[Kage Test - Aki] Never Truly Gone

[Hayate]

The clouds parted momentarily to allow the dawning sun to tinge the village a brilliant orange. It was an early summer morning, the temporary coolness of the nite a respite for moisture as dew still lingered in the air. Kumogakure was peaceful at this time of morning, all citizens sleeping soundly in their bed. The watchmen preparing to change shifts with the dawn. At the base of the mountains, roosters heralded the morning with their regular call. Nobody would ever have guessed the horror they would experience today.

At the shore of the lake in the ravine between the two mountains which housed the shinobi village, a man sat fishing. The bamboo float bobbed suddenly below the water, and he shouted with glee as he pulled up as hard as he could on his rod. His glee suddenly turned to horror as the ground began to shake and the water turned to massive waves throwing his boat like a toy.

The heavens themselves seemed to rip open as an abyssal blackness consumed the sky, swallowing the last vestiges of daylight. Then, with a deafening roar, colossal bolts of lightning, vast as mountain ranges, tore through the oppressive gloom, slamming into the placid heart of the lake. The impact was unfathomable; the very water shrieked as it was vaporized, sending concussive waves that churned the depths into miniature tsunami. Almost instantly, countless dead fish, their scales shimmering with an unnatural sheen of electricitly, bobbed lifelessly to the surface, a macabre carpet spreading across the now-turbulent waters. Above, the air itself seemed to crackle with an unseen force, and birds, caught mid-flight in the electromagnetic maelstrom, plummeted from the sky like charred stones.

From the steaming, iridescent epicenter of the lake, something began to stir, something immense and terrifying. A gargantuan construct of pure lightning began to coalesce, its form writhing and expanding. It was easily capable of dwarfing even the mighty genma themselves. It pulsed with an unholy light, throwing long, dancing shadows across the devastated landscape and as a feeling of immense dread and fear begat anyone who happened to look down from olympus that morning.

Slowly, agonizingly, the chaotic energy began to solidify, the raw lightning weaving and braiding into a defined, albeit still crackling, shape. Finally, the form resolved into a titanic figure. Two imposing horns crowned its head, giving it an ancient and demonic visage. Around its colossal frame, a ring of drums, each one crackling with contained energy orbited with the stately precision of moons around a planet, their faint hum a counterpoint to the persistent crackle of the figure's form.

With a sound like grinding stone, the figure cracked its neck, rolling its head slowly from side to side, as if reacquainting itself with the sensation of movement after an eternity of stillness. Its gaze seemed to sweep across the devastated landscape. Then, with a casual yet incredibly potent kick, it launched the overturned boat that had been bobbing near the shore it's fisher clung to it in desperation. The derelict vessel, now a mere projectile, hurtled through the air with unimaginable velocity towards a distant mountain peak. It struck with a sickening crunch, cratering a small, jagged hole in the rock face before disintegrating entirely into a cloud of dust, blood, guts, and splinters, leaving no trace that it or the fisher had ever existed beyond the raw ingredients that composed them.

A resonant, almost echoing yawn escaped the figure, the sound vibrating through the very air. "It's good to be back," it rumbled, its voice like distant thunder. As it spoke, both massive hands extended, and from their outstretched palms, rods of whispy, crackling electricity began to form, writhing and arcing with barely contained power, a clear and terrifying indication of the force it now commanded.

They took form as taiko-drum sticks.

It's wrist flicked as a blast of lightning shot off at the top of the mountain upon which Kumogakure sat; only for the lightning bolt to fizzle out against a mysterious gray barrier.

"Oh- you piss-ants upgraded!" the voice cackled, filling the air and traveling through out the village.

---

Hayate had only just awoken as he brushed his teeth in the mirror. Something felt very, very off. He couldn't put his finger on it.

As he looked into the mirror he noticed his hair was standing up- he blink, relieving the sleep from his eyes and once more looked.... his hair was standing up? As if pulled to the heavens. He took a deep breath as his mind began racing only to be met by a pain in his side- the scar that he had received on his first A-Rank mission in Rune Country when he interrupted cultists.

This feeling...

This was the fourth time in his life he had experienced this sensation; the first had left him with the scar, the second had made him Raikage, and the third time had won him a Civil War. His toothbrush fell into the sink with a hard clatter against the ceramic- the Raikage seemingly gone before he finished his thought: Raijin.

Within moments the man was in his full gear, his feet hitting the side of the Raikage building as he peered down to the panic beneath, shinobi and officials running in every which direction. "That EMP barrier needs to stay up at all costs- unless he cross the barrier he cannot harm us. Extend it down the mountain too!" he yelled to a group of Jounin... Lowering his hat, he crouched as if to take off in a 100m dash, and with an explosive blast in one false swoop at incredible speeds had launched himself from the peak, threading through the gap of the mountain and it's artificial mountain top.

His eyes locked on Raijin as wind was created at his feet, allowing him to run in the air.

]"Wind Style: Cyclonic De-" before he could finish his jutsu on his trajectory to Raijin, something had come out from the side hitting him with tremendous force and sending the Raikage hurdling into a mountanside, only to fall into a building down below.

Shit.

He split up blood, as his body began to steam and his cellular regeneration activated. His back was broken. His eyes blinked.

A figure in all black wearing a golden mask, masks hanging from his waist and a mighty burlap sack hung from his shoulder... no... it- it couldn't? The figure once more came for him, Hayate channeling the best he could as a vortex of wind appeared around his body, the figure aborting with extreme speed and narrowly avoiding being eviscerated by the wind, landing on the ground in front of him.

It couldn't be... his mind raced. Was that? He didn't have time for this. The EMP barrier wouldn't hold for ever; Raijin had to be dealt with.

The figure in Black removed his mask, revealing a face that was nearly unrecognizable as human. So badly damaged. Melted, torn. All the above. He put a different mask on as he put his fingers to his lip.

"Katon: Hell's Flames" he roared as the blast of fire went for Hayate.

My back is broken...

He needed time to regenerate.

He closed his eyes. A smile on his face.

So, this is it. Taken completely off-guard, pants down. Proverbially, of course.

[Texas]

What a beautifully day today was going to be. The young lad rushed out of bed and did his normal morning routine. After getting fully dressed, he would walk down to the basement to get all of his puppets. The pink hair didn't move too much as Aki stood there staring at it. He has complained before, but he probably should add a few more unique puppets to his collection. Although he was a fan of his 4 Legion puppets and the puppet armor that hid on his back, the young man wanted to use his.... creative ideas for good and make some tricky puppets. Eh, Regardless, Aki took his 4 puppets and started to make his way to meet Shin at one of the facilities near the Kage office. Today was a good day to go over design ideas! With two massive overflowing binders sitting in the building and waiting for both of them to open them, Aki excitedly made his way there.

As he neared the Office, Aki noticed a weird change in temperature and a slight change in the color in the sky. What was this ominous presence, like any old fool, Aki would look up in the sky. What the f--..... Aki couldn't help but swear as his pupils got smaller and his body began to flex. This wasn't fire works, this wasn't training, this was..

Aki and his Legion ran forward, he ran as fast as he could towards the building. A massive explosion like strike had hit the building and it looked like a human sized hole ran through multiple walls and towards a peculiar spot. The scene before the young man was as ominous as he could imagine. Hayate on the ground and a man in a mask seemed to be casting a jutsu. Aki had only a limited amount of time to act and with his training on the eastern continent, he had only milliseconds to make a decision.

With his left hand, his fingers twitched only slightly sending the puppets ahead of him to go and grab Hayate. One would grab the old brittle man, while the other 3 would launch 2 senbons each at the masked man and in the direction he would potentially run away from. In the same breath, Aki would begin weaving a few hand signs and then with a clap of his hands, Hayate and the puppet carrying him would seemingly disappear from existence! Well at least from sight, they both were remotely sent into the Limbo Realm so that Hayate could heal up and jump back in when he was ready. The puppet would be ordered to take him to a somewhat safe area where he couldn't be found or hit.

The young man would stand there near the masked man with only a confused look on his face. "I don't get it, why can't we just play nice?"