipped out, and he was sent skidding backwards as the shockwave pushes him away from the two. Yasuo's follow up strike would be absorbed, however. The hand aimed at his face would be intercepted by an iron bone that appeared from his elbow to block the strike. The bone attempted to pierce his arm, and neutralized the energy by acting like a lightning rod. "I won't let her bleed out. What kind of medical scientist would I be if I didn't know how to cauterize a wound!"
The man would, whether or not Yasuo's arm was struck, reach his other hand out and attempt his own lightning ninjutsu. A technique that would reduce him to a piling squirming mess unable to move for quite a while. It's function was to rewire the electrical signals that the brain uses to communicate with his muscles. As a result, if his hand strikes, Yasuo won't be able to move any of his muscles right. His bicep would be controlled by the same nerve he usually uses to blink, so on and so forth. "Now you should probably just get captured… If you please…"
Though Yasuo tries to block that attack as he throws up another sphere of chakra around himself and Totoro, this time Koruso's attacks makes it through and begins to ravage the Hyuuga's body. First comes a vicious stab that eviscerates his torso, followed by the wires that strike charged with lightning and redirect his nervous system in a much less than kind way. He lets out a growl as he hits the ground, the lightning causing his body to write around. Even as it stops, he finds himself unable to control his muscles as he should be. His movements seem almost random as he tries to figure out what's going on… This is most definitely not good… It seems he is going to be captured again after all and experimented on completely without holding back this time because there is a spare Hyuuga on the way…
Yasuo might have been slumped on the ground, but there was still Totoro! She would definitely go forth where Yasuo had fallen, raising her claws and attempting to rake across the scientist's chest. He seemed to not even care anymore. She was clearly far more inferior than Project Akumu. He let her strike him, shredding the clothes on his torso. Beneath was a clear example of what someone was willing to do for power. There were… Eyes on his torso, at least… The slits of what may be eyes someday. "Ah… I suppose that is okay… Look upon me, Project Akumu. Your eyes will fill one of these holes." … If the lead scientist doesn't get to him first… He's mine… … "You'll be the first doujutsu to fill my center. There are four holes. One for Nejigan. One for Byakugan. One for Sharingan… Honestly, I've been told stories of a fourth. Alas, information doesn't travel far these days does it?"
"What the gestapo are you even talking about." Totoro says as she brings her hand up, seeking to punch the eye-holes instead. "You sick nazi." She still does not grasp the depth of what he has revealed… Yet, she wouldn't need to for long. He would smash her face in the same way Yasuo was planning to do on him, knocking Totoro out before he headed over to Yasuo and put his boot upon his back. "Now… Where did I put that anesthetic?"
Though he tries to figure out how to move in spite of this technique, Yasuo has no luck. He's going to have to counteract this attack or relearn his body before he can fight back. His Byakugan scans those sockets revealed from Totoro's attack, brows furrowing. "… Totoro-" Just before he can tell her to run, she is knocked unconscious and then there's a foot on his back holding him to the ground and further keeping him from acting. "… I'm going to kill you all… Your entire lives will be dust and no one will remember your names… That I promise."
Totoro's consciousness was fading, and her hand would reach up to her head, which had a welt upon it. "… I'm… Chasing weak… So… Chasing weak…" Totoro would close her eyes as she begins to fade. Her bloodloss was quite bad, but Koruse knew that if Totoro took any more damage, she would miscarry.
A needle would pierce Yasuo's main artery, right through his shoulder, the anesthesia spreading quickly. "Yes, yes… I'm pretty sure you said that before you left the first time. Funny, how that isn't panning out. You know, so many of the scientists have died. There are only three of us now, and… The leader… He's far more modified than I am. Still, you'll be happy to know that the one scientist whom failed to somehow keep you around as she was tasked has found herself…" The scientist raised his head and tapped his skull. "Modified. I can't wait to see her expression when I bring you back to the main caravan group!" His eyes do look towards the meteor however.
"None of you fools managed to capture Yasuo, which means none of you get to see your loved ones. You can redeem yourself by retreiving the meteoroid we located… Oh, and haul these two into one of the wagons… We're almost to our destination.
