Pein stared down at the girl that sat kneeling on the ground. She was panting heavily, and her body was dirty and bruised. Her clothing was ripped. Pein frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Is that the best you can do?"

Ruth stood up and met Pein's glare. "I think that's pretty impressive, if I say so myself."

Kisame, Itachi, and Hidan stood around. Hidan swung his scythe around and placed it behind his back. "Pfft. It sure was impressive, kid. Impressive as shit."

"A whole three minutes, and all you do is try hand-to-hand combat and dodge everything," add Kisame He smiled at Ruth, paying close attention to the cuts on her hands, arms, and legs. "As I think you can tell, that doesn't quite work against Samehada."

"And not one display of any sort of jutsu. You're a strange one, child."

Ruth growled. Ignoring her anger at them, Kisame and Hidan led Ruth towards the medical room. They tried to keep in front of her, but Ruth would just pridefully stomp ahead of them. Eventually, the trio reached the medical room. Kisame and Hiden left Ruth in the hands of Konan, smiling to themselves as they left, knowing that the girl was glaring at their backs.

Konan tried not to sigh. "You're stupid," she eventually admitted as she wrapped up Ruth's wounds. "Why are you so upset at being beaten so horribly when you didn't even try to do anything?"

Ruth stayed silent.

"You know, the leader won't be pleased to keep you around if you don't prove yourself."

Ruth sighed and was about to give Konan a piece of her mind before Abby and Tobi walked in.

"Tobi, please. You don't have to follow me around everywhere," Abby groaned as Tobi was right behind her, trampling along like a puppy.

"But, you're injured! I can't have you going out anywhere on your own. You might fall!" He paused. He suddenly grabbed Abby's shoulders and his tone grew serious, his voice went a little lower than normal. "And besides, you might escape if I don't watch you. I can't have anyone escaping."

Abby was slightly flushed, but shook herself out of Tobi's grip and went to Ruth. "Hey, you. Are you alright? I heard about what Pein made you do, and that you got hurt pretty badly."

"Hmph, I'm fine," said Ruth, keeping her eyes turned away.

Abby and Ruth sat and talked. Ruth never made eye contact and answered in small fragments and grunts. Tobi and Konan sat with them, Tobi intent on listening in case any important information was leaked and Konan sitting around, quietly sipping tea.

As the girls' chatter grew more silent and awkward, Konan finally break in with: "Girls, do either of you really know jutsu?"

Both girls froze up. Ruth looked to Abby, but her eyes were slightly darting around the room, trying to think of a reason.

"Well..." began Ruth.

Tobi smiled beneath his mask. Hmph. I guess we have you backed into a corner. He tried not to giggle. I can't wait to see what you two come up with. Come on, humor me!

"Well what?" said Konan, impatiently raising an eyebrow.

Abby sighed and was about to admit the truth, but Ruth broke in with, "Of course! We've just been so exhausted and injured, that our chakra has been off balance. We've only been here maybe a week. Suddenly trying to battle us won't sudden make us able to do it."

Tobi kept his gaze on Ruth, as did Konan. Both of them expected her to crack, but her face stayed straight.

"Alright then. You'll have to forgive the leader for being so careless in suddenly giving you a test like that, Ruth. But, you should have said something. The leader might have not done that if you did."

"I don't want to look like a wuss in front of you people. He probably wouldn't have believed me. Hell, you probably don't believe me."

Konan stayed silent. The girl did have a point. Someone not being able to use jutsu wasn't a claim you would take seriously.

The conversation died after that. Eventually, Konan left Ruth alone. Ruth and Abby stayed together for a while, eyes downcast. Would that lie even work out?

Ruth smiled. If anything, it might give them extra time to do something. Ruth didn't know what that something was, but she knew she couldn't stay in this base forever. They weren't in a dream. They were in the real Naruto world. They had to abide by the world's rules, and they could easily get killed in this world.

Ruth turned her eyes to Abby. She could feel the hope rising in her, the fear growing in her stomach. She had an idea.

"Abby, quit sitting around!" Tobi yanked his "prisoner" to her feet. "I don't want to stand here and watch you two sit around," he whined, which Abby saw as slightly adorable. "Come on. Leave Ruth alone."

Ruth now sat in her room. She rubbed her bandaged arms and looked over to the box in the corner. It was the box of yaoi that had been dragged along with Abby and her. It reminded her of the job she had left behind. She flinched. How much time had passed back home? Was her family worried about her? Abby's family? Mr. Bales?

The door slammed open and Ruth squeaked. She turned around to find Hidan, holding a steaming bowl of rice. "Hmph, here's your food, dumbass."

Ruth stared at his narrowed pink eyes. She smiled. "Hidan?"

"I'm going to throw this rice at you if you don't get up and get it right now."

Ruth got up and walked up to Hiden. She grabbed the bowl from him, and he immediately turned to leave. "Hidan?" she said again.

"What?" he groaned, not bothering to turn to face her.

"Are you going out on a mission anytime soon?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"I wanna go with you."

The two stayed silent for a couple long, awkward minutes before Hidan started to snicker. Ruth frowned. "What's so funny about that?"

Hiden started to laugh more. "Yeah, yeah...Let me take along the kid that can't even use jutsu or even defend herself out on a mission where I could get caught and killed." His laughter was bellowing out now. "Yeah, let me do that!"

Hiden caught laughing and was too busy to see Ruth had set her rice down and was coming towards him. He didn't stop laughing until Ruth punched him in the back. Hiden gagged, trembled, and fell down.

"Bitch!" he coughed as he started to get up.

"Don't you dare call me weak. I'll happily kick your ass and prove it to you."

Ruth cracked her knuckles. Hidan stood up, glanced at her, and chuckled. "Hmph, whatever." he grabbed the door. "I'd like to see you prove that, kid."

The door slammed shut. Ruth stared at it in anger before throwing her fist into it, hissing as he hand started to hurt. I'll show you. I'll show you, alright!

Days had passed by slowly. Ruth spent those days sitting her room, pondering over her escape plan. Abby had pointed out when the two were finally alone that despite the fact that they had been allowed to go around parts of the base, that they never saw an exit to the outside world. Ruth didn't know if this was intentional of them, but she had to admit it was crafty. She would constantly think about what life was like at home, if there were search parties out for Abby and her or if no time had passed at all. At some point, she couldn't bare to lay her eyes on the box of manga in the corner without getting upset.

The days passed into a couple of weeks and Ruth's injuries from her practice fight were healing up. Ruth constantly glared at Itachi, Kisame, and Hidan any time she saw them. Kisame and Itachi didn't care for her immature anger and Hidan found it funny and took pride in being able to make her upset so easily. She couldn't help but glare at them when everyone, Ruth and Abby included, were called to the living room of the base.

The members did little talking and did it amongst themselves. Ruth's eyes kept shifting everywhere, and eventually they fell on Abby, who was sitting right next to her. She was frowning, worried about Ruth.

"What is it?" Ruth said, quietly as not to draw attention to them.

"Are you OK? Your hand looks worse than I remember it being."

"I'm fine." Ruth rubbed her hand, which was bruised and slightly swollen from punching the door. "Hidan being a jackass stops being funny when you start being on the receiving end of it."

Abby looked down, and then looked back up and scooted even closer to Ruth. Her words were soft, and Ruth had to pay close attention to hear her. "Why did you lie to them?"

Ruth glanced down and frowned. "I was afraid."

"Of what?"

"That they would have done something to us, since we're pretty useless to them."

"Ruth, maybe we should just tell them-"

"Tell us what?"

Tobi suddenly came up behind the two girls, wrapping his arms around them. The girls both screamed and nearly jumped up. Tobi glanced back and forth between them as they caught their breath. "Tell us what? What's such a big secret over here, hm?"

"Tobi, please, go away!" said Abby.

Tobi leaned in, nearly pressing his masked face onto hers. "Why? Don't you like me? Aren't I being a good roommate and taking care of you?"

To Ruth's chagrin, Tobi was succeeding in making Abby blush. She tried to say something back, but everything came out as confused babble.

Humored enough with Abby, Tobi turned to Ruth. "My my, aren't you looking a lot better?" he asked. "You've healed well from your defeat. Not even a little bit of scarring! I'm impressed."

Ruth tried not to flinch. "Th-Thank you, Tobi..."

"Don't you think it's maybe time for a rematch? You look healed enough. Maybe you can finally use your jutsu."

"Shit!" Ruth hissed quietly.

But it was too late. Tobi had caught everyone else's attention and all eyes were on her now.

"I..."

"What's wrong? Are you nervous?"

Ruth glanced around and caught site of the three who had beaten her badly.

I'd like to see you prove that, kid.

"Nothing," Ruth finally said. "I think it's unfair to face off against Kisame, Itachi, and Hidan together. After all, they're extremely strong. I don't think I can beat them, not this time, not ever."

Ruth smiled internally. Maybe this would stop them from inquiring.

Itachi stepped forward. "Oh, is that so? Then how about a one-on-one match?"

Ruth jumped a little and barely stopped herself from cussing again. "Uh, sure! I can take you any day, Itachi!"

The corners of Itachi's mouth bent into a small smile. "Very well then. We can arrange to have a fight, and you can show just how strong you are to Pein."

"Hmph," Ruth stood up after a moment of silence and faced Itachi, smiling. "Very well then. You want a public show of me kicking your ass? You can have it that way."

Everyone was shocked into silence. Itachi frowned with shock. No one had guessed Ruth would be so cocky towards someone who had beaten her badly.

"Hmph. Alright then." Itachi opened his eyes slowly and glared at his future opponent. "Next time I catch you, Ruth, I will beat you. I will beat you mercilessly. I will not spare from killing you, unless you can put up a good fight." With that, Itachi left.

"Why did you do that, Ruth?!" Abby angrily whispered at her friend after Itachi left.

"I don't know, but I'll be fine. I know how to fight."

"But...Itachi knows jutsu..."

"If I get him down before he does any jutsu, I'll be fine."

The two stopped at Abby's door.

"Ruth, I'm scared."

"Abby, I'll be fine." She smiled at her friend. "I'm tough. I won't go down without a fight."

Abby gave a tiny smile, and then went into her room. She shut the door behind her, leaned against the door, sighed, and frowned. "Oh, Ruth..."

"What happened?"

"Huh?" Abby looked up to see that Tobi was sitting at the table in the middle of their room. He had just finished adjusting his mask after having a cup of tea.

"Oh, were you talking to Ruth about something?"

"Oh, we were just talking about her battle with Itachi," said Abby as she went to the table and sat down across from Tobi. "I don't want her to do it. I think it was reckless of her to challenge him like that."

"And what were you two talking about before I came up to you two earlier?"

Abby went silent.

"Well?"

"Nothing."

Abby felt herself growing nervous as she stared at Tobi. She couldn't see his expression, and this made her feel worse.

She felt something hard hit her leg. "Ah!"

"Will you tell me, Abby-chan?"

She brought her legs close to her body. "I..."

"Abby."

She sighed. "We were talking about how we actually don't know any jutsu."

"Hm." Tobi stood up.

"T-Tobi?"

Without a word, Tobi came around the table and yanked Abby to her feet. He started to drag her towards the door, Abby helplessly flailing in his grasp.

Ruth was relaxing in her room when she heard the sudden hard opening of a door and voices. She quickly crawled to her door and cracked it open to peer out.

"Mmph, Tobi, please let go of me. Where are you taking me?" Abby begged.

No answer.

Ruth sat frozen as she watched Tobi drag Abby down the darkened hallway. She pushed her door open and sprang out, sprawling onto the floor before quickly jumping up and rushing after the two.

Abby tried her best to struggle, but nothing seemed to beat Tobi's strength and she gave up. She tried to keep up with Tobi's quick walk, but eventually she was being dragged along behind him. They went from the hallways down to the living room. They turned sharply down another hallway and went towards the medical room, and then passed it's mesh-covered window. They continued down the pitch black hallway. They suddenly stopped and Abby tried to pull away as Tobi worked at a latched door. The door opened, and Abby felt the cold night breeze against her face and body. The smell of grass filled her nose as she and Tobi filed down into woods, unaware that Ruth was chasing after them.

Ruth couldn't keep up. She slammed into the door. She shoved it open and continued on, rubbing her cheek.

Eventually she had to stop. She had lagged too far behind them and had lost track of them. Abby had stopped making noise, so she had no idea which way they headed. Ruth groaned and fell onto the ground, sitting down. She hung her head between her knees. "I'll get you, Tobi. If you hurt her, I'll get you..."

Suddenly, there was a hard rustling straight ahead. Ruth's head shot up. She stood up and took a couple cautionary steps towards it. "Abby? Abby, are you alright?"

Suddenly, her arm started to sting and her heard a thump. She look to her left and saw that a kunai had whizzed by her, cutting open her arm.

"What are you doing out here?"

Ruth looked up. It was Itachi. In the night wind, his hair and cloak fluttered. His eyes stared into her. "Why are you out here, especially at night?"

Ruth immediately took a fighting stance. She cracked her knuckles. She had to be quick to attack him, before he could use any jutsu. If he got one move on her, she'd be dead.

"Hiyah!" cried Ruth as she charged at Itachi. She swung to go straight for his stomach, but he easily grabbed her fist. He nonchalantly shoved her back, sending Ruth stumbling to the ground.

"So, you're trying to escape." He made a hand sign and brought it to his chest. "Sharingan!"

Ruth looked up and saw Itachi's glaring red eyes.

"I told you that I would battle you the next time I saw you. That time has come. And as I said, I will not spare killing you. I have to kill you now. I can't let you escape."

Tobi finally stopped dragging Abby along when they reached a large clearing. He let go of her and walked ahead of her. He went about ten steps, ending up just under a tree, and then turned around to face her. "Abby."

"T-Tobi?"

"We're going to be here a while."

Tobi reached for his mask and tore it off. The upper part of his face was covered in shadow from the tree. "Abby, listen to me. I now give you two choices. You can either stay with me and I will teach you jutsu." He stepped out from the shade of the tree and Abby saw his deep black eyes staring intently at her. "Or I can kill you where you stand for trying to escape."

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It look a really long time to type out. ^^;

So, I'm going to do something that I did in the last fan fiction, but never went really through on. I want fan suggestions of what type of jutsu Abby should learn. I'll pick my favorite, and that's the jtusu type she'll be learning. I can't wait to see your suggestions!

Thanks for reading!

-Dot-Sensei