The 6th Great Ninja War
Finale
Finale
(This week’s final theme:
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)Roku rose from his chair in his room and approached a small desk with a journal and ink brush atop it. He, in that moment, personified melancholy, contemplating all of the events that had passed to this moment. He spoke softly to himself in a very gloom manner.
Roku: Grandmaster Sage…isn't that what you've always wanted, Roku? …………for some reason…I’m not as thrilled as I had dreamed.
Roku let out a brief sigh and began to write with careful finesse. As he did, he could hear the patter of raindrops as they clouds gave way to a light drizzle that would slowly build into a downpour. Roku calmed himself, still writing carefully, and took several deep breaths, and as he did, images of the past conjured within his mind.
LONG AGO
Images of a young Roku, short in stature and glowing with youthful energy, came into being. The young Roku had the same style of hair as today, relatively short and spiky but with much greater vitality in color than the current Roku’s glowing pale blonde hair. He was wearing standard clothing, a blue colored light jacket and black ninja pants with a pouch attached to the right leg. The young Roku, with two kunai in hand, was fighting several young adults, dispatching them with ferocious yet graceful taijutsu as several older adults, including Hellsbadass, shrouded in colored robes watched him and another closely. The rest of the young adults were being incapacitated by another young boy, even younger than Roku, with spiky black hair and an Uchiha crest on the back of his shirt: Izuna. Izuna, capable of seeing through all actions with his sharingan, finished the last of the attacking young adults and looked at Roku as he, too, had dispatched the last of his opponents. The two locked gazes for several moments before engaging each other. They were evenly matched, Roku possessing greater physical power by a slight margin but Izuna possessing greater perception. After several minutes of stalemating, Izuna finally parried one of Roku’s kicks and swung his right arm into Roku’s face, knocking him to the ground. After a moment, Roku opened his eyes again, only to lock eyes with Izuna, and the two exchanged non-verbal words with their looks.
FADE TO WHITE
Another image of a slightly older Roku, by a couple of years, was conjured. This time, he stood before the Five Sages for some examination. Roku recalled this time a brilliant display of skill as he glided across the water, crossing a distance of several kilometers in mere seconds and arriving at a large island, whereupon the rate of his slowing down threw forth a large wave of water. In a brilliant array of elemental techniques, ending in one violent surge of what appeared to be a mixture of dark and sun fire that engulfed the entirety of the island along with several hundred meters of water from the shore and a chain of large hills that rested on the land, Roku had reshaped the entire island, leaving it flat, barren and scorched. The Five Sages looked on, and they marveled at this boy. The image dissipated and, quickly, another image flashed of Roku standing beside Elias, who was patting him on the head, and smiling as the two posed for a picture.
FADE TO WHITE
Another image came into Roku’s mind, this time of a teenage Roku walking along with a white wolf about twice his size. The two walked through a forest, carrying fish in their hands. This memory was immediately interrupted by an image of the same Roku sitting in a bar, surrounded by friends such as Ragnaroc, Bishamon, the then-to-be Hokage Bianca, Hellsbadass, Zanji, and others alike. Roku was, here, the youngest of the group, yet he appeared to be the happiest.
FADE TO WHITE
Then appeared an image of an older Roku, nearing his twenties physiologically, standing on the vast sea several miles away from the mainland, coldly staring at his opponent, who had his face planted into the top of a very small island, no larger than 100 meters in diameter. His opponent struggled to get up, but his face could be seen; it was an older Izuna, defeated and bitterly staring at Roku as the two exchanged gazes characteristically for several moments. Roku turned, leaving Izuna to lie on the rocky and sandy beach as Izuna’s stone golems collapsed around Roku, defeated. Izuna stared emptily at his rival, wondering why he had lost this encounter, and in solemn defeat, he shut his eyes and wished for the waves to devour him…but the ocean was still.
FADE TO WHITE
Several images flashed next in rapid succession, each of Roku at bars across the cruel shinobi world, each time of him drinking sake and violently dropping his cups and bottles onto the countertops, each time of him walking in from a rainy exterior. Now, an image of an even older adult Roku, still young but hardened by battle and and warfare, came into mind. Roku was sitting in the bar alone, save for the bartender. He held a bottle of sake nonchalantly, periodically taking a sip from the bottle as he listened to the patter of raindrops upon the exterior of the small, western-style bar. He stood upon after a few minutes and went to lean against the wall with his arms folded, the sake bottle still in hand. Roku stared at the doors, half-expecting someone to walk through them, with eyes as unforgiving and cold as the mists of kirigakure. He was different…unhappy, yet quietly complacent. Roku shut his eyes for a minute, and then reopened them when he felt the bartender standing to his left.
Bartender: May I get you anything else, sir?
Roku: …No. That’ll be all…
Roku continued to stare at the doors, his eyes half-closed and dead, and his demeanor remained the same when he suddenly caught the kunai-holding hand of the bartender with his right hand, his other arm still in folded position. The bartender was shocked, trying to relieve himself of Roku’s grasp but to no avail.
Bartender: *grunt*
Roku: ……such a rude way to treat paying customers.
Bartender: Bastard…
Roku tightened his grip on the bartender’s hand, and suddenly the bartender’s entire arm ruptured, blood spurting violently and the bartender’s eyes widening in disbelief. There was a loud shriek of pain as the bartender flailed violently about the inside of the bar, crashing into the countertop at the main bar. After several moments of panting and watching Roku drinking his sake without paying any mind to the bartender’s screams, the bartender launched a kunai with his free hand and a battle cry, but much to his surprise, Roku caught the weapon between his index and middle fingers casually and twirled the kunai before launching it with his index finger into the bartender’s foot—the kunai lodging through the bartender’s foot and into the ground. Roku walked over to the bartender, drinking from his sake bottle as he did before wiping the excess from his mouth, and kicked the bartender to the ground while holding up the bartender’s arm. Roku’s foot pressed against the bartender’s chest, keeping him from moving, and Roku set his sake bottle on the countertop before looking down on the bartender, without a hint of emotion or remorse in his eyes. All the bartender saw was in Roku’s eyes was cruelty and no mercy.
Roku: You know…this sake…is horribly warm.
The bartender’s remaining arm exploded as well, and blood filled the countertop as the bartender could no long find it within himself to let out a shriek in his despair. Roku, still facing the door, grabbed the bartender and lifted him up above the ground by his hair, blood from the bartender’s arms pouring almost endlessly to the ground. Roku then dropped the bartender to a standing position, but the bartender, being too weak to completely stand on his own, nearly fell forward, until Roku immediately grabbed him by the chin and lifted him back to a slouched standing position.
Roku: Do tell the lord that sent you…I don’t deal indirectly.
Bartender: …………*pant* I will bleed out before I can even reach him.
Roku* raises eyebrow* You make a good point……Let’s remedy that…
Roku held the bartender by the neck with his right hand and held up his left hand, which suddenly became surrounded in yellow flames. The bartender looked in absolute despair, stunned by fear. Roku’s left hand came closer and closer to the bartender’s removed appendages and seared the bloody areas, resulting in a wail that could be heard throughout all of the land.
FADE TO WHITE
An image of a slightly older Roku standing next to a young Emperor and Nero flashed in the mind, and the three set off into the streets of Kirigakure.
FADE TO WHITE
Another image was conjured, this time that of Roku trekking far north in the snow-filled land of Kamiriku, with several mountains and a vast expanse of land covered in several feet of delicate, light snow and ice, with the clouds being in a state of near-eternal activity. Roku was heavily clothed, with a white and blue fur coat and heavy pants and a scarf of the same color. He had been trekking for quite a time—several days perhaps. His vision was blurring in the face of the heavy snow, which was picking up into a blizzard. He hungered and thirsted. In one fell swoop, Roku collapsed in the wintery wasteland, a large white bear approaching him.
FADE TO WHITE
An image of Roku resting in a warm home lit by candles flashed. He had been passed out for nearly two days. His wounds had been bandaged, and a local family had taken him in. Another image of Roku in the same uncharted, snow-covered village flashed, showing him in the marketplace while still in a stage of recovery. Another image flashed of Roku sitting in the small home of an old blacksmith that had taken him in, meditating, oddly enough to him. Another image flashed of Roku attempting to venture out in the cold, pale wasteland again, but turning back. The image of Roku meditating returned. Another image flashed of Roku tending the flames of the fire in the middle of the blacksmith’s small home. The image of Roku meditating returned. Another image of Roku learning to smelt metal from the blacksmith appeared. The image of Roku meditating again returned. Then, an image of Roku and the rest of the villagers attending the burial of the old blacksmith, who was being submerged in the snow just outside of the village as was tradition. Roku looked solemnly on as the village elders lit the flames around the man’s burial site. The memory then cut to a scene of Roku placing an inscription on paper atop the blacksmith’s burial site the next day. The image of Roku meditating returned once more. An image flashed, then, of Roku gathering his things and setting out to leave the village. As Roku approached the site of his collapse far north, he noticed the same white bear, now aged, that had previously approached him. Roku shut his eyes and stood still, breathing calmly. The bear approached quickly, signaling an impending attack. When Roku opened his eyes again to look at the bear, his eyes were glowing golden like the sun. The snow about him picked up as a whirlwind swirled around Roku and knocked the bear on its side violently. A violent blizzard filled the area, covering the vast expanse in several more feet of snow, Roku at its center.
FADE TO WHITE
Roku snapped out of his trance of memories of the past. He looked surprised and somewhat astonished, as though he had realized something. He looked again at his journal and his writing was complete. Several moments later, a messenger arrived at Roku’s door and was handed the journal with the brush sticking out of the last page of the journal. When the messenger had gone, Roku sat again at his desk, and with no task left to perform, Roku shut his eyes.
FADE TO BLACK...
FIN
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