I do not own Naruto Shippuden or any of the characters.
Filled In
Ryuu drummed his fist against the ground lightly, not for any real reason just because he was bored. He was in a small square cell set into the wall with countless others lining both the wall he was in and the wall opposite him, each with one unfortunate Kekkei Genkai user in them.
"So who feels like talking?" Ryuu finally called out.
"I will," someone a few cells off to Ryuu's left replied, a girl, by the voice.
"Oh good," Ryuu smiled scooting over to the bars and sticking his head out, looking down the line to where a hand was waving toward him. "How long have you been here?"
"A few months," the girl stated. "They like pitting us against each other, or in one kid's cases, pitting his powers against others. You fought them yourself."
"So that was a Kekkei Genkai huh?" Ryuu asked. "Makes sense. So this is basically another base like that other group's."
"You...you were there?" the girl asked, hope evident in her voice. "Did you see my sister, Kurai?"
"Yeah," Ryuu nodded. "But, I'm sorry. She and another one, someone that could bring Genjutsu to reality, tried to break free. From what I heard, the base was completely destroyed by a self-destruct Kekkei Genkai. No one lived. I was transferred before then so I'm afraid I can't tell you what happened. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," the girl sighed. "I have her ability. And there's another kid here that had Shikotsumyaku. If he dies, we've agreed that I break out with his corpse. We're going to escape."
"Anyone seen the warden?" Ryuu asked.
"It's a guy wearing a mask," the girl stated. "No one can tell how strong he is because he doesn't fight."
"I see," Ryuu nodded. "Well, I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. So what kinds of powers do the rest of you have?"
"I can teleport," one of the boys across from Ryuu spoke up. "My silent friend here sends ultrasonic waves when he speaks that can be lethal if hit directly."
He gestured to the cell to his right before the man in the one on his left stepped forward, feeling the bars then reaching through it, a cloth covering his eyes.
"You have to help me!" the man pleaded. "Don't let them take me!"
"What now Benjamin?" the teleporter asked.
"Don't let them take me, please!" the man repeated.
"Is he okay?" Ryuu asked.
"He sees the future sometimes," the teleporter stated. "Keeps his eyes covered so he can't see the present and future at the same time. It would create unending hallucinations."
"How's he fight?" Ryuu asked.
"When not having a vision he's a sensor," the teleporter stated. "He-"
He stopped as there was a loud clang and the sound of a shutter opening. Everyone backed away from their bars, Ryuu following their example, and a moment later, a pair of scientists stopped on the floor before Ryuu's cell. After a moment, they were standing in front of it on a platform that had risen out of the floor.
"You, get over here," one of the two ordered.
Ryuu activated his Sharingan and one of the two scientists held up a black cylinder with a red button on the end. He pressed the button and the walls and floor of Ryuu's cell electrified, sending a massive amount of electricity coursing through his body. Once he collapsed, they stopped and entered the cell, dragging him out to the platform before retrieving the girl Ryuu had been talking to. Then, They took them to the arena and dumped a massive pile of assorted corpses on one end. Ryuu pushed himself up, groaning, as the girl gave him a sympathetic then apologetic look.
"Tell me you're not thinking what I think you are," Ryuu sighed before the bodies began to get up.
"I'm sorry," she sighed. "But I don't want to die here. You seem like a good person. But if I have to kill you to survive, then I'm sorry. But I'm not dying. Not yet."
"If you attack me, you will," Ryuu warned. "I don't care how many bodies you have under your control."
"Forgive me," she sighed as the bodies began to draw weapons.
Ryuu activated his Sharingan and sprinted forward. Two of the bodies teleported to stand beside Ryuu, slashing katanas at him. He ducked under the first, redirected the second blade with a palm-strike to the corpse's arm. The blade embedded itself in the first corpse as Ryuu spun kicking the second into the next wave. They all collapsed and Ryuu leapt over them, smashing into the next group with his entire body, knocking most down before leaping back, a massive flaming dragon shot past, igniting the line of corpses he had just knocked over. The dragon turned in mid air and Ryuu saw a body hovering in the head. The dragon opened its mouth as the corpse formed hand seals.
"Beast Flame Technique, Dragon's Breath Jutsu!" the corpse shouted as a massive torrent of white-hot flames shot out of the dragon's mouth engulfing the entire arena.
The girl had been protected by a second corpse who had formed an energy barrier around itself and her but as the smoke began to clear, Ryuu rose from the ground. The corpses, now mostly skeletons, all charged with their weapons. Ryuu began to walk forward, creating a Flame Sword as he did and when a skeleton reached him, he slashed it aside without even looking at it.
The fire dragon flew down in front of Ryuu and then shot at him again but this time, Ryuu was ready.
"Water Style, Water Wall jutsu!"
Water flooded the arena, steam filling the air from the heated ground and walls then even more when the water hit the dragon. Within seconds the water was gone but the dragon had been extinguished and the boy was on his hands and knees, coughing.
"Looks like your soldiers aren't as great as you thought," Ryuu stated continuing forward.
"Kill him," the girl ordered and one skeleton stepped forward, its flesh regenerating until it looked alive again.
It began making hand seals and spikes grew from its body everywhere making it look half porcupine. Then, it charged, the spikes all sticking straight out, especially on its forearms, hands, shins, calves, and feet.
"Impressive," Ryuu nodded making several hand seals. "Wind Style, Wind Bullets!"
The blasts exploded completely through his body, smashing the spikes and splattering the ground with his blood. The body continued, however and Ryuu created a Flame Sword.
"God I wish I had my tanto," Ryuu sighed before jumping over the body, bisecting it with the blade. "Oh well. I'll make do."
He began forward again just as a massive flaming tiger landed between Ryuu and the girl.
"For the love of God," Ryuu growled. "You just don't quit."
Ryuu leapt skyward, the corpse with the tiger leaping after him and Ryuu grinned before exhaling wind disks. The blades tore through the body, cutting him into several pieces before flying at the girl. She cried out in surprise and pain as one blade removed her left arm below the elbow before the corpse protecting her had its barrier fully formed again. Ryuu landed on his feet and looked to the girl, seeing blood pouring out of her arm.
"Damnit!" the girl swore and Ryuu deactivated his Sharingan as a corpse put a sword to his throat.
"You've lost," Ryuu stated. "All I have to do is outlast you. You will bleed out in minutes without getting that bandaged and you can't do that while fighting me. If you stop attacking me, I'll bandage it for you so that we can both survive this. I have no wish to kill you."
"If we don't kill each other, they flood this room with sleeping gas then kill us both," she stated. "One of us has to die."
"No we don't," Ryuu stated. "We could easily get out before the Warden finds us if you would just work with me."
"No!" the girl snapped. "A friend of mine tried to flee with me. I got captured and was removed from the room when the Warden entered."
"And?" Ryuu asked.
"He's the one that made a flame dragon," she stated. "When he was returned for use, he had his own sword sticking out of his face. None of us could match his skill with a blade."
"Look," Ryuu sighed. "I'm sorry about your friend, but if we all attack at once, no one could beat us."
"The warden claims to have killed a thousand men alone," she stated.
"I could claim to have killed a million, that doesn't make it true," Ryuu stated. "Please, don't make me continue this fight."
"Why are you so desperate to not fight?" she asked. "You're too good to be a pacifist."
"I don't like killing," Ryuu stated. "There was a man that kidnaped me, nearly killed several people that were important to me, and that tried to kill me to take my eyes from me. He hounded me for months before capturing me and then for months after I broke out. I finally killed him, mostly for self defense, but now every time I close my eyes I see his face. He wanted my eyes to create peace. In the end, I agree with him. In theory they could be used for that. But he wanted the power too much. He would have wound up being corrupted. So I killed him. And now I pray for his forgiveness, and mine, every time I go to sleep. I have guilt from every person I've had to kill. I have guilt over the deaths of Kurai and Tomu. I almost escaped with them but the Warden used a cheap trick to effortlessly defeat us and I was transferred. If I had figured out his trick before, I could have saved the two of them. I don't want to have to add your death to the guilt I feel."
"You know, you remind me of Kurai," the girl stated smiling. "She hated our power because it only worked if those around us died. She felt like a monster when she used it. I'm sorry. Like I said, if we don't fight, they'll kill us both. I think that Kurai lives on in memory with you. So I'm going to make sure you live. And if you won't kill me, I'll make you."
The corpse in front of Kurai jabbed its sword at his throat but he batted the blade aside then delivered a palm strike to its nose and took the sword then decapitated it. He darted forward, decapitating three more before removing the arms of the barrier corpse, having noticed that its barrier was controlled by its hands. Then, he snapped the blade off so that the remaining portion was about the size of his tanto and spun, stabbing the girl with it, the blade going up under her ribcage, the blade going between two ribs and through her aorta, killing her in exactly two seconds. He gently set her body down, the corpses around them all collapsing, then clasped his hands in front of his face, praying. His head began to swim but he ignored it, pulling the sword back out and folding the girl's hands on her abdomen before sitting beside her and gritting his teeth and looking down at the blood pooling below him. One of the corpses he had decapitated had managed to get his side with a kunai.
"Damn," he grunted. "Should have used my Sharingan after all."
A door in the side of the arena opened and the same pair of scientists walked in with a man wearing a black trench coat with a dark grey inside and the hood up and an ANBU mask, though it was one of the ones that was harder to tell the type of animal.
"Hello there Ryuu," the man greeted pleasantly. "I see you had a little trouble finishing the match. Would you like me to heal you?"
"I'm not sure I trust you," Ryuu stated, hand slowly inching toward a kunai.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of harming you so you won't be needing that kunai," the man stated. "I merely wish to make sure we don't lose our most promising guest."
"Guest huh?" Ryuu growled as the man held up a hand, green chakra lighting up around it then reaching across the fifty feet between them to Ryuu's wound, healing it in a matter of seconds. "You could have fooled me."
"I do apologize for the methods by which we were forced to bring you here and keep you here, but I'm afraid we simply can't afford to have you running off. At least, not until we've learned about those eyes of yours," the man stated and Ryuu could hear the fake smile the man must be wearing. "Then you'll be free to go."
"I'm not staying," Ryuu stated simply. "I don't care how strong you are. I'll get out of here even if I have to go through you."
"I see, so you're not going to settle down after all are you?" the man asked, false disappointment dripping from his voice. "Very well. If you believe you can defeat me, feel free to try it."
Ryuu activated his Sharingan, grabbing the kunai and charging at the man. The man held his arms up, the sleeves falling down so his arms were exposed, both alight with blue chakra. When Ryuu reached him, he stepped back from Ryuu's first strike before reaching out faster than Ryuu could react to and resting his hand on Ryuu's arm for a brief moment. In that moment, Ryuu's arm went from functioning perfectly to hanging limply at his side and being in more pain than Ryuu could ever remember feeling. The kunai clattered to the floor and Ryuu staggered backward, resisting his body's urge to place his other hand on his somehow wounded arm. He tripped over a sword and shouted in pain as his arm hit the floor. He grabbed the sword, standing and holding it in front of himself.
"Do you know what I did to your arm?" the man asked pulling his mask off to one side so Ryuu could see the silver hair and large round glasses. "I severed the muscles in your bicep and separated your shoulder from its socket. You can no longer use that arm. Do you want me to do the same to the other?"
"You...you're a Konoha ninja!" Ryuu shouted before seeing the Sound Village symbol on his forehead protector. "You're...you're a spy!"
"I am," the man, actually closer in age to himself than a man, nodded. "My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I serve Lord Orochimaru. You never did hear what happened the day you were captured did you? Allow me to explain. Lord Orochimaru battled the Third Hokage and eventually killed him, though, not before the old man was able to steal the use of Lord Orochimaru's arms. Lord Orochimaru is interested in acquiring Sharingan. If you do not cooperate, he may, borrow, yours until his next host body is prepared for him."
"Host body?" Ryuu asked not understanding.
"It doesn't matter," Kabuto stated. "Not to you, at least. You are more interested in our operative who brought you to us. You see, Fu is the subject of a manhunt, of sorts. She is the Jinchuriki of the Seven-tailed Beast. Lord Orochimaru recognizes that as making her an excellent weapon. However, if the other group were to take possession of her, it would undoubtedly mean her death. In exchange for her being protected from that group, she has sworn her allegiance to Lord Orochimaru. I admit, I was wondering if she would actually have the stomach to bring you to us, but in the end, she succeeded."
"Why wouldn't she?" Ryuu spat. "She tricked me into believing that she gave a shit about me. How hard could it have been?"
"Tricked you?" Kabuto laughed. "Oh no Ryuu. She genuinely cares about you. I would even go so far as to say that she loves you. However, had you not been here, you would have been killed by the man Aeron was trying to get your eyes for."
"Aeron had a boss?" Ryuu blinked. "Who?"
"A man wearing an orange mask and a black cloak," Kabuto stated. "He has no interest in using your eyes for peace, but Aeron didn't know that."
"So you're saying that Fu betrayed me to save me?" Ryuu snorted. "Right. And next you'll be telling me that she's actually the daughter of the Sage of Six Paths."
"Well, I can't say that, but she did save your life," Kabuto shrugged, pulling his mask back on. "Now, would you like to walk back to your cell, or be carried?"
Ryuu smirked and charged forward. Kabuto sighed, chakra covering his hands again and a moment later, he had severed the muscles in Ryuu's other arm and both legs as well. Once back at his cell, Kabuto healed him through the bars before leaving. Ryuu simply lay on the floor of his cell staring at the ceiling as what he had learned sank in. Eventually a small smile slowly spread over his face. Then, he climbed into bed, laying with his back to the bars and closed his eyes.
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