A few hours prior to present:

She had planned it out perfectly, creating an environment for the young man of her age to grow faster than anyone else of their age. After all, it was her goal to not only nurture and mature the Uchiha’s unique sharing, but also to study him to the best of her own abilities. So far she had found a correlation between the amount of tome in the activated sharing and the level of strength the user of that dojutsu had. It was astounding to realize that if he were to reach her level of strength, when he’d be at Jonin rank, he’d already have those intriguing Mangekyo Sharing at his disposal, that is, if her charts were correct, for there was a rumor passed down all the Uchiha and also those who observed and studied them: There was a certain requirement to achieving the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, a requirement far more straining to a person’s mind than any other requirement needed for any other jutsu.

It was apparent that the sharing thrived on love and companionship, only to be cursing those bonds when the user wanted to obtain power beyond the normal limit of the sharingan. At a certain point those who wanted more power were put before the frighteningly harsh task of either cutting their bonds with their own hands or denouncing all desire to grow further. This was one of the reasons, Risu had decided to further investigate and test her disciple. With his new found strength, it was about time she gave him some harder trials. Their last test of strength only showed a glimpse of his potential, but the young Orochi lady knew fully well that if she so desired, she could draw out his power even more so by simply putting him in a situation where there was either survival or death.

If he would prove to be exactly as strong as she thought him to be and when he would survive that test, then it would be time for her to go to the second phase of her plan, a plan she had meticulously prepared simply for her own wishes to be fulfilled. The first phase was setting aside her own uncle, who had done so much horrible things to Risu, that killing him wasn’t enough. He was going to be her stepping stone, for he had what she needed: information and in the end, he was still a valuable piece in her chess game.

Sitting behind the desk of her study at the Orochi Estate, the young woman was now looking straight towards three fine members of the Ouroboros clan’s private guard detail: four members of the Hebi Guard, selected not because they were the strongest of the guard, but because they were the best of their generation, their clan head’s generation. Despite them having the same age as Risu, they were several ranks lower as shinobi and also seemed to lack the orate lady’s natural talent, but all in all, they were solid ninjas, dependable and quite strong. Individually they would no doubt lose instantly against Uchiha Tenzo, but as a group, a squad, they might prove to be a rather difficult opponent.

"Mari, Rito, Asaki and Nemu," The Orochi lady repeated the names of the four shinobi standing in front of her with a stern and authorotive voice. Looking straight at the four young members of the Hebi guard, who instinctively bowed their head when noticing the golden eyes look upon them with an otherworldly shimmer in them. "I have a very important mission for the four of you, one which will decide wether or not you guys are fit to stay in the Hebi guard or even have the slim chance of ever getting into a more elitist organizaion which I will not disclose at this point."

The two young men and two young women simply gritted their teeth when hearing the hidden insult in the Orochi Lady's words, but did not react in fear of severe punishment. After all, it was known that those who did not comply to the guard's minimum of potential, were simply transferred to either the regular village's shinobi squads or other places.

"All four of you were raised in the Ouroboros compound's orphanage, but now you stand before me as shinobi," The young lady continued calmly, opening a drawer from her desk and unravelling it in front of them, so they could take a good look at the contents. Upon it, the face of a young man was drawn with an astonishing eye for detail. "This man will be your target. He is supposedly a traitor to his own kind and a criminal towards our kind. He must be dealt with and he WILL be dealt with, by you four."

The drawing showed a young man, with black hair and black eyes, a rather gloomy, yet intelligent expression on his face. Though it was the name which made them silent for just a moment, as right under the picture, there was his name: Uchiha Tenzo. An Uchiha was not something many people wanted to face in combat, as they were noticably more dangerous than others thanks to thei legendary kekkei gunk: the sharingan.

"He has been spotted in the forest outside of our compound, but since his crimes were against our clan, we are allowed to deal with this matter privately," The young woman sighed for a moment, before rolling up the piece of parchment again and handing it over to Mari. "leave at once, search the forest, find him and bring him to me...dead or alive."

Present time:

From her study, Risu had ordered one of her servants to find and summon Uchiha Tenzo to her immediately, as she required his presence. At the same time, she managed to get dressed in a more appropriate outfit, wearing that which she wore when she first meet the Uchiha in the dark alley, only this time without a mask and with her long hair braided into a long tail, topped off with a single, purple silk ribbon tying off her hair at the end.

When the young man would arrive at the study, she would simply greet him properly and hand him over a scroll containing a place and a date.

"To congratulate you on your promotion to Chuunin, I've prepared a simple surprise for you. A test for this new found power of yours, if you will," The young woman spoke calmly, giving a warm smile towards the young man. "You will encounter a team of chuunin level criminals...I want you to defeat them."

1123 wc

A few hours ago...

Standing in an awkward sideways position with one leg inside the room, the young lad was hanging with the other half of his body outside the window; apparently, this is how Tenzō was enjoying the refreshing breeze which slowly tussled his raven-like hair. Only a slight push was needed for him to fall down and meet the ground, and that act was almost accomplished by the those two consecutive knocks that perturbed the silence around him. One of the Orochi Lady’s servants entered the room before stating that his presence was requested by the woman who had the role of a mistress. Therefore, her summoning was answered in just a couple of minutes, as the young Uchiha was now standing in a kneeling position before her. A few words were used to announce his arrival, and all of them were spoken on a nonchalant tone, whilst his jet-black eyes feasted upon the ground. “Greetings, Lady Risu.” the Uchiha murmured silently.

The lad was obedient and docile like a hound to its owner; a few items acted as a garment that was quite similar to the one he used in their last testing sessions, although there was something added on it. A medium-sized handkerchief was wrapped around the man’s neck, which he would use in order to cover up the lower part of his face if stealth was needed for him. After hearing the woman’s request, the Uchiha nodded a few times consecutively before posing a question “Do we have more information about them? Like what was their last location, and what kind of abilities do they possess, as everything about them might help me on my assignment. A description about their appearance might also work in this case.” on a curious tone whilst that left eyebrow of his arched backwards.

Somewhere within the forest...

An hour or so later, Tenzō was searching throughout the dense forest for his designated targets, while keeping both eyes opeend in case that his prey would have been anywhere around his vicinity. Facing four shinobi alone was something which he did not do before, and he was afraid that with their sheer numbers they may overwhelm this fragile and newly appointed chūnin. He was acting the same way he used to do when his father took him out for hunting, walking with slow and almost unbearable footsteps so that his marks may not hear him. In most of his fights, Tenzō preferred to plan ahead and keep a few steps above his opponents, although his behavior was different when it came to hunting. That animalistic instinct of his was playing a key role towards his tracking methods, and keeping  the advantage of surprise was a necessary act as well.

He was a fool to even believe that he had the advantage of surprise, since the young hunter was not aware that the woman was playing him like a pawn in this particular game of hers. With that being said, the Uchiha would be in for quite of a surprise if he were to find out that those particular individuals had receive a similar task, in which it mean getting rid of him. Although, due to Lamya being equipped in her ANBU attire, the Uchiha had a certain feeling that she may head out as well and watch over during this whole act. It was nothing more than just a gut feeling; a hunch based on his beliefs.

A shivering presence bestowed upon the lands, as the wind was now blowing even more tense than it has before; the signs were quite clear when they indicated that a rain was about to occur. The animals were also acting restless by ceaselessly running throughout the woods, as if they were sensing this eerie vibe which began roaming around the place. It was really strange, but the whole land beneath left behind the impression that it was screaming for blood, it was unavoidable. Only a few things were certain, and one of those things indicated that not everyone was going to leave unharmed out of this eerie looking forest.

Twas the calm before the storm...

---

706 Words

From within the trees, waiting in the silence and the darkness of the shadows, four young shinobi were awaiting the moment their prey would show itself. They had been ordered to take down a certain Uchiha on behalf of their clashed: Lady Risu. This was their chance to show her their true value, this was their final chance of getting something good out of life. Looking down at the ground, they waited patiently, not moving a single inch during the time that passed so slowly. Mari, Rito, Asaki and Nemu were proud of their Hebi heritage, despite the fact it was the subservient family to the Orochi's, who were born with a much greater potential, they still had a lienage to be proud of, with many esteemed shinobi having hailed from their family, such as the late father of their new clanhead.

But without their knowledge, a female figure, clad in a completely black outfit, was watching them from an even higher position, hidden in the leaves of the trees and the shades of darkness envelopping her. This figure wanted to see the progress of both sides from up above. The side that won, would live, the other side however, would perish that day, never to be heard of again.

Suddenly, the four shinobi and the masked figure above finally caught a glimpse of the target they had been presented with, as the Uchiha was who they were ordered to apprehend, suddenly passed through the trees underneath them. AS they aimed to first try and apprehend him alive, the four shinobi looked at eachother silently, formulating their plans with mere signals, to prevent the Uchiha from hearing them or spotting them in a probably to obvious way. When their plans had been made, two of them rushed onwards through the branches of the forest's tree to intercept Tenzo and reveal themselves before him by dropping down on the ground and readying their kana just in case.

"You there, halt!!" Rito yelled, the black haired, slender young man standing tall and holding out his hand in a stop sign towards Tenzo, with his sister Mari standing next to him, with similar black hair and a similar slender build. They both wore grey jumpsuits with lavender flack jackets, though they were without symbols on them, their outfit did signify that they were certainly shinobi. "Uchiha Tenzo, I order you to surrender peacefully and come with us."

In the meantime Asaki and Nemu had also arrived at the scene, with their kunai drawn and both with yet again a similar appearance to the other two: a young man and woman with black hair and a slender build, dressed in grey jumpsuits and adorned with lavender colored flack jackets.

"Oh screw this," Nemu laughed, while pulling out a second kunai with his free hand, throwing the two kunai towards the Uchiha. "You all stand back, I'm going to take him down. There's no need to talk with this filthy criminal."

Sighing deeply, Asaki, Rito and Mari jumped back and upwards to stand on some lower, thick branches of some trees, so their companion Nemu had all the space he wanted to deal with the Uchiha as he had demanded from them. Right as they jumped up, Nemu didn't savor the moment of having thrown his kana, as he quickly started weaving his hands to follow up on his initial move by throwing the uchiha off guard.

"Doton: Raijingu supiāzu!!" The young man yelled, while stomping the ground with one of his feet, spreading an amount of chakra throughout the ground to have spears shot upwards from it towards Tenzo. This was in a way a smart move of the young man, as he hoped for the Uchiha to jump up, so he could throw another kunai at him to incapacitate him. Already having grabbed his third kunai, the Hebi member simply waited for the moment the Uchiha would decide to jump. "Come on, mr Uchiha, show some pride in your skills."

673/1796 wc

chakra+jutsu:

Unsuspectingly, and only with just a small amount of information, the Uchiha continued scouring the forest. Having his Sharingan active during the hunt would have probably made his job way more easier, although the cost given by its maintenance would of surely left him in a pickle during a battle against four shinobi. In the upcoming battle each and every ounce of chakra mattered, or so that was the mentality which drove him that day. While walking, a certain hissing sound caught the attention of his ears; the branches were moving, however he continued on his set path while having the impression that it was probably nothing more than bird. This belief of his ended quite abruptly when the team decided to make themselves noticed, and leave behind a baffled expression upon the Uchiha’s face whilst he wondered why was there a need for them to conceal themselves in the first place.

Their outfit did not hint anything past the simple fact that they were all a hefty pair of shinobi, and it was probably the one which he was destined to find. Hearing his name being shouted made both of his eyes narrow against them, while a loud and suggestive snort gushed away from him. They knew his name, and his reputation was not that known within Konohagakure, or over the lands; something was clearly fishy about this, however, he decided to play along. Maybe he must’ve had some kind of past interactions which resulted towards this unfortunate event, although the odds were quite slim considering that they were four in number.

Nonetheless, the Uchiha pulled out his kunai whilst letting his ebony eyes fade away in that crimson red color, before using his own weapon to deflect those projectiles with a blow dwelt against each one of them. “Why are you calling me a filthy criminal?” was the single question that Tenzō managed to pose before Nemu attacked him once more; perhaps the boy was too ignorant to listen to his question, or his words may have not reached him yet. The distance between them was quite shallow and the only thing which the Uchiha thought was to jump backwards while keeping his eyes darted against the cunning lad. While in midair, Tenzō was assaulted once more by Nemu with another kunai; however, this time he threw one as well in order to let them collide against each other and fall against the ground.

Before he reached the ground, Tenzō already began working on his hand seals, and as soon as they were finished, the Uchiha slammed his right hand against the ground once he landed. “Doton, Mud Wolves!” he shouted once three wolves began to emerge from the ground beneath him. “Distractions...” he thought while remembering Lamya’s words. “I’ll give you distractions...” Tenzō uttered before giving out a sharp whistle whilst his hands went for another couple of seals. The wolves charged fiercely against Nemu, all of them with the intention of colliding against him in order to bruise his body. However, the Uchiha did not stop here, as soon as his next hand seals were finished, he uttered a few more words “Katon, Hōsenka no Jutsu!” on a silent tone before puckering up his lips and gushing out a number of ten small fire balls towards Nemu in order to surround him and cause minor burns on his body.

That chest of his inflated quite dramatically as it inhaled a considerably quantity of air in order to push out all of that fire which molted within him; however, the technique wasn’t really that consuming like the first time that he used it. While working under Lamya, the Uchiha had shown an alarming rate when it came to honing up his skills, as the woman was pushing him forth with different kind of tricks that she had hidden beneath her sleeve. He was indeed lucky to work with a shinobi which was smart and cunning, powerful and feared, beautiful and a lot of other words that were befitting to her. At this fragile age of hers, the woman was an ANBU captain and not only that, she was also the clan leader of her own; something, which the Uchiha aspired to be as well in the nearby future, although he didn’t even have half of her strength. Even though she used him for her own purposes, Tenzō wasn’t bothered at all as he believed that there was more into her than that mischievous and scary side which she keeps displaying. In reality, it was probably nothing more than a shield which she used to defend herself; her own emotions and understanding about this world.

The only thing which he had, is that strong determination which followed him wherever he decided to go. Through sheer willpower, the young lad would surpass his weak and fragile vessel in order to overcome his current state and hopefully, one day accomplish that dream of his which consisted in reuniting the Uchiha clan. Helping all of those members that remained scattered in different countries, or those who are too afraid to come back within Konohagakure. Tenzō wanted to make sure that his clan wouldn’t become just a mere memory that may be forgotten, or just a few words written within a scroll or a book. By reuniting his own kin, the Uchiha would want to restore their prestige and honor, by bringing back the clan to their former state, when they were known to be strongest alongside the Senju. However, that goal would probably remain just a dream, since there are now a much larger number of clans, and each and every one of them had interesting and probably even more stronger abilities; the Orochi one was surely within the top.

---

968 Words

Total Words ~ 1674

200 Chakra - 10 from Two Tomoe Sharingan = 190 Chakra Left

190 Chakra - 15 from Phoenix Flower Jutsu = 175 Chakra Left

175 Chakra - 15 from Mud Wolves = 160 Chakra Left

Techniques Used:

"Hmm, he seemed to have thought his movements through," The figure clad in black whispered softly in the distance, with a massive white snake coiling himself around the branch she was standing on. Her eyes shimmered eerily behind her black mask, not even missing a single moment of what was transpiring below her. Truly her student was becoming stronger faster than she had even dreamed of, who knew, he might even exceed her if she wasn't so hellbent on getting more and more power. "His growth is progressing nicely, wont you say Uraeus?"

The snake looked in the same direction as the woman clad in black, his beady red eyes not seeing clearly, but with his vision aided by his natural sense of smell and vibration, the snake could 'see' as clear as his mistress. A chuckling hiss escaped his maw, while he looked back up towards his master.

"Truly a pity those four did not cooperate," The snake hissed, calmly voicing his opinion on the matter. He was absolutely right though, if the four of them had cooperated, the fight could've started and ended much faster in thei favor, but now their lack of experience and cooperation was certainly going to cost them dearly. "The sharingan you so desired to study...growing at such an alarmingly fast pace. Will you have completed your uncle's research by the time this young lad reaches his full potential?"

The woman glared towards the snake with an incredibly intimidating darkness within her eyes. This was the power of the woman who had come to rule the Ouroboros clan, her immense aura, her intimidating presence was possibly even greater than that of her uncle when he was still a jounin, a sign for what the future would hold.

"What my uncle desired wasn't wrong, but I can not forgive the fact that he has used my parents, my sensei and me to soothe his own ambitions," The woman hissed silently, yet coldly. Returning her attention to the fight which was occuring below. "He had almost completed the research on his Basilisk eyes. When I have completed his work, I will hold a weapon greater than any other, a weapon which would even overpower the sharingan if necessary."

Meanwhile below the two spectators, the three other shinobi ordered to fight the Uchiha held their breath when it seemed that their companion had made some critical errors. His initially thrown kunai were deflected rather easily and the Uchiha managed to stay out of the Hebi shinobi's spiked radius of six meters on the ground. To make matters worse, he even deflected the third kunai thrown at him, while following up by creating a multitude of wolves out of the dirt.

Nemu, surprised by what was happening and what had happened, crossed his arms in front of himself to protect himself from the incoming wolves. Making the error of not stopping and dispelling his jutsu, he was forced to retain his position in the small path of untouched ground in which he was standing, yet after he was battered by the three wolves, he could only curse himself from not seeing what was coming next in time.

While being singed and bombarded by the multitude of flaming projectiles, the young shinobi lost his foothold and fell backwards on the spikes, seriously injuring himself to the point that he couldn't get up again, except for stomping the ground to remove the spikes and refrain from wounding himself any further.

Asaki quickly jumped down from her position to grab and drag Nemu away from the center of the open space, while Mari and Rito each grabbed three senbon in each hand and threw them from their higher position towards Tenzo, with each trio of senbons aimed at a different limb: one trio of senbon for his left, one trio of senbon for his right lower leg, one trio of senbon for his left and one trio of senbon for his right lower arm.

At the very moment their senbon left their hands, the clasped their hands together to prepare the same set of handseals simultaniously. "Doton: Retsudo Tenshō!!"

Both Mari and Rito jumped down from their branch to slam the ground with their fists at the same time, creating a rather violent shockwave which coursed through the ground rapidly, tearing it open and causing it to crumble and tremble like a heavy earthquake and collapsing all around them. While they were doing this, Asaki had already brought Nemu atop a branch and had started to use her medical ninjutsu to heal her companion from his wounds with the basic recovery method, but both their pharmacophobia defects made it hard for either of them to make any decent progress.

795/2591

chakra+jutsu:

The restless wolves were howling and growling before bashing themselves into their designated target; however they lacked a mind of their own. Once they have collided against the young lad, all three of them had dissipated against him; however, this technique allowed the Uchiha to already start upon their reforming. Not everything went as planned, since a total of twelve senbons were heading for the Uchiha, while he began jogging his way towards Nemu, hindering his act by forcing the man to keep his eyes wide open in order to attempt his dodge regarding the upcoming projectiles. With great effort, Tenzō managed to slip by most of them, although one of them had the capabilities of piercing the upper part of his left shoulder, while his body was leaned forward. Due to his nature, the Uchiha became hot-blooded and with the use of his right arm he extracted the senbon from his shoulder before throwing it against the ground. Both of his nostrils were inflated due to the sheer pain caused by that large needle.

The pair was quite persistent and did not stop there, as both of them slammed their opened paws against the ground which stood beneath them. In the blink of an eye, the earth around them began to shiver, and the dirt from which the wolves were meant to reform, began to slowly drip between the cracks; the unborn wolves were placed within their eternal slumber. With the use of his crimson eyes, the Uchiha waltzed at the group before him, while also using the trees as stepping stones in case the cracks were too hard to be avoided.

A few and consecutive hand seals were being made, while Tenzō kept heading towards them like a train. Before the gap had the chance to close, Tenzō let out a sly smirk which took over his lips whilst his direction was shifted; the Uchiha had entirely another plan in mind. A couple of few more steps were taken, three or four before the young lad cocked his head backwards whilst mumbling a few words “Katon, Goryūka no Jutsu!” on a silent tone. Both of those numb lips opened wide before gushing out a concentrated layer of fire which took a different kind of form than those fireballs. Tenzō used to train even when Lamya was not around, therefore he was capable of learning a new technique, one which allowed him to concentrate a high amount of chakra and mold it within the shape of a dragon’s head.

Due to the fact that Tenzō had unlocked the second stage of the Sharingan, he was now capable of seeing the chakra of these four shinobi. Even though this ability granted by the eyes was not really at its full stage, the Uchiha was still able to pinpoint his targets in order to direct his attack towards them. Therefore, the ground beneath these scourging flame was turning to cinder as it was now heading towards Nemu’s and Asaki’s  location. Attacking wounded people was something which stood against the man’s beliefs; however, they were unreasonable and this was a situation of life and death, this action was forced upon him. Even if the act was cruel and unjust, the Uchiha had also to fulfill the assignment which he was given; disappointing Lamya would only make him seem as man who was only capable of jesting and nowhere near dedicated to her cause.

Knowing that their eyes might be stolen by the jutsu, while also hoping that they may not see his next technique, the Uchiha made another hand seal before placing his hand upon a nearby log in order to infuse chakra within it; carefully relocating himself away from it right after, on the other side of the field. It was two against one right now, and Tenzō wanted to be sure that it will remain that way, if he were to have a chance of getting alive out of this eerie forest. Attacking him like this was actually a good strategy on their behalf, since they were able to exhaust him completely before finishing the Uchiha up. Most of his fire techniques might have worked better if he were to use them on multiple persons instead of one at a time; clearly, he did not have the necessary chakra to sustain a fight with each of them individually.

He only had so much time at his disposal in order to react, and making more than a single mistake might end up with his life being taken away. A insignificant, thought shivering thought had appeared within the Uchiha’s mind, causing doubt regarding his own capabilities that were needed in order to pull out this assignment. Maybe it was too early for him to be able to complete such difficult tasks alone, however, if he were to make it out alive, the time allocated to his training will most likely double. Since he was a young child, Tenzō had confronted multiple occasions in which he doubted his own capabilities, although with the help of his sister, the raven-haired lad was capable of gathering the necessary courage that was needed in order to overcome his pathetic state. However, in reality, life was like a double edge sword. Having too much confidence might make you arrogant and bring your death closer to you, or being too insecure might end up with the same result. Therefore, the Uchiha needed to find a balance between these two in order to strive forth and become a much stronger being, physically and mentally.

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933 Words

Total Words ~ 2607

160 Chakra - 10 from Two Tomoe Sharingan = 150 Chakra Left

150 Chakra - 20 from Great Dragon Flame = 130 Chakra Left

130 Chakra - 5 Substitution Technique = 125 Chakra Left

Techniques Used:

"ugh, just try something else," Nemu groaned while Asaki tried to heal him at the best of her abilities, despite the fact both she and Nemu had the accursed Pharmacophobia inherent to their clan, she still tried her best to make sure her comrade could at least stand on his own again, rather than remaining immobile until someone more experienced in healing should have to deal with the young man's wounds. "That guy was not just lucky, he's smarter than we thought. It's not only his sharingan, but also his instincts. Go help the others, I'll be fine for now."

Asaki ignored her companion's pleads for the time, first trying to observe the Uchiha's fighting style, to make sure she could find a weakness within his attack and defense pattern. Where Mari and Rito were by far the best people when it came to teamwork, Asaki was a genius observer and despite her aversion of fighting, she was very good in finding weakspots and creating openings. Her biggest problem however, was the fact that she never was able to actually command another person to victory due to her timid behavior, leading to situations where she tries to do everything herself, even if it lowered her chances of succeeding.

"Heh, gotcha!!" Rito yelled while noticing that his senbon had hit their intended target, though he gulped a bit when seeing the instense rage in the Uchiha's expression when the aforementioned young man pulled out the needles fiercely. However, his smile remained when seeing the mudwolves fall into the depths of the cracks in the ground, even if their creator did not perish, it was still a satisfactionary moment for the young man, that is, until his sister tapped on his shoulder, pointing out that the Uchiha had obviously turned his attention towards the wounded Nemu and his caretaker Asaki. "Exactly like Nemu said, this man knows no shame, nor the code of conduct."

Before Asaki could notice the change of pace and direction, she could feel Nemu grab her wrist and pull her down to the ground, while the young man himself hunged over the young woman, acting like a shield for the incoming inferno of flames shaped in the form of a dragon. The young man could feel his armor and jumpsuit burn, the flames scorching his flesh and cauterizing his earlier wounds, while he cried out in anguish. Asaki as well screamed from seeing the painful expression on her comrade's face, as well as the fact that she felt the guilt welling up deep within herself, asking herself why she had not seen the outcome of this situation. As the flames subsided, the branch upon which they rested broke, with Nemu falling upon the ground, where dirt and sand got into his wounds and burns, causing another immense shock of pain to completely make him lose consciousness.

Asaki, despite not having fallen off her place, lost consciousness due to the stress, falling down on the ground as well, not moving anymore. Mari and Rito, seeing all what had transpired, started to tremble heavily, tears welling up in their eyes, while their expressions showed an unrelenting fury.

"You...you monster!!" They both yelled angrily, kneading their chakra while being fueled by both hatred and disgust towards the young Uchiha. "You will pay for what you've done!!"

Both of them made the tiger sign, compressing chakra of the water release, with each shooting off a total of six small spheres towards the Uchiha at blinding speed, aiming to hit him against the head, chest and abdomen. "Suiton: Teppōdama!!"

From up in the highest points of the trees, the young woman clad in black together with her snake, looked down at the unfolding battle with much interest. It was obvious to Uranus that Risu was genuinly surprised by the violent katon jutsu used by the young Uchiha in her care. He had obviously grown very strong in a short time and apparently even more so than she had initially anticipated.

"Those guys react in anger...such a waste of chakra," the young Orochi Lady sighed, looking at how both Mari and Rito unleashed one of their staple jutsu, yet fueled by their anger. "Let's see how our dear Tenzo deals with this, shall we?"

723/3314

jutsu+chakra:

With his earlier attack, the Uchiha hoped that the group would suffer a significant moral blow and hopefully they would have lost their will of fighting; however, he only managed to make them angrier. Despite this unexpected result, things weren’t really going against his odds, since anger was usually known for leading those who possessed it towards reckless and unwanted actions. Due to the fact that Tenzō executed his attack flawlessly, the young lad had managed to blow of some of steam which kept him boiling inside, regaining his calmness once more within the fight. Using one technique after another, forced the raven-haired man to increase the speed of his breaths towards an alarming rate, whilst they were also getting shorter with each passing moment; the strain was showing on his body, and that previous wound was not helping him at all.

A piercing glare was given by the Uchiha, one which was aimed right after those hurtful words which categorized the lad as monster. It seems like the Orochi Lady had already managed to leave a print upon him, in such a short amount of time. A year ago, the young lad wasn’t really capable of performing such cruel acts, however, something inside of him caused a change. “These two are not going to stop, unless...” the Uchiha thought while keeping those orbs of his darted against the group who already was going in for another attack. Once they were finished, a number of twelve water spheres were heading towards Tenzō at a near blinding speed, threatening to end his life with their combined force.

Each and every one of them went against his body, successfully hitting the target in all of all the expected spots, such as chest, abdomen and head. Due to their force, his body flew behind in order to kiss the ground beneath him; however, before this act was completed, something which was probably unexpected by the duo had occurred. Tenzō’s body was immediately consumed by a white cloud of smoke, and right after the smoke had dispersed within the air, that body of his was no longer there. It was replaced by an wooden log which had multiple wholes within it and various chunks were also missing from its circular shape. Splinters were spread all over the ground, indicating that each and every hit was avoided in the switch which had just occurred.

Hissing was noise which arose from the bush located nearby Mari, and from it the Uchiha leaped at his maximum speed in order to reach out with his right hand for the kunai that was hoisted by the young woman’s belt. With a series of swift moves, Tenzō managed to grab a hold of the weapon and the woman which stood in front of him, pulling her with a sudden jerk against his own body. While having the woman stuck with her back against his chest, the Uchiha pointed the kunai around the woman’s throat, pushing it slightly against her jugular, although not hard enough in order to rip through her skin. “STOP!” the young lad shouted while holding Rito’s sister as a hostage.

“If you dare to take another step, I swear that you will never have the chance to speak with this woman again. However, if you wish to see her again, then I suggest that you should use any kind of restraining materials that you may have in order to tie up your own legs. I’m not sure why you are after me, nor do I really care. All of this needs to end, right now!” the Uchiha spoke with an audacious tone, while looking straight within Rito’s eyes in order to make sure that he understood the message quite properly.

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632 Words

Total Words ~ 3239

125 Chakra - 10 from Two Tomoe Sharingan = 115 Chakra Left

115 Chakra - 5 from Substitution Technique = 110 Chakra Left

With a smile on their face, the two young shinobi watched as their water bullet spheres homed in on their target and struck him on every place they had imagined hitting him. However, their selfesteem took quite a gnaw, when suddenly the ravaged body of the one they had hoped to disable suddenly poofed away in smoke, leaving nothing but a broken and battered log of dry wood in its place. They had seen his glare earlier, but dared to disregard it, yet now they werent so sure about themselves anymore, since he had managed to fool them with something as simple as the substitution technique. All in all it was more or less an emberassment for them and something they'd rather forget.

Slightly confused and in dissaray with eachother, as well as themselves, neither Mari nor Rito had realized that the Uchiha had sneakily and stealthily worked himself towards them through the bushes and when they did notice him as he emerged from those bushes, it was already to late to even react. In a mere instant, the Uchiha had managed to whisk away one of Mari's kunai's and had turned the tide completely in his favor by holding Mari, the younger girl of the two siblings hostage.

"You dare..." Rito hissed, but got cut short by Tenzo's loudly exclaimed ultimatum, putting the young Hebi shinobi in a bind. If he attacked now, he could overpower and maybe even disable all of the Uchiha's movements, but this would mean risking his sister's life, something the young man wasn't really willing to do. Gritting his teeth, Rito contemplated all possible actions, reactions and the outcome thereoff in only a matter of seconds, sighing deeply when he pulled his belt from his pants and started tying up his anckles with it, showing that the knot in the belt was made firmly, he raised his hands again, giving Tenzo an angry expression, showing that he was still angry and that he would retalliate if the Uchiha even dared to spill as much as a single drop of blood from his sister. "Damn you...you fiend, resorting to such lowly tactics. You really are nothing but an immoral monster aren't you?!?"

A soft thud could be heard behind Rito, with a frightened expression suddenly appearing on Mari's face, alerting the young man and forcing him to turn his head a bit. However, before he could even turn his head more than an inch, he could feel a hand being placed on top of his head and keep it firmly in place.

"That will be enough, Tenzo," The voice behind the ANBU mask spoke with a cold and extremely authorative tone. The female ANBU with the Black ANBU armor was already no stranger to the Uchiha, but nevertheless her appearance would no doubt make him remember the difference between them, so that his bloodlust might be tempered by that simple thought alone. "You have exceeded my expectations, you've passed the test."

Bending through her legs, so that she could lift her mask a bit, revealing her lips, as she closed the distance between her mouth and the bound Rito's ears, the Orochi lady's next words were a mere whisper, but could just the same be exclaimed in a large crowd.

"You four have failed miserably and for that I will not show lenience," In a flash, the young woman turned around, snapped her fingers and as the sound coursed through the dark forest, a massive white snake appeared out of the bushes, slithering towards the two unconscious members of the team of four and started coiling around them, until the sound of snapping bones and tearing flesh could be heard, causing Rito's eyes to be filled with tears. "You see Rito, this was all but a mere test. Either you four managed to subdue this Uchiha or he managed to subdue you, the winner would ofcourse hold the fate of the loser in his hands."

Standing up, walking towards Tenzo, who held Mari captive, Risu removed her mask completely, looking straight into the uchiha's eyes with her own golden snakelike eyes glistening with both interest and some kind of unnatural hunger: like how a hunter watches a prey, her eyes looked into his.

"You decide, which of these two do you deem most worthy to stay alive?" The Orochi lady said calmly, though with quite a sinister smile on her face.

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Hearing that everything was a test caused quite a surprise upon the Uchiha’s face while he was holding Mari against him, although Risu’s sinister smile reminded him once more that he was still nothing than a pawn beneath her eyes. Infuriated inside, Tenzō’s widen eyes became narrowed and displayed a certain fiery look that was never shown upon this young land. Without any more thought given, the Uchiha’s left hand began crawling its way up, covering the woman’s mouth entirely before a much tighter grip was placed around the kunai’s handle. They were all either shinobi or kunoichi, and deep inside they all knew that a similar day like this will be upon them as well; no matter how strong you may be, there will always be someone stronger than you.

Nonetheless, the time had come for that right hand of his to move from an end to another, opening up that fragile throat of hers in the process with just a swift and clean motion. Having the idea in mind that they were capable of doing the same thing towards him, Tenzō didn’t really hesitated when he was ordered to dispose of one of them. Right after that cruel act, the Uchiha pushed the woman away, against his own brother before redirecting his eyes upon Lamya once more to catch a glimpse of her face. Even though, he knew that the Orochi Lady may not be pleased with his next action in mind, Tenzō didn’t restrained himself from shifting both of the gleaming red orbs against the couple once more.

In the blink of an eye, the Uchiha followed up after Mari’s body, whilst pulling the kunai a bit backwards in order to gain velocity for the next move that he had in mind. “I’m going to keep my promise...” the Uchiha spoke on a somber tone whilst thrusting the small blade against Rito’s throat, ending his own life as well with just a clean blow against the man’s jugular. “Now... you’ll be reunited with her, and you’ll once more get the chance of seeing her.” were the muffled words spoken by the young Uchiha before leaving the kunai there, and slowly arising himself from his crouching position. He kept his promise, despite that the whole act itself was cruel and unbearable. However, Tenzō believed that taking the life of just one of them would have been an action far more worse.

During the past couple of minutes, the Uchiha forgot about his wound, although once everything around him stopped, the pain had reminded him that it was still there. With slow and heavy footsteps, Tenzō began walking against Lamya in order to follow her back towards the compound. During his whole movement, both of those eyes were faced against the ground before him, while knowing inside that the woman may scold his decision. Describing him as a monster was nothing more than wrong statement, the siblings were definitely wrong. No matter what the group thought and how small they were, feelings were still inside this young lad. Although, Tenzō wasn’t really that far from that word, since it was really obvious that the woman had a certain amount of control over his action.

“I had to do it, Lady Risu. Hopefully, my actions have not disappointed you.” were the soft words which escaped between those luscious lips before slightly cocking up his head in order to catch a glimpse of the Orochi Lady’s reaction.

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592 Words

Total Words ~ 3831

110 Chakra - 10 from Two Tomoe Sharingan = 100 Chakra Left

Training Endurance C0 > C3 | 3831 Words - 1875 = 1956 Words Left

Training Strength C0 > C3 | 1956 Words - 1875 = 81 Words Left

Total Words Left ~ 81

For a moment, Risu stopped walking away from the scene, bending through her legs and stretching her arms to the ground, so that her pet snake companion Uraeus could slither up to her and coil around her shoulders like he always did when they were travelling together. However, she also used this moment to check on the young Uchiha and what his decision would be. With an eerie smile on her face, she noticed how he slit the throat of the young hebi shinobi Mari and pressed onward towards Rito, who was still sitting down like a trapped rabbit with his legs bound by his own belt.

"Onward to a world were monsters destroy the foolish," The young woman whispered softly, while witnessing Tenzo's choice to reunite Rito and Mari not in this, but in the afterlife. In a way, it was no moe than a simple mercy killing. "The sharingan combined with the harsh rules of this new world. This Uchiha can become something strangely facinating and surprisingly strong. I was right to choose him, but just like my uncle, I should be wary of those I take in and should make sure I always stay on top."

Uraeus simply hissed, lifting his head to look at the Uchiha's work, while his own scales had already regained their white color after they had been drenched in blood earlier. A shiver went through his entire body when he thought about his mistresses words. Indeed, having a sharingan was a good, but also a dangerous thing to have by your side, for their curse was also something to remember. "You best not forget his purpose, Milady."

As the Uchiha cought up with the both of them again, it seemed rather obvious that he was troubled by his actions, as if he was weighing the guilt and the price of his actions against the rules he had gotten to survive. Looking down, averting his eyes from Lamya was perhaps the most obvious sign that he was struggling with his earlier actions, despite the confidence he had shown earlier on.

"There is no need to feel guilty or ashamed for what you have done," The Orochi lady spoke calmly, not really trying to soothe and ease tenzo's mind, but simply expressing her own thoughts on the situation. "As I said before, the strong rule the weak. It is our duty to change the world, for better or for worse, even if it changes us into the monsters we've been fighting all along."

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training:

[exit thread]