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<p>[QUOTE="Howard, post: 21861756, member: 43780"]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>The Shifting Soul</em></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"For goliaths, competition exists only when it is supported by a level playing field. Competition measures talent, dedication, and effort. Those factors determine survival in their home territory, not reliance on powerful artifacts, ryo, or other elements that can tip the balance one way or the other. Goliaths happily rely on such benefits, but they are careful to remember that such an advantage can always be lost. A goliath who relies too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for disaster in the mountains. This trait manifests most strongly when goliaths interact with others. The relationship between peasants and shinobi puzzle goliaths. If a nobel lacks the intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most talented person in the land should take his place. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and mock folk who rely on society’s structures or rules to maintain power."</span></em></p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado Yasutora was born to a roving band of barbarians who called themselves goliath due to their sheer size. They were called the herd of the shifting soul. They lived on the fringes of society due to their uncontrollable fits of rage and an unbridled and nearly unstoppable tendency for destruction. It was commonplace to hear stories of one lone goliath demolishing entire settlements in berserker like rages. During these fits of madness, the body would twist and warp into beastly or demonic forms causing society to reject and revere them as monsters or beasts. His father was killed in one such fit of rage, and his mother a human woman from civilized society died in childbirth leaving Sado to be raised as an orphan in the tribe. Her body was too fragile and meek to carry even a half-blooded goliath to term. This meant he would be raised as a warrior from birth, as he had no parents to raise him.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">From an extremely young age, he was instructed to be violent, abrasive, competitive, self-reliant, and most of all never complacent instilling a constant sense of boredom in him. He was taught how to fight early and was beaten often as his tribe held no sympathy for the weak or small. He learned to fight against individuals larger than him and stronger than him exploiting their weaknesses be they psychological or physical. During his adolescence, he was a runt who became known among his tribe as the wordsmith. This was because he could set off nearly anyone in the tribe with a string of insults or words unleashing their more predictive beastly nature. He would then exploit their emotions to out maneuver and out think his opponent. Competitiveness was everything to the shifting soul. Everyone wanted to outdo those around them but most of all they wanted to outdo themselves. Being better, stronger and even at times smarter than your opponents or past self was always the goal.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>The Lost Souls</em></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Goliaths lived in small tribes that numbered between forty and sixty goliaths. This was usually made up of three to five extended families. Most goliaths lived in the same tribe their entire life. On rare occasions, a tribe that got too large would split into smaller tribes or smaller tribes would merge together. Goliath tribes had a number of key roles that were filled by the most capable members, for example, the <strong>Dawncaller </strong>who was responsible for guarding the camp overnight and alerting the tribe if there was trouble. At dawn, they sang or bellowed tales of goliath bravery or heroics to wake everyone up. Dawncallers were assigned daily and given less work throughout the day so they could rest and be alert at night."</span></em></p> <p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)"></span></em></p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Around his fifteenth year, Sado had became known among his tribe as an honorable and talented individual his strength and determination far eclipsing his small stature. His charisma and way with words made it easy to sway hearts and minds in the tribe. Even those he insulted and goaded in combat were his friends mere moments after the fighting stopped some even willing to die for him. However comparatively to his kin, he was still a runt small but cunning. He was considered small in goliath society where their massive frames ranged from seven to ten feet tall being a measly six-foot, two, at fifteen where the usual goliath was at minimum seven feet tall. This difference in size made him larger than the humans of civilized society but smaller than his brethren who never let him forget he was merely a half-blood.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">It was the middle of summer the heat in the mountains was staggering and Sado was placed on Dawncaller duty. His job was to watch the outskirts of the ever-moving camp into and through the night. It had been a week of Dawncaller duty and he was growing arrogant in his duties. The freedom given by the job left him time to think and rest, more than he needed as with time he eventually became complacent in his work. He was daydreaming looking to the sky thinking up what to say in his next battle. He wasn't paying attention as a group of shinobi snuck into the camp of souls. He didn't even notice until the screams. Several valiant goliath warriors and women killed before they could react. The goliath were confrontational and they were aggressive but due to this, they weren't well versed in stealth combat. They didn't expect a mercenary band of shinobi to sneak in and stab them in the back before they could react. Claymore warriors they were called, there were tales of them cannibalizing his people stealing away children to eat like veal</div></div> </p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado rushed into the camp only to find several dead goliath warriors missing their left ear, some with large pieces of flesh and bone just gone from their body, mere proof of their work. The chieftain was furious and the tribe as a whole was as well. They needed a scapegoat someone to blame for this atrocity. Who better than the weak, fragile, wordsmith who was supposed to be watching their perimeter. Society had placed a bounty on any member of the herd of the shifting soul they were tired of their wanton destruction. Each ear worth one thousand ryo.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>The Shattered Soul</em></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Although goliaths had no written laws or codes, there were a number of unspoken rules that were commonly followed by most goliath tribes, discouraging theft and cheating. The greatest rule was obedience to the chieftain, the strongest goliath chosen as the leader of the tribe. Because they were nomadic tribes who shared belongings or traded goods rather than use ryo, conventional punishments like imprisonment or fining were not possible. Instead, tribes often employed the following punishments"</span></em></p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)"><strong>Beating:</strong> Goliaths caught stealing, cheating, or disobeying the chieftain were beaten. Pain was considered a healthy motivator in goliath society.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)"><strong>Shunning:</strong> Shunning ( known as <em>volok-thea</em> ) involved the tribe acting like the criminal didn't exist. They were not picked for teams or sports and were not provided with food and shelter. A lesser form of shunning for minor crimes, called <em>volok-kanu</em> or "half-shunning", saw the offending goliath simply treated poorly and as a second-class member of the tribe. The duration of the shunning was never spoken outright, but rather was communicated and decided via body language. Many goliaths claimed to "just know" how long a shunning should last.</span></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)"><strong>Exile:</strong> The worst punishment a goliath could receive was exile. Before being exiled the chieftain assigned a new honorific middle name to the goliath. Exile was also the fate of the old, weak, or badly injured who couldn't contribute to the tribe. It should be noted that these individuals received a lament to commemorate their lives before their exile. Criminals received no such treatment</span></p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Among goliaths, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled. A single goliath on their own has little chance of survival, especially an older or weaker one. Goliaths have little pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured Goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips away in the night to seek the cold will of fate."</span></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado was part of a roving band of barbarians in his youth and eventually, his complacency cost him dearly. Beaten nearly to death, left bloodied and broken he was banished by the chieftain and the tribe left behind as they moved on. Shunned and ostracized from his home he left the mountainous region as he traveled to more wooded areas orbiting close to the edges of civilized society. He had nowhere to go and no one to turn to so he became a sell-sword his massive physique and statue helped him obtain jobs no one asked his age they assumed he was grown. In reality, he started working as a mercenary at the age of fifteen. Hired muscle, violent killings, growing misanthropy, and hate for shinobi he began to absorb the teachings of civilized society and the shinobi he hated. He picked it all up so easily technology, stealth, ninjutsu. He used it all to make his lone journey more tolerable. He believed himself an exile who deserved no sympathy due to his early life thus he didn't try to form new connections. Instead, he drowned his sorrows and impulses in ale, women, and combat. At heart, Sado was a creature of impulse. He killed, he fought, he slept, he ate, he did it all again the next day. Working alongside other sell-swords he slowly began to pick up their jutsu learning how to mimic them. For two years he did this his body becoming covered in large scars and pockmarks.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado met a man named Vegeta a man met as a sell-sword. Being a decent mercenary he came up against and fought alongside many people on the field of battle. One of those people was a very short man named Vegeta he was an older man who Sado began to look up to, no pun intended on the height difference. Sado was young, he started sell-sword work at about the age of fifteen which meant he met Vegeta at a very impressionable time in his life a time when he needed someone, anyone, just a friend. It turned out Vegeta had a similar start to Sado they had both left their families, either by force or by a need for exploration.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>The Lone Soul</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><em><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Trust and honor are the key aspects of most goliaths. These traditions of honor and trust meant that goliaths tended to be good overall. This combined with their competitive nature often led goliaths to valorous heroics. Goliaths are also notably daring and fearless. Feats of physical strength and agility, like jumping chasms or climbing cliffs, held no fear for goliaths. Goliaths are naturally curious beings and love to explore. Their goliath maxim "today's rival is tomorrow's teammate" lead them to hold few grudges and seek combat to share emotion."</span></em> </p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After two years of sellsword work, he had obtained a fair amount of money he decided to spend it on knowledge. A wordsmith needed to be smarter than the rest so he bought himself some advanced training. He paid whoever would teach him ninjutsu any form of it. He learned the basics quickly and built off of that. He learned poison release and medical ninjutsu. He needed to be able to heal himself if he wanted to be a better mercenary. He took a few classes and learned some chemistry learning how to create medicine and the like. He trained in meditation learning how to control his more feral nature as he began to work towards perfecting his past. He learned more about the shifting soul that resided in him. It wasn't mystical or magical like he was taught it was a biological reaction his body had to an unseen force called Natural Energy. He learned how to control his rage and learned an art called Sage Mode. He fell in with a group named Golden Sabbath and began traveling with them.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5dt_8xXgqo"><em>On a Gathering Storm of Souls</em></a></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Any shinobi could have dug you a well in five seconds. ANY SHINOBI could have provided you with water in mere moments. However, they didn't. Why? Because they don't care about you, the lifeblood of this land. Neither does the failed freehold, they're dead and gone. They weren't there when you and yours were dying from the Red Fever. For seven years they've left you to scratch and claw your way by while they sat in their towers arguing over laws and their debt. DEBT!? What about their debt to you!? To your children, your wives that had to scatter themselves to other settlements. One settlement is just civil unrest, but an entire landmark revolting standing up and saying that's enough!? That's a political movement, and with your support, I believe my clan-... I believe WE can change this world and WE can finally get what is ours. I'm Sado Yasutora, and the Golden Sabbath will protect this land."</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After traveling with Vegeta a member of the Golden Sabbath they decided to place down roots. The first land they stopped at was called Kusasōgen. Almost instantly after entering the land Sado seemed to have a momentary mental breakdown, it was brought on by his fractured mind and his past pushing through it Sado put a very traumatic event behind him. He then traveled around the numerous settlements scattered throughout the bamboo and mushroom infested landscape he found various people, in unison to this Vegeta decided to build a base of operations. These people they all seemed to need help. He healed a man who poisoned himself by eating toxic mushrooms, as well as a sick child, and a woman with broken fingers. The settlement dwellers were thrilled to have a doctor near they had never had one residing in their lands before and Sado grew to like the attention, and praise he received. Next Sado set out finding another small settlement where their well had run dry. He found two trapped underground water springs and crafted new wells for the settlement. Realizing that so many small settlements were in constant peril and in need of protection or help Sado decided to travel into the outlying areas. Before he set off Vegeta introduced him to another person, Uta. This man was a claymore, it took everything inside Sado, every fiber of his being to not fight this man. He gave the man an ultimatum, never cause violence or trauma to the people of the Golden Sabbath's lands and they could work together. It was a tumultuous agreement with the potential to backfire eventually. It was plain to see both men were on opposite sides, they would need to be careful as each seemed like monsters hiding in plain sight.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">On his travels he ended up in a land deemed the Graveyard of Sin, it was a very interesting place the desert-like landscape and the rocky mountainous cliff faces reminded him of his old nomadic lifestyle. He set up a small camp and met with another local clan that was calling themselves the White Lotus. These individuals included Korra a tan muscle-bound woman of few words. Fu, a small bubbly woman with a childlike nature with a reserved and apprehensive nature and finally a young man named Kilik. Sado spoke to Fu and set up negotiations and claims of land, Golden Sabbath would take everything surrounding and below Kusasōgen and the White Lotus could have everything upward and surrounding Takinomori. He traded with Kilik who was interested in his medicine and moved on back toward home. With time and rest, he moved through the adjacent lands finding an abandoned site in the rainy area below Kusasōgen. There he found a manuscript of a lost and dying settlement from the past as well as two pictures of a time gone by. He then traveled to Forskellig helping a merchant deliver his wares to his shop. He learned that due to the fall of the Freehold many settlements were in dire need of order and protection. No rules meant no regulations on bandits and highwaymen that robbed from the settlements on top of that he learned most shinobi either used their power to extort or destroy.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado noticed a growing theme among each settlement he visited and helped. These lands needed protection, he thought maybe the Golden Sabbath could offer that. A light touch to stop the crime but leave the people to govern themselves. He spoke to an older woman in a small hospital adjacent to the market and helped heal a few of her patients. He then went to Tsuchi Heiho seeking out the census bureau and made his clan official claiming the lands he had visited and placed them under the protection of the Golden Sabbath. He stopped at the market and bought a permit to build roads and a set of obsidian shaded armor. Returning home he found a boy tramping around the base Vegeta had created. Instinctively he stepped out from his hidden position and attacked without thought. He forced upon the boy a truth serum wanting to know why he was here, what he wanted and most of all who he was. During a short fight, Sado got over himself and his hatred of shinobi enough to realize this boy meant him nor his lands any harm. More than that he was looking to promote peace and prosperity. Sado asked him to join his clan and explained his thoughts and the tenets of his clan as well as noticed a familiar technique the boy had used. Not long after the fight ended a woman came up to Sado asking for his help. She was from Forskellig and a hunting party had gone missing. The kid told Sado his name was Trunks and then Sado and Trunks decided to go looking for the hunting party.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The woman had told Sado that they may have ventured into the Haunted Forest so Sado and Trunks traveled northward passing through Tsuchi Heiho. Sado noticed a gleam in the boy's eye as he saw all the wares and weapons and slipped him some Ryo he had saved up to go on a little spending spree. Once Trunks returned they continued onward toward their destination. Reaching the forest Sado noticed multiple off-putting things multiple sets of tracks, skittish animals and the distinct smell of burnt chemicals and plastics. Tracking down the scent he and Trunks found the remains of a burnt down lab with several instruments of torture strewn about. They followed sets of tracks fleeing the area to a small group of desperate and scared people. They together learned that a man had viciously tortured them. Sado healed a few of them and Trunks healed the rest. It, however, took some convincing to show that the pair meant these people no harm. They learned that a man freed these people and burnt the lab to the ground. Not long after this revelation the man showed himself trying to scare Sado and Trunks. Sado merely told him to cut the bullshit and show him where the man who hurt these people was. He was seeking vengeance and was nearly blind to any other course of actions. He tried to force a compromise wherein this man would report to the Golden Sabbath as to keep these lands safe. Grenth refused before he gave his name and information of his clan. Seeking retribution Sado attacked him, if he wouldn't do what needed to be done to keep these lands safe and force punishment upon the evil vile creature that did this then Sado would do it for him. After a short back and forth Grenth relented agreeing with Sado and causing his clan the Reapers to fall under the watchful eye of the Golden Sabbath.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>A Renegade Soul | Sado's Home for Lost Souls</em></p> </div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"My people, they're scared. They don't know why they had to come here, they're far from home, afraid and alone. They don't know about the violence in this world. I can tell they just want to live a comfortable life. That man he forced them into this state of fear, this state of worry, and he uprooted them from their homes and forced each of them to hide away. I don't pretend to know the challenges they're facing. I know there's no replacing what they've lost and they need time. I'm afraid my words won't reach, there's a fear too powerful to name. I'm afraid they'll push away what they could never understand. I'm afraid they'll push away the only shinobi who can make sure they survive this turmoil. Takauji Ashikaga forced these powerless individuals, these humans with no access to strength like ninjutsu into such a terrible place by targeting the Golden Sabbath, and here I am, setting aside the pride I've taken years to build up, I'm giving up my name, my life, and my glory to build a narrative, a story. I've come to the White Lotus with one request, claim my bounty, help me make sure that his Gambit fails."</span></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Abruptly and without warning due to their constant expansion and growing deeds a bounty was placed upon the members of the Golden Sabbath. The highest bounties placed upon their heads were for Sado Yasutora and Vegeta. Sado responded to this instinctively he prepared himself to fight. He worked on some technology and set up their base for defense forming a shadow clone to fight alongside him. He was lost to his brutish nature, nature he was trying to escape. Time passed and no one came, finally, the clone began to speak to him. It was silent up until this point, it explained that what Sado was doing was dumb, it was exactly what the person who placed the bounty wanted he was feeding into it. It told him he didn't have to fight. Sado shrugged this notion off. Didn't have to fight!? Then he began to think about it, he really didn't have to fight. That was his own predilection for constant battle that lead him to that conclusion. The smarter thing to do would be to drain this person of their funds. Takauji Ashikaga. He knew so much about Sado enough to form a bounty for him, enough to explain his appearance and his heritage. Sado had the clone evacuate the lands surrounding him as Sado himself fell back to Takinomori and met with the White Lotus.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado formed another clone and sent it to Forskellig evacuating that land as well. He knew they'd be raided, so what? He'd let the vultures and scavengers pick over what little fame and Ryo they could find. He would aim higher, he would aim at the heart of Takauji Ashikaga. Without explaining anything he erratically and violently attacked his ally Fu moments after passing her a scroll and explaining she could only open it "once their business was finished." He cornered the woman in front of her people, and his own. He needed a real response from her, and he needed everyone present to see it. She did it. His arms hung high in the air his body and stance wide open she hit him with two techniques that would have killed a normal human, but Sado wasn't a normal human-... he was a half-blood goliath. Stronger, more durable and larger than the average human. His arms were cut from his body as music rang out over the entire landmark of Takinomori drawing the attention of every single individual present.</p><p style="text-align: center">[SPOILER][MEDIA=youtube]ZXhuso4OTG4[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]</p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Everyone there saw the same thing, at the same time. They watched Sado Yasutora be cut down with ease before falling to the ground a slumped mass of arrogance, pride, and rage. Fu opened the scroll reading what she was told to do next. She lifted the body grabbed the arms and moved them to a hidden location. She healed him just enough to rouse him to consciousness and he handled the rest. He used his heritage the same heritage Takauji Ashikaga wanted to use against him to regrow the missing limbs and in unison physically and permanently changed his appearance. During this time of unconsciousness, Sado had very vivid and surreal hallucinations at least that's what he rationed them to be as they were very strange. It would take some time but the world would soon hear about Sado's <em>"death."</em> Fu quickly left to claim the bounty as Sado went out to check on the people and keep a watchful eye for intruders. It wasn't long until a shinobi tried to sneak her way into Takinomori, looking for her own fistful of Ryo and moment of fame. She was met with a terrified crowd that had just watched Sado fall, the man she was chasing was felled mere moments before her arrival. What she was met with instead was a charming, charismatic, haughty man who said his name was <em>Jack.</em> He looked nothing like Sado, he was only six foot three, with a soft face and body, nothing like the description of Sado Yasutora. He subtly manipulated and reasoned with the woman until she felt herself in the wrong for her actions. He was the good guy here, and she would be the villainess should she rise up against the White Lotus here and now. She soon left, turned away however she had brought several merchants with her.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">These merchants heard the story she was told and walked away with a secret the world didn't know about. Sado soon learned that the world loved secrets, and that story spread up along the Badlands of Earth and down the Land of Fire like a wildfire. It burned the lips of everyone who spoke it spreading the tale of the slain demon Sado and the angel who put a stop to him at the behest of Takauji. The story influenced the world around him as he learned about it rather quickly. It was an amusing set of events and gave him a more devious idea to influence the world and information therein. With his ally Trunks bringing back one of those very merchants to Takinomori, Sado had his opening. The information had reached Trunks even before Sado himself could which surprise even he. Sado quickly turned the woman to his side, and she began to grow infatuated with the persona of <em>"Jack"</em> that Sado had been building up. With a few kind words and by directing her pity toward the people of their lands, Sado was able to slyly convince the woman to become a spy for him. She traveled out into the world along with a clone and began to send reports back to Sado the first few reports were innocuous. Landmass size, building structures, people they saw, as well as flora and fauna. Then came the more interesting stuff they began to trail the tail of two more of the merchants who had spread the story.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">During this time Trunks left Takinomori before Sado was able to explain everything he seemed slighted by Sado's actions. This brought upon Sado a period of depression mainly due to his bipolar nature. He began to blame himself for Trunk's leaving, as well as racked his mind at all the poor outcomes that could arise from his actions. When everything seemed to be going it's best, Sado seemed to feel at his worst. He seemed to be letting everyone around him down, and this played heavily into his past reminding him of it constantly. As this transpired the clone and the spy continued their journey together toward the Tea Peninsula. Eventually, the pair made it to the edge of the Peninsula. What they found well it infuriated the clone to a point of pure irrationality. By this point, he had grown to call himself Smith and what he saw in Qindong made him want to pick apart Takauji Ashikaga piece by piece and mail those pieces back to his army. He found a people oppressed, left to fend for themselves, starving, dirtied and impoverished. They were living in a war-zone, in squalor and slum clinging to each other and to their lives. He had to act he couldn't sit by and let this take place. He healed two children a young girl named Lynn and her brother named Bram. He then met their parents and convinced them he could provide them a home.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">They were so lost and hungry that they were willing to believe in the first kind stranger to show his face in their land. He had Lynn's mother Izumi go around the slum and speak to her people and tell them his offer. A home, for anyone who wanted it. If Takauji wouldn't shelter these people, Smith, or Sado, or Fu, or Korra or Trunks or Vegeta surely would. He explained to them what was going to happen and then after forming another clone he sent them all on their way back to Takinomori. The secondary clone began to travel using a massive three-headed snake for transportation he pushed his way up through the Land of Fire a man on a mission giving these people any small comfort he could. Halfway through his journey, he found a landmark that amazed him it was named Hayakami and what he saw was everything he needed. He went around to the numerous farms, plantations, and fields speaking directly to the local growers. He bought enough supplies to sustain multiple landmarks both for food and for crop growth.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He sealed all of the supplies into a scroll and proceeded the rest of the way home with these downtrodden people in tow. He made it back to Takinomori in record time and upon getting there he explained everything he could to both Sado and these people. Then he dispersed sending out all of the information Smith, and he had gained over the long journey. Sado was both surprised and happy. Even when he was doing nothing himself, he was doing so much. Soon he would take the fight directly to Takauji with the help of his clan, the White Lotus, and anyone else who would stand by him. Learning everything Smith and the second clone knew he learned about various lands, their landmass structure, their populations, their foodstuffs anything he would need to know. It was an extremely easy way to learn. He had probably gathered more information on this journey then he had about the world previously. However something was wrong with him, he couldn't figure it out.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He was broken, no matter how many people he surrounded himself with, no matter how many people he helped or how many good deeds he accomplished or how many people told him what a great person he was he felt all alone. He tallied up all of his deeds, as was the custom of his goliath forefathers and the list always felt like it came up short like it wasn't enough to make up for his past. He was in an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people, unable to come to terms with himself as a human, knowing only that he was a Goliath. He was different than these people, he was fractured, splintered and fragmented.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>A New Soul | Battle of Shinramoto</em></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[IMG2=right]https://i.imgur.com/EIu9uf7.jpg[/IMG2]<strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Issued By:</span></strong> Takauji Ashikaga</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Name(s):</span></strong> Sado Yasutora</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Orders:</span></strong> Defeat and incapacitation.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Wanted For:</span></strong> Formation of a rogue state that is unlawfully occupying territory that belongs to the Hangurian Freehold and its rightful heir Takauji Ashikaga.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Bounty:</span></strong> Defeating and incapacitating Sado Yasutora will be rewarded with 7,000 Ryo and 3,000 Kumi.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Special Info:</span> </strong>The following are details gathered by the Black One's Intelligence Division and are formally being declassified for issuance of these bounties. Sado, otherwise known as Howard, is a 24 year old male from an unspecified bloodline with peculiar abilities surrounding the use of Senjutsu. Sado stands at a towering 7'5" with rugged features. His most notable body feature is a tattoo on his left shoulder, which reads "Love and Death." It appears as a heart with a snake surrounded by angel wings. Sado is a Kage ranked combatant and is afforded additional enhancements due to his Senjutsu-heritage. He specializes in Lightning Release and, like his compatriot Vegeta, prefers close quarters combat and the utilization of Medical Ninjutsu. Information and posters for this bounty is spread throughout the world; information for Sado's bounty is readily available for any individual in any landmark.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">Rendezvous:</span></strong> You are to bring proof of Sado's defeat to one of the marketplaces. There a Black Ones representative will issue the appropriate payoff.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado spent most of his time for the next few months in Takinomori tending to his people and the people of the White Lotus gaining a deep trust and understanding between the two clans. Eventually, he had to move on and begin going about his business. He was in a rather depressive state and during this time Trunks came to him to discuss matters about why he had been evading him. Together they shared a long conversation each explaining themselves to the other and gaining an understanding about one another. During this Sado explained everything about his life up until that point including his past as a Goliath and the treatment he suffered. Trunks explained about his early life and mentioned his absentee father and doting mother explaining what his father looked like. Sado realized he was describing Vegeta and he told Trunks this. Trunks was petrified as he then went on to explain what he was going to do. Fight his father, Sado understood this mentality and said he'd help him. Sado sent Trunks off to regain his artifact and buy new ones gifting him a substantial amount of Ryo. When he returned they set off for the Haunted Forest to meet Vegeta and check in on Grenth.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">While this was happening the clone going by the pseudonym Smith entered into the Tea Peninsula through the isthmus of Chungsu. There he met a woman named Lena of Shinramoto after a discussion about their intentions they went to her home where she explained everything about Takauji and his Black Ones that she knew including their landmasses. The clone was directed toward a man named Zeri as Lena left and there he explained things as they were. With time Lena returned and she was injured. Smith healed her and she explained that the attack was imminent. Smith and Lena both participated in the Battle of Shinramoto and they narrowly eeked out a victory. Smith later found out Hawkeye one of the villagers he was introduced to had perished in the battle and this seemed to him, to upset Lena who returned with the young woman in her arms. Smith sent all of the information back to Sado and with the new information, he decided he needed to gather up allies. Smith was growing to become his own person possibly another splintered personality. Sado spoke to Grenth and healed a child that had been hurt by an enemy of Grenth's.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">With that finished Sado told Grenth he believed that him joining the Golden Sabbath was the best course of actions. Grenth agreed and went off to gather lands under his name, and thus under the banner of the Golden Sabbath when he joined. During this Vegeta left for Shinramoto learning about the Shogun from Sado. Sado found himself spending more time in the Haunted Forest than he expected. Everything seemed to be picking up, he assumed a revolution was brewing and wanted to be one of the people at its forefront. On a whim, a blatant ADHD driven whim Sado took on a student. A Sage Transformation user who he saw was unstable and needed training. He felt responsible for the teenager and wanted to help him learn what a Goliath was and what they could do.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">It didn't take long for Sado to decide that he would train that unstable child. He knew more than anyone else that if he didn't train him to control his emotions and rage, that child would lash out at the world around him. Sado went to check on him and what he found there was a violent mob attacking the boy and his mother. With all of the restraint, he could muster Sado began to push through the mob with the aim to get toward the child and his mother. He couldn't stop it. If he could maybe things would have been different but a human, a greedy, insignificant human tossed a rock at that child's mother. He didn't know the beast he would set free with that action, not Sado but that child. He could tear this entire mob to pieces if provoked that was the potential Sage Transformation had. Sado acted quickly as he pushed through the final human blocking his path as he dashed forward gripping the child and defusing the situation. If he had been even a second slower, the child would have become feral, the transformation had already been instigated as the child's fingers and hands were becoming pointed, sharp, weapons. Sado used his own transformation abilities to spread a sense of fear in the hearts of these people. He scared them away took the mother and child to their home and convinced her he could train the boy to harness his abilities. Together they set out for a mountaintop where Sado trained the boy before they returned to the village a few weeks later.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Souls Laid to Rest | The Razing of Degarashan</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"That's why I'm here. I'll be the demon, and I'll be the monster, I can shoulder that burden and it's not that far from the truth in all honesty. My clan and I will be the rival to Takauji Ashikaga and his Shogunate. We'll be the people who kill indiscriminately and love every moment of it."</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Upon returning to the village Sado met with his clone that had been stationed in the Haunted Forest explained everything and Tetsuo home. Sado returned to being rather bored healing people who needed it until one-day Grenth returned. Together they finalized the merger between the Reapers and the Golden Sabbath and through this merger they obtained a vast territory. One not earned by any other clan. With everything in the Haunted Forest set Sado messaged his clone Smith explaining everything and told him to have Salazzle summon him to Shinramoto as Smith told him that Vegeta was there raving about corpses rising from the grave in the Ruins of Chungsu. Sado appeared in Shinramoto and began to gather information about the current atrocity taking place to the north. He learned that there were undead hordes rising from the grave. Not wanting these creatures to harm Shinramoto he alongside Vegeta and Lena went to the Ruins of Chungsu to cull the herd and save some of the bandits that Lena was allied with. After taking out hundreds if not thousands of the creatures they realized that they were ever spawning and their efforts were futile. However, after directing the bandits toward Shinramoto, Sado and Vegeta devised a plan that they referred to as "Easy Street." They would lead the undead through an underground tunnel system into the heart of Degarashan the capital city of the Shogun. To say they worked together was mainly just Vegeta pitching the plan and Sado fine-tuning it.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Vegeta began to dig the tunnels and Sado went to Shinramoto to build up defenses both for the horde of undead and for the eventual retaliation from the Shogun. As Vegeta crafted an elaborate series of tunnels Sado built a set of massive walls. Lena even added sentient barnacles that would act as guards for the wall. Lena and Sado had some time to their selves as they began to discuss the plan. In a shocking turn, Lena came up with an addition to the plan. They could airdrop undead onto the Shogun's head. Sado not wanting to be outdone thought up how best to accomplish this idea and together they began to fly toward Degarashan carrying massive earthen cages filled to the brim with oobleck and undead. Sado noticed the undead rushing in from the north from where Vegeta had led them. The plan was in full swing as he dropped the first earthen "bomb" down upon Degarashan. It made a booming thud followed by a sickly sloshing noise as dozens upon dozens of undead began to shamble out of the constructs toward anything that moved. They began to devour the citizens of Degarashan. <em>"Monsters"</em> Sado would show the Shogun a monster if that was what he thought he was. Lena was beginning to regret her decision as immediately after setting the undead loose she began to falter. She didn't' think this was what Sado would be doing. He understood. He knew that she might not be as sadistic or as violent as him. He just hoped he could salvage their partnership. After a final attack disguised as Alexandros Megas, Sado exited Degarashan and returned to the Ruins of Chungsu. After all of that, he assumed Lena wouldn't want to be allies anymore.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He ruminated in the Ruins of Chungsu for hours as Salazzle his personal summon told him to man up and stop acting like a bitch. He needed to seek out Lena and repair the damage that had been done by creating a dialogue. With time he took her advice and began to return to Shinramoto along the way he escorted a small family through the hordes of undead to Shinramoto. Returning he found Zeri and told him he was seeking Lena. Apparently, there had been many changes to the village while he was absent. Another ally of Lena's had been working alongside them building wooden structures and homes for the numerous refugees. Sado was sent to find Lena and due to his Sage Mode he could sense her out and find her rather easily. What he found on the ship he was told to find though created a very awkward scenario. It seemed Lena had been blowing off steam with a companion they were-... well. Sado unknowingly walked straight into it trying to make jokes and be funny to cut the tension and leave the entire group a little less embarrassed. After a few moments, Lena exited the cabin-room and began to explain what was happening. No, not that. She explained that Angela Bliss was her ally from Jinshui and from there they discussed what had happened in Degarashan and came to terms with the fact that their ideas and goals wouldn't always align. Sado returned to his normal appearance and in a show of respect, he asked Lena to join his clan. He was quickly rebuffed as Lena had other plans for her own growth and the growth of Shinramoto. It wasn't long after that, that Angela thought it wise to make introductions exiting the cabin and beginning to speak. Sado noticed immediately that she was a beautiful, charismatic, charming woman with a powerful presence and a tendency to try and take hold of any situation she was in. She told Sado that she knew him from his bounty. Sado told her he had no idea who she was but that if they were going to be allies maybe they should play a game to get to know one another.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Unbeknownst to any of the woman Sado had a plan. He didn't trust this woman from the moment he laid eyes on her. She spoke with an air of superiority and she was obviously manipulating Lena from the way she spoke toward her. Sado didn't take kindly to humans manipulating his allies. The idea of a game fascinated Angela and she was making the rules up before Sado even had a chance to speak. Sado cut her off and explained he could make it fairer. A substance that made it impossible to lie. He could tell she wouldn't' have agreed to this if it had been said at the start but now she was already in the game. She didn't want to appear weak in front of Lena or Sado. So what followed her agreeance and then Sado using the poison. Then there was a back and forth first Angela flung questions at Sado. She believed she could keep herself in charge of the situation as she tried to lord over and rule the conversation. Sado let it go for a while as he drew out information from her in small quantities. She had a force of will that allowed her to keep certain secrets even while being poisoned with a truth serum. Eventually, she asked about his mental instability and about monsters. It was as if it was a trigger, or it instigated a reaction out of Sado. He shifted his personality and showed that he was the one in charge here, he had been in control of this conversation from its start. He only let Angela believe she was in control to get her to lower her guard and allow for a game of cat and mouse. Sado gave three questions to Lena. Angela agreed as long as they were answered last. Lena wasn't going to wait as she got up from her seat and took her questions asking several personal questions of Angela. It was then that she realized-... she was outplayed, she was defeated completely and there was nothing she could do to regain the power she once had. Sado deferred the rest of the questions to Lena, explained that Angela wouldn't remember anything due to the poison and left. He sought out his clone, his personal summon and they all went to a tavern to drink away their problems. What they didn't know was that Lena had seen through Angela finally and she ended their partnership sending her back to Jinshui with threats. Sado spent about forty minutes drinking himself under the table while singing karaoke pissing off numerous other patrons. He couldn't get drunk though.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After a long time, Lena arrived, catching one of the steins that had been tossed at Sado's head he appeared to drunkenly avoid it. She downed its contents and made her way to his table. She seemed to be more reckless, and less sheltered than before. Sado didn't know she was dealing with a bit of heartbreak. Even if he did he wouldn't know how to help her through it. He left her and Salazzle discuss what had happened. After that, the conversation took a turn back to the holidays and how they could aid the people in celebrating. Lena set out to help and Sado relegated all of his responsibilities to Smith who went about helping the children carve pumpkins. Sado stayed in the tavern trying to drink himself into a state of stupefaction unable to due to his innate poison resistance and hardy nature. Unwillingly he was summoned back to the Graveyard of Sin to learn that there had been a lot of changes. It was a full-fledged city now that was acting as a trading post. The merger with the Reapers was in full swing and another of Sado's clones had gone to Takinomori to lock in another merger between the Golden Sabbath and the White Lotus. Sado began to gather his thoughts and meditate on what to do next trying to figure out how to take everything he had and make it whole. He felt as though Lena wouldn't be joining what he and the Golden Sabbath had created. Also, he didn't know that Trunks had already decided to leave and venture out on his own.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>A Soul in Need</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Just be who you are and what you want to be, instead of trying to be what others want you to be, that includes me. It's something I was trying to teach to another Sage Transformation user I had met and trained. "I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine." That mentality is how I accepted what I am, and learned to control it better. Though what works for me might not work for you, so in the end do it at your own pace, as long as that's what you want to be doing. Be it here, or anywhere, am I making sense?"</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">While Sado sat rather dumbfounded and awestruck in the Graveyard of Sin his clone Smith who was still in Shinramoto was putting in work. He aided his ally, Lena of Shinramoto, as she came off the heels of a devastating loss at the hands of her former lover turned enemy Angela Bliss. The clone had sat aside for a while sulking wasting time away in a depressive state with Lorelei tending to his needs when he was too lazy and apathetic to take care of himself. He found himself in a situation where Lena had been attacked by Angela and in self-defense had slain the woman. Smith did his best to convince her she had done the right thing and comforted her to the best of his ability. Using this moment to show her that there was a place for her. She had Shinramoto and she had the Golden Sabbath. Somehow, for the first time, it seemed like she believed him. Maybe it was just due to the fact that she needed something to focus on or someone to be there but she agreed to go with Smith to meet the Golden Sabbath. Together after setting up a few defenses and Smith leaving behind a clone they ventured off toward the Graveyard of Sin. Smith felt accomplished, looking back at where he began. A spy, a clone, sent to the Tea Peninsula to gather information he had done that and more. He had secured one of the strongest allies he could find and grew a bond of friendship.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Unknown Souls | A Village Born in Sin</p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"I can finally see my life as a series of compounding, poor choices. There was nothing I could've done to save my tribe, yet I still sold my soul to this shinobi world in search of vengeance. I traded my safety for the belief that I could murder my way to redemption; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my people back to me. Once this lie was shattered I scrambled to find a solution, to drink away my memories, to undo my mistakes, and balance the scales. I now understand that there are no scales, there is no redemption, and no ledger that judges me good or evil. I am free to simply be myself and live with the terrible mistakes I've made."</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado was scrambling to figure out what to do, he found himself alone for a moment with his thoughts. Through some solemn meditation, he searched his mind and heart for the next set of goals to work toward. Soon after his clone, Jack reached Takinomori gathered up Korra and Fu set an alliance and returned with them in tow. This gave Sado the motivation he needed to gather up all of his remaining allies. He sent out messages gathering up the remaining members. Grenth returned, followed soon by Vegeta. They were accompanied by new individuals that Sado didn't know. Stragglers that had their own motivations to be there. He learned of a young Uchiha, Ikiru who wanted a job, maybe a mercenary. Sado knew the type, he was one for years. The type to move from one goal to another and one odd job to the next. Next a strange woman with an allure. She called herself Rebekah. With time everyone told their stories.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado would be first to tell his story. He told Rebekah and all of the individuals there just who he was and what drove him forward. He shared with them his primal drive to build a society. They seemed to understand and that pleased him to know that these people understood what he meant. He explained about the plan he had for the future. A summit, the first of it's kind since the destruction of the Freehold. It would be a place for the clans of the Badlands of Earth to speak on what they wanted and what they needed to prosper. It would be a large affair so Sado using several large scale Earth techniques crafted a meeting place. A massive coliseum to tell their stories to fight among one another and to learn through combat. It would be where the meeting was held very soon. He received a message from Smith telling him what had happened with Lena and that they were on their way to meet him and the Golden Sabbath. It was as if his six or seven months of planning was coming to a head.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Eventually, Lena and Smith showed up, and with them there all of the pieces he had been maneuvering for months were in one place. Sitting at the table inside of the newly formed Kage Mansion, Sado began the summit. He claimed the title of Kage, and he set up the council. Grenth, Vegeta and Trunks for now. Around this time Trunks himself returned. Each taking a spot at the table Sado had crafted they began to speak on just what they thought they needed to do and build to make this crazy plan work. The remaining Golden Sabbath, Sado, Vegeta, Trunks and Grenth, the White Lotus, Fu and Korra, and finally the few stragglers who wanted a home, Ikiru, Rebekah, two jinchuriki Mala and finally Isoka. Together they forged a name, Tsumigakure, the Village Hidden in Sin and together they agreed on goals. Better defenses, more territory, a hospital. Binding together in the Graveyard of Sin they formed something special, something wholly their own.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Forgotten Souls</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"I'm sure I can find a place for each of you but you must know, this society isn't like our old tribe. Nothing is solved with violence here, interpersonal relationships are solved through words and debate. So if you have a problem with someone else you will bring it to me or one of my council. This goes doubly true for the boy who attacked me, thinking he could solve his problem with a deathmatch, there won't be any needless pissing contests to gain favor or prestige. Work, effort, and time. That's how you'll raise your stations, not through violence. Understood?"</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After the summit, Sado sent a few of the villagers out on missions. Grenth and Rebekah went out to investigate a criminal after Ikiru and Grenth went out to create better defenses. Korra and Fuu set out to build a hospital. Sado was left relatively alone as he slipped away to be on his own. His personality shifted as his regret and self-doubt reared its head. He traveled to Tsuchi Heiho under the control of his secondary personality and took a mercenary job to ease his mind. After an utter failure, he returned in self-disgrace knowing he wasn't who he used to be. It bothered him significantly but it was about to get worse. Oh so much worse.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">From the east approached three individuals. He didn't know who they were or why they were there but something about their chakra signature was familiar. They felt like goliath, but he hadn't heard, nor seen of a goliath in years. As they entered his lands he became defensive rushing to their position and commanding them to halt. On further inspection when they lowered their hoods he realized that these where indeed goliath. Without a word, the biggest one, who was at least a foot taller than Sado ran toward him in an arcing motion. The bigger goliath's movements were slow and predictable as Sado released a strange energy around him with white wisps of steam flowing from him.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">His speed increased as he increased his weight flowing chakra through his arm and slamming the much larger and heartier goliath to the ground slamming him into a crater of Sado's making crushing his arm below his weight and force. It was enough to knock the goliath unconscious. After a moment of silence, the older goliath woman approached and explained everything as it was. They were from his previous tribe. Sickness and the remaining Hangurian Black Ones had left them nearly extinct. Sado agreed to take them in on one condition the older goliath would tell him about his parents. It was something he always wanted to know but was too weak to force them to tell him in his adolescence. The goliath was hesitant but she explained what she knew. It turned out his mother was a descendant of the great uniters the Nobunaga lineage and the power he called upon mere moments ago was theirs.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado didn't know what to think or what to say. He was perplexed. The information nearly stunned him, he was half goliath that was always true but now he had learned a dark secret. He was a descendant of the Freehold with some rights to the lands he was taking in. He had just as much right as Takauji Ashikaga the man they had fought for months. He never thought highly of his mother, the stories he had been told were deplorable. A human made into his father's pet but the story this older goliath told was of a noble of Hanguri birth. A sparkling Jewel of the Sun who could heal, and destroy on a whim. energy he called upon this Yang energy was new to him, but the history he learned about told him that his mother commanded it like it was her own it was a power of strength, durability, and life. Sado had a lot to deal with and didn't have the time or mental capacity to deal with an entire village and his own problems. He sent the goliath to Catherine a representative of Forskellig and they found a place to call home in the Village Hidden in Sin.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>The Souls that Fled</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"All that is really known is that a fleet of five ships with the Ashikaga family Coat of Arms was seen off the coast of the southern Water Archipelago later in the day. The ships appeared to be going east. We know not where they flee, but I believe they've suffered enough for now."</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado came to realize that he had to keep pushing forward so when Trunks sought him out with a problem, an Uchiha compound that needed taming he jumped on the opportunity to do some good. Honestly, he just wanted a distraction. Together alongside Grenth and Ikiru the party set out toward the Motoi Drylands. It was at this time that the unnamed clone that Smith had left in Shinramoto sent word of surprising news to Smith and Lena. The Shogun and his Freehold had fled to the east leaving the Tea Peninsula open. He left behind a confused and leaderless people. They didn't know much, but what they did know was an extraordinary set of circumstances. It seemed that the Razing of Degarashan had crippled them and left them with a single choice. Retreat and embarrassment. Was this what Sado wanted? He would soon know about this, would it settle him or send him into a fervor? Only time will tell.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Reclaimed Souls</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Tell me why I should allow you and your clan to live, convince me to heal your eyes, and to trust your word. If you can do that, maybe there's a place for you under the banner of the Golden Sabbath."</span><p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado found himself in the Motoi Drylands, focusing on one more distraction just to ease his active and distracted mind. The information he had gained about his mother and the Freehold weighed heavily on his mind. It didn't help that he soon learned that Takauji Ashikaga and his Hangurian Black Ones had retreated far away to the remote lands to the east. He learned that they left behind a confused and leaderless people. Why did all of this happen to him? Why was he at the center of it? Was it just because he couldn't keep his mouth shut or his mind pointed on a single task? He wasn't sure but he decided to focus on the distraction. He used what he had been taught by his tribe to alter his appearance to that of a small child as he began to gather information from people. The first person he bumped into was an older woman. She tried to convince him to hide, and that the streets weren't a safe place. He played the part of a child for a while and asked her "why." She explained that the Uchiha were kidnapping and ransoming people from a remote compound it wasn't safe for women and children to be out at night in these parts.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">She kept trying to convince Sado to hide, and that she could keep him safe. He pushed the subject and eventually learned that the woman had lost her son to the Uchiha and was unable to pay the ransom for him so she was just being overprotective and a bit defensive. When Sado pushed the subject further it seemed he had reached a point that angered the woman. He was trying to reassure her that he could protect her, forgetting his altered appearance for a moment. She smacked him across the face, trying to show him how weak and small he was. This action sent Sado on his was as he began to make his way to the Uchiha Compound in the Motoi Drylands. He didn't have time to explain who he was, and why he was here. Salazzle asked him what he was going to do, referencing the Battle of Shinramoto and the Razing of Degarashan as instances where he went into action without thinking.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After a moment of thought, Sado reasoned that they might have been violent means, but they got the job done explaining that to Salazzle. She told him she would support him but he was an idiot. Sado was fanciful, he made a show out of his appearance as he caused music to belt out from his position piercing into the compound and rousing the Uchiha. He believed that he had to make a show of force to prove that the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure truly owned these lands. He was was swift to start the attack as he called out for the Uchiha to lay down their arms and yield to the Golden Sabbath. Obviously, they saw a mere child, as a row of the Uchiha guards, took post on the extensive wall end to end their crimson-eyes shined in the night contrasted by the darkness of the sky and the light of the stars above. They told him they would yield to no-one especially a child like him. Sado laughed, he had completely forgotten about the transformation he had undergone. He did that often by this point, he had used an altered appearance for months. He decided he would have to prove to them, that their place was below the banner of the Golden Sabbath.<p style="text-align: center">[SPOILER][MEDIA=youtube]2G5rfPISIwo[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]</p> </div><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He directed Salazzle on what to do, and they performed a massive combination together using fire and poison similar to the actions taken in the Battle of Shinramoto. Sado expelled a massive wall of fire, while in unison igniting a jet of flammable poison lighting the wall aflame as Salazzle tore open a rift in the sky calling down a column of flammable poison using summoned explosive tags to ignite the column of red-crimson poison. The group had been trapped between a pincer maneuver. Those that fled escaped with minor burns and being poisoned, those that stayed and tried to defend were engulfed as the water they used to douse the flames merely acted like water on a grease fire causing the fire to splash and slosh coating numerous Uchiha in fire and poison. The first attack was a success as they pushed the initial vanguard back. They underestimated him thoroughly, but he wouldn't be able to rely on the element of surprise again. He needed to break the massive, reinforced, gates and enter into the compound.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He relied upon a creation of his. Red Sand, he caused the ground below the gates to buckle inward as he caused a giant monster, crafted from Red Sand to rise up using the strange energy he had learned was called Yang energy to breathe life into the beast. This was the second time he had used this technique and he was growing used to it. Asmodeus, he called the creature as it roared forth tearing apart the gate and using its long gangly arms to rip through another battalion of the Uchiha. So far they had been below average, probably genin and chunin. He could handle one-hundred or so of them due to his abilities. A rearguard seemed to form behind the battalion that has just been torn to sunders by Asmodeus, the sentient Red Sand golem. That was when it happened, Sado called forth telling them to bring forth their leader. He waited for a moment pausing as, the remaining vanguard began to split.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">What walked forth caught him off guard, it was a woman. Her beauty. was distracting, and he almost lost focus for a moment when she lifted her leg spreading the fabric of her dress-like samurai armor. She slammed her foot to the ground with hard, dense <strong>"thud" </strong>as soundwaves emanated from her position silencing the music that rippled outward from his position. It was the first time someone had been able to do that. She continued by activating her sharingan and going into a rhyming verse talking down to him. She was speaking his language, and it was offputting, but enthralling as he began to course Yang energy through his body relying upon it heavily by this point. He darted forward toward her as she activated the Mangekyou state of her Sharingan glancing toward the Red Sand creature. In a moment it was lit ablaze as black flames surrounded the beast it squealed out in pain and anguish. Sado learned from this that breathing life into these creatures through Yang allowed them to feel pain, and think. They were genuinely living things. Sado sent a wave of chakra through his arm increasing the weight of his arm as he realized that the only way to beat this Uchiha was to overpower her. He would also alter his appearance returning it to normal. She told him her name, Nakano Uchiha the onna-bugeisha as she noticed him approaching. Sado was too fast, her eyes could easily keep up with him but she was too slow to react and move her body in time.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado was able to land a decisive blow to her midsection using his hands like claws, or so he thought as the woman spit blood in his face the blood and viscera spilling from her guts. Her last words were labored and distraught, <em>"the Demon, Sa-...do."</em> Sado noticed the light and life in her left eye begin to fade and assumed she was dying but instead she vanished completely seemingly turning to dust. Without a pause, she apparently appeared behind him calling out to him. She had used Izanagi, giving the sight in her left eye and in turn rewriting reality itself. She told Sado to yield and to submit to her, as an acolyte telling him his actions were futile. Sado laughed as he turned to face the woman. She had surprised him with abilities he didn't even know existed but he was cocky. He thought that if he killed her once he could do it again. He darted forward in arrogance using the same attack a second time, what he didn't know was he was being played. She wanted him to attack her in the same way. She had remembered everything about that moment, his hot breath on her bosom. The feral look in his eyes, but more than that both of their positions and everything about their stances, postures and the world around them. It was a trap, and he fell for it as she called out to him baiting him to attack her telling him his previous actions were pitiful and that she had already taken out his little Red Sand pet.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">As he extended his arms out to reach her, her clan cried out for her, cheering, as she instigated a genjutsu, she believed it to be the last genjutsu she would ever cast with her eyes. Izanami. She needed to trap this beast, it was all she could do to save her people from this demon. Her eyes went cold, and empty as the light finally faded completely she was blinded as she fell to her knees exhausted. However, Sado was trapped in Izanami, as his mind was forced to repeat the previous attack pattern. His body remained still, in the real world he couldn't move, his posture and stance frozen mere inches away from landing the final blow upon Nakano Uchiha. She was clever and crafty. He went in without thinking and that left him at a disadvantage. He was lucky to have Salazzle with him as she defended him while he was trapped in the genjutsu. He realized that Nakano was telling him to realize his mistakes and to overcome them, as every time he reached the edge of the attack he would be forced to repeat his actions. So he assumed that was the key to breaking this genjutsu, realizing and overcoming his past mistakes. He reasoned his biggest mistake was his inability to deal with his own problems, and after repeating the attack at least twenty-five times he was able to barely escape the genjutsu.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Salazzle had kept the woman pinned down, as she defended him from the other Uchiha. Sado found himself in a moment of decisiveness and weakness. He offered up an ultimatum to Nakano remembering how Lena of Shinramoto had turned the armies of Takauji Ashikaga against him. He told Nakano she could serve the Golden Sabbath and her clan could survive if she convinced him that they were worth it. With a fiery speech and an innate way with words, she was able to convince him and he healed her eyes using the Yang energy to at least bring back her sight. He didn't know if it would bring back her sharingan but it seemed to at least return her sight to her. Sado told her she would need to release all of the prisoners, stop ransoming people, and stop trying to take in taxes from the surrounding townships and settlements.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">She agreed to the terms of his deal and relented that she was senseless enough to make a deal with the devil, calling Sado a demon once more for putting her in such a position. He was fine with that, he had been called worse before, being a "demon" was just another on a long list of insults he had become used to by now. He helped her up, and she directed her group on what to do, reiterating that they now served the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure. Sado thought about who he could put in charge of this compound. He knew two Uchiha, that could do the job. Lena of Shinramoto who he trusted completely, or Ikiru a new recruit that he didn't know well enough to trust yet but this could be a good test of trust for him. Izanagi and Izanami. He would have to learn about those abilities. The fact that they were used against him, concerned him. He took a few nights in the Motoi Drylands returning the prisoners to their families and keeping tabs on the Uchiha while explaining how things would be from now on. He tinkered with Yang energy and fuuinjutsu and created a seal, that he placed upon his body in the downtime.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><p style="text-align: left"><em>Rotten Souls | Tobusekai</em></p> </p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Alright, with the original members of the Golden Sabbath here, I feel like I can speak openly and directly. In the last year, we found ourselves struggling against a world that didn't want us. A world that would rather see our people, and us, suffer. A world that sent assassins and degenerates into our lands to smear our name, and destroy what we were building. That world was lead by an influential individual, a man that egotistically dubbed himself "the Shogun." Takauji Ashikaga. At that same time, the world gave a name to me and us as a collective. I became, "the Demon." Sado Yasutora, and with time you all became Tsumigakure. A village hidden in sin. Now is the time we chase down the Shogun and put an end to what he has started. We're going to the Eastern Continent."</span></p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After reclaiming the Motoi Drylands, Sado returned to the capital and sent out a message for his village mates to return. He was formulating a plan, as he became more erratic once more his bipolar throwing him into a manic state. In the capital, he met with Vegeta, Irene a new member of the clan, and Vayne to discuss where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do in the future. Vegeta wanted what he always wanted, combat and a chance to prove himself. Irene wanted peace and a stable future. Vayne wanted to prove his worth to the village. Sado using his charismatic personality convinced them, along with the rest of his village that they could find what they were looking for in Tobusekai, the East, and they could take it all from Takauji Ashikaga the same man that tried to steal everything from them. Thankfully, his allies trusted him and they prepared to set off. Before they could, a transient no-name shinobi tried to make a name for himself by attacking the party. His attack failed and he fled through the use of some sort of summoning technique leaving just as quickly as he showed up. Though something had happened, completely separate from this no-name, it appeared Grenth used this distraction to cause a disaster in the capital and in the hospital in Takinomori. Sado, not wanting to deal with any of this left everything to Smith his clone. This left the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure free to go explore and dominate Tobusekai, and dominate Tobusekai is exactly what they would do in the coming future as Smith handled the rebuilding.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The first thing Sado did was send scouts ahead to survey the land and try to track down any traces of Takauji Ashikaga, these scouts were Korra and Vayne. Using this time, he and the other members of the Golden Sabbath prepared for their journey. Sado took time to meditate, seal away an immense amount of senjutsu chakra, and enter Sage Mode preparing himself for the east. Additionally, he placed Smith, the clone that had been doing so much in charge of the capital in his absence. Then, together the party set out to make their names and the names of their village known to Tobusekai and the world at large. Sado followed the steps his scouts, seeking out where they ended up crossing the vast ocean for the first time in his young life. This landed our goliath barbarian on the shores of the Eastern Continent, in a place deemed the Lost Shores. An apt name for what he found there, multiple abandoned Ashikaga warships and a freshly built port crafted by Korra and Vayne. He with his villagers decided to make a bombastic message with their next actions.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">They would steal and repurpose these forgotten warships using them as trading vessels to devour the Eastern Continent piece by piece extracting wealth from the lands and making each theirs for the taking. Colonial income Sado called it as he formed two more clones and sent them back toward Tsumigakure to learn to sail them and to deliver them to the shores of the Motoi Drylands. Sado's machinations were grinding ever faster as the cogs and gears of his mind whirred with all of the ideas and schemes. They could be the first new village to control the seas. Trade was a powerful asset, and these ships opened up an ocean of possibilities for Tsumigakure. Sado sent his villagers out into the Eastern Continent to do as they saw fit. He got Vegeta to use his strength and determination to claim and repurpose lands. Korra maintained the port, even Vayne and Irene claimed lands expanding into the heart of Tobusekai.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado himself moved north-east finding himself in a marshy-swamp land called the Dread Marshes. It was a sullen landscape filled to the brim with rot, decay, corpses, and death. It seemed to be the site of an extensive war with losses on every side. Our barbarian wasn't the craftiest or the smartest but he did what he could with what he had lacing the swamp with chakra controlling it. He tried to force all of the rotten bodies deep into the marsh trying to return them to the ground, hoping that by burying them he could make the lands prosperous once more. Once all of the death and decay were deep within the muck and mud he used his chakra to convert the marsh to solid, loamy soil, in essence, giving these neglected warriors a proper burial. It was really all he could do, not being crafty or being able to use Wood Release techniques.</div> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">As Sado was busy with his exploration of Tobusekai the two clones he had sent back to Tsumigakure sailed across the wide open sea. They learned how to sail, the parts of a ship, how everything worked until eventually, they delivered the two massive warships to their destination of the Motoi Drylands. Together they docked the ships and refined and expanded the harbor before seeking out the Uchiha compound and Nakano Uchiha. They explained what was going to happen and what plans Sado had for the Eastern Continent and how the Motoi Drylands fit into that plan. However, ADHD got to one of the clones who kidnapped a crew of Uchiha and sailed out to sea to become a pirate. The remaining clone was left with Nakano as they built up the Uchiha compound. The clone that had set out to sea once more, began going by the name Jack and spread lies about who they worked for as he plundered and stole supplies from various trading vessels. He claimed that his crew worked for Takauji Ashikaga and that they were the Hangarian Privateers. The crew even stole from the Witchwood company, in the Aisu Bay and fought samurai in Gaikotsu Bay. This ultimately ended with Jack punching a ship in half, and sinking it in front of the samurai who swam back to the Land of Iron to spread the tale he had crafted. He returned to the Motoi Drylands with supplies and a story.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">While most of Sado's clones were off having adventures, and Sado himself was questing in Tobusekai we return to Smith. Smith was left to handle the mundane. His days were filled with paperwork, tedious negotiation, and diplomacy. At least he had one light, through it all to drag him out of bed when all he wanted to do was sleep. Lorelei. She got him through it all helping him when he couldn't help himself. He spent a few weeks teaching her medical ninjutsu. Even when the worst happened and Grenth cause destruction and turmoil Lorelei got him through. Smith had one single question for the clone that Grenth had sent "Are you happy?" it couldn't answer as Smith hit it, dispersing it. Smith was lost, and frankly, he was alone. Luckily, the scout Sado sent ahead, Korra was but a clone. Smith learned the Korra herself had been cooped up in Takinomori at the hospital and he found solidarity in her as they worked together to undo the damage wrought by Grenth. It was boring, wearisome, and slow going but Smith held Tsumigakure together when there was no one. In his free time, he sent Korra on missions for the village and even sent Rebekah to track down and spy on Grenth. He was busy, tending to an entire nation.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Tobusekai was untapped, free real estate is what Sado saw as he went about claiming all of the lands he could. After the Dead Marshes, Sado found himself back in the Lost Shores. In a bar, near the port, he played the fool and sang and danced as if he were in a karaoke bar. Things in the Lost Shores had picked up, people had relocated and populated the lands from Tsumigakure. He picked up rumors about excavation and the Mother Cult and this prompted him to travel north-east once more. He planned to investigate this cultist activity remembering the problems caused by the risen dead back during Conquerer's End. After some travel, our goliath found himself in a jagged mountainous region named Sentinel's Stand. There he learned about a war between beasts and humans from a tapestry. Apparently, at least from what the glorified carpet told him, it started with one female entity. She birthed more like her, one could call them "deities" from the looks of the tapestry. The story went that after her children, she created animals and beasts and that made her children jealous. They wanted their own creations so they crafted humans. The beasts and the humans fought, and over time the humans won trapping the first female entity away while the rest left them. Sado didn't really get the point of the story, but he did make the assumption that the woman was the "Mother" from "Mother Cult" deciding to push further east. He claimed the land in the name of Tsumigakure and moved onward wanting to look into this.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The next land he found himself in was an abandoned cityscape, it seemed to be some sort of land devoted to the Sage of Six Paths. His Sage Mode warned him of various individuals with strange chakra in the area but he kept moving forward entering into Hagoromo's Last Hearth that was until two people in cultists' robes attacked him. They used a combination technique and their chakra seemed to resonate together empowering the technique to a level with which Sado had never seen. They created a huge wall of wind and fire as Sado realized that he didn't know what to do. In a moment of panic, he heard something, a voice call out to him, and give him what sounded like a name. <strong>Yamata no Orochi. </strong>He didn't know what it meant but instinctually he threw his arms forward calling upon the Yang energy that resided within him. The energy suddenly came to his aid rushing through his body swelling forth with his earth release chakra that felt like it was molding itself. From his body came out several streams of Yang energy in the form of several giant snakeheads. They told him to increase their weight, through earth release and Sado listened. With a piercing screech, the Yamata no Orochi bashed its way through the combination overwhelming it and crushing the cultists below his head.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He realized, he wasn't controlling this technique, it acted on its own it had its own mind, and some kind of sentience. It bellowed into his mind asking him who he was and why he called upon such a noble creature. It scoffed that he had noble blood in him and that his lifeforce was similar to Tokuhime of the Nobunaga-... that was his mother's name. That was all he could think of as more cultists attacked him from behind with a wind and water combination. Sado was able to handle this, he crafted a blade of Red Sand and sent it flying toward the gargantuan vortex of spiraling water able to decapitate the two cultists. Yamata no Orochi explained that he was a protector of the noble bloodline. As the rest of the cultists fled, the Yang based entity told Sado that it was a child of the Sage of Six Paths. Together they traveled into the center of the city carving a path through the remaining cultists as Yamata no Orochi pulverized dozens of cultists. With the remaining cultists dead or fleeing the two found themselves in front of a statue of the Sage of Six Paths.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Yamata no Orochi told Sado that he wasn't a teacher, he told him everything he knew. Like the bijuu the many-headed snake was a child of the Sage. It told him Sado that if he wanted to learn more to search the ruins of this land, find the Sage's teachings and answer his own questions. The snake-like creature told him about Yang energy, and how he was a manifestation of the physical, Yang. He also mentioned that he had a brother a manifestation of the spiritual, Yin and that Sado might meet him one day. Soon after the multiheaded created faded away back to the nothingness it had come from. Sado stared at the statue until he finally realized there was a riddle on a tablet near its base. It spoke of the Touch of the Sun gracing the statue.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He didn't know if his answer was correct but by channeling Yang energy into and through the statue Sado access a hidden pathway leading to a room with more tapestry on the wall. On the right wall, there were many depictions of the various ways of using Yang energy. Sado had already stumbled upon several of them himself. However, on the other side, the left wall there were more depictions. This time of black energy, a counterpart to Yang. This must have been Yin, Sado thought as he studied the teachings memorizing the forms and functions. He placed yet another banner near the statue and claimed the land for Tsumigakure. Sado claimed one final land the Ruined Temple before returning to the Lost Shores to regroup. Once more he sought out his allies.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><p style="text-align: left">Souls of Sacrifice | the Fallen Shogun and the Mother of Beasts</p> </p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"You dumb bastard, this is Tsumigakure. Our entire lives we've been struggling. So we don't need an introduction from the likes of you because when we get knocked down-... EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US GETS THE **** BACK UP AGAIN!"</span></p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[hr][/hr]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado was preparing himself in the Lost Shores, expecting the westward expansion of the Mother Cult. He believed that he had boxed them in, that he had taken their lands, and he had forced them into a corner. He was wrong. He was arrogant, and he would regret it. Takauji Ashikaga, the Shogun who tried to march forward on crippled legs had given himself over to the Mother Cult, mind, body and soul. He traded himself and his Hangarian Black Ones for the power he believed he needed to exact his revenge on the Village Hidden in Sin. The cult used the fact that Sado Yasutora was distracted in the Lost Shores to send the lapdog, Shogun to the Haunted Forest. In one unexpected blow, the Shogun killed many and reduced the entire satellite state to ruin and ash. Sado was lucky that he had left a clone in the Graveyard of Sin, because the moment information about the attack reached the capital, Smith the clone Sado had left in charge of the village summoned him home via their personal summon Salazzle and the Reverse Summoning Technique.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The Monster of the Tea Peninsula was quick to act, his clone explained the information that had reached the capital and together alongside any remaining clones they headed out toward the north-west. They moved quickly and traveled non-stop hoping they were fast enough and strong enough to cut the Shogun off before he could deal severe and lasting damage to their village. However, even with their Hangarian War Chasers, they were too slow to avert the destruction of another landmark barely stopping him from making it to a third landmark. What stood before Sado, was a broken, deformed, version of the great Hangurian War General he had heard of. It was a Fallen Shogun, a man who had his essence, his goals, and his personality stripped away from him being nothing more than a hollow shell of a man. The only emotion left to him was the need for vengeance, and the commands given to him by the Mother Cult his only remaining directive was to destroy the Village Hidden in Sin.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">So, with everything he had Sado fought against a man endowed with limitless stamina, speed and strength. To say he was a man anymore would be giving him much more respect than he deserved, at this point, he was nothing more than a yelping monster. He had abilities that confounded and pushed Sado to his absolute limitations, the Sea of Life that ebbed and flowed from his body with every single strike was dangerous in its own right but he had his own malformed, twisted and abusable form of the Eight Internal Gates, renamed the Gates of Life. What transpired over the next three days was a constant push and pull of Takauji Ashikaga, the Fallen Shogun vs Tsumikage Sado Yasutora. Sado himself had to rely on everything he had in his repertoire just to survive and fight this man head-on. First, he had to access the energetic Yang energy, using the Power of the Sun to move and act fast enough to defend from the Fallen Shogun's blows. Each potential strike was enough to cripple and kill an average person. If even one of those blows had landed upon his body Sado would have died. Though it got worse as hour after hour, moment after moment the Fallen Shogun became faster, and more erratic tapping into the seemingly limitless power granted to him by the Mother Cult.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The goliath barbarian was able to push and push and push calling upon every ounce of fortitude to force Takauji Ashikaga to tip his hand. Sado pushed him into using the uppermost limits of his Gates of Life. Sado had to call upon every remaining bit of Yang energy he could muster to enter Yang State. It was something he wasn't familiar with but it gave him the sheer speed and reactions to continue fighting the Fallen Shogun. The Gates of Life vs Yang State was what the fight evolved into. Sado had to literally warp space and time merely to fight this echo of the Shogun barely avoiding the caustic Voidborn Corruption that comprised his form. The Sea of Life that rushed out from his body with each blow eventually made its way onto Sado's skin as his allies finally arrived. Another of his clones summoned him away from the fight just in time to save his life from the Voidborne Corruption that spewed forth from the Fallen Shogun's body. All that was left now was to regroup with his allies.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">So after a strategic retreat that's what he did. He gathered up his strongest men and women, the ones he trusted his life with, Vegeta, Desmond, Skarlet and each of his clones. He knew that he couldn't do this on his own and that messed with his self-esteem but he realized that he had to put that petty shit, those vain and egotistical thoughts aside. If he wanted to keep what he had made alongside his allies then he had to let them in. He had to give them the trust they had earned and fight with them, instead of protecting them. Together they fought the Fallen Shogun, and they were too much for him. It only took a combined effort to snuff out the crippled and broken Takauji Ashikaga, sinking the final nail into the Hanguri Freehold's coffin snuffing out the last remnants of a dying regime. To an extent, it must be ironic, that it was a barbarian that laid to rest the final <em>Sei-i Taishōgun</em>, the final Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians, abolished by the same low-class warrior he and his ilk were supposed to exterminate.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">With his death though with the last few dying words, he offered them a warning. He spoke about the Mother of Beasts, Tiamat, the creature that had orchestrated his newly created form. She would be coming soon, the Fallen Shogun was merely a gateway nothing more than a door into a metaphysical dimension that held the beast at bay for ten thousand years. As the remaining life and vigor escaped his body the ground quaked and shook as a light out of the Hokubu Ocean ruptured the sky. The light called out to Sado's hubris, asking him to come and bring all of his sins to stand against the end of the world.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The Demon of the Badlands, Sado Yasutora and his clones settled his people. They each helped rebuild what was broken by the earthquake and Sado healed those who were injured even giving up his own flesh, bone, and blood via Sage Transformation to heal those who were so gravely wounded they would never wake from their comatose state. Then he regathered his allies and set out. Those that weren't with him eventually met him at the Hokubu Ocean where together they started to rise up, they became the resistance the world needed. There were those who wouldn't stand against the Mother of Beasts, either out of fear or greed, but Sado and his village were steadfast and ready. They had risked everything they had before and they would keep doing it until the day the light left their eyes. Sado and his clones attacked, Desmond attacked, and Vegeta intercepted a nameless shinobi who had given himself over to the Mother of Beasts in fear becoming another one of her many children.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Together the Village Hidden in Sin fought alongside the fledgling clan the Rising Cloud and the less impressive village Shimogakure to stave off catastrophe. Sado even found himself slipping into a support role. He healed those around and used the potent Yang energy to break the tethers that the Mother tried to use to subjugate the other shinobi. He wouldn't let that happen if he could stop it. He grew to dislike the Mother of Beasts quickly realizing that she wanted nothing more than to rule over humanity as if they were beasts or snuff out those that would defy her. He and his clones fought, against that notion since the formation of their clan the Golden Sabbath alongside Vegeta, Uta, Trunks, Vayne, and Desmond. He would not let the world fall into the clutches of a megalomaniac unless HE was that megalomaniac.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "><p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Souls Taken | Sacrifice of Sin</em></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"At the end of the world! The Demon, he fought with his horde! They rallied and raised you! And they brought the Black Ones to mourn! What they called a "Monster" was willing to sacrifice or pay any price to bring you peace and paradise, but deep below the ocean. A mass of stirring emotion there is always another he and his Village of Sin staved off the Mother!["</span></p></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">[hr][/hr]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The Demon of the Badlands spent the next month in the Badlands that his title came from. As the Tsumikage he handed out numerous bounties to his various shinobi. Many on Children of Tiamat and the Beasts of Tiamat that were now threatening the world. With Colonial Income bankrolling the event Sado held the first holiday celebrated by any village. As the rest of the shinobi of the world, those of Shimogakure, those of Taniagakure and those of the few remaining clans kept silent. Tsumigakure though, they were special they boldly told that world of its heroic and daring deeds as was in his goliath nature.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">This meant that the Sacrifice of Sin, the holiday Sado created to stir his people and prod them to activity while the others were complacent and idle was a complete success. He sent so many shinobi out into the world that they even went to other villages and cleaned up the messes they were too lazy to clean for themselves. Banri Uzumaki was one such example traveling across the Aisu Bay to the forgotten land of ice and snow. A place of the midnight sun, where the hot springs flowed. He smote Misha the Ravenous.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">It was plain to the Monster of the Tea Peninsula and the rest of his village that they were the saviors this world deserved. When the Sacrifice of Sin came to a close and a vast sum of the Colonial Income had been spent a clone of Sado went out to make an offer to the other clans of the world. They weren't making big moves, so why not join the only village that was. The clone going by the name Jack made an offer to Hellsing, a small clan on the Moon Isle. They spat in his face rejecting his offer and silently sealed their fate by turning away the representative. Next, he found himself in the heart of Degarashan a land he had been to before.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The same land that he had attacked, decimated and drove Takauji away from nearly six months earlier. He left a message for Kaizen, another clan offering them the same deal he had offered Hellsing. Join Tsumigakure, keep your name, and grow stronger. Become a part of something great or be just another footnote to the expansive history that was being built. Finally, the final offer was made to the Rising Cloud. Sado and his clone remembered them from the field of combat they fought alongside his village against Tiamat, that is, up until they became tired and lethargic and fell off. They were nowhere to be found when Tsumigakure sacrificed their health, and their vitality to seal the Mother of Beasts. Another refusal.</div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The clone bought the Men'yoroi of the Fallen Shogun off of a dubious woman on the Hokubo Ocean then returned to the capital of the Graveyard of Sin. It was a badge of honor for Sado telling those around that he and his village were the ones to defeat Takauji Ashikaga and his Hangurian Black Ones. They started the fight years ago and they were the ones to finish it. With a plan set up, Sado, his clones, Salazzle, and Smith with his Right Hand Man, the Pride of Tsumigakure Vegeta, Sado marched upon Hellsing. Unbeknownst to him at that same moment, another man was trying to hold members of the clan hostage.</div></p> </p> </div><p style="text-align: center"><p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Knowing the clan leader's chakra signature from the experiences his clone had accumulated Sado used his newfound Yin-Yang Sensing to track down Alucard. Sado attacked full force, not playing a game or being a joke. Alucard tried to flee but was met by the incoming Hands of Sloth created by The Demonic Figure, Smith aka Sado's Yin-Yang creation. With the clan leader defeated Hellsing fell before Sado and Tsumigakure as they were taken into the fold by force. It was a much-needed boon to their numbers and allowed them access to new shinobi who could be molded into strong fighters.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Soon after the Shogun-Slayer and his group were teleported back to the Graveyard of Sin via Vegeta and his Flying Thunder God Technique. Once there he and his clones began to take in, train and prepare the new shinobi for the cruel world around them. He handed out many more village missions to grow his allies into the powerful individuals he knew they could be. He saw potential in Hellsing. That was why he took them in, like a blooming flower that needed to be replanted in fresh, and fertile soil with the proper nutrients and care, he uprooted them and replanted them in a better environment. At least that's what he believed.</div></div> <div style="text-align: justify; max-width: "></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">After this brazen act it was obvious they would become enemies to the rest of the clans. Sado began to regather his allies asking them to return to the Graveyard of Sin. During this time word reached him, it was the Korikage who had destroyed the Moon Isle. More than that he was betraying, killing, and pillaging his own people. The Tsumikage saw this as wasteful but in truth all war was wasteful, human lives, they were valuable. The only resource that couldn't instantly be replaced by shinobi through their ninjutsu. He saw these actions as foolish, but only the future would tell what this would equate to.</div></div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><p style="text-align: left">Sick of the Sin</p> </p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[HR][/HR]</p><p style="text-align: center"><span style="color: rgb(0, 100, 0)">"Tsumigakure. I want to tell you. If you don't find a cure, if you don't fix this-... your shinobi are going to die. Your family is going to die. Everyone is going to die, but before all of that if you don't do this you're gonna die, and you're better than that. You're better than the rest of the world, better than Shimogakure, better than Taniagakure, better than those clans. Better than me. You are more than just the Village Hidden in Sin. You are the saviors of this world, you are the heroes who stopped Tiamat. The warriors who fought off the Fallen Shogun. This isn't your dying breath, this is your second wind. Now every fucking one of you will plant your motherfucking feet, grit your GODDAMN TEETH! And save the world-.... *cough* *cough* *cough*-... AGAIN! Now get out there, figure this shit out, and DO-.... IT-... NOW!"</span></p></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p> <p style="text-align: center">[hr][/hr]</p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Shimogakure had grown bold in their expansion, in themselves and in their place in the world. Sado, the Shogun-Slayer found himself with one option, and it was one he didn't like. War. That was when the Korikage send a missive trying to persuade Tsumigakure that he had done no wrong. That he and his were merely minding their own business but Shimogakure's fate had been sealed the moment they had attacked his people. He didn't care if they were a satelite state, he didn't care if they were just brought into the fold, he didn't care that they were new villagers. The moment that treaty with Hellsing was formed, and they joined his village those individuals fell under his protection, and his shinobi's protection.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">He took a moment to refocus his mind, and gather his troops. In tandem he talked to his officials, Vegeta, Banri, Mirabelle, and Grenth. He discussed another event, another extravagant holiday for his people. He would keep them happy, and distracted while he and his men and women got their hands dirty. They had a point to make, and a village to make an example of. Shimogakure had overstepped upon the Village Hidden in Sin, and it was time for them to repay the debt that was now owed.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado, Vegeta, themselves alongside their clones, then clones of Grenth, and Korra set out for the heart of Shimogakure. The icy prison was a cold and defiant mistress, the air was chilled, the lands were barren and empty and the people were abandoned and alone. Their Korikage and his shinobi had fled leaving their lands open and empty. Sado wasn't the type to kill those who didn't start it. These civilians didn't harm his people, so he made them an offer, evacuate the Sister Isle and tell the others that the Tsumikage and his officials had spared them. They took his offer as a mass exodus of civilians took place. Then began the war of attrition, a proxy war held among shadow clones.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">Sado and Vegeta split their clones among several landmarks occupying them in what would become known as the "Occupy Shimogakure" movement. Together the clones of the valiant shinobi began to take in several more lands as there was no resistance. It was a relatively short war in all honesty once all of his lands had been occupied the Korikage came out of hiding and begged for a treaty. Sado obliged feeling his people had suffered enough at the hands of Tsumigakure. The Village Hidden in Sin got three landmarks, a vast sum of colonial income and they gave in return of peace between the two villages giving Shimogakure time to rebuild.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">The Village Hidden in Sin pulled their forces out of Shimogakure and returned home. Resting for a few weeks, before the effects of their fight with Tiamat began to actually sink in. The Red Fever, a pandemic rocked to the world to it's very core. None more so than the valiant heroes who fought face to face with the Primordial Goddess of Life herself. With a new sickness spreading across the land Sado set in motion his holiday event.</div></p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><div style="text-align: justify; max-width: ">"Down with the Sickness!" became the rallying cry of the sick and infirm as Tsumigakure fought back against the invisible enemy. Sado set up a stimulus program paying the shinobi for their hard work, and keeping the economy of his village flowing forward as normal. He funded the entire program with the boundless colonial income they had accrued and amassed. Sado himself and his officials were most likely the sickest men and women in the world because of how closely they had fought Tiamat. The event was a long lasting one as just about every member of his village received some form of payment. It was at this time the rumors of his power and might spread around the world and he began to be referred to collectively as the Sage of Sin.</div></p> </p><p>[/QUOTE]</p>
[QUOTE="Howard, post: 21861756, member: 43780"] [JUSTIFY][INDENT][I]The Shifting Soul[/I][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][I][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"For goliaths, competition exists only when it is supported by a level playing field. Competition measures talent, dedication, and effort. Those factors determine survival in their home territory, not reliance on powerful artifacts, ryo, or other elements that can tip the balance one way or the other. Goliaths happily rely on such benefits, but they are careful to remember that such an advantage can always be lost. A goliath who relies too much on them can grow complacent, a recipe for disaster in the mountains. This trait manifests most strongly when goliaths interact with others. The relationship between peasants and shinobi puzzle goliaths. If a nobel lacks the intelligence or leadership to lead, then clearly the most talented person in the land should take his place. Goliaths rarely keep such opinions to themselves, and mock folk who rely on society’s structures or rules to maintain power."[/COLOR][/I][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Sado Yasutora was born to a roving band of barbarians who called themselves goliath due to their sheer size. They were called the herd of the shifting soul. They lived on the fringes of society due to their uncontrollable fits of rage and an unbridled and nearly unstoppable tendency for destruction. It was commonplace to hear stories of one lone goliath demolishing entire settlements in berserker like rages. During these fits of madness, the body would twist and warp into beastly or demonic forms causing society to reject and revere them as monsters or beasts. His father was killed in one such fit of rage, and his mother a human woman from civilized society died in childbirth leaving Sado to be raised as an orphan in the tribe. Her body was too fragile and meek to carry even a half-blooded goliath to term. This meant he would be raised as a warrior from birth, as he had no parents to raise him.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]From an extremely young age, he was instructed to be violent, abrasive, competitive, self-reliant, and most of all never complacent instilling a constant sense of boredom in him. He was taught how to fight early and was beaten often as his tribe held no sympathy for the weak or small. He learned to fight against individuals larger than him and stronger than him exploiting their weaknesses be they psychological or physical. During his adolescence, he was a runt who became known among his tribe as the wordsmith. This was because he could set off nearly anyone in the tribe with a string of insults or words unleashing their more predictive beastly nature. He would then exploit their emotions to out maneuver and out think his opponent. Competitiveness was everything to the shifting soul. Everyone wanted to outdo those around them but most of all they wanted to outdo themselves. Being better, stronger and even at times smarter than your opponents or past self was always the goal.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]The Lost Souls[/I][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][I][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Goliaths lived in small tribes that numbered between forty and sixty goliaths. This was usually made up of three to five extended families. Most goliaths lived in the same tribe their entire life. On rare occasions, a tribe that got too large would split into smaller tribes or smaller tribes would merge together. Goliath tribes had a number of key roles that were filled by the most capable members, for example, the [B]Dawncaller [/B]who was responsible for guarding the camp overnight and alerting the tribe if there was trouble. At dawn, they sang or bellowed tales of goliath bravery or heroics to wake everyone up. Dawncallers were assigned daily and given less work throughout the day so they could rest and be alert at night." [/COLOR][/I][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Around his fifteenth year, Sado had became known among his tribe as an honorable and talented individual his strength and determination far eclipsing his small stature. His charisma and way with words made it easy to sway hearts and minds in the tribe. Even those he insulted and goaded in combat were his friends mere moments after the fighting stopped some even willing to die for him. However comparatively to his kin, he was still a runt small but cunning. He was considered small in goliath society where their massive frames ranged from seven to ten feet tall being a measly six-foot, two, at fifteen where the usual goliath was at minimum seven feet tall. This difference in size made him larger than the humans of civilized society but smaller than his brethren who never let him forget he was merely a half-blood.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]It was the middle of summer the heat in the mountains was staggering and Sado was placed on Dawncaller duty. His job was to watch the outskirts of the ever-moving camp into and through the night. It had been a week of Dawncaller duty and he was growing arrogant in his duties. The freedom given by the job left him time to think and rest, more than he needed as with time he eventually became complacent in his work. He was daydreaming looking to the sky thinking up what to say in his next battle. He wasn't paying attention as a group of shinobi snuck into the camp of souls. He didn't even notice until the screams. Several valiant goliath warriors and women killed before they could react. The goliath were confrontational and they were aggressive but due to this, they weren't well versed in stealth combat. They didn't expect a mercenary band of shinobi to sneak in and stab them in the back before they could react. Claymore warriors they were called, there were tales of them cannibalizing his people stealing away children to eat like veal[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado rushed into the camp only to find several dead goliath warriors missing their left ear, some with large pieces of flesh and bone just gone from their body, mere proof of their work. The chieftain was furious and the tribe as a whole was as well. They needed a scapegoat someone to blame for this atrocity. Who better than the weak, fragile, wordsmith who was supposed to be watching their perimeter. Society had placed a bounty on any member of the herd of the shifting soul they were tired of their wanton destruction. Each ear worth one thousand ryo.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]The Shattered Soul[/I][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][I][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Although goliaths had no written laws or codes, there were a number of unspoken rules that were commonly followed by most goliath tribes, discouraging theft and cheating. The greatest rule was obedience to the chieftain, the strongest goliath chosen as the leader of the tribe. Because they were nomadic tribes who shared belongings or traded goods rather than use ryo, conventional punishments like imprisonment or fining were not possible. Instead, tribes often employed the following punishments"[/COLOR][/I][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)][B]Beating:[/B] Goliaths caught stealing, cheating, or disobeying the chieftain were beaten. Pain was considered a healthy motivator in goliath society.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)][B]Shunning:[/B] Shunning ( known as [I]volok-thea[/I] ) involved the tribe acting like the criminal didn't exist. They were not picked for teams or sports and were not provided with food and shelter. A lesser form of shunning for minor crimes, called [I]volok-kanu[/I] or "half-shunning", saw the offending goliath simply treated poorly and as a second-class member of the tribe. The duration of the shunning was never spoken outright, but rather was communicated and decided via body language. Many goliaths claimed to "just know" how long a shunning should last.[/COLOR][/INDENT] [INDENT][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)][B]Exile:[/B] The worst punishment a goliath could receive was exile. Before being exiled the chieftain assigned a new honorific middle name to the goliath. Exile was also the fate of the old, weak, or badly injured who couldn't contribute to the tribe. It should be noted that these individuals received a lament to commemorate their lives before their exile. Criminals received no such treatment[/COLOR][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Among goliaths, any adult who can’t contribute to the tribe is expelled. A single goliath on their own has little chance of survival, especially an older or weaker one. Goliaths have little pity for adults who can’t take care of themselves, though a sick or injured individual is treated, as a result of the goliath concept of fair play. A permanently injured Goliath is still expected to pull his or her weight in the tribe. Typically, such a goliath dies attempting to keep up, or the goliath slips away in the night to seek the cold will of fate."[/COLOR][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Sado was part of a roving band of barbarians in his youth and eventually, his complacency cost him dearly. Beaten nearly to death, left bloodied and broken he was banished by the chieftain and the tribe left behind as they moved on. Shunned and ostracized from his home he left the mountainous region as he traveled to more wooded areas orbiting close to the edges of civilized society. He had nowhere to go and no one to turn to so he became a sell-sword his massive physique and statue helped him obtain jobs no one asked his age they assumed he was grown. In reality, he started working as a mercenary at the age of fifteen. Hired muscle, violent killings, growing misanthropy, and hate for shinobi he began to absorb the teachings of civilized society and the shinobi he hated. He picked it all up so easily technology, stealth, ninjutsu. He used it all to make his lone journey more tolerable. He believed himself an exile who deserved no sympathy due to his early life thus he didn't try to form new connections. Instead, he drowned his sorrows and impulses in ale, women, and combat. At heart, Sado was a creature of impulse. He killed, he fought, he slept, he ate, he did it all again the next day. Working alongside other sell-swords he slowly began to pick up their jutsu learning how to mimic them. For two years he did this his body becoming covered in large scars and pockmarks.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado met a man named Vegeta a man met as a sell-sword. Being a decent mercenary he came up against and fought alongside many people on the field of battle. One of those people was a very short man named Vegeta he was an older man who Sado began to look up to, no pun intended on the height difference. Sado was young, he started sell-sword work at about the age of fifteen which meant he met Vegeta at a very impressionable time in his life a time when he needed someone, anyone, just a friend. It turned out Vegeta had a similar start to Sado they had both left their families, either by force or by a need for exploration.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]The Lone Soul[/I][/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][I][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Trust and honor are the key aspects of most goliaths. These traditions of honor and trust meant that goliaths tended to be good overall. This combined with their competitive nature often led goliaths to valorous heroics. Goliaths are also notably daring and fearless. Feats of physical strength and agility, like jumping chasms or climbing cliffs, held no fear for goliaths. Goliaths are naturally curious beings and love to explore. Their goliath maxim "today's rival is tomorrow's teammate" lead them to hold few grudges and seek combat to share emotion."[/COLOR][/I] [/CENTER] [HR][/HR] After two years of sellsword work, he had obtained a fair amount of money he decided to spend it on knowledge. A wordsmith needed to be smarter than the rest so he bought himself some advanced training. He paid whoever would teach him ninjutsu any form of it. He learned the basics quickly and built off of that. He learned poison release and medical ninjutsu. He needed to be able to heal himself if he wanted to be a better mercenary. He took a few classes and learned some chemistry learning how to create medicine and the like. He trained in meditation learning how to control his more feral nature as he began to work towards perfecting his past. He learned more about the shifting soul that resided in him. It wasn't mystical or magical like he was taught it was a biological reaction his body had to an unseen force called Natural Energy. He learned how to control his rage and learned an art called Sage Mode. He fell in with a group named Golden Sabbath and began traveling with them.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5dt_8xXgqo'][I]On a Gathering Storm of Souls[/I][/URL][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Any shinobi could have dug you a well in five seconds. ANY SHINOBI could have provided you with water in mere moments. However, they didn't. Why? Because they don't care about you, the lifeblood of this land. Neither does the failed freehold, they're dead and gone. They weren't there when you and yours were dying from the Red Fever. For seven years they've left you to scratch and claw your way by while they sat in their towers arguing over laws and their debt. DEBT!? What about their debt to you!? To your children, your wives that had to scatter themselves to other settlements. One settlement is just civil unrest, but an entire landmark revolting standing up and saying that's enough!? That's a political movement, and with your support, I believe my clan-... I believe WE can change this world and WE can finally get what is ours. I'm Sado Yasutora, and the Golden Sabbath will protect this land."[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]After traveling with Vegeta a member of the Golden Sabbath they decided to place down roots. The first land they stopped at was called Kusasōgen. Almost instantly after entering the land Sado seemed to have a momentary mental breakdown, it was brought on by his fractured mind and his past pushing through it Sado put a very traumatic event behind him. He then traveled around the numerous settlements scattered throughout the bamboo and mushroom infested landscape he found various people, in unison to this Vegeta decided to build a base of operations. These people they all seemed to need help. He healed a man who poisoned himself by eating toxic mushrooms, as well as a sick child, and a woman with broken fingers. The settlement dwellers were thrilled to have a doctor near they had never had one residing in their lands before and Sado grew to like the attention, and praise he received. Next Sado set out finding another small settlement where their well had run dry. He found two trapped underground water springs and crafted new wells for the settlement. Realizing that so many small settlements were in constant peril and in need of protection or help Sado decided to travel into the outlying areas. Before he set off Vegeta introduced him to another person, Uta. This man was a claymore, it took everything inside Sado, every fiber of his being to not fight this man. He gave the man an ultimatum, never cause violence or trauma to the people of the Golden Sabbath's lands and they could work together. It was a tumultuous agreement with the potential to backfire eventually. It was plain to see both men were on opposite sides, they would need to be careful as each seemed like monsters hiding in plain sight.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]On his travels he ended up in a land deemed the Graveyard of Sin, it was a very interesting place the desert-like landscape and the rocky mountainous cliff faces reminded him of his old nomadic lifestyle. He set up a small camp and met with another local clan that was calling themselves the White Lotus. These individuals included Korra a tan muscle-bound woman of few words. Fu, a small bubbly woman with a childlike nature with a reserved and apprehensive nature and finally a young man named Kilik. Sado spoke to Fu and set up negotiations and claims of land, Golden Sabbath would take everything surrounding and below Kusasōgen and the White Lotus could have everything upward and surrounding Takinomori. He traded with Kilik who was interested in his medicine and moved on back toward home. With time and rest, he moved through the adjacent lands finding an abandoned site in the rainy area below Kusasōgen. There he found a manuscript of a lost and dying settlement from the past as well as two pictures of a time gone by. He then traveled to Forskellig helping a merchant deliver his wares to his shop. He learned that due to the fall of the Freehold many settlements were in dire need of order and protection. No rules meant no regulations on bandits and highwaymen that robbed from the settlements on top of that he learned most shinobi either used their power to extort or destroy.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado noticed a growing theme among each settlement he visited and helped. These lands needed protection, he thought maybe the Golden Sabbath could offer that. A light touch to stop the crime but leave the people to govern themselves. He spoke to an older woman in a small hospital adjacent to the market and helped heal a few of her patients. He then went to Tsuchi Heiho seeking out the census bureau and made his clan official claiming the lands he had visited and placed them under the protection of the Golden Sabbath. He stopped at the market and bought a permit to build roads and a set of obsidian shaded armor. Returning home he found a boy tramping around the base Vegeta had created. Instinctively he stepped out from his hidden position and attacked without thought. He forced upon the boy a truth serum wanting to know why he was here, what he wanted and most of all who he was. During a short fight, Sado got over himself and his hatred of shinobi enough to realize this boy meant him nor his lands any harm. More than that he was looking to promote peace and prosperity. Sado asked him to join his clan and explained his thoughts and the tenets of his clan as well as noticed a familiar technique the boy had used. Not long after the fight ended a woman came up to Sado asking for his help. She was from Forskellig and a hunting party had gone missing. The kid told Sado his name was Trunks and then Sado and Trunks decided to go looking for the hunting party.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The woman had told Sado that they may have ventured into the Haunted Forest so Sado and Trunks traveled northward passing through Tsuchi Heiho. Sado noticed a gleam in the boy's eye as he saw all the wares and weapons and slipped him some Ryo he had saved up to go on a little spending spree. Once Trunks returned they continued onward toward their destination. Reaching the forest Sado noticed multiple off-putting things multiple sets of tracks, skittish animals and the distinct smell of burnt chemicals and plastics. Tracking down the scent he and Trunks found the remains of a burnt down lab with several instruments of torture strewn about. They followed sets of tracks fleeing the area to a small group of desperate and scared people. They together learned that a man had viciously tortured them. Sado healed a few of them and Trunks healed the rest. It, however, took some convincing to show that the pair meant these people no harm. They learned that a man freed these people and burnt the lab to the ground. Not long after this revelation the man showed himself trying to scare Sado and Trunks. Sado merely told him to cut the bullshit and show him where the man who hurt these people was. He was seeking vengeance and was nearly blind to any other course of actions. He tried to force a compromise wherein this man would report to the Golden Sabbath as to keep these lands safe. Grenth refused before he gave his name and information of his clan. Seeking retribution Sado attacked him, if he wouldn't do what needed to be done to keep these lands safe and force punishment upon the evil vile creature that did this then Sado would do it for him. After a short back and forth Grenth relented agreeing with Sado and causing his clan the Reapers to fall under the watchful eye of the Golden Sabbath.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]A Renegade Soul | Sado's Home for Lost Souls[/I][/INDENT][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"My people, they're scared. They don't know why they had to come here, they're far from home, afraid and alone. They don't know about the violence in this world. I can tell they just want to live a comfortable life. That man he forced them into this state of fear, this state of worry, and he uprooted them from their homes and forced each of them to hide away. I don't pretend to know the challenges they're facing. I know there's no replacing what they've lost and they need time. I'm afraid my words won't reach, there's a fear too powerful to name. I'm afraid they'll push away what they could never understand. I'm afraid they'll push away the only shinobi who can make sure they survive this turmoil. Takauji Ashikaga forced these powerless individuals, these humans with no access to strength like ninjutsu into such a terrible place by targeting the Golden Sabbath, and here I am, setting aside the pride I've taken years to build up, I'm giving up my name, my life, and my glory to build a narrative, a story. I've come to the White Lotus with one request, claim my bounty, help me make sure that his Gambit fails."[/COLOR] [HR][/HR][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Abruptly and without warning due to their constant expansion and growing deeds a bounty was placed upon the members of the Golden Sabbath. The highest bounties placed upon their heads were for Sado Yasutora and Vegeta. Sado responded to this instinctively he prepared himself to fight. He worked on some technology and set up their base for defense forming a shadow clone to fight alongside him. He was lost to his brutish nature, nature he was trying to escape. Time passed and no one came, finally, the clone began to speak to him. It was silent up until this point, it explained that what Sado was doing was dumb, it was exactly what the person who placed the bounty wanted he was feeding into it. It told him he didn't have to fight. Sado shrugged this notion off. Didn't have to fight!? Then he began to think about it, he really didn't have to fight. That was his own predilection for constant battle that lead him to that conclusion. The smarter thing to do would be to drain this person of their funds. Takauji Ashikaga. He knew so much about Sado enough to form a bounty for him, enough to explain his appearance and his heritage. Sado had the clone evacuate the lands surrounding him as Sado himself fell back to Takinomori and met with the White Lotus.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Sado formed another clone and sent it to Forskellig evacuating that land as well. He knew they'd be raided, so what? He'd let the vultures and scavengers pick over what little fame and Ryo they could find. He would aim higher, he would aim at the heart of Takauji Ashikaga. Without explaining anything he erratically and violently attacked his ally Fu moments after passing her a scroll and explaining she could only open it "once their business was finished." He cornered the woman in front of her people, and his own. He needed a real response from her, and he needed everyone present to see it. She did it. His arms hung high in the air his body and stance wide open she hit him with two techniques that would have killed a normal human, but Sado wasn't a normal human-... he was a half-blood goliath. Stronger, more durable and larger than the average human. His arms were cut from his body as music rang out over the entire landmark of Takinomori drawing the attention of every single individual present. [CENTER][SPOILER][MEDIA=youtube]ZXhuso4OTG4[/MEDIA][/SPOILER][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Everyone there saw the same thing, at the same time. They watched Sado Yasutora be cut down with ease before falling to the ground a slumped mass of arrogance, pride, and rage. Fu opened the scroll reading what she was told to do next. She lifted the body grabbed the arms and moved them to a hidden location. She healed him just enough to rouse him to consciousness and he handled the rest. He used his heritage the same heritage Takauji Ashikaga wanted to use against him to regrow the missing limbs and in unison physically and permanently changed his appearance. During this time of unconsciousness, Sado had very vivid and surreal hallucinations at least that's what he rationed them to be as they were very strange. It would take some time but the world would soon hear about Sado's [I]"death."[/I] Fu quickly left to claim the bounty as Sado went out to check on the people and keep a watchful eye for intruders. It wasn't long until a shinobi tried to sneak her way into Takinomori, looking for her own fistful of Ryo and moment of fame. She was met with a terrified crowd that had just watched Sado fall, the man she was chasing was felled mere moments before her arrival. What she was met with instead was a charming, charismatic, haughty man who said his name was [I]Jack.[/I] He looked nothing like Sado, he was only six foot three, with a soft face and body, nothing like the description of Sado Yasutora. He subtly manipulated and reasoned with the woman until she felt herself in the wrong for her actions. He was the good guy here, and she would be the villainess should she rise up against the White Lotus here and now. She soon left, turned away however she had brought several merchants with her.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]These merchants heard the story she was told and walked away with a secret the world didn't know about. Sado soon learned that the world loved secrets, and that story spread up along the Badlands of Earth and down the Land of Fire like a wildfire. It burned the lips of everyone who spoke it spreading the tale of the slain demon Sado and the angel who put a stop to him at the behest of Takauji. The story influenced the world around him as he learned about it rather quickly. It was an amusing set of events and gave him a more devious idea to influence the world and information therein. With his ally Trunks bringing back one of those very merchants to Takinomori, Sado had his opening. The information had reached Trunks even before Sado himself could which surprise even he. Sado quickly turned the woman to his side, and she began to grow infatuated with the persona of [I]"Jack"[/I] that Sado had been building up. With a few kind words and by directing her pity toward the people of their lands, Sado was able to slyly convince the woman to become a spy for him. She traveled out into the world along with a clone and began to send reports back to Sado the first few reports were innocuous. Landmass size, building structures, people they saw, as well as flora and fauna. Then came the more interesting stuff they began to trail the tail of two more of the merchants who had spread the story.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]During this time Trunks left Takinomori before Sado was able to explain everything he seemed slighted by Sado's actions. This brought upon Sado a period of depression mainly due to his bipolar nature. He began to blame himself for Trunk's leaving, as well as racked his mind at all the poor outcomes that could arise from his actions. When everything seemed to be going it's best, Sado seemed to feel at his worst. He seemed to be letting everyone around him down, and this played heavily into his past reminding him of it constantly. As this transpired the clone and the spy continued their journey together toward the Tea Peninsula. Eventually, the pair made it to the edge of the Peninsula. What they found well it infuriated the clone to a point of pure irrationality. By this point, he had grown to call himself Smith and what he saw in Qindong made him want to pick apart Takauji Ashikaga piece by piece and mail those pieces back to his army. He found a people oppressed, left to fend for themselves, starving, dirtied and impoverished. They were living in a war-zone, in squalor and slum clinging to each other and to their lives. He had to act he couldn't sit by and let this take place. He healed two children a young girl named Lynn and her brother named Bram. He then met their parents and convinced them he could provide them a home.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]They were so lost and hungry that they were willing to believe in the first kind stranger to show his face in their land. He had Lynn's mother Izumi go around the slum and speak to her people and tell them his offer. A home, for anyone who wanted it. If Takauji wouldn't shelter these people, Smith, or Sado, or Fu, or Korra or Trunks or Vegeta surely would. He explained to them what was going to happen and then after forming another clone he sent them all on their way back to Takinomori. The secondary clone began to travel using a massive three-headed snake for transportation he pushed his way up through the Land of Fire a man on a mission giving these people any small comfort he could. Halfway through his journey, he found a landmark that amazed him it was named Hayakami and what he saw was everything he needed. He went around to the numerous farms, plantations, and fields speaking directly to the local growers. He bought enough supplies to sustain multiple landmarks both for food and for crop growth.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]He sealed all of the supplies into a scroll and proceeded the rest of the way home with these downtrodden people in tow. He made it back to Takinomori in record time and upon getting there he explained everything he could to both Sado and these people. Then he dispersed sending out all of the information Smith, and he had gained over the long journey. Sado was both surprised and happy. Even when he was doing nothing himself, he was doing so much. Soon he would take the fight directly to Takauji with the help of his clan, the White Lotus, and anyone else who would stand by him. Learning everything Smith and the second clone knew he learned about various lands, their landmass structure, their populations, their foodstuffs anything he would need to know. It was an extremely easy way to learn. He had probably gathered more information on this journey then he had about the world previously. However something was wrong with him, he couldn't figure it out.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]He was broken, no matter how many people he surrounded himself with, no matter how many people he helped or how many good deeds he accomplished or how many people told him what a great person he was he felt all alone. He tallied up all of his deeds, as was the custom of his goliath forefathers and the list always felt like it came up short like it wasn't enough to make up for his past. He was in an unfamiliar world with unfamiliar people, unable to come to terms with himself as a human, knowing only that he was a Goliath. He was different than these people, he was fractured, splintered and fragmented.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [INDENT][I]A New Soul | Battle of Shinramoto[/I][/INDENT] [CENTER] [HR][/HR][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY][IMG2=right]https://i.imgur.com/EIu9uf7.jpg[/IMG2][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Issued By:[/COLOR][/B] Takauji Ashikaga[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Name(s):[/COLOR][/B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)] [/COLOR]Sado Yasutora[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Orders:[/COLOR][/B] Defeat and incapacitation.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Wanted For:[/COLOR][/B] Formation of a rogue state that is unlawfully occupying territory that belongs to the Hangurian Freehold and its rightful heir Takauji Ashikaga.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Bounty:[/COLOR][/B] Defeating and incapacitating Sado Yasutora will be rewarded with 7,000 Ryo and 3,000 Kumi.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Special Info:[/COLOR][COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)] [/COLOR][/B]The following are details gathered by the Black One's Intelligence Division and are formally being declassified for issuance of these bounties. Sado, otherwise known as Howard, is a 24 year old male from an unspecified bloodline with peculiar abilities surrounding the use of Senjutsu. Sado stands at a towering 7'5" with rugged features. His most notable body feature is a tattoo on his left shoulder, which reads "Love and Death." It appears as a heart with a snake surrounded by angel wings. Sado is a Kage ranked combatant and is afforded additional enhancements due to his Senjutsu-heritage. He specializes in Lightning Release and, like his compatriot Vegeta, prefers close quarters combat and the utilization of Medical Ninjutsu. Information and posters for this bounty is spread throughout the world; information for Sado's bounty is readily available for any individual in any landmark.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][B][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]Rendezvous:[/COLOR][/B] You are to bring proof of Sado's defeat to one of the marketplaces. There a Black Ones representative will issue the appropriate payoff. [HR][/HR][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado spent most of his time for the next few months in Takinomori tending to his people and the people of the White Lotus gaining a deep trust and understanding between the two clans. Eventually, he had to move on and begin going about his business. He was in a rather depressive state and during this time Trunks came to him to discuss matters about why he had been evading him. Together they shared a long conversation each explaining themselves to the other and gaining an understanding about one another. During this Sado explained everything about his life up until that point including his past as a Goliath and the treatment he suffered. Trunks explained about his early life and mentioned his absentee father and doting mother explaining what his father looked like. Sado realized he was describing Vegeta and he told Trunks this. Trunks was petrified as he then went on to explain what he was going to do. Fight his father, Sado understood this mentality and said he'd help him. Sado sent Trunks off to regain his artifact and buy new ones gifting him a substantial amount of Ryo. When he returned they set off for the Haunted Forest to meet Vegeta and check in on Grenth.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]While this was happening the clone going by the pseudonym Smith entered into the Tea Peninsula through the isthmus of Chungsu. There he met a woman named Lena of Shinramoto after a discussion about their intentions they went to her home where she explained everything about Takauji and his Black Ones that she knew including their landmasses. The clone was directed toward a man named Zeri as Lena left and there he explained things as they were. With time Lena returned and she was injured. Smith healed her and she explained that the attack was imminent. Smith and Lena both participated in the Battle of Shinramoto and they narrowly eeked out a victory. Smith later found out Hawkeye one of the villagers he was introduced to had perished in the battle and this seemed to him, to upset Lena who returned with the young woman in her arms. Smith sent all of the information back to Sado and with the new information, he decided he needed to gather up allies. Smith was growing to become his own person possibly another splintered personality. Sado spoke to Grenth and healed a child that had been hurt by an enemy of Grenth's.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]With that finished Sado told Grenth he believed that him joining the Golden Sabbath was the best course of actions. Grenth agreed and went off to gather lands under his name, and thus under the banner of the Golden Sabbath when he joined. During this Vegeta left for Shinramoto learning about the Shogun from Sado. Sado found himself spending more time in the Haunted Forest than he expected. Everything seemed to be picking up, he assumed a revolution was brewing and wanted to be one of the people at its forefront. On a whim, a blatant ADHD driven whim Sado took on a student. A Sage Transformation user who he saw was unstable and needed training. He felt responsible for the teenager and wanted to help him learn what a Goliath was and what they could do.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]It didn't take long for Sado to decide that he would train that unstable child. He knew more than anyone else that if he didn't train him to control his emotions and rage, that child would lash out at the world around him. Sado went to check on him and what he found there was a violent mob attacking the boy and his mother. With all of the restraint, he could muster Sado began to push through the mob with the aim to get toward the child and his mother. He couldn't stop it. If he could maybe things would have been different but a human, a greedy, insignificant human tossed a rock at that child's mother. He didn't know the beast he would set free with that action, not Sado but that child. He could tear this entire mob to pieces if provoked that was the potential Sage Transformation had. Sado acted quickly as he pushed through the final human blocking his path as he dashed forward gripping the child and defusing the situation. If he had been even a second slower, the child would have become feral, the transformation had already been instigated as the child's fingers and hands were becoming pointed, sharp, weapons. Sado used his own transformation abilities to spread a sense of fear in the hearts of these people. He scared them away took the mother and child to their home and convinced her he could train the boy to harness his abilities. Together they set out for a mountaintop where Sado trained the boy before they returned to the village a few weeks later.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]Souls Laid to Rest | The Razing of Degarashan[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"That's why I'm here. I'll be the demon, and I'll be the monster, I can shoulder that burden and it's not that far from the truth in all honesty. My clan and I will be the rival to Takauji Ashikaga and his Shogunate. We'll be the people who kill indiscriminately and love every moment of it."[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] Upon returning to the village Sado met with his clone that had been stationed in the Haunted Forest explained everything and Tetsuo home. Sado returned to being rather bored healing people who needed it until one-day Grenth returned. Together they finalized the merger between the Reapers and the Golden Sabbath and through this merger they obtained a vast territory. One not earned by any other clan. With everything in the Haunted Forest set Sado messaged his clone Smith explaining everything and told him to have Salazzle summon him to Shinramoto as Smith told him that Vegeta was there raving about corpses rising from the grave in the Ruins of Chungsu. Sado appeared in Shinramoto and began to gather information about the current atrocity taking place to the north. He learned that there were undead hordes rising from the grave. Not wanting these creatures to harm Shinramoto he alongside Vegeta and Lena went to the Ruins of Chungsu to cull the herd and save some of the bandits that Lena was allied with. After taking out hundreds if not thousands of the creatures they realized that they were ever spawning and their efforts were futile. However, after directing the bandits toward Shinramoto, Sado and Vegeta devised a plan that they referred to as "Easy Street." They would lead the undead through an underground tunnel system into the heart of Degarashan the capital city of the Shogun. To say they worked together was mainly just Vegeta pitching the plan and Sado fine-tuning it.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Vegeta began to dig the tunnels and Sado went to Shinramoto to build up defenses both for the horde of undead and for the eventual retaliation from the Shogun. As Vegeta crafted an elaborate series of tunnels Sado built a set of massive walls. Lena even added sentient barnacles that would act as guards for the wall. Lena and Sado had some time to their selves as they began to discuss the plan. In a shocking turn, Lena came up with an addition to the plan. They could airdrop undead onto the Shogun's head. Sado not wanting to be outdone thought up how best to accomplish this idea and together they began to fly toward Degarashan carrying massive earthen cages filled to the brim with oobleck and undead. Sado noticed the undead rushing in from the north from where Vegeta had led them. The plan was in full swing as he dropped the first earthen "bomb" down upon Degarashan. It made a booming thud followed by a sickly sloshing noise as dozens upon dozens of undead began to shamble out of the constructs toward anything that moved. They began to devour the citizens of Degarashan. [I]"Monsters"[/I] Sado would show the Shogun a monster if that was what he thought he was. Lena was beginning to regret her decision as immediately after setting the undead loose she began to falter. She didn't' think this was what Sado would be doing. He understood. He knew that she might not be as sadistic or as violent as him. He just hoped he could salvage their partnership. After a final attack disguised as Alexandros Megas, Sado exited Degarashan and returned to the Ruins of Chungsu. After all of that, he assumed Lena wouldn't want to be allies anymore.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]He ruminated in the Ruins of Chungsu for hours as Salazzle his personal summon told him to man up and stop acting like a bitch. He needed to seek out Lena and repair the damage that had been done by creating a dialogue. With time he took her advice and began to return to Shinramoto along the way he escorted a small family through the hordes of undead to Shinramoto. Returning he found Zeri and told him he was seeking Lena. Apparently, there had been many changes to the village while he was absent. Another ally of Lena's had been working alongside them building wooden structures and homes for the numerous refugees. Sado was sent to find Lena and due to his Sage Mode he could sense her out and find her rather easily. What he found on the ship he was told to find though created a very awkward scenario. It seemed Lena had been blowing off steam with a companion they were-... well. Sado unknowingly walked straight into it trying to make jokes and be funny to cut the tension and leave the entire group a little less embarrassed. After a few moments, Lena exited the cabin-room and began to explain what was happening. No, not that. She explained that Angela Bliss was her ally from Jinshui and from there they discussed what had happened in Degarashan and came to terms with the fact that their ideas and goals wouldn't always align. Sado returned to his normal appearance and in a show of respect, he asked Lena to join his clan. He was quickly rebuffed as Lena had other plans for her own growth and the growth of Shinramoto. It wasn't long after that, that Angela thought it wise to make introductions exiting the cabin and beginning to speak. Sado noticed immediately that she was a beautiful, charismatic, charming woman with a powerful presence and a tendency to try and take hold of any situation she was in. She told Sado that she knew him from his bounty. Sado told her he had no idea who she was but that if they were going to be allies maybe they should play a game to get to know one another.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Unbeknownst to any of the woman Sado had a plan. He didn't trust this woman from the moment he laid eyes on her. She spoke with an air of superiority and she was obviously manipulating Lena from the way she spoke toward her. Sado didn't take kindly to humans manipulating his allies. The idea of a game fascinated Angela and she was making the rules up before Sado even had a chance to speak. Sado cut her off and explained he could make it fairer. A substance that made it impossible to lie. He could tell she wouldn't' have agreed to this if it had been said at the start but now she was already in the game. She didn't want to appear weak in front of Lena or Sado. So what followed her agreeance and then Sado using the poison. Then there was a back and forth first Angela flung questions at Sado. She believed she could keep herself in charge of the situation as she tried to lord over and rule the conversation. Sado let it go for a while as he drew out information from her in small quantities. She had a force of will that allowed her to keep certain secrets even while being poisoned with a truth serum. Eventually, she asked about his mental instability and about monsters. It was as if it was a trigger, or it instigated a reaction out of Sado. He shifted his personality and showed that he was the one in charge here, he had been in control of this conversation from its start. He only let Angela believe she was in control to get her to lower her guard and allow for a game of cat and mouse. Sado gave three questions to Lena. Angela agreed as long as they were answered last. Lena wasn't going to wait as she got up from her seat and took her questions asking several personal questions of Angela. It was then that she realized-... she was outplayed, she was defeated completely and there was nothing she could do to regain the power she once had. Sado deferred the rest of the questions to Lena, explained that Angela wouldn't remember anything due to the poison and left. He sought out his clone, his personal summon and they all went to a tavern to drink away their problems. What they didn't know was that Lena had seen through Angela finally and she ended their partnership sending her back to Jinshui with threats. Sado spent about forty minutes drinking himself under the table while singing karaoke pissing off numerous other patrons. He couldn't get drunk though.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]After a long time, Lena arrived, catching one of the steins that had been tossed at Sado's head he appeared to drunkenly avoid it. She downed its contents and made her way to his table. She seemed to be more reckless, and less sheltered than before. Sado didn't know she was dealing with a bit of heartbreak. Even if he did he wouldn't know how to help her through it. He left her and Salazzle discuss what had happened. After that, the conversation took a turn back to the holidays and how they could aid the people in celebrating. Lena set out to help and Sado relegated all of his responsibilities to Smith who went about helping the children carve pumpkins. Sado stayed in the tavern trying to drink himself into a state of stupefaction unable to due to his innate poison resistance and hardy nature. Unwillingly he was summoned back to the Graveyard of Sin to learn that there had been a lot of changes. It was a full-fledged city now that was acting as a trading post. The merger with the Reapers was in full swing and another of Sado's clones had gone to Takinomori to lock in another merger between the Golden Sabbath and the White Lotus. Sado began to gather his thoughts and meditate on what to do next trying to figure out how to take everything he had and make it whole. He felt as though Lena wouldn't be joining what he and the Golden Sabbath had created. Also, he didn't know that Trunks had already decided to leave and venture out on his own.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]A Soul in Need[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Just be who you are and what you want to be, instead of trying to be what others want you to be, that includes me. It's something I was trying to teach to another Sage Transformation user I had met and trained. "I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine." That mentality is how I accepted what I am, and learned to control it better. Though what works for me might not work for you, so in the end do it at your own pace, as long as that's what you want to be doing. Be it here, or anywhere, am I making sense?"[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]While Sado sat rather dumbfounded and awestruck in the Graveyard of Sin his clone Smith who was still in Shinramoto was putting in work. He aided his ally, Lena of Shinramoto, as she came off the heels of a devastating loss at the hands of her former lover turned enemy Angela Bliss. The clone had sat aside for a while sulking wasting time away in a depressive state with Lorelei tending to his needs when he was too lazy and apathetic to take care of himself. He found himself in a situation where Lena had been attacked by Angela and in self-defense had slain the woman. Smith did his best to convince her she had done the right thing and comforted her to the best of his ability. Using this moment to show her that there was a place for her. She had Shinramoto and she had the Golden Sabbath. Somehow, for the first time, it seemed like she believed him. Maybe it was just due to the fact that she needed something to focus on or someone to be there but she agreed to go with Smith to meet the Golden Sabbath. Together after setting up a few defenses and Smith leaving behind a clone they ventured off toward the Graveyard of Sin. Smith felt accomplished, looking back at where he began. A spy, a clone, sent to the Tea Peninsula to gather information he had done that and more. He had secured one of the strongest allies he could find and grew a bond of friendship.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT]Unknown Souls | A Village Born in Sin[/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"I can finally see my life as a series of compounding, poor choices. There was nothing I could've done to save my tribe, yet I still sold my soul to this shinobi world in search of vengeance. I traded my safety for the belief that I could murder my way to redemption; that if I could be a greater horror, it would bring my people back to me. Once this lie was shattered I scrambled to find a solution, to drink away my memories, to undo my mistakes, and balance the scales. I now understand that there are no scales, there is no redemption, and no ledger that judges me good or evil. I am free to simply be myself and live with the terrible mistakes I've made."[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Sado was scrambling to figure out what to do, he found himself alone for a moment with his thoughts. Through some solemn meditation, he searched his mind and heart for the next set of goals to work toward. Soon after his clone, Jack reached Takinomori gathered up Korra and Fu set an alliance and returned with them in tow. This gave Sado the motivation he needed to gather up all of his remaining allies. He sent out messages gathering up the remaining members. Grenth returned, followed soon by Vegeta. They were accompanied by new individuals that Sado didn't know. Stragglers that had their own motivations to be there. He learned of a young Uchiha, Ikiru who wanted a job, maybe a mercenary. Sado knew the type, he was one for years. The type to move from one goal to another and one odd job to the next. Next a strange woman with an allure. She called herself Rebekah. With time everyone told their stories.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Sado would be first to tell his story. He told Rebekah and all of the individuals there just who he was and what drove him forward. He shared with them his primal drive to build a society. They seemed to understand and that pleased him to know that these people understood what he meant. He explained about the plan he had for the future. A summit, the first of it's kind since the destruction of the Freehold. It would be a place for the clans of the Badlands of Earth to speak on what they wanted and what they needed to prosper. It would be a large affair so Sado using several large scale Earth techniques crafted a meeting place. A massive coliseum to tell their stories to fight among one another and to learn through combat. It would be where the meeting was held very soon. He received a message from Smith telling him what had happened with Lena and that they were on their way to meet him and the Golden Sabbath. It was as if his six or seven months of planning was coming to a head.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Eventually, Lena and Smith showed up, and with them there all of the pieces he had been maneuvering for months were in one place. Sitting at the table inside of the newly formed Kage Mansion, Sado began the summit. He claimed the title of Kage, and he set up the council. Grenth, Vegeta and Trunks for now. Around this time Trunks himself returned. Each taking a spot at the table Sado had crafted they began to speak on just what they thought they needed to do and build to make this crazy plan work. The remaining Golden Sabbath, Sado, Vegeta, Trunks and Grenth, the White Lotus, Fu and Korra, and finally the few stragglers who wanted a home, Ikiru, Rebekah, two jinchuriki Mala and finally Isoka. Together they forged a name, Tsumigakure, the Village Hidden in Sin and together they agreed on goals. Better defenses, more territory, a hospital. Binding together in the Graveyard of Sin they formed something special, something wholly their own.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]Forgotten Souls[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"I'm sure I can find a place for each of you but you must know, this society isn't like our old tribe. Nothing is solved with violence here, interpersonal relationships are solved through words and debate. So if you have a problem with someone else you will bring it to me or one of my council. This goes doubly true for the boy who attacked me, thinking he could solve his problem with a deathmatch, there won't be any needless pissing contests to gain favor or prestige. Work, effort, and time. That's how you'll raise your stations, not through violence. Understood?"[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]After the summit, Sado sent a few of the villagers out on missions. Grenth and Rebekah went out to investigate a criminal after Ikiru and Grenth went out to create better defenses. Korra and Fuu set out to build a hospital. Sado was left relatively alone as he slipped away to be on his own. His personality shifted as his regret and self-doubt reared its head. He traveled to Tsuchi Heiho under the control of his secondary personality and took a mercenary job to ease his mind. After an utter failure, he returned in self-disgrace knowing he wasn't who he used to be. It bothered him significantly but it was about to get worse. Oh so much worse.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]From the east approached three individuals. He didn't know who they were or why they were there but something about their chakra signature was familiar. They felt like goliath, but he hadn't heard, nor seen of a goliath in years. As they entered his lands he became defensive rushing to their position and commanding them to halt. On further inspection when they lowered their hoods he realized that these where indeed goliath. Without a word, the biggest one, who was at least a foot taller than Sado ran toward him in an arcing motion. The bigger goliath's movements were slow and predictable as Sado released a strange energy around him with white wisps of steam flowing from him.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]His speed increased as he increased his weight flowing chakra through his arm and slamming the much larger and heartier goliath to the ground slamming him into a crater of Sado's making crushing his arm below his weight and force. It was enough to knock the goliath unconscious. After a moment of silence, the older goliath woman approached and explained everything as it was. They were from his previous tribe. Sickness and the remaining Hangurian Black Ones had left them nearly extinct. Sado agreed to take them in on one condition the older goliath would tell him about his parents. It was something he always wanted to know but was too weak to force them to tell him in his adolescence. The goliath was hesitant but she explained what she knew. It turned out his mother was a descendant of the great uniters the Nobunaga lineage and the power he called upon mere moments ago was theirs.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Sado didn't know what to think or what to say. He was perplexed. The information nearly stunned him, he was half goliath that was always true but now he had learned a dark secret. He was a descendant of the Freehold with some rights to the lands he was taking in. He had just as much right as Takauji Ashikaga the man they had fought for months. He never thought highly of his mother, the stories he had been told were deplorable. A human made into his father's pet but the story this older goliath told was of a noble of Hanguri birth. A sparkling Jewel of the Sun who could heal, and destroy on a whim. energy he called upon this Yang energy was new to him, but the history he learned about told him that his mother commanded it like it was her own it was a power of strength, durability, and life. Sado had a lot to deal with and didn't have the time or mental capacity to deal with an entire village and his own problems. He sent the goliath to Catherine a representative of Forskellig and they found a place to call home in the Village Hidden in Sin.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]The Souls that Fled[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"All that is really known is that a fleet of five ships with the Ashikaga family Coat of Arms was seen off the coast of the southern Water Archipelago later in the day. The ships appeared to be going east. We know not where they flee, but I believe they've suffered enough for now."[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Sado came to realize that he had to keep pushing forward so when Trunks sought him out with a problem, an Uchiha compound that needed taming he jumped on the opportunity to do some good. Honestly, he just wanted a distraction. Together alongside Grenth and Ikiru the party set out toward the Motoi Drylands. It was at this time that the unnamed clone that Smith had left in Shinramoto sent word of surprising news to Smith and Lena. The Shogun and his Freehold had fled to the east leaving the Tea Peninsula open. He left behind a confused and leaderless people. They didn't know much, but what they did know was an extraordinary set of circumstances. It seemed that the Razing of Degarashan had crippled them and left them with a single choice. Retreat and embarrassment. Was this what Sado wanted? He would soon know about this, would it settle him or send him into a fervor? Only time will tell.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][I]Reclaimed Souls[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Tell me why I should allow you and your clan to live, convince me to heal your eyes, and to trust your word. If you can do that, maybe there's a place for you under the banner of the Golden Sabbath."[/COLOR][CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]Sado found himself in the Motoi Drylands, focusing on one more distraction just to ease his active and distracted mind. The information he had gained about his mother and the Freehold weighed heavily on his mind. It didn't help that he soon learned that Takauji Ashikaga and his Hangurian Black Ones had retreated far away to the remote lands to the east. He learned that they left behind a confused and leaderless people. Why did all of this happen to him? Why was he at the center of it? Was it just because he couldn't keep his mouth shut or his mind pointed on a single task? He wasn't sure but he decided to focus on the distraction. He used what he had been taught by his tribe to alter his appearance to that of a small child as he began to gather information from people. The first person he bumped into was an older woman. She tried to convince him to hide, and that the streets weren't a safe place. He played the part of a child for a while and asked her "why." She explained that the Uchiha were kidnapping and ransoming people from a remote compound it wasn't safe for women and children to be out at night in these parts.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]She kept trying to convince Sado to hide, and that she could keep him safe. He pushed the subject and eventually learned that the woman had lost her son to the Uchiha and was unable to pay the ransom for him so she was just being overprotective and a bit defensive. When Sado pushed the subject further it seemed he had reached a point that angered the woman. He was trying to reassure her that he could protect her, forgetting his altered appearance for a moment. She smacked him across the face, trying to show him how weak and small he was. This action sent Sado on his was as he began to make his way to the Uchiha Compound in the Motoi Drylands. He didn't have time to explain who he was, and why he was here. Salazzle asked him what he was going to do, referencing the Battle of Shinramoto and the Razing of Degarashan as instances where he went into action without thinking.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]After a moment of thought, Sado reasoned that they might have been violent means, but they got the job done explaining that to Salazzle. She told him she would support him but he was an idiot. Sado was fanciful, he made a show out of his appearance as he caused music to belt out from his position piercing into the compound and rousing the Uchiha. He believed that he had to make a show of force to prove that the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure truly owned these lands. He was was swift to start the attack as he called out for the Uchiha to lay down their arms and yield to the Golden Sabbath. Obviously, they saw a mere child, as a row of the Uchiha guards, took post on the extensive wall end to end their crimson-eyes shined in the night contrasted by the darkness of the sky and the light of the stars above. They told him they would yield to no-one especially a child like him. Sado laughed, he had completely forgotten about the transformation he had undergone. He did that often by this point, he had used an altered appearance for months. He decided he would have to prove to them, that their place was below the banner of the Golden Sabbath.[CENTER][SPOILER][MEDIA=youtube]2G5rfPISIwo[/MEDIA][/SPOILER][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]He directed Salazzle on what to do, and they performed a massive combination together using fire and poison similar to the actions taken in the Battle of Shinramoto. Sado expelled a massive wall of fire, while in unison igniting a jet of flammable poison lighting the wall aflame as Salazzle tore open a rift in the sky calling down a column of flammable poison using summoned explosive tags to ignite the column of red-crimson poison. The group had been trapped between a pincer maneuver. Those that fled escaped with minor burns and being poisoned, those that stayed and tried to defend were engulfed as the water they used to douse the flames merely acted like water on a grease fire causing the fire to splash and slosh coating numerous Uchiha in fire and poison. The first attack was a success as they pushed the initial vanguard back. They underestimated him thoroughly, but he wouldn't be able to rely on the element of surprise again. He needed to break the massive, reinforced, gates and enter into the compound.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]He relied upon a creation of his. Red Sand, he caused the ground below the gates to buckle inward as he caused a giant monster, crafted from Red Sand to rise up using the strange energy he had learned was called Yang energy to breathe life into the beast. This was the second time he had used this technique and he was growing used to it. Asmodeus, he called the creature as it roared forth tearing apart the gate and using its long gangly arms to rip through another battalion of the Uchiha. So far they had been below average, probably genin and chunin. He could handle one-hundred or so of them due to his abilities. A rearguard seemed to form behind the battalion that has just been torn to sunders by Asmodeus, the sentient Red Sand golem. That was when it happened, Sado called forth telling them to bring forth their leader. He waited for a moment pausing as, the remaining vanguard began to split.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]What walked forth caught him off guard, it was a woman. Her beauty. was distracting, and he almost lost focus for a moment when she lifted her leg spreading the fabric of her dress-like samurai armor. She slammed her foot to the ground with hard, dense [B]"thud" [/B]as soundwaves emanated from her position silencing the music that rippled outward from his position. It was the first time someone had been able to do that. She continued by activating her sharingan and going into a rhyming verse talking down to him. She was speaking his language, and it was offputting, but enthralling as he began to course Yang energy through his body relying upon it heavily by this point. He darted forward toward her as she activated the Mangekyou state of her Sharingan glancing toward the Red Sand creature. In a moment it was lit ablaze as black flames surrounded the beast it squealed out in pain and anguish. Sado learned from this that breathing life into these creatures through Yang allowed them to feel pain, and think. They were genuinely living things. Sado sent a wave of chakra through his arm increasing the weight of his arm as he realized that the only way to beat this Uchiha was to overpower her. He would also alter his appearance returning it to normal. She told him her name, Nakano Uchiha the onna-bugeisha as she noticed him approaching. Sado was too fast, her eyes could easily keep up with him but she was too slow to react and move her body in time.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Sado was able to land a decisive blow to her midsection using his hands like claws, or so he thought as the woman spit blood in his face the blood and viscera spilling from her guts. Her last words were labored and distraught, [I]"the Demon, Sa-...do."[/I] Sado noticed the light and life in her left eye begin to fade and assumed she was dying but instead she vanished completely seemingly turning to dust. Without a pause, she apparently appeared behind him calling out to him. She had used Izanagi, giving the sight in her left eye and in turn rewriting reality itself. She told Sado to yield and to submit to her, as an acolyte telling him his actions were futile. Sado laughed as he turned to face the woman. She had surprised him with abilities he didn't even know existed but he was cocky. He thought that if he killed her once he could do it again. He darted forward in arrogance using the same attack a second time, what he didn't know was he was being played. She wanted him to attack her in the same way. She had remembered everything about that moment, his hot breath on her bosom. The feral look in his eyes, but more than that both of their positions and everything about their stances, postures and the world around them. It was a trap, and he fell for it as she called out to him baiting him to attack her telling him his previous actions were pitiful and that she had already taken out his little Red Sand pet.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]As he extended his arms out to reach her, her clan cried out for her, cheering, as she instigated a genjutsu, she believed it to be the last genjutsu she would ever cast with her eyes. Izanami. She needed to trap this beast, it was all she could do to save her people from this demon. Her eyes went cold, and empty as the light finally faded completely she was blinded as she fell to her knees exhausted. However, Sado was trapped in Izanami, as his mind was forced to repeat the previous attack pattern. His body remained still, in the real world he couldn't move, his posture and stance frozen mere inches away from landing the final blow upon Nakano Uchiha. She was clever and crafty. He went in without thinking and that left him at a disadvantage. He was lucky to have Salazzle with him as she defended him while he was trapped in the genjutsu. He realized that Nakano was telling him to realize his mistakes and to overcome them, as every time he reached the edge of the attack he would be forced to repeat his actions. So he assumed that was the key to breaking this genjutsu, realizing and overcoming his past mistakes. He reasoned his biggest mistake was his inability to deal with his own problems, and after repeating the attack at least twenty-five times he was able to barely escape the genjutsu.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Salazzle had kept the woman pinned down, as she defended him from the other Uchiha. Sado found himself in a moment of decisiveness and weakness. He offered up an ultimatum to Nakano remembering how Lena of Shinramoto had turned the armies of Takauji Ashikaga against him. He told Nakano she could serve the Golden Sabbath and her clan could survive if she convinced him that they were worth it. With a fiery speech and an innate way with words, she was able to convince him and he healed her eyes using the Yang energy to at least bring back her sight. He didn't know if it would bring back her sharingan but it seemed to at least return her sight to her. Sado told her she would need to release all of the prisoners, stop ransoming people, and stop trying to take in taxes from the surrounding townships and settlements.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]She agreed to the terms of his deal and relented that she was senseless enough to make a deal with the devil, calling Sado a demon once more for putting her in such a position. He was fine with that, he had been called worse before, being a "demon" was just another on a long list of insults he had become used to by now. He helped her up, and she directed her group on what to do, reiterating that they now served the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure. Sado thought about who he could put in charge of this compound. He knew two Uchiha, that could do the job. Lena of Shinramoto who he trusted completely, or Ikiru a new recruit that he didn't know well enough to trust yet but this could be a good test of trust for him. Izanagi and Izanami. He would have to learn about those abilities. The fact that they were used against him, concerned him. He took a few nights in the Motoi Drylands returning the prisoners to their families and keeping tabs on the Uchiha while explaining how things would be from now on. He tinkered with Yang energy and fuuinjutsu and created a seal, that he placed upon his body in the downtime.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][LEFT][I]Rotten Souls | Tobusekai[/I][/LEFT][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Alright, with the original members of the Golden Sabbath here, I feel like I can speak openly and directly. In the last year, we found ourselves struggling against a world that didn't want us. A world that would rather see our people, and us, suffer. A world that sent assassins and degenerates into our lands to smear our name, and destroy what we were building. That world was lead by an influential individual, a man that egotistically dubbed himself "the Shogun." Takauji Ashikaga. At that same time, the world gave a name to me and us as a collective. I became, "the Demon." Sado Yasutora, and with time you all became Tsumigakure. A village hidden in sin. Now is the time we chase down the Shogun and put an end to what he has started. We're going to the Eastern Continent."[/COLOR][/CENTER] [HR][/HR] [JUSTIFY]After reclaiming the Motoi Drylands, Sado returned to the capital and sent out a message for his village mates to return. He was formulating a plan, as he became more erratic once more his bipolar throwing him into a manic state. In the capital, he met with Vegeta, Irene a new member of the clan, and Vayne to discuss where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do in the future. Vegeta wanted what he always wanted, combat and a chance to prove himself. Irene wanted peace and a stable future. Vayne wanted to prove his worth to the village. Sado using his charismatic personality convinced them, along with the rest of his village that they could find what they were looking for in Tobusekai, the East, and they could take it all from Takauji Ashikaga the same man that tried to steal everything from them. Thankfully, his allies trusted him and they prepared to set off. Before they could, a transient no-name shinobi tried to make a name for himself by attacking the party. His attack failed and he fled through the use of some sort of summoning technique leaving just as quickly as he showed up. Though something had happened, completely separate from this no-name, it appeared Grenth used this distraction to cause a disaster in the capital and in the hospital in Takinomori. Sado, not wanting to deal with any of this left everything to Smith his clone. This left the Golden Sabbath and Tsumigakure free to go explore and dominate Tobusekai, and dominate Tobusekai is exactly what they would do in the coming future as Smith handled the rebuilding.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]The first thing Sado did was send scouts ahead to survey the land and try to track down any traces of Takauji Ashikaga, these scouts were Korra and Vayne. Using this time, he and the other members of the Golden Sabbath prepared for their journey. Sado took time to meditate, seal away an immense amount of senjutsu chakra, and enter Sage Mode preparing himself for the east. Additionally, he placed Smith, the clone that had been doing so much in charge of the capital in his absence. Then, together the party set out to make their names and the names of their village known to Tobusekai and the world at large. Sado followed the steps his scouts, seeking out where they ended up crossing the vast ocean for the first time in his young life. This landed our goliath barbarian on the shores of the Eastern Continent, in a place deemed the Lost Shores. An apt name for what he found there, multiple abandoned Ashikaga warships and a freshly built port crafted by Korra and Vayne. He with his villagers decided to make a bombastic message with their next actions.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]They would steal and repurpose these forgotten warships using them as trading vessels to devour the Eastern Continent piece by piece extracting wealth from the lands and making each theirs for the taking. Colonial income Sado called it as he formed two more clones and sent them back toward Tsumigakure to learn to sail them and to deliver them to the shores of the Motoi Drylands. Sado's machinations were grinding ever faster as the cogs and gears of his mind whirred with all of the ideas and schemes. They could be the first new village to control the seas. Trade was a powerful asset, and these ships opened up an ocean of possibilities for Tsumigakure. Sado sent his villagers out into the Eastern Continent to do as they saw fit. He got Vegeta to use his strength and determination to claim and repurpose lands. Korra maintained the port, even Vayne and Irene claimed lands expanding into the heart of Tobusekai.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]Sado himself moved north-east finding himself in a marshy-swamp land called the Dread Marshes. It was a sullen landscape filled to the brim with rot, decay, corpses, and death. It seemed to be the site of an extensive war with losses on every side. Our barbarian wasn't the craftiest or the smartest but he did what he could with what he had lacing the swamp with chakra controlling it. He tried to force all of the rotten bodies deep into the marsh trying to return them to the ground, hoping that by burying them he could make the lands prosperous once more. Once all of the death and decay were deep within the muck and mud he used his chakra to convert the marsh to solid, loamy soil, in essence, giving these neglected warriors a proper burial. It was really all he could do, not being crafty or being able to use Wood Release techniques.[/JUSTIFY] [CENTER][/CENTER] [JUSTIFY]As Sado was busy with his exploration of Tobusekai the two clones he had sent back to Tsumigakure sailed across the wide open sea. They learned how to sail, the parts of a ship, how everything worked until eventually, they delivered the two massive warships to their destination of the Motoi Drylands. Together they docked the ships and refined and expanded the harbor before seeking out the Uchiha compound and Nakano Uchiha. They explained what was going to happen and what plans Sado had for the Eastern Continent and how the Motoi Drylands fit into that plan. However, ADHD got to one of the clones who kidnapped a crew of Uchiha and sailed out to sea to become a pirate. The remaining clone was left with Nakano as they built up the Uchiha compound. The clone that had set out to sea once more, began going by the name Jack and spread lies about who they worked for as he plundered and stole supplies from various trading vessels. He claimed that his crew worked for Takauji Ashikaga and that they were the Hangarian Privateers. The crew even stole from the Witchwood company, in the Aisu Bay and fought samurai in Gaikotsu Bay. This ultimately ended with Jack punching a ship in half, and sinking it in front of the samurai who swam back to the Land of Iron to spread the tale he had crafted. He returned to the Motoi Drylands with supplies and a story. While most of Sado's clones were off having adventures, and Sado himself was questing in Tobusekai we return to Smith. Smith was left to handle the mundane. His days were filled with paperwork, tedious negotiation, and diplomacy. At least he had one light, through it all to drag him out of bed when all he wanted to do was sleep. Lorelei. She got him through it all helping him when he couldn't help himself. He spent a few weeks teaching her medical ninjutsu. Even when the worst happened and Grenth cause destruction and turmoil Lorelei got him through. Smith had one single question for the clone that Grenth had sent "Are you happy?" it couldn't answer as Smith hit it, dispersing it. Smith was lost, and frankly, he was alone. Luckily, the scout Sado sent ahead, Korra was but a clone. Smith learned the Korra herself had been cooped up in Takinomori at the hospital and he found solidarity in her as they worked together to undo the damage wrought by Grenth. It was boring, wearisome, and slow going but Smith held Tsumigakure together when there was no one. In his free time, he sent Korra on missions for the village and even sent Rebekah to track down and spy on Grenth. He was busy, tending to an entire nation.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Tobusekai was untapped, free real estate is what Sado saw as he went about claiming all of the lands he could. After the Dead Marshes, Sado found himself back in the Lost Shores. In a bar, near the port, he played the fool and sang and danced as if he were in a karaoke bar. Things in the Lost Shores had picked up, people had relocated and populated the lands from Tsumigakure. He picked up rumors about excavation and the Mother Cult and this prompted him to travel north-east once more. He planned to investigate this cultist activity remembering the problems caused by the risen dead back during Conquerer's End. After some travel, our goliath found himself in a jagged mountainous region named Sentinel's Stand. There he learned about a war between beasts and humans from a tapestry. Apparently, at least from what the glorified carpet told him, it started with one female entity. She birthed more like her, one could call them "deities" from the looks of the tapestry. The story went that after her children, she created animals and beasts and that made her children jealous. They wanted their own creations so they crafted humans. The beasts and the humans fought, and over time the humans won trapping the first female entity away while the rest left them. Sado didn't really get the point of the story, but he did make the assumption that the woman was the "Mother" from "Mother Cult" deciding to push further east. He claimed the land in the name of Tsumigakure and moved onward wanting to look into this.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The next land he found himself in was an abandoned cityscape, it seemed to be some sort of land devoted to the Sage of Six Paths. His Sage Mode warned him of various individuals with strange chakra in the area but he kept moving forward entering into Hagoromo's Last Hearth that was until two people in cultists' robes attacked him. They used a combination technique and their chakra seemed to resonate together empowering the technique to a level with which Sado had never seen. They created a huge wall of wind and fire as Sado realized that he didn't know what to do. In a moment of panic, he heard something, a voice call out to him, and give him what sounded like a name. [B]Yamata no Orochi. [/B]He didn't know what it meant but instinctually he threw his arms forward calling upon the Yang energy that resided within him. The energy suddenly came to his aid rushing through his body swelling forth with his earth release chakra that felt like it was molding itself. From his body came out several streams of Yang energy in the form of several giant snakeheads. They told him to increase their weight, through earth release and Sado listened. With a piercing screech, the Yamata no Orochi bashed its way through the combination overwhelming it and crushing the cultists below his head.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]He realized, he wasn't controlling this technique, it acted on its own it had its own mind, and some kind of sentience. It bellowed into his mind asking him who he was and why he called upon such a noble creature. It scoffed that he had noble blood in him and that his lifeforce was similar to Tokuhime of the Nobunaga-... that was his mother's name. That was all he could think of as more cultists attacked him from behind with a wind and water combination. Sado was able to handle this, he crafted a blade of Red Sand and sent it flying toward the gargantuan vortex of spiraling water able to decapitate the two cultists. Yamata no Orochi explained that he was a protector of the noble bloodline. As the rest of the cultists fled, the Yang based entity told Sado that it was a child of the Sage of Six Paths. Together they traveled into the center of the city carving a path through the remaining cultists as Yamata no Orochi pulverized dozens of cultists. With the remaining cultists dead or fleeing the two found themselves in front of a statue of the Sage of Six Paths.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Yamata no Orochi told Sado that he wasn't a teacher, he told him everything he knew. Like the bijuu the many-headed snake was a child of the Sage. It told him Sado that if he wanted to learn more to search the ruins of this land, find the Sage's teachings and answer his own questions. The snake-like creature told him about Yang energy, and how he was a manifestation of the physical, Yang. He also mentioned that he had a brother a manifestation of the spiritual, Yin and that Sado might meet him one day. Soon after the multiheaded created faded away back to the nothingness it had come from. Sado stared at the statue until he finally realized there was a riddle on a tablet near its base. It spoke of the Touch of the Sun gracing the statue.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]He didn't know if his answer was correct but by channeling Yang energy into and through the statue Sado access a hidden pathway leading to a room with more tapestry on the wall. On the right wall, there were many depictions of the various ways of using Yang energy. Sado had already stumbled upon several of them himself. However, on the other side, the left wall there were more depictions. This time of black energy, a counterpart to Yang. This must have been Yin, Sado thought as he studied the teachings memorizing the forms and functions. He placed yet another banner near the statue and claimed the land for Tsumigakure. Sado claimed one final land the Ruined Temple before returning to the Lost Shores to regroup. Once more he sought out his allies.[/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][LEFT]Souls of Sacrifice | the Fallen Shogun and the Mother of Beasts[/LEFT][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"You dumb bastard, this is Tsumigakure. Our entire lives we've been struggling. So we don't need an introduction from the likes of you because when we get knocked down-... EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US GETS THE **** BACK UP AGAIN!"[/COLOR][/CENTER] [hr][/hr] [JUSTIFY]Sado was preparing himself in the Lost Shores, expecting the westward expansion of the Mother Cult. He believed that he had boxed them in, that he had taken their lands, and he had forced them into a corner. He was wrong. He was arrogant, and he would regret it. Takauji Ashikaga, the Shogun who tried to march forward on crippled legs had given himself over to the Mother Cult, mind, body and soul. He traded himself and his Hangarian Black Ones for the power he believed he needed to exact his revenge on the Village Hidden in Sin. The cult used the fact that Sado Yasutora was distracted in the Lost Shores to send the lapdog, Shogun to the Haunted Forest. In one unexpected blow, the Shogun killed many and reduced the entire satellite state to ruin and ash. Sado was lucky that he had left a clone in the Graveyard of Sin, because the moment information about the attack reached the capital, Smith the clone Sado had left in charge of the village summoned him home via their personal summon Salazzle and the Reverse Summoning Technique.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The Monster of the Tea Peninsula was quick to act, his clone explained the information that had reached the capital and together alongside any remaining clones they headed out toward the north-west. They moved quickly and traveled non-stop hoping they were fast enough and strong enough to cut the Shogun off before he could deal severe and lasting damage to their village. However, even with their Hangarian War Chasers, they were too slow to avert the destruction of another landmark barely stopping him from making it to a third landmark. What stood before Sado, was a broken, deformed, version of the great Hangurian War General he had heard of. It was a Fallen Shogun, a man who had his essence, his goals, and his personality stripped away from him being nothing more than a hollow shell of a man. The only emotion left to him was the need for vengeance, and the commands given to him by the Mother Cult his only remaining directive was to destroy the Village Hidden in Sin.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]So, with everything he had Sado fought against a man endowed with limitless stamina, speed and strength. To say he was a man anymore would be giving him much more respect than he deserved, at this point, he was nothing more than a yelping monster. He had abilities that confounded and pushed Sado to his absolute limitations, the Sea of Life that ebbed and flowed from his body with every single strike was dangerous in its own right but he had his own malformed, twisted and abusable form of the Eight Internal Gates, renamed the Gates of Life. What transpired over the next three days was a constant push and pull of Takauji Ashikaga, the Fallen Shogun vs Tsumikage Sado Yasutora. Sado himself had to rely on everything he had in his repertoire just to survive and fight this man head-on. First, he had to access the energetic Yang energy, using the Power of the Sun to move and act fast enough to defend from the Fallen Shogun's blows. Each potential strike was enough to cripple and kill an average person. If even one of those blows had landed upon his body Sado would have died. Though it got worse as hour after hour, moment after moment the Fallen Shogun became faster, and more erratic tapping into the seemingly limitless power granted to him by the Mother Cult.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The goliath barbarian was able to push and push and push calling upon every ounce of fortitude to force Takauji Ashikaga to tip his hand. Sado pushed him into using the uppermost limits of his Gates of Life. Sado had to call upon every remaining bit of Yang energy he could muster to enter Yang State. It was something he wasn't familiar with but it gave him the sheer speed and reactions to continue fighting the Fallen Shogun. The Gates of Life vs Yang State was what the fight evolved into. Sado had to literally warp space and time merely to fight this echo of the Shogun barely avoiding the caustic Voidborn Corruption that comprised his form. The Sea of Life that rushed out from his body with each blow eventually made its way onto Sado's skin as his allies finally arrived. Another of his clones summoned him away from the fight just in time to save his life from the Voidborne Corruption that spewed forth from the Fallen Shogun's body. All that was left now was to regroup with his allies.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]So after a strategic retreat that's what he did. He gathered up his strongest men and women, the ones he trusted his life with, Vegeta, Desmond, Skarlet and each of his clones. He knew that he couldn't do this on his own and that messed with his self-esteem but he realized that he had to put that petty shit, those vain and egotistical thoughts aside. If he wanted to keep what he had made alongside his allies then he had to let them in. He had to give them the trust they had earned and fight with them, instead of protecting them. Together they fought the Fallen Shogun, and they were too much for him. It only took a combined effort to snuff out the crippled and broken Takauji Ashikaga, sinking the final nail into the Hanguri Freehold's coffin snuffing out the last remnants of a dying regime. To an extent, it must be ironic, that it was a barbarian that laid to rest the final [I]Sei-i Taishōgun[/I], the final Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force Against the Barbarians, abolished by the same low-class warrior he and his ilk were supposed to exterminate.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]With his death though with the last few dying words, he offered them a warning. He spoke about the Mother of Beasts, Tiamat, the creature that had orchestrated his newly created form. She would be coming soon, the Fallen Shogun was merely a gateway nothing more than a door into a metaphysical dimension that held the beast at bay for ten thousand years. As the remaining life and vigor escaped his body the ground quaked and shook as a light out of the Hokubu Ocean ruptured the sky. The light called out to Sado's hubris, asking him to come and bring all of his sins to stand against the end of the world.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The Demon of the Badlands, Sado Yasutora and his clones settled his people. They each helped rebuild what was broken by the earthquake and Sado healed those who were injured even giving up his own flesh, bone, and blood via Sage Transformation to heal those who were so gravely wounded they would never wake from their comatose state. Then he regathered his allies and set out. Those that weren't with him eventually met him at the Hokubu Ocean where together they started to rise up, they became the resistance the world needed. There were those who wouldn't stand against the Mother of Beasts, either out of fear or greed, but Sado and his village were steadfast and ready. They had risked everything they had before and they would keep doing it until the day the light left their eyes. Sado and his clones attacked, Desmond attacked, and Vegeta intercepted a nameless shinobi who had given himself over to the Mother of Beasts in fear becoming another one of her many children.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Together the Village Hidden in Sin fought alongside the fledgling clan the Rising Cloud and the less impressive village Shimogakure to stave off catastrophe. Sado even found himself slipping into a support role. He healed those around and used the potent Yang energy to break the tethers that the Mother tried to use to subjugate the other shinobi. He wouldn't let that happen if he could stop it. He grew to dislike the Mother of Beasts quickly realizing that she wanted nothing more than to rule over humanity as if they were beasts or snuff out those that would defy her. He and his clones fought, against that notion since the formation of their clan the Golden Sabbath alongside Vegeta, Uta, Trunks, Vayne, and Desmond. He would not let the world fall into the clutches of a megalomaniac unless HE was that megalomaniac.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY][INDENT][I]Souls Taken | Sacrifice of Sin[/I][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"At the end of the world! The Demon, he fought with his horde! They rallied and raised you! And they brought the Black Ones to mourn! What they called a "Monster" was willing to sacrifice or pay any price to bring you peace and paradise, but deep below the ocean. A mass of stirring emotion there is always another he and his Village of Sin staved off the Mother!["[/COLOR][/CENTER] [hr][/hr] [JUSTIFY]The Demon of the Badlands spent the next month in the Badlands that his title came from. As the Tsumikage he handed out numerous bounties to his various shinobi. Many on Children of Tiamat and the Beasts of Tiamat that were now threatening the world. With Colonial Income bankrolling the event Sado held the first holiday celebrated by any village. As the rest of the shinobi of the world, those of Shimogakure, those of Taniagakure and those of the few remaining clans kept silent. Tsumigakure though, they were special they boldly told that world of its heroic and daring deeds as was in his goliath nature.[/JUSTIFY] This meant that the Sacrifice of Sin, the holiday Sado created to stir his people and prod them to activity while the others were complacent and idle was a complete success. He sent so many shinobi out into the world that they even went to other villages and cleaned up the messes they were too lazy to clean for themselves. Banri Uzumaki was one such example traveling across the Aisu Bay to the forgotten land of ice and snow. A place of the midnight sun, where the hot springs flowed. He smote Misha the Ravenous. It was plain to the Monster of the Tea Peninsula and the rest of his village that they were the saviors this world deserved. When the Sacrifice of Sin came to a close and a vast sum of the Colonial Income had been spent a clone of Sado went out to make an offer to the other clans of the world. They weren't making big moves, so why not join the only village that was. The clone going by the name Jack made an offer to Hellsing, a small clan on the Moon Isle. They spat in his face rejecting his offer and silently sealed their fate by turning away the representative. Next, he found himself in the heart of Degarashan a land he had been to before. The same land that he had attacked, decimated and drove Takauji away from nearly six months earlier. He left a message for Kaizen, another clan offering them the same deal he had offered Hellsing. Join Tsumigakure, keep your name, and grow stronger. Become a part of something great or be just another footnote to the expansive history that was being built. Finally, the final offer was made to the Rising Cloud. Sado and his clone remembered them from the field of combat they fought alongside his village against Tiamat, that is, up until they became tired and lethargic and fell off. They were nowhere to be found when Tsumigakure sacrificed their health, and their vitality to seal the Mother of Beasts. Another refusal. The clone bought the Men'yoroi of the Fallen Shogun off of a dubious woman on the Hokubo Ocean then returned to the capital of the Graveyard of Sin. It was a badge of honor for Sado telling those around that he and his village were the ones to defeat Takauji Ashikaga and his Hangurian Black Ones. They started the fight years ago and they were the ones to finish it. With a plan set up, Sado, his clones, Salazzle, and Smith with his Right Hand Man, the Pride of Tsumigakure Vegeta, Sado marched upon Hellsing. Unbeknownst to him at that same moment, another man was trying to hold members of the clan hostage.[/JUSTIFY][/CENTER][/CENTER][/JUSTIFY][CENTER][CENTER] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Knowing the clan leader's chakra signature from the experiences his clone had accumulated Sado used his newfound Yin-Yang Sensing to track down Alucard. Sado attacked full force, not playing a game or being a joke. Alucard tried to flee but was met by the incoming Hands of Sloth created by The Demonic Figure, Smith aka Sado's Yin-Yang creation. With the clan leader defeated Hellsing fell before Sado and Tsumigakure as they were taken into the fold by force. It was a much-needed boon to their numbers and allowed them access to new shinobi who could be molded into strong fighters.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Soon after the Shogun-Slayer and his group were teleported back to the Graveyard of Sin via Vegeta and his Flying Thunder God Technique. Once there he and his clones began to take in, train and prepare the new shinobi for the cruel world around them. He handed out many more village missions to grow his allies into the powerful individuals he knew they could be. He saw potential in Hellsing. That was why he took them in, like a blooming flower that needed to be replanted in fresh, and fertile soil with the proper nutrients and care, he uprooted them and replanted them in a better environment. At least that's what he believed.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]After this brazen act it was obvious they would become enemies to the rest of the clans. Sado began to regather his allies asking them to return to the Graveyard of Sin. During this time word reached him, it was the Korikage who had destroyed the Moon Isle. More than that he was betraying, killing, and pillaging his own people. The Tsumikage saw this as wasteful but in truth all war was wasteful, human lives, they were valuable. The only resource that couldn't instantly be replaced by shinobi through their ninjutsu. He saw these actions as foolish, but only the future would tell what this would equate to.[/JUSTIFY][/JUSTIFY] [INDENT][LEFT]Sick of the Sin[/LEFT][/INDENT] [HR][/HR] [CENTER][COLOR=rgb(0, 100, 0)]"Tsumigakure. I want to tell you. If you don't find a cure, if you don't fix this-... your shinobi are going to die. Your family is going to die. Everyone is going to die, but before all of that if you don't do this you're gonna die, and you're better than that. You're better than the rest of the world, better than Shimogakure, better than Taniagakure, better than those clans. Better than me. You are more than just the Village Hidden in Sin. You are the saviors of this world, you are the heroes who stopped Tiamat. The warriors who fought off the Fallen Shogun. This isn't your dying breath, this is your second wind. Now every fucking one of you will plant your motherfucking feet, grit your GODDAMN TEETH! And save the world-.... *cough* *cough* *cough*-... AGAIN! Now get out there, figure this shit out, and DO-.... IT-... NOW!"[/COLOR][/CENTER] [hr][/hr] [JUSTIFY]Shimogakure had grown bold in their expansion, in themselves and in their place in the world. Sado, the Shogun-Slayer found himself with one option, and it was one he didn't like. War. That was when the Korikage send a missive trying to persuade Tsumigakure that he had done no wrong. That he and his were merely minding their own business but Shimogakure's fate had been sealed the moment they had attacked his people. He didn't care if they were a satelite state, he didn't care if they were just brought into the fold, he didn't care that they were new villagers. The moment that treaty with Hellsing was formed, and they joined his village those individuals fell under his protection, and his shinobi's protection.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]He took a moment to refocus his mind, and gather his troops. In tandem he talked to his officials, Vegeta, Banri, Mirabelle, and Grenth. He discussed another event, another extravagant holiday for his people. He would keep them happy, and distracted while he and his men and women got their hands dirty. They had a point to make, and a village to make an example of. Shimogakure had overstepped upon the Village Hidden in Sin, and it was time for them to repay the debt that was now owed.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado, Vegeta, themselves alongside their clones, then clones of Grenth, and Korra set out for the heart of Shimogakure. The icy prison was a cold and defiant mistress, the air was chilled, the lands were barren and empty and the people were abandoned and alone. Their Korikage and his shinobi had fled leaving their lands open and empty. Sado wasn't the type to kill those who didn't start it. These civilians didn't harm his people, so he made them an offer, evacuate the Sister Isle and tell the others that the Tsumikage and his officials had spared them. They took his offer as a mass exodus of civilians took place. Then began the war of attrition, a proxy war held among shadow clones.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Sado and Vegeta split their clones among several landmarks occupying them in what would become known as the "Occupy Shimogakure" movement. Together the clones of the valiant shinobi began to take in several more lands as there was no resistance. It was a relatively short war in all honesty once all of his lands had been occupied the Korikage came out of hiding and begged for a treaty. Sado obliged feeling his people had suffered enough at the hands of Tsumigakure. The Village Hidden in Sin got three landmarks, a vast sum of colonial income and they gave in return of peace between the two villages giving Shimogakure time to rebuild.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]The Village Hidden in Sin pulled their forces out of Shimogakure and returned home. Resting for a few weeks, before the effects of their fight with Tiamat began to actually sink in. The Red Fever, a pandemic rocked to the world to it's very core. None more so than the valiant heroes who fought face to face with the Primordial Goddess of Life herself. With a new sickness spreading across the land Sado set in motion his holiday event.[/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]"Down with the Sickness!" became the rallying cry of the sick and infirm as Tsumigakure fought back against the invisible enemy. Sado set up a stimulus program paying the shinobi for their hard work, and keeping the economy of his village flowing forward as normal. He funded the entire program with the boundless colonial income they had accrued and amassed. Sado himself and his officials were most likely the sickest men and women in the world because of how closely they had fought Tiamat. The event was a long lasting one as just about every member of his village received some form of payment. It was at this time the rumors of his power and might spread around the world and he began to be referred to collectively as the Sage of Sin.[/JUSTIFY][/center][/center] [/QUOTE]
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