The Hyuuga compound was almost palatial, with many gardens and ancient houses separated off from the rest of Konoha by a stone wall. It reminded Tashi and Jun of their own clan estates, with wide open areas for the wolves to roam free and an almost sequestered location away from the rest of the village. Although in this case, the open areas were for training young clan members and the wall was more for privacy than isolation. The Kawa Daimyo never did much trust the Mibu...<br/><br/>Marise and her newfound friends found her father by the bonsai gardens taking a leisurely stroll in his white robes and black haori. Though she certainly had her father's eyes, Marise took more after her mother, most of all her deep red hair. Hiro Hyuuga's was a dark brown, almost black. He smiled warmly when he saw her coming home.<br/><br/>"And you've brought guests." Hiro said, turning to the young man beside him- another Hyuuga with a cloth over his forehead, "Prepare some tea for our guests from..." He looked at Jun and Tashi, "Tanigakure, mm?"<br/><br/>The youth bowed and left them, "Welcome to Konoha." He said, "Marise-chan, I heard you went on a mission with Sakumo Hatake himself... Most have been quite an experience, working with a shinobi like him." If only he knew what they were up to... what an incident that would cause! Imagine the scandal that would result if it became known that the rising star of Konoha slept with the heiress of the Hyuuga, a woman more than ten years younger!<br/><br/>"I hear... you met with some interesting circumstances... A man with machines in his body, was it?"<br/><br/><hr/><br/>An entirely white figure as it fell against a cave wall and began to melt from a wound across its belly. Its body was misshapen in some parts, spirals forming over its flash. One eye was undeveloped, the other a light purple, with many concentric circles radiating out from the center.<br/><br/>Another lost its head and crumpled to the earth. Metallic footsteps rang out through the cave walls until the sound of crunching bone and wood pierced the air. Another white body crashed through a door into a main chamber, illuminated dimly by torches.<br/><br/>Stepping over the bodies, the man in the cloak that Marise and Kaname met in the forest entered the main room. "Conducting some experiments of your own, eh?" He asked in his raspy metallic, poking the white body with his sword.<br/><br/>"Failures... all of them." an old man's voice replied. Deep and foreboding.<br/><br/>"I didn't expect to see you still alive... Funny, mothers used to tell bad little boys and girls that the almighty Fox-tamer would punish them if they misbehaved." Ryoichi said as he lifted his claw-like hand up to his face, blocking his unbandaged eye with his palm, "And now a little girl has brought me to you."<br/><br/>A giant humanoid statue of some sort of demon sat in the back of the room- in front of it a spikey white-haired old man in black robes, seated on a chair half-facing towards the statue "You're more of a machine than a man..."<br/><br/>"And you're more of a corpse than a man." Ryoichi replied, advancing towards him.<br/><br/>"Tell me, ghost of the Bansentennin. Can those monstrous claws of yours still wield a scalpel?"<br/><br/>"They<em>are</em>my scalpels, ghost of the Uchiha." He replied, heavy metal feet bringing him closer to the old man, who was nodding approvingly. Ryoichi continued to speak, "You have some information I want. Our great leader-"<br/><br/>"You think you can dance with me?" The old man bitterly spat, "You think you can threaten me?"<br/><br/>Ryoichi laughed, or at least what passed as a laugh for one without a proper jaw... it sounded like grating metal, "I don't need my<em>eyes</em>to kill you."<br/><br/>The old man turned to him, his Sharingan eyes wide open- though one was dark, losing all its shine and glimmer... "Nor do you need them to fall under my genjutsu...<strong> Kotoamatsukami.</strong>"<br/><br/>Ryoichi stopped moving forward, then lowered his arm- staring at the man face-to-face. He started walking again, dropping his sword to the earth. The old man stood up, "Serve me... and forget that you were here."<br/><br/>The Bansentennin swordsman was now no more than a foot in front of the man, silent. "Now... take out my eyes." The old man said as they turned from two sharingan into a purple spiral pattern... Ryoichi raised his clawed fingers and precisely and methodically cut out the old man's eyes.