Roku Kaguya

NOTE: There are also two red dots on the forehead that should be added to that pic

Roku is not much different than what you would expect from most 24 year old men. In light-hearted situations, such as when he is around friends and family, he tends to be a little goofy. He shows out a lot, always trying to impress, and has an innocent arrogance about him, giving him a tendency to always be confident in a sort of childish way, but never in a way that he would consider himself superior to another, and never coming off as cocky. He is friendly and always welcoming to those he does not know, however he despises premature judgment.

Recently, however, Roku has been through a drastic change. With the newly surfaced mystery of his brother's whereabouts, everything that happens inside Roku's mind is calculated. Even in times that he appears erratic and angry, his every move is calculated. He appears to not be motivated at all by emotions, except one; longing. Even the way Roku says hello to his parents before going off on his daily routine is strategized, and he appears to scrutinize every aspect of their person. How is their posture? Clothing? How do their voices sound today? Are they angry? Happy? Playful? Is their marriage ok, or are they arguing?

In a sense, Roku is now cold. Everything option is weighed against another, whether it is worth doing, and though he has a concrete set of morals that it would take drastic circumstances to violate, they are limited only to the physical and objective well-being of others, while their emotional well-being is undermined and ignored. However, Roku is not intentionally like this. He still has a kind heart and has a hard time showing it. His actions sometimes seem ruthless and cruel, while they had the best of intentions behind them. All of this is tied to a single aspect of him; ever since his brother's disappearance, Roku has had trouble relating to others and understanding them.

[*]Leadership. Roku admires those who can be a good leader.  He admires those who others follow, not because of an appointed position, but because of skill and overall intelligence.  He also has a natural lenience toward a leader who can be objective about their decisions.  Roku admires when someone can send themselves into danger to save another or take risks to be sure every single member of a unit is safe.  

[*]Intelligence.  Roku admires someone who is intelligent.  He hates it when people act rashly because of a gut feeling or because of a single emotion and associates it with idiocy.  He believes that in serious situations, a move should be calculated.  He also believes that making a decision based on one's emotional or mental comfort in a combat situation is idiocy.  

[*]Selflessness.  Those with a good character should be able to sacrifice for others in the name of the greater good.  Roku believes that the good of one trembles in the shadow of the good of all, of a population or group or society.  He believes that one of good character would be willing to put themselves in danger in order to assure the safety of another.  That is selflessness;  not to be confused with generosity, in which someone gives another person their last slice of pizza.  That's stupidity.

[*]Bravery. Not stupidity. There is a clear distinction from being brave enough to stand up for someone in need, and jumping off a bottomless cliff to rescue someone who has already fallen.  Neither is bravery the absence of fear.  Because while you can't let it control you, you need fear to make you cautious... to avoid recklessness.  No, bravery is the ability to remain in control and act, even in the shadow of extreme fear.
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Roku was borne to quite happy parents.  The way they met was a true love story.  Roku's father, Mokojo, is a farmer, and in selling goods to Roku's mother, Koru, made a deal with her.  She had forgotten her money and the trip home was a long one.  She only wanted a single apple to eat while she went on her daily strolls, so Mokojo made her a deal that if she promised to let him treat her to dinner the next week, he'd let her have the apple.  With a smile, she accepted her deal.  The love story progressed, and soon, Roku was the son of a farmer and a stay at home mom.  He didn't live luxuriously, seeing that a mountain country wasn't exactly the best farmland, but never did he go without necessities.

A few years later, after the marriage of his parents, Roku's elder brother, Rokai was born.  Rokai was an odd person.  Or perhaps just an honorable one.  He always followed instructions and seemed quite popular to those around him.  He had a lot of friends and learned to talk, walk, ride bikes, and ultimately care for his farm at very young ages.  Rokai always marveled at the Shinobi and liked to watch them whenever he could.   When he saw them darting across the village on his periodic visits that his father took to sell goods, he would always stop and gawk at them.  He wondered how they were so fast... and his father told him tales and stories of the heroism of Shinobi of Kumogakure... his fascination began at an early age.

About 3 years after the birth of Rokai, Roku was born.  From the beginning, Roku was different than his beloved brother.  He was always one to goof off.  He would always make an attempt to be the center of attention, and as an infant, when Roku cried, everyone knew it... everyone.  The kid did not learn to walk until two years after the average, but began to talk much earlier than average. Roku seemed to always want to be praised by his parents or by whoever may have been responsible at the time.  He would triumph, not to triumph, but to gain the fruits of his triumph.  Reasonable right?

In addition to these characteristics, Roku didn't fit in with most of the kids.  He was ok with that because he had a few friends, and the few that he was close to, he was extremely close to.  They all knew the virtue of loyalty and they were all strong in it.  They would stand up for each other against bullies and almost always take their friends' side in an arguement... even when they would get beaten up or humiliated because they treasured the happiness of one another over the happiness of themselves.  Kids under the age of 6 with principles like thse and character like this were unheard of.

At the age of 6, Roku enrolled in the Shinobi academy, though only under the pressure of his friends and his brother.  He failed to give it all of his effort and his real love was going home and working with his father on the farm.  He had begun to look up to his father and learned a lot from him.  His father had become quite a large role model, typical of little kids, but it was magnified in Roku's case.  He'd follow his father around on the farm, go hunting, and learned basic survival in both the Lightning Country and in other countries.

In the academy, Roku was struggling... or not.  He was failing, but not struggling because he did not put forth enough effort to struggle.  He didn't care much for it and saw little use to it.  He'd never found much interest in the Shinobi of his village, much less the desire to become one himself.  The few aspects he tried in were all physical;  speed and strength training, endurance, that sort of thing.  Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and basic other areas were of no interest to him.  Roku eventually, at the age of 12, graduated the academy, a year after most of his peers did, and became a Genin, though his lack of effort was still greatly apparent.

Life as a Genin was simple. He went through the motions, only doing what he had to, no more. He rarely trained except at the command of his Jounin mentor, and he never requested more difficult missions from the Raikage. He was content with cleaning the bathrooms and then getting home as fast as possible to be able to relax or hang out with his friends. To him, being a Shinobi was just a job. A goal, nothing else.

Roku did, however, eventually find a goal: He wanted to go to see all of the nations. More out of adventure and curiousity than anything. However, this did drive him to make more money. He soon began taking on more missions, and more challenging missions. When they began to become difficult, Roku trained harder of his own accord. Eventually he found out the best way to make more money as a ninja was to achieve a higher rank. This set Roku's sights on the Chuunin exams.

Being as reward-oriented as Roku was, he quickly began spending his time training for the Chuunin Exams. They were a few months away, and training was of great necessity if he planned to become a Chuunin. It was during this time that Roku developed an aptitude for Taijutsu. Or rather, he discovered it. His combat became less of combat, more a dance. Eventually, Roku discovered his rare Kekkei Genkai, even among the Kaguya; he possessed the Shikotsumyaku. Because of this artful combat, Roku was percieved to have great skill, and even though he lost third fight in the tournament, he made it to the semi-finals and was chosen to become a Chuunin.

A few years after becoming Chuunin, Roku was still a part of his original. One of the members had become a Chuunin like him, and his brother was the Jounin sensei. On his first A-Rank mission, Roku was required to venture, with his team, to the Forest of Death. The are of the forest had become overrun by criminal ninja, and the goal was to see if they simply coexisted or if they had an agreement or structured alliance. The team was told to stay put for 6 hours to allow Roku's brother to do some reconnaissance. In 2 days, he never returned, and 2 very powerful ninja attacked Roku's team. He, now being the commander, held the two off for about 5 minutes and instructed the other two to run. After the five minutes were up, Roku had to go. He knew he would die soon if he didn't.

Roku knew he could not outrun the two ninja, so he had to hide. He remained hidden for a week until he could finally safely traverse the forest. Upon arriving back home, Roku was greeted with congratulations and tear-stricked parents. His team, besides his brother, had made it back. Because of his success in this situation, and later finding out that the two ninja were A-Rank missing nin, Roku was awarded the rank of Jounin and took command of his team, though he resigned from the team's command within a week.

His brother's absence had a significant affect on Roku. He became quiet. Cold. Calculated. He distanced himself from others. However, his way of thinking changed. He now performed actions to achieve a goal, rather than a reward. And his new goal was to become powerful enough that things like this would never happen to him or his loved ones again. This goal consumed Roku's life. In terms of power, he was finally becoming a full Shinobi. He was increasing in skill and power rapidly, and was finally becoming worthy of his rank. Roku was like this for almost 5 more years until he hit the age of 24. He did almost nothing but train and take mission after mission.

Ting.  Click.  Clump.  It could be heard as kunai and bone collided in midair.  His breathing came jagged and unstable, inhaling and exhaling through a mouth that somehow bore a smile.  Perhaps it was the results of part one of his training today.  He’d managed to become accurate enough with the bones from his Shikotsumyaku to hit projectiles in midair, a sense of deep satisfaction becoming visible on him as the kunai and bone collided, changing the trajectory directly downward.   He still hadn’t mastered changing trajectory with enough accuracy to hit an opponent behind him, but his skill was obviously coming along.

Moku straightened himself from his ready stance as his breathing slowed, once more gaining stability and control.  He spoke now with a voice as smooth as silk, quite low in volume but somehow able to carry across the entire training grounds.  “Alright Kogo, that’s enough.  I’m off to do that ‘other’ training now.”  Kogo was a member of Moku’s clan and his training partner for the day.  He knew how important ‘that’ training was for both the knowledge and power of the clan, so he did not protest when the man was ready to train on his own. He simply smiled and took off into the Jungle.

‘That’ training.  It was all Moku tended to call it, for the names Chisosa and Tansososa seemed so complicated to pronounce and hard for others to understand that it just created situations where Moku had to explain things; and oh how annoying it was when he explained things because rather than making him sound smart, he just seemed like an idiot.  He scoffed as he thought of when he had explained it to Ryujin, specifically remembering the profound amount of “Uh’s” and “Ummmm’s”.  The very thought of it embarrassed him...

Almost as a means to take his mind off of it, Moku turned now on his heel in the direction of a private Kaguya training grounds.  Sure, there was no reason to train there above where he was now, out in the wilderness, but he needed the walk to give him time to meditate on exactly where to start with this thing.  The breeze ran through his scarlet hair, something he was proud of.  Where most people from his clan have white hair and hideous birth-marks on their foreheads, Moku looked like just some ordinary person with amazing red hair.

Mentally the Jounin shook himself.  Where does one start when training the mastery of Carbon?  His mind searched and searched for any prior knowledge of the element, but to no avail.   How would he learn to master something he knew nothing about?  Knowledge WAS power after all, and in this case he meant it quite literally.  He could ask the elders, they were mostly wise.  But then again, the use of Carbon was intertwined with science, and most everything the elders ever spoke of was legend and myth; those things and science didn’t get along too well.

What then, were his options?  There were obviously experts on the subject in the village, as well as a decent sized library.  Maybe even teachers at the academy could help him in his dilemma.  As he thought, he decided that his best bet would be talking to an expert or two in the village to get a bit of a background in the subject, then hit the books for a nit-picky analysis.  It was these moments Moku thought he was a nerd;  after all, who researches while training?

Having finally come up with a specific destination, Moku picked up speed heading toward the village.  He leapt off the ground to ascend into the trees of the jungle, leaping from branch to branch to cover ground faster.  The bark could be felt beneath his shoes to crack, twist, and break at his every step as he landed heavily to be sure he didn’t misstep.  He wasn’t worried about an enemy, he was in friendly territory after all.  Minutes passed and Moku could tell he was nearing the village.  He’d spent his entire young life in this Jungle and wasn’t exactly unfamiliar with its mappings.

Surely enough, before long he emerged from the thickets and the tree-line, just a small walking distance from the village.  Of course he didn’t walk though; his mind was racing from the possibilities of the Tansososa and any sense of patience had completely left him, causing his body to almost uncontrollably sprint toward the village, and more importantly toward its knowledge.  He made his way quickly to the information and research facilities so he could talk to all of the smart sciency guys inside, arriving in just a few moments.

Opening the door, the Kaguya stepped inside, reaching for a flask on his waist at the same time, taking a long, sweet swig of sweetened water before looking about for who he would need.  Completely stumped, he instead approached a young woman who seemed as if she knew the facility well, maybe an employee or something by the looks of it.  “Hey uh, do you know where I could find someone who knows something about Car-... I mean uh, where can I find the Chemists?”  

The female looked a bit perplexed as she answered, obviously worried that Moku was obviously not intent on telling her what he needed.  “Uh... yeah, if you walk down this hall,” she spoke as she pointed over her shoulder, “you’ll run into Doctor Mukuru’s office.  He should be in today.”

Moku smiled largely, walking swiftly toward where she directed him, looking over his shoulder, “Ah! Thank you!”  before hurrying toward the smart Doctor guy.  His door was open, but Moku didn’t enter as he apparently seemed busy.  He waited instead for the man to look up and invite him in, finally doing so after signing a document on his desk.

“Ah, a Shinobi!  Can I help you?”  The man spoke in an overly enthusiastic voice, as if he’d just received some amazing news.  

“Uh, yes sir.  I just needed some help, are you Doctor Mukuru?”

“Yes, I am.  You aren’t in any sort of trouble, are you?”

“Wha-- ooohhh, no, no nothing like that! I just wanted to know, what can you tell me about the element Carbon?”

“You must be that man I heard about, the Kaguya?  Carbon, Carbon... well, it is one of the most abundant substances in the world for starters.  It happens to be involved in every single organic compound, thus calling for its own branch of Chemistry called Organic Chemistry.  It has several allotropes, known as Graphite, Diamond, and Amorphous.  What else... what else... besides that, it is present in Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, and a bunch of other gases in our atmosphere.  Sorry, it’s not my area of expertise, I don’t know much.”

“Thank you Doctor uh... Mukuru, right?”

“Yeah.  Let me know if there is anything else I can do, I’d be glad to help.”

“Will do.”  And with that, Moku exited the room, once more walking down the hallway and leaving the building.  He stopped for a moment, almost unsure of where he was going, before the invisible light bulb above his head clicked on and he remembered once more.   He was headed toward the library, to dig up some more information on the Tansososa before attempting to learn its uses and exactly how to manifest such capabilities.  A smile spread across his face as he thought of mastering one of the most abundant elements in the world.

The library was a tall, very old building with little to no windows.  It was probably to preserve the books as long as possible, as well as keep it cool within the inside.  It had many Sakura trees growing along the sides of it, and the pink leaves spread all across the ground around it, as well as the stairs, window sills, gutters, and ledges.  It was very quiet around this area, almost as if children were afraid of the place; as if it were cursed.  Moku remembered way back when he used to love studying, though now he’d much more prefer to learn through practice.

He began his ascent to the stairs and when he entered the library was immediately shocked by the temperature difference.  Where it was warm outside it was nearly cold in here, just barely above the level which it became uncomfortable.  He hadn’t been inside this library very often, as a kid preferring the one inside the academy, but it was much smaller and probably did not have what he was looking for.  The Jounin almost approached a librarian for help before realizing he’d look stupid as an elite shinobi who couldn’t find a book.

Instead, the man approached the front desk and looked through the paper log.  He found the section titled chemistry and looked for something that would focus primarily on Carbon.  Finding the title of the book, and its number, he wandered through the isles of the library before finding a book with a number close to the one he was looking for.  He moved in chronological order and after a few moments pinpointed the book he needed.  “There!  That wasn’t so hard...”

The book detailed many things about Carbon.  It detailed how it was used in manufacturing, it detailed its allotropes, and a bunch of information he hardly found relevant.  It seemed like over half the book was only a history of Carbon, no real usable information.  Though, it wasn’t actually surprising.  After all, what author writes a book on how to use Carbon in Ninjutsu if only one person with such capabilities came along every few generations?  Though it took awhile, Moku read through most of the book before finding the section he needed.  It toled of things like the atomic number, its boiling point, its melting point, its reactions with other substances... he remained there nearly all day and night, reading up on the subject before he determined he knew enough to make an attempt at its use.

Moku returned the book and locked up; he was trusted to do so as he was a Jounin of the village and needed to remain far past the closing time.  He now ventured toward the Kaguya Temple, and sat himself in the same place in the center of the main chamber where he unlocked the use of his Chisosa.  Now he would finally put forth a practical use to the Tansososa, the use of Carbon, and learn if he could even attain these abilities.  

It was immediately apparent that learning the Tansososa and the Chisosa were completely different.  No matter what the male attempted, he could not feel the general chakra pull that he got after attempting a Ninjutsu.  He threaded his chakra through the air and tried to round up the Carbon; in a completely unsuccessful attempt.  He was completely befuddled as to how he would do this.  After all, he knew very little about Chemistry besides what was taught in school and what he had learned today.  No one could completely master a subject in a day.

Knowing Carbon resides in all Organic compounds, Moku tried the next bit on himself.  He attempted to increase the Carbon production in his hair, and to hopefully make it grow; again, to no avail, however he now slightly felt the chakra pull of the technique as if he were close.  He could not go to his ancestor’s journal in this subject... for in that journal, he had no use of the Tansososa, and it was unknown whether he ever DID gain control over it.  Sighing, Moku racked his brain for more than a hint to what he was supposed to do.

The previously dim invisible light bulb above his head once more turned on.  Perhaps the reason he couldn’t do anything was simply because he was not targeting the Carbon directly.  After all, Carbon does not often reside in a pure form, at least not in abundance.  It was normally bonded with something or some sort of other substance to create compounds.  Perhaps this realization could give him some insight on how to perform the final stage of his Kekkei Genkai...

Now he used his chakra to locate the common gas, Carbon Dioxide.  To get a feel for what it felt like, he observed the breaths leaving his body, as that was primarily the gas he was looking for.  Locating a large enough sample size, the Jounin attempted to “lock” his chakra onto the bonded Carbon atoms.  He began to “pull” and slowly unbonded the Carbon from the Carbon Dioxide, leaving behind the simple Oxygen substance.  

He practiced doing what he’d just done over and over again, attempting to get a feel for doing it.  He also worked to increase the speed at which he did so, as well as do it without completely focusing on it like he had been.  After working at this for several hours, he finally managed to separate the Carbon, feeling it fall in a dusty, powdery form onto his head and face, as well as his shoulders.  He yawned slightly, a bit tired, though extremely joyous at his apparent success.  

Moku almost began to wonder what the manipulation of Carbon could ACTUALLY do for him in battle.  After all, it was only falling in the form of powders and dust.  Then it occurred to him that it’d wasn’t impossible to fix that.  He simply had to attract the Carbon together into usable items and attacks.  Easier said than done... how the hell would he do that?

Once more, the Jounin threaded his chakra through the air.  He did the process which separated the Carbon from the other substances in the air, and now “pulled” the atoms together.  At first to no avail, he attempted to do something else.  He now used his chakra to amplify the natural attraction between the Carbon, and just as he did so a clump of pure Carbon element fell on his lap.  His mouth dropped open as he looked down at the black substance.  It was crusty and fell apart as he picked it up, but it was progress that couldnt be denied.

5 AM... it was 5 AM, over 17 hours since he had began his training.  It had taken him 17 hours to learn about Carbon and to bring it together.  He chuckled a bit as he thought of how angry the elders would be that he had not waited for them, nor notified them that he’d be training the Tansososa today.  They’d wanted to observe just like they had with the Chisosa, but Moku hadn’t liked the attention he got with that.  It was difficult for him to focus primarily on the matter at hand with the people he looked up to most staring at him the entire time, silent.  He smirked and exited the building, leaving the pure Carbon there, wondering if it’d tell the Elders what happened... they’d be here in a few hours after all.