Lost

Death. Ryo didn't know what it was like to die; he never had, really. He came into this world falling into water, and that wasn't exactly considered dying. Ryo could feel his whole body beginning to stop hurting; for a moment, he even thought he was healed, but he knew it wasn't the case. And the worst part was, it hadn't even been ten seconds since the two ninjas left.

Breathing hurt, thinking hurt, feeling pain... It hurt. With the arm he could still move somehow, Ryo placed his hand on his chest, trying to circulate the chakra from within. Ryo tried to perform the simple healing jutsu to try to stop the bleeding from the large cut on his chest.

Looking up with his hand on his chest, blood slowly dripped from the wound. Ryo looked at the sky, which didn't have a single star. And once again, he was staring into the beyond. Memories began to pass through his mind, memories he had made in the last year and a few months. Small moments of joy and sadness, moments of tension, and playfulness.

But he couldn't get the chakra to move quickly. He couldn't even form the healing jutsu. "The ninjas will arrive here in a few minutes, but I don't think I can make it," he coughed up blood as he did the last thing he could think of, moving the coin from his hand to his chest. It slowly took the shape of the cut on Ryo's chest, stopping the bleeding, but not the pain, and it didn't restore the lost blood.

Ryo's lips were already turning purple. His chest moved slowly up and down. Clinging to the last bit of strength he had, his chakra, all that remained for him now was a race against time. Ryo would win if he could keep the golden metal covering the wound until the Konoha ninjas arrived, and he would lose if his chakra ran out before then.

Ryo's arm fell to the side, hitting the ground. He didn't need to keep his arm on his chest; holding his chest wouldn't change anything. In the midst of it all, Ryo's vision darkened and returned, as if he were sleepy, very, very sleepy. But he knew that if he truly closed his eyes, he wouldn't wake up again.

It was despairing. Ryo had lost in every way. He had lost a precious friend who was almost like a sister to him; he had lost to Itachi, to Obito, but mainly, what hurt him the most along with Sae's death was the fact that he hadn't been able to change Fate.

He had lost to fate itself, which hadn't even spared a little girl who hadn't seen anything of life, from escaping the Uchiha Clan massacre. The night was cold and silent. Ryo had lost count of how long he had been there, but by the fact that his chakra reserves were only at 20% of the total already, he had been there for five minutes.

"Five minutes then. I don't have much time left." Thinking this, he looked to the side, seeing Sae. "I'm sorry... Sae... I don't think... I'll survive... either." He spoke with great difficulty as he felt his chakra beginning to finally run out, the golden cut on his chest slowly trembling, and little by little, the metal began to return to the original shape of a coin.

Ryo slowly closed his eyes, looking at his friend, and then the world was darkness. Being able to hear some indistinguishable things in the background, as if the radio signal were failing. And then Ryo died.

Or at least that's what he expected. It was unknown how much time had passed, but Ryo was breathing again. He felt his body heavy, as if he were in restraints; he slowly opened his eyes, seeing the place where he was was white. Ryo remembered this scene; when he woke up in this world for the first time, he was in the same place.

In the same place he once thought would be cool, thinking that being in this world would be full of excitement and adventures. But the main story could be like this for a while, but real life in this world wasn't flowers. Ryo knew that now more than ever.

"A hospital?" He spoke with a low tone, feeling his whole body hurt. He tried to sit up, feeling a slight pain in his body; he was weak, not knowing how long he had been sleeping after almost dying. The door slowly opened, as Hiruzen entered the room followed by two masked ANBU, Ryo was almost sure one of them was Kakashi, but it didn't matter now.

It wasn't a nurse; the Hokage had a serious expression on his face, quickly grabbing the chair next to him and placing it near Ryo's bed, then sitting on it. His voice was heavy, and had a sad tone along with it. "I'm glad you're okay, Ryo. But I have some questions to ask you, if you're up to answering them now." Ryo nodded.

"Good, good. First of all, you've been in a coma for a week. It was half the time they said it would take for you to wake up. But Ryo, I have to ask you what happened last week, and why you were there." He gave Ryo time to speak, and after a few seconds, he took a deep breath.

"I... I usually train near the Uchiha clan. Since I was training combat with Sae, it was a place near the clan for me to do my training and then go there to train with her. But eventually, it became a quiet place, and I used it to train until late at night." He stopped speaking for a few seconds, as if it were difficult for him to talk. Looking to the side, he saw a glass of water, and reached out to grab it, but the pain in his chest made him stop halfway. Hiruzen, seeing this, then handed him the glass so he could drink the water.

"Thank you. I was training that day too, at night. When I heard loud noises coming from the Clan, I ran there; when I arrived, I saw countless people already dead, and I didn't think much, I ran to Sae's house to try to help her. We managed to escape in the end, to the gate."

Ryo remembered the scene as he clenched his fists around the bedsheet and then took a deep breath. "But it was all in vain, they attacked us as soon as we reached the gate; I managed to buy Sae some time by staying behind, I blocked a katana strike, but I was thrown away with the impact, it felt like I had been hit by a mountain.

And yet it didn't help, there was another one attacking the Uchiha clan, and he went after Sae, bringing her back, throwing her in front of me, and then the young man with the katana killed her in front of me and then..."

He put his hand on his chest where the bandages were covering the katana wound. "Then he killed me, or at least that's what I thought until I woke up here in this bed, Hokage-sama."

The two ANBU exchanged glances as Ryo mentioned blocking a blow from Itachi. Clearly, he hadn't mentioned names, but everyone there knew what he had done, and indeed, it was impressive. Hiruzen sighed.

"You've been through a lot, Ryo. The one who attacked the Uchiha clan was Uchiha Itachi, who is now wanted in the Fire Country. You did well to stay alive, Ryo. When you're fully recovered, come see me in my office."

One of the ANBU then placed a plate with some sliced apples, and the three left the room. Shortly after, doctors and nurses entered to assess Ryo's condition, as he should still have been in a coma, subjecting him to a battery of tests.

[Hi guys!, We got the first member on the other platform! So Another chapter today to celebrate the first member.

Thank you to everyone who has been following the story so far, Ryo's adventures will get more exciting as the chapters go by.

As always, comments are going to let me know how you are reacting to the story so far. So share your ideas, your likes and dislikes about the story and thanks again to everyone.

check out the latest chapter on patr / eon.com/goldenmasterr ]