Chapter 69: the beacon of hope arc: prologue
~Rōgan~
its been a month and a half since everyone left for the leaf village, all ive done since then is train, my body is in the best shape its ever been. the first month i saw little improvement but then all of a sudden i began progressing at an increasingly quick rate, i felt like i was getting four times stronger every day, today im going to venture further up the mountain to test my physical limitations.
i walk down the long hallway in the facility, it feels much bigger with just me in it. i pass the dining hall, the place where we found our senseis, the bodies were removed and buried but i haven't had the heart to clean the blood, so i dont go in there, it feels like the room where my life both started and ended. im wearing a cloak that belonged to kazuya, next time i see him ill have to return it. and hanging from my waist is the shattered katana ibuki used, im sure he'd also like to have that back, as a memory or something.
i exit the building and turn around, looking it up and down, i dont know if ill ever see it again, its a bittersweet feeling, i made friends that were more like family here, but tragedy also struck. i will not let myself be weighed down by emotions, all i know is that i have to kill the man known as king, butcher and shadow are just obstacles, with the leader gone they should fall as well.
i start down a path that doesn't lead to the leaf village but to the mist village, thats where akira was killed so i figured its as good a place to start as any.
i walk for about 3 hours before im stopped by a group of men,
"what are you doing out here kid" i choose to not answer and continue walking,
"hey punk we're talking to you" i stop walking.
"listen, i dont want any trouble" i sense bloodlust and the scent of metal, one of the men has a drawn a weapon, i close my and let my ears take over, i hear soft footsteps as the man tries to sneak up on me, then the slight swish of a blad cutting through the air, i raise my hand swiftly and catch the blade inches from my neck.
"what the fuck!" the man yells.
"you sound surprised" i yank the sword out of his hand and toss it aside and turn around, theres 11 of them,
"now if you'll excuse me ill be leaving"
"like hell you will!" one of them snarls and they all draw swords.
"have it your way" i unbutton my cloak and discard it, the men charge at me while yelling some kind of battle cry.
i dodge a swing from a sword strike the perpetrator, my fist connects with his jaw, theres a crunch as it does and blood sprays out, his jaw hangs off of his face. fuck. what did i just do? did i kill him?
"i- im sorry" i stammer,
"you monster!" the men attack me more viciously and before i know it ibukis sword is in my hands, my body moves on its own, severed limbs and blood cover my vision, im blind from it.
stop. please stop. i dont want to hurt you.
as quickly as it began it ends, im in the middle of a bloodbath without a scratch on me, the 11 corpses arent even recognizable as human. theres a pool of blood at my feet, i look into it seeing myself looking back, and i too am barely recognizable as human.
how far ive fallen, the cocky kid that wanted to be the beacon of hope for the shinobi world, is now nothing more than a cold blooded killer.
"Rōgan, why are you telling me all of this?" we're in an undisclosed location, jeiku is tied to a chair, it was a precaution after he tried to kill jin.
"if you're going to put your faith in me, you need to know how i got here, what ive seen and done." i sigh,
"jeiku ive withheld information from all of you for as long as ive been a shinobi. this wont be a short tale so bare with me. im going to tell you everything"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Logan_Buo
Logan_Buo rōgan character arc is real
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone