Starring:
Date: Unknown (log received January 4, 2015)
Summary:
None given.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Watch Dogs"
Unknown location
Another hour later, Taiki is making his way to one of the training grounds the Inuzuka holds. As before, though he's still on limited duty, he can work on a few things, so long as they're not overly physically straining. This limits his training in Taijutsu for the moment, but ninjutsu was always one of Taiki's better skills anyway. Therefore, Taiki and Nozomi appear to be working on some kind of water ninjutsu. After making a few seals and muttering something under his breath, water pours out of a large waterskin attached to his hip and steadily coalesces into a vertical, 2 inch thick wall of water before him. Nozomi also tries something similar, without the handseals, but forms a wall of water only an inch thick. For the moment, they seem more into keeping the walls up and active instead of thickening them.
It wasn't easy getting into Konoha, especially now since security has been tightened in response to the upcoming war with The Silence. The Inuzuka who is supposed to be in exile in Kumo for transgressions against the Hokage's honor (read, making major moves on his intended), Kaido had to dress himself as a simple visitor and use all his ingenuity and knowledge of Konoha (plus somehow hide Bandit who is EXTREMELY well-known in Konoha for his supreme hentai-ness) to get past the gates without much scrutiny. That done, he also had to pick his way past patrols and hide his face lest anyone recognize him. His goal, the village where he was born and grew up to talk to his clan head. His cousins all look shocked when Kaido appears out of his disguise and enters boldly, asking for directions to Taiki. Once given, he heads for the man. Bandit eyeing every single female nin-ken in the place, his infamy and fame giving him great play, and Kaido says quietly to him, "Bandit, we're not here for breeding purposes… we have something to do, besides, when it's time for you to retire, you can go stud for all I care." Bandit looks up at Kaido and sniffs, "But Kaido… can't I at least sniff some butts? It's been so long…" Kaido sighs and holds his head, his patience wears thin and says, "Fine, but DON'T CAUSE ANY MOER PROBLEMS! You KNOW what Aunt Aremi said the LAST time you tried to chase female nin-ken…" Bandit blinks and blanches, "Oh no! Not my balls!" Kaido simply nods significantly and makes a cutting motion over his crotch to which Bandit yelps and drops and makes the submission pose. Kaido simply waves him off and when he's gone, makes his way to Taiki and says, "Yo Boss man!"
Taiki continues to hold the wall, though he's visibly straining slightly. Nozomi's wall collapses, however, when she hears Bandit's voice. Her head whips around to look for him, but can't see the ninken. In the meantime, Shinobu stands and walks toward Nozomi, obviously intending to keep watch for Bandit in case he… tries something. Nozomi shakes her head amusingly, given the irony of the act, but turns her attention back towards Taiki's wall.
A moment later, when Kaido announces his presence to Taiki, the Alpha drops the water wall and turns to face Kaido. He remembers reading the file regarding Kaido's 'banishment,' and wonders idly why the Chuunin is here. He doesn't say that at first, but mearely answers Kaido's call. "Hello Kaido-san. How are you?"
Kaido says wearily to Shinobu, "He's not around, he's chasing tail elsewhere in the village and if I know him, he's probably getting chased by the minders with hedge clippers." He does bend down to scratch ears and give pets to Shinobu and Nozomi and says, "Hey guys, long time, no see…" He's dragging this out a bit, before he looks up and says, "So… boss, how you feeling after, well… you know, being kidnapped. Sorry I couldn't come on your rescue mission but I was, err… tied up with diplomatic duties in Kumo and couldn't get away."
Shinobu shakes is head as if removing water from it, then says, "It's as much for Nozomi's peace of mind so she can work on her ninjutsu." Nozomi does look a bit more relieved, with him there and barks once before going back to practicing the water wall.
Taiki, on the other hand, decides to take a minute to watch Nozomi's technique while he talks to Kaido. "It's okay. To be honest, a smaller team would have had better chances than a larger team. Too many people would have tipped them off. And I'm recovering well, at least according to the other medic nin."
Kaido nods and watches Nozomi for a long moment before he says, "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here.." He says this without preamble as a commotion can be heard in the distance behind them in the village and Kaido just sighs and says, "Bandit…" He then focuses on Taiki then and says, "I'm sure you know why I was sent away from the village" His way of saying his banishment, before continuing, "I'm here to tell you I'm going to be staying in Kumo, probably for the rest of my life, even if the Hokage calls me back. I also wanted to tell you a cousin of mine is also staying in Kumo with me and I've started training him as part of a team. I wanted to let you know in case… well something happens to us during this war while we're fighting it. I guess I'm here because I wanted to see the village one last time, make sure things are ok and maybe try and settle up accounts and finish all my unfinished business."
Nozomi develops another wall of water, this one twice as thick as the last, and starts holding it in place. Taiki nods and says, "Better, just control the chakra flow a bit more." In the meantime, he considers what Kaido has said, and then asks, "Are you going to officially request a transfer of your Shinobi status from Konoha to Kumo?" He doesn't say anything personally about his own opinion about the announcement, but he does appear to be considering it. In the meantime, he'll gauge just how serious Kaido is about this.
Kaido nods and says, "Yeah, I'm working on the paperwork now, there's really nothing for me here in Konoha really, my reputation, thanks to Bandit and my own foibles is so bad around here that everyone hides their children from me, or stare at me with accusing eyes. Better to start over in a place where I don't have that sort of baggage." He sighs and pauses as Taiki gives Nozomi some more instructions and then says, "It's a very hard decision for me to make, I'll miss all my cousins and the nin-ken and even a lot of the friends I have here, but… yeah."
Taiki motions for Nozomi to stop, then tells them, "Take a break." With an affirmative answer from his ninken, he turns his attention back to Kaido. "Okay, I have a few more questions. First, who's this cousin with you in Kumo? Second, what will you do if your request for transfer gets denied? Third, what are your plans in Kumo, as regards to your Inuzuka ties?" He moves toward the nearest vertical surface then, and leans against it with his arms crossed. After a moment, he looks to Shinobu and says, "Find someone to fetch Atsuro, wherever he may be. Give him the message that I need him in his official clan capacity here." Shinobu snorts once, looks back toward Kaido, then takes off as fast as his still-recovering body allows.
Kaido tilts his head, he thought Taiki knew since it was supposed to be an approved visit to Kumo by Konoha nins. He says, "It's Hige-san and his nin-ken Konsho, they've asked the Raikage if they could stay, apparently they liked it as much as I do. I've taken charge of him and made sure he's getting trained in our way. As for the second, if it gets denied, then I guess I'll try to duck and dodge the Hokage's summons as long as I can, I've got a lot of influence with the Raikage so likely he can keep it tied up in red tape before I actually have to come back. As for my plans in Kumo, all I'm doing is using my skills as a Master Trap-Nin and strategist and teaching some of our rudimentary skills in scouting and tracking." He looks at Taiki, "I'm actually useful there… far more than I would be here… here I'm just part of the "Pervert-Nin-Duo" with Bandit, the afterthought, the black sheep. There I'm actually respected, and valued for what I can do… they don't care about my past or my reputation here. They judge me on what I do on missions and my skills." He watches as Shinobu leaves.
Taiki feels a remarkable sense of deja vu as he remembers facing hostile Kiri nin across a table when Konoha last held the chuunin exams. Only this time, he's on Kiri's end of things, and he's faced with a member of the family who wishes to leave the village due to his own experiences. Only this time, it's not so much concerning undeclared legal charges revolving around the people in question. Instead, this matter involves some personal reasons that are very much documentable. In the end he simply snarls and says, "Running away won't fix your problems. Instead, many of the Clan will consider you a coward at best, and a traitor at worst. There will be people in the clan that will want you dead before you can spread our clan secrets to others, and others that will, at best, simply demand that all references to your name be struck from the records."
Nozomi makes her opinion clear by growling at Kaido before turning her back on him and moving off to the edge of the practice ground. "While I can sympathize with being a black sheep of the Inuzuka, removing yourself from us is a last resort. I myself threatened to do so, once, to avoid a marriage that would have literally killed me. That's my point there. Right now, your reputation is in disarray. But that is not irreparable. Nor is it as dire as having your life threatened, repeatedly, by people who are supposed to be family. So answer me this, why should I give my blessing, and why should I go along with this? I guarantee you now, that part of the Hokage's response will be based on my wishes. You are, after all, Inuzuka."
Kaido gives a hard look to Taiki and pulls off his half-mask, exposing the side of his face that was burnt almost beyond recognition and says quietly, "Maybe I am a coward, and a traitor… God knows there's times when I've contemplated it. What the mainspring are we fighting for anyways Taiki? Before the Hidden Villages we were a clan going nowhere, subject to lawlessness. God knows how many of your predecessors were killed in pointless family feuds and spurious challenges to their Alpha status." He walks away and paces, "I don't even use most of the skills I gained through the clan, face, I never even learned any beyond the ones we all learn as kids. I'm barely an Inuzuka only in the fact that I have Bandit. I'm tired of having to keep dragging my baggage around, no matter what I do, I'll never be able to erase the stains Bandit and I have both created." He sighs and suddenly looks much older and tired, "Hour hand, minute hand, it's probably a moot point with this war coming on, a lot of us are going to die taking The Silence down. Give your blessing or don't… I've had assassins after me before, one of them gave me this…" Pointing to his burnt face, "Won't be the first or last time. I just want to go my own way, create my own style. I'd much rather be known as simply Kaido, not because I'm an Inuzuka, but because I'm me…" He looks into the distance, "Second hand, I don't know, I love the village… and I hate it as well, if that makes any sense at all."
Taiki's snarl grows deeper as Kaido's speech goes on. His demeanor changes from the normally almost-overly-polite man as the hairs on his neck stand on end, and his eybrows furrow. His arms drop by his side as he now pins Kaido with a glare, his eyes becoming hard. A pair of canines, upper and lower, show as his lips part slightly due to his snarl, and his hands curl into fists. "Answer me straight, Kaido-san," he growls out as his head leans forwars so that he's looking at the black sheep through his upper eyelids, "Are you going to teach clan secrets to non-Inuzuka. Do I have to worry about your defection causing our techniques to become known to outsiders?" The air of menace is thick now, as Taiki continues to pin Kaido with a glare.
Kaido just looks back and gives a long pregnant pause before he says, "No… nothing other than the rudimentary skills in tracking and scouting that we teach to any non-clan nin. I actually don't know a lot of our clan skills beyond the basics, I never bothered to learn, so you don't have to worry on that score. What I choose to do with my OWN skills that I developed without the clan's help or knowledge is mine to do with as I choose." He crosses his arms then, and raises an eyebrow at Taiki as if to say, your move.
At this point, Taiki is more or less disgusted with Kaido. A part of him would like nothing better than to throw him out of the Inuzuka and banish him from the clan. Another part of him, the part with a large responsibility to the Clan, recognizes an inherent danger stemming from Kaido's defection, to the point that keeping Kaido here in the village, despite Daisuke's wishes, seems to be the best way. Unfortunately, threatening to abandon one's clan is not an offense worth of severe punishment, no matter how base the reason behind it. After all, he only has Kaido's words he won't teach the Inuzuka arts to others. "I am strongly considering confining you to the Inuzuka Village, despite orders from the Hokage. Quite frankly, I consider your reasons cowardly and without honor, which pretty much insults everything I've ever done to bring this Clan together as a family, and every last sacrifice I've ever made througout my trials. However, I have ever strove to be fair, so I will confer with others before rendering my decision. But I tell you this now, if the decisions move against you, and you disobey them, I will consider you a traitor. This is your only warning, Kaido-san. Now, get out of my sight."
Kaido just shakes his head then, and sighs, he knew it was a long shot for Taiki to understand, but at least he tried. He turns his back to Taiki and says, "Let me go Taiki, you might not understand my reasons, or believe they're worthy ones, but you've never walked a mile in my shoes. Traitor? Coward? Dishonorable? Maybe in your eyes and the eyes of the Clan, but I need to find my own path… I hope you don't try and stop me, you'd end up killing me for nothing. What little I know I couldn't teach anyways, and you have others of the clan who can do far more than I can and are worth far more then I am." With that, he starts walking to the center of the village to pick up Bandit and disappear once more from the Village.
As Kaido walks away, his parting words almost causes Taiki's rather formidable temper to snap. A rather large dose of killing intent is released in the area as soft spoken, but deadly serious words echo in the air, "Remember my warning." No one remains where Taiki was, however, as he and Nozomi vanish soon after.
