“Neither,” Kyohei replied bluntly, realizing that there was nothing left that he could say that would sway Kirito into listening to him and avoiding his own death, “The only pawn here being played is you. You’ve been a pawn your whole life. I find it amusing that you’ve never realized it. Your whole life a pawn to both name and village, gladly willing to throw your life away for those that see you as expendable. Being a guinea pig here for these experiments is only the latest addition to your resume of being a pawn in other peoples’ games. When the time comes, don’t say I didn’t try to give you a way out. What I offered you was to be a player in my game rather than a pawn in his, but if you’ve made your decision then I suppose there is no longer any point in trying to talk sense into you. If ‘The Snake’ is what you really want, I’ll show you the way.”

Regardless of what Kirito would say next, Kyohei would begin to walk back towards Enaka’s office in the compound, leaving the decision up to the man whether or not he wanted to follow. But of course he would follow, how could he not? He was being offered free passage to the exact person he wanted to go after. It was ill advised for Kirito, but after he turned down Kyohei’s offer it wasn’t really Kyohei’s problem anymore. He had no intention of trying to fight Kirito himself. He didn’t have the raw power to deal with the captive in a straight up engagement and the enclosed environment of this corridor didn’t provide him any room to work with. Besides, this could still turn out to be beneficial for him. Enaka’s specific request was to bring him the eyes, but he never specified how he wanted them delivered. Kyohei would bring Enaka what he wanted, but he would leave the extraction process up to ‘The Snake’.

Once they arrived outside of Enaka’s office Kyohei would turn to face Kirito once more and speak, “You know, if this is your way of trying to ‘break out’ of the game, it isn’t going to work. You’re always in someone’s game. It’s just up to you whether you want to be a player or a pawn. I hope you’re happy with your decision.” A few quick knocks would be all the notice Kyohei gave before entering the office and clearing out of the way between Enaka and Kirito before taking a seat off to the side, “I’ve brought the eyes to you.”

---

6849~

Kirito, staunch and hellbent on his vengeance, blinded by the power granted by the eye implanted in him and his already activated mangekyo sharingan got out of the wires from the very moment Kyohei had turned his back, verifying all along what Kyohei knew: he could've gotten out of those without any effort and a lot earlier, yet he had been smart enough to wait and decide if he would or would not continue to fight an inferior person. However, his devotion to his revenge also made it so that the young Uchiha's words were true and absolutely correct, yet without effect on someone with such a deepseathed hatred as Kirito.

"If I kill this man, I can hardly be called a pawn, can I?" The Uchiha snickered right before Kyohei opened the door to Enaka's office and entered it, saying he brought the eyes the Snake had been waiting for. "So it was you who did this, you filthy rat!!"

Without any warning, The Uchiha stormed past Kyohei towards the man sitting behind his desk, lifting both his arms upwards and throwing them down when he thought to have reached the so-called leader of the Black ANBU, the man responsible for the death and despair of so many of Kirito's Uchiha brethren and many, many more Konoha nin.

As the desk shattered, splinters and shards of wood flew through the room in all directions. The Uchiha had shown an amazing amount of raw physical power with that one stunt of his, yet Enaka had dodged the attack just in time, jumping to a place right behind the maddened Uchiha. Alas, Kirito seemed more experienced in actual combat then he was credited for and even Enaka seemed to have underestimated the effect of his own eye on the man's power, followed by the Uchiha planting his right fist against the older man's face, propelling him through the window, resulting in a plummet of thirty meters far and ten meters deep.

"Hahaha, did you see that?" Kirito laughed at Kyohei, gloating on what he had achieved by throwing Enaka out of the window so easily. "You see what just a little of this power could do? Why dont you join me, after this guy is dead, we take over this pathetic organization, combine the strength of all the Uchiha and who knows, we could even become the rulers of the Fire nation with everything that idiot has given to me."

For a moment he remains silent, grinning contently while grabbing a beautifully made black mask with silver lines on them, depicting a snake. Placing this mask in front of his face for just a second, Kirito laughed frantically again after which he crushed the mask with a single hand.

"With this power I could be able to surpass any legendary shinobi of the past," The insane Uchiha laughed, yet his laughter went silent when a tremor ran through the room and not only the room, but the entire building. All the torches were blown out, lighbulbs exploded in a shower of sparks, while darkness filled The Dungeon entirely. Kirito's expression was clearly that of a man confused by what he was seeing or rather by what he wasn't seeing. "You…do you know what's happening?"

two people entered the room hastily, both wearing a mask with silver lines and chains on their armor. One with two chains, who Kyohei should instantly recognise as Hataro and the other with one chain, who by the looks of the feminin body, was obviously Myra.

"Kyohei, what are you doing here with the target?" Myra asked, while Hataro stood in front of kyohei, almost as if he was shielding him from Kirito…or something else. "Where's Snake-sama, did the target do something to him, what's happening here, Hataro, do you know something?"

The man in front of Kyohei only gave a soft chuckle, while turning towards the young Uchiha.

"I've seen your style, your behavior," the cold voice escaped from the mask. "You never showed hesitation or fear, but now…now you will know why none of us would ever defy Lord Orochi."

If kyohei would use the power of his sharing an, he would notice it, even without it, he would've felt it: a surge of chakra unlike any other, dwarfing even Kirito's earlier display of power and Kyohei would be able to pinpoint the origin of the energy, as it came from right where Enaka had landed after being thrown out of the window, presenting him with a single opportunity, a single choice: follow Enaka or join Kirito.

"If I kill this man, I can hardly be called a pawn, can I?"

Kyohei silently rolled his eyes at the man’s stubbornness, making way as Kirito walked into what would surely be his own death. Kyohei merely observed as Kirito charged forward into the office and smashed Enaka’s desk to pieces, missing the Enaka himself who had evaded the strike at the last moment. It appeared as though Enaka had gotten sloppy however, as when he landed directly behind Kirito he would be met only with a swinging fist that would collide at full steam with his face, sending him flying through the office window and down towards the compound’s ground level.

After he had successfully sent Enaka flying it seemed that Kirito had grown very confident in his supposed victory. It was becoming more and more evident by his actions and maniacal laughter that Kirito was incapable of controlling the power that he had been given. He was showing all the symptoms of a man who was being consumed by his own power, quite the dangerous state to be in given his current position. He was even bold enough as to ask Kyohei to aid him in some ridiculous scheme about “ruling the Fire Nation”. Kyohei let out an amused huff at the proposition, and this man’s insistence that his work there was over so soon.

“Sorry, I’ve never really been one for partnerships,” Kyohei replied with a sarcastic grin, only to have anything else he had planned to say briefly interrupted by a series of tremors suddenly surging through The Dungeon, “What’s happening is you being punished for not listening to my warnings and coming with me peacefully when you had the chance.” When Hataro and Myra entered the room Myra would immediately begin to bombard Kyohei with questions, leading him to point towards the shattered window in response to her inquiry as to Enaka’s location. “I’m just getting a good seat to watch the show from,” Kyohei would respond to her as he turned his attention to the now confused Kirito standing alone in the middle of the room, “Sorry Kirito, but it looks like your fun has come to an end. Do me a favor though. While you’re cursing my name do make sure to remember that I tried to give you an alternative to death. I hope that the short while you were allowed to run around with that eye was worth your life.” There would be nothing left to do but wait for the source of the enormous surge of chakra pulsing through The Dungeon to show itself and retaliate for the strike that Kirito had landed.

---

7302~

Just the very instant Kyohei's eyes would've given the young Uchiha an image of the massive amount of compressed chakra that could now be felt by even those who were not even of the sensory type, the chakra vanished instantly, reappearing in the darkness of the room as an enormous, looming shadow behind Kirito.

Two eyes with a golden iris and a slit pupil appeared right above the powermad Kirito's head, who seemingly had not the slightest idea of what was going on, despite his own enormous capacities thanks to the combination of his own Mangekyo Sharingan and the Basilisk eye in its second project phase.

"The reason why I am the snake," The voice, a deep and dark hiss resonated through the room, surprising the Uchiha and even Myra, though the masked Hataro remained the perfection of keeping his cool. "Is because like a cobra I can kill in one hit or like a python, I can slowly contrict you to death. Always there is one consistency, no matter who you are, no matter how powerful you are…I will always find a way to kill you."

Kirito turned around as quick as he could, closing his sharingan eye and opening his Basilisk eye, staring straight into the eyes of the massive black pillar of muscles and scales which now stood right in front of him, blending wonderfully well with the shadows and the darkness of the room.

"What the hell are you, you monster!!" The Uchiha yelled, while trying to use the power of the basilisk eye, staring straight into the beast's eyes, however without any results. It seemed Kyohei had been on the right end earlier: who would know the power and the weakness of those eyes better than the very person that created them?

Finally coming to understand that the basilisk eye does not work against the true master of the eye, Kirito closed that eye again, opening his other eye with she sharingan again. Making a few hand seals and breathing in a whole lot of air, the Uchiha suddenly released an enormous amount of red flames in a streaming inferno aimed at the impressive form of Enaka, which became visible for only an instant, before being smothered by a continuous stream of fire.

The beast was at least eight feet high, wider than a doorpost and adorned by scales, claws and fangs that belonged to the ultimate kind of predator. The surprising thing however was the fact that if Kyohei looked closely at Enaka's new eyes in that form and the eye that made Kirito go mad looked exactly the same and were also similar to the eyes of the very girl for who's sake he had been forced to join forces with the unlikely ruler of konoha's darkness: Orochi Enaka.

The Uchiha was yet again gloating, laughing and practically sure of his victory, when out of the fire, a massive hand reached out and grabbed the man's head and easily lifted him from the ground, effectively stopping the jutsu.

"You dissapoint me, Kirito," The rumbling voice of Enaka sounded rather calm and peaceful, despite the aggressive appearance. "I had so much high hopes for you, you were a fine test subject. However, now it seems that you have outlived your usefulness, which saddens me. I have no more interest in you and things that do not interest me, should simply…Vanish"

A sickening crackle could be heard, followed by awailing scream. A single instant later, entire swats of blood splattered accross the office, splashing on all three others in the office. The huge beast opened its hand, dropping the Uchiha to the floor, with a skull that after the enormous pressure had been left with the size of and apple.

"Get rid of this filth," Enaka hissed, while reverting back to his original form and giving Myra a signal that she could start by litting the torches and replace the lightbulbs. "Bring his eyes to the research department and make sure my office is clean as a whistle again when I return."

Turning to Kyohei, the Ouroboros clan regent remained silent for a second, seemingly contemplating what he would tell the youngster.

"You've done well today, Kyohei" The man said, while patting him on the shoulder. "from now on, you will get your assignments out of Hataro's hands, who will be your direct superior. Myra will be your partner from now on. Now off you go, I have some other things to deal with at home in a few moments."

As thin shards of glass and dust from the shattered light bulbs drizzled down in the room, leaving the office almost pitch black, Kyohei would activate his sharingan almost reflexively. He had already felt the surging chakra of Enaka, but what he would see as his crimson eyes scanned the blackened room would shock him. Where Enaka stood was not the shape or chakra density of a man. The source was large and long, definitely not human in shape. And the chakra was heavy, cold, and dark, more so than any other chakra signature he had ever encountered. Simply being in the same room as… whatever that was, made him almost feel as though his own neck was being constricted and choked by a serpent wrapping around him.

In his persistence Kirito still managed to get out an attack, aiming to set Enaka’s monstrous form ablaze from point blank range. It was a powerful jutsu. To any normal opponent  that jutsu landing would likely have ended the fight, more than likely even being fatal… but it should have been abundantly clear by now that this was no ordinary opponent. As Kirito began to prematurely celebrate his assumed victory he would face this reality in an excruciating fashion as a large hand reached out from the flames, lifting Kirito up by his head as it applied pressure to his skull.

Kyohei would not look away as Enaka finished off Kirito, only sidestepping a spray of blood that flew his way as Kirito’s bodily fluids exploded from his crushed skull. A moment of uneasy silence fell upon the room as Enaka returned to his normal form and faced Kyohei. It was not difficult to tell that he was thinking of what he felt would be the best way to carry on after that display, and Kyohei in turn searched for words to respond to whatever it was that Enaka was preparing. Kyohei glanced over to his shoulder as Enaka placed his hand there, leaving a dark spot of blood and whatever else remained on his hand after crushing Kirito’s head in its grasp. When his eyes would once again turn to lock gazes with Enaka, Kyohei simply remained silent and raised his right eyebrow curiously as he waited.

“Understood,” Kyohei said simply in response to Enaka’s statement regarding his new work situation, “I’d tell you that you know where to find me, but I think that would be a bit redundant.” Turning away from the Orochi regent to take his leave he would face his new contemporaries, Hataro and Myra, glaring silently at them and nodding in acknowledgment before making his way out of the office. As he began his trek out of The Dungeon and back towards the village, thoughts of the day’s events began to run through his mind. Enaka, Hataro, and Myra; three people that would no doubt play an important role in his life for the foreseeable future. In Enaka and Hataro he found enemies. There was no doubt about that. No matter what kind of working agreement existed between them, the three of them knew that by the end of their relationship all three of them remaining alive was an impossibility. To that end Kyohei was grateful for this day. Having gotten a glimpse of them in action first hand would no doubt prove invaluable to him. Now he had a better idea of what he was up against. As for Myra… he wasn’t sure what to think of her just yet. Obviously he would approach her with caution due to who it was she worked for, but there was a distinct difference between she and the others. Perhaps she would one day prove useful to him as well.  That however, would all have to wait. After all, once he returned to the village he would have his own responsibilities to tend to, namely his girlfriend. He still did owe her a gift after all.

---

7967~


4275/4275: Str C-2 > C-3 & End D-0 > C-3

1500/1500: Sharingan: Kyushi

1500/1500: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu