29 Naruto(3)

Draco's eyes sprung open, his breathing unstable. He lay unmoving for a few moments, regaining the feeling over his numb body.

'I am alive.' Draco thought, grabbing himself by the neck. It seemed that those two had other plans for him now. This much was good. Draco still had a chance to survive.

Overall, his body didn't have any serious injuries and showed no signs of any intake of unusual prescriptions, except for one thing. He felt a stinging pain in his neck as if something bit him.

For now, Draco ignored the discomfort and instead scrutinized his surroundings. He was in a dark cell that reeked of blood. There was no furniture inside, and the only thing he could see in this tiny cell were bars through which only darkness ensued.

Struggling, Draco rose from the ground, placing his hands against the bars, looking for anything that could answer his questions. Using all of his power, he tried to forcefully break the cells, to no avail.

It was made of some sturdy material, definitely not something that a [F] rank like him could breakthrough, even with [Berserker] on.

Understanding that there was no point in using up his stamina, Draco pushed his mana towards his eyes, as they lit up slightly in the darkness. It was a little trick he learned not too long ago. Improved vision by quite a margin.

'What the hell...' Draco's eyes dilated for a moment, seeing through the shadows of the enormous hall. There were tens, no, hundreds of identical cells dispersed throughout this unending vicinity, each of them containing a person within them.

Another laboratory?

No. Draco saw some people equipped with weapons, their gazes determined, almost to the point that it was frightening. Placing his hand against his chin, Draco tried to think when another burst of pain in his neck made him frown deeply.

This pain was definitely not natural.

Dismissing everything for later, Draco took a seat in a lotus position and channeled his mana through the body, until reaching his neck. Frowning deeply, he understood that everything was much more complicated than it seemed.

He could feel an extremely evil, menacing aura spreading from that spot where it stung. It reminded him of demons. Taking a deep breath, Draco placed his hands against his forehead.

'This is the fucking worst. It has been long before I felt so helpless.' Draco grabbed a pebble from the ground. This task was much harder than he would have imagined, making him forget completely forget about those four and concentrate on the quest at hand.

Hell, he could probably die at any moment, but the fact that he was still alive meant that they had some use for him. And it no longer included opening him up.

Draco threw the pebble through the bars, aiming at the person, who was sitting in the cell a few feet away from him. Surprisingly enough, that person caught the pebble with one hand, even though he had his eyes closed.

Just from that alone, Draco knew, this person was strong.

"Hey. Do you know where are we?"

Silence. That person completely ignored him.

"Hey," Draco asked once again, picking up another pebble and throwing it at the cellmate. "I can go at this all day. Just answer me and I will leave you alone."

"You won't survive here for long if you don't keep that mouth of yours shut." The man answered, his voice rusty, tired.

"Here? So, where are we?"

"You will find out soon."

Draco sighed, understanding that there this person wasn't too talkative. "At least tell me, what's this on my neck? I see that you have this thing, too."

"That's a curse mark." The person said, turning away from Draco as he lay on the cold ground. "Don't bother me anymore. I don't want to talk to someone who I may have to kill later."

'Kill?' Draco collected all the information like a sponge as he looked around, glancing at all the inmates. They all had those curse marks, though all of them differed in shape and size. Draco's looked more simple; it contained three tomoe, which moved in a circular motion.

As Draco was still deep in thought, piecing all the missing puzzles back together, he heard the sound of steps approaching. Looking up, he saw Kabuto standing there as he opened his cell.

For a moment, Draco thought about attacking Kabuto again but decided against it. There was no element of surprise anymore, and he understood Kabuto was stronger than him. It was a useless struggle.

"Today's your first fight." Kabuto motioned him to leave the cell, and Draco did so, still being extremely cautious. Following Kabuto from behind, the smell of blood and death turned even more intense as he noticed some of the cells being empty. For obvious reasons.

Finally, they reached the end of the 'prison' and Draco stepped through a doorframe, no longer accompanied by Kabuto. It was a quite big arena, which looked very similar to a colosseum from his world.

'Damn it, so my guess was correct.' Draco saw a burly person standing before him, holding a sharp sword in one hand while looking at Draco with bloodshot eyes.

He heard the door behind him closing, causing him to frown deeply.

This Orochimaru bastard was one crazy person.

Draco stepped forth, preparing for a bloody battle. He knew it was going to be messy, just from the look in his enemy's eyes. This was the look of someone who would do everything in order to survive.

Draco was not so much different.

"Come at me." Draco got into a battle stance, deciding to check his enemy's power at first before using any skills. His enemy didn't wait for long, just like Draco wanted, and rushed forth, making a wide swing from above.

Not that fast, making it easy for Draco to dodge. Using the moment, he kicked the man in the stomach, causing blood to escape from his mouth. The man didn't care about the pain and redirected his sword at Draco again, who jumped away.

This time, he didn't rush at Draco right away, looking at him with cautiousness instead. Perhaps this strength wasn't something he expected from someone so much smaller than him.

'What is he doing?' Draco suddenly had a terrible predicament as he saw the man make some hand signs before placing both hands on the ground. A moment later, the ground beneath Draco shifted.

It was something Draco hadn't expected, hence, his leg got stuck in the ground. He tried, with everything he had, to push it away, but it was almost glued to the ground. Seeing that the enemy was already rushing at him full speed, trying to take advantage of this moment, Draco activated [Berserker] and finally escaped from the grasp.

However, it was too late. The man was already within a hand's grasp, and Draco frowned deeply. He activated [General's Ambiance], making the enemy suddenly halt his steps as the grip over his sword lessened.

Fear worked well.

Taking this moment, Draco escaped from the deadly attack but didn't manage to get away from the punch that followed. The enemy's fist collided with Draco's ribs, sending him flying multiple feet away until he hit the nearest wall. It was much more intense than expected.

As the dust rose into the air, the enemy was about to attack once again when he saw Draco rise back up, his eyes emotionless, empty. Blood crept from his mouth, yet he paid it no heed.

"I didn't expect you to use magic, or whatever that was. It seems that this world is truly much different from others. However, I will no longer be caught by surprise anymore." Draco spat some blood from his mouth, releasing all of his power altogether.

It was annoying. Really, really annoying. Failure after failure. Mark, then Kabuto, and now this guy? Draco was angry, especially at himself. He had to be stronger, more powerful, to never once again get in situations like these.

Unknown to Draco, the mark on his neck started slowly expanding as he exploded from the spot, breaking the ground beneath. He appeared before the man and they engaged in a combat battle. Much to his enemy's surprise, Draco's punches were extremely heavy.

Draco feigned a body movement to the side, making his enemy reveal an opening as Draco smirked. He channeled all the mana, all the anger that piled up throughout these few days, and punched.

The force behind his fist packed so much force that his hand passed through the man's stomach altogether, coating the ground in blood. It was so strong that even Draco was surprised. Did he breakthrough? No, it wasn't the case.

As his enemy struggled, clearly not understanding how he had suddenly lost like that, Draco retracted his hand and made the enemy fall to the ground. He died a few moments later. However, Draco cared little about that as he was staring at his own hand.

He could see black marks spreading across his skin, moving as if they were alive. Together with them, Draco felt an incredible boost in power. However, it wasn't for long before they recanted back towards the spot on his neck, leaving him in the awe of this mysterious power.

"You can go now. Tomorrow you will fight again." Kabuto's voice resounded from the back. Draco nodded slightly, deciding to take his leave for now and think everything through back in the cell.

He didn't forget to take the dead man's sword, for only with it could he use [Thunder's Wrath].