The past week had been a combination of painful memories resurging again, being stabbed, beaten and most importantly remembered of her own weakness compared to others in the upper echelons of Konoha if not the entire shinobi world. Risu, bearing the codename Lamya had been part of the ANBU for nearly a month now and still she couldn't get used to what was going on around her and within her. Her fear of blood had been completely suppressed and was even leaning towards violent tendencies and almost bordering the very essence of actual bloodlust.

She knew that being part of the ANBU meant to face head on with the spreading darkness that roamed freely inside and outside Hi no kuni, but at the same time she loathed the certain methods that were being used to quell those dangers and threats to the peace, for she saw no justice, no decency in those acts.

The ANBU relied on their own kind of darkness, spurred and commanded or rather simply ordered around by those officers of the CID or Central Intelligence Division, the ANBU had become a tool, a weapon to combat darkness with darkness, rather than being protectors of the village, the ANBU had changed into a muderous, hungry beast, waiting every moment for the next waves of blood that would spill over its claws and fangs.

Despite her feelings towards the change in character of the ANBU, Risu relished the action, seeing herself change into such a beast, yet not being able to stop it, for her stubborness was equally big as her hatred, completing together into a lethal combination.

The thing which had sparked her desire for power and the Truth even more than anything else, was the very incident which occured around a week ago, when she was supposed to assassinate the politician Satori Masaru, who had some false accusations on her village and had the potential of disrupting the peace that had been achieved by many decades of bloodshed in the last shinobi world war.

During that mission, she had not only dealt with two weak guards that tried to protect the person who paid them, but also a ronin, someone who seemed stronger and despite all that happened, she still believed that this particular ronin had not even tried to show his true value to her, yet he wasn't the worst thing that happened to her during that mission, for it was that mysterious, masked woman who completely threw her off balance.

That woman had the same scent as Risu's mother, was familiar in physical appearance, as well as the fact that her way of moving was almost the same as that of Risu herself, being stabbed by that woman with a scalpel didn't really help things in any possible way.

Cursing herself for the fact that her distractions had almost costed her life back then and there, the young ANBU operative had vowed to gain more power and more knowledge for the sole purpose of wiping out that shadow which held her beloved village in its grip, chokeholding even the very nation of fire in its cold and dark clutches. For that reason, the young woman walked from her apartment towards the building which represented the ANBU headquarters, where she could have some serious training, a decent workout on the training grounds to acquire that which she wanted: power.

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After greeting the man behind the counter, Risu adorned herself with her black and white mask which represented a snake, checking her pouches with utensils, as well as the scalpel which had been sheathed in a soft leather holster for a quick draw and sheath motion. It was all simply formed with meticulous detail and with every possible flaw and error that could occur in battle in mind, completely like Risu wanted everything to be. The scalpel was a family heirloom and that alone pissed her off, knowing that that very familiar masked woman that had stabbed her, did so with a scalpel, showing so much similarities with herself, that she couldn't cope with the dissapointment she was feeling about her own fighting style, which she thought to be way to lax compared to that of her boyfriend Kyohei for instance, who was much more aggressive and did not deter from threading over corpses to achieve his goal, which made her hope that he wasn't intending of threading over her own corpse one day.

Descending from the stairs, Risu could see a few of her comrades, some with their masks others without them, yet unlike them she did not like to take off the mask, for without it, she felt weak, exposed and deterred to do that which was asked from her: to use that darkness within herself for the good of the village hidden in the leaf.

Arriving at the training grounds, the young ANBU operative was being greeted by some other members of konoha's elite forces, which she politely answered, though quickly she followed on those greetings by stopping a few of the newest recruits, those who had yet to prove themselves within the actual ranks of the ANBU and it gave her the idea to use this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: she would test their skills, while having some actual training for herself as well, it was simply perfect.

So she pointed at the training grounds, which seemed to spark some enthusiasm with the new recruits, who all started to shout like borish sports fans, seemingly ready to make some bets among themselves, when suddenly one of them had the audacity to slap his hand straight onto Risu's ass, thinking he'd be getting a free cop without breaking something, and she did nearly break something, as she quickly grabbed the young man's hand, twisted his arm and placed her foot upon his shoulder, while pulling the twisted arm upwards.

Two of the recruits were needed to refrain Risu from dislocating the young man's shoulder. The young new recruit, who was about the same age as Risu wasn't pleased with what had happened, shaking himself out of his friends' grip and storming straight towards the young Orochi lady, grabbing her by the collar of her ANBU armor, while issuing a challenge.

"If you wan to challenge me, if that is what you desire," The young ANBU operative chuckled, while looking straight into the newbie's eyes throught the eyeholes of her own mask. "I accept."

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The recruit laughed at Risu's response to his challenge and litterally threw her on the field where they would be pitted against each other, where she landed with a soft tap of her toes, having flipped around, shifting her weight perfectly to avoid any unrelenting pressure on her muscles, tendons or bones when she came down to the ground. Stretching out her arm, she wiggled with her index finger towards the recruit who had been in an aggressive stage right after she had quietly accepted his challenge to her skills.

"The louder the dog barks, the less powerful his bite," The young ANBU operative chuckled, while her opponent came rushing towards her on the field, after jumping over the fence that acted as the boundary for the training ground. "Come an show me what you're worth, I promise I'll be gentle."

Without a moment of hesitation, the recruit started weaving hand seals on an extremely fast pace, placing his index ginger close to where his mouth would be behind his mask, firing off an incredible fire ball jutsu, which given its diameter of easily three meters was no longer a C-rank, but rather a B rank jutsu, forcing Risu to jump back and place her hands on the ground after weaving some seals of her own, erecting a mud wall, which halted the progress of the magnificent fire ball jutsu before crumbling down into a puddle of dried mud.

Yet, as she tried to look up and relocate the recruit, she noticed that he had jumped upwards, spinning down and aiming to perform a dropkick with his left foot straight on her head, but her reaction was possibly as fast as he could make any strategy: crossing her arms above her head to bear the full brunt of the impact and pushing him off of her head while grabbing the still extended leg and swinging him towards the ground.

However, underestimating her opponent was something she should not have done, for he quickly reacted by twisting his entire body, so he could land on his hands, while Risu still had his leg in her arms and when he had found his balance on his two hands, he used his free leg to kick her in the abdomen, forcing her to release his leg and stagger backwards. This was a good display of taijutsu and something which really irked the young Orochi lady, for her biggest weakness in close combat was without any doubt facing off against skilled taijutsu users.

Gritting her teeth when she realized this particular problem, she jumped backwards. Her landing wasn't perfect, as the stinging pain in her abdomen really needed quite some time to subside, yet taking no half meassurements and to prevent the young man from closing in on her, the young ANBU woman quickly weaved a series of hand seals after which her hands were envelopped by a clear, thick form of chakra infused water.

"You're good from up close," Risu commended the recruit, while starting to throw her hands through the air rapidly, firing off easily a dozen of sharp and fast, sickle formed water projectiles at her opponent. "Let's see if you can deal with long range and mid range jutsu as well?"

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the young man swiftly reacted, though only in the nick of time, regaining balance, while throwing himself away from his earlier position by using the tanto he had been carrying on his back, landing rather unsoftly on a spot a few meters away from where Risu had unleashed upon her hellish fury of water slashes, leaving a scarred training ground and surprising her opponent that he might've indeed been making some mistakes, however, his typically and foolish manly pride made him forget the most true and forewarning sayings of time: Hell hth no fury like a woman scorned.

Before he could get up properly, the Orochi woman had caught up to him with quite an amazing speed, bursting from her position to his in just the blink of an eye, throwing a clear cut punch in the gut, while using her equally exceptional strength to launch the young man into the air.

Her expression was lethal, deadly even if expressions could kill and as her mask covered the softer, less intimidating parts of her face, all the recruit could see where those two golden snake eyes, dulled and darkened, brimming with sinister chakra, as a pruple glow shone within her eyes and around her.

Deciding that she was not going to be civil or restrained anymore, a feral roar escaped her lips, making an eerie sound as the mask distorted her voice to such meassures not a single person would've believed that it came from such a fragile looking girl's mouth.

"You who does not know the darkness within my heart," She suddenly hissed, before launching a flurry of punches on the exact same spot of the young man's gut where her first hit had landed. Her words did not show rage or anger, but simply seemed to be the prelude of the despair that would follow for the young recruit, all the while drawing the attention of many CID members and ANBU members who were more than happy to take a peak at how diligent she was training. "Now shall you taste the very foundation of the ANBU…fear."

Before the recruit could react, a burst of purple chakra seemed to come out of Risu's gloved hands, giving him the feeling of a thousand knifes slicing him open, but when he looked, the dust had settled and he was lying on the ground, unable to lift even a single finger, while Risu seemed to have calmed down and had removed her mask, showing a compassionate smile.

"To counter that fear, all of us need to respect one and other, to make sure we always work flawless as a team, remember that," The young woman said, before putting her mask back on and leaving the training ground and the recruit behind herself. The other new recruits quickly ran to their companion, but they did not notice his reaction to her words: a tear and a warm, understanding smile, for he had learned his lesson, while not knowing that the one named Lamya was nowhere near her own salvation.

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B-0 -> B-1 Perception 700/700 complete
B-2 -> B-3 Speed 900/900 complete

548 unused.