Bad, Bathing and Beyond

"They hate you. They want to use their power to suppress you because they think their little kingdoms are worth more than you. They throw tantrums when asked why, spouting illogical arguments. Let them cry and stomp their feet. It will be mine that crushes their throat." The voice whispered in the corners of Suguru's brain.

"I get that getting banned again from the Hot Springs for another six months is bad, and don't get me wrong, just because the hostess had knockers that could crush coconuts, I am still angry but it's not THAT bad. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Plus, I am sure this place has one too."

Suguru didn't know how remembered the way to this place, but he knew he was sent here for some diplomatic talk. Safe to say things didn't really go that well. He wasn't sure he even remembered the name of it.

"YOU FOOL. THEY CONSPIRE. THAT PATHETIC VILLAGE GETS STRONGER EACH DAY AND YOU WASTE TIME WITH TRIVIALITIES LIKE THESE."

Lately, the voice had been getting stronger. Each word was no longer a whispered hush, but a fiery statement, especially when they disagreed.

Suguru stopped mid stride.

"Wow, wow, wow. I am not gonna stand here and listen to you badmouth the greatest village the world has ever known."

"YOU THINK YOUR PRECIOUS VILLAGE WOULD CARE IF YOU BLED OUT UNDER THAT CART? I WAS THE ONE WHO SAVED YOU. I ALWAYS AM. I AM THE ONE WHO GIVES YOU VALUE TO THE WRECKAGE YOU CALL LIFE."

Suguru stood silent. His hands were getting warm. Very warm. He could feel the chakra under his skin roil and boil. His nails jutted out his from fingers, clawing out.

He needed to wash his face. Calm his nerves. Be alone. Till it went away.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN TURN AND RUN EVERY TIME?"

"It worked when that Kunoichi nearly paralyzed me, It will work now. And you don't have the arms she had."

Suguru pushed through the crowd, each step more unsteady than the last.

"HOW DO YOU THINK YOUR BONES GOT MENDED AFTER SHE BROKE THEM? YOU THINK YOU JUST SLEPT ALL THAT AWAY? THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU NEEDED MY AID TO SURVIVE ANOTHER MISERABLE DAY WAS UNDER THAT CART? ARE YOU REALLY THAT THICK?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Suguru bumped into some shinobi as he hurried his step, not stopping to apologize. His sandals were starting to slip under his own sweat, his hands trembling as he hid them in the folds of his pockets.

"EACH TIME YOU LOLLYGAGGED AROUND, FAWNING TO GET A LOOK AT FEMALE FLESH, ONLY TO GET BEAT, POISONED, ELECTROCUTED AND CUT DOWN; IT WAS I WHO BROUGHT YOU BACK. TIME AND TIME AGAIN. THAT MISSION WAS SIMPLY THE FIRST TIME YOUR FOOLISH MIND REMEMBERED."

Before the genin could process this revelation, or even challenge the validly of such a claim, he found himself staring at a strange man, the like he had never seen before.

Now Suguru wasn't one who paid much attention to men, as usually he was paying it all to the fairer sex, and even leaving some tips while at it, yet this figure was simply uncanny. Serpentine features, the way his lips moved as he asked his question, his tone lulling as each word slithered out of his mouth; they were all bizzare, the panicked Suguru couldn't put his finger on really why it was so. Not that he would have displayed any great amount of intellect were the genin not panicked, yet it definitely did not help.

"Drugs?" he muttered back in confusion, before realizing the ray of hope that this strange man symbolized. "Yes...YES! You're a medical-shinboi right? Drugs are just what I need." Suguru realized, with a desperate smile cutting across his sweaty cheeks.

"Mental Therapy? I had that before. A lot of talking and no solutions. The doctor never believed me. She was kind of hot though." Suguru replied matter of factually. "She had-"

Suguru's coming vivid description of what he thought about the doctor was cut short by this mystery man using the clone jutsu. Even stranger, the clone touched him.

"Holy shit...how did you do that?" The genin's voice wavered in excitement, as he recoiled back in surprise. For a moment he forgot the whole predicament in the face of a very cool jutsu.

Suguru reached out a hand and touched the clone back. It felt real. This jutsu was miles above the clone jutsu he knew. "Can you teach me?"

Before he could get an answer, his mind was split open as it was probed and analyzed. His first mission, walking dogs. Sparring against a Hyuga. The mission with the legendary Senju. The fight against Rose, the silver haired woman, and the mission they completed together. Defending the gate from invading shinobi with the coolest man he ever met, Drakon.

These high points of shinobi activity where divided by days of lazing around, sleeping in, reading manga and all manner of perverted activity. Treetop peeping, "accidentally" bumping in to women with great chesticular fortitude and outing at the hot springs which had got him banned multiple times and was the reason why he infact was here. Thankfully (or not), his bans were usually temporary based on the simple fact that he was the biggest source of profit for the local hot springs, since spent nearly all his welfare ryo there.

While most Kunochi would see the genin as an annoyance at best, some would dish their own form of revenge. Shocked, cut, beat, broken and burned. Revenge that would leave most man paralyzed or even dead.

Yet while Suguru believed he simply slept these injuries off, a sleep that lasted sometimes months. His body did other things. Hunting small animals in the forests outside of the village, it would dry their vitality and take it for his own; something which only recently the genin had been witness too.

All in all, Suguru was a low-grade shinobi, with little drive beyond women and being "cool", whose body and jingoistic spirit, could be a great use to the village if properly trained, was plagued by an ignorant mind. It too was plagued, with a voice that seemed to take over and shape his body in monstrous forms.

At this point, Suguru, thinking he was under the influence of some Genjutsu, touched the tips of his fingers together and concentrated chakra into himself in an effort to beak it. Nothing happened of course, except Suguru believing he had outsmarted the serpentine man.

This jutsu had seemingly attracted attention, not on it or Renny, but on him. Staring eyes gazed at him from every passer by, their looks seemingly piercing his soul and seeing the truth, riling the beast inside him even further against his own flesh; hardening and molding it, despite its silence. It always went silent around other people. He was safe as long as this man did not leave him.

"Okay, whatever you say, but we...we need to go some place...quiet and alone." Suguru muttered. It didn't matter if this man had the same face that you saw on the Stranger Danger posters in the academy, he needed to get away from all this staring.

"Uh huh, well, the best solution's often the quickest one. Not a quickie for that doctor maybe," explained Renny. Renny's left sadly wondering a little on what Suguru was going to say. No matter, Suguru's preferences are probably already known to Renny.

"It's called Shadow Clone Technique. I imagine the jutsu's uncomfortable for some people to use a lot. If you have the base required chakra, I can teach it to you," agreeing, Renny's in a good mood, and he doesn't have any responsibilities for fighting other ninja either. Renny patiently shares what he knows a lot, he doesn't mind info being with any nice person.

Having glossed over the memories of Suguru, there isn't anything confidential or surprising that Renny's clone takes to mind at the moment. A medical practitioner after a recent war isn't going to be fazed by anything about bodies. An appreciation for nature does exist in Renny's heart, so he does want to quell Suguru recklessly hunting. Not finding it a prerogative to judge others based on their uncontrolled morals, Renny's more focused on what drives someone.

Still continuing his mental training, Renny's focus is now how to find inspiration faster. If someone has untapped prospects, there's got to be ways to apply helping in the easiest way. Splitting his attention through that clone, Renny had thought he could deal with Suguru's mentality with a few kind words. Instead of kindness, Renny feels like he has to take a more direct approach. Watching Suguru's reaction, Renny decides to keep the clone around instead of dispelling it. With the clone whispering to Renny, he's kept up to date with Suguru's circumstances.

"Don't worry, you can consider my probing prep work for what's to come. Genjutsu wouldn't help, when I'm not good at it," said Renny. In response to Suguru maybe trying to release the effect of what Renny did, a soft chuckle escapes. Following the people looking at Suguru, Renny doesn't want to insist on pushing this pressure. Overall, Renny's feeling stuffy too with the open talking on the streets.

Biting his thumb, there's not going to be a summoning, and Renny's just looking to find a resource for fuinjutsu. Loneliness sometimes spurs some people on to learn things. As Renny learns, he's found he gets the best ideas from surrounding himself with kind cheers. With the annoying people around him spurring him on, Renny draws a simple blood fuinjutsu if necessary on his arm. The supposed fuinjutsu is called Canopy Method Formation, and will help Renny navigate this crowd.

Not overestimating his trust in Suguru, Renny's clone remained at the original Renny's side. Performing a familiar jutsu on Renny, Healing Hands brings Renny's clone close to expiration, after using the common hand seals. With the minor bite on his thumb gone, Renny doesn't have to be too unpresentable with where he plans to go with Suguru. Abruptly doing things, Suguru might feel it's odd, so Renny moves on to other distracting plans if his moves apply.

"Let's go. Don't mind all these people, run!" Renny shouted. Rushing over to Suguru fastest, there's not much that Renny expects the companion to do. Performing hand seals of his own, Renny decides to play a game with Suguru, and the hand seals are hopefully performed in Suguru's face. Since Renny's trying to learn probing his surroundings, he's got to make at least a little disturbance to follow.

If successful, Renny's idea is to use Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique. The jutsu conjures a fireball from the heavens, and Renny mimics the urgency of the fire's descent. Grilling Suguru with the possible pressure, Suguru's sanity might take a hit since he's the genjutsu's only target. Showing a fake panicked face, Renny tried to use further hand seals then the genjutsu needs, and his clone disappeared in false fright to the approaching fireball.

"Run along with me, a better drug of enlightenment awaits. We'll go to a hot spring's waters to escape the awkwardness. What's your name?" uttered Renny randomly. With the further hand seals, Renny begins his main focus of the day, while trying to juggle calming down Suguru. Controlling his chakra, Renny's main research is for a jutsu called Lampbulb. A first impression is easy to make with a jutsu such as Lampbulb.

Little sign will appear that Renny performed his jutsu. Lampbulb's effect is to increase mental abilities, and will serve to supplement calming Suguru down if need be. Placing a hand toward Suguru, Renny wants to share the mental increase to his target. Bumping into Suguru can suffice too, pending the beginning of Suguru's rampaging tendencies.

"Release your ability. Then, learn to retract it in this moment, or I will run out of chakra and you will die. Why will you die? Because you will rampage, and the surrounding ninja will not care to reason with you," advised Renny. Not trying to hear Suguru's name if needed, Renny entices and induces Suguru to give into a spiral. With the hot springs area right next to the duo, Renny enters them assuming Suguru follows him. Even if Suguru's banned at the hot springs, he might look a bit different now with a controlled curse mark, and there's less reservations.

Lampbulb's purpose is to release potential, and the best way Renny can do so is by abruptly forcing it. For the ijutsu's mental increase, it doesn't make someone too smart. A drastic increase in intelligence can be a horror in all it's own. While there's a high in having a completely different perspective than one has had their whole life, is that a good high? Some can no longer consider a person themselves with a drastic change.

"Lighten up, we might meet some cute injured aliens today, I don't need patient confidentiality for that if you wanna peek," jokingly said Renny.

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Jutsu Used:
Canopy Method Formation {learning} 10 CP
Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell Technique 5 CP
Lampbulb {learning} 30 CP
Shadow Clone using Healing Hands 3 CP

Custom:

Renny's Stamina: 47 CP

Analyzing Suguru

"Sorry man, I just...never like Genjtusu." Suguru admitted, ashamed that he has been caught. "My life is already shit enough and sometimes I don't even know what I'm thinking, I don't need people fucking with my mind further." He did not know why, but he felt like he could confide in this strange, serpentine man.

Having once spent a week walking down the same street, being chased by "demons" after messing with the wrong busty kunoichi, the genin was far too familiar with genjtusu that he liked to be, despite having failed the genjtusu component of the academy multiple times.

"BY THE HOKAGE'S FUCKING SHADOW, IS THAT A FIREBALL?!" Suguru shouted and started scrambling after Renny. Even though the fiery meteor was still high up, he still could feel the scorching heat on his skin, tugging at his clothes and threatening to render him in a crisp.

"My name? Suguru. There is no last name. Just that. Suguru of the Leaf. Best village there ever is and ever was." Suguru shouted. The whooshing of the heated wind that came as the flaming ball pressed downwards made it hard to talk, but he somehow still could hear his fellow shinobi.

"Your face is new to me. You must be out of the village. So what's your name?" Despite not knowing many shinobi from his own village, Suguru was sure he had never seen a man with a face like this. He had to be an outsider.

The man bumped into him, and as he regained his balance, he felt the whole world seemingly slow down, if only for a second, his whole being lighter than ever. The clawing of the beast seemed to lessen, the control over himself seemingly reinforced.

Before he could understand what was going on, the medical-nin asked him to release his ability, then hold it back, adding that failure would result in both their death.

"How..do you know about the voice?" Suguru muttered in shock, still afraid that the voice would come back and size control. "I can't do it. It does what it wants. I just want to serve my village, retire for a quiet life with a big ti-" He began confessing before he found himself in front of the hot springs entrance.

"Hey, this is why I came here!" The genin replied with surprise, before realizing why the man brought him here. "Now I get it. We use the water of the hot springs to hide from the fireball!"

"That still doesn't explain how you know about the voice." Suguru took a step back. Was the fireball and this man's motivates connected to some ploy from an opposing village to undermine Konoha? Why did nobody else seem bothered by it? It was in the absence of the wind as the fire was depressing futher that he realized it was gone, confirming the latter with a quick glance upwards.

"Something is not right, and you better fess up." Suguru took a defensive taijutsu stance. Even though he was not in his village, he was still a shinobi.

"Tough love? What the hell are you talking about?" Suguru replied. Since the start of this stare down, he couldn't help but feel unnerved, as if something was gone from his being. Was he missing the voice? Impossible.

Was this man a scorned lover of some woman he had displeased greatly with his actions? That would be quite a long list. Maybe a white knight, hoping to get rid of him? Or simply an enemy of Konoha? The genin was ready to leap to attack against this man, uncaring of what motivation he had, yet an unexpected visitor reared their head.

"This man toys with you. Let me end him and suckle on his bones." The voice had came back with a vengeance and for once, he was glad to hear it whisper in the back of his mind.

"Now you come back? I'm not letting you make me rampage here." Suguru whispered to it, his guard dropping as his fear reached an all new high once more. "I can beat him on my own. I'm a shinobi of the leaf." He lied.

"YOU STRUGGLED TO TIE YOUR SHOES THIS MORNING, YOU IMPENITENT FOOL. THIS MAN HAS GENJUTSU THAT WILL-"

Before the voice could finish it's condemnation of the genin's tactics, another unexpected visitor came.

The fireball, through the wall on Suguru's right, heralded by a deafening roar that even silenced his own thoughts. The whole room heated up and his clothes started to cinder away as it approached.

As the fear of flaming death consumed him, Suguru found himself yanked out of his own consciousness and into the back of his mind. His pupils narrowed as powerful chakra flowed through his whole being, his skin turning dark as chitinous growths erupted from under his skin, being burned away by the flames, only to painfully regrow once more.

A mix of fear of his possibly incoming incineration and the awe at seeing his body transform took over Suguru. He had seen himself warp his arm, but his whole body? Maybe his Taijutsu training was paying off after all. Well, if he survived that is.

Renny, his face still a satisfied smirk, simply pushed the genin out of the way every so slightly, sending his new bulk crashing through the thin bamboo walls and into the warm water of the hot springs, which luckily were vacant at the time.

The water provided some comfort, yet the flames burned with natural fire that no water could extinguish.

Suguru, as he lay between drowning and incineration, saw in his last conscious moments figures reach for him and pull him out as as he flailed in the waters, yet soon after he found all his senses turn to black, overcome with fear and pain.

[EXIT?]