Chapter XLVIII - Turning a New Leaf

Weary mauve eyes averted to the numerous metallic bars that were now being pulled out of place. The sudden and rather vexatious noise of metal clanging against the wall snapped Akazo out of his delirious state. He barely turned his head to look at the several figures that were standing in front of his designated cell.

"Get in there, you piece of shit!" he heard a disgruntled voice murmur. Interest piqued, the shinobi turned the rest of his body to get a better view of the unannounced commotion. Granted, the injuries he sustained caused some difficulties that hindered any movement at all, but he somehow still managed to accomplish this task.

The same prison guards from earlier were holding onto Ketsueki, who somehow looked to be in even worse shape from the last time Akazo saw him. The ANBU member noticed a fresh stab wound in the redhead's stomach and concluded his encounter with Seiko didn't end all too well for him. Ketsueki couldn't even stand on his own two feet; his unmoving legs were bent at a peculiar angle against the floor, and the prison guards had to carry him if they wanted to successfully move him anywhere.

Obviously, the swordsman wasn't able to comply with the orders projected at him, and pretty much anyone could see why. It took a few moments for the guard with the Hidden Sound headband to realise his error, and instead told his companions to release Ketsueki from their clutches.

Before the injured man could collapse to the floor, the guard extended his leg and forced it against his back. With just the "tiniest" bit of force, he pushed Ketsueki into the cell. In actuality, the redhead was sent crashing against the wall in the back of the freezing, badly lit room.

Snickers and giggles of satisfaction came from the small group of guards outside of the cell. Akazo compared them to the sounds children would make on a playground and paid them no further attention. His earlier attempt at defending his ally through thick and thin was admirable, but he wouldn't make that mistake again. Especially not after the message Ketsueki imparted.

Nobody could win one against a million.

Too caught up in these downhearted thoughts of his, Akazo suddenly jerked upwards when he felt a shivering hand grab onto his left shoulder. The sharp pain that was ensured from this sudden movement reverberated throughout his entire body.

"Sorry I startled you," he heard Sasuke's voice say behind him. Akazo wanted to tell him that it was okay, but the continuous waves of pain coursing through his muscles responded for him, forcing a long grunt through his grinding teeth. As a result, Sasuke quickly removed his intrusive hand.

"All of you inside, stand up and come out here," another voice demanded from outside the cell. Kurenai, as cautious as ever, looked over to the guard and studied him. He was the tallest of the snickering mob, and to her, looked the most testy.

She noticed that this guard's face appeared particularly rigid, almost as if he was permanently annoyed or bothered by something. One of his eyes was covered by multiple bandages behind a cloth patch. A few blotches of dried blood rested near the top of the otherwise clean fabric. Kurenai caught herself to be intently staring into the shinobi's bronze pupil.

"What for?" the kunoichi finally challenged, her own crimson hues dead set on the man. Ebisu was the only prisoner who stood when ordered to do so, staying true to his own obedient nature. Akazo looked away from the fuss and decided he'd remain unconcerned if the situation wouldn't escalate.

The one-eyed guard recoiled at Kurenai's question and approached the lot of them with that irked expression of his. Akazo's developing way of thinking caused him to let out a sigh at the older woman. He knew this was not the place to exhibit any form of resistance, considering the smell of blood from fallen Hidden Leaf shinobi was still looming in the very air they were breathing.

"What the hell makes you think you have a choice in the matter? You don't get the right to talk back to me," the guard shot back at her. Kurenai stared at him in complete silence as he took a few emphatic steps forward. The woman lightly flinched at every clack his boots made against the steel surface.

"I'll remember you for later. What's your name, woman?" he asked.

"Kurenai."

"You're going to have a very hard time here, Kurenai. Now like I said, get up and come out here. All of you."

Given both the hopeless situation she was put in and the consequences that were sure to be enacted upon her if she remained hesitant, the kunoichi finally stood up and walked towards the entrance of the cell. A female guard with dark blue hair covering her left eye forcibly pulled Kurenai's arms behind her back and threw a pair of handcuffs around the woman's small wrists.

Sasuke tiredly glared at the small group before looking back at Akazo, who seemed exhausted as well. With preparation this time, the Uchiha clan member placed an arm around his partner's stomach and helped him up. Akazo let out a soft grunt as he hung an arm around Sasuke's neck. The two of them then walked out of the cramped chamber.

Hardly moving his body against the wall, Ketsueki used a jittery hand to part the hair in his eyes. He then looked up to scowl at a masked guard reaching for his hair. Even though he couldn't even hope of moving his legs, he was still dragged out of the cell and handcuffed.

Upon looking at the guard dragging him, the redhead noticed that the pattern of the mask, a beak along with several yellow stripes, resembled what a Hidden Leaf ANBU would don on missions. Ketsueki decided to ignore this small detail and instead focus on the pain of having his hair strongly tugged on.

"I c-can understand why I'm being treated this way, but is it p-possible for you to accommodate to my injuries?" he asked politely. The masked man chuckled faintly as his grip around Ketsueki's locks tightened.

While the guards were less forceful with Sasuke, who complied without any hesitance, the wounded Akazo struggled to turn around to be handcuffed and found himself to be pushed and pulled until the frigid metal shackles were tightly bound around his wrists.

For the first time since being brought to the prison, Akazo could see how depressing the atmosphere truly was. At least outside of the narrow cell. He was brought here when he was unconscious and had hoped that perhaps the smallest spot of light from outside would make its way through a hole in the walls or ceiling.

Unfortunately, there was no light from outside.

No hope.

No rescue.

Rather than any of those, the only thing he could see ahead were other guards pulling more imprisoned Hidden Leaf shinobi out of their cells.

Nearly five minutes of quietness passed as the last of the captives were handcuffed and lined up. Akazo was surprised that not a single one of them tried to fight back. Even though they certainly would have been killed, the mere thought that his comrades would fight a battle seemingly impossible to win could've helped him cope with these horrible circumstances.

Various images then crept their way into the young man's mind - from his graduation at the Ninja Academy, to his first mission in the ANBU, to his battle with Kimimaro just a few days ago. These oddly reminiscent memories continued to drown out any other thought that was produced at the same time.

He then saw Gyatsō's face, that devilish smile of his widely stretched across his lips.

Immediately after, the dark-haired male screamed and thrashed about, knocking himself into other prisoners. The guard closest to him slammed him against the rigorous wall and caused a loud ring to echo throughout the dark corridor.

This is all my fault.

Akazo stared blankly at the floor, not even bothering to react to the immense discomfort his body was just put under. This was because he half expected his Hidden Sound overseers to execute him then and there, but as time slowly passed, that seemed less likely.

I could have prevented all of this.

"You better keep yourself in check, kid. Do that again and I'll happily put you out of your misery," the bulky guard growled into his ear. The only indication that the man let go of his tight hold didn't come through the actual feeling, but from the mere sight of it. And even then, Akazo could barely make that out, what with the scarce amount of lighting in the corridor of despair.

Sasuke turned his head to look at his silent, immobile companion. If they were just "normal" criminals at a "normal" prison ran by the Hidden Leaf, there wouldn't be too many severe repercussions thrown at him if he were to just walk up to that guard and beat him down. Maybe just an extended sentence, and at most, solitary confinement.

But it was entirely different now.

He fully understood that if he so much as took a single step in defiance, he'd have a very hard fight at his hands. Even with the new abilities of his Mangekyou Sharingan, it'd be a great struggle to just escape the prison alive. Not to mention the amount of enemies that were residing in the village by now.

Forced to turn a blind eye to his wounded friend, Sasuke redirected his attention to the hoarse masculine voice that was booming at the front of the line. With his Sharingan, he was able to make out who was talking. The man was pretty small in stature, so it was already hard enough for anyone not at the front to hear him clearly. He compensated for this drawback with a makeshift megaphone, which was actually just a few bars of metal banded together.

"Listen up, you Hidden Leaf dogs," the man yelled. Many of the exasperated prisoners cowered at the insult. For others, the rather boisterous remark struck them out of their sapped trances.

"My name is Ryotaro Yamane, and I'm the new warden of this shit hole. Effective immediately, not a single one of you will be seen as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf. Instead, you're now members of the ever-growing Hidden Dark Nation! Congratulations!"

Akazo's eyes slightly widened as he heard those words, as if they immediately jump-started his sense of being back to life. He slowly walked closer to that dreaded voice until he bumped into Sasuke, who had an uneasy expression himself.

"They're not just going to kill all of us at once?" Akazo asked him nonchalantly. Sasuke hesitantly shook his head before looking back at Ryotaro. The short blonde was now cackling to himself. He was apparently thrilled to see so many people engrossed in uncertainty for their collective futures.

After a few more seconds of wheezing, the light-haired ninja aggressively pounded his fist against his chest and coughed out loudly. He then wiped away the slight wetness that formed in the corners of his eyes.

"But don't relax yet, my friends! As per Lord Gyatsō Mataba's requests, you're going to be molded into proper soldiers of our great nation," he continued. He evaluated the still faces of the shinobi and sighed out loudly. From the looks of it, none of them were up to speed yet.

"We've decided to borrow some old Hidden Mist combat tactics used to develop their younger shinobi. You see, their children had to once kill each other in order to become a genin. Now we'll use the same system to pick out the most capable of you. I'd say only about half of you will be alive by this day's end."

With that affirmation, panic raced through the large group of prisoners. Luckily, none of them were careless enough to attack any of the guards, nor each other. Not a single person forgot the despondent conditions they knew they had to live by. Ryotaro hid a nefarious smirk behind his metal amplifier at this realisation.

The prisoners even shut themselves up soon enough. In less than twenty seconds, the only sound waves to dare enter the corridor was the noise of the heavy wind outside. The warden began to clap feverishly.

"Good dogs, good dogs! Now you'll be taken to a room where your battles will take place. I'll explain the regulations of our little game when everyone is accounted for. Now get a move on!"

Akazo gasped lightly as the chains attached to his handcuffs were suddenly tugged forward. He instinctively balanced his weight to prevent himself from falling and looked ahead to eye a guard glaring back at him sternly.

Damn, we don't have to be handled like this. Are we seriously going to off each other instead?

The ANBU member turned his head away from the guard and silently followed behind him.

After a while, Akazo began to lose concentration again. When his bare feet suddenly pressed against a freezing iron surface, he blinked and quickly lifted his head.

"How long have we been walking?" he asked himself softly. A youthful woman with short pink hair and heavy bags under her eyes turned her head to him, even though he wasn't asking anyone in particular. Akazo stared at the purple rhombus mark that was on the pinkette's forehead.

I could've sworn I saw that seal before, he thought.

"About ten minutes," the woman whispered.

The large room they've been brought to had more lights along the rusted brown ceiling, but it felt nearly twice as cold as their cells. Akazo's now brittle arms crossed over his chest as he looked around randomly. With treadmills and a variety of weights lying in a corner, he figured that this used to be a workout room for previous convicts.

Convicts. Convicts. Something they've apparently been branded as by Gyatsō and his followers. Before Akazo could even begin to get enraged at the very thought, Ryotaro began to yell at them again.

"I hope that little walk of ours brought some energy into you people!" the warden bellowed at the front of the line. Akazo took a few careful steps to the side in order to actually see the blonde man. After getting a good look for about ten seconds, he stepped back in line with a light smirk spreading on his lips. He'd already taken note of those long spiky bangs that grew to just above the bridge of his nose, and those dull, faintly green eyes. He even kept the image of Ryotaro's two chins locked deep within his memory.

If we do start to fight back, I'll make sure this fat piece of shit dies first, he thought.

"Let's get into business. At random, two of you will be brought to the middle of this room, where you'll fight to the death. If neither one of you are dead by five minutes, then tough shit, you'll both be executed! If you refuse to fight, that's fine, you'll be taken back to your cell... just kidding, you're dead, too!" Ryotaro told them excitedly.

The warden pushed his bangs to the side as he once again beamed at the silent guinea pigs assembled before him. He then hurriedly scratched at his aftershave with his sausage fingers before pointing to a large monitor near the back of the vast room. Sasuke quickly noticed that his mugshot, which was taken when he awoke, was appearing on the monitor at random.

After meticulously looking at the faces around him, he realised that each prisoner had their own pictures showing on the screen intermittently. Sasuke had to restrain himself from chuckling at the nigh stupidity of the event. He found these rules to greatly resemble those of the Leaf's Chunin Exams, which he suspected Gyatsō actually based this off of.

"Unless you're a total dumbass, you'll know when you're up. But if any of you are eager to fight now, let our first two volunteers walk up to our grand stage!" Ryotaro chimed.

Utter silence. None of the prisoners even moved a muscle. Some of them just closed their eyes and prayed that this was some sort of terrible dream. When they woke up, maybe they'd find out their village wasn't taken over by some madman. Perhaps the madman didn't even exist!

Ketsueki gritted his teeth as he slowly looked around and inspected each of the various people standing around him. Which one of them would he have to kill in order to survive himself? If he had to square off against Sasuke, which by itself would literally be by some chance, he'd feel like he'd be betraying Itachi. What if Gyatsō had him reanimated if the two of them ever met again? What would he say, that he murdered his little brother because he had to?

Ryotaro waited a couple of seconds before looking over to the prison guards instead. The few of them that were barely paying attention to this point immediately grew stiff and held their breaths as they awaited the same question.

It came, eventually, only after the hefty administrator coughed out a fragment of the chicken bone that was apparently stuck in his throat the entire time.

"Since they're not so enthusiastic, why don't one of you pick our first two participants?" he asked them. Akazo immediately took a few uneasy steps back as to use his own Hidden Leaf brethren to shield himself from the looming gazes of the Hidden Sound and Dark guards. He couldn't care less how cowardly the act seemed, survival was obviously first and foremost.

Shortly after, the one-eyed guard from earlier walked forward and nodded at the grinning Ryotaro.

"I'll pick them," he said lowly.

"Ah, Tsurugi! Pick anyone you want. At the very least, make it... entertaining."

The towering man strode around the crowd in fixated silence, similar to a starving predator picking out the tastiest of his downed options. With every slow step he took, the prisoner unlucky enough to be closest to him would blanch with uneasiness. An intimidating smile exposed Tsurugi's unsightly light brown teeth when he suddenly stopped walking, having already picked the first meal to be dined on.

Kurenai avoided looking Tsurugi in the eye. In fact, she didn't even appear to notice he stopped directly in front of her. She tried desperately to keep her breathing calm, but she feared her vociferous heartbeats would rat her out through the stillness of the room.

But she knew.

A small line of sweat began to appear on the crimson eyed woman's forehead and slowly made its way down her paling face.

Maybe it's the person next to you, Kurenai. Calm down. Pace your breathing... Calm down...

"Your name was Kurenai, right?" she heard his gruff voice ask. Seeing as there was almost no point in feigning how unaware she was of her plight, the mother quickly looked up into that rust coloured eye and nodded her head.

"Nothing to say back this time, hm? Oh well. Go to the middle of the room," he ordered. Kurenai lowered her head as she slowly made her way to the place that was almost guaranteed to be her deathbed. She then hesitantly looked up to see if her opponent has been chosen yet.

Tsurugi was still making his way around the prisoners, quietly walking along the multiple lines of terrified men and women. He abruptly smiled once again upon coming across one of the few combatants that didn't look away from him. Rather, the intense pair of Sharingan staring him down appeared to command the guard to pick its wielder.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Tsurugi asked him softly.

Sasuke looked over to the silent woman staring back at him blankly. With the slowly diminishing focus in her eyes, he could tell that she was coming to terms with whatever was about to happen to her. Kurenai could only wish to have died during the siege of their village, to be spared such a dishonourable death: making herself look like a coward in front of her peers.

The Hidden Sound and Dark are definitely aware of Ketsueki's interference in Gyatsō's plans, but how don't they know about Akazo and I? Just what did he do to be sought out specifically? Sasuke wondered.

"What, you're the quiet type, too? I saw that you and Kurenai were withheld in the same cell. Do you know her?" Tsurugi asked him. Sasuke wordlessly examined the black-haired woman for a few more seconds before looking back at the taller guard, who didn't seem the least bit intimidated by his Sharingan.

"I do know her, somewhat. She was the sensei of a few of my peers, but that's all," he replied.

"Come on, don't lie to me. Tell me she's worth more than that to you," Tsurugi insisted. "Isn't she?"

"No. She is nothing important to me."

With Sasuke's added emphasis and the new look of annoyance present on his face, Tsurugi realised that the usually unemotional shinobi was becoming irritated at him. This would, however, only be used to direct his own contempt of Kurenai through Sasuke. Just to potentially provoke him even more, the guard placed a firm hand on Sasuke's shoulder and continued egging him on.

"If she's really worth that little to you," Tsurugi whispered into his ear, "then just go up there and wipe her out." Sasuke scantily turned his head to the side so that their unwavering eyes could meet.

"I was hoping you'd be smart enough to understand that I was waiting for the word," he replied gently. Even though Tsurugi laughed at the remark, he was trying badly not to order Sasuke's own execution for the blatant disrespect spat in his face. A noticeable vein began to appear on the side of his forehead.

"You most certainly can, my little friend."

"Thank you."

Sasuke's trip to the centre of the tundra of a room was a lot quicker than Kurenai's. When he was about thirty feet away from her, he stopped walking and looked over to Tsurugi for confirmation. The guard rose a thumb and motioned over to the shivering woman standing next to the monitor in the back.

After typing away on the small keyboard held on her right arm, a five minute timer appeared on the bottom of the screen. When the time reached four minutes and fifty seconds, Sasuke took a few steps towards Kurenai.

"You know, you do look a lot like Itachi. I only saw him once, though," the woman told him, nervously rubbing at her arm. Sasuke squinted a bit at the mention of his big brother and walked faster, clearly interested in her words now. He recalled that way back when he and the rest of Team 7 were still genin, he asked Kakashi what abilities Itachi possessed. Kakashi eventually succumbed to the constant questioning and told him when he, Kurenai, Asuma, and Guy battled his brother.

"It was when he and Kisame Hoshigaki infiltrated the village long ago. When I went against your brother, his genjutsu made mine look pathetic... he even turned my own genjutsu against me in the blink of an eye," Kurenai continued.

Sasuke still remained silent, other than the sound of the electricity now emitting from his hand. He was so close to her that he could smell the faint scent of her cherry perfume. Due to their difference in height, Kurenai had to lift her head more to look into his radiant Sharingan.

"If Gyatsō had to choose between me and you to fight for him, he'd obviously pick the one with that unforgettable Sharingan," she whispered. Sasuke slowly moved his hand so that it was pointing vertically towards her chest. He looked down at her and whispered back, not wanting Ryotaro or anyone else to hear.

"That's how I'm viewing this. Whenever we revolt, I'll be more useful to the village. You don't have to worry about anything. We will stop Gyatsō."

Seemingly for the first time since any of this madness began, Kurenai gave a genuine smile, albeit faint. She thought that the best she could do was make it so that their battle wouldn't be "entertaining," as Ryotaro described. To die rebelling in this matter gave her more closure, at least. The very last thought to cross her mind was if her poor daughter Mirai survived the attack on the village. She quickly shot her eyes back open to ask, but it was far too late.

The timer didn't even reach four minutes and twenty seconds when the kunoichi's lifeless body fell to the floor, crimson blood quickly escaping the open wound in the middle of her chest. Sasuke slowly wiped the dark red liquid that painted his entire hand on his pants before averting his gaze to a livid Ryotaro.

The warden spewed out every insult and swear he could think of, which provided quite the entertainment for the prisoners.

"You think you're so goddamn smart, don't you?" Ryotaro shouted at the dark-haired male. Sasuke gave a faint smile of his own as he began to walk back in line. However, after just three steps, Ryotaro held out his meaty hand to stop him in his tracks.

"Ohhh no you don't," he hissed. "New rule. Kill your opponent in less than a minute and you'll just have to fight someone else!"

Sasuke bit down on his tongue hard to prevent himself from saying anything to the blonde ninja. Choosing to abide to his ridiculous orders, he snapped his head back to glare at the mugshots that were randomly appearing next to his on the screen. Fine, all he had to do was defend himself for a minute before ending things just as quickly.

There was just one problem, however.

Akazo's eyes widened as much as his sockets would allow as he stared at the now unchanging screen. The colour in his face was rapidly depleting. He looked over to Sasuke to see if there was some sort of technological error or if he himself was at fault. He wondered if he gave himself a concussion in his earlier fit.

Unfortunately, due to the multiple prisoners staring at him now, it appeared that there was no mistake about it.

His face was next to Sasuke's on the screen.