Laughing at Cripples

Voltaire was a small child who carried a large presence, and today he also carried a large spider. It was about a foot and a half in diameter, which may sound like something out of a Summoning beast nightmare if not for the fact that it was obviously fake. He walked over to the hospital building, his large boots kicking up sand as they rattled around on his small feet. His beautiful white and silver cloak trailed behind him at times when the wind didn't pick up, and while this was upsetting it was not however upsetting enough to make Voltaire run to keep the fabric clean, he would pay somebody to scrub it after he got home as he always did. Money was power, and those who say that the more of it you have the more you feel you need have obviously never seen how far somebody without it is willing to go to degrade themselves. Voltaire enjoyed seeing people at their lowest, and while it was not nearly as fun as pushing them to that point himself through force or manipulation, he could still find some pleasure in being near those who were silently fearing for their lives. He never went in, the smell of the place bothered him greatly, but just standing outside and leaning against the curved outer wall made for a nice outing.

He sat the spider so it would cling to his narrow left shoulder and then bent down, putting his hands in the scorching sand. He pulled both hands up full of hot yellow sand. “You,” he said to the sand in his left hand, “mean more to me than these people's hopes for survival, and you,” he said to the hand in his right hand, “mean more to me than their family's hopes that they will return.” He then slapped his hands together. The sound was dulled by the sand, but it exploded outwards. He did so at an angle as to make sure that none of it would come back in his own eyes. “All we are is our potential to bring glory to the village, and these people in this building have failed.” Voltaire viewed medical technology as better for enhancing people than for treating them. Glory was eternal, but why fight for something that ends like a human life? “Honestly, the medical field is an abomination!” he shouted.

Hiro was walking by a kid playing in the sand , and listened to him, he had more faith in the sand then the people in the Hospital? Hiro wondered as he looked at the building then back to the kid, so this kid liked sand? Hiro was wearing his normal black jacket over a white shirt, his hair in its normal mess, his green eyes peering at the kid, and then he would speak up "Why do you talk to the sand as if it was a person?" as he was behind the kid, the previously clapped sand would go in the opposite direction of him.

His leather boots were high enough to prevent the sand from getting in them, and his hands were covered in gloves, he was dressed rather formal for most, however for him it was rather casual wear, he listed to hear the response from the kid in front of him.

Another guy who looked maybe his age was here now. He was confused by the question about his speaking to the sand, why would he not speak to the sand? It was there. But instead of saying that and being mistaken for an insane person during his first impression, he decided to pull something out of his ass. “Well you see!” he started with one hand up and out to his side and the other hand pointing at the man who had approached him, “I am a puppet master, a man who manipulates and befriends creatures beyond just those who can befriend or manipulate me in return, so call it a silly habit, talking to things like sand! So, Voltaire's the name, puppetry and glory to the village is the game, what's your deal?”

Hiro would reach down, and pick up a hand full of sand and stare at it, suddenly the sand would move and hovered in the air, it Spelt out 'Hiro' he did not like to speak his full name due to the lengthyness of it, then he tilted his head at the kid "You see I talk with the sand as well, so we are two of the same in a sense" Hiro spoke gently, however he stared at the sand more then he did the kid with blonde hair.

He would then release the sand from the grasp of his chakra and allow it to fall into the wind, most of it piled there, but particles still flew away. He tilted his head at the building and questioned "So why choose this place to be and speak to the sand in such a way?" Hiro questioned.

He was impressed by the moving sands that Hiro produced, though he was not entirely sure how it was done. This manipulation was impressive, but Voltaire was in no place to be over-shadowed in the realm of making things move without touching them physically. His chakra started to drip out of his finger tips, moving smoothly and fluidly up his sleeve. His hands were not dropped to his sides with his fingers curled up and his palms facing away from Hiro so that he could not see the threads. They crept up his sleeves and into his clothing, then crawled casually from his collar and into the black and hot pink wooden and metal spider that was perched on his shoulder. Its head swiveled around to look at Hiro, and then the mouth pieces pinched twice like it was sizing Hiro up.

It released its grip on Voltaire's shoulder, dropping to the ground and then creeping up to Hiro slowly. The sharp tipped feet protruded a bit into the sand with very step that it took. When it got within one or two feet from Hiro it got up on its back two legs and looked up at the stranger. “Lucky for you I am literate,” he said, “ in a place like this you never know when you are going to walk into a blind person or a nit-wit. I was thinking of applying for an apprenticeship, that way I can learn to make sure less villagers wind up inefficient!” The mouth parts of the puppet snapped twice in agreement, still staring up at Hiro. Its top two legs were wiggling around. “I think he likes you! This, this is my art. It is not as flashy or orthographic as your sand, but I think it has its place among the reasons that Suna is great, a kid and his spider!”

Hiro would watch the spider, and when it got close, Hiro would bend down and tilt his head as he watched the spider, but listened to the words of the boy, as blunt as the words were of the boy, he was noble in heart and meaning. Hiro chuckled at the spider a little and reached down to scratch the belly of the spider as he watched it do its little trick, rather mechanical or not, this spider showed spirit, not in its actions persay, but in its eyes, and Hiro was particular to that.

After a moment however he would stand up and look at the boy across at him " So other then looking to Apprentice here, what are some of your goals?" Hiro inquired to the boy , his hands now every so limply hanging by his sides.

Voltaire pushes the strings down into the sand as far as he could to make sure that the strings were not visible, hoping that they had not been seen already. Many people were familiar with the puppet master Jutsu, but for those who weren't available it was a real treat to see some practitioners trying to keep that mystery alive. The spider moved its mouth parts rapidly and pointed at its belly with the top two legs when its belly was scratched. After the other boy was done playing with the spider it crawled back to Voltaire and perched up on his cloak. As soon as it got there Voltaire allowed his chakra threads to dissipate. “I am going to be the greatest puppet master in Sunagakure, and make sure any Jinchuriki in Sunagakure are safe, and do this by destroying puppet mastery and tailed beast hosts beyond our village walls, and Dojutsu users too! Those types of people are strong enough to be threats, so they should only exist as our allies! And with a pile of ninja of that caliber at my feet, I will be recognized as stronger than any magical eyes guy or monster host, and be given the title of Kazekage, where I can enforce that the whole village give their all to make sure that after I die this will continue to be the greatest nation!”

Voltaire was usually far more reserved, but his ambitions were a hot button topic that made the real him shine if even for a brief moment through the thought out facade. “Haha, sorry,” he said scratching the back of his head and blushing, “I get very excited about the future in my head, you know us puppet masters, always with our heads in the clouds, so, what are your goals?”

Hiro had sat down in the sand, putting the soles of his feet together, and his knees pointed outwards, like the butterfly stretch, and he listened to Voltaire go on for a moment, what really caught his attention is protecting Jinchuriki, being one himself ya know. However he was not to keen at the moment on killing all others, but maybe cohersing them to join us, Voltaire was rather knowledgeable about different things of the world already, then he heard the important thing, this man wanted to be Kazekage, that was big shoes to fill, definitnly something that Hiro would like to see eventually happen.

of course Hiro had certain critiques to give about the way he addressed certain things, but Hiro planned to give those as things came up, when Voltaire was done, he would stand up, and brush the sand off his bottom, Hiro gave Voltaire a smile and nodded saying as he did " it is perfectly alright, it is good to see someone with conviction like yours in your dream, it is really refreashing"

Hiro looked up at the sky, thinking to himself what are even his goals, he does not really know his own goals , mostly just to master the beast within, Hiro was lost in thought at this moment

Voltaire was more than reasonably intelligent, but his arrogance was more than enough to over power his brilliance and the slight compliment was doing what he would have said it was intended to do if he was watching this conversation as a third party, it made him ignore the fact that his question was entirely ignored. He looked at Hiro with the curiosity that a cat had when it was eyeing up a mouse. Was this going to be a future subordinate? He put his hands on his hips with a smile on his face and looked up at the Pokey Spider Puppet who was on his shoulder, reconnecting the chakra strings to get a reaction out of it. "Well Pokey Spider," he started to say, "Flattering little bugger, ain't he?" The spider put its pointy legs on his belly and chittered his metal jaws to simulate laughter.

Hiro would look at Voltaire, he did not ignore the question, was simply thinking on how best to answer, and when the words came to his head, he finally answered " My Goals, would be to Conqour the demon within" now Demon could be one of many things, however he personally meant the Bijuu within him, however he was not ready to divulge such information to Voltaire just yet.

Hiro looked back up in the sky as he listened to Voltaire and spoke again, this time without looking at him " you have noble goals, do not give up on them, I would like to see you reach such goals, cause if you could, that would give me hope for my own goals, for if you can reach kazekage and make the level of changes and protect the way you claim, then surely I can meet the measly task of mastering my demon" Hiro said this, not with a smile, but with a solemn look on his face, thinking of what the beast as done so far, and how he would like to make sure that did not happen again.

"Everyone and their mothers want to be the Kazekage." a mocking voice rang out from behind them.  Kiraku slid down from a nearby tree. He had been "birdwatching". That tree also happened to have a good view into the hospital, specifically room B-43; The Ladies Nurse Changing Room.  He had been there when the conversation broke out but he wasn't paying much attention initially. Then a big breasted woman drew the curtains of B-43 and it just happened that Kiraku decided he was going back home. He overheard the last snippets of the conversation and seeing as he had nothing much to do; He joined in the fanciest way possible.

"Just like you, I'm sure there is every academy student lined up determined to make Sunagakure great again." He said, smirking in that bitch ass way he always did. "You got some good ideas though; Razing everything apart from Suna into sand. No stupid unity and friendship is magic; That's one thing that won't make us the best."

He was gonna continue and take the piss out of the other guy for being so edgy yet something was off about him. Something strong. Strong enough to wipe that grin off his face and shut him up.

(1/10)

Voltaire did not turn around at first, but he was definitely acknowledging the little shit behind him. He knew he was already low on Chakra, but Jesus Christ he was hungry for striking some fear into somebody. He was going to have to rest up for now, even if only for a moment to make sure that he did not harm himself. People used to talk about somebody being "not worth the effort," or "not worth your time," but those people were idiots with no concept of what it means to be feared. You let one person get away with something and then before you know it you have an uprising, and to have a truly powerful empire you need to start as a child and never show your humanity in public. He could never be viewed by Sunagakure no Sato as a scared child, but as an emperor from the day he arrived from the desert with the cash to attend the Ninja Academy.

He was still facing Hiro, and away from the man in the tree. He was grinning from ear to ear, breathing deeply on bated breath with frequent catching in his throat. His eyes were wide and blood shot. He was also starting to get an erection, all from the push inside of him telling him to kill, to terrify somebody, to remind people what his place and what their places are. His fingers were twitching wildly, his body begging him to release the threads to wake up the spider so he can bring the bastard to near death, but he fought it as he always did. "No..," Voltaire started to say, "You know nothing about good ideas or power. The strongest man on Earth would fall if he attacked a village and in that village there lived the second, the third, the fourth, etc. most powerful ninja on the planet. By standing as the greatest ninja of the greatest village, and making sure that I stay the greatest and as does Suna, my own victory, my own will to exist, is set in stone." He had been staring down Hiro while addressing the complete stranger and slowly started to turn his body so he could address the other kid. "And there aren't children in the academy who go on about how they are going to be Kazekage anymore, I know because I graduated just last week," he was starting to silently chuckle, and then all of the maddening laughter came rolling out. "I stabbed anybody who threatened my dreams, and that is why I was held back for so many years! Even in the shinobi world it is frowned upon to draw too much blood from an academy kid!"

At this point in time it was Hiro's cue to leave, he smiled and waved at the pair "Ta ta" and he then started to walk off, heading off in his own direction leaving these two to handle their differences alone. Hiro was not going to get in the middle of that , however if he was stopped by something or for some reason, he would turn around , but if not, he would be gone from this meeting for now, leaving with the memories and thoughts of Voltaire and his dreams on his mind.

(POtential Exit)

The Kazekage wanna-be didn't even turn towards him and at first, Kiraku thought that maybe the boy was deaf or something yet that thought did not linger for too long. The kid replied, his words flowing like venomous stings towards him. He slowly started turning towards him, like an unwinded toy; mechanically and slowly, Laughing in a deranged way as he did so. "Oh, I know who you are. Everyone knows about you who graduated in the past years. The Stabber. Well, all you are is a fresh genin. Maybe you can take down a couple of snot-nosed kids but you won't stand a chance against real shinobi." It was at this moment that the other kid started to leave mockingly saluting them off as he heads off. For all the brave words that were rolling off him, he was scared shitless, especially to the fact of being left alone with someone renowned for stabbing people who disagree with him.

That was enough to push him to shout after the departing kid "Hey you..!" yet his words trailed off, unsure what to say. He really had gotten himself into a jam. The only way he could solve this way by bluffing. That always works of course. "You try to stab a real shinobi and you would be roasted before you take a step towards them. Especially someone like me." he said, pointing his thumb towards himself to further signify his words.

(2/10)

Voltaire's maddening laughter was gone, as was his rage. He knew a bluff when he saw one, and he was very capable of giving them out himself, but his were far more calculated. The thread started to creep out of his finger tips, but he was not hiding it this time. "This," Voltaire said as his chakra strings made contact with the wooden spider, "is the highest form of concentrated chakra achievable by a Genin. No imbecile who roasts can understand real control, what it means to move your chakra like the appendage that it really is instead of a mere fuel source. You are crude and will pay for it if I do not go out of my way to show you just what a puppet master is capable of!"

With a twitch of his left ring finger the mechanisms inside the spider were set into motion. It's neck was craned up to look at the the shinobi perched in the three by Voltaire's middle and index fingers on his right hand, and with that aim a senbon was fired out at high speeds. He did not yet have any poison to coat it with, but he did not need that if some brat was going to drag him into a competition of bull shitting. In this, Voltaire felt he was truly unmatched. He aimed the senbon to embed itself in the flesh of the punk, but if it missed that was fine too. Anything could be fine if your plan was good enough. "On each of the needles left in my little friend is a poison that reacts to aggression. If you get angry and let your fight response take over after being hit, you die. If you relax for a couple hours to come to your senses or you run away until you are ready to speak to me with the respect I deserve, though with the same candor and bravery I would hope, you will live."

Hiro would hear the Hey You and turn around just in time to watch the Spider launch a Senbon, he would stay and watch now, cause this was getting interesting indeed. As much as this was not in his nature to do, however it was in the beasts nature, and the beast we very interested in this situation at the moment. The Beast even watched through Hiro's eyes the events that would follow, but did nothing to interfere.

Without breaking a stride, the laughing silenced itself. The kid was now looking directly towards him; his eyes full of malice. At first, he thought that his bluff has worked and that shit eating grin split his face once again. He had not even drawn breath to start the first words of his taunts before The Stabber had spoken once again; his words not filled with pure hatred which was mirrored in its eyes. His hands twitched as ebbs of chakra pulled out a wooden construct; it's eight legs cracking like an unhinged jaw as it mounted a minute dome of sand; it's beady eyes reflecting the sun, staring him down like its master. With a single twitch; a blur to even his keen eyes; a spring unwound and with a thin creak; a silver blur shot out. It was at this moment that Kiraku's eyes were drawn off from the possibly fatal attack to the foreground; A lone figure stood; The Edgy Kid; Looking on.

Pain shot through his shoulder, drawing his attention back to the threat in front of him. His vision slurred; focusing and unfocusing on the kid in front of him. Time seemed to grind to a halt; a sliver of blood floating weightless out of wound; a shining senbon lay embedded in his flesh. Colours swam through his vision; the kid in front of him changing shades as shapes formed in and around him. In the distance; a greater form took shape yet pain rang through his eyes as if they were bathed in hot flames and he closed them; his hands going to his head as if trying to keep it from creaking open with pain. The kid in front of him said something about poison and aggression yet the ringing in his head clouded anything else he said. His legs gave away and he stooped down to his knees; his head in his hands.

[AWAKENING: First Tomoe] (3/10)

Voltaire looked up and down, sizing up the state of the tree bitch. This looked largely like a him problem, and there was no actual poison on the senbon so if the kid did die it would be on his parents for shooting out a defective model of human being, because Voltaire knew he was good, but he knew damn well that he did not have the type of aim required to hit a nerve or a major artery. That dude may have been faking it, so Voltaire was not going to stop listening closely, but he was done with looking at him. The battle was over unless something else was going to happen, but it did not look particularly likely he was going to get back up. "Have fun with your panic attack, bitch," Voltaire muttered looking at his fallen floe.

Voltaire then approached Hiro, who had been watching Voltaire claim his glory with such a simple weapon and some well placed words. He smiled at Hiro as if the stabbing had not occured. "So," Voltaire asked him, "Having a demon within, what is that like? I'm pretty stable, maybe I can be of assistance?"

Hiro watched on, a gleam in his eyes, as the beast loved the happenings before, however, they stopped, and the blonde one turned away from the fallen foe, Hiro tilted his head and asked Volt " are you not going to finish him off?" Hiro's arms at his side tensed, as if he was going to do something if Volt did not. The beast within Hiro was taking over slowly, in his mind this kid was meant to die, right here, right now, and so if the blonde would not finish it, he would do it personally.

Sand on ground beneath the stabbbed kid would begin to wrap around him like a blanket, not going over the head, but at the moment a thin layer grew over the kid and more was gathering, now bare in mind, hiro had not ignored Voltaire's question, for when Hiro was going to answer is when the beast started taking over, and so this was more so an example for Voltaire to see, just what it was to have a demon within him.

Pain spread through his body, like burning snakes of fire. His vision was completely marred by shades of black and blue; Surreal forms warping in and out of his vision. The Stabber’s words finally rang in his head; as if echoing from a sunken cave. At first, he had thought that he had his head against the bark of the tree and the blunt impact gave him some kind of seizure yet the boy’s words revealed a far more sinister truth. He had been poisoned; Radiant forms being to take shape in front of him as the color burst into his vision as unexpectedly came back as it had gone; the skeletal form now residing in the bodies of the Stabber. Yet it was not of him he was terrified of anymore. A Bestial form of Azure was warping around the edgy kid; taking over the foreground slowly as it rippled and expanded like living being of its own. Floating clouds of sand came out of it; making their way to him; slowly covering him.
Was this going to be his doom? The end of his family’s legacy? Dead by a poison of a mere kid? Rage welled from depths unknown as a crimson sheen came on to his eyes just briefly. Renewed strength came into his body. Fuck that, He will die on his own terms. He sprung up onto his feet, shrugging off the sand as he shouted a bestial roar, at least that was what it sounded to his enraged mind; It more akin to just a normal shout of anger. He pulled out the senbon from the meat of his arm, his pain clouded by his anger and took it point first; like a shank. He charged at the stabber; his back was to him, but the shout would surely alert him to the new development. He did not care if the poison would kill him; He was ready to go out in a blaze of glory.

[First Tomoe] (4/10)

Voltaire cocked an eyebrow at Hiro, who was now noticably moe violent. What was the point of this violence? If it was to strike fear then he could get behind it but if it was to actually kill they were going to have an issue. He put his hand on the shoulder of his conversational partner. "Hey buddy, are you really going to kill a fellow ninja of the Hidden Sand? That's not nice, don't do that." He then leaned in, very slowly and somewhat in front of him to make absolutely sure that it is not taken as a threat or surprising and whispered, "I didn't really poison him, not sure what your sand can do, but give me a thumb's up if we are on the same page. We bluffing? We teaching a punk a lesson? Give me a signal if so, but I am very much not interested in you killing the guy."

Hiro Saw the man Charging towards Voltaire, and before the man could blink, sand wrapped around his feet tripping him up, far enough away that he would land clear of both puppet and Voltaire. However now having his sand locked in on him, it would creep and wrap up him, the look in Hiro's eyes went from how they were when Volt first meet him to that of a blood thirsty Monster. " Yes, teach him a lesson, show him true superiority..... FROM THE UNDERWORLD" As the sand wrapped around the man that would now be on the ground he laughed manically.

This was not actually Hiro however, but rather the beast inside, this was a trigger that Hiro tried to avoid, however the kid stopped him from leaving, and now Hiro was powerless, the beast had a stronger hold on his body then he did, and the sand was under his control, this was the playground of the beast, and nothing could be done at this moment as to what the beast was doing.

(PS sorry about the god modding portion, it was done only due to story is all, if you wish I will change this to represent an attempt, i just want to ensure, no killing will happen, this is all for story)

He had barely taken two steps were his eyes inverted colour once again; catching sight of a slithering blue serpent. It came from the Edgy kid; his blue aura of now completely taking over the foreground, in the form of an inhuman grimace. It was then that he realized who that kid was. It was the Ichibi Jinjuriki. He had heard of what unparalleled strength the tailed beasts could wreck over entire nations; their users volatile and battling for control of it. Some saw them as heroes who could stand as a bulwark against the other villages, others feral beasts and weapons of mass destruction; A deterrent to war. The fact he could see that put his fear to the side. Was it finally happening to him? The claim to his family’s legacy?! Before he could ponder even more onto what this meant for him; the sandy snake coiled around his leg, putting him off balance. His hands found the ground and he somehow managed to rotate himself on his arms. Time seemed slower; as If things were waiting for him to do each step before reacting.

His palm landed on a jagged shard and the sand pooled around his arms, pulling him down halfway through his acrobatics movements. Although things moved with a grace and detail that he never saw before; his body was now starting to feel irresponsive and slow, as if stuck in a watery prison where he had to fight to move his body. The Senbon was long lost in this process and he found himself being sucked in the sand; like it was a worm of the dunes, the sound of maniacal laughter filling his ears.

[First Tomoe] (5/10)

"I can get behind teaching somebody a lesson straight from the under world, really I can, but I swear to god, those Senbon aren't cheap, would you mind retrieving it for me? I am sure you can tell when the sand is hitting a needle, maybe it hurts or something, please bring that back! Voltaire had his hands clasped, staring pleadingly into Hiro's eyes. He could definitely afford more senbon, but he was saving up for more and more intimidating puppets, maybe even something that could interact with his Steel Release, and that would be more than enough to kill either of these idiots the next time one of them made him lose a weapon, because you cannot be a Kazekage who treats the village as a charity! Our funds aren't endless and we cannot just go around wasting good stabbing utensils! Maybe it was true, now that he realized how much just one silly senbon meant to him, he really was the stabber!

Hiro could hear the boy, and the needle would be dragged through the sand and brought to the blonde one. The black haired one was now up to his knees and elbows in sand, with it encroaching closer and closer, the sand begins to grind back and forth, while compressing deeper onto the kid, while not breaking anything at this point, surface damage was being done. Hiro's eyes gleamed as he stared at the agony the kid would be in at the moment.

Hiro would point at the Senbon that would be at Volt's feet "there is your instrument of stabbing" his grin on his face was devilish and almost off putting at least for normal people, he was enjoying every second of this situation, if it was not for the kid being held by the sand, he could imagine him writhing around in pain, this was euphoric for the beast inside of Hiro, who was currently in control of the body.