"Do you believe in gods...boy? My name is Joy and Laughter, it is Power and Providence. I am The Light, now walk into it."
The dawn will come. It will come from despair and hatred, from solace and solitude. Like a setting sun it shall wane only to rise again. It shall linger, in hearts, as it does on the horizon. Like the children that grow from the nourishment of its light, the dawn shall gorge and grow upon the
void, the hole in each and everyone of them. An addict would understand it best. An endless
abyss with an endless
NEED to fill it; the dawn understood it better than anyone else. He understood what it felt like, for a pure soul to be scarred by a corrupted world till its light could no longer push back against the ever entrapping
shadows encroaching in. The dawn understood it, because that is all that it lives for. For years it has fallen and has risen. For generations it has denied the Pure Lands of its grace, lingering in the world that needed it most, lingering in the hearts that kept it alive. Because that is
ALL that it lives for. It lives on for
Joy, for
Laughter, to deliver
Power and
Providence. When twilight fades and the night settles in, as darkness begins to take its place on the throne, the dawn will come.
On this day, the sun rose not from the east, but from the south. On this day, the dawn returned. It returned at its very namesake, the Land of Sun. A land of scattered islands devoid of village or shinobi, a holy place which few have step foot upon since founding of the first clans. It is a place buried in mysteries born of sailors' mouths that swear the place is bathed in constant day.
"Ya aint gon anywhere boi, I tell ya the place is haunted!"
"Dammit Wallace for the last time don't call it haunted! I want no curses 'round here ya hear me? It is a sacred place. Get it right before the gods punish you a third time."
"Twas no Gods that day. Don pay no mine to yo motha boi she a fine ninja but she ain't no sailor. If she couldn walk on water she be a drowner. Now ya listen here, it was a dark stormy night and the lads 'n I were chasing after what we thought were a light house right? Small little golden light waaaaaaaaaaaay out in the distance. We knew the currents had taken us south of the mist but none us reckon just how far from home we'd been pulled. And I tell ya boi something pulled us to that there island that night. Water n wind going erry which way and yet dragging us straight to her. Oh we were tryin ta head there alright, was hoping it was some small village's light house so we could hunker down until the sky clear away. But as we got closer ye ole little light started getting bigger and bigger, till Iroh on the crow's nest swore twas the morning sun comin on in. And when we got there boi. Light, from golden clouds hanging high on yonder, pushing away all da dark storm walls like they were ghosts being banished. And the water, calmed to a smooooooooooth low tide soon as we could see da sand bars. Jeriah hopped off the Misty Scabbard sayin he saw someting a glowin in the biggest mountain at the center. Heard not one word from the crew shoutin our warnings and goodbyes. That's why ya aint seen ya uncle Jeriah no mo boi, the island took him and it never let go. Don nothing natural nor holy glow in da darkest of storms like dat. Them currents was a beasty, tore apart many lesser boats and crews than us and ole Misty dat night and the only ting da coulda held back that demon was da devil himself ya hear? You become a sailor like ye ole man n ya promise me ya never set sail south. Go east towards the real sun boi."
ON THIS DAY,
Joy to the world,
Laughter for the souls,
Power to the worthy,
Providence for the innocent. Let the heavens, and the sun in all its very nature, sing.
From the south to the north, stretching west to east. You could see it, golden light stretching out across the sky in a brilliant flash, seeming to fill the heavens entire faster than one could blink. From the desert sands of Sunagakure bathing in the morning sun to far opposing reaches where Kumo and Kiri lay under clouded darkness of the night. You could see it, as mother nature
sang his praises. Sailors' whose ships sway to and fro against assaulting currents would calm along with the winds as they looked up to see clouds cast out
like shadows, like puddles drying up in the summer sun. You could hear it, the singing. A faint ringing from above as white light turn golden. You could hear children cheering at the familiar sight and in wonder of the unfamiliar scale of it. Children of the Leaf and the Cloud cheered the loudest but you could hear them, everywhere. Children who recognized the golden sight from a comic book, or a game, from bed time stories and rumors here and there. You could hear the teenagers gawking and jeering, just old enough to remember the light from a decade ago. Still young enough to dream as the children did but old enough to question it being some natural phenomena... You could hear the adults,
crying, the few who remember, and the few who knew. The adults who knew
the dawn was real. The ones old enough to remember The Hundred Year Peace, who had awaited to see that same light years ago when Amoghisaddhi came to end it. The adults old enough to remember when they lost their homes, their families. The adults who knew that if Yukio was choosing to wake up now, that it was either to celebrate their survival and help rebuild, or he was here to help stop something far worse than
the Otsutsuki disaster. You could feel it, the
tension, the excitement. Sages would feel the truth. Though it may have seemed to have expanded from the south at the speed of light, the truth was everything was heading for the Land of Sun. Natural light from every corner rushed to a focal point as if it was a black hole in a glorious display. They would feel the energies being dominated and commanded, feel the weather bending knee in kind. It would be as if the sun itself knelt and gave up some of its power in a welcoming display. Power that held partial key to a lock. Sensory shinobi of even the lower magnitudes would feel it, an explosion of chakra from the south that had previously been invisible to the senses, as if a barrier had suddenly been torn down. It was un-natural. Years would have to be taken to store up so much, a decade even. To them it would stand out more than the suddenly glowing sky. Even the sensory deprived could feel it, for the singing echoed deep into one's soul as it was the collective prayers of the world entire that made up its chorus. All would feel the approaching dawn.
The golden light would linger in the sky for but a moment before seemingly vanishing before the eyes as Mount Takamagahara had taken what it needed and began to glow in the same very manner. Deep beneath its rock in a hollow chamber lay the dawn sleeping, training. Sealed away in the mountain, into its own dimension where time slows to a crawl. Ten years have passed for the world, fifty long gone for the dawn. It is here in its solitude it can rest and grow stronger, more capable, more prepared. Algorithms encompassing forgotten knowledge of centuries past and secrets of clans and shinobi renowned in their creation lay deeply carved into the surrounding rock, scrolls and tags. Fuinjutsu and Jujutsu on every inch of the hollow chamber all surrounded by layers of seals and barrier ninjutsu to cover it all up. As the soul sealed inside the room reacted to the world beyond it told the garbled mess of encoded scripts that it was time, like a caged animal beating against the walls as it demanded to be let out. And so the tether became yet another of the keys, signaling for the ritual of the awakening to begin. Body and soul became anchored together once more like a shadow being re-sown to the sole. Curses would be lifted, shackles torn and with a similar yet smaller flash of brilliant light like before, Yukio would emerge from the mountain core.
( Theme Change )
( Theme Change )
As the
golden light above Konohagakure
faded away it would be replaced by brilliant white flashes everywhere under a newly
darkened sky for the dawn would choose
the Leaf as its first destination the moment it awoke. Decided by familiar feelings and a
gut wrenching sensation that told
Yukio of something terrible beyond the negative emotions he lay
deeply connected to. Everyday, every little ounce of despair replaced with a sudden
desperation as a soul called out to old friends
in danger. The same kind of feeling that warned him of a terrible future a mere decade ago. Consciousness that had been stretched across the world focused on the hidden leaf before the emergence of
the dawn, giving the Senju the forewarning needed.
He would
emerge, in the same brilliant white light flashes that had light up the now
darkened streets, just as the third individual to have catch his attention would begin to play around with fire release. He would sense the Uchiha's error, or should he say, genius, before he could finish molding it and cause an accident. To protect himself and the others around, Konoha's Guiding Light would cloak the surrounding people in the very same aura that made
his armor, the same energy that would have sent the chakra sensory shinobi of before into high alert as they seemed to suddenly gain the power of sages. It was a
Holy armor that did many things but among them acted as a
defensive layer that pushed back against foreign chakra's trying to enter, rendering genjutsu quite useless. Curiosity couldn't help but illuminate from the golden eyes of the Senju as he watched on at
Jin Uchiha's display. No longer in need of worry by its
illusionary affects that threatened to emerge, all that was left to witness was whether or not the boy could control it. They all got the answer about as quickly as Yukio had appeared as the jutsu became unstable and sent the young Uchiha
flying in a similar manner to the first individual who had caught
Yukio's attention and had been the primary reason he chose
the Leaf as his first stop. A mere snap of the male's finger's was all it took
to save Jin from his impending collision,
instead dropping him back in front of the Senju where he had just stood
a moment ago. The sound of Yukio's snap as well as the plop from Jin hitting the ground ass first would be
overshadowed by a loud...
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!"
Among the many
tools and various objects stored within Yukio's invisible
Fuinjutsu seals along his body, practical joke items were certainly among the most abundant next to
weed and adventuring gear. Chief among the classics, a whoopee cushion. As Jin fell towards his safety and one of Yukio's classic pranks, the Senju would form a single half sign with the opposite appendage that had snapped
a split second before. With perfect timing, the child would land as his dreamy monochrome flames smashed against the tree and turned a vibrant gold. Just as the heavens above it would be
overtaken and commanded to extinguish itself, leaving the tree and everyone else
unharmed. All around them the white flashes would continue as the entire village had began to fill the streets in a stir. Many pointed up at the darkened sky, black clouds now shutting out the
mid day sun that had changed color just moments before, others began to rush towards the supply drops of the
surrounding lights. Stalls, stages, games, rides and so much more set up around the
entire village as if a festival had started. The cheering of the children from before now grew to an uproar as many of them spotted the figures appearing in and out of the flashing lights who were starting to take places up in a few of the stations as if
to urge on the rest of the villagers to pick a spot and start having fun. Some adults walked outside to see similar wares of their stores now set up in stalls out front as if they were just
begging them to get to work. It was as if whoever was setting up the festival had
years to plan, or was someone who knew them all personally. It was as if
Yukio knew everything they wanted and needed to laugh and have fun.
"It's Yukio! It's Yukio!"
"He's real!"
"Who?!"
"Thank the Gods he's finally back, does Kumo know?"
"Didn't you see that light? It stretched out beyond the horizon, there's no way he didn't alert the Land of Lightning."
"I thought he was just a comic book character..."
"I TOLD you he was real!"
"Shut up nerd."
"Where's the real one? Is he talking to Hokage-sama?"
"IT'S YUKIO!"
With the rest of the village becoming a
crescendo that started out with confused mumbling and rose to a
celebratory chorus, Yukio would finally set his sight on the first and second individuals that brought him to the Hidden Leaf. Ryojin would be able to feel the same kind of sensation as the sensory ninja before as a
warmth engulfed the boy. Where the first felt by the others was a heralding, what Ryojin would experience was like an affectionate and grateful embrace that waned as quickly as it appeared it. It was
a hug given by the same energy radiating from
Konoha's Guiding Light. The chakra armor cloaking the others would fade away the same moment the embrace on Ryojin was released. Yukio would set new senses upon the boy to replace the ones that
failed him before and what he saw confirmed his suspicions. A life force as
radiant as Yukio's chakra. It was no wonder the young man was able to catch
Gyoken before Yukio's seal could be undone and he could teleport to the rescue first. It took every ounce of Yukio's
mental strength to keep up his playful facade as he looked down at the Uchiha in Ryojin's grasp. The same sight that was placed on his savior set upon him, and the sight nearly
broke the man.
It was him, after decades of searching for the chance to
apologize, it was him. The soul was a
reincarnation, Yukio could feel the pull of old bonds he could only feel from such
souls. A small part of Yukio questioned it, begged to test it. But the Senju wouldn't dare wake his long dead brother from such an exhausted state. There would be another time. He could push back
the doubt inside of him, the soul was a match, Yukio was sure of it.
Hell, they even looked alike. He became use to seeing old souls with new faces, maybe it was the resemblance that left him shaken up? All of it lay buried, beneath the mask. Yukio dare not let it go, not in front of
children. Not in front of HIM. Yukio never showed the real him to Gyoken, he wanted nothing but joy and pranks for the boy. How would he be different? Was he still the little prankster
Yukio tried raising him into? He
doubted it, he hadn't been here for him like befo-
enough, Enough, ENOUGH!
Yukio buried it all before the emotions could begin to erupt from his aura again and looked back up at Ryojin.
"Nice catch kid! Tell me, do ya like fireworks?"
Before Ryojin could utter his answer the white flashing lights around the village came to a halt as the last of the preparations were completed, leaving the darkened sky to be suddenly lit up with fireworks of all shapes and colors.
As the celebrations kicked into gear and the sky was reignited with a wonderous display of lights one figure could be seen slowly approaching the hokage manor, the one area of about 5 blocks surrounding the building that had been kept clear of festivities out of security and respect. The same senses that had reached out to Gyoken would be set upon a man standing upon the roof of his office, Ketsugo Uzumaki. As they did so, golden stairs of condensed light would shape before the building leading up to its summit, allowing the figure to approach the hokage face to face. And such is what it was, he would not appear before his old friend with a mere clone like the others. He would hope the Fuinjutsu master would understand why he was not the first in the village Yukio met, having only just recently switching himself for a clone in the Uchiha Compound. Upon arriving at the roof and standing before the Hokage, the Senju would outstretch his closed fist in a greeting that would be echoed by his voice appearing in Ketsugo's inner being. This communication was similar to a tailed beast host speaking to their bijuu and was only capable for Yukio with those he is closest to either in this life or one of their previous ones which have openly accepted the bond. It was a way for Yukio to allow his most trusted friends to recognize it was truly him before them and not some imposter. And Ketsugo was a friend Yukio trusted enough to take off the mask and let go of the facade.
"Forgive me... I couldn't protect either of the villages. But what I sensed back then wasn't Amoghisaddhi. I can still feel it lingering in the future. We need to talk..."
