Burst at the Seams: Something had to Give [Open]

"You disgrace this family! You disgrace our ancestors!", hollered the red faced man at the end of the Ishikawa dinner table. He was shaking with rage, Ken's father. He never was good at holding his drinks. Ken had known this since early childhood. A bottle of sake was all it took to make him angry sometimes. It had all been calculated. He had made sure to show up on a day when he knew his father would be drinking, thus ensuring that he would loose his cool. His father was a formidable swordsman, no one would question why he defended himself. Best of all, it would be a victory that appeared to be won only because of the drunken state of his father.

He would kill the only man who knew the extent of his abilities. No one else would take him as skilled or smart enough to have set him up. Sure people knew he had some skill fighting... but few of them knew of his tactical ability. Victory first in the mind, then with the body and soul. Many would view tonight as a crime of passion. A son who killed his drunken father after getting into a fight. Maybe even an accident.. if he was lucky. But he wasn't counting on luck. He doubted the village would do more then maybe throw him into a prison cell a while.

A prison sentence for inheriting his birth right years early? Sounded good to him. Sometimes you had to take a hit to get what you wanted in the end. Endurance, the ability to take a hit and keep on ticking. He had it in spades, and he was counting on it getting him through the night and the upcoming events.

A voice interrupted the mental screenplay of his premeditation and weeks of planning, "Don't! Not on his anniversary!" Right on time. His mom played her role without even knowing it. As she tried to step between the man as he got up and strode toward the opposite end of the table, receiving a back hand that sent her to the floor with a thud.

"You get your hand's off her..", growled the voice out of his throat. He loved his mother. It was all the encouragement he needed. A snapping sound echoed through a sudden stillness as the leg of the table broke off in his hand, positioned their earlier in anticipation of this very event. It rose up with him as he stood from his position kneeling at the table, the makeshift club held in his right hand.

"I'll do what ever I want to her. She's my wife you ungrateful little shit!", he roared as he pushed her back to the ground, making her a sort of captive audience to the events about to unfold violently in front of her.

"Your bastard...", He quivered, his muscles rippling as adrenaline rushed into his body. He leaped forward, making a swing with his club for the drunken man before him. Being drunk wasn't enough to make his father a pushover though. Quicker then his mother could scream the power struggle was on the floor, the two of them brawling with anything they could get their hands on. It was planned mayhem, calculated.

By the time his mom could manage to stagger back up he had rolled on top and was raining down blows with the stout table leg, bashing and smashing in his own fathers face, neck, and chest savagely with all the strength in his body. From his mounted position, Ken had the perfect advantage over the slowed drunk, who wasn't fast enough to predict the incoming blows and block them. A crunching noise could be heard as blood began to splatter.

His rage fueled him as he continued to slam the club down over and over again against the lifeless body. A shrieking slowly crept into his blood stained tunnel vision. What is that?, he thought to himself as he found his anger being transmitted to the shrieking. It was then he felt someone pulling on his shoulder, trying to drag him off.

It was then a voice entered into his mind, barely a whisper. ~Finish it.~

"Shut up!", he roared as he twisted and lashed out with the club. It cracked against a skull, shattering right through the bone and splattering brain matter onto the far. He saw the shock filled face before he stuck, killing his own mother in his adrenaline driven madness. Eyes dilated, mouth agape, hyperventilation taking hold.

The next scream wasn't of fear, but anguish. It was nearly thirty seconds before he realized the one screaming was himself. What had he done!? There was only one way of righting this wrong. Like all people, he reverted back to his old ways of thinking in times of panic. He would have to kill himself, in the most brutal way he could. There was no time to prepare his soul. The ninja would not understand. He would have to commit seppuku, right now.

Birds flew across the open blue sky, not a cloud in sight. No clouds meant that there would be no rain on the bright and sunny day. Rays of light gently curled through the translucent window, casting shadows across the dark bedroom. Upon a fairly small-sized bed laid the leaf jounin, Pendo. He continued to sleep, dreaming no dreams, as he silently rejuvenated his energy. Suddenly a blaring alarm echoed throughout the entire apartment, loud enough to wake up someone if they were sleeping outside. Pendo rolled right off the edge of his bed, his hand sliding over the top of the clock, feeling for the snooze button, as he pressed it; and all at once the noise stopped, and the house was once again at peace.

Pendo knew that there was something that he had planned to do today, something very important, but it didn't come to him, no not yet. He groggily made his way to his kitchen, which was right next to the living room, as he got out a bowl, some cereal, and some milk. As he prepared cereal, his lethargic hand moving the gallon large jug ever so slightly, Pendo looked out the window and noticed four birds on his window sill. Three about the same size, and the color blue, but one flew above them, by mere inches, but this one was much larger; red as well. He then sat down the gallon of milk, as the birds reminded him what he had planned for the day. 'My squad, I'm supposed to train them today...' he thought, sighing. He was meant to meet them in five minutes, but there was no use in putting perfectly good cereal to waste... Pendo looked down at his cereal, before picking it up and moving to sit down at his dining table.

He took his first bite, wondering what his pupils would do in the probable ten minutes that their sensei would probably not be there in. He shrugged his shoulders, letting the idea go loose, as he continued to eat his cereal. After a while, maybe seven minutes or so, Pendo finished his cereal and walked over to the door. 'Time for my day to begin...' he thought, walking out the door, now leaving his house as it lay. He walked down the cement-paved area with a perfect execution of steps that showed his skill and swiftness with each strident step. Any on-lookers would never even think about coming too close at first glance, but he also had a hint of humbleness to his look, his face was only slightly stern but also kind and comforting.

He was fifty seconds into his run before an anger-filled blood curdling scream echoed through his ears, the scream of murder. Carnage filled the noises, loud thuds, and crashing that came from a single house in the housing district of Konoha. Not a single military unit or shinobi besides Pendo was close to the house at that point. Pendo narrowed his eyes, a crowd was forming around the front of the house, some people just wanting to get a show. It sicked the leaf jounin, and he would be the one to put a stop to whatever violence was occurring in the home.

With great swiftness Pendo jumped to the front porch, completely soundless as his silent feet got a grip onto the concrete square. He formed a tiger handsign, getting into a position as his eyes closed. He focused his chakra, pushing it outward, as it went through the area, before coming back to Pendo. He now knew the positions of each person in the building. One large male dead, one small and frail female nearing death, and the third...a young boy. The males blood near froze, but Pendo tried to comfort himself. Maybe no one had to die today. Just maybe...

Pendo timed his next move perfectly, it would have to be done with perfect execution, timing, and aim. He knew the position of the only living person in the house, and he would be able to take aim from the doorway as soon as he could barge through. It was then, with only a nano-second of preparation, that Pendo kicked the door down, all the while forming swift string of four handsigns that took only a second, before blasting a gale of strong wind at his opponent - with an immediate set of kunai flying behind it. The wind would most certainly blow the genin against the wall, while the kunai were positioned to simply catch the loose cloth of the genin's clothing, which would pin him to the wall, and it had been aimed at the right spots to restrain movement.

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Ken may have been young, but he was not small. His father had been a smith, with muscle from years of hammering steel. To overcome such drunken strength with such ease was something only achieved by a person of monstrous strength. Unfortunately for Pendo, there was no strong indication of an almost supernatural strength in the boy. Rather then his form belaying his true strength, it looked fit and perhaps even very muscular.. but nothing near what he was capable of. His true strength was in just such deception. Just when you thought you had him figured he could surprise you.

The sudden sound of the front door being broken down with the splintering of wood was his first alert to company. As his eyes swiveled up to see hand seals he hoped this would be his end... but it wasn't to be. As suicidal as he was right now, he had company to first attend to. Even through being slammed against the wall by gale force winds, his gaze was unblinking. Things appeared to be under control. Appeared.

Simple kuni weren't enough to pin Ken to a wall. Between the strength to rip out of his own clothes and the sharp edges of the kuni slicing through them, it was quick work to rip his arm off the wall, reaching across to grab a kuni positioned near his gut. It would have definitely looked like he was about to put up a struggle. There was no hesitation in his hand, in his body.

"Sayonara.", he said with a finality before dragging the razor sharp kuni across his gut vertically. His teeth clenched as he did it, clear pain visible as he held the dripping weapon in his hand, bringing it back around for another pass, this time vertically to create a cross section cut area. Blood was flowing freely from his abdomen as he dislodged himself from the wall, falling down onto his knees on the wooden plank floor. He bent over, doubling over in his kneeling form with his hands pressed into his abdomen, as if applying pressure to wounds he would never have any hope of closing.

~So close... Kill the ninja and blame the death's on him. You'll be a hero. You know what you must do.~" Came the whisper in his ear. He looked up from the floor, his bloodied hands being drawn out with the motion of his neck craning upward. His hands lifted up to his face as if in grief, but just before they hit the tattoo's riding high under his hair line he spoke one line, "Forgive me."

A puff of white smoke erupted into the air, shrouding Ken from sight. A smart or perceptive ninja might put it together. It was a summoning technique of some sorts. There was blood used.. and the smoke. As the smoke cleared Pendo would see that he was still kneeling there, now clothed in traditional ceremonial samurai warriors cloths with a manchira or brigadine armor vest. The inner layer of clothing was white for purity, while the outer covering layer was made of a rich black cloth. Through an obi at his waist was tucked a pair of swords, a katana and wakizashi. The blade of the wakizashi measured twenty inches long, while the katana's was twenty seven inches in length. Each was sheathed and entirely black except for the tsuba which bore the family's crest in gold. Pendo might have noticed it before his burst into the home.

Hidden from view by his new robes was his stomach, which was now closed back up with a black tribal tattoo forming in a cross pattern over where the cuts were formed.

~Now strike him down!~, came the hiss in his ear, this time much louder. Now that he had released Rakaasha, his influence was stronger then ever.

Spoiler:

Pendo ignored the temptingly impulsive ideas of looking at the dead bodies, or to make sure whether or not they were actually dead, his eye did not avert a millimeter as he stared down the genin, whom he had managed to peg to the wall with extremely little difficulty, but the one thing he hadn't accounted for: his opponent not giving in. Apparently they wanted a fight, perhaps a fight to the death, the jounin wasn't a mind reader; a fight to the death this genin would get, however. His ocean blue eyes narrowed at the shredding of cloth, as the low-ranking shinobi prepared for an assault, by grasping for one of the kunai that had managed to become loosely hanging from the wall. The genin firstly held it, but what Pendo had thought to be a counter attack, now appeared to be a suicide attempt.

The genin made two precise cuts along the gut of his stomach; one was diagonal, while the second slice was vertical. This did not get single twitch from the jounin, as he watched the genin dip his hands into his very own stomach, picking up a bountiful amount of blood, before bringing it up to smear onto his face. 'What the hell...?' Pendo questioned in thought, as he got into a pure defensive stance. A stance known only to pure-blood member of the Koroshima Clan, the last ones that withheld the ability to conjure and manipulate the elements of water and ice; also known as suiton and hyouton. His stance consisted of one hand mere inches from his face, but level with his shoulder. The other hand rose higher, above his hand, but his arm formed a straight vertical line, which could be maneuvered to block a taijutsu attack.

His legs and feet were positioned so that he would be able to leap, roll, tuck, or even run at a moment's notice. He would be ready for nearly anything his opponent would be able to throw at him. He narrowed his eyes suddenly, when Ken transformed into a new form; one apparently much more powerful than it's predecessor. This transformation was what triggered Pendo's instant response of handsigns, the string only took two seconds before he struck the final sign and water built up in his gullet. After a mere second of water being built up, he released in a large expulsion of liquid of the water variety. Pendo then extended both of his hands to the sides, as the water filled up to form a dome around the entire residential property, before forming a large water dome. This was done so quickly that his opponent would have no time to react before Pendo's next move...

Pendo did not have to do anything, but flick his wrist as the entire outside of the house became coated with a five meter thick coating of ice. The ice left not a single hole open in or out of the house and Pendo floated in mid distance from the ground and the roof, breathing as if he were not underwater, thanks to his clan's KKG. The water would limit his opponent's movement and prevent breathing. It would help to decrease his opponent's strength and speed as well as cause him to go unconcious if he went on long enough without escaping. Pendo doubted the genin would be able to break through the ice however, mostly because he could simply manipulate it into a defense to stop the genin. Pendo chuckled, bubbles leaving his mouth, as he awaited his opponent's next move.

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Spoiler:

As water rushed past Ken it whisked away the rest of the smoke from the summoning, revealing fully his new attire, complete with silver oni mask welded to his face, moving and contorting as if it were a natural part of him. The water drove him back, sending him tumbling back against the wall, where oddly enough he grinned as his back slammed into the wall. The toothy wicked grin of the oni piercing through the turbulent waters before the ice formed, blocking out all light that had been entering the residence. After all, five meters of ice wasn't translucent.

What happened after that would be a surprise to the enemy till it was upon him. Kicking off the wall and performing a dual palm strike formed seamlessly into one motion, but there was nothing to strike in front of him... or was there? Where once was darkness there was light for a terrifying second. What erupted from Ken's hands wasn't elemental in nature, and wasn't using any sort of shape manipulation. It was something greater, destructive chakra, courtesy of the Oni Rakshasa. It was good for only one thing, destroying people, places, lives. It was a blue to white color, and moved in an almost chaotic twisting fashion. As the blast of destructive chakra met water it's properties were revealed. One, it carried a physical kinetic impact, and two it was hot. The two mixed was a bad combination for the person looking down the barrel of the blast as it ripped through the water, pushing the water in front of it in a submarine wall of force.

The strength of the blast would be equivalent to a grand fireball exploding, used from an equal distance. Thanks to the short distance and the fact that there wasn't much of any place to go or hide, it would be neigh impossible to not be effected in some way.

The moving water would present a new issue as the enclosed house returned to darkness, the current now swirling could turn you upside down and turn you around. What direction was up? Where was the opponent? All would be good questions. Most of them were ones Ken could answer, the force of his attack pushing him back up to the wall, his feet perched against it like the side of a pool. One hand gripped at the wall, holding on with his finger tips to a thicker wooden trim that protruded while his other hand dropped to the hilt of the katana tucked through the obi at his waist, his hand gripping the sheath. His thumb flicked upward, striking the tsuba and loosening the blade for use.

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The Ishikawa family home had been utterly destroyed, icy water gushing from the new hole blasted in the side of the ice dome that his previous opponent had erected. Standing in the river gushing from the ruins was Ken Ishikawa, murderer. His kimono was sopping wet, dripping down into the water as it flooded the street. His previous opponent flowed out past him, knocked cold by the concussive force of the blast he had released but moments ago. He considered killing him right then and there, looking down through the holes of the oni mask that clung to his face. The toothy grin of the Oni twisted into a scowl as he looked at the scene. Villagers were all around... everywhere. He had to leave now.. but first to take care of the villagers. His hand rose up and began emanating an ominous blue energy, pulsing and twisting as if it had a will of it's own.

The light from the destructive energy built up and swirling about his hand showed the mask of the oni clearly through the dark, it's evil grin casting fright into the hearts of the weak villagers all about. No sooner had all stopped to gawk at the man in the middle of all the destruction then he struck downward with his glowing hand, striking the ground with his palm and releasing the energy built within it. The thinning river of water shot forward, propelled on a wave of intensely hot blue destructive chakra, scalding those hit by the water before the wave itself hit them like a brick wall, shattering bone and ripping apart structures as if they were made of balsa wood. But ten seconds later he stood to witness the carnage through the steam left behind in the wake of his attack. None stood standing, and those who were still conscious were trying to hide, cowering before the might of the man fused with Oni.

He wouldn't stand and wait for the enemy to muster it's strength though.. he had to make his move in the confusion. Turning back to face his previous home he raised a hand that became bathed in the deadly blue light. Without waiting a moment more he released the blast on the structure, blasting it to splinters and incinerating all that lay within, burning it beyond recognition.. or what could be recognized from the splinters and rubble the force reduced the structure to. His eyes alight with the horrors he just visited upon his own family he turned his head towards the moon and let out an unnatural shriek that one would recognize instantly from tales of Oni. No sooner did he reach up and rip the mask from his face, a cloud of thick gray smoke shooting up all around him.

When the smoke cleared there was Ken in his old clothes, which now lay in tatters. Across his belly was a cross shape tattoo done up in tribal black ink. His shirt had long ago been ripped to shreds, his pants now the only part remaining as he took a face plant into the shallow stream, collapsing from the trauma of removing Rakshasa. He lay face down in the water for a few moments before thrashing out as his head whipped out of the water, struggling to regain his breath. It was then that villagers began to peer at the carnage from the safety of their hiding spots. The oni was gone, and two ninja were floating in the water. They must have battled the Oni and won. A triumphant cry rang out as villagers rushed into pick up him and what had been his opponent less then two minutes ago, to bear them away as heroes.

Seiko's speed was incredible as he jumped from building to building, running across the roof tops in a desperate scramble to get to where the excitement was building. This was bad. Seiko was told that there was some sort of fight going on. That people had been killed, that some sort of ice dome had been erected, and a Jounin had been involved in some way. Beyond that, he was told that it was his student, ken. After running for a few minutes, Seiko jumped down from a building a huge stride and landed right in front of Ken. He bent down, already a little suspicious of the situation, and asked ken what happened. "Ken...what happened here...all this water, and ice... the damage....how did all this occur?" Seiko stood up and took a few steps back, and began surveying the scene. He saw dead bodies. Seiko was growing suspicious, he turned back around to Ken. "Ken, what happened here?" He said, a bit more serious this time.