Kanmuri watched as his sensei smiled and slowly shut the door. Although the situation wasn’t anything abnormal, the way Chikamatsu-sensei closed the door seemed to have an ominous feel to it. It was as if the shutting of the door was an eerie signs of things to come in this exam. However, the ice would be broken as Chikamatsu-sensei spoke to Kanmuri regarding his affinity for genjutsu. It was true. At the young age of eight, Kanmuri knew genjutsu that even grown shinobi would have trouble fighting against. Though it was weird that Chikamatsu-sensei asked this, and Kanmuri knew this as he thought,
...That’s true, but why is it relevant…? The first part of the exam is supposed to be the ninjutsu portion… Kanmuri would receive his answer when Chikamatsu sensei would begin gracefully moving his fingers.
Genjutsu! Although he was aware of it, there was nothing Kanmuri could do. It was as if his body wouldn’t respond to him.
This...isn’t good. He’s already got me in his clutches. I’ve got to break this before- Kanmuri’s thoughts would be cut short as Chikamatsu-sensei would dart towards the eight year old.
CRAP! Kanmuri thought to himself as he flooded his body with demonic enzymes. In attempt to deter Chikamatsu-sensei from seemingly unprovoked attack, Kanmuri unleashed his demonic aura for quick second which filled the room with an extremely heavy feeling of death, dread, and fear. This would all be done as Kanmuri reached for his sword, Bloodthirsty Crown, but he was too slow. The hands of Chikamatsu-sensei were now tight around the base of his neck and no matter how much he struggled, his little body wasn’t able to break free from the beast that stood at him with crimson eyes.
Those eyes! This isn’t Shin! This is very bad! The young boy, although he wasn’t the smartest, instinctively could tell that something was different about Chikamatsu-sensei, but as to what was going on, the young demon didn’t have a clue.
Out of nowhere, Kanmuri would find it incredibly hard to breath and placed both of his hands on the arms of the shinobi in front of him, but it was to no avail. No matter how much force he used, the grip of Chikamatsu-sensei was airtight and solid. It wasn’t long before the boy thought that his soul was leaving his body, and with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, Kanmuri blacked out.
Kanmuri would gasp for air and jerk up upon waking up. Immediately taking in his surroundings, Kanmuri squatted and grabbed Bloodthirsty Crown.
Where...am I Looking around, Kanmuri could only see one thing, darkness. As far as the eyes could reach, there was only darkness. To add on to this bizarre setting, everywhere felt heavy. There was a sense of dread, terror, and death in the air similar to his Demonic Aura, but much lighter than his at max power. If anything, it felt as if he was feeling the early stages of his own Demonic Aura. The feeling of death in the air would cause the young demon to relax and smile. Although it was extremely unsettling to normal people, this feeling was extremely serene to him, and thus, he lowered his sword. However, that smile was wiped from his face when he saw someone standing not far behind him, Chikamatsu-sensei. The smile would soon contort to one of anger and malicious intent.
“You!” Grabbing his sword, the young demon soon started his attacking motion towards the blonde medic, but the soft words of his sensei caused him to stop. Then upon seeing his eyes, Kanmuri could tell that it was the instructor that he knew talking to him. After some weird words, Chikamatsu-sensei, or what seemed to be his image quickly vanished. Then it hit the eight year old.
I can see my hands and sword? There’s no light here, but I can see.. Kanmuri thought to himself before looking at the floor, or rather lack thereof. Below him was only darkness for what seemed like an eternity.
This is..we-
The scarlet-eyed boy had his thoughts interrupted by a voice that sounded very familiar.
Hey, Kanmuri said a black figure that was the same height as Kanmuri. Turning his gaze to meet the voice, Kanmuri saw what seemed to be a living shadow. Confused, the boy’s eyebrows raised as he grabbed his sword and asked,
“Who…are you?" The shadow charmingly laughed before answering
“Have you forgotten about me already, or are you suppressing your memory of me too?” Slightly annoyed, Kanmuri replied saying,
“What? I don’t know who are. Plus, I can’t and don’t suppress my memories.” Although the shadow didn’t have facial features, it was obvious that it had an open-mouthed smirk on its face. It would the sarcastically ask,
“Oh really now? Then please, let me help you. With a snap of its fingers, the darkness would into a collection of the same memory. The memory was playing by itself and replaying itself as if it was automatic. With his eyes opening in shock, Kanmuri would snap his fingers with realization before saying,
“Oh! You’re that thing I fought before in Chikamatsu-sensei’s class. With adrenaline filling his veins as Kanmuri remembered the fight with the shadow and watched the same fight all around him, he said with a grin,
“That fight was nice…even if it was some months ago.” With the smirk on its face gone, the shadow looked at Kanmuri and said,
“Calm yourself, Kanmuri. I don’t have time to play with you today. Plus, I would rather not traumatize you.” The shadow would say with a sly smile. Aggravated, Kanmuri would open his mouth to respond, but this was cut short by the shadow beginning to talk once more,
“Say, Kanmuri, why do you really train?” Both of Kanmuri’s eyebrows would jump as the shadow snapped his fingers and the surroundings became a montage of his solo training. In response, Kanmuri answered seriously,
“To become stronger.” “But why? the shadow quickly interjected.
“Everyone wants to get stronger, but what drives YOU?” A small smile would go across Kanmuri’s face as he answered,
“My dad."
Wrong! The shadow said mockingly. With his eyebrows beginning to slope inward, Kanmuri angily, but slowly, replied,
“What makes you say that?” The shadow began to laugh uncontrollably in response to the question and asked,
“I know you Kanmuri! Better than you even know yourself! But it seems…” The shadow began to suck on its teeth before saying,
“...that you have forgotten! But that’s OK! It’s OK! Do you know why it’s OK, Kan? Huh?! The shadow began to walk towards Kanmuri, but surprisingly Kanmuri didn’t react. With each step, the shadow said,
“It’s because I...WILL...make...YOU…” and at this point, the shadow had made its way beside Kanmuri and whispered in his ear
“...remember,”</B><i></i> before snapping its fingers. The montage would disappear and for a few seconds the surroundings returned to its dark, void look but soon, the void would be replaced by a multiple replayings of a single memory...a memory that seemed to have a darker feel to it from the very beginning. The memory that played out filled the entire void like the previous memories, but upon seeing the start of it Kanmuri lowered his head and clenched his fists before softly saying,
“Turn it off…” Ignoring the words of the eight year old the shadow watched the memory with a smirk. There were dry lands and slabs of gray rocks scattered around in the memory. Based on the amount of moonlight and dusts of sand moving around it was obvious where the memory had taken place, the desert expanse of Sunagakure. There it was shown a young Kanmuri, no older than four, being led to a giant slab of rock by a group of what seemed to be Kyoujorans. The group would soon stop and force the young boy to the desert ground and hold him in place. Each elder would hold one of the small boy’s appendages while the last elder held what seemed to be a Kunai for a total of five Kyoujoran. Flat on his stomach, the small, pink haired child tried escaping, but due to his small build and the sheer difference in strength, there was no escaping and knowing this, the child would give up and accept his unknown fate. Almost immediately after Kanmuri stopped struggling the Kyoujoran with the kunai would stab the kunai deep into the back of the three year old and his back would tense up and rise in pain. The void began to feel more heavy and angry. The feeling of death and dread would increase and upon feeling this the shadow begin to widely grin; however, he was facing in the opposite direction of Kanmuri. With his head still looking at the ground, which was also a memory playing out, the scarlet-eyed boy growled,
“I said...turn...it...off…” With a chuckle the shadow would reply
“Oh heavens no, not now Kan. Not when the climax is here!”
With a clap of his hands the memory would have its sound enabled, and then the worst part of the memory would play out. With extreme force, the Kyoujoran would pull the kunai straight down the back of the three year old leaving a huge gash and causing blood to gush out everywhere. Worst of all, the screaming of the three year old was blasting in the void. With all the might, the three year old’s screams seemed to increase in pain every centimeter the kunai moved down his back.
“AaaaaRRUURRGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! Argh! Aaawww, AaaaIIEEEE!” With gasps in between, the screaming would just continue and sounding more and more painful, and upon hearing his own screams, Kanmuri lost his mind. The feeling in the room was more than heavy, it was unbearable. The amount of hatred, malice, and death that filled the room was indescribable and with demonic enzymes buzzing throughout his whole body the angered Kanmuri quickly drew his sword and slashed it right next to him where the shadow was, but it phased right through. With a frown on its face, the shadow put his right palm up and said,
“I told you to calm down, Kanmuri<B>” and in the blink of an eye, Kanmuri’s body was dismembered. Although it took a few seconds to realize, that he no longer had his arms and legs connected to him, Kanmuri screamed in agony almost in sync with his own memories as tears flowed out of his eyes.
“I’m not here to make you suffer, Kan.” The shadow said with a serious look on his face. It would then snap and a collage of all the torturing Kanmuri experienced nearly every day since he was three was showcased. Multiple deep cuts, limb chopping, being locked in chambers with starved boars, being flayed, manually stretched and sometimes torn apart. There were so many different forms of torture that it was almost impossible to know of them all, but despite that harshest and most inhumane torturing the end result would be the same, a nearly broken young boy. A young boy whose body would repair itself with its inhuman regenerative abilities. Because of the new skin that would grow, many of the scars would not be seen, but the major ones...they stayed. Helpless, Kanmuri could only cry as he was forced to essentially relive the memories that were buried in his past, but eventually Kanmuri’s tears would stop and the intensity of the void like seemingly get even more intense to the point where even the shadow was surprised and startled.
Kanmuri’s body would quickly regrow its limbs as the past ones disintegrated into nothing. The eyes of the scarlet-eyed boy were heavy and dark. Although they stared forward, what they were focusing on were unknown. The shadow would walk infront of the boy, confused, and place an arm on the boy and say, “Hey, Kan...Y-You good?” The stare of the scarlet-eyed boy didn’t move an inch, the shadow had made a crucial mistake. It had gone too far. “Well...onto what I was saying, Kan,” the shadow would snap, but the memories wouldn’t respond. They would buffer before completely freezing. Then all at once, they’d screech before showing something else. “What...the...?” The shadow would whisper before seemingly widening its eyes in fear and astonishment. “This...Kan...This isn’t your memory. What is this?” The screen would show a black background, but a Kyoujoran male stood in the middle with Kanmuri, in the display, walking toward it. Then in the blink of an eye, Kanmuri became a blur as he danced around the Kyoujoran and effortlessly sliced the hard, heavy skin like a hot knife going through butter. All that could be heard was the Kyoujoran screaming in pain before it fell on the ground. Although, the Kyoujoran was seemingly dead, the scarlet-eyed demon child was not done, not even close. He’d kneel down and get Bloodthirsty Crown before consecutively stabbing the chest and body of the Kyoujoran non-stop. Bits and pieces of the skin would scatter everywhere and in a frenzy Kanmuri would rip the tough, rocky skin from the soft, squishy flesh. All that remained was a lump of unrecognizable flesh, but the scene would be rewound and looped at the parts where Kanmuri was stabbing the body multiple times.
The shadow was taken aback and whispered, “This kid...is a demon. This kid is from hell…” <i></i> However, the shadow would quickly regain its composure and tell Kanmuri, “I can make you stronger. If you join forces with me, we’ll kill all the filthy Kyoujoran who walk on this damned planet. All we have to do is become one…”<i></i> With nothing but apathy in the eyes of the eight year old. He responded, “Sure.” With a mad grin, the shadow made its way behind Kanmuri before slowly walking inside of him. When it was almost completely inside of him, the eight year old began to speak, “Listen here, Shadow. I hope you know that you’re not running the show.” In a scared voice, the shadow frighteningly asked, “What? What do you mean?!” The shadow, which only had the shoulders and above free, tried to exit the body, but it was only getting sucked into Kanmuri’s body. The white-haired boy as still as a statue stared straight ahead as the sounds of the the Kyoujoran body getting stabbed repeatedly continued to play in the background. “No! NO! YOU WON’T HAVE ME!” the shadow screamed, but it was to no avail. 
It continued to get sucked into the dark abyss that was Kanmuri, but then something interesting happened. The shadow began to crack before illuminating into a blue color. The shadow would scream as it continued to get cracked and a ghostly blue fog came out as the remains of the shadow was absorbed into the boy.
The void quickly became covered blue fogs but the sounds of ripping flesh would still be audible. Skeleton like arms would touch Kanmuri’s should but he didn’t turn. He wasn’t going to move, and it didn’t seem like he was ever going to move, but it was obvious that he was done here. With a blink, the reaper like creature would appear in front of Kanmuri. On its skull head was a long, golden crown that was also a necklace. It wore a black, royal cape. In its right hand was a long and dangerous blue scythe. It’s skeleton hands and skull were blue in color and its hands always released a blue beautiful, dense blue fog that made it impossible to see the lower body of the reaper. On its waist there were skulls, and the blue fog would also surround the reaper. It would slowly outstretch its left hand and ask in a booming voice, “What do you desire?”
Eyes still empty, Kanmuri would look above to the much taller Reaper and say, “I’ll make the ideal world,” and shake the left hand of the Reaper who would reply, “Deal.” Then the void would become filled with blue flames that would devour everything and the void itself. All that would remain were Kanmuri and Reaper who were still shaking hands. Kanmuri would then wake up with his eyes still the same, cold, dead, and heavy as they just were. However, the scarlet eyes of the boy had seemed to give off a feeling of power built on immorality.
[WC: 2,734]
The day had an odd feeling to it, but it was one that Shin knew was coming soon. The Sunan Academy, sitting nicely nestled into the crater of the village which used to be underground, was slow today. Barely any students or sensei were at the academy as the sky was covered in a dark grey overcast. Though it was probably closer to the middle of the day the amount of light whispering through the sky hinted more towards late evening. A deep sigh slipped through his lips as he sat on the bench which sat in front of the academy's front doors. Shin had asked his student to come to the building in order to begin the process of his graduation. He felt as if this graduation was going to be very different that exams in the pass. He knew that Kanmuri was a Genjutsu Specialist as well and it wasn't often that Shin had to work directly with someone specializing in the same field as himself. He was curious to see how strong the boy's mind was and how much it could endure before breaking. A chuckled escaped from his lips as he could feel her presence behind him. Kohana was ever present now a days and seemed to always know exactly what was going on in Shin's life. She also had stopped her aggressive reaching to take control of the boy's body but instead accepted the times when she was allowed to be manifested into reality.
