Konoha Prison, deepest level


Two men came down the stairs to the deepest level of the prison, taking over the guard duty from their colleagues, while already feeling a shiver go over their spine while they thought about the single cell with its only resident of this deep underground facility.

As they gave their greetings to their leaving colleagues, the two man sat down on their small wooden chairs at the small round table between them, watching with anticipation at the dimmed light at the end of the hallway filled with empty cells. Through the bars of the cell at the end of the hallway, the light of a single candle was flickering eerily, showing that the man in there was still awake.

Inside this single cell, Orochi Enaka, the feared and powerful former regent of the Ouroboros clan and probably the most intelligent criminal mastermind of the last decade was laying on his bed, holding a small notebook in his hands, filled with many names. With a sharpened pencil in his hand, he crossed a few of those names, until he stopped at a single name: Orochi Yoroi.

"Well now uncle," The man whispered with a sinister tone of voice. "Let's see if you can stand against the tide of the new age."


Temple of the Council of Elders-same time


In a room with two guards in front of its only entrance, a man was sitting in full shinobi attire, with armor and tanto strapped tightly to a slightly deteriorated by age, but still strong body.

A long stern man it was, who was looking through the windows of that single room, taking in the light of the stars, the whispers in the dark and the hatred which seemed to fill the air, along with the stench of fire and flesh. The purge had begun and now this man was waiting for what was going to happen. Was he going to be victorious, or was he going to lose this bout. The council had holed themselves downstairs in the cellar, waiting for him, Orochi Yoroi to take up arms against the clanhead: his grandniece Orochi Risu, who seemed to favor her new name Lamya a bit more lately.

"Let's see which generation has most of the power in our clan," The man whispered, while placing his own old ANBU mask in front of his face. "Let's see if you are even strong enough to end up facing me."


Outside the Temple-same time


After directing every asset at her disposal to seal off every entrance to the temple, the young orochi lady was wondering what Yoroi's plan was. Since it was obvious that only the weakest of his subordonates were sent out, he had probably thought that she would not be able to stand up against even those, but most likely he had only his own forces at his disposal, while Risu, despite her age, still had her status backing her up, which ment that most of the Hebi guard was loyal to her no matter what.

However, she knew not to underestimate Yoroi or the council for that matter, since if they gathered their resources, the battle would most likely be a draw, but Risu had a second piece in this game, a very special piece: Tenzo. Because he was an outsider, a member of another clan, he might be the very person to tip the balance, even if his rank was still at chuunin, the young woman was fairly certain that he was more than capable to hold his own in this endeavor no matter what.

Tapping her fingers on her arms, while looking at Uraeus taking up his key position on one of the ledges of the building, Risu hoped that Tenzo was not having to much problems with the few runaway members of the initial assault she wanted him to take down before meeting her at the Temple of the Council of elders.

"Dont fail me so quickly Tenzo," She whispered to herself calmly and slightly impatient. "This is the one moment I cant afford not to have you by my side to take down something putrid and festering in my clan ever since its origin...I need my pawn to be within my hand."

715/715

Tenzo had finally appeared, with Risu simply sighing almost soundlessly as he came close to her. The other loyal members of the Hebi guard had already surrounded the temple and taken all keylocations to ensure that the Clanhead was without a doubt having an advantage in this clash between her and the council. the Uchiha seemed to realize the same thing as Risu did, that the one who had instigated the initial assault had most likely foreseen this and had already decided to use his own trump cards.

"Stealth would've worked if they had no idea that we're here," The Orochi lady replied calmly to Tenzo's proposal. She turned her eyes upwards, taking in the full extend of the temple's outward appearance. "It wont work though. Just as we are keeping our eyes on them, they are looking at us. This place was originally the place where our clan could hide in case of emergency. They know all the places to hide in, all the entrances and exits, they know where to wait for us and where to strike us down. No we need to do this differently."


With her hand, Risu gave Tenzo and a few men a sign to follow her, while at the same time giving a nod to her pet snake Uraeus, who quickly understood what she planned to do and made himself scarce into the darkness of the building's nooks and crannies, squirming and slithering himself a way inside.


"There is one thing more detrimental to the moral of an enemy than overwhelming numbers," The woman said, while placing herself in front of the main gate of the temple, glaring at the massive wooden doors with iron and steel hinges, locks and bands. Bending slightly through her legs again, she started to gather her chakra, before sending the stored and molded amount of chakra towards her arms, with her muscles bulking up and tensing greatly. With a few steps, she threw her clenched fists against the doors, using an immensely brute force to open them, shattering them as if they were made out of mere cardboard. "Overwhelming power, an unstoppable force will make any enemy cower before it. An opposition devout of fear and devout of any moral will make any enemy back down. Through this we will instill fear in them, the fear of retaliation, the fear of retribution and in that fear, they will find the peace of safety and security, the safety of obedience."


Without hesitation, those loyal to Risu swarmed inside of the temple, ensuing in battle with the ones loyal to the council and Yoroi. The temple's main hall had already turned into a battlefield, while at that point, the clanhead turned towards tenzo again, with her muscles back to normal.


"Now it is time for stealth," She spoke with a grin on her face, pointing at a hallway at the east of the main hall. "Uranus will meet us up at the end of that hallway and we can get there by simply rushing through this chaos. Nothing is better than using a battlefield as cover for your own troops and your own movements."

531/1246

"Beyond this corridor, the entire temple's teeming with those loyalists," Ureaus hissed softly and somewhat silently when he noticed both his master and the Uchiha going by the name Tenzo coming closer to his position in the darkness of the corridor's entrance. "They're probably somewhere around and a bit above your level, Sir Tenzo...which I reckon makes them small fries when compared to my mistress, but worthy training and exercise material for someone of your caliber."


Apparently, his words weren't even cold, when the Uchiha had already decided to take a peak into one of the rooms and not just any room, but the room which connected with all corridors coming from the entrance hall: the Main hall, which was filled with various different statues of both snakes and those of some of the most memorable clanleaders ever since the so-called Dragon who had founded the clan.


Risu, standing behind the young Uchiha, tried to peer into the darkness of the sparcely lit main hall, but could not discern what Tenzo was looking at, until the figures finally moved into the light. She recognized the two of them, as they as well, were not Hebi, but Orochi members, specifically members of Yoroi's part of the family.


"Well well," The Orochi lady chuckled when the two of them, clad in the traditional Hebi guard uniform with each their own tanto, revealed themselves in the candles' light. "Kurosuke and Shirosuki. How touching to see members of my own family fighting at the side of those who dare to betray me. I should've expected this from those who were not chosen as clanhead."


Both almost identical to Risu, except for the fact that their skin was slightly more grayish and their eyes seemed more of the yellow than of the golden kind, the twins gave a rather angry, yet somehow still cold expression, before they answered in unison, with Kurosuke's male voice ressonating the most. "You're nothing but a mutt who managed to grab away that position from your Honorable Uncle, forcing the Hebi Elders' hands to elect you as new leader."


"Heh..heh...heh," Risu chuckled eerily, while pointing at the twins. "How convenient of you two to accuse me of forcing the elders' hands, while it was you two who had killed Hebi Marosuke, when he voiced out his opinion towards your grandfather. Not to mention you two also worked for my uncle and kidnapped not only adult members, but also children with the byakugan and the sharingan. Now here's a treat for you, how will you fare against someone who is a fullblood Uchiha and who bears a resentment to your filthy kind, you ignorant, unguided mongrels. You are hereby absolved of any ties to me, the Orochi family and the Ouroboros clan...go meet the same fate as all who dare oppose me and...vanish into  nothingness."


While turning around, the young woman placed her hand on Tenzo's shoulder, while leaning a bit closer to make sure he would hear her words clearly.


"Have no remorse or guilt," She whispered in his ear, before walking towards the door, which she knew to lead to the staircase to make haste to the second level of the building. "Dont dissapoint me Tenzo, I will be waiting for you upstairs."

560/1806

As she left the main hall, Risu decided not to look backwards, not to care about what would happen to Kurosuke or shirosuki, as she had revoked them their rights and any claim of them being family of her, not to mention the fact that she thought this might've been a more than interesting and relieving moment for Tenzo

Walking upward on the staircase, the young woman placed her hand on the rail to allow Ureaus to slither onto her and place himself carefully around her neck, almost tying himself around her chest and waist, with his head resting on her right shoulder. "Do not worry, the Uchiha kid is strong, far stronger than either of us had anticipated. Who knows, he might even become stronger than us."

Risu knew that her pet snake was more or less teasing her, but it actually started to frighten her that the Uchiha had already surpassed the only other Uchiha she knew, he had surpassed Kyohei, so she had to adjust her opinion of him a bit. Tenzo was turning into more than a pawn, he was becoming a center piece, ranking up faster and faster. If she had to put her mind to work, she would've reckoned that his potential and growth were not much unlike her own, even perhaps exceeding her own, something she could not take nor understand. Ever since she had gotten to her position as ANBU captain, even being promoted to leader of the entire Konoha ANBU, she had seemingly started to stall in her progress. It confused and frustrated her that she was perhaps at the end of her well of power, near the botom of her potential.

"Duck!!" The snake suddenly hissed loudly when the young woman had just passed the door which lead her to a corridor on the top floor. Just as she leaned down forwards, two shuriken passed the back of her head on a hair's width. 

"Thanks Ureaus." Risu whispered, looking into the direction of where the two shuriken came from, noticing the two men standing at the other side of the corridor, both already grabbing for a few other shuriken. These two wore masks, so they were easily identified as members of Yoroi's bodyguard. Probably among special jounin class, which ment she had chosen the right spot to get to the top floor, she was close to her target. "Let's see what we can do here."

Before she had uttered another word, the two shinobi had already thrown their second batch of shuriken, forcing Risu to concentrate more on her defense than on her offense. Luckily for her, shuriken were but the most minor of things they could've used against her, so just in the nick of time, her skin got covered by immensely strong white scales, making the shurikens bounce off of her skin and her armor like mere pellets of rubber. However, despite the fact that she had managed to defend from the shrines, she had not seen the reality behind the shurikens, as they were but a mere diversion for the two men's simultanious assault with their long blades.

Raising her arms in instinctive reaction, Risu could feel the blades cut into her scales, piercing the massive defense and slicing themselves into her flesh. The wounds werent all to deep, but the pain was real. When the first one retreated his blade, Risu's fist found its way to the man's mask, shattering it and sending him flying backwards, but at the same time, the second man withdrew his blade as well and planted his foot squarely in her abdomen, thowing her back as well, despite the combined weight of herself and Ureaus.

Though slightly surprised by what had just happened, she had never been surprised more than when she looked straight into the eyes of the man whom's mask she had shattered with her punch. His left eye was as she expected, an eye with a deep black color, but the other one was different, a crimson orb with a strange pattern upon it. Looking closely, she realized that this eye was a full grown sharingan with three tomoe...just like Tenzo's and just like those of Kyohei. This man had a sharing, so he was without a doubt not a regular special jounin, he was most likely part of the Black ANBU, even with her uncle behind bars, they remained active.

"Interesting," The young woman sighed, while whiping away the blood she had coughed up when she had been thown backwards by that earlier kick, thinking about that kick, she realized that she at least had one broken rib despite her scales and armor. The other one was without a doubt a taijutsu user. "I will take you both on...and I will kill you with so much pleasure."

Grabbing four kunai out of her pouch, she threw the first pair through the corridor towards the two men, instantly followed by the second pair. In the blink of an eye, she had rushed behind her thrown kunai, her hands reaching for the two scalpels she held at her sides and as she came close enough, she noticed that the one with the sharingan had dodged the kana, while the other one blocked them by crossing his arms, allowing the kunai to deal minor wounds to his arms as they got stuck in them.

In an instant she had chosen her target, lashing out with her kirinketsu ryoga towards the man with the sharing, who had quickly managed to defend himself by raising his katana to block the incoming scalpel, yet at the same time, she used her Koketsu to slice the other man's side with a fine, almost unnoticable but deep cut, which started bleeding profoundly.

"Nice defense, I reckon it's because of that eye of yours," Before she had even been given an answer, the orate lady's chakra surged and the muscles in her arms pumped up and tensed in the same way as they did when she had slammed the front doors of the temple down to the ground. Despite the man's swift defense, her jabbing right hand broke through his katana, shattering it, and buried itself deep within his abdomen and as his defense was annihilated, she used the Kirinketsu Ryoga in her left hand to stab him in his neck, forcefully slicing open his artery and spraying his warm, red blood upon her face, chest and arms.


Not giving the other one any time to realize what was happening, Uraeus got off of Risu and coiled around the man's arms and throat, slowly, but strongly choking him until he dropped to the ground with a loud crash. When that was done, the snake slithered back onto Risu, who had started to heal her own wounded arms and the broken rib.

Looking down on the man who she had killed so instantaneously, her hand instinctively reached for his eye, his crimson eye, which held so much power within it. Her throat seemed to close up, making it hard for her to breath or swallow, her chest started to heave as she plucked the eye out of the man's socket, but when she heard that Tenzo had arrived, she crushed the eye in the palm of her hand, not willing to reveal the fact that she had almost been captivated, lured in by the one eye which had been a bane to her clan for so long.

"These weren't easy either," The woman sighed deeply, trying to throw away the remains of the eye she had within her hand as inconspicuously as possible. "I dont have the time to fully heal myself and they really did a number on me with those blades, my arms will be sore for a few days now. Though that's just minor, Yoroi must be close."

Notiving that Tenzo was out of breath and had apparently exercised most of his strength in that fight downstairs against the twins, Risu sighed and walked closer to him, trying to see if he was not as battered and bruised as he made it sound he was. When not finding anything more than the usual visible scuffs and bruises of a brawl or a heavy training session, the young woman sighed and turned around. "Before we get to Yoroi, do tell...was it satisfactionary to turn into a monster?"

1414/3220

Not blinking once, Risu listened to the Uchiha, seemingly trying to convince himself that what he did was a righteous task and was not as monstrous or cruel as he probably really thought it was. A chuckle left her lips when she heard him change the subject by asking how large the building really was and even asked some things about Yoroi, probably to have more clarity and certainty on the subject.

"To answer your first question," The orochi lady sighed softly, licking her lips a bit, while turning around to look the Uchiha square in the eyes. "It has two above floors, a cellar and a vault even underneath the cellar, which acts as an almost impenetrable bunker in case of emergency. If I had to guess, that's where the Elders are, but for now they are not of any concern."


His second question however, was perhaps the hardest one to answer. Just like her uncle, Yoroi was more or less shrouded in mystery, as he was the brother of the clanhead of two generations ago and just like her uncle he did not have the trademark Orochi appearance but more or less the Hebi appearance. They only had the right of being in the orochi family due to their ancestry, but not because of their kekkei genkai, though in Yoroi's case, his children and grandchildren did at least manage to show the signs of the orochi family's kekkei genkai, like the twins Tenzo had fought earlier.


"Orochi Yoroi's the uncle of my uncle, brother of the clanhead of two generations ago," Risu started to explain, trying to make it as easy and as quick as possible. "Just like all of my clan's members, he has been a part of Konoha's ANBU once during his lifetime and like so many of us, he has stepped out of the ANBU after having served them for at least three years of his life, after which if I recall it correctly, he was appointed to the medical division for a few years after which he had a short time as instructor at the academy and even used to work directly for the Daimyo as his personal physician, but then he retired and joined the council."


Thinking about how strong Yoroi really was, the young woman had to decide wether or not she'd use her uncle as an example to meassure his strength. Because she knew that just like her uncle, his power had not diminished at all and had probably even grown quite a bit after he had retired and joined the council of elders. "I probably think he's about as strong as any high end jounin, slightly stronger than me even. Though he will most likely be rather rusty with his actual combat experience, which we have to use to our advantage and for that, I will need you to be honest to me. Do you think you can handle a fight between two of my caliber, are you certain you want to join me and stand by my side, despite all the risks, as I cant guarantee your safety for the full one hundred percent."

533/3753

Tenzo's words reinsured the young woman of his loyalty and despite his sometimes overly showing affection or rather his curiosity, Risu had to admit that he had shown himself to be more than a dependable person for her cause. She would keep her end of their bargain and aid him in the search of a way to unify his clan, but for now, he had to help her to maintain the unity within her own clan, even if it took such desperate meassures as taking down the ancient ways and traditions of the clan itself. For to long had the Ouroboros clan been divided into the two households, divided between the families and the different ways of life, but not anymore. The scheming of the Hebi family and the arrogance and treachery of the orate family had to make way for a single unified clan.

"Yoroi is up ahead," The massive white snake Uraeus suddenly hissed, waking the Ouroboros clanhead out of her pondering and wandering thoughts. "He probably already knew you were coming for him, be careful while I make sure no one comes up here."


The young woman gave a nod to her wise and strong snake, who immediately slithered towards the door from which both shinobi came to that floor, making sure no dissidents would follow them up to that place. When Ureaus had taken his position, Risu motioned Tenzo to follow her towards the place her pet snake had pointed out as the location where she could find the one man responsible for the attack on the Orochi estate and the violent expenditure of the schism between the clan's two families.


With an incredibly silent and presice pace, Risu seemed to flow through the corridor like a mere breeze of wind, ashadow passing by, an obvious sign of her ANBU background and her allthrough supremacy as the sole leader thereof. Not a single squeak or crackle could be heard while she threaded over the wooden boards of the floor, not until she stood silent in front of the double doors of the room pointed out by Ureaus.


"I should've guessed he would be here," She whispered softly, pointing at the beautiful engravings on the doorframe and the doors themselves, depicting this was an important room for the elders and so it was, as it was the room where the fate of this day had been decided, the council's very own meeting room. "All this suffering, all this pain, all this wretched defiance...this world is a hellhole and my clan is a decadent display of this world's decaying structure."


Slowly, she opened the doors and revealed the shadowy interior of the room, which had started to glisten in the dimmed light of the early morning, with the sun's rays trying their best to illuminate the darkened sky in all their best efforts. In the room, the long table with the thirteen cushions was the centerpiece and upon that very large wooden table, a single cup of tea seemed to be waiting for someone to empty it.


On the wall, a clotheshanger could be seen bearing a beautifully made traditional kimono and haori of the most expensive of materials to be found by mankind, truly the clothing fit for someone who was once regarded as one of Konoha's most promising shinobi. The similarities were stunning though, for the style of clothing would fit Risu's uncle impeccably and he as well had been and is still regarded as one of Konoha's most powerful shinobi of at least the last century.


From out of the shadows, a masked man with a slender frame stepped into the dim light of the early morning's sun. A slightly old fashioned ANBU armor embroided with the twin-serpent insignia on it covered the man's chest and back and on each side of his hips, he seemed to carry a sai of ornate design.


"The snake destined to become a dragon," The masked man spoke calmly, yet coldly. "sullying this sacred place by bringing in a crimson-eyed mut of the Uchiha clan. 


Placing one hand against his chest, while stretching out the other towards Risu, the man seemed to make some kind of physical expression of feeling sorrowful for the young woman's position, a cynical way to express his disdaint for the young Orochi lady.


"Your uncle was right, my child," Yoroi continued his monologue, while placing his foot against the edge of the large wooden table, crossing his arms a bit and seemingly nodding to show how saddening he seemed to find it, that it was not her uncle, but Risu who was now ruling the Ouroboros clan. "This world is flawed, so we need to straighten it by force, by manipulation an deception. The strong will prevail, the strong will gain all privileges and we will not allow the weak to survive...and you...you will perish along with them and that Uchiha mut of yours."


When he said those last words, the man quickly grabbed two shuriken and threw them towards Tenzo in a single swoop, leaving no time to think or to hesitate, yet as the shuriken almost neared rise, she stretched out her arms in front of tenzo and blocked them by using her near impenetrable snake scale technique again, yet this time at a smaller scale, only covering her arms with those scales.


"Dont let his words get to you Tenzo..." The young woman hissed with a voice seemingly fueled by anger. "This man is not worthy of calling himself an Orochi, nor does he know which he belongs to...the strong or the weak, but I do. Orochi Yoroi, I hereby revoke your name, your very being is reduced to nothing more than that of a pariah and as a pariah, you shall die unknown and unloved, for that is the only thing you deserve."


991/4744

entire wc used in training HERE

Sorry for double post, but posting here just because a lot of time passed and I'm going to train here.

I got a Total WC of 4410.

Training Endurance from B0 to B2

4410 - 1500 = 2910

Training Perception from B0 to B2

2910 - 1500 = 1410 WC Left