The Only Way [Bulk Apperception]

The Festival was better than Nyguyen could have hoped for. There was fun, food and above all else, family. He had not only brought his wife and daughters, he also managed to convince Juniper and Satomi to attend. The group were in the midst of the festival. His youngest with an oversized cotton candy in one hand and a sack of tickets in the other for solving the Young Engineer's Prize. Porsche had wrapped herself around her husband's arm. The festival was less important than seeing her husband out and about. Despite his infamy, he held his head high. When he was with them, he felt as though nothing could shake his confidence. Nyg liked to think that it was this radiant strength that kept the hecklers at bay. It could have also been the death glares of Yui and Satomi from anyone that even looked like they had something to say about the Nanadaime Hokage. Yui was probably taking on the task of chaperoning the group and organizing everything. Every time he looked at her he would smile but they both knew there was a sadness underneath it. He had discussed it with her and they had made plans to erase her memory. They had to keep each other safe safe at all costs even if it meant removing her from his household. For now, Nyg was proud to enjoy the festival with her. She wasn't just a maid anymore, she was his daughter.

Mercedes was pretty neutral but Nyguyen could tell she too was having fun. There were sword-handling competitions, fashion shows and smokeshops for her to frequent. He didn't necessarily approve but if it kept her content then he could live with it. The group was making their way through the crowded festival streets when trouble began to brew. Mercedes was the first to sense it. Months in the trenches had honed her war-fighting instincts. That combined with the natural talent her father lacked made her attuned to the fact that something was amiss. The elder teen gripped her sword-handled and walked beside her father.

"Dad."

That's all she needed to say for the Hokage to notice something was up. He too had fought in the Shinobi World War and though he was not as skilled as she, he could pick up on the subtleties. There was a tremor underground, the faint sound of screaming at distant parts of the city. They both activated their Sharingan simultaneously and not a moment later.

The sirens rang

The serenity of the day was shattered. Something was amiss and immediately the Uchiha's mind went towards his primary concern. Porsche clung tighter to him as the crowd began to panic. When the first explosion broke the crowd turned into a stampede. A once timid man, the horrors of war and his previous failures in leadership forced him into the role that his family needed him to take. He raised his voice above the now chaotic crowd.

"Yui! Mercedes!" They were his rooks. They would protect the Queen and his little Knight. "Get your mother and your sister out of the city immediately!" Nyguyen's eyes shifted from the familiar look of the Tomoe 3 into that of the Mangekyou Sharingan. No one in his family save perhaps Yui had seen it before and it was enough to silence any potential argument. This was serious. He was serious. With the adrenaline coursing through his veins, Nyguyen didn't even realize the meaningful impact behind what he had just said. He could not consider it. The only thing he could think of was keeping them safe and that meant fighting off whatever the hell was going on, long enough for them to get off the Emporium. He knew Mercedes would want to stay and fight. He knew that she wanted to help him. She loved him even if she had a hard time showing it. But she'd obey. The look in his eyes was nothing she had seen before. She wasn't sure what he'd do if she argued but it was probably not much better than what he was about to do the unknown attackers. He unsheathed his tanto and suddenly a black flame wrapped around the blade. Assuming Yui and Mercedes, complied with his order and ushered Innocence and Porsche out of the area, he'd stomp towards the action.

Mercedes looked back at her father for the last time. She want to say so much but all she could manage was a utterance under her breath. "Don't be a hero. It doesn't suit you."

Nyguyen dove into the fray head first. He had spawned a multiple of clones and sent them across the city. Once the clones found where the fighting was thickest, he joined the fray. He was not a particularly strong or talented shinobi but he had a handful of aces up his sleeve. Aces that he only used when it mattered. As he battled the Xeno-beasts, he opened up the gates. His body was flooded with raw power. The creatures were strong but he was able to hold his own. When he got tired, he downed the Hero Water. The defense of the city was rudimentary but the universal order had been given: Protect the Evacuees. If they could keep the enemy from those zones then maybe the day would not end in total misery. The battle appeared to be going their way up until the Indaina Kujira appeared. Like a monstrosity in the sky, it towered over them. Taking up the entire skyline and turning gravity into its own personal plaything.

Nyguyen was exhausted and this was the point where he'd retreat. He'd leave the fighting to the stronger ones. The ones who were more talented than he. He'd find his family and run alongside them. Not today. It was possible that he had a death wish. That he had been so weighed down by the guilt of Ari's disfigurement, Ashitaka's suicide, Chika's execution and the death of thousands if not millions of innocent souls in a war that he had helped start. It was possible that the only way Nyguyen could atone for such failures was to sacrifice himself for something meaningful. He wasn't sure but a burning fire in his heart told him that he could not retreat. If this being was permitted to charge to its full capacity then there'd be no where for him or his family to hide. Their only hope was to stay and fight.

He snapped open the 7th Gate. A explosion of chakra pushed the minions away from him. He felt reinvigorated, stronger and all of his wounds began to regenerate at an alarming rate. He could do this. He could survive. Nyguyen fought his way to right beneath the beast. He then ascended. Jumping off debris that seemed to float in the air. The Indaina Kujira spawned an infinite amount of puppets. Many of them just as fast and strong as he was. Fighting as he climbed through the air, he was aware of the toll that the Gates were taking on his body. If he kept going, he would never come back down alive.

It's okay...It's okay. He told himself. They'd be fine without him. Mercedes would protect them. Yui would protect them. Satomi was fighting he was aware of that much but his brother-in-law was likely fending for himself. He could not rely on him to be bailed out. Nyguyen managed to climb his way battered and bruised to the back of the beast. His Sharingan found the weakpoint: a thick sheet of metal which prottected a network of electrical wires which pulsated like a neurological system. He was no engineer but he knew a spine when he saw one. Nyguyen unleashed hell.

A mass of black flame sprouted from his eye and blanketed the beast's back. It roared in defiance as the metal melted and compromised the wires underneath. He did not stop. He did not stop until his cheeks were soaked with blood and the last of his chakra was rung from his body. The beast was not dead but it was hurt. He wasn't sure if his act would make a difference or not in the end but he would pass on knowing that he had not run. He had not left his people to fend for themselves like he did in Meijing.


Its okay... the Hokage said with a smile as he felt something embed its way into his heart. He wasn't sure what it was or where it came from but it was all that was needed. Blood poured from his chest and he slipped off the back of the Bijuu. As he fell to the ground, he opened his mouth to say utter his dying regret. But he could not finish the words. He'd take them to the afterlife but he hoped that somehow and someway, Yui would see him and know.

"You'll always be my daughter...."

She'd been tracking him for a while. Watching and observing mostly. The news of Satomi and Nyguyen walking around in the open spread pretty far. It wasn't like they were trying to be conspicuous. It had been happenstance that Kimiko had been at the Emporium when she was, but she wasn't beholden to Konoha anymore, and she always liked adventures and fun. She'd thought that coming would be a good distraction to get her back to her old happy self. That hadn't lasted too long as once she'd heard about them being here, she couldn't let it go. Obsession wracked her, coursed through her, consumed her. Kimiko had split away from her allies and focused on a personal mission.

While Kimiko wanted Nyguyen to answer for his crimes against the clan, she didn't want to confront him around his family. She wouldn't do that. With Satomi around too, she wouldn't have much of an opportunity. So for a while, she simply observed them from a distance. Kimiko had kept on a rabbit mask, the festival providing an opportunity to keep her identity hidden. They wouldn't do anything to her. There were rules at the Emporium. Rules she didn't really care about, but that two former Hokage definitely would. If Satomi or Nyguyen noticed her and attacked her, it would be devastating for public relations.

No, she was safe.

The fact that it was a neutral zone didn't really disadvantage Kimiko all that much. She was primarily a ninjutsu and taijutsu user, so it wasn't like she was defenseless without weapons. Besides, with her Fuuinjutsu, she could keep her weapons hidden if she needed to. It wasn't difficult, nor had anyone even checked. There was no rule against having her weapons on her, just against using them. She knew that people were always monitoring, but she was simply observing.

Dressed in a similar fashion to how she usually did, her attire wasn't too different than normal. All of her pouches and gear were arrayed in their usual manner. It was common enough for people to wear black cloaks like she often did, and her body was more or less obscured, but tons of people wore shorts, high socks, combat boots, and the rest. She wasn't too unique or stand out. That was one of the reasons she'd set up like she had.

Interestingly enough though, she didn't need to do anything. Chaos broke out as the Emporium went under attack. The family had split up and Nyguyen had gone on the offensive. The offensive? The defensive. He was defensively offensive... well, in any case, he was attacking the massive Kaijuu that had appeared. Kimiko activated her Sharingan, following him as she did so, weaving through the hordes of attackers. With her coordination and movement prediction, it was simple enough to weave through and avoid any attacks. There was other, easier prey for some of the Xeno-beasts and Kimiko was not a savior of the people. She was focused on an opportunity to get Nyguyen into a 1 on 1.

She didn't even know what she'd do if she caught Nyguyen. She mostly just wanted to come face to face with him. She'd know what to do then. Whether she'd attack him, help him, or walk away. She just needed to have the opportunity to decide. Still, with his Gates active, the opportunity was pulling away from her. And then he began to leap into the air, using the debris that floated around the massive beast, going to attack the beast and its horde of puppets.

She saw the activation of the Amaterasu, a technique she knew she had access to. His eyes had activated, his Mangekyou. Kimiko's heart shattered. Had he unlocked them upon the death of Akihiro, or had something else happened? But then another thought. Seething rage. Had he taken Akihiro's? The possibilities were both present.

Kimiko watched though, as Nyguyen was struck down and fell. Leaping up the debris he'd used not long before, Kimiko caught him as he fell. Her Sharingan told her what she'd feared. The blood wasn't running through his veins. There was no micromotion of him breathing, no shake of the chest for a heart beat. Nyguyen was already dead when she caught him.

"You're not supposed to die yet..."
'You take everything from me, and then you even rob me of my revenge?'

Kimiko seethed in anger, the two parts of her mad about two different things. There was no satisfaction in someone else killing Nyguyen. There was no solace granted by a face to face confrontation. He was just gone. Placing a hand over his eyes, Kimiko took them, the feeling of them coming free less gross than she'd have thought, but she wasn't entirely herself right now either. There was a chance they were Akihiro's. She couldn't know, but Akihiro's body was never handed over. She couldn't know. And even if they weren't, the Sharingan was useful, especially one that had unlocked the Mangekyou already. As she palmed the eyes, Kimiko activated her Lightning Flash Blade Creation jutsu, sealing the pair into her bracers.

Activating her own Mangekyou at this point, Kimiko's body was covered by protective rib cage as a xeno-beast had leapt at them, slamming into it and sending her and Nyguyen's body flying backwards. The chaos around them was fairly intense. She couldn't afford to stick around for too long, and the longer she was here, the more likely it was that she'd get in dire trouble or something. Besides, her recent allies were around here somewhere, and she should probably make sure they were safe. It was better to stick around with allies than be off alone.

Forming the hand seals for the Multi Shadow Clone jutsu, Kimiko made two copies of herself with a small amount of chakra in each of them, both activating the Susano'o. They'd keep off any attacks from her, lasting long enough that she could get out without issue. The pain she felt wrack through her body was immense though. It felt like she was on fire at a molecular level, but she gritted her teeth and continued on.

Taking off without fighting the beast, she'd left Nyguyen's corpse behind. It wasn't useful to her anymore, and she'd get no satisfaction from mutilating an empty vessel. Robbed of any chance of vengeance, she just had to move on. There were always others. The Elders would still have to answer. Satomi would still have to answer. But she wasn't ready for that. Preparation would be key.

-
[Exit]
-6 for 2 LFBC seals
-10 chakra for 2 mass shadow clones, 5 each
-6 for 3 Susano'o Level 1 activations
-0.5 Sharingan activation
Stamina: 187.5/210
[Grabbed Nyguyen's MS, sealed into Left Arm's LFBC]

[Interrupted]

This was supposed to be a good day. That was what Juniper touted lately, he would do anything for her. So begrudgingly, he was convinced to go with her and Nyg to the Heavenly Emporium. He was already familiar with the place, the festival would definitely be a fine for his wife. Though he couldn't shake a nasty feeling. It wasn't until the sirens rang that he knew this presumptions were correct. When the first explosion hit, they all activated their Sharingans. Satomi's turning into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. His sensory and Mind's Eye active, he was ready to perceive the future threats. But he was unprepared for what was to come. He sensed a familiar presence stalking them. That would have to be dealt with later, there were other pressing matters.

Nyg immediately ordered for his daughter to be protected while they dealt with whatever was going. Satomi immediately cued a charge in his left eye and took off behind Nyg. His brother in law spawned a few clones to help deal with multiple threats. Satomi figured he would not conserve his energy to fight a looming threat heading towards the Emporium. He was momentarily separated from Nyg while the fighting began to involve him. He knew his status because he was still in his sensor range being within 50 meters and direct sight as well. Thankfully he was always armed. Learning his lesson from his death before. He dismantled the fierce Xeno beasts with his superior speed.

Then all of a sudden he could sense Nyg activate the 7th Gate. His explosive energy was a sonar blast for his sensory. Dispatching the last Xeno beast in his general area. He was able to focus solely on Nyg with his sensory. He could see where he was, but his chakra was quickly fading after delivering his final blow. The use of Amatersau and the 7th Gate was too much for him. Using his right eye he quickly teleported to his brothers side before he even fell. Instantly he appeared next to Nyg, he had created enough space with his massive attacks. There he was also able to see Kimiko plotting. Stopping her before she could even get close too Nyg.

His anger was apparent. There were no words now as Satomi placed a hand on Nyg's shoulder. Without a seconds thought, he and Nyg teleported to the Kamui Dimension. He was already dead when they got there. He didn't even get any last words. Shaking his head, he knew this violent invasion would see his wrath. The disturbing stalking of Kimiko was saddening. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this. But it was the fate of the Uchiha.

Satomi removed the eyes from Nyg, just as he did before Akihiro. Before long, he was sure he would have to do it again. First off, he needed to get these eyes to safety. He would tell the Hokage to assemble the army. Juniper would return to the village as well, this wasn't their fight. Not yet anyways. Satomi would use his right eye again and teleport back to the village to report directly to the Hokage.

-------------------
[Attempted Exit]

Used: Kamui (Right eye) -60
Left eye Charge
Sensory -.5
Minds Eye - 5

Satomi appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Nyguyen before he even began to fall. Kimiko's sharingan showed her that there hadn't been any sort of running or anything like that. Satomi's chakra had just appeared. He could use some sort of Space/Time, like her. That would make hunting him later quite difficult. She'd need to find a way around something like that, and figure out some way to stop him from using it to just run away.

Still, her mask kept her relatively hidden. And she hadn't done anything yet to warrant any negative actions. She hadn't even been sure herself what she was going to do, so for now, there was no harm done. Her opportunity to face Nyguyen had slipped through her fingers, but it was what it was. For now, she had simply been too slow again, furthering her anger that she was always just behind what she needed to do.

Kimiko swore to herself, but Nyguyen and Satomi were gone. That left her here with a beast in the sky and some Xenobeasts and puppets attacking the area. She was already heading towards where Nyguyen had been, so rather than break stride, she simply kept moving forward. She could ingratiate herself with some people by finishing the job Nyguyen had started, making it seem that that was her plan from the start, but inwardly she was seething. Satomi was so arrogant, so fucking full of himself, thinking that he was the end all be all when it came to deciding shit. Always getting in her way.

He'd come back from the life and acted like he was still in charge of anything. Akihiro had made some mistakes, but he was the clan leader and the way he'd been taken out had been such a disloyal act to the clan, she knew it had to have been nothing short of a coup. They had taken out Akihiro to put the former clan leader back in power. After all Akihiro had done to protect the clan and village. His actions had not been worthy of an execution. War was war. His actions had been to destroy a military asset of Kumogakure during the war. Everyone was an enemy during a war, even civilians of a nation, and Moonspire was the headquarters of a major asset of Kumogakure's. Such a betrayal was tantamount to treason to the clan and Konoha's war effort. Kimiko knew she had no choice but to wipe out the Elders who had supported Akihiro's execution, and no choice but to end Satomi. They'd betrayed the clan, usurped the rightful leader in such an underhanded way.

He'd hidden Akihiro's body too. He'd never returned it to be properly buried. Simply because he decided that he was in charge of her fiance's body. All of his things gone, everything gone. Who was he to decide any of that? That's what she couldn't stand. Outwardly he said he was fine with Akihiro being the clan leader, but given their actions, that was evidently just for appearance. She wouldn't play his game. Satomi would know she's a threat, but she'd make her own allies, and take back the clan. She'd reach the true Uchiha loyalists. Anyone who got in the way of her avenging that betrayal was her enemy.

But for now, she had to play the bit. Still helpful. Satomi wouldn't trust her, certainly, just as she wouldn't trust him. But she would be nothing short of helpful. Give no reason for others to doubt her intentions. No attacks on Konoha, she'd play her own game. Catch them off guard.

To that end, she'd continue the attack on the beast, and help defend the Emporium. There were a bunch of Major Nation representatives present, attacking the beast strategically. Kimiko would finish Nyguyen's work.

Leaping up the path he'd taken, her sharingan helping her avoid any attacks, Kimiko chose to not engage in combat with the Xenobeasts or puppets. Her movement prediction helped her find the optimal paths to take so she could slip through while she could.

Eventually though, the defensive group was getting to be too much to slip through, so she focused her chakra in her right hand, and an intense blade of flaming chakra extended around her hand and arm. Slicing through the beasts, her blades cauterized their wounds, keeping the acid off of her and setting them ablaze. The puppets were no match either, and she made short work getting onto the back of the beast.

The Amaterasu on the beast's back was doing some good work for certain, but its biomass was simply too great and appeared to be working to heal itself as fast as the damage coming from the fire. Frowning, Kimiko charged her Mangekyou sharingan with a ton of chakra, removed her mask with her left hand tossing it into the flames, and sent the mass of chakra launching towards the flames, feeding them even more Amaterasu. Since they were flames from two different sources though, they began feeding each other, using the flames of the other as a catalyst to grow in intensity. Blood ran down her face and she winced, but her job was completed. The resulting combination of their two never ending flames fueling each other broke through the outer shell, and damaged the internal wiring.

Kimiko leapt off the safe space of the beast she had been on and ran off. What she was going to do next, she was unsure about, but maybe she'd find someone who could be useful and help them with whatever.
---
None of my last post's chakra was used since Satomi's interrupt was successful. No blind markers from Susano'o since it wasn't used.

Used: Amaterasu, and Heavenly Prison Blazing Sword

[Finished Flashpoint]
[Exit]