Ryu sat in the empty bar for the moment before the bartender even arrived to begin preparing for opening. His chair up in the VIP feeling uncomfortable to him in the morning as he lounged within it. The lazy boy fairly torn and the back held together with duct tape. He had scooted his rear fairly far out and had let his legs relax in an open state. He was leaned to the left side considerable more with his left arm resting elbow on the arm with his fingers holding his head up by his temple. His blue and purple eyes looking over his establishment. His left eye was as blue as the sky and his right eye almost shined a purple hue. He had a decision to make. Just what was he going to do with the increasing powers knowing his name as of late? That anbu hadn't come after him yet so he had to consider that perhaps he wasn't at the top of the mans list. Still he recalled the way those sharingan looked at him and the fear he had felt. As if the fight he had been winning up until that point meant nothing. For all his power he was frightened.

Yet the Anbu had simply left with Ryu still intact. He had been paranoid for weeks about an invasion of an entire team coming for him and yet nothing had come of it. He wondered if the man was even aware that Ryu had claimed a valuable item during that battle. Something that was now destined to rise his station even further as he gained more power and influence in this world. If the village was going to come for him he needed to be ready. He had found a one tomoe preserved in a jar during the fight and kept it cool since. Waiting on his decision should he need it for bargaining. After all if the man wanted it back it was far easier to return if it wasn't firmly implanted within his own skull. Far less painful for him too. However enough time had passed that he no longer worried much about the village coming after him. Or anyone for that matter. That power was his to keep and use. Hell to the fates and laws be damned. He would use that power and accomplish his goals. The big issue was how.

So he sat there up in the early hours before he was usually even considering stirring from his slumber in the room above the bar. Barefoot on the second floor overlooking the bar in just a pair of blue jeans with holes in the knee's. His tattoo's spread across his tan skin as his long blonde hair hung loosely over his shoulders like a wild main. He was waiting for someone to arrive he supposed. However even that was a gamble. He had put out a notice on the black market that he was looking for an experienced implant specialist. Today was the day that the middle man should of set up the meet after checking any provided credentials. Not just anyone claiming to be a highly capable med nin would be allowed into this meet. He expected maybe three or four to come and compete with their resume for his business. It was profitable to do implants after all. What he couldn't have any way of knowing was only one woman was coming. One med nin from a different village that held more power within her than he had yet dreamed of having. She was coming to his bar and she would make his destiny a reality. Or so he hoped.

619

If the desert was already a bad and quite annoying place, the actual village of the sand was perhaps even worse. The walls surrounding the city seemed to protect it from the desert's harsh winds, yet in turn also managed to trap the heat inside the place, making it a rather uncomfortable place to live. It was a wonder how Sunagakure had managed to survive for so long, with no apparent natural resources save for maybe an abundance of sand and glass, hardly any water or food and without any apparent living comforts.

Luckily though, their shinobi business seemed to be going well, probably because there were so many bandits roaming and scouring the desert in search of easy pickings and wealthy trade caravans that passed through. Save for the occassional wandering ronin or nukenin, not many could face these threats without needing the help from the village's capable shinobi.

Upon her own entry to the village, Lamya had opted to use the transformation technique, just to make her less unique looking compared to other visitors, but when passing far enough along the gates of the village, she had managed to sneak around and find herself a bath house to finally get rid of all the sand that had litterally gotten everywhere on her during the trip from Konoha. This was yet another thing to put on her checklist of things she truly hated about visiting Sunagakure: too much sand, even for someone like her, who actually didn't mind a regular dry climate.

When she had managed to cleanse herself, purging both her clothes and herself from the surprising excess of sand that she had apparently carried with her, the kunoichi got herself a room in a cheap inn and decided to have a look around to see if the village had something to offer her during her stay.

To fund her activities, she needed money and to earn money, she had to find herself some oddjobs that weren't state-funded, so scouring around through the less-legal circuits of the village was her best option and as if luck was smiling at her, there seemed to be a bulletin about someone needing a medic for some sort of implant. The very notion of someone, who was most likely a shinobi, needing an implant, made her smile. It wasn't every day that she had to actually use her medical skills to earn herself some money, but than again, the shinobi world was full of people trying to add what did not belong to them, to their own.

It was completely against Lamya's philosophy to add parts to oneself if the return from said part wasn't at least double of what the sacrifice was and with her vanity in place, there was not much around which she called equal in quality or standard to what she already had. However, it was not her place or duty to call out on those that did desire to alter themselves to their own liking, it was just her duty to do what was asked and cash in the money.

So she answered the call for a medic, meet up with some broker, who seemed to handle all these low-key requests in the village and after checking her credentials didn't seem to be shocked or concerned, simply handing her the location where she was supposed to meet the client who had made the request.

Just wearing her black spats, kneehigh sandals, fishnet top and a purple haori, Lamya entered the bar where she was supposed to be meeting the person who had made the request and as she had managed to get inside, she looked around to notice that besides the bartender, there only seemed to be one other person: A rather shabby looking guy with long blonde hair and an interesting combination of differently colored eyes.

Forgoing any pleasantries or idle chitchat, she got seated next to him and raised her hand to call the bartender over. "So, what do you need me to do?"

680

Ryu was growing impatient while still holding steady. He wasn't one to acknowledge the lie that the world would go his way but he was one to force a change in his own destiny. People had learned to watch what they say and do around him. If anyone went to far, dealing the wrong drugs that he said weren't allowed or trying to run a slave or kidnapping trade and he caught them, someone was going to need a grave. There had been plenty of holes dug six feet deep in his time and there would be plenty more. He wasn't about going out and killing every other person he could find for his own gain. However there were lines that needed to be observed that he had drawn in the sand daily. He was the hound of war in Suna and he played his part. All this procedure was meant to do was make one hound worth a dozen. He heard the devil calling but he was going to pay what was due with the blood of the criminals that went too far and those corrupt shinobi that supported them. He saw the fields burning when people ignored the smoke. He needed to be a dog that no war could stop.

Still he would glance down as the bar door unlocked. The bartender coming to open up shop and take inventory of what was on the shelf. He had been up for a while now growing in determination for this moment. He had already restocked the bar with his own brews which seemed to surprise the bartender as she glanced up at him. They made eye contact and at once she could see today was different to him. Wheels were turning and he wasn't one to stop once he began moving. He nodded to her and she would sigh before going about cleaning up here and there. Flipping the sign on the bar to closed. However she left the door unlocked knowing he was expecting company. He would take a deep breath to steady himself before he would lean forward. His hands clasping on a beer that was barely cold anymore. Lifting it to his lips as he drank the last of it. It did nothing to inebriate him but he liked the flavor these days. Besides something he was accustomed too was comforting with what was to come. Any day now his power would grow ever more. He could feel it.

Still the door would ding and he would glance down to the door. Inside walked a dark haired woman he didn't recognize. She held an air of authority around her but no head band. He noted that particular bit as he set the empty bottle down. He wasn't sure how negotiations might go but he doubted the village would bother with someone undercover for little old him. They were far more direct in their ways. She was dressed like a shinobi though. How interesting this one was he would think to himself as she seemed to spot him right away. Making her way to him immediately. She had stepped into his world but she seemed at ease within it. She had to feel the tension in the air. No one stepped in his bar and didn't know to show caution in his experience. Whoever she was she was quickly making herself at home. Though he would tilt his head and watch her with open curiosity. She was attractive at least. He supposed for once he wouldn't mind the company. Not one that looked so fine in his eyes. Regardless he was yet to smile. Not one to mix business with pleasure.

Still she would settle next to him on the couch in the vip and the bartender would lock the door before noticing herself getting waved over. The woman would ask him a question about just what he needed. He would hold up a hand as the bartender approached and wait. Making it obvious he would wait for her to take the womans order and bring it to her before glancing to her. "Take the rest of the day off." With that the bartender would huff before rolling her eyes and taking off from the loading door so it would lock behind her. He would wait until the woman was entirely gone before reaching next to him hidden behind the arm of the couch and producing a jar. Within the jar was a preservation liquid and within that seemed to shine the one tomoe sharingan he had obtained. He would set the jar next to his empty beer so the eye was facing them. His own eyes looking to her before he tapped underneath his right eye. Speaking once more in a cold tone.

"I Imagine you know how frowned upon this is. Is it going to be a problem for you? If so you can still walk away."

1449

"Just some Oolong tea please," Lamya decided not to drink alcohol, especially not now, when she was supposed to do some surgery, not to mention the fact she was bad at holding her liquor. Even when she got into her twenties, holding her liquor was still a task she was truly godawful at, usually ending up either at her home, room or whatever place she was staying if she was lucky, but if she wasn't, she could end up anywhere after a couple of drinks. So with all that in mind, some refreshing non-alcoholic oolong tea was probably the best choice available to her at that point. "Well, let's get this started, shall we?"

Practically ignoring Ryo's statement and questions about wether or not she wanted to go through with it all, Lamya simply grabbed the jar which held the sharingan eye floating within its contents and simply started to examine it to asses what had to be done. "A...single tomoe, hmm.
Are you sure you want to implant just a single tomoe?"

Placing it back down on the table, she tilted her head a bit upwards, letting out a long sigh before looking at Ryo's face for a moment. "It has some nerve damage and some obvious decay of the cornea, but that can be fixed. My question though, is wether or not it's actually beneficial to have a single tomoe variant implanted. If you know the burden of such dojutsu upon those who are not of the Uchiha bloodline, I suppose it's fine."

Lowering her head again, Lamya made a second inspection of the eye, turning the jar around a few times just to see wether or not she might've missed something. It was important to know what state the eye was in and what extra care was needed for this eye transplant to work and for the sharingan to be fully functional afterwards. Lucky for Ryo, there was probably not a single non-uchiha medic around with just as much expertise on the sharingan and the quirks of the eye, save for maybe one medic she knew of, ofcourse.

When her drink had been placed on the table, she took a large swig, letting out a sigh of relief as she felt quite refreshed by her beverage, licking her lips with her tongue as she suddenly swung her leg over Ryo's lap, sitting on top of him to look at the eye he wanted to have removed for the sharingan. She gently spread apart his right eye's eyelids and softly blew upon the purple eye, just to see it's reaction, which was good to check the eyesocket's muscles and the state of Ryo's own nerves just in case she had to mend those as well. Placing her right index finger on his lips, she leaned back a bit and chuckled softly. "Seems quite a shame to remove this lovely eye of yours. I tell you what, if you don't want it anymore, I'd be happy to take it out of your hands when the transplant is complete. As for how we're going to do it, I suggest you find yourself a place with some space and somewhere you can lie down, I'll go get some stuff and be back in five, sound good?"

With that being said, Lamya slid off of Ryu's lap and jumped up, grabbing the glass with her oolong tea and drank it up in one go. "When I'm back, I want you to be laying down,
either on a bed or even this very table might work. Oh right, don't be surprised...you'll probably want to get yourself a drink or two before we start, the stronger the better."

She would indeed be away for just five minutes, to get herself her scalpels, her bandages, everything she needed for this job, but most importantly, she needed to get Uraeus, as a good safety meassure, not to mention the fact her pet was probably the best way to restrain a patient when necessary. So upon her return, Lamya had her tools in a pouch hanging from a belt around her waste and a massive white snake coiled around said waist as well. "Don't be affraid, he won't hurt you...unless you want to."

733/1413

She would order her tea and he would raise an eye brow. That was a drink he rarely saw ordered. He hadn't really considered if she needed to be sober or rested. He had observed her her hands didn't seem to shake at all. On top of that she was in a foreign ground since he had never heard a hint of her before. She would be memorable at least in this part of the slums. It was easy to remember people crowded into a small area. Easier still if one of them was capable of a skill set. If she could implant his eye than she was a skilled medic. Someone that could heal in the slums was well known and called upon often. Her skills would put her well above all of their limits of what most knew and what a few didn't. She would be famous here but that just meant she would easily rise out of the slums. So she wasn't common place around here. She wasn't scared of the thug like nature of the area even slightly, and he could feel a sensation around her. Like something was hunting him or examining a meal. It made him uneasy in her place even in the middle of his own base. She would pick up the tomoe herself and examine it ignoring his question as if it were obvious. Inquiring of course on if he wanted a one tomoe? His eye brow raised as he had only been incredibly fortunate to find what he had here. Asking for more seemed impossible. To wonder if this was so commonplace for her that the sharingan didn't cause a blink. Still he scoffed and looked to the side while keeping her in his peripherals.

"Yeah I'm sure. Any boost is a good one. My power needs to grow. Even if this is just another step up by one. Those who break the rules in this world are considered scum. True enough. However, those that ignore the plight right besides them are worse. I will be better with this step."

He glanced back to her with a small hint of something fierce in his eye. Something had happened to drive him here. Something set him on a path he could not walk away from and would scratch and crawl his way up like a wild animal if he had to. To here is might be clear that he was nothing in comparison. However suddenly something about him showed something else. Potential. He was like a container slowly filling with liquid and yet it wasn't due not to the pace of growth, as if the water was spraying into it uncontrollably. It was the size of the vessel. Not yet full with room to grow but the liquid within was almost energized. However his own determination had him thrown off even more when she did the unexpected. She suddenly swung onto his lap and mounted him. Her hand was already around his eye and shifting it when he reacted beyond a sudden wide eyed glance and his pupil narrowing. A reaction to see her more clearly. In that moment she was faster than he could react to. The action entirely unexpected. His hand darted between the cushions to his left while his right hand formed into a fist. His reaction was going to be to stab low and swing high making the fist obvious.

However her lips pursed and she blew on his eye. Instinctively he snapped that eye closed and tried to lean away. His left hand gripping the hilt of his blade and his right fist shifting up. However a sudden finger to his lips stopped him with his hand halfway up and only the hilt of the dagger showing. She spoke of needing to get some tools and wanting his eye. Personally he didn't care what happened with his eye but he was wary of her now. Unpredictable as she was even as she finished drinking her tea in one go he watched her carefully. Quietly slipping the dagger back into the cushion and unclenching his fist. He would nod his understanding at her words of collecting what she needed. If she was intending to bring back thugs she didn't need to he guessed. She was potent enough on her own. He let her leave and once she did he brushed his arm across the table knocking the empty tea off of it and leaving on the jar. Letting the tea clatter to the side. He waited for a time as his foot tapped and he leaned against his knee's. It was a while before she returned but no one else had come between those times. He glanced down at his sharingan at watched as he waited. Making eye contact for a while. However as she returned he glanced to her and his eyes widened at the snake. She joked about how harmless the snake was at the moment and he scoffed again. Contemplating the dagger once more. However he would call down to her where her and the large snake waited.

"Lets rock and roll than shall we?"

2320

"Uraeus, you can go lie on the seat for a moment," The snake, eyeing Ryu for a moment, slithered towards the very seat the two of them had been sitting on earlier, precariously close to where Ryu had hidden his weapon, yet apparently the snake did not take notice of it, simply coiling himself up and taking a nap. "Now than, I think we'll start by telling you that you will absolutely not like this surgery, but than again...if you want to get stronger, you'll need to accept the pain that comes with it."

Without any warning or any handseals, Lamya pressed her hand upon Ryu's chest and letting out a pulse with her chakra with the intent to momentarily shortcircuit the man's chakra network, making it nigh impossible to use his jutsu for a while, which in all intents and purposes was a precaution. Lamya knew what people could do when they were under a lot of stress and she knew that pain was one of the largest causes of stress, so surpressing his chakra was an absolute must."Alright Uraeus, you come over here and bind him will you?"

She didn't remove her hand from Ryu's chest, if necessary using her strength to keep him down, flat on his back as long as necessary for Uraeus to start slithering under his legs, coil over his groin, go back under his back and continue the process until the snake had managed to coild around Ryu completely, constricting his movements, yet allowing ample room to breathe and not feel completely uncomfortable. "Now we're ready to rock and roll, This will sting a bit, but rest assured...it won't be the most painful thing yet."

Reaching into the pouch she had with her, she grabbed a single, finely crafted scalpel in a sheath and put it on her belt, keeping it for later, next she pulled out some bandages, some clips and most importantly a small flask with sacred purifying water from her clan, something she had not been able to use in years and now finally came in quite handy. A small piece of cloth soaked in alcohol was the last thing she took out of the pouch, keeping it in one hand while already placing her thum on the lower eyelid of Ryu's purple eye and her middle and indexfinger on his upper eyelid. "First things first, I'm going to gently, slowly and probably most painfully force your eye to pop out of your eyesocket. We can't ruin this perfect good eye after all."

With that being said, she started to slowly press the tips of her fingers upon his eyelids, spreading the out as far as she could, before actually pressing down into his eyesocket and forcing his eye to plop out of his like some ripe fruit. Uraeus in the meantime braced for whatever might occur, intent on restraining Ryu if necessary. Eventually, Ryu's eye would indeed pop out of its socket, to which Lamya quickly reacted by using her Koketsu scalpel and slicing through the bundle of nerves which where attached to the eye, the pain of that act would be nonexistent thanks to the blade's peculiar ability of never hurting when cutting, allowing it to be a supremely good stealth weapon and surgical tool.

Pulling a small container from her pouch, she put away the eye she had plucked out and quickly sheathed her koketsu again, as it was no longer needed for the rest of the small surgery. All she had to do now was use the cloth which had soaked in alcohol to clean off whatever blood had managed to come out along with the eye and while she finished cleaning up his face a bit, she placed three strands of her hair upon his face, each of which she touched and channelled some chakra through, turning those strands of hair into three small, white snakes which started to channel her medical chakra into Ryu, easing his pain and healing whatever had been damaged while the eye had been plucked out. "So far so good, I'll be cleaning off the sharingan next... is there anything you want to say, you'd best do it now, because when that sharingan's clean, I'll be placing it into your eyesocket and you'll be having fun trying to copy techniques with it."

743/2057

Ryu would watch them approach as he felt a sense of unease about him again. He wasn't any sort of angel but he couldn't help but feel like she was the devil. Toying with something that never had wings. Perhaps she was just a remnant of his darkest dreams. He suspected if she had a heart it was empty. She didn't have expressions like a normal person did. As if her face was painted on and simply there to distract the eyes from something hidden behind it. However the snake she brought with her was a nice distraction. It was hard to pay attention to anything besides the giant snake that could consume him whole. He even wondered how she had managed to get it so far without causing a disturbance within the slums. Screaming people and weapons drawn. Such a sight was sure to inspire fear. Those that saw what they feared sought to destroy it. Perhaps that was his whole issue from the beginning. He marked the end of their ways and would drive the village into something new and unknown. Death had spared him their embrace time and time again. Perhaps this devil wasn't going to be as merciful on his soul.

Still he would take a deep breath and ready himself. He was incapable of getting drunk off of any form of liquor as far as he could tell. Having had ample opportunity to sample that theory. However with his chakra, the twisted form his clan carried, simply by flexing it he could inebriate himself to nearly black out levels. For now he would need to trust her not to kill him and to be able to restrain him. Once upon a time he might of agreed a large snake like that could do it easily but now he put people through stone walls. With that in mind he wasn't so sure. What he had thought to be human limitations long since faded away. Still he would lay down and put his life on the line for power. He could only hope she didn't end him on a whim. He would be entirely at her mercy and he didn't like that much at all. He didn't have much choice at this point though. It was either trust her entirely or go back on his goal and opt not to ever do the transplant. After all he doubted very much he truly trusted anyone by his side for this.

Regardless he would lay down on the table as she got close enough. The table was cold on his back. He would begin focusing his chakra to slam himself into a drunken stupor when suddenly her fingers touched his chest and the connection was just gone. He reached for it as hard as he could but nothing was there to connect on the other side. He had never been suddenly cut off from his power before like this. That was hardly something he had time to marvel over though. Even as he started to sit up that large white snake slithered over him and pinned him down. He had considered setting up a substitution but the amount of pain he was about to be trapped in, he would fly off that table before they even made progress. Still he would grit his teeth and take a deep breath as he was restrained to the table. He couldn't take anything to numb what was coming. The pain would hit him quickly he realized as she started. At first just uncomfortable pressure and then bleeding. He could feel the blood splash into his empty eye socket as he screamed a blood curdling sound. The pain was intense as she worked on him. Her snake would realize that this guy she was working on was no joke. Strength wise the snake had him beat but the way his whole body tried to escape the pain made holding him still difficult. Ryu was strong. However as she finally spoke again he was sweating and panting. He could smell the blood and wanted to vomit but he held it all in. Opening his other eye to look into hers as he was nearly to the point of faded out.

"Dont... Hold back... On my account"

3041

Just as she was about to take the jar containing the sharingan, Lamya got a shiver all over her body, her  breathing became deeper and ragged, her heart beating faster, louder and harder. Her entire body seemed to heat up tremendously, while her pupils turned to very narrow slits. She could just crush the jar with the eye in it right here, she could crush that sharingan, rob this man of bearing one of those accursed eyes, eyes that had haunted her clan for so long, eyes which had brought her to her own knees more than ones in her life.

She could remember it clearly, all the faces of those children in the Konoha hideout, their eyes, their empty expressions. They were everywhere, children, some not even older than six or seven years old, all locked away in chambers and cages. She remembered how a man was casually plucking them out of those children's eyesockets and putting them into jars just like the one she was holding. However, she also remembered those same eyes when they appeared on the face of the man she had adored, when that very man had managed to save her from some of her uncle's subordinates. Those eyes, those crimson orbs of despair, they were nothing more than an object of death and destruction, a part of konoha's history and of her own clan. They were the centerpiece of the old stories about Indra and Ashura, the stories about the sage of the six paths, the stories about Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke and Orochimaru, all pawns in a curse of despair, hatred and obsession and now it was her own uncle, who was devoted to gaining powers beyond that of the sage of the six paths. However, Lamya knew that she as well was bound by that very same curse, that greed that ran through her blood, the desire to become stronger, more powerful, to become a god and unravel all the mysteries of both life and death, of chakra and jutsu, yet she refused to hunt for a sharingan, deeming it pointless for someone like her to desire the power of the Uchiha, as she believed that she could simply become something so much more than but a mere wielder of the crimson eyes. No, she would dominate the sharingan, make those with the accursed eye experience what true despair was if they ever thought of using it on her.

"Dont... Hold back... On my account"

Those words uttered by the for now one-eyed, shabby looking man snapped her back to reality, back to the job she had and that job was putting that cursed eye into the young man's eye socket clean and ready for use.

Shaking her head for a moment, slapping against her own cheek with her left hand, she managed to get her wits again, deciding to refrain from letting her past and her future play a role in something as menial as this simple surgery she was supposed to perform.

Opening the lock on the jar, the top clip clicked open and she gently grasped for the eye, cleaning it off with the alcohol soaked cloth, before rinsing it with her cannister filled with medicinally prepared water, the pures base water one could find, free from any intruding minerals or silicates, simple and pure H2O and nothing else.

Lamya made sure that there were no abnormalities in the eye, checking the bundle of nerves at the back and their condition. It seemed that the one who had prepared the eye was smart, having drained the eye from practically all of its original owner's blood, obviously to prevent the chance of the host's body rejecting the eye as much as humanly possible. When it looked like there were no abnormalities in the eye and there would be little to no problems if she did her job well, Lamya walked over to Ryu again and checked his eye socket, making sure for a second time that she had not ruptured any bloodvessels besides the bundle of nerves.

Deciding everything was perfectly fine, she calmly placed the bundle of Ryu's nerves and the stomp from the eye's nerves together, touching them with her fingers as they glowed with a green chakra radiating from her hand, slowly merging the bundles of nerves together by healing them and as she was doing that, she was also removing the excess blood from ryu's eye socket again, annoyed that the few small bloodvessels that had to connect with the eye really did bleed more than one would expect from such small veins.

When the nerves had finally joined together perfectly, she slowly pulled apart Ryu's eyelids again, gently pressing the eye in it's place and turning it left to right to see if it had enough room to move. Placing her hand atop his eye, she now forced her chakra into it and begun healing the entirity of ryu's eye socket and jumpstarting the bloodflow within the eye, so that when she'd remove her hand, Ryu should've been able to see through the sharingan as well, retaining perfect vision and normal depth perception.

"Uraeus, you can move now," With a smile she looked at Ryu's face, letting her snake slither off of him and coil around her own waist, so it could rest its head upon her shoulder. "Would you like to try it out now, just to see if it is fully functional? If not, I suggest exercising regularly with it, it tends to be a case to case thing with the sharingan, some can utilize it instantly while other people need some more time."

957/3014

Ryu was somewhat lost in his own pain for a moment. His eye felt like it had been ripped apart. He wondered if she had chosen not to offer him anything for the pain or if he would of even taken it. If he would have chosen to stay as conscious as he could foolishly. Was it a matter of pride for him that he refused to call out? He was a dog of war bred for fighting. If he couldn't take some pain to gain power why would he ever have been unleashed? He heard the devil in his sleep but he refused to pay him what was due. He was a fighter choosing his own path and the village and higher powers be damned. The slums were struggling not to burn and shrivel up in the desert winds. The western slums was a burial ground constantly at war and it was only a matter of time before it spilled out into the eastern slums again. Whatever was coming he had to be ready for it. He had to reach and claw his way up and reach a point where his rumor as a fifth king was no longer that. It was fact. Only then could he take down the other kings.

However as she set about cleaning the other eye he could feel himself struggling to hold on. There was something overwhelming about the pain and disorientation. He felt sick and weak. He couldn't budge and she was so calm. He was at her mercy and he hated it. His eye that remained felt heavy as it watched her. The world was blurred and everything felt heavy. He was gritting his teeth and holding on though. He couldn't show her he was losing to this. However all that gusto, that reserve of will power seemed for naught as she returned with the other eye. The pressure of getting a new eye pushed into the extremely sensitive socket. His other eye would shoot open but to no avail as his eye rolled back and he would lose his ability to remain conscious while she worked on him. It wasn't just the massive amounts of pain working against him but also the disorientation. He was used to having two eyes and suddenly only seeing from one while his eye patch was off. While there was nothing covering the eye made him dizzy. Losing his grip on the realm of the awoken he drifted to the world of dreams.

For a moment he felt himself free. He was laying on his back at night in the dunes. Still in his jeans with no shirt. The sand was cold under his skin as he sat up and it shifted. A full moon rested above him and lit the dunes up like it was day time. So close it seemed impossible and yet he could almost run to it if he tried. His body felt light here enough to almost jump to it. It was fairly confusing. More so when he heard sand shift above him from the top of the dune. His eye shot up to look at a great big grey coyote standing there. It was easily twice the size of a man and yet its yellow eyes watched him. It spoke then to him. It's voice carrying across the dunes. The wind moving with it. "Can you finally see me child? If so than hear me. Do not remain slumbering so close to a snake. Be vigilant. Be clever. Be wary. Now Awaken!" With the last word coming out like a bark the moon behind him would suddenly seem to snap open as a one tomoe with a red eye would form there. The winds howled and he slipped away from the world of dreams.

For a moment Lamya would notice something odd as his left eye shot open with a gold ring around it instead of blue. He felt first that he was free of restriction and launched himself from the table up to the ceiling to grab a rafter in each hand and hold on. Watching her with the gold ring fading and blue returning. His right eye opened a moment before he would wince and close it again. It was still sensitive to the touch so moving his eye would have to wait. He could feel it was firmly attached though. Likely that pain was all in his head but he listened to her question. He would shake his head no and watch her a moment before deciding to drop down to his feet and lightly rubbed the area around his eye without touching it. Keeping it closed but never taking his eye off her. Speaking up finally in return.

"You sure seem to know a lot about them. Anything you think I should know?"

3854

As she was packing all her things, carefully cleaning off Ryu's left over eye and putting it into the jar in which earlier the one tomoe sharingan had been stored, Lamya got quite distracted when she was suddenly asked a question about the depth of her information on the Uchiha's accursed eye and the possibility of her having some things for Ryu to know in those regards.

Letting out a soft chuckle, she came closer to Ryu and looked him straight in the eyes for just an instant before suddenly shrugging her shoulders and letting out a sigh of disappointment. "That's why those not from konoha are never expected to become true masters of the sharingan, except for maybe the actual Uchiha. You all have one thing in common, you only know about their power or at least a bit about it, but you know nothing about the disadvantages."

Placing her right index finger against her lips, she pondered for a short moment, before settling down upon the table and motioning Uraeus to go outside and do as he pleased for the moment, so she could have this important little chat with the new owner of a sharingan. "It's simple,
a sharingan in the body of someone not of the Uchiha blood is a great disadvantage. It's drain on your chakra is massive in comparison to when a regular member of the uchiha clan would use it and you won't be able to force it to its next stages due to the fact that its cellcomposition is not the same as yours. So in fact, unless you don't trade it out for a stronger variant of the sharingan, you'll never be able to experience the true potential of that eye of yours."

Letting out another sigh, she gently placed both her hands upon Ryu's shoulders and looked him straight into the eyes again. "What you can do however, is copy jutsu, see chakra and because of that latter, you'd be more knowledgeable on wheter to fight or to choose the option flight."

It was at that point that Lamya's grip tightened slightly, a shiny glimmer appearing in her golden eyes, as her pupils turned to hairfine slits. Cracks appeared in the table, while a strong pressure could be felt. A grin appeared on Lamya's face as she drew closer to Ryu, eventually being close enough to be able to whisper into his ears, her hands reaching up from his shoulders towards his hair. "Now try and use those eyes of yours and decide...fight or flight..."

Suddenly letting go of him, the pressure vanished and Lamya jumped off of the table and grabbed her pouch, making a rather silly looking pirouette on one leg, sticking out her tongue towards Ryu and smiling gently and rather playfully. "Just kidding, all you need to do is make sure I get my payment and remembering my name should you ever need my service or my advice again,
deal?"

507/3521

She would chuckle at his inquiry as if it amused her somewhat. As if somehow his thoughts on her knowledge was some funny inside joke. She would approach him once more to get uncomfortably close and look into his eye again. Backing him up to a wall next to a speaker playing no music. Without making it obvious he would slip his hand behind the speaker and grip a kunai. It was by far not as impressive as his knife hidden in the cushions but it was another blade he had hidden in the room. His fingers tightened around the hilt but didn't pull on it as of yet. It was taped there so if he did she would have the sound of tape ripping to warn her. He doubted he was fast enough but for sure he would have to commit to the throw. She would have to launch straight back or risk tripping over the table. His table with a small pool of his blood on the side of it. He would frown as she looked into his eye and held fast. Resisting the urge to lash back at her as she tested his instincts. Resisting the urges he developed in prison to shank the shit out of her liver.

She explained to him the limits of the level he had for an eye at the moment and how it wouldn't get stronger on its own. There was nothing he was capable of doing to train it. A pity he supposed though her explanation of the increased cost to him made him a little more happy that he only had the one. He could handle that chakra cost at least. If it had been greater the pull would have been greater too. That much he was comfortable with. That aside that dream..what had it meant? where had it come from? He would feel tension around her now he hadn't felt before even as she sat back on the table next to the blood and waved her snake away. He had almost forgotten about it lurking when she was so close to him. It was likely a diversion tactic she used often. He would release the grip on the kunai and let out a steady breath. She made him nervous for some reason and she kept playing him. Messing with his head as she moved from a casual space between them to suddenly right up in his face.

Speaking of, suddenly she was in front of him again. Hadn't she been sitting a moment before? She gripped his shoulders and suddenly he felt it. Her grip tightened and there was a pressure like the entire room was suddenly too small. Like there was no where to run and he was feeling claustrophobic. She was looking him in the eyes as he felt like she was burying him. Suffocating him. His new eye snapped open as the one tomoe seemed so prominent. He felt the chakra snap from him into it but couldn't really sense it from the pressure around them. Her chakra seemed to be flowing off her. He could see it now like tendrils snatching around parts of the room with an open snake mouth with her at the center. He couldn't force it back. It was just too much for him to do anything about. Still if he couldn't run. There was a small flare of chakra as his hand shot back out and snatched the kunai from its spot. Tape ripping away as he pulled it free. However she was already on the other side of the table. His arm with the kunai was shaking and he was panting. The hell was all that? He could feel the pressure still even though it was gone like a phantom thing. He would sigh a moment before nodding to the flower pot to her right with a small bush in it.

"Your payment, its in there. You are of course free to come get a drink when you like."

4533

Making a rather confused expression, Lamya looked up after she had managed to attach the pouch to her belt, tilting her head to the side before slamming herright hand clenched into a fist upon the palm of her left hand. "Oh...right, I almost forgot."

With those words, she closed the lid on the jar properly and lifted it up right in front of her face, looking at the eye drifting within the fluids with a smile. "I totally forgot about this one, pretty rare color for an eye, so I was interested, could be pretty useful for this kinjutsu I'm trying to create."

Walking over to the flower pot Ryu mentioned, the woman stopped right in front of it and turned a bit, while leaning her head backwards enough to look at Ryu, remembering that he had actually managed to awaken that sharingan when she was trying to show him what it could see. In reality, not many would actually be able to actually awaken the sharingan, most had the bad luck of the eye completely losing its power before they actually could. However, she did pity this man, given that history had shown that whenever you defeated someone while using the sharingan, they would become envious and you'd become a prime target simply because of the sharingan. It was one of the reasons why Risu herself didn't exactly desire the sharingan and even if she had one, it would be pretty useless for her, since she did not have the required chakra natures nor specialties to make those damn things work to the full extend of their power. If anything, she'd be draining her chakra just to see things a bit clearer.

"Unfortunately, I've learned that I do stupid things when I'm drunk...so drinking isn't exactly something I do much often," Lamya laughed as she checked the flower pot, making sure that this wasn't a scam to get her with some exploding tag or something. After all, this was the black market and it's not a line of work where one was truly safe. "I guess this settles everything than, but just in case...If you're willing to test that eye of yours...why not join me rather than stay in this gloomy village?"

387/3908

His grip would tighten on the kunai held to his chest a moment as she picked up his old eye and studied it. He had always hated that thing. It had marked him as different as a kid. Not only did he have odd colored eyes it was blatant as could be. A bright purple eye stood out in Suna. He had spent most of his life avoiding showing it by hiding it with some sort of eye patch. In prison it had caused him nothing but ache. Something unique in prison made you stand out in a place where standing out meant pain. He had eventually managed to hide it even in there but not before having to survive a couple dozen fights. He had learned what a shank was the hard way. Of course, so had the other guy. Still his sharingan felt like it was burning again and he shut it with a wince. Feeling it drain him some more. Damn that stung at the moment. It would take some getting used to. That was if this mystery doctor intended to let him live after she was paid. He still was holding his breath a little on that one.

Still she would turn and seem to examine the pot he had mentioned. Seeming suddenly to be the one showing caution. He felt his breath release and his lungs had been burning. He hadn't noticed until then. He took a couple of calming breaths. She was still human even with that chakra pressure built around her. One thing about humans was they could die if the right spots were hit. Even if he wasn't in her league she wasn't immortal so she had to be careful still. The kunai in his hand wasn't just a useless piece of metal. It was a blade and if she were to bleed from it she would bleed the same color as everyone else. For a moment he contemplated that as she collected her two thousand ryo in a cloth sack. Unmarked coins in small amounts to avoid suspicion or notice when spending. It was heavier than the paper it could of been but worth it. He wondered idly if she were going to stick around to count it as he used his free hand to remove the remnants of tape from his kunai handle. At least he wasn't disoriented with one eye. He had grown accustomed to that much.

Still she would laugh off his offer for a drink when she felt like it and in a way he was slightly relieved. He would spin his kunai and shove it down into his pants pocket. Careful to keep the sharp blade from hitting his leg. With that he moved over to the couch and sat down again. A little exhausted but not caring to show it even if his eyes seemed to have new bags under them. His new eye a little red even with the healing. He positioned himself on the couch though with one ankle over his knee and his left hand casually resting above where the dagger was between the cushions. Watching her now with that ever present frown. She would make a comment about him joining her and he would actually scoff as she made a comment about his town. His right hand moving up to flick his thumb across his nose. Looking to her with his one blue eye now. Watching her as he wondered just what her plans were now with that money. It didn't matter. It was her business really. Theirs was concluded. Still he would offer a short reply,

"You forget who's house your in. This is my little town. Trust me when I say I got plenty of chance to test it here. Law ain't ever been my friend but I uphold my own law here."

5185

Lamya was quite surprised to find a bag of coins in the flower pot, so rather than using a few large bills, he went for about a hundred small coins of twenty ryo each, not a bad move. It was smart in a multitude of ways: coins were more or less untraceable and should any problem arise between the paying and the paid party of the transaction, the one receiving the money would be at a disadvantage if they wanted to carry the money around during a possible disagreement. This man was smarter than he looked, just for that reason alone, the kunoichi couldn't help herself but to grin slightly at the sight of the bag filled with coins. "Seems I was wrong about you all along, you're not your average guy looking for a boost in power or a quick fix to stardom."

She ignored the fact that he put away the kunai he had been holding ever since she'd shown him a fraction of her chakra, though probably with that sharingan of his he might've had the fortune or rather the misfortune of possibly seeing not just a fraction, but the entirity of her might. Just thinking about the fact that she could've shriveled away and died a few months ago due to that Hyuga she encountered, made her grit her teeth for a moment, letting out an audible 'tsk' sound as she calmed herself with the knowledge that she could still reach greater heights, heights from which she could finally look down upon all who had wronged her in the past.

Alas, just as she decided it was time to leave, with the bag in her hand and sadly no expectation of the man answering her request to join her, the guy suddenly had the gal to actually reprimand her. She wondered if it was some arrogance, ignorance or just plain stupidity that drove the man to exclaim such things, it almost sounded like a challenge, as if he had gone drunk simply by tasting the minute boost of strength the sharingan could give.

"What was that?" She had gone through great lengths to get inside Sunagakure after that debacle at the village's border. She had managed to slip through the gate by using the transformation technique and by letting her pet Uraeus' chakra signature be larger than her own, so none would recognize hers at the gates. She had gone through such great lengths to refrain from showing off too much of her chakra, worrying that it might alert others, but this... this she did not expect and as a stray bullet on the battlefield, it hit her right where it hurt.

Turning her head and tilting it sideways, Lamya's golden eyes shimmered intensely, her pupils contracting to narrow slits while she showed a cruel, vicious and absolutely terrifying grin. "you...are the law here?"

Letting out a soft, eerie sounding chuckle, Lamya's eyes closed for just an instant, before chuckling again. "That was a challenge, was it not? Poor boy... your law means nothing when you're in my presence."

523/4431

He would sense the change in her tone and his hand would shift down into the cushion casually while his other hand would pick up a nearly forgotten glass of vodka next to him. Sipping on it though with full intentions of covering her in the flammable liquid if she rushed him. She seemed like she was tense over his statement and for the first time this interaction the smirk was on his lips. Hell yeah he was at a disadvantage here but he wasn't going to sit there shivering even though his instincts were screaming to run from this. She had him a believer in her power already. To force herself into combat with him seemed rather pointless though now that she had the money...she might want the eye too. The hell if he would let her win easily though when she came for him. He couldn't win easily but this whole building would come right down on the both of them. He was ready to die with her just to spite her pride if she wanted to try it. He could feel his chakra returned in full and his eyes watched her snake like eyes unblinking. He wasn't one to back down even against these odds. After all the odds had been stacked against him his entire life.

She asked a simple enough question as the tension built. A threatening sound in her tone that suggested she was coming for him. She seemed almost driven to madness by the sound of her chuckling and he would watch her with narrowed eyes from behind his smirk. Or rather one narrowed eye with the right one still closed. To anyone looking in he was awfully confident for the monster in his lounge. It was more of a bluff than anything but some part of his instincts not shouting to flee was suggesting something else entirely. A predator was in the room and trying to move in on his territory. Trying to force him to back down through sheer intimidation. His eye met hers as she closed her eyes and chuckled. She was a mad woman but he wasn't about to give up everything with out a fight if she tried him. The issue was there was only one thing he was certain of. If she took him seriously he wouldn't survive it. He had seen that power she kept caged within like some sort of half dead animal. Still he would speak up calmly as his hand gripped the handle of his dagger tighter.

"I said what I said. Did you look around at all when you made your way here lady? These be the slums. I don't mean village law or none of that shit. I mean this is my turf. I fought for it and Imma keep it too. My law is a simple thing. You pick on someone ain't got it comin? You bleed. I handle the thugs in the eastern slums my damn self. Thats why people behave their idiot heads and the folks that just got stuck here ain't dyin in the street s."

5712

The slums were his turf, he was the law in a lawless place. It was sad really, the thought of how much raw and untapped potential might've gone wasted in this sceptic pit that was called the slums. When she opened the door of Ryu's estalishment and stepped into the doorway, she could only look at the outside with an expression which betrayed the feeling she had, the thoughts she had when looking around: disgust. "There are only a handful of people that I know of that can actually contend with me or even beat me. Why don't you see how far you've improved, how much you've gained from that sharingan of yours? Why don't you see wether or not you're worthy of even calling yourself the law around these lawless parts of the village."

She looked back at him, her eyes slightly glistening from the wet tears that started to well up in her eyes, it was unmistakably pity which she took upon Ryu, pity that he did not seem to have any ambition beyond the slums. "Even if you are the one constantly saving people,
are you not tired of it? Do you not wish to see what's beyond this place, what potential it all could have? I could show you reality, I could show you the truth behind the lie that you're living."

"You show no hesitation, no fear even though you know well enough that I could kill you where you stand without as much as lifting a finger. I like that, I like your attitude...but you lack vision, clarity and ambition," She stretched out her arms, with the palms of her hands open and upwards. "I see you love your village, you care for it... but does it care for you,
does it safeguard you? You who's been trying to keep order in a place which defies order?"

She suddenly made a motion with her hands, as if she was crushing something in them, clenching them to fists, while her eyes showed something: a rage, a deep and patiently waiting hatred, pain of loss and more importantly, her eyes showed that she truly had fear. "I believed that everything I did had to be for the village, that everything I did had to be for the sake of the people living with and around me, but I realized it eventually. No matter how hard you fight, it will never be enough, not matter how hard you struggle, in the end only you will get hurt. My only desire at this very moment is to guide you, to make you reach new heights, even if it means I have to instill a fear like you've never felt before within you, I want to remove the illusion of peace from your mind and make you understand the truth of this world."

She looked outside again and smiled, a wicked, unnatural and obviously dangerously insane smile. "I don't wish to force you, but if necessary...I would remove the burden you've been carrying completely..."

"I'd erradicate the slums from the face of the earth if it's what's necessary to show you the truth. Would you stop me...if I did that?"

550/4981

He would watch her as she moved down the steps to stand in the door way and look out upon the dust covered dirty streets. She was obviously disgusted by what she saw but he didn't much care for that expression anyway. He was familiar with it. It was how the village nin looked upon the slums as if they expected it should just fix itself. Without their help it was supposed to rise to the occasion and become a part of a village that had abandoned it. The people they shoved down there were not strong enough to crawl back up and the village knew it as they did it. Released prisoners or people removed from their homes. Both were sent here and for the people wrongly imprisoned or just unlucky it was a burning hellish desert. Fighting to survive taking everything. He had been fighting too but he had forced himself to rise higher. He had his allies now but in the beginning he was so much like those trapped out there. Another lost soul wandering the sands. He didn't look outside and just see a pile of filth huddled together. He saw a kingdom waiting for a savior.

She would raise her hands as her eyes glistened. She truly wished for him to accompany her he supposed. Her arms were inviting him to come off his couch and join her but he held no interest in that. The coyote from his dreams screaming out a warning. He knew if he followed her he would end up dead. She was too dangerous for him to survive under. She didn't mind that so much but he certainly did. Despite him lacking vision as she said. He was a little irritated at the words she was speaking towards him. What did she know about him? That he wanted power? That he had it? He didn't mind gaining it through something like the sharingan or by his own hands but he needed to grow. To become a savior. He had this goal to save the slums for too long to let it go. His dream was ever closer now and he wouldn't abandon it for hers. The issue was if she could accept that. Her fists clenched and she surprised him by revealing some of her own history. So she had some hardships too eh? The difference was she didn't see it going anywhere from whatever village she was from.

However that sick smile came back and he would narrow his eye as he listened to her. She was saying something he didn't approve of even slightly. Eradicate the slums? Just burn it all down with everyone in it innocent or wicked? She was out of her mind for certain. He would finally rise from his seat as he gripped his dagger and pulled out his kunai. His dagger held upside down in his left with his kunai held upright in his right. His foot raise and then slammed down on the wooden railing keeping those looking down from the second floor vip onto the first floor so hard the cracking wood was audible through out the bar. His sharingan opened and his other eye seemed to glow with a rage within it. Electricity crackled around him as his hair raised slightly. The sand on the floor shifting throughout the whole bar in a slow circle. He was ready to nuke his bar with her in it. But his eyes locked onto hers as he grit his teeth speaking through it in anger. Foolishly but still she had ticked him off.

"Don't act like you know shit about me. Yeah I fight and fight and sometimes it don't seem like this place as any further from the gates of hell. But it will be my kingdom one day. I don't care if the village fights me on it, if the slums fights me on it, or if you try and kill me over it. My ninja way is never backing down when it matters. Do you hear me? I might not be nearly strong enough to challenge you yet but I will be king here! I will fight back if you try and destroy it and hell be damned if I can't at least leave an impression."

6439

Everything was hard, everything was a struggle. Nothing was easy, nothing was ever going to be a walk in the park, at least not in a world where a few last names and a few bloodlines seemed to determine everyone's fate. A twisted meritocracy, a misshapen world of false dreams and unreachable goals. The world was ugly, but despite it all, Lamya knew she could even be uglier than it all. She only wanted to survive, no... that was wrong, she wanted to control it, control everything. Following the rules blindly as others did was what caused the problems in the past, it was what drove so many to the brink of madness, it was what pushed her over the edge. Rules weren't saving lives, they were extinguishing them and allowing those in power to shift the blame in times of strife and war.

"You don't want this entire place eradicated, you just want to blindly follow the rules and continue this twisted madness that drives the shinobi world?" She looked at him kick a wooden railing with enough force to send a shudder through the entire building, a kunai held firmly in his hand when he yet again revealed that he had guts to spare and obviously had quite the strong will. However, in due time all wills could be broken, all desires could be removed. Her uncle had made it so obvious, that the only way to get what you want was by walking over the corpses of others, that to satisfy your own desires, other people's had to be removed. Yet, even so, Lamya did not desire to blindly follow her uncle's logic, not if there was a second option: to use others, to grant them hope and dreams, to allow them the sentimental illusion of it all, before crushing it.

"The people in the slums...they are the weak, the downtrodden, the forgotten and the disgraced," For a moment, Lamya wondered if she was ever able to convince this man without having to turn to more 'cruel' methods, though in the end, did it really matter? All she had to do was convince him to side with her, wether she got him through fear or through feigned mercy was something for her future self to care about. "They've been stripped of their chances, removed from village politics and only seen as the occassional scapegoat, the wartime fodder and the convenient cattle to be sent to the slaughter."

She pointed at Ryu, a glib and arrogant grin plastered on her face. "You want to be their guardian, their savior, their leader, you want them to be stronger, you want them to be able to fend for themselves...or not? Do you prefer being their inspiration or the tyrant of the slums?"

Not moving from the place she was standing, not even when Ryu started to seemingly respond to her threat in equal meassure, Lamya remained at her place, unfazed and seemingly without a care for the man's actions. She knew his type, easily agitated and hard to persuade without some...effort, but in the end they'd all bend the knee or she'd break their knees. She wondered how long it had been since she took up the moniker of Lamya and how deep she had burried the scared little girl she used to be, she wondered how things would've been if she ever had displayed such courage as Ryu did, if it would've changed her life in any way. With a single smirk, her face showed that she had come to the answer to that question that had plagued her mind: it would've changed nothing, for courage only had value if you'd survive.

"There's a way to have it all, you know?" She started laughing, tilting her head backwards and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath when she finally stopped laughing. "What if I could not only grant you strength, but also grant the slums a new lease on life? What if I could turn the weak and downtrodden into strong and powerful people that no longer need to fear the wickedness of Sunagakure's society and its... treatment of the slums?"

For a final time, she reached out to Ryu, showing no hostility in her gesture, even though her eyes did betray that this was indeed her final offer. "The laws of this world do not apply to me, society has no grasp on me and neither do the laws of nature. Be mine, Ryu and I'll let you have the power you desire and your slums will taste the freedom you want to give them."

"After all...to become their king, you'll need to make a deal with the devil."

802/5783

Ryu would listen a moment as he considered her words. She felt like he was just bowing down and scraping along? If anything he would compare her to the king he met. The ones he was trying to reach anyway. Was it possible she was one of the kings? Luring him out of the slums to dispose of him? The thought hadn't crossed his mind until now. However what would be the point? Did he even warrant a personal visit and if so why grant him power before eliminating him? If she was one of the kings she was playing a fine game with him. However he doubted that too. He didn't know her history but he had never felt anything like her chakra type before. He had felt one where fire burned hot enough to incinerate all in its path, one with earth as fluid as water and one with sheer physical power raging within. Hers was a dark power that eroded at all that came across it. A snake crushing the life around it for fun. If anything he might gain some power at her side but it wouldn't be long before he was just another dead man in her wake. Of that he was certain. Never trust a snake making deals.

She found him amusing though. He could see it in her smirk. For a moment he heard her words. What had the village ever done for him? What did he really have to hold him there? Some people crying in the streets? A painful history? Scars each tying back to some form of betrayal? He had this bar but it was just a building without him. He had the eastern slums but it was just a gang war raging without him. He had nothing to gain without giving in turn. How much would he give to bring them peace really? Would he be a savior without becoming a martyr or would he die for them without gaining anything more than establishing hope in a couple of them? He suddenly felt the chakra drain of the sharingan pull from him again. What had he chosen just to survive? This power that stole from him and gave him hopelessness in return? No...her words were twisted and he was allowing himself to be manipulated. That wasn't like him. She was certain of her advantage here. Certain of her abilities. He just needed an opening and he could prove that even kings fell.

She closed her eyes again and he wondered if he should take advantage of it. His grip tightening on the kunai in his hand. If he threw it just right would it do enough damage? He didn't have bukijutsu but maybe if he hit her neck...but she was a med nin. It would only serve to initiate combat. He knew it pointless without some large scale attack. However was he ready to chance his one property in this world like that? In order to hit her he would have to take out that entire wall...The wall with all his business on it. However her words were interesting. She could bring power to the people? To him and raise the slums? What did she mean? Surely there wasn't a fast track like that. Not without breaking the conventions of medical practice...no she was talking about that entirely. She wouldn't just give them power. She would turn them into monsters and not only would the slums fall in their fiery wake but the village too. She wasn't such a simple person as to help without reason. The village would suffer at her hand and with it the slums. She reached towards him once again though he could sense this was the last time just looking into her eyes. She was mad with power and he could not allow himself to be the same. His head turned to face her entirely as he spoke. As soon as his words finished his mouth would close in a frown and within it a lightning jutsu called false darkness would begin charging. If she charged him he would have his opening.

"No king that makes that deal is a king to his people. No devil holds my soul by myself. No angel waits for me on the other side neither. I will rise on my own and with me they will too. You watch. In a year I will be one of those you consider a rival in power. I will be King of my own two hands."

7206

"I see..." The woman silently nodded, obviously not just annoyed by Ryu's constant refusal, but also disappointed by the fact that it seemed that it truly was impossible to sway the man's opinion. She had to be careful though, with the fact still standing that she had managed to slip into the village after that debacle it wouldn't surprise her that the village shinobi were still wary of any and all possible intrusions. However, something told her that if she were to walk away now, not displaying anything to show her own resolve, this man would no doubt laugh behind her back, thinking less of her. However, if she were to attack him, the same might happen, as who would attack someone so openly, knowing they were so far beneath them?

It was truly a dilemma, but every problem had a fix and all she had to do was figure out how to handle this one. Killing him would serve no purpose, scaring him with threats and mere words seemed to have no effect either. Letting out a long, deep sigh she finally came to the conclusion of what had to be done. Yes, she'd give Ryu a year, a year in which all he'd do was train, sweat and be affraid. The only way to give someone like him a real goal, a real idea of what he had to do, was by shattering his entire perception of his own power, remove all his arrogance and courage and replace it by unadultered fear and terror. She was going to break him and every bone in his body, but he'd live, he'd live to understand that there was much more to fear in this world than just a mere kage.

"I'd hoped you wouldn't be so... annoyingly distrusting," There was no more need to hold back, no more need to hide behind the facade of being a wandering medic nin, no she would finally reveal what she was: a traitor, a criminal and above all: a monster."Some people really don't know when to take an offer and you, you're even worse...you're either a fool or stupidly arrogant. When someone like me offers you something, you have but one choice and that is to accept it or to suffer the consequences of your own ignorant refusal. Well, at least you'll have some time to regret your choice, some time to recover and wake up every morning in fear of the results of your choice. You'll have your year...a year to feel nothing but fear and despair."

Stepping out of the door, she suddenly showed a soft, yet eerie grin. "I did say I was going to destroy this place if you refused, did I not?"

Her chakra started coursing through her body violently, with her intentions pretty clear, she quickly made a few handseals before ducking down and slamming her hands onto the road outside of Ryu's establishment with a hard and terrible shockwave following suit, causing loud and violent trmors through the earth itself. "I promised you power and you'll have it, one way or the other. You obviously chose wrongly."

Chakra: 345/370

jutsu used:

540/6323

3000/3000 implant complete
2000/2000 S Rank Orochi no Ikari trained (-20% wc clan advantage)
1200/1200 B rank Kyokutan Itami trained (-20% wc clan advantage)

123 wc left

He could feel the chakra forming in his mouth. In the back of the throat it crackled as a small ball of lightning grew in power. He doubted he could really talk anymore but he was sure that was besides the point by now anyway. She had his opinion and it differed from his own. In a way he felt like he had been limited in his luck for the moment. Sure the implant went well enough but was he really having a hard time just getting clear of the woman? She was bat shit of that he was sure. Yet he was only showing caution because of that chakra he had witnessed before. Had it been a trick on the sharingan? Or was that a level of power he could reach? His new eye was trembling from the pain but he could handle it a little longer. He needed to show strength here. If she thought him too weak to be worth her time he was a goner and so was most of the neighborhood. Even if it hurt it paled in comparison to survival. She was looking him in the eye and he couldn't afford to be just another snack for her. This was dangerous.

Still she prattled on. Full of her own pride. So what if he didn't want to go with her? If she was so capable she had no use for him. Not to mention there were as she said certain people competing with her power. He took a breath through his nose and his throat burned. The chakra couldn't build into the jutsu anymore. It was at a full charge. However it was too dangerous to use without provocation. Regardless his eye brow would rise when she mentioned giving him a year. So he had bought himself time but the question was if it would be enough. He could get accustomed to the eye in that time. That was for certain. However he needed to find the old flash drive. The one with all the village jutsu on it. The jutsu he had stolen from the libraries. If he could master more of those he might be able to hold her off until support from the main village arrived. They might be able to ignore the majority of issues from the slums but A rank jutsu were something else. His B ranks had already drawn enough attention destroying a puppet and forcing a chunnin to retreat.

Still she mentioned destroying this place once again and he saw it there. Malice in her eyes. Driven by some sort of madness his sharingan opened wide and saw it. A dark doton chakra building within her. Even as she ducked and was out the door his body shifted up and his foot cracked the rail in half as he launched into the door. He was too slow though. Already she had preformed hand seals and chakra was racing from the center of the street towards him and every building behind him. Throwing his arms to the side Ryu attempted a last ditch effort with his charged jutsu and aimed it at the ground in front of him between the jutsu and himself. His mouth opened and a shining beam of energy cut through the ground in a strafe from right to left. Just barely enough to cut through the doton chakra she had utilized. He let out a breath and his eye throbbed again. He took just a moment to look around for her before closing it and holding his hand over it. Damn it hurt. Still aside from a fissure in the ground in front of his place nothing was damaged. She seemed to be gone. He sat down and placed his hand on the ground. Slowly filling in the fissure. If she was coming for him...he needed help. He needed to get back in good graces with the village,

Still his remaining good eye looked around him a bit as people murmured in fear. She had stirred something they had almost forgotten with him. Now rumors were going around that one of the kings had come to put him down. He supposed they weren't far off. If only she had gone and challenged them for him. Either they or she would be dead. Either way it would be one less issue for him. Still the ground was fairly well put together with a simple chakra scar remaining. He didn't notice but his own chakra and hers were fizzling as they mixed ever so slightly in the air. Some power of hers had remained and changed him. Or rather unlocked something within him. It was only a matter of time before he would notice. Even as he walked back inside the bar a grey coyote sat on a nearby roof watching him.

Exit thread
8018
3000/3000 implant complete

Learning Senjutsu from contact with Lamya
5000/5000

18 words left over