A few hours earlier

A missive had been brought to Kyohei's house at the hand of one of the Black ANBU members, in the most discrete way possible…the morning mailman delivering the post to each of the apartments in the block where the young Uchiha lived.

In the missive, the young Uchiha was demanded to show himself at a disclosed location in the dense forest outside of the village of Konoha, where he was ordered to meet Enaka at an old well Kyohei should know all to well.

Present time

"Do you think the kid will arrive on time?" One of two masked men was asking the other. Both were wearing a black version of the standard ANBU outfit, with Black masks covering their faces, each having a standard ANBU tanto sheathed on their back.

"Do I care," The other man scoffed at the younger sounding person. "That kid as you call him, killed Asura and Housen. That's way out of order. No chuunin should be possible to hold his own against two spec jounin."

The younger sounding person suddenly seemed to laugh it off, tapping the older person's shoulder while chuckling in an almost childish fashion.

"Well, let's see if that kid will be able to impress Hataro," The younger sounding person laughed, while still tapping on the older member's shoulders. "It's the first time one of the top brass is going to test a newbie, so I reckon they see a lot of potential in him or they simply want to kill him, heheh."

For a moment they kept silent, suddenly bursting out into laughter together, until suddenly the two of them could feel an ominous presence near them, forcing them to turn around and look who it was that had come near them.

"Snake-sama has given you orders to receive our guest in a fashionable way," a female voice spoke to the two men, a cold glare coming from behind the mask, stifening the men into their place."I also don't think Hataro-san wants you two to loiter around like some ordinary shinobi. This kid as you call him, is Uchiha Kyohei, the so-called kinslayer and despite him being at Chuunin rank only, he has a three tomoe sharingan, so ofcourse he could hold his own against two low level spec jounin."

The two men straightened themselves and got back into position, saluting the female member, who regarding not only her tone, but also the silver chain hanging from the collar of her armor to the end of the right shoulder epaulette was obviously their superior.

"Yes Lady Cee," The two men would immediately say, back into their position to welcome their guest, while the woman swiftly vanished again.

A deep uneasiness would set in as Kyohei made his way through the Dense forest, each step he took leading him further and further away from certainty as he answered the call of Enaka’s message. This feeling had become all too memorable for him, this unsettling wringing of his stomach and lingering chill in the back of his neck. Twice he had felt this feeling before, and twice he had done so while face to face with Orochi Enaka. The feeling was not as prominent now, perhaps because he was not yet confronted with that man, but just the idea of meeting with him once again was uncomfortable. It wasn’t even so much that Kyohei was intimidated by him, which would be a perfectly reasonable response, given who he was. Kyohei was simply infuriated by his existence and disgusted by his forced association with him at this point. A man that personified a direct threat to Kyohei, but even more frightening, a direct threat to Risu; a man that he couldn’t kill. For now at least, Kyohei was powerless to do anything about it, so he would simply bide his time and play along with Enaka’s little games until the day came where he would see Enaka burn.

It would not be long before he would draw close to the designated location, an abandoned well hidden well within the forest, one that had been out of use for years. He’d come across the location before, several times in fact, but never once had he thought of it anything more than it simply being an old well. He wondered what significance this location had in all of this. Why this location? Enaka did not seem like the kind of man to do things at random or on a whim. Moreso, Kyohei wondered what he wanted with him all the way out here. When he agreed to work in the black ANBU under Enaka he expected to simply receive assignments through secure communication or to simply go to the Orochi compound to receive assignments. Nothing was said of clandestine meetings outside of the village. Kyohei did not like being kept in the dark, especially when dealing with these people. His only comfort was that it was likely too soon for Enaka to try to eliminate him. He was not recruited on a whim. Enaka wanted or needed him for something, most likely something to do with his eyes given Enaka’s project that Risu had discovered. Whatever he had planned for Kyohei had not come to fruition just yet, so for now he was safe and as long as Enaka still needed Kyohei’s cooperation, Risu would be allowed to remain untouched and excluded from all of this.

Kyohei would arrive at the well in full black ANBU attire, minus the mask which he simply did not put on, encountering two men dressed in the same attire as him. It appeared he had come to the right place after all. “I was summoned here,” he would state bluntly, the ice in his voice audible as he stared down the masked men before him with cold and emotionless eyes, “Where is Enaka?”

---

534~

The two men simply awaited the young Uchiha in silence, motioning Kyohei to follow them as they reached for the well, where the younger, taller member pressed on one of the stones of the small construction, immediately followed by the sound of metal and wood creaking, when a large slab of concrete arose from the ground, opening up a view into a torchlit tunnel next to the well.

Again the two men motioned Kyohei to follow them, both taking one of the Uchiha's sides: one left of him, one at the right, which was standard protocol for leading someone into the depths of their main base, especially if that certain someone still had not earned the appropriate level of trust and admiration within the Black ANBU itself.

"Brace yourself," the older, shorter one of the two masked men suddenly spoke up when they reached at the end of the tunnel, halting right in front of a large double wooden door. "Behind this door is The Dungeon."

When the two shinobi pushed the door open, Kyohei would be able to see why the base was so aptly named the Dungeon, as it existed out of an entire open underground complex, with in its center an array of six training fields, a tribune where people were sitting, discussing things and watching the training sessions of their colleagues, not to mention that there were dozens of staircases, rooms and even some separate buildings, creating an entire fortress for the Black ANBU, of which there were easily a few dozen members, next to some missing nin with scratched headbands, some famous and a few ronin running around.

Though one thing was obvious: the chain of command, literally, as there were people with a silver chain from the collar of their armor running to the right shoulder epaulette, giving orders to those who did not have the chains or the Black ANBU attire in a whole.

While the two guards went back to their station, one such commanding figure approached Kyohei, a woman from the looks of her slightly curved body and judged by her calm and collected voice greeting the young Uchiha.

"Welcome in The Dungeon, Uchiha Kyohei,"" The woman with her silver chain spoke calmly, tapping Kyohei on his shoulder, as a sign that he should follow her, so she could give him a little tour. "In a few minutes, you will be tested by none other than the second in command Itsukichi Hataro, but first I'm supposed to enlighten you into our organization."

She motioned the young man to follow her down a spiral staircase towards the central training fields, which at the sight of her, were being cleared, while a lot of the peoplescurrying around earlier, started taking seats at the tribunes.

"Here we train ourselves in the very art of being a shinobi, wether it be our strength, our perception or more," The masked woman said, while pointing at the large field divided by high nets, which were removed by a few common looking people in common clothes. "Up there are the Commandquarters of all who have a chain, on the left there are the barracks for the visiting members of our network outside Hi no Kuni and on the right you can see the laboratories and recordrooms. That building is strictly off limits for those without a chain or a clearance badge."

Turning back to Kyohei, the woman let out a sigh and grabbed his shoulders firmly, seemingly slightly worried.

"It seems your recruitment is even above my paygrade, as it is the first time Hataro will take the Test of skill with someone," The woman said with a slightly nervous tone of voice. "He's probably the strongest of the entire squadron and he's Snake-sama's lieutenant. You must be very special and held in very high regard to your skills if Snake-sama wants Hataro to be your supervisor. That or he really hates you, hahah."

With that laugh, she stopped her tour and turned away, clapping in her hands twice, so that the people on the tribunes would be quiet. "If you have any questions left, ask them now, because in a few moments Hataro will arrive."

Nothing was said between the three as they led Kyohei in silence over to the well, hitting a hidden switch of some kind to reveal a hidden passage leading underground. He was prepared to take a combative posture as the two masked men each fell back to his left and right, seemingly wishing to walk him into the path as if he were a prisoner. “Close enough, I suppose,” he thought to himself with a smirk at the idea. He knew before he even arrived that no matter what it was Enaka intended for him to be getting into, he would likely be being watched and surrounded the entire time. Enaka was the kind of man that liked to be in complete control of everything within his sphere. There was no way he was going to allow Kyohei to roam free and do as he pleased.

As such, Kyohei allowed the duo to escort him into “The Dungeon”. Kyohei didn’t know what to expect when the doors opened, but his eyes would widen when he took in the sight that he was shown. The underground area was absolutely massive. Forget the dungeon title, it looked more like an underground city. He wondered how something this large could exist so close to the village without anyone ever knowing. How could they have even built all of this without rousing suspicion? The equipment alone it would have taken to create all of these constructs would have drawn attention. Furthermore, there were far more members of this organization than he originally intended. Too many to just include shinobi from Konohagakure. The presence of several missing nin, able to be pointed out by the strike through the symbol on their village’s forehead protector, only served to reinforce that notion.

After a short while, the two men who had been flanking him the entire time he had been in the underground complex left his sides, seemingly to return to their posts, only to be replaced by a new masked member of the group to confront him. From the shape of her body and sound of her voice it wasn’t difficult to surmise that she was a woman. What was more interesting however, was the silver chain that hung down from her armor, which he could only assume denoted some kind of authority seeing as how the two chainless men from before cleared out upon her arrival.

The woman bid Kyohei follow her as she gave him a short walkthrough of the facility he found himself in. It was almost humorous, the terminology she used, almost as if he had come to an orientation at some part time retail job. Two things about his encounter with this woman stood out as peculiar. First of all, she seemed to be very “handsy” for some reason, showing no reservations about touching him to emphasize her words. Second of all, her rather interesting commentary about the man named Hataro that he was there to meet, the significance of his presence at this meeting, and most of all the “test of skill” that she mentioned. He knew there was more to this than a simple job orientation. “What is this about a ‘test’?” Kyohei inquired, his eyes trained directly at the black of the woman’s mask where her eyes should have been, “Anything you want to tell me about this Hataro before I fight him? Something tells me that is how this is going to end up. Unless you intend sit me down in a testing room with a number two pencil.”

---

1130~

The woman seemed to chuckle after hearing Kyohei's question, not because it was funny, but simply because he had already answered to his own question.

"The Test of Skill, hmm well it is exactly as it sounds," The woman replied calmly, not trying to cover anything up for the young man. "It'll be a fight indeed, one in which it is expected that you show your greatest strengths, while at the same time the person taking the test from you, will get to know your weaknesses, your flaws and based on the results, we'll know exactly which missions would suit you, in which team you'll be placed and who will become your partner. As for that pencil thing you said, there would be no need for that, since Snake-sama has already gotten a hold of your Academy records and mission records and might I add that you had outstanding scores despite your…hindrances after the academy graduation."

With that said, the woman yet again tapped Kyohei's shoulder, pointing at a man who was walking down the staircase nearest to them, which was followed by a lot of yelling and cheering coming from the people awaiting to see the test of skill.

"Itsukichi-san, this is Kyohei-kun," The woman said with a tone of voice in which her respect towards the man, or was it something else, was obvious. "well, that's my cue, Kyohei. I wish you luck and…dont underestimate your opponent, just some friendly advice."

After that, the woman managed to pass Hataro, running up the stairs to watch the test from the balcony, while Hataro walked towards Kyohei and simply gave him a nod to get to his position on the training field. If Kyohei would look closely, he'd see that the man had not one, but two silver chains hanging from his collar to his right shoulder epaulette and his armor was slightly different, with easily a dozen little pouches with each containing two scrolls of paper neatly rolled up and tucked within them. He wore no weapons on his back, but his mask seemed slightly different from the other masks, with the silver lines going down like tears from the holes for his eyes to his chin.

"Let's get ready, boy," The man said with a hissing, rather cold voice, while taking in his position at the other side of the field. He reached for one of the scrolls in his vest and unrolled it, quickly followed by a swift explosion of smoke, after which a shadow appeared next to the man."Come at me with everything you have kid, let's see if you can be the second person to force me to go beyond my first puppet."

Just as he said that, the smoke cleared and a humanoid puppet appeared, standing on two legs, dressed in a black kimono and holding a katana in each hand. The puppet had long silver hair and actual skin, which should've made it obvious to Kyohei that the puppet he was facing was not just a puppet, but was once an actual human and this human was a former shinobi of Konoha: Hamada Shinji, the stream walker.

The explanation she gave provided Kyohei with no information that he hadn’t already or couldn’t have easily deduced, making it rather pointless in his eyes. The more he heard these people speak the more that this whole interaction sounded like a scripted orientation provided to new employees. Apparently this ‘Test of Skill’ was something that everyone had to go to, but Kyohei wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Enaka had no ulterior motives for him being there. The very fact that his second in command, who had never before been the one to administer one of these tests, was who Kyohei had been paired up with proved this point. Enaka was looking to get something out of this, but he wasn’t sure what just yet. And from the way that everyone else had been acting, he didn’t believe that the lower ranking members of the organization had any clue either.

Who did probably have some insight into what exactly Enaka had planned for Kyohei though, was standing right before him. The submissive and flighty behavior of the woman when addressing this Hataro and clearing the area the moment he arrived spoke to what kind of a position he held within this organization. If their apparent fear and reverence for this man wasn’t enough to prove his position as Enaka’s lieutenant, his decorations certainly did nothing to hinder that title. He did not wear the standard armor that the lower ranking members, or even the commanding officer he had just encountered, donned. His was more ornate and obviously outfitted with some more custom features considering not a single member of the organization Kyohei had observed had shown anything like it. Along with that, the single chain that the other commanding officers wore attached to their armor was instead replaced by two on Hataro’s. It looked like that woman wasn’t lying about who he was.

“Finally,” Kyohei sighed as he stared down his opponent who had already prepared a rather ghastly weapon, “I’m glad that there’s at least one person here who actually gets to the point so we can get right to business, although I didn’t expect us to have an audience. I suppose some would consider it wise to ask you some questions before he conduct this test, but let’s be honest, nothing that either of us says in a conversation is going to make the other change their position. All that’s left is to simply do.” His eyes would glow a deep, crimson red as he activated his shraingan, the thing he already figured that everyone wanted to see. Reaching both hands behind his back, Kyohei would take hold of the rings of two collapsed fuma shuriken that he had secured to his belt. From there he would swiftly and seamlessly attach a length of ninja wire to each weapon and draw them from his belt. Allowing them to expand out into their true size, Kyohei would throw the towards Hataro, the first staggered time wise by a fraction of a second, just enough time for it to be difficult to react to both with the same movement. He didn’t actually expect them to hit, but he needed to test the waters with this opponent before doing anything crazy. If the shuriken were dodged or deflected, Kyohei would use the visual prowess afforded to him by his sharingan to predict the man’s movements and tug on the wire to redirect the projectiles back towards Hataro’s blind sides, guiding them with the slightest move of wrist to take advantage of his ability to read muscle twitches and counteract his opponents’ movements.

---

1748~

With nothing more than a deminutive cough, Hataro responded to Kyohei's statements, Looking up for a single moment and noticing that in front of the largest window visible at the Commanders quarters, the one and only Snake-sama was now watching the so-called test of skill to witness with his own eyes how good this young Uchiha really was, giving Hataro the signal to hold nothing back against his foe.

And then they started, with Kyohei swiftly taking the initiative, showing off his skill with two large fuma shuriken, one of the more favored weapons among the Uchiha, it seemed he had some decent skill with them, though the most important feature at the start of this battle were the young man's eyes, which showed how far he had already gotten and how much suffering he had already went through before he had come to stand against Hataro in combat.

Behind the puppeteer's mask, a cruel smirk appeared on his face, after which one of his fingers twitched only shallowly, but it was enough to move the Human puppet towards the two windmill shuriken with blazing speed, while it readied the two blades, which became surrounded in their respective elemental chakra of raiton and fuuton to strengthen them.

As the metallic sound of the katana's cutting off the path of the shuriken's ressonated through the arena, judging by Hataro's short stagger, it became obvious he was surprised that deflecting the two fuma shuriken was not enough, but that Kyohei had actually foreseen something like that and was using his visual prowess to find and utilize Hataro's blind spots and cut the man down to size as fast as possible, yet within an instant the young Uchiha would see why Hataro was second in command in the first place, as his Streamwalker puppet rushed towards him with a single twitch of his fingers, holding its katanas out already, when at the moment the shurikens should've been touching Hataro, the man used one of the oldest tricks in the book: the body replacement jutsu, which ended up with his puppet, pinning down the two shurikens with its two katana, though it was severely damaged on the place were the ribcage of be if it was still an actual human.

It was obvious to Hataro that the young Uchiha was not just aiming to wound him, but apparently thought it to be wiser to quickly kill the man in front of him, which ofcourse would make him get excellent scores on the test, yet sadly his opponent had an advantage when it came to pure battle experience.

"You are able to force me beyond my first puppet, bravo," The masked man said without any emotion to be heard in his voice, relinquishing control over his puppet, which slumped down to the ground. "You will probably like this one."

In a swift motion, the masked man grabbed another of the scrolls from his vest, unrolling it and unsealing the puppet hidden within, resulting in yet another explosion of smoke, in which a shadow moved swiftly towards Kyohei and as the new puppet jumped out of the smoke towards Kyohei The surprise would've been complete, as the puppet was white of color, with what used to be black hair, a visibly female puppet, which as it suddenly had its arms covered in scales and its hands by a thin, sharp layer of chakra was resembling someone the uchiha held dear and maybe he knew why the puppet looked so much like none other than Risu.

The puppet itself made no attempt to be nice, as it flew straight to the young man, aiming to use both the momentum as well as the added force of the snake scales and the chakra scalpel to pierce the Uchiha's chest with her right arm, though leaving the left arm cocked back as well, aiming to use it in a defensive way against any physical retaliation from Kyohei.

Kyohei’s crimson eyes widened in shock at the sight of the second puppet that Hataro had summoned. Everything about it was so familiar… too familiar. He felt his blood begin to boil as he teeth clenched and rage burned in his eyes. He was damn near ready to explode at the site before he took a closer look to see that this human puppet, despite how similar, was not Risu. The chakra signature was not the same and he took some relief from that, but his anger would not subside. This was a human puppet. That he could be sure of, but who could he have possibly used that would have resembled Risu so closely. It took only a fraction of a second for his mind to wander back to the night Risu had come crying to his apartment after overhearing her uncle. This puppet was Risu’s mother. It had to be.

Kyohei would hesitate as the puppet flew towards him. He needed to retaliate, but how could he bring himself to fight against this? It just looked too much like her. He couldn’t destroy this puppet even if he wanted to. No, he wouldn’t. At that moment Kyohei made a conscious decision; just killing Hataro and Enaka would not be enough to quell his anger. It may not have been this day, or this week, or this month, but before the final act of this play, he would get her mother’s body back. He was only thankful that Risu herself wasn’t here to see the defilement of her mother’s body that had taken place. Enaka was a cruel and twisted man. Did he really feel nothing to allow something like this to happen to his own sister?

Either way, it was now time for Kyohei to react to the threat that was charging towards him. He was likely outmatched in the long run, that much was clear, it was taking everything he could do just to keep up with the puppet’s movements. Fortunately for him however, Enaka’s twisted game of retaining so much of his sister’s original body made it possible for the muscle movements of the puppet to still be read by his sharingan. Not having any interest in damaging the puppet itself he simply waited for it to stab at him, using her shoulder as a balancing beam to lift himself up and over with a single hand. Hataro had seemingly forgotten an important detail when he thought himself clever with his body switch. He had immobilized the shuriken, but the length of wire still laid messily scattered about the floor and was still in Kyohei’s control, but most importantly, he was still standing on them. Using the shoulder of the puppet to propel himself into the air Kyohei would inhale deeply and use his Dragon Fire Jutsu to send a torrent of burning hot flames down the entirety of his wires, while at the same time ripping them up forcefully, aiming to pull Hataro’s footing from up under him and force his whole body onto the flaming wires, or should he be nimble enough to move his feet, swing the wire up at him to lash at him with flaming whips, his sharingan allowing Kyohei to predict Hataro’s movements and cut him off regardless of the puppeteers choice.

---

2313~

From atop the balcony, Enaka could see the bout between his trusted lieutenant and the Uchiha youth he wanted to posses at all costs. His eyes as cold as eyes, not the abnormally happy smile of usualonhis face exceptfor a content grin. No matter the outcome of this match, Kyohei had shown a lot of promise by keeping his own against Hataro so far, which in all odds was an outstanding feat for a mere Chuunin to be pitted against one of the best ex-ANBU that ever served under Enaka in his golden days as ANBU Captain.

The sight of the second doll, made his hands tighten a bit more around the rail he had been clenching them at, closing his eyes for only a mere moment, giving a slight nod and returning backinside his quarters, certain that the match had been decided by now, no way Kyohei was going to force Hataro to use his most priced possession.

Alas, it seemed Enaka had greatly underestimated the Uchiha youth, when a loud cheer drew him back to the balcony to oversee the Test of skill and the reason for the enormous change in atmosphere among the men.

With a swift and agile movement, Kyohei seemed to manage to deflect the puppet's devastating chakra scalpel, directing its movement away from him in such a way that she would not be able to use the second hand to retaliate in an offensive manner, while using his position extremely well.

"This is becoming interesting," The Orochi lord sighed with a swift chuckle, looking more intensily at the Test of skill brought upon Kyohei. "Maybe this kid has more talent than I had credited to him."

The eyes behind the mask of the puppeteer seemed to slightly widen, the pupils dialating a bit, when he followed the Uchiha's eyes, noticing his position only an instant later, but sadly still too late. A moment later, The masked man seemed to lose his footing, falling backwards while the roaring flames created by Kyohei, traversed along the whipped up wires towards the unfortunate lieutenant.

The flames exploded with quite some violence, followed by the female puppet halting and slumping, while the sight of a man burning alive could be seen within the contours of the flames. Yet no screams were present to be heard, the entire audience silenced, either in shock or in awe, while Enaka simply looked down at the seemingly dramatic outcome of the battle.

When the smoke cleared, the flames dispersing as Enaka had come down from his balcony upon the field, the leader of the black ANBU, now wearing his own mask, though wearing his traditional black kimono and purple haki with three silver chains. Stepping over the charred remains of the fallen body, Enaka stopped a few meters away from Kyohei, simply standing there and holding his hand up, as if he motioned someone to stop and at first sight for Kyohei it should've appeared as if Enaka was telling him to stop, but a soft sound and the touch of bare metal on his skin would've been enough to tell him that wasn't true. "Hataro, retreat now. You know I allow you the use of that body, but not like that…get changed and fix yourself up."

The female puppet, retracted the scalpel that had been pressed lightly against Kyohei's pulsating artery in his neck. Somehow the man he had been fighting had survived the burning flames, even though his body was laying on the ground behind Enaka.

"Well, you've done a good job," The Ouroboros Regent laughed, his voice distorted through the mask, but his eyes so much colder and so much more menacing than the sharingan of Kyohei. "Go get a shower, ge dressed and meet me in my office, Myra will escort you."

After having said so, the woman who had answered Kyohei's initial questions, appeared on the field as well, waiting for Kyohei to either obey or defy the orders given to him by the so-called Snake-sama.

The crowd fell silent as Hataro fell for Kyohei’s trap, his body falling into the flaming wires, igniting his clothes in what normally would have been an excruciatingly painful way to fall. They must have been amazed that anyone, let alone a new recruit had bested their revered second in command in combat. How little they knew. It didn’t take the sharingan to see that something was amiss, even as a burning body tossed and turned before him. To think that a shinobi as decorated as Hataro seemed to be would fall to such a simple tactic was laughable, but not many in the audience seemed to realize that. Kyohei wasn’t falling for it. It was too easy and furthermore, the man had not let out a single utterance of displeasure as the flames ate away at him. He would release the flaming wires from his grip, freeing his hands in anticipation of whatever was to come next, but before he could get the chance he would find himself cut off by yet another coming down into the training ground.

A masked man dressed in civilian clothes, with three chains decorating his outfit would step onto the field and interrupt the fight. If there was anyone who could freely interrupt the actions of the second command, it didn’t require much effort to deduce their identity. The feeling of cold steel pressed against his neck caused Kyohei to freeze, not out of surprise, but simply out of instinct. He knew that Hataro was not yet defeated, but still he let himself be distracted by Enaka’s arrival and took his eyes off of him, so that he didn’t see the movements controlling the puppet and in that moment he lost himself the fight. “Shit,” he thought to himself, kicking himself for such a stupid mistake. He lucked out though, when Enaka decided to end the match.

For now, at least, Kyohei would follow the instructions given to him by Enaka and follow the woman, giving Enaka nothing more than a nod of confirmation before turning away. Kyohei would accomplish nothing being bold and rebellious in this place. Here in the dungeon Enaka was the king, and if he wanted anything he’d eventually have to go through him anyway. As long as he got his chance to speak to Enaka, that was all that mattered. If it would be in the privacy of his office, all the better. They didn’t need a group of ignorant spectators like the one that was present for the test of skill. Kyohei would take his shower, though he had no idea why it was necessary. That match had hardly made him break out in a sweat, not that it really mattered. Walking over to Myra’s location he would allow her to lead him to wherever he was supposed to be.

---

2795~

The woman going by the name Myra was waiting for Kyohei outside of the showers, this time no longer wearing her mask, revealing a quite handsome face with blond hair and blue eyes, a beautifully elegant face only defiled by a long, thin scar running from her forehead, through her left eyesocket all the way down to her chin, as if someone had once cut through her skin with a knife.

"Well, you are certainly as strong as Snake-sama has said before," The woman said with a careful nod, motioning Kyohei to follow her. "I'm surprised you managed to use Hataro's arrogance to your own advantage, very impressive. Most people that had to deal with Hataro in combat, were almost always killed by his first puppet and otherwise by the second puppet. However, forcing him to use another puppet as his container, destroying his main body by fire, a very well thought of move in the middle of a match. To repeat myself: Snake-sama was indeed correct when he valued your skills, saying you might be an interesting case for him."

Leading the young man through a few corridors and up two stairs, the woman halted in front of a black-lacquered double wooden door and knocked on it twice, after which the smooth voice of Enaka gave her permission to enter.

"I'm bringing Uchiha Kyohei, as ordered," Myra spoke up, while slamming her right fist against her chest and taking a respectful bow towards the man sitting behind a large desk. "If this was all, Snake-sama. I should go and retrieve Hataro's main body."

Witha simple flick of his wrist, a wave with his hand, the man sitting behind the desk permitted or rather ordered the blonde woman to leave the room, who did just so and closed the doors behind her, leaving Kyohei alone with the leader of the entire organization.

"Please, sit down,"The Ouroboros Regent spoke calmly, pointing at a pair of elegant, cushioned chairs at the other side of his desk. He wasn't looking up towards the Uchiha though, seemingly absorbed by the papers he was holding in one of his hands. "Now then, let's see. You've done remarkably well, excellent even. Though you might praise yourself lucky that I stepped into the fight, otherwise you might've ended up bleeding to death at Hataro's hand, he really knows no boundaries."

Enaka looked up from the papers in his hand, no longer wearing his mask, his black,seemingly soulless eyes looking straight at Kyohei's eyes. Even though Enaka did not have the sharing an, his eyes had an equally sinister, if not darker feel to them, effectively pinning someone into their place because most of them got unnerved or even paralyzed by a simple glare and fear in their heart and minds.

"Now, do tell," The man behind the desk spoke softly. "Do you want Risu to be yours?"

There was no emotion in Kyohei’s eyes to be seen as the woman spoke, leading him down the hallway while recanting information he already knew. Perhaps he was being a bit too skeptical. After all, this Myra had been the kindest person to him since he arrived. Hell, she treated him better than most people above the surface. Still, the very fact that she was in the employ of Enaka made her untrustworthy. The only “safe” way to go about interacting with the people in the dungeon was to assume that every last one of them was plotting on his life at every moment. It probably wouldn’t be that far off from the truth anyway. His value as a member of this organization and likely his safety were directly tied to his value and usefulness to Enaka. It was that reason that he was following the instructions given to him by Enaka, including taking a seat across from his desk upon entering the office to speak to him.

“You didn’t really ask me here to talk about my relationship with your niece, did you?” Kyohei replied bluntly, unimpressed by Enaka, his office, or his stare, “I didn’t take you for the kind of caring uncle that took an interest in his niece’s life when it didn’t stand to benefit or hinder him. I’m keeping up my end of the deal, she won’t hear anything about the incident from me. She’s still as in the dark as she was the moment that she woke up from her sleep and as long as our agreement stands she will remain that way. If I’m not breaking our contract I’d appreciate you keeping her out of our business. You didn’t set this whole thing up to find your niece a boyfriend. Your business is with me. If you want her to keep her nose out of your affairs, keep her out of your affairs. You should know better than anyone just how curious she can be. You underestimated that curiosity once and that is the reason I’m standing here. You’re intelligent enough to know better than to make the same mistake twice. Recruiting me to your organization, bringing me out here, making me fight your second in command to ‘test’ me; forgive me if I doubt that you did all of this to find Risu a suitable partner. You already have me under contract. There’s no reason to bring her into this unnecessarily. If you have something to speak to me about, get to the point.”

---

3232~

"Hahaha, you are quite amusing," The man behind the desk laughed, placing the papers he was holding on his desk, while standing up from his chair and getting closer to Kyohei. "You should look at it as a more satisfying aspect to this somehow unfortunate contract of ours."

Enaka walked towards the balcony of his office, which had a magnifent view upon the entire layout of the Dungeon, being able to oversee everything from within his office was quite the privilege. In ten years had he done the impossible, by finding and enlarging several old hideouts of bandits and missing nin, training his own troops, gathering people all around him just to one day claim which he believed to be rightfully his.

"If I could make it so that rather than distrust, our contract would be based on trust," The man at the window spoke calmly, turning around again, while looking straight at the young Uchiha. "I know you're planning to someday try and kill me, however, are you really willing to wait for decades in the hope I might become weaker?"

For a moment, the older man paused, huffed a bit and then walked back behind his desk, taking a seat in his large, comfortable chair again, while yet again taking a few papers and taking a look at them.

"Perhaps…you might actually become stronger than me, kid," The man laughed eerily, almost as if he was only halfheartedly believing the words he had just spoken. "But before that…what do you think of the Black ANBU so far?"

Kyohei couldn’t help but be amused by Enaka’s implication that they might build a relationship based on trust. He doubted that there was any scenario in the world in which the two of them could place their trust in the other. The die had been cast and he when they stopped he and Enaka had been pitted against each other on opposite sides of the board. On one end Kyohei who desired power above all else, except Risu and on the other Enaka who desired the strength of doujutsu, seeming to take particular interest in Kyohei’s sharingan. Enaka had power…  and Risu. Kyohei possessed the sharingan, already evolved even from a young age, and beyond that he carried the blood and the potential to take his eyes further still. It was not difficult to discern the direction in with their paths would take at one point or another. Eventually, in order for one of them to get what they desired the other would have to die… but there was plenty of time for that.

“This whole setup is nothing short of amazing to be honest,” Kyohei admitted, raising himself up from his seat to look out of the balcony that oversaw the entire complex, “I knew that the village held secrets, but I would never have imagined something like this. This place isn’t just a hideout, it’s its own city, underground and away from the knowledge of even the kage I presume. I have to give you your credit where it is due Enaka, you certainly are good at what you do. I wonder though, what purpose does all of this serve? I mean, I could probably venture a guess, but I think it will be more informative to hear it from the orchestrators mouth. What are your intentions for the Black ANBU, and what are your intentions for bringing me into it?”

---

3550~

The leader of the ANBU smiled softly for a short moment when looking at the doubtful expression on the Uchiha's face. Indeed, trying to build a relationship on trust was out of the question, certainly when thinking about the fact that the Orochi Lord desired Kyohei's eyes as part of his collection and thus his project, but on the other hand, Enaka still could use Kyohei for so many other things, while waiting for the young Uchiha's Sharingan to gain its full potential before being harvested for the Basilisk project.

"Hmm, it took us about six years to completethis hideout," The man spoke with a slight note of pride in his voice. "When I started this division, I was already retired and had created the Central Intelligence Division as the more strategic department of the ANBU."

For a moment, that smile returned again, though vanished rather quickly when it was obvious that not everything in his life had gone according to plan or his wishes.

"I've contracted spies from practically all villages, paying criminal organizations while exterminating others to gain a good grip on the underworld and to make sure none of those fools goes beyond the boundaries I set up," Suddenly he fell silent, when Myra entered the room again, waited at the door and only walked towards Enaka when she was permitted to do so.

Behind her, a young man, dressed in traditional clothes, a simple kimono and a white haki, walked inside with a tray held in his hands, greeting Kyohei and the two others in the room with a simple, yet courteous bow, before setting the tray on the desk and leaving.

"Ah, Ceylon Tea, my favorite," Enaka laughed, pooring two cups and handing one at the newest member of the Black ANBU. "Now, Myra what is your reason for dropping in here uninvited and without apparent reason?"

The woman stiffened immediately when hearing Enaka's tone of voice dip from warm and smooth to cold and steely. She knew she had done something wrong in coming without requesting permission before or without an actual appointment. Not that it was abnormal for her to pay a visit to his office once in a while, but he wasn't really glad to be interrupted when talking to Kyohei and she could read this from his face, just by looking at his eyes.

"We've started the testing of phase two of the project," Myra explained calmly, but her voice was slightly shallow, her breathing ragged, it was obvious she had been running up to the leader's office. "The test-subject, one of the two Uchihas…he had been implanted with the phase two and it…warped somehow. We only implanted one of the eyes, but it somehow reacted to the activation from his sharingan. Snake-sama, the test-subject has escaped."

Enaka was just about to take a sip from his tea when hearing what Myra had to say, yet despite the danger the escaped test-subject could've held for the Black ANBU, the Orochi lord seemed to remain calm, showing exactly why he was the man running the show from behind the curtains in Konoha.

"I reckon you've sealed all exits?" He asked, only continuing after Myra nodded in a positive answer. "Keep everyone inside their barracks. Dispatch Hataro and his team to sweep the area. If you have not found the test-subject…I want you to bring me the scientist responsible for today's program…and perhaps two men with a shovel and a plastic bag."

Even Enaka was unable to mask the pride in his voice as he spoke on his organization, his accomplishments, and the construction of the dungeon. This place was not simply another project for him, it was the culmination of a lifetime of work and preparation which he held dear. That much was clear even through the sudden tinge of hesitation that seemed to come upon him before he continued on to speak about his vast sphere of influence within and beyond the borders of the Leaf Village. A great deal of time and work had led him to this point. Whatever Kyohei was a part of was merely another step towards a still ambiguous end goal. Knowing that trying to get a straight answer from Enaka about his goals and intentions would be a waste of time, Kyohei would simply let him talk. Proud men liked to talk, even if in public they would deny such a thing. Pride is not a solitary vice. It is most exhilarating when it can be flaunted to others. Enaka would be given every opportunity by Kyohei to indulge in his own pride.

The sudden intrusion that soon followed prompted both Kyohei and Enaka to turn and face Myra as well as another seemingly random member of the organization that brought Enaka tea. Kyohei was handed a cup of tea, but only looked down on it skeptically, half expecting it to be poisoned or something along that line. It wasn’t like that was an option that he could scratch off the list because of Enaka’s sterling track record of being an honest and upstanding member of society. The pleasant way in which he accepted his tea made his immediate shift to distinct annoyance and aggravation when he turned his attention back to Myra all the more prominent.

Kyohei could only sit back and listen as quite the interesting conversation took place between Enaka and his subordinate. It appeared as though a bit of the project that Risu had stumbled upon that had sent everyone involved into this spiral of events to begin with was coming to the light. The young Uchiha was quite surprised that Enaka was open to even speaking about this particular subject in front of him, especially after having just made a comment about building a relationship on trust. He was smart enough to know that talking about Uchiha test subjects and implanted eyes would set off some red flags. Not that they weren’t already raised. Kyohei figured that given the urgency with which Myra spoke this was more a situation that the emergency couldn’t wait for his meeting with Enaka to be done, not that it was an ideal situation for Enaka for Kyohei to hear this. Kyohei would set his untouched cup of tea back down on Enaka’s desk and walk over to the office wall, leaning against it with a smirk as he watched the back and forth between the Orochi regent and his subordinate. “Trouble in paradise, Enaka?” he joked, letting out a sinister chuckle, “All of these Uchiha just seem to be slipping through your fingers.”

---

4075~

Enaka simply listened to Kyohei's taunt with a rather cold smile, drinking up his tea just like he would on any other ordinary day, peacefully enjoying the scent and flavor of the Ceylon tea, until Myra returned with a concerned look on her face and the scientist who was responsible for the outbreak of the Uchiha test-subject.

The scientist immediately started rambling on the consequences of playing god, of trying to break the boundaries set by the Rabbit princess and the sage of the Six Paths, but while he muttered excuses and theories on why he was against the project's goal, Enaka simply gave a quick glance towards the young Uchiha with a rather soft and sinister smile on his face, his eyes half-closed while he took a last sip from his tea.

"Has the test-subject been apprehended, Myra?" The Ouroboros Regent asked calmly, obviously ignoring what the scientist was rambling on about. "If not, I want you to lead a second team to recapture MY property. If the Uchiha does not willingly surrender…kill him, but make sure that the eyes are intact, both my project's eye and his remaining sharingan, I might still have some further use for that sharingan after all."

Myra gave a simple bow and put her mask on, leaving the room in an instant and closing the door behind her, with the scientist still in the room with Enaka and Kyohei. The leader of the Black ANBU simply smiled that same smile again, standing right in front of the scientist, asking him what he was saying.

"This project is a mistake, sir," The scientist explained, carefully trying to weigh the value of his opinion against the ambitions of the one he was working for. "It's unethical and therefor…I loosened the restraints on the subject, to show you that we only cause pain and suffering to innocent people. I will no longer cooperate with this madness, you make look at this as my official resign…Ugh…w-what?"

A sickening sound filled the room, when faster than Kyohei's eyes could possibly manage to follow, a finely manicured hand had struck straight through the scientist's chest, blood seeping through his white clothes and down his back and torso onto Enaka's hand and arm, while the powerful leader licked the few droplets that had splattered on his face away with his tongue, he bend closer to the scientist, whispering but a few words in his ears, though loud enough for Kyohei to hear it.

"That wasn't smart, my dear friend," The man said on an extremely cold tone of voice, which would send shivers through any person's spine."I will indeed see this as your official resignation…I will personally see it through that your good name as a scientist is scrapped from the records and you will be written down as a traitor, a thief. Your family will be shunned or even hunted for your crimes. They will probably be killed without anyone knowing it or suffer their entire life from running away…so yes, I accept your resignation."

The scientist's eyes went wide open in fear, sorrow, but also hatred, when Enaka swiftly pulled his hand back through the man's chest, swinging it behind him, leaving an arc of blood droplets on the wooden floor.

"Now, maybe you want to finally try your tea before it gets cold," Enaka said with again that soft, friendly smile of earlier on his face, wiping the blood of his hand and arm with a purple silk handkerchief. "Or would you rather do something for a change?"

A short while later Myra would return to Enaka’s office, a fidgety middle aged man in a lab coat accompanying her. A man that Kyohei could only assume was the scientist that Enaka had ordered brought to him. From the moment the man entered the office, he had already begun muttering words from old lore, barely audible almost as if part of him didn’t want to be heard. Utterances of Kyohei’s ancestors Hagoromo and Kaguya escaped his lips, along with concerns about this project that Enaka had him working on, playing god, breaking barriers not meant to be broken, and all other manners of interesting phrases to explain his actions.

The Uchiha couldn’t help but find himself amused by the sudden appearance of dissention surrounding Enaka and his endeavors. It was a given that Kyohei had no intention of allowing Enaka to tame him or mold him into one of his little puppets, but a part of Kyohei expected to be the only person to express disapproval for Enaka openly. And perhaps he was, but signs of doubt were apparent all around. First Risu, the niece that Enaka believed he had under control all of these years stumbles upon something she shouldn’t have and forced her uncle’s hand surrounding both her and Kyohei. Then there was the well masked, but still visible look of concern on Myra’s face as she brought the scientist to Enaka’s office, the poor fool. He was the only one in the room that didn’t seem to know where this visit was obviously going. Kyohei commended him for his bravery in choosing to speak out against Enaka on moral principle. It was the right thing to do, but ill advised to do alone. But if there was one willing to speak up that meant there were likely many more too afraid to do so. It seemed as though in his ever growing ambition his grip had been weakened over the years, either with his own mind, the world around him, or both.

The chunks of information he was getting from their interaction however, was allowing Kyohei to begin piecing together a picture of what Enaka’s project really was. The fact that it involved doujutsu was evident from the very beginning when Risu first brought him the missive with his name on it. He had not heard anything quite as interesting as he was hearing at this moment. The phrase “my project’s eye” told Kyohei everything he needed to know about the project to confirm any suspicions he might have had. Enaka was attempting to engineer his own doujutsu, using the sharingan as a base. Whether he was attempting to mutate the sharingan or simply using it as a starting point was still unclear, but now at least Enaka’s interest in Kyohei was explained. He wanted either his eyes or his body to serve as a vessel or both.

Once Myra had been excused from the room, the scientist attempted to explain his actions and resign. The poor fool. Before he could even finish speaking Enaka had already done what he had planned all along, and as a result this man’s life was soon to come to an end. Kyohei took little issue with Enaka’s action, as he had expected this to be the end result all along. What he did not approve of however, was his little rant about ruining the man’s name and going after his family. It was in poor taste. The Uchiha would be sure to make a comment about it later.

“I’m more of a coffee person anyway,” Kyohei would reply with a smirk, “What did you have in mind?”

---

4699~

The escape-a few days prior

His eyes slowly opened, his body feeling weakened, hardly functioning to his desire, as if he had been drugged or something. His memory was fuzzy, making it hard to remember how he got from his home in some anonimous looking facility, laying strapped and bound on a cold steel slab. Men wearing white outfits and white mouthmasks walked around, checking up on other people who seemed to be in the same position as himself, all strapped and bound, some awake, some not.

He could see those men place syringes, bags of fluid and other stuff into people's arms, neck and other body parts, yet that which intrigued him the most, were the several containers with a gelatinous fluid, all containing a pair of snake-like eyes, barely visible from his position, but with some effort, he managed to overcome the dizzy feeling to use his sharingan.

He witheld himself from screaming, when the eyes seemed to turn towards him, right after he had activated his sharingan. He could see the great amounts of chakra sealed within those eyes and could only wonder what kind of thing they were. Affraid to know the answer, the young man simply closed his eyesand awaited what would happen, resting to regain his strength before he would try anything to get out of that place.

The Escape-One day prior

He woke up again, still tired and deprived of the sleep, the deep sleep he really needed, always kept awake at all times by the constant tests, the physical examinations. They even managed to use a drug which forced him to use the sharingan, though it did restrain him to use his most powerful sharingan state, draining him of all his strength and willpower in he process.

His mind however was no longer fuzzy and despite the weariness and sleep, he finally remembered what had happened a few days before when he had been walking home: He had been attacked by two men with masks, one of them being a puppeteer, but he did not fend them off, obviously, but strange, for he was an Uchiha at the peak of his power, none should be able to stand up against that kind of prowess.

He tried to loosen his new restraints, as now he was standing in some kind of holding cell, held upright by sets of chains and shackles, a highly uncomfortable state. Yet, as he tried to free himself, two men with black masks followed by a guy dressed in the same clothes as those men he had seen during his examinations and testing series.

The men held him in a tight grip, while the scientist removed his left eye in a quick routine, prying it out with tweezers while showing the Uchiha a container in which two eyes floated in a viscuous fluid, just like those he had seen before. In a simple, yet somehow extremely painful procedure, the scientist had transplanted one of the eyes into the Uchiha's eyesocket, effectively replacing his left sharingan eye.

The scientist took the one other eye inside the fluid back with him, along with the sharingan eye he had replaced with the strange new eye that he had inplanted into the Uchiha's skull. Leaving the man behind with a numbing pain and a growing hatred to come alongside his initial fear.

The Escape-several moments prior:

Alone in his dark cell, chained and restrained by shackles, the Uchiha was waiting for a chance to get free, to find his other sharingan eye and exact revenge on those responsible for his kidnapping and that of the people he had seen in that large room the first time, which most of them he knew to be clanmembers of him, ranging from young kids up to full adults, making it obvious that the cursed sharingan was yet again targeted by thiefs and fiends.

As a waited in his cell, brooding on how to escape, the young man was surprised by the sudden appearance of a scientist he had not seen except for one time when he was still in that large room with the others. It was a kind and remorseful man, one who seemed to be against the actions which he was expected to perform.

The man simply walked into his cell and with a hushing sigh, he made it clear to the uchiha to keep silent for a moment, at which point he quickly loosened the shakles and unchained the Uchiha, giving him some bread and water to regain his strength a bit, telling him to escape as fast as he could.

Present time:

There is indeed something I need you to do Kyohei," The Ouroboros regent responded to Kyohei's question calmly, hardly looking up from his reports, which he had begun reading again, sipping his tea occasionally."As you have just heard, one of my dear Test subjects has escaped his confinements and is probably trying to free his comrades, his fellow Uchihas."

It was obvious that Enaka was implying something with those words, trying to see what Kyohei's reaction to hiw rather well-chosen, provocative words would be.

"Let's see if you, the kinslaying Uchiha could actually be an advantage for me in the mysterious process of thoughts of your clanmembers," Enaka continued to elaborate his request, subtly looking at the Uchiha in the chair from behind the reposts in his hands. "That Uchiha that escaped is probably Kirito, someone not many of our men can stop in his tracks, except perhaps Myra or Hataro when needs be, but I want my eyes, both the project's and his sharingan. Get those for me if you please and we might to get you an interesting arrangement for you…relation with Risu and your advancement in the Black ANBU ranks. Now then, off you go, he's in the commanders quarters already and Myra and Hataro are in the wrong part of the dungeon to intercept him."

Kyohei winced at Enaka’s request, not quite sure if the man was being serious or not, although somehow not surprised by his audacity. Truth be told, Kyohei had suspected something like this had been coming this whole time. Simply based off of his behavior that Kyohei had witnessed up to this point, especially his supposed dealings with Risu’s parents and how he handled the scientist just moments prior, Enaka seemed like the kind of man that took pleasure not in simply defeating his target, but in toying with them, making them squirm. Sending him after another Uchiha that was in the position that Enaka likely had planned for Kyohei himself was likely just another one of Enaka’s games intended to break Kyohei. It wouldn’t work.

“Someone that only two of your subordinates would be capable of defeating?” Kyohei said bluntly, his eyes never straying from the man in front of him, “Perhaps I overestimated your organization after all.” Kyohei would turn and move over towards the door, opening it and walking halfway through before turning his head over his shoulder to address Enaka once more, “When she gave me that little tour earlier, Myra pointed the commander’s quarters out to me. Maybe I’ll stop by and pay our friend a visit. When I get there I’ll decide what exactly I feel like doing about the situation.”

No more words would be said between them as Kyohei would swiftly close the door behind him and dart off to his next destination. He wondered for a moment what he was really going to do when he got there, something he was still unsure of. He knew that he was going though, if for no other reason than to get a look at this eye that Enaka was talking about. In all likelihood this was not going to be the last time he would have to see it. He wasn’t even sure if reasoning with this Kirito was going to be possible. It wasn’t like Kyohei had a particularly strong attachment to his clan. In fact, the opposite was far more true. There was little other than a name and a pair of red eyes that connected him to the rest of the Uchiha clan. Even still, he could not condone what Enaka was doing. The only thing left to do once he arrived at the commanders quarters was to await the arrival of this Uchiha and see what he intended to do.

---

5118~

Enaka looked up after hearing Kyohei's rather cynical words, but only gave a slight grin. Sure he had told him the truth, but he had not explained why this Kirito fellow was probably stronger than everyone except for Enaka's two highest ranking subordinates. He knew the power of his project's eyes and this Uchiha was supposed to be the one testing the final stage of the eyes, by combining the powers of the sharingan and the Basilisk Eye, this Kirito should've been a perfect test subject to see if the Basilisk eye was dominant over sharingan or not and wether or not the two eyes could work alongside each other.

He turned around, got up from his chair and walked towards the window that encompassed almost half of the western orientated wall, smiling and thinking about his golden days of the youth that had long passed.

"Let's see if this young Uchiha knows what it means to become part of my team," The leader of the Black ANBU chuckled, taking his cup of tea from the desk and taking a calm sip from the ceylon tea, enjoying its complex flavors altogether. "Death, weakness…I hate and fear them both, but as long as I breath, I will not lose focus and I shall be granted that which I deserve: Ultimate Power."

Commanders' quarters: Uchiha Kirito's moves

A group of Uchiha had already been freed from their imprisonment, he had send them to cause ruckus and riots in the other parts of The Dungeon, but he knew his own mission. He had already gotten the information he needed from one of the men he had killed at the laboratories and was no making his way towards the very room he needed to be, to face the man responsible for the pain and suffering of himself and the other Uchiha that had been captured.

Two men with black outfits and masks suddenly appeared out of one of the rooms, blocking his path, but only briefly, as he suddenly inhaled deeply and as he exhaled, a massive assault of red flames burned right through this minor obstruction.

"This accursed eye saps my strength," Kirito sighed after ending his Crimson flame jutsu, looking at the two smoldering corpses with a smile. "I wonder what makes this eye so special, nothing can be better than the sharingan after all."

He walked on, the chains and shackles hanging from his wrists, now being used as his personal weapons. Halfnaked and riddled with scars, the Uchiha finally managed to come on the right floor, the one containing the All knowing man: The Snake.

Again two new men with black masks and black outfits blocked him in his path, yet as the Uchiha was too tired to use his mangekyo and really had to save his energy, he closed his right eye, with his left eye exposed and looked at by the two men, something outrageous happened, when the two of them shuddered and halted, stiffened as if caught in a paralyzing gaze, while their masks fell off, revealing the fact that their skin, eyes and hair started to turn gray, while Kirito's gray hairs vanished, his muscles bulking up a bit and his energy miraculously returning to him.

"Hah, hahahah…now I know!!" The man started laughing frantically, while kicking the two brittle stone statues that were obstructing him to dust. "He has found a doujutsu that could overpower the sharingan…how…how…marvelous."

Understanding the reality, the reason behind the eye in his left eye socket, Kirito started laughing frantically, though he quickly sensed a formidable chakra closing in through the corridor right in front of him, just around the corner. When noticing the young man that appeared from behind the corner, the Uchiha started laughing even louder, releasing an insane amount of chakra, which in the form of a destructive shockwave unleashed itself ripping and tearing everything apart through the corridor into Kyohei's direction.

"The Snake will be burned alive, hahahaah!!" The Uchiha test subject roared, suddenly hunching over and launching himself towards the young man at the other end of the hallway. "He has created a power beyond that of the sharingan or the rinnegan and it's all mine now!!"

Maniacal laughter and the sound of crumbling stone were all that could be heard in the vacant corridors of the dungeon compound. He had witnessed something interesting indeed. From the shadows at the end of the hall he witnessed the whole event. That eye that Enaka had been working on wasn’t just a test after all. Its power, whatever it was exactly, was very real. He had turned the two men before him to stone with seemingly nothing but a stare. It was more than that, though. They weren’t the only ones affected by whatever it was he had done. There was no mistake, there was a definite change in his appearance and presence as well. It didn’t seem as though this was merely intended to turn someone to stone. Kyohei could only make a guess as to the nature of the eye’s power, but from what he could surmise, it seemed to be a very real possibility that the eye was intended to steal the life from another person with little more than a glance.

It also appeared as though the man that he had been asked to apprehend was not some poor, desperate soul that he figured would be left of a man that was left to be one of Enaka’s test subjects. Kirito was not emaciated or injured, and now that he had used that eye’s ability he didn’t even seem fatigued. What’s more, he seemed to be enjoying having that eye a little bit too much, as the nonsense he announced proudly made him seem delusional. A doujutsu beyond the power of the Sharingan or even the Rinnegan. Anyone who was well versed in the history and the powers surrounding those eyes would know that surpassing the Rinnegan was an impossibility. No work of man could surpass the doujutsu that were born from the power of the Shinju.

Kirito would then charge at Kyohei, obviously with violence on his mind. Kyohei couldn’t exactly blame him, considering where they were, but it did make his life a bit more difficult. He didn’t intend to resort to fighting straight away, but it looks like Kirito wasn’t going to give him a choice. Taking care not to look the charging man in his eye, Kyohei would activate his Sharingan, using its visual prowess to follow Kirito’s movements using muscle twitches and trajectory alone. Just another one of the many perks of being born an Uchiha that Kirito seemed to have discarded in favor of this new eye he loved so much. Being knocked off of his feet by the sudden surge of chakra unleashed by his assailant, Kyohei would allow himself to be flipped back, catching and balancing himself with a one handed hand stand while using his free hand to reach onto his belt and pull off two kunai. As he propelled himself into another backflip with his stationary hand he would throw the two kunai at Kirito’s shins, using his movement prediction abilities to attempt to force the man to jumo over them, which would be an easy and natural reaction for someone of his strength. Mid flip he would draw and throw the two fuma shuriken he used against Hataro aiming to cut off any path Kirito might have taken to avoid the kunai that wasn’t off of the ground. Another flip followed swiftly, accompanied by another volley of shuriken and kunai, five in total, but this time with an added trick and a slight hesitation between the projectiles.

Two of the three shuriken had been connected with a wire out of sight with the intentional sequence of flips. As the two shuriken sailed wide of their mark as intended, the wire would get caught on Kirito’s body, causing both projectiles to swing and wrap around him like a tetherball pole. Whether the other projectiles landed or not was inconsequential as long as he caught Kirito in his trap, which he would then follow up by yanking down on the wires to slam the man down against the hard concrete floor. “Now, Kirito was it?” Kyohei would mutter should his plan be successful, “Nothing waits for you beyond this point but death. I’m here to see if we can’t work out another option. We have a common goal here. Let’s talk.”

---

5851~

Kirito saw the change of Kyohei's eyes, the redness with the distinct tomoe betraying the very Uchiha blood which coarsed through the young man's veins and in turn, this very show of connection with the enraged test subject made the deranged man's blood boil, as was common when any of the Uchiha faced an opponent which they themselves deemed worthy of their time.

"How wonderful," This were the only words leaving Kirito's lips in a hush between the frantic bursts of maniacal laughter, as he sprinted onwards towards the younger Uchiha. His speed would've been almost incomprehensible for the younger Uchiha, but his movements seemed to be crude, not as well versed as they would've been if this man had not been captive for such a relatively long period of time, depicting that despite his recent aqcuirement of new strength and vigor, he still had to warm up his muscles properly.

Yet, perhaps to the younger Uchiha's surprise, Kirito did not jump when the two kunai were thrown at him. They simply struck him at the intended places, slowing his movement for a little moment, as the dropped to the ground, the wounds showing hardly any scraping to the bones and making the cuts shallow and in every perspective nothing more than a mere nuisance.

"Is that all?" The man drowning in the madness of his own power cackled loudly while the two Fuma shurikens flew at him. Trying to avoid getting hit by these two large projectiles was almost impossible, as they blatantly struck into each of the man's shoulders, grinding his sprint to a startling halt, with blood running down his arms, which seemed to have limped by the fuma's having cut the necessary tendons. "Not…not bad, hahahaaah!!"

Just as he wanted to use his 'new' eye again, Kirito had to use the speed and strength left in his legs to avoid getting hit by a new volley of shurikens and kunai, only to end up being caught in a web of wires, which pinned him to the ground when Kyohei yanked at them, making the Uchiha test subject lose his balance completely.

"The same goal…why would a betrayer like you have the same goal as me?" The Uchiha replied with a sneer, closing his 'new' eye to have the ability to look straight into Kyohei's eye with his other, restrained sharingan eye. "Don't you get it, with this eye combined with the power of my sharingan, I can defeat and destroy that Snake, the serpent behind this entire organization. Your nifty tricks made it clear to me that it IS possible to use both the sharingan and this…Basilisk Eye at the same time. That Snake is not strong enough to stop someone who can use both these eyes. I know that because he ambushed us, clearly for the sake of not being caught by any of our clan's Sharingan."

Typical Uchiha hubris, no doubt the Achilles’ Heel of many of the clan’s members. Some people were so absorbed in the power of their bloodline that they seemed to forget just how often throughout the centuries the Uchiha were not the victors. “Cute,” Kyohei jeered, neither stepping closer to Kirito nor releasing the wires that bound him, “He didn’t ambush you because he was incapable of fighting you. He ambushed you because that’s just the type of person that he is. Like you said, he’s a snake. He’s cruel, deceitful, and conniving. That however, does not equate to weak. Tell me, do you really think that he’d ever give you a straight up fight even if you could defeat him? No matter what position you think you’re in right now, the fact remains that you are fighting him in his own environment. I want to kill Enaka as well, but I’m not foolish enough to think that’s even a possibility right now. Even if I were to let you through to him, he’d simply kill you, and you’re of no use to anyone as a corpse. Then he’s going to take those eyes you’re so proud of and use them however he wishes. Is that what you want? For your pride to be nothing more than his play thing? Or worse, do you want him to use them as his own?”

It was unlikely that someone like Kirito was going to listen to anything Kyohei said that involved him not being strong enough to defeat Enaka. It was a common thing for the stronger Uchiha. It was part of the reason that Kyohei did not associate with his clan. But still, something needed to be said to attempt to dissuade him from continuing his current intentions. “You were just taken down by a nobody with nothing more than some basic ninja equipment,” Kyohei sighed as he continued, “Do you really think you are in any state to face him? You’re putting too much faith in that eye. It took me a second to analyze and strategize to avoid the ‘Basalisk eye’s power. You don’t even know what it does yourself, let alone the drawbacks that might come with it. For as much faith as you are placing in that eye, if you walk into his office to fight Enaka you are going in blind. Do you know who does know the full extent of that eye’s abilities? Enaka. That eye is still a prototype. It isn’t a finished product yet. If it was, you would no longer be necessary. I said we share a common goal; the death of Orochi Enaka, but it isn’t something that can be accomplished at this moment. If that eye means so much to you, you can keep it, but I need you to go surrender yourself back to the laboratory. If you’re as strong as you think you are then prove it and survive whatever they put you through. At the end, I’ll let you keep the finished eye. This is really your only option if you ever want to see the outside world ever again.”

---

6394~

"Are you implying that it's the Ouroboros clan head Orochi Enaka who's behind all of this?" Kirito sneered while wriggling a bit in the restraining wires, obviously showing that he was not aware of the fact that the person who was given the name Lord Snake and the man who was seen as one of the village's most prominent and important inhabitants were one and the same. "That's prepostrous, no way that that bookwurm of the Orochi family would be the one behind this and if it actually would be him, how in Madara's name would that guy even be able to stop me or any other decent Uchiha for that matter?"

It seemed that Kyohei had forgotten that Enaka had granted him the pleasure of knowing the man behind the mask, but that he was probably one of only a handful who actually knew about his true self. Had he forgotten who his current boss and eternal bane actually was?

"This is just all a funny thing," The older Uchiha laughed, his fingers giving a single twitch. "I find it amazing that of all people, it is an Uchiha that actually would want me to lay low, endure the pain and the suffering of many of my clan and myself, just for an opportunity to stop The Snake, while if it is Orochi Enaka, like you just implied, I should be more than capable enough on my own to handle him. I mean, we were with three people, kidnapped by a whole dozen of those masked guys like you and the one who wore the special mask and had those three nifty silver chains on his armor didn't even lift a finger."

A surge of chakra yet again went through the older Uchiha's body, pressing outward and snapping the wires, making the fuma shuriken leave his body and the wounds to heal rapidly. His chakra rose to almost impossible levels, with the walls shuddering and cracking under the output this man was producing.

"I will not sit down idly while my clansmen are being tortured," Kirito growled, while opening both eyes again, revealing that his sharingan was already at the mangekyo stage and that the basilisk eye seemed to have changed slightly, taking on a pattern similar to a three tomoe sharing an, with three tomoes alongside the snakelike pupil. "Because you have given me a moment to think about my actions, I will spare you. Though, think about this: are you an Uchiha, a proud member of our clan or an outcast, a puppet, a pawn ready to be used and discarded in a game on which neither of us has any control?"

The Uchiha, having understood that somehow there were no other masked men coming to this area, knew that he had some time to wait for Kyohei's answer, which would decide wether or not Kirito would or would not consider to show leniency towards the youngling.