AN: Oh god…I know that many of you might be hating me so much right now, but I've been busy with housework because we're moving and other stories…on the topside, I made an AMV with the link in my profile for you guys. It's pretty hectic around here. –insert sweat drop- I'm also working on 2 other fics at once, so it's hard balancing it all out. –insert sweatdrop-Another path was initially supposed to be updated first, but I chose this instead.

Undermined

Ryu pulled up the sleeve of his cloak and infused his arm with chakra, punching the ground full force, sending debris upwards. Ryu appeared in front of Kabuto, opening his eyes. A malevolent smile on his face full of blood lust was on Ryu's face. Kabuto tried to close his eyes, but it was too late. The genjutsu began to take affect as he felt weariness weigh heavily on his mind, crying out for him to close his eyes and succumb into the darkness of his mind. She shook off the feeling, Ryu grabbing his shoulders and forced his gaze into the silver-haired boys.

"Orochimaru-sama will understand if you go back empty handed, you're dealing with me after all, right?"

Ryu felt Kabuto's shoulders lessen in stress, his conscious slipping from his grasp.

"I'll spread the bacteria…"

Kabuto threatened, trying to remain awake.

"The effect should be worse for you because you have glasses."

Ryu explained, taking his foe's kunai and driving them into Kabuto's loose clothing, pinning him to the ground.

"There's still time to give me a cure and I won't kill you in your sleep."

"It's not like you can tell where my throat is when you're blind."

Ryu took his hand and placed it over the other boy's mouth, traveling down and grabbing hold of his throat with a long hand.

"Don't make me come after you."

Kabuto began to yell in pain as Ryu's iris' began to take over his entire eyes.

"What are you DOING!?"

Kabuto screeched, gripping his own eyes.

"Slowly cutting your optic nerves and burning your retinas."

Ryu explained, feeling his enemy finally begin to struggle, wanting to stay awake.

"This is why Orochimaru want's me!? I'll give him my 'eyes'!"

Ryu began to dig his fingers into his eyes, but was stopped by another hand.

"We're going to fix your eyes, don't ruin them anymore."

It was Arashi. Ryu wanted to kill Kabuto. His anger rose, but he let his hand drop.

They could feel the boy's anger, but tried to dismiss it.

"Let him go. We should be able to get far enough away from him before he comes to his senses."

Ryu's eyes went back to normal, his body protesting in pain.

"Don't try to make me turn my back against them."

Kabuto laughed and sank into the ground, throwing dirt in Ryu's eyes. He rubbed furiously at them, trying to get rid of the dust.

"Did he get away?"

Ryu asked, placing the bandages back around his eyes and then turning to Arashi.

"Yeah, he's gone."

The boy slowly stood up, swaying to the side before setting himself upright.

"Can you walk?"

Ryu nodded at Arashi's question.

"Okay. We better be off before something else happens."

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They entered the Spirit village, hearing it bustling with life.

"This is rather busy for a tiny village. I'll see if there's any medical ninjas here…"

"I'll look for Jiraiya-sama."

Ryu took up, beginning to walk away before Arashi grabbed his ponytail with his free hand.

"Not happening, kid."

"Why not?"

"You need rest. You had to hold onto my cloak the entire time so you wouldn't bump into anything. You have to at least have your senses back to normal before anything."

Arashi smirked.

"I think my foot is better…"

Naruto spoke, trying out his foot.

"That chakra heals you quickly, too?"

Ryu spoke, the other two blonds tensing up immediately.

"W-what do you mean?"

"Your chakra changed before my senses faltered. It heals you, too?"

"Uh….yeah! It does!"

Naruto piped up, trying to hide his worry.

"Besides, knowing Ero-sennin, we won't have to go far to find him. He is always at either two places: the onsen or the bar."

Arashi laughed.

"That's right. Ryu, is it possible for you to walk anymore?"

"What's the harm between now and before?"

Arashi felt as if he were stung.

"Okay…well…I'm gonna go look. Naruto…"

Arashi placed a few coins in his hand.

"Go buy something to eat and if you find Jiraiya, try to find some way to make him stay."

"That's easy…"

Naruto snickered.

"I'll find you in a flash."

Ryu heard a swishing sound, noting that the Konoha's yellow flash had taken off.

"So…what do you want to eat?"

Naruto asked.

"I don't care."

"Well…do you want ramen?"

"I've never had ramen before."

Naruto clutched his shirt as if he were having a heart attack.

"What!?"

Ryu turned to him, raising his eyebrows.

"It is not hard to believe…"

Ryu replied, heaving a small sigh and then asked,

"Why, would you like to eat ramen?"

Naruto nodded quickly, forgetting Ryu being blind but by sheer aura of happiness, he knew that it meant a yes.

"Are you getting back to normal?"

"Yeah, slowly. I can tell how far away you are, but that's it…"

"Okay! Let's go eat, then! Dad is gonna find a medic nin so they can fix you up and then we can go and find Ero-sennin!"

"Shouldn't finding Jiraiya-sama come fist seeing as in he could move onto the next village?"

"It's alright! If he's really here, then he'll be here all night!"

Ryu lowered his hood a little more in shame.

"Then I guess luck has favored us…slightly…"

Naruto laughed, the blind boy's bandages were soaked in blood, beginning to drip down the sides of his nose.

"Ryu…"

"I keep spare bandages."

He removed the blood soaked ones, threw them out, wiped the excess blood on a cloth in his pocket, and then placed on fresh bandages.

"Don't you want to wash that…?"

"When you're out in the wild, river or creek water isn't good on open wounds. Bacteria, you know?"

"There's bathrooms over here now, you know?"

"When we find Jiraiya-sama, I'll wash it."

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Ryu tapped his fingers, 'seeing' the chopsticks and breaking them. He placed a hand over the bowl of ramen, feeling the steam moisten his hands.

"It's a little hot."

The cook said, Ryu getting impatient.

"I know…"

He didn't need help. Eating was the worst part of the day for him. He couldn't see how much something was cooked or how hot it was without help. It was hard enough to find chopsticks and a bowl; he didn't need someone to remind him of his uselessness.

"Do you think that you'll get your vision back?"

" I want to…but if I don't, I don't mind too much."

"Do you at least remember how the outside world looks like?"

"A little. Orochimaru paid me a visit a long time ago when I was about eight. I remember some things, but they soon began to fade and turned more like outlines instead."

"That was eight years ago…you've been alone for eight years?"

"Yeah. So? How long were you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh…I only met my dad two years ago. He protected me and disappeared when I passed out."

Naruto flashed him one of his foxy grins even though he couldn't see it.

"So I lost him for the two years up until a few days ago."

"Why is that?"

Naruto looked down, making his voice small so the cook couldn't hear.

"Remember the red chakra? It belongs to the Kyuubi no yoko…"

Ryu nodded, passing his hand over the ramen bowl to feel for steam. He took up his chopsticks again and placed a bit in his mouth.

"That doesn't bother you?"

"Do my eyes bother you?"

"Well…no…but-"

"There's nothing to worry about then. You have something special and I have something special. There's nothing to fear. If 'it' breaks free, then it is the time to fear. But seeing as in you had control over it when I was there, there is nothing I should hide from."

Ryu explained after swallowing his ramen, placing more in his mouth. Naruto gave a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of his head.

"Do you think that you'll really be able to fix my eyes…?"

"Yeah! Of course!"

A curve formed at the side of the rusty-haired boy's lips.

"I don't even know how you look like. It'd be fun."

Naruto shoved ramen in his mouth, smiling.

"I have friends back home who could help you!"

Ryu waited for him to go on, not wanting to hear ramen slosh around in his mouth as he spoke. He gulped loudly, continuing.

"There's a lot of them that I've met! I wonder how they're doing, now that I mention them…"
"What are their names?"

"There's Sakura-chan, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, TenTen, and that Neji guy who I don't really like...there's Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei too! Tsunade-no-baa-san too if you want…then there's Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi!"

"It sounds like you have your hands full back at home."

"Yeah! It's always fun!"

"Don't you get lonely?"

"What do you mean?"

"When no one is around you after. You might have become so used to friends, that when you're alone, it feels like you've been left out on everything."

"I don't get it…how could someone feel that way?"

"Never mind, Naruto."

Ryu told him, taking up more ramen in his mouth.

"You're almost finished your ramen…"

Ryu swallowed, turning to Naruto.

"There's only the broth left. I told you it was good!"

Naruto suddenly sulked.

"I have only broth left too…"

He drank greedily and jumped up, tugging at Ryu's cloak.

"Come on! We're gonna try and find Ero-sennin before dad comes back!"

"Didn't you say he could only be in two places…?"

"Yeah…"

"We can't go in a bar and I doubt the foreman at the onsen would let us in unless we're bathing."

Naruto sighed.

"You're right…but bathing wouldn't be a bad idea…after what we've been through, we must reek!"

Naruto laughed sheepishly, Ryu sinking deeper into his cloak, trying to hide his face and thanking kami that he was blind for once in his life.

"I don't think it's a good idea…"

He suddenly said.

"Why not?"

"Well…we don't know when your dad is going to come back, so if we hide inside an onsen, we don't know if he'll be able to find us."

"Don't worry, he's a ninja."

Ryu gulped. He'd see all his scars…everything from his past was embedded on his body.

"Let's go! Maybe he'll be outside already!"

"A-aa…"

Ryu agreed hesitantly.

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Ryu walked towards the onsen with a happy Naruto beside him.

"I'll just ask to take a look around. Salt on my wounds is going to hurt."

"Don't worry. They should be closed by now."

"Some people aren't like you, Naruto."

Naruto didn't give up.

"I really don't know about this…"

"Don't worry!"

Naruto dragged him inside the onsen, keeping an eye out for Jiraiya.

"He's not here…"

"We should leave, then."

"Come on, let's just go check in the baths. I stink so badly right now, Sakura-chan wouldn't even go near me!"

Naruto paid and skipped off to the baths, Ryu having no choice but to follow.

Ryu tied a towel around his waist and continued to the bath, slowly getting in. The warm water soothed his tense muscles. He cupped his hands and splashed water in his face, trying to remember the last time water had come from somewhere else than a river.

"The water feels good."

Naruto stated happily, eyes closed in content.

"It's been ages since I took a real bath!"

"I could have told you that…"

Ryu retorted grumpily.

"Well, he's not here. We should get out. My wounds are already tingling."

"It's all scabbed over, right…? Riiiight…? Then you should be fine! Who knows how much stink you carry under your cloak!"

Ryu sighed, knowing it was true. The battle with Kabuto had also worn him out. Ryu sat down, hearing the water ripple to his left, signaling that Naruto was drawing near. He was bound to know sooner or later.

"R-Ryu…"

The boy didn't speak. There was nothing much to say.

"You're covered in scars! How'd that happen!?"

The boy tried to keep calm, but was panicking inside.

"How did you get those?"

Naruto asked again, a little more calm, taking a seat next to him.

"It doesn't concern you."

"B-but…"

"This is why I didn't want to get inside in the first place. Too many questions. Want to know the truth, Naruto-kun? I was tortured for my ability. Nothing more. Now drop it."

"Nothing more!? Who did it!?"

The blind boy stood suddenly, surprising Naruto.

"Suffering is a part of life. It's how we learn. Now learn to keep your nose out of my personal business."

He strode away in angry strides, nearly tripping on his way out.

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AN: Stab….rip….stab….stab….murder…I bet that is all that is running through your minds right now. I'm juggling two fics and my life and I can't juggle so well. XP Hope you can forgive this lowly writer. I am trying to update ASAP, but it's getting really heated at my place, so I hope you can sympathize –insert heavy sweat drop-