Two Curses

Amikiri moved briskly through the village of Hoshigakure, walking with intent and purpose. He had just left Hoshigakure's Hoshizora Medical Center after the strange results of the application of his Curse Mark. While the curse mark itself was successful, something strange happened in the process. It seems the Black Zetsu Cells he had had in his possession and safely stored across the room from him overwrote every physical aspect of himself, changing his clan, height, weight, bloodline, physical abilities, and replaced his flesh and bone with some strange black material. Amikiri had no idea what to make of this new transformation and realized there was likely one person he could go to that would have the information. Ayato Hyuuga himself, the Hogokage. By now he had met both Toneri and Natsuki, and had intended to meet Ayato himself for sometime. In regards to his transformation, Amikiri had already theorized that this was some strange bloodline, largely based on the fact that in his transformation, nothing had been “deleted” about himself, just changed. As such, it was logical to think that the loss of his Hyuuga abilities was not a “deletion” of him having a bloodline, but more so a change of bloodlines. Additionally, the archives likely contained vast amounts of information about this topic that Amikiri as a simple Genin was not granted access to that Ayato could possibly provide.

As the former Hyuuga slowly grew closer to the Unseen University, people parted ways for Amikiri as he quickly moved through the crowd, likely due to his massive size. The fact that he also wore a large black cloak, hood up, likely also didn’t make him seem any more friendly. The cloak he wore had come from an instinct of protection, made from the very black threads that he was made of. It concealed the entirety of his form which was especially fortunate considering the clothes he was wearing before the procedure were a bit smaller on him now.

Eventually, Amikiri arrived at the Unseen University. As its name implied, it was well hidden to protect it from the citizens of Hoshigakure who sometimes did not agree too well with the shinobi presence. Amikiri entered the building and soon arrived at the front desk. While his stature was surprising to those inside, there were less taken aback by it than the average civilian. Despite his deep voice, in a gentle tone he said to the receptionist, “I’d like to meet with the Hogokage.”

The receptionist responded saying, “What’s the reason for your visit?” He seemed to not be very intimidated by Amikiri’s size, likely dealing with all sorts of people who came through. The receptionist was also an important layer of security in this operation, so they were probably well vetted.

Amikiri reached into his pocket and placed his Shinobi ID on the desk and said, “You’ll notice some of the details are incorrect. That’s exactly the problem. I recently underwent a,” Amikiri paused to think of a word. The state of his new body still disturbed him but he was yet to process the full emotions of it and really understand his circumstances, almost as if he was in shock. “A transformation. However my height and weight are not the most pressing changes.” Amikiri reached his arm forward slightly, extending his forearm from the cover of his cloak. The receptionist would be able to see his pale translucent skin, an adequate amount of skin stretched across a frame much larger than his old one. Underneath it were a mass of black threads, moving against each other, like a mess of worms.

Amikiri took his ID back and withdrew his forearm beneath the cover of his cloak. The receptionist was quite shocked by it, so Amikiri took that as a sign of permission. Normally he would’ve waited for a firm yes or no, but he was of too little patience to wait. He wanted answers from an expert. He moved past the desk and made his way to the door of the Hogokage’s office. Amikiri paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

WC: 688

The door swung open as Ayato permitted Amikiri's entry. At Ayato's request, the former Hyuuga closed the door behind him. Before Amikiri sat down, he gave a respectful bow. As much as he felt a sense of urgency in the moment, he understood that he was meeting the Hogokage, the most powerful shinobi in the village. These were not normally the circumstances Amikiri would've appreciated to meet someone of such a position, but the circumstances dictated it.

Amikiri moved forward, taking a seat in the chair in front of Ayato's desk. The chair creaked underneath Amikiri's newfound weight, giving pause to his movements. The sturdiness of a chair was something that had never ever had to enter Amikiri's mind before today, but his transformation required him to do so now. In response to Ayato's quite observant statement, Amikiri initially gave a simple nod. He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts, before beginning the explanation of the events that had occurred. "These normally aren't the circumstances I would've liked to meet you in, but something has occurred. Around a month or so ago, I had a training session with Enishi, a member of the Nova Corps. He brought up Juinjutsu at one point and, upon my further intrigue, told me to meet him at a later date. We met at the Hoshizora Medical Center and he applied a Curse Mark to me, in preparation for the upcoming Nova Exams. The application of the Curse Mark was completely successful, but something unfortunate happened during the operation. I underwent a transformation of sorts, the circumstances of which still confuse me. However, it was not caused by the Curse Mark."

Amikiri paused a moment more, thinking how to exactly describe the transformation. He wasn't fully mentally there when the transformation occurred, still exhausted by his survival of the curse mark. "The curse mark drastically changed my figure, making me taller and much heavier. It also seemed to change my natural affinities towards different capabilities and skills. However what I specifically wanted to talk to you about was my bloodline. Up to now I was Hyuuga my whole life, I had a Byakugan just like you and was a frequent user of Gentle Blade. However, now that all seems beyond me. I've lost my Byakugan and any of my past Hyuuga abilities. And it seems to have been replaced by this."

At this point Amikiri withdrew his right forearm from the cloak. The strange black threads would be faintly visible beneath his skin. In his short time with this new body, Amikiri had also gained a level of control of these threads. A single thread would emerge from one of his fingers, moving around slightly. At this point the unease and nervousness in his voice would become clear, "My body seems to have been remade entirely, made of these strange black threads. I can control them slightly. Is this a bloodline of sorts and do you know anything about it?"

Amikiri thought for a quick second, thinking what left he had to tell Ayato. "This may be unrelated to these black threads, but my skill with the elements has decreased. I used to be able to control Earth, Fire, and Wind. However I seem to have lost that ability, being just limited to Earth. Do you know if this is a side effect of these black threads, or simply another byproduct of my transformation?"

The former Hyuuga hoped that Ayato would be able to provide him these answers. In his time as Hogokage, Ayato must have seen many things that Amikiri couldn't dream of and he hoped that the Hogokage would be familiar with something like this.

WC: 614
TWC: 1302

At Ayato’s mention of Toneri’s and Natsuki’s praises, Amikiri nodded and responded with, “Please give them my thanks. They certainly helped me a lot.” To think it had been more than a year since he had met with Toneri, how time flew. And on top of that, in just a month or so, it would’ve been exactly one year since he worked with Natsuki. Amikiri’s eyes lit up slightly at Ayato’s own mention of a Curse Mark. While Amikiri understood that it was not explicitly forbidden to receive one, it seemed that there was less of a social taboo about them than he had initially thought. While not one to obsess over others' opinion of himself, he had feared that it would degrade his integrity, marking him as a man who took shortcuts or a cheat. However the idea that Curse Marks were not the rarities among shinobi set him at ease a little.

The mention of Stein and the idea of hearts, plural, caused a knot to form in his stomach. Was this bloodline one that required countless sacrifices of others for him to grow? Would he have to kill others, just to gain his own strength to what it used to be? The feeling of unease and almost disgust grew, and Amikiri asked, “This idea of hearts concerns me. Disregarding the morals of it, does it not go against Hoshigakure’s sacred rules against transplants? And if it doesn’t, how does one acquire hearts, especially in a village? I think it’d be rather difficult for one to go about killing others for their heart when murder is a crime.”

It seemed that Earth Grudge Fear was a bloodline for those who were to live outside of society, relying on the death of others to grow their own abilities and transforming themselves into tools of function. Amikiri was not too concerned about being on the fringe of society, as he had spent the majority of his life in the countryside of Haven Country, far from the social centers. But what did concern him was his family. Would they still think he was the same person, even in his new form? Especially with the new ethics and morals of this form. His family had always served as the very cornerstone of why he was a shinobi, being the very reason he had started this and acting as an anchor whenever he felt tired. It didn’t help that, while Amikiri was less familiar with the name, the idea of formerly dangerous ninja like Stein being associated with the bloodline, didn’t make it any easier to grapple with.

When Ayato granted Amikiri permission to study Earth Grudge Fear within the Archives, Amikri appreciatively said, “Thank you. I’ve already made use of the Archives before to great effect, I’m certain that they’ll have a great amount of knowledge on this Earth Grudge Fear.” All in all, while Ayato’s explanation of his situation had put him at ease about what exactly his bloodline was, the moral implications of his bloodline did quite the opposite. Up to now, Amikiri was fortunate enough to have avoided the worse, darker sides of being a shinobi, so this new bloodline of his was quite an awakening to what might become a necessity.

WC: 543
TWC: 1845