Alright! Second chapter. It may feel a bit forced and/or rushed, and that's because... it was... I had a hard time getting from Point A to Point B, so... Yeah...
–
Bane sat down in a couch, Hanzaki and Ririsu sitting in front of him.
"So, what do you need to know, boss?"
"Do you have any spies inside Otogakure?" Bane asked, getting a nod from Hanzaki.
"Yes, boss. I'm one of them," Ririsu said. "I usually go there to visit my uncle. He's in prison for stealing. While I'm there, I usually try to find out as much as I can. We have a few Oto ninjas who report to us as well. Though we haven't been able to find Orochimaru's lairs."
"Lairs?"
"Yes. One of our spies told us that he changes location every two weeks."
Bane crossed his arms in thought. Finding the formula would be much different if he had multiple lairs. However, Bane would find it, he was sure of it. He had to, in order to become the ultimate being!
Bane rose from his seat and turned his back on Hanzaki and Ririsu. He glanced at them over his shoulder and said, "Keep up your spying. My companions and I will track down Orochimaru's lairs. He has something I need."
And so, Bane and his group left Post Town. Bane felt very... lost as he walked through Rice Field Country. He felt blind, somehow. In Solid Stone, he had had people everywhere, who reported all the goings on in the prison to him. Nothing that happened in that prison escaped Bane's notice, but now, out there in the world, Bane had no one to report to him the happenings around him. He would need to build up his network again. By the end, there would be no place in the Elemental Countries that anyone could hide from him, he'd make sure of it...
It took a long time, a week to be precise, and a lot of painstaking searching, but in the end, they found one of Orochimaru's lairs. It was out in the ocean, just outside Rice Field Country.
It looked completely deserted, yet somehow it seemed as though the place was in working order. No doubt, Orochimaru had just left the lair, and they would have it for themselves for at least two weeks.
As Bane searched the lair, he traveled downward several floors alone, with Goken, Tori and Zombie all taking their own floors to search, wary of any traps that may be there.
When Bane reached the foot of the staircase, he found himself in a long corridor, lined with bars. Inside the massive cells was a large amount of men and women dressed in rags, some lounging around in their boredom, others playing dice with dirty and chipped dice. They all looked up when Bane approached the cell to his left.
"Huh? Who are you?" One of the prisoners asked, looking up from his dice game to stare at the stranger, who grabbed the bars with both hands.
"If I were to get you out of here, would you do me a favor?"
Everyone perked up at the prospect of being free, but the dice player looked a bit wary.
"That all depends. What's the favor?"
"I want you all to go out in the world and spread a message for me, and I want you to serve as my spies wherever you may end up," Bane said, a smirk behind his mask. "The message is this: 'Bane came and saved us. He is here to bring order to the chaos.' Will you deliver this message to the people of the world?"
"I don't know about everyone else, but I'm tired of staying in here," the dice player said as he rose to his feet. "I'll do it."
"Me too."
"I will."
"Yeah."
One after the other, the prisoners stood up, and Bane chuckled, before turning his Venom dial and pulling on the bars. Two loud, metallic SNAP's echoed through the corridor as the two bars were pulled off, allowing the prisoners to go through.
"My agents can be found at Club Lie-Down in Post Town," Bane said, walking up to the cell on the right side of the corridor and repeating the act of pulling the bars off. "Relay any and all information on the goings on in the world to them, and they will relay it to me. I am Bane. You do not wish to cross me."
Cheering, the prisoners charged out of their cells and up the stairs, leaving Bane alone. For some reason, he felt it best to stay down there, as though there was something else he needed to find down there. Nodding to himself, he started walking down the corridor, turning off his Venom supply with his muscles shrinking down to their normal size.
As he walked, a girl came into view in front of him. She had red eyes, red hair worn in an unusual hairstyle: her hair was short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side giving half her hair the appearance of being unkempt on one side, while the other side was neat. She wore brown glasses, and her outfit consisted of a lavender uniform, short black shorts, and long black thigh-high stockings with black sandals.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" the girl demanded, looking to be around Bane's age. She glared heatedly at Bane, who tilted his head to the side.
"I am Bane. And you are?"
"I am Karin, I am in charge of this base!" the girl said, still glaring at Bane. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave now!"
"Or what?" Bane asked simply, taking a threatening step toward her. The girl instinctively took a step back, but caught herself and took a step forward, trying to appear intimidating. Bane wasn't fooled, however. He could easily see the fear in her eyes, the same fear that he had once felt. Turning the dial on his glove, the Venom was pumped into his brain, and his muscles grew in size, making Karin's eyes widen.
"Venom!" she gasped in shock, and Bane perked up, staring at her.
"Girl, you know what this is?" he asked, taking another step toward her. "Where are Orochimaru's notes on the Venom formula? Tell me, or I will break you!"
Karin turned and started running, but thanks to the Venom coursing through his muscles, Bane dashed forward, easily catching up with her and grabbing the scruff of her neck, lifting her into the air and turning her to face him.
"Tell me what I want to know... and keep in mind that I can snap your neck like a chicken's. I am not one to be toyed with..."
"U-Upstairs..." the girl gasped, trying to breathe as Bane switched his grip so that his hand was wrapped firmly around her throat. "I-In one o-of the l-l-labs..."
"Take me there."
–
"Here..." Karin muttered as Bane stood inside a dusty old lab with the rest of his group. Karin opened a safe and took out a small steel box handing it over to Bane. "That holds the scroll with everything Orochimaru-sama has on the Venom, and a sample of a refined formula."
Bane took the box and thanked her, before turning around and walking off.
Bird had long since taught Bane about chakra, so walking on water was now child's play for him. Chakra control was something Bane had grasped relatively easily. He had some trouble in the beginning, given his large amount of chakra, but he had eventually gotten it. Therefore, getting to and from the island was easy for them, especially since the prisoners had taken all the boats.
Now, Bane was back in Konoha, and Zombie was researching the refined Venom formula, to make sure it was safe. In the meantime, Bane sat in the center of his living room, meditating and forming his plans. Konoha would burn, but first, he needed to come up with a way to do so.
"Tori," Bane spoke up suddenly as he got to his feet. The bird-loving Kumo ninja, sitting in the window, looked over at him with a raised eyebrow. "How high up are your connections?"
"Some of them are pretty high up, I suppose," Tori said, shrugging. "Why?"
"I want to know how this village is run. I want to know who makes the big decisions, I want to know who we'll have to kill."
"What's the plan?" Goken asked, looking up from where he was watching Zombie working, pouring over Orochimaru's scroll.
"Chaos, that's the plan," Bane spoke as he crossed his arms and moved over to the window. "We will introduce chaos to this false order, and then build up a new order from the ashes. But for that, we need information on the inner workings of Konoha's government. The Sandaime Hokage is not as in charge as he would lead people to believe. There is someone else, pulling the strings from behind the scenes."
"Could be the Council," Tori theorized with a shrug, getting a look from Bane. Nodding, he explained, "There is a Council in a seat of power in this village, consisting of three parts from what I have gathered: the Elders, the Civilian Sector, and the Clan Heads. From what I've heard, they hold some power, but they could hold more."
"Then the Council is what we have to target in order to make this village leaderless," Bane said as he walked over to the door, opening it. "I will go look around and see what I can find out."
With that, he left.
Bane walked through the streets of Konoha, drawing strange looks due to his appearance. Many of them were used to weird people, however, and didn't look twice at Bane, who just kept walking. It felt so different, walking down the street without getting those hateful looks he used to get when he was a child and wanted to go out and play. He didn't remember much from his days in Konoha, but he remembered the hate. The glares, the disgust... It had all almost been too much for the poor child. Kami only knew what Bane would have grown up to become if he hadn't been kidnapped and sent to Solid Stone...
This village was so new to him, yet so familiar. As a child, Bane had only seen beauty when he saw the village. Now, however, he only saw corruption, greed, hatred, no matter where he looked. From the smallest child to the oldest man, he saw only bad things.
–
At Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, once known as the Special Ninja Felony Prison, the Chunnin guards were a bit nervous. Something had made the prisoners somewhat... restless? They seemed excited about something, and no one knew what it was. Tsuchi, a twenty-year old Chunnin stood on the bottom floor of D-Block, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Hey, Ko, aren't you done yet?"
"Relax," Kodachi, Tsuchi's old classmate, said as he stood in front of one of the cells, peeking into it. "We have to make sure all the prisoners are here. Don't worry so much, there's no chance of them getting out of here."
"I suppose..." Tsuchi said, but he was still nervous. The prison was even scarier at night. How the hell did he end up guarding this place? He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? Shaking his head, he gave a nervous chuckle. "Some Chunnin I am, huh? Afraid of people behind bars. Right, Ko?"
There was no answer. Looking up, Tsuchi didn't see Kodachi anywhere. He gulped and looked around.
"Ko? Ko! Come on, man, that's not funny!"
A scream echoed through D-Block, as a shadow flew off the catwalk on the fourth floor. The shadow smashed into the ground with a sickening crunch. The scream woke up the prisoners, and Tsuchi rushed up to the form on the floor, his eyes widening when he saw the mangled form of Kodachi, his dead eyes wide with fear.
"K-Ko..."
"Woo! Dead guard!" came a voice from one of the cells. One by one, the prisoners started cheering and calling Tsuchi names. Then, they started chanting.
"BANE! BANE! BANE! BANE! BANE!"
"B-Bane?" Tsuchi asked, wondering what the hell they meant by that. He stood up straight and looked around. He had to go get backup. The prison had been breached. Spinning around, he made to run, but bumped into one of the largest men he had ever seen! He was a six foot seven tall monster of a man, looking to be made up of pure muscle.
The man lashed out, wrapping his hands around Tsuchi's throat and lifting him up into the air.
"They're talking about me," the man said, and easily snapped Tsuchi's neck like a twig.
Bane dropped the man to the ground and looked around the cells. Behind him, Zombie, Tori, and Goken came down the stairs from C-Block, where the prisoners had already been released. Bane made a hand sign, and his companions split up, all of them moving around to start opening the cell doors to cheers from the prisoners.
Stage one of Bane's plan was complete. They would all know his name soon enough... and on that day, they would beg for mercy. They would scream his name. Scream it! He was Bane, Konoha's reckoning!
Bane left D-Block, headed through C through A, until he exited the prison, where a large amount of prisoners were waiting for him at the long bridge over the lava that surrounded the prison.
"Take your revenge on those that put you here!" Bane ordered the freed prisoners. "Let Konoha burn!"
The prisoners all cheered and rushed off, leaving Bane alone with his companions. Tori moved in closer.
"This isn't like you," Tori said, sounding confused. "You're smart enough to know that a bunch of brutes won't be able to bring Konoha down..."
"I know, but this way, I can study the Konoha ninja, attack patterns, defensive patterns, how they react, etcetera," Bane said as he started walking off. "This is merely for educational purposes."
–
Bane stood atop the Hokage Monument, watching as the ninjas scurried to detain all the prisoners that were causing trouble in the village, burning buildings, murdering villagers, etcetera. Bane's eyes took in everything. Despite their casual, carefree appearance, Konoha was always ready for an attack. It seemed as though nothing could catch them off-guard. Bane had to admit that this village was formidable. There was no wonder why Iwa, Kumo, and Suna all wanted it gone from this world.
"You there!" came a female voice from behind him, and he turned around to see a purple-haired woman wearing a long, tan trench coat, a brown mini skirt, and gray shin guards. Under her coat she wore nothing but mesh. "Who are you? Got lost on the way to an S&M party?"
Bane chuckled. "You're an amusing woman. I would have assumed that all the ninjas in the village would be out capturing the escaped convicts?"
"Oh, I am. I just saw some really suspicious guy up here, and I thought I'd have a look at him. You look even more suspicious up close," the woman said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Now, I ask again, who are you?"
"In time, you will come to know my name," Bane said simply.
Bane spun and made to jump off the Hokage Monument, but just then, snakes wrapped around his arms and legs, wrapping around them tightly.
"You're not going anywhere, hunk," the woman said, and Bane slowly tuned around to face her again, to see that the snakes were coming out of her sleeve. Now he recognized her. She was that girl from his orphanage, the girl who was just as much an outcast as he was. She was the snake lady Anko. "Not until I get some answers out of you."
Bane merely tilted his head to the side. Then, he grabbed one of the snakes and yanked it. Anko's eyes widened in surprise as she was pulled off her feet, losing her balance. In the time it took her to right herself, Bane had already turned on his Venom supplier, and his muscles grew at an insane rate, so big that the snakes actually started tearing from it, until they finally snapped.
Bane rushed forward as Anko whipped out a kunai. She slashed at him, but Bane caught her wrist and squeezed, a snap sounding through the air, accompanied by a scream from Anko.
As Anko was reeling from the pain in her wrist, Bane grabbed the back of her collar and hoisted her into the air, his other hand on her lower back as he held her over his head.
"I hope you can land on your feet, Anko-san," he said simply, before tossing the woman off the Hokage Monument. Then, he took off running, his Venom enhanced muscles making him run faster than most ninja.
"Hey, boss man!" came a voice, and Bane saw Tori come running out of the trees, looking a bit confused. "Why are we running?"
"I was seen," Bane said simply. "I will need to leave Konoha. In the meantime, you, Goken and Zombie will stay here and gather information. I shall be back."
"Got it," Tori said and broke off, heading back toward the village, while Bane charged into the woods, not to be seen in Konoha again for a while.
–
A massive explosion rocked the Solid Stone prison. Guards scurried to find out who or what had just blown up the western wall. Standing there in the dissipating smoke was the object of their nightmares. His face was covered by a weird mask, but none of the guards had forgotten that body build. Bane had returned.
Orders were shouted, and Bane simply walked right on in, turning the dial on the back of his hand and pumped the Venom straight into his body. With his enhanced strength, size, speed and agility, he easily stopped any attack on his person, breaking necks, jaws, noses, skulls and backs whenever anyone got within reach of him.
His riot where he was sent to isolation had been pretty brutal, but this was even more so. Grabbing one of the ninja guards by the foot, he swung the man like a weapon, smashing open another man's skull with the help of the hitai-ate on his man-turned-weapon.
Hoisting the man over his head, he bent the man backwards, easily snapping his spine, before dropping him to the ground to punch another man's skull open.
"WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS!" one man yelled as he charged forward, only to get backhanded by Bane, sending him flying.
Bane charged into the prison and started smashing through wall after all, until he got to A-Block. Quickly dispatching the guards in there, Bane rallied the prisoners to overpower the rest of the guards as they continued to B-Block. So it continued from B- to D-Block, and the prisoners rallied to Bane, who raised his fist into the air to loud cheers.
"Brothers!" Bane said as he got up onto a table on the bottom floor of D-Block, looking over the prisoners gathered on all the floors. "I have need for your aid! I need allies in a great endeavor! I intend to destroy Konoha, and I need your help to do it. Following Konoha is Iwa, Kumo, Suna, and Kiri! WHO'S WITH ME?" he yelled, raising his fist into the air again. The prisoners gave roars of approval, raising their fists into the air again.
Bane smirked behind his mask as he led his new 'gang' out of the Solid Stone prison. Things were coming along nicely. Now he had two large groups of ninjas, one group who he knew were extremely dangerous, another who was good enough to be ninja, at least. Not to mention that he had a spy network thanks to the Fuuma clan and the men he had released from their imprisonment in Orochimaru's base.
Bane traveled with his gang through Fire Country, all the way to Wave, which he had heard was in some trouble from the shipping magnate Gatou, who was sucking the country dry. He was a leech that would have to be removed.
It wasn't hard for Bane to control his gang. They were many, and they were all murderers, rapists, psychos, sadists, and the like, yet they all looked up to Bane, and probably wouldn't dare getting out of line.
Had anyone seen them, they would have made for a strange sight, all of them wearing the purple inmate uniform of Solid Stone, led by a man wearing a very strange mask.
Now, they were in Wave, taking boats to the cluster of tiny islands, as the bridge that went from Fire Country to Wave wasn't complete. As soon as they reached Wave, the inmates were ordered to find new clothes, while Bane scouted out the city.
In essence, it wasn't anything to brag about. The stores had nothing to sell, the people were wearing rags, begging for work in the streets. The only ones who seemed well-off were a few people here and there, all of them carrying weapons. No doubt, they were thugs working for Gatou.
Bane saw these people, and he felt something akin to pity for them, with a bit of disgust. He didn't want to see these people like this, imprisoned in this country, to scared to leave or rebel, and for good reason, as they no doubt would be killed for it. Fear... The city was ripe with it...
Rolling his shoulders, Bane followed one of the thugs he found into a forest, where three huge treehouses were suspended in the air by wires, with a single ladder leading up to the biggest treehouse, and walkways connecting it to the other two. So, this was Gatou's place, huh? Bane crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the largest treehouse, his eyes narrowing.
"Hey!" came a voice from behind him. "Who are you? This place is off-limits!"
Bane turned around to find a scarred thug approaching him. The thug paused for a second when he came close enough to take in Bane's actual size. He gulped, but then grabbed the hilt of the sword sheathed at his hip.
"Talk now, or you'll be half the man you used to be!"
Bane gave a chuckle. "You may try."
The thug made to unsheathe his sword, but before he could even pull it an inch, he had already found Bane's hand wrapped around his wrist, while Bane's other hand wrapped around his throat, lifting him into the air.
"Weapons will only get you so far. A man is only as strong as his body, and you... are weak."
With that, Bane crushed the man's throat and let him drop to the ground.
Bane turned back to Gatou's house and slowly approached it. He was formulating a plan while he was walking, and he soon came up with one. He climbed the ladder and found himself in a large, circular room decorated with all kinds of fancy art and statues, probably bought for drug money. Money that would soon be Bane's.
There were also about five thugs lounging in couches in the room, drinking alcohol and laughing. The laughing abruptly stopped when they spotted Bane, and they scrambled to their feet, grabbing their weapons.
"Who are you?" one of them demanded. Bane didn't answer. Instead, he just looked around at the four doors in the room. Which one would lead to Gatou?
"Hey! The man asked ya a question!" another thug said, holding a knife in his hand. "Answer 'im, chump!"
"Take me to Gatou," Bane said, ignoring the thugs. Seeing that they were about to argue, he spoke before they could do so, "This can play out in two ways. Either you take me to Gatou, or I can force my way there. It's your choice, and believe me when I say..." Bane's hand slowly moved to rest on the Venom dial on the back of his hand. "...the latter will be so much more painful for you..."
The thugs didn't answer. Instead, they just charged. Bane's muscles tensed, and he turned the dial.
"So be it..." he muttered as his muscles grew.
–
The door to Gatou's office exploded as two men were sent flying through it, crashing into Gatou's desk and sliding down on the floor, their necks twisted one-eighty degrees. In the doorway stood the most terrifying man Gatou had ever seen, wearing a very intimidating mask. Zouri and Waraji, standing on either side of the door, charged at the intruder, only for the man to grab Zouri and slam him into Waraji, knocking them both out.
Gatou cowered in his chair, while the man approached the desk.
"Your security is lax."
"Y-You don't say?" Gatou asked, cursing himself for faltering in the presence of this man. The man turned a dial on the back of his glove, and his muscles started shrinking down to somewhat normal size, but still bigger than any man Gatou had ever seen. The man himself shrunk down from a menacing seven feet to six foot seven inches, and he slammed his hands down on Gatou's desk, making the tiny man jump in fright.
"I am Bane," the man said, and even though Gatou could only see himself reflected in those red eyes of the mask, he could still feel the man staring intently at him. "I'm a new player in this town."
"Well, joke's on you, Dane!" Gatou said, regaining some of his courage at the prospect of the fate of Wave Country. "This country is already bled dry! There's nothing for you to get!"
The man, Dane, reached over the desk and grabbed Gatou's collar, hoisting the man into the air and holding him a good five feet off the ground.
"It's Bane!" the man growled, and Gatou gulped, his courage pouring out of him like his urine.
"B-Bane! I got it!" Gatou squealed, thrashing in the man's grip, trying to ignore the burning embarrassment he felt at emptying his bladder from fright.
Bane threw the man back into his chair again and tapped his finger against the desk.
"You will sign all your belongings over to me, now, and I will let you go."
"Y-You can't touch me! I-I have an army!" Gatou said, panicking now. It was true, he had an army, but he didn't have them there at the moment. Bane didn't seem intimidated in the least. Instead, he leaned closer over the desk, giving off a dark chuckle.
"So do I, and trust me when I say that my army is stronger than yours."
Gatou was shivering. He didn't want to part with his business and his money, but then again, he really valued his life... Without another word, he signed everything over to the hulking figure across from him. Bane thanked him, and then grabbed his collar, hoisting him into the air again.
"Y-You said you'd let me go!"
"I will," Bane said, walking over to the open window and holding Gatou out of it. "I never, however, specified when or where. Goodbye, Gatou."
With that, Bane dropped Gatou, who gave off a terrified scream as he fell a hundred and sixty feet straight down into the hard ground, landing on his head and snapping his neck, spine, and several other bones in his body.
–
So, what do you think? Please leave a review letting me know!