Chapter two
There is no feast that doesn't end.
Uploaded: 9/5/22, Final edit: 20/5/22
—-—
PLEASE READ: I've updated the warnings for this novel and it's no longer a parents strongly cautioned, it's been changed to No one 17 and under admitted, and for good reason. There will be gruesome things that will appear in future chapters, and I DON'T plan on shying away from them.
You've been warned.
—-—
Before me lay a mild scene of carnage. One I was already past the point of even acknowledging. Two bodies lay in front of me: one with an assortment of guts hanging out; another barely clinging to his last breath. I placed my left hand over the head of a Chunin known as 'Kenji'. An orphan who had gone rogue four years ago, taking with him one of my possessions. I ignored the dark, coal like blood that begun to cover my hands, as I begun reciting to myself a Jutsu. One, I had only recently obtained. Reciting it over and over again to make sure that I had remembered it right.
I began forming the unfamiliar hand signs and felt the chakra weave through my fingers. As the sequence came to an end. I pressed the side of my index finger against my middle one, and activated the Shindenshin no Jutsu, a Jutsu I had stolen from a Yamanaka.
A few moments later and I was back within reality. On my face lay something one might describe as a minute smirk. But any who saw it would feel layers of coldness radiating from it. 'To think, my child has already risen to this level' 'As expected, any less, and he wouldn't be worthy of my blood'
I begun making my way to the room he was in and readied myself. Pulling my chin up slightly, I took on a regal, yet lazy posture. 'First impressions count after all' I smirked to myself, but quickly cooled my expression as I clasped the door handle in my hand. Before me stood a boy with bright yellow eyes, flecks of gold and silver dotted here and there. Encasing a pitch-black slit in each eye like an oval shaped coffin lying on a mountain of treasures.
Although he was still a baby, small and thin. His eyes seemed to radiate sharpness like a lone blade sunken into a hill, waiting for me to pull it from the dirt and hone. I felt a shiver as our eyes met, deep pleasure coursing through me. I was even more pleased when his own seemed to calculate the scene, before seemingly turning pale with fright. I smirked and begun the speech I had long prepared.
—-—
Ren's pov ~
I didn't even get a chance to process what I just heard when my thoughts were immediately sapped out of me by a large rumble; around my room bits and bobs dropped like flies. The cabinets around me began to sway as I quickly got off my bed and started to run towards the door. But before I could even get within a metre of it, I felt my legs root to the ground.
A curse nearly made it out of my mouth, but the words didn't leave my tongue. I felt a killing intent unlike anything I had felt before. First it was my legs, then my arms and then my chest. I felt my muscles constrict as if they were being squeezed by an anaconda. I felt as though the snake was worming its way up to my neck, and I suddenly felt as though my throat was being clasped with an iron grip. I somehow managed to unfreeze my arm out of instinct. I shot it towards my throat. Trying to pull off the snake that had made its way up there. I felt blood bite the back of my throat but all I could grasp at was air.. There was no snake on me.
Suddenly, as if everything before had been an illusion, I felt the killing intent disappear. The earthquake had stopped but I had no time to consider why. I felt my legs collapse beneath me and immediately, greedily gulped down a mouth full of air. The gulps so harsh and so fast that I felt a sharp burn with every new intake. A moment later, and the door was slapped open. I was frozen again, but this time it wasn't from killing intent.
Before me stood a tall, pale figure. Although his body seemed almost sickly in its skinniness. His every step towards me seemed to radiate strength; I felt as though an indominable bamboo stick had walked into the room, practically dripping power. I scanned his figure upwards and looked towards his face. I felt the air leave my chest as our eyes met. His gaze seemed to grab a hold of my own, and I felt it impossible to look away.
I felt my world turnover once more as I realised his identity. Although it seemed different from the anime. There was no mistaking it, yellow eyes mirrored yellow eyes and I took a gulp of air. I felt the blood drain from my face and a coldness sweep my neck. Before me stood one of the most despicable men to ever exist in Naruto.. before me stood Orochimaru.
He seemed to notice my sudden fear as his face seemed to spring with what I can only assume was pleasure. Truly sickening.
"Mmh"
"Sharp eyes for a baby"
My face deadpanned but I forgot the notion quickly. What with the sudden realisation that I might die any second.. Quick question? What the fuck do you say, when a twenty something year old Orochimaru walks into a baby's room? Jesus, this whole scenario sounds like a running joke. Only my life is on the line and I'm the butt of it. Also there's no gag, or.. maybe there is? Although, I guess that depends on how he wants to kill me. His mouth suddenly opened and a lazy tone slipped upon me. Filled with what I can only assume was his idea of gentleness; strung together three words to further conclude the joke that is my life.
"Truly my child"
It seemed at this point I didn't actually have a world.. because any and all reasoning, or connotations I had about my future were knocked out, gagged, thrown into a van, and then killed. Seriously what the fuck is my life right now?
"Based on what Kenji told me, your development seems to be on par with my expectations"
"Come to me Ren, I am your Oto-san"
"W-what happened to my paren-?"
Before I could finish my sentence, something stew within his eyes. I was unable to recognize the emotion behind it, but it made me feel weird, nauseous even. It wasn't like a killing intent, and it wasn't like the false gentleness he had donned before.
"Why act like you care Ren?"
His words caught me where I stood and I felt like I was being placed under a microscope. As if I was a specimen he had already worked out. Like he already knew. 'But that's impossible' 'there's no way he would know, right?'
"You never once treated them like they were your parents Ren.. So why suddenly act like they were anything more than means to an end"
I was suddenly able to perceive the meaning behind his gaze and I didn't like it. He knew.. He knew I was just trying to divert his attention. He knew I didn't care and that I still took on the façade of a scared child, crying out for his parents. 'But how' 'How could he know?'
It seemed as though fate had other plans for me and my thoughts. As a heavy stench assaulted my nose. I felt it cling to my face and permeate every intake of air, every breath seemed to be corroded with the thick and unreputable smell of blood.
Orochimaru appeared to have smelt it too as he suddenly spoke up, breaking the eerie silence of before.
"Mhm I guess we can continue this another time, time to go Ren"
He stepped up and grabbed me by my pits. Before I could even begin to struggle, I felt my head pulsate and the room before me disappeared instantaneously. Suddenly I was hoisted into another position and found my head resting against his chest. I tried to worm myself out but froze when I saw the sight before me.
We were standing on a branch, that much I could see. But when I tried looking down, all I could see was a seemingly endless ravine of darkness. I couldn't even see far enough to see the tree trunk we were attached to. But the darkness below me was a different sort of murkiness.
Before I could begin to panic the man holding me began flickering from branch to branch. My stomach turned, and I began to feel bile rise from my stomach and make its way up my throat.
"SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!"
I all but bellowed, 'I'm barely a year old and this guy is running across trees like Usain Bolt' 'This dumbass dad is trying to give me an aneurysm'. Naturally I kept the curses in my head, my life was both figuratively & literally in a lunatic's arms; as such, I really didn't want to know how falling to my death feels like.
Although it took him a minute to slow his pace, he finally took to a speed that was more comfortable for me. Though that minute felt spine-chilling, as if he was generally considering if he should drop me.
Even though I didn't exactly swear at him. I further realised I was repeatedly forgetting to watch my mouth in front of people I neither trusted, nor knew well enough to be speaking so informally. Let alone talking like this to someone who could be credited with most human experiments to date. A shiver made its way like an electric current coursing through my body. But I willfully ignored it in favour of the sleep I had missed out on.
—-—
I was suddenly nudged out of my already lacking sleeping, and instinctively cursed the perpetrator.
"Would you piss off?"
The mutter had barely made it off my tongue when I awoke with a jolt. Memories of the previous night flashing through my brain. I opened my eyes and let the groggy scene before me hit my cerebral cortex. After I processed what I was seeing.. The conclusion I arrived at was that I was still dreaming. I quickly clamped them shut, blissfully ignoring the fact that it shouldn't be possible to close my eyes in a dream. I was nudged again only this time it ended with a sharp nail pinching my cheek.
I gave it a moment, hoping the man would subdue his villainy and leave my innocent cheeks alone. But it seemed he was intent on carrying on. I opened my eyes again only this time, what with the painful numbing coming from my cheek. I could no longer chalk up the scene before me to a dream. In front of me was a room, more specifically a room some might recognize as the hokage's office. Only before me was not an old and decrepit Hirizun.
Instead, before me was a man with startling similarities to Madara Uchiha. Yet, unlike the Madara I had seen on tv. The man before me had quite some differences. For one, while he looked quite old. He was in no way, shape or form, the decrepit man I had imagined.
Comparing the two was like comparing a dog and a wolf. When the old dog had first appeared before Obito he had been clinging onto his life; losing all mobility in favour of living under the god tree. Yet, the one before me was like an old wolf. Although his vitality was clearly dwindling; make no mistake, the wolf still exuded an aura that eclipsed all else. Even Orochimaru's presence couldn't change that. Madara's entire being seemed to emanate overwhelming strength. From the minute movement in his eyes, to the breath that he exhaled. He hadn't even moved a finger.. yet I found myself finding it difficult to breath in his presence. While clearly, he was suppressing it. There seemed to be a killing intent that could not be held down. A killing intent written into the very fibres of his being. Unwilling to be tamed to the slightest extent; radiating proudly after being honed through countless battles.
"Go on, introduce yourself to the hokage for your Oto-san"
My face deadpanned and a flash of ire likely streamed across my eyes, one Madara no doubt noticed. 'Way to break the scene sannin'. Nonetheless, I slightly dipped my head in respect, a behaviour that most likely appeared strange on a baby. As I began to address the hokage who should've been exiled and on his last breath.
"Evening, hokage-sama, my name is Ren and I'm delighted to make your acquaintance"
A minute flicker of a surprise appeared in the man's eyes. But it seemed to disappear as quickly as it had come. He nodded his head and finally spoke for the first time since I had awoken.
"Mnm, it's as you say Orochimaru, I'll have it done by tomorrow"
Without so much as a goodbye or even a nod, I felt my head buzz and my stomach turn. A wince escaped my mouth, and I opened my eyes. I found myself in a small stone room. Darkness dripping from three corners, while a single corner remained slightly illuminated by a candle. Underneath the candle was a slowly forming hill of wax clinging to an otherwise pristine mahogany dresser. To the left of this, was a western style bed pressed up against what appeared to be a concrete wall.
When I was pulled away from the sannin's body and placed onto the floor, I felt a shiver crawl along my neck. It was cold. Really cold. I looked up at Orochimaru and he smirked.
"Be up by six for training or you'll be punished"
He suddenly disappeared and with it a breeze appeared from nowhere to hit me. My face deadpanned for the second time today as I looked around and saw the room devoid of any clock. The sudden realisation of his depravity in the form of unperturbed spite, further cemented his evilness in my eyes.
"At least he didn't kill me"
I muttered to myself. After submitting myself to what my old world would've called child cruelty. I made my way to my bed and dug myself under the covers. At first, I was unable to stop my body from shaking. Luckily, I remembered a breathing exercise and began taking in deep breaths of air. Despite the coldness biting the back of my throat I eventually felt my breathing even, and the fog of sleep I fell to.
Yet not moments later, I awoke abruptly. I felt a cold itchy feeling beneath my face. I sat up. But couldn't seem to push my body any further. As if there was a lock on my muscles. I looked around and realised I had awoken to a dewy field. Though I couldn't see any further than a few metres. Surrounding this field was a thick mist. So thick, it stopped anyone from looking further then the surface of it.
"Strange"
I muttered but my thoughts stopped there. My attention was drawn to a partition of the fog. This part of the fog seemed to be thinning. Seeing some change in this strange scene, I tried my muscles again to see if I could move. 'No luck'. Though, soon my attention was drawn again. The thinning fog had been suddenly replaced with a new image.
Seemingly less than ten metres away, a narrow view of a forest appeared. This forest was made up of a flock of thin orange trees; beneath these trees was a tousled sea of needles. Within the outskirts of this forest a man walked out. Though I couldn't see his face, or see nay an inch of skin. His tall, wide figure betrayed his gender. He was covered head to toe in some sort of white cloth.
As he began turning his face to my direction, I felt myself pushed to the edge of my seat. A strange feeling simmered within me. One I couldn't quite place.. It felt as though I was anxious. But I couldn't tell what for. Before he could turn around.. I felt a nudge coming from my shoulder. Before I could even try to turn around. I soon found myself felling through the ground below me. I tried to turn to the man once more.. but my glimpse was already interrupted by darkness.
I awoke with a start, for what I imagine was the third time since leaving my ex-caretakers. I felt a nudge on my shoulder and turned my head to the origin. Before I could even begin to chide the perpetrator. I shook and I felt my body instinctively launch itself against the wall. A sharp pain coming from my back hit me in return. But I couldn't care less at the sight before me.
Less than an inch away from my pillow was a thin white snake. Though it was noticeably thin. It stood tall, towering above me. Tall enough to reach me with just a minute extension of its body. I met the snakes gaze; it hissed when our eyes met, sending an electric current rippling through my spine in fright. Though, not a second later, all fright evaporated like a drop of water on a burning pan.
The snakes previous hiss had turned strange as a female sounding laughter appeared. It sent another shiver through me. Though this time not in fright. But at the way it sounded like a piece of metal scraping against a blackboard.
The snake finally calmed down as its laughter came to a halt. It's eyes came back to meet my own once more.
"If you don't leave now you'll be late"
A memory jolted itself forward to my consciousness; I jumped off the bed and ran to the door.
"Follow the hallway to the left until you find him"
Its raspy voice died before my ears as I caught the word 'left' and pelted my way out of the room. Turning left as the snake had said. Although I didn't trust her. After having my memories come back to me, my confidence in my safety was temporarily cemented. I doubted Orochimaru would send a snake to kill me so this quickly.
Running through a pitch-black hallway was truly dangerous. I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face let alone see any potential trips hazards. Luckily for me, the sannin had felt the need to keep the floors relatively clean; as such, I managed to make it quite a distance without falling over. Eventually the figure of a light source began to form in the distance. Though dim, I could now see my objective.
I began to push my little body further. Scared of what Orochimaru would class as punishment; especially if he felt throwing a baby in a freezing cold room a normality. Unfortunately, Ignoring the burning sensation coming from my chest was no longer a possibility. I felt as if my lungs were incapable of letting any more air escape; so when I finally made it to the room I felt my legs collapse beneath me, seemingly numb from my hip to my toes. With any and all pretence of image being thrown out the window, I lifted my arms above my head and placed my hands upon it.
When I finally managed to regain some foothold on my lungs, I began to survey my surroundings. Ignoring the ugly expression of the main character in this little scene; I gave the room I was in a once over. Generally speaking, you would class this type of room using one word.. Barren. But since the one who got me to come here was Orochimaru, I made sure to properly take in my surroundings... yet.. my eyes betrayed me. The room was completely barren, there was no way other way to describe it.
'Why couldn't we have done this in my room'. It seemed my lack of respect and attention for the main character had upset a certain someone. My thoughts ended soon, as I heard what can only be described as a sharp hiss. Though, one that seemed rather different to the one I had heard this morning.
I gave him my attention as requested but it seemed he was still feeling a mithe of ire.
"As you made it on time, you won't be punished"
I let out a sigh of relief at that. I had not seen a single clock since coming here, and I was beginning to doubt the sannin's sanity. Or perhaps he was doing it intentionally to catch me out. He caught my thoughts before I could continue as he said louder than before.
"But! Don't think yourself so at ease yet"
"Fail to properly complete the training and I'll make sure you won't again.."
"Now stand up"
I did as he said, ignoring his attempt at scaring me, whilst I was generally scared of the punishment, there was no point in worrying over it yet. Perhaps I was hallucinating but the world seemed to have decided to actually be kind to me for once.
At first, I was generally uneasy about what sort of exercise we would be embarking upon. Luckily it seemed that within that thick head of Orochimaru's, there was actually a semblance of a conscious. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration. While there may not be any morals within that man's skull, there was at least some sort of rationality.
As such the exercises he had set such high expectations for, were really just a bunch of stretches. Although it's still Orochimaru we're talking about here. The stretches were hard. Really hard. But for some reason or another, maybe it was based on rationality. But, when I was doing the stretches, the man seemed to place a hand to support me.
At first, I had believed it was to push me harder. He would usually starting by pushing my body a bit further than what I had set as my limit. But even after he stopped pushing, he seemed to hold his hand there, as if to hold me steady. While he could have just been ensuring I didn't ease the stretch. I managed to force myself to believe he at least somewhat cared about me.
His hand lifted off me once more and I felt tiredness creeping in. Though I still stood there, waiting for the rest of the stretches to come train my flexibility. He nodded to himself once and muttered something I was unable to hear despite the dead silence.
"You may go"
'Huh? No more, and wait, what about tonight?'
'I could've sworn he muttered something earlier about doing something tonight'
Though I took it in stride, who am I to deny sleep.
"One more thing"
He took a pause. Whether it was for dramatic effect or if he was thinking of something, I couldn't tell. But he continued shortly after.
"Jog back to your bedroom to warm down"
'Huh?' 'Whatever I guess' I nodded once and did as he said. It was my body after all; though, for some reason I felt tomorrows exercise would be particularly harsh..
—-—
As I made my way to my bed, I lay there for a moment, letting my breathing become smooth. I began to think to myself. Something I had seriously forgotten or perhaps intentionally decided not to do.
'Let me get this straight..'
'Orochimaru is my bodies father, ignoring how crazy that is, based on the evidence I'm sure the female caretaker was the one who birthed me'
'That means, she and the male caretaker, who I now know was called Kenji, ran off with me still in her belly, and became missing-nin'
'I don't know why they ran off, or how she was able to become the sannin's baby momma'
'And I don't know how Kenji fits into all this, surely if they were in love, they would've ditched the baby'
'And since they didn't ditch the baby, and Orochimaru was clearly aware of my existence. Then that could only mean he knew, either through her telling him, which seems unlikely based on Kenji's existence. Or he made her pregnant through a one-night stand, which is even more unlikely'
'If we ignore the fact that this is clearly au and very far from the Naruto-verse I know, even ignoring all that, Orochimaru has always been trying to improve his own body, more specifically Orochimaru has always used others bodies to perfect his own'
'Now I'm no genius, or well.. I guess technically, right now I am, but I know my body isn't perfect, not in the slightest, so that leaves me with the conclusion that I am really just a mistake?'
'No'
'I refuse to believe Orochimaru would commit a mistake like randomly knocking someone up, there has to be another reason for it, let's not even begin to think about there being something like love between Orochimaru and my birthmother'
'I mean it's Orochimaru, wondering if he had loved the mother is like wondering if birds like swallowing glass, obviously there was no love between them'
'Fuck! Actually, what the fuck am I saying?'
'For all I know, he could've. I mean this au is so fucking far out man'
'Like seriously, Madara is the hokage, this is clearly some next level au I'm in'
'God.. Just thinking of Madara being the hokage is driving me in circles, I seriously can't even begin to wrap my head over how that happened'
'Okay let's calm it down, calm. Calm. Calm. Okay, let's sum this all up, the sannin is my dad, Madara is the hokage and I'm not even a year into this shit and this is what I've already discovered'
'Fuck okay I'm freaking myself out again, okay calm it down'
'I think the best thing I can do right now is stay calm, I mean I'm not even one years old yet and it's not like my actions can even remotely fuck up what I know of canon, since you know.. canon doesn't even seem to fucking exist in this world'
'Ah fuck this shit, I'm going to sleep, this is the last time I'm going to try and work out any of this batshit, crazy au that I've found myself in'
Although I tried to end my thought process there. My pessimistic mindset still managed to worm itself in, as such I ended up using the breathing method again and luckily, blissfully found myself drifting away.
"Morning Ren"
"Morni-"
I half muttered back before snapping my eyes open.
"The fuck"
"Mhm yes, I'd say that's an appropriate reaction based on the circumstances, but don't worry Ren"
"What the fuck do you mean don't worry your fucking standing over me with a huge ass fucking needle while I'm strapped to a chair"
"Mhm yes, as I was saying, an appropriate reaction indeed, trust me, what I'm doing now is only for your benefit, Ren"
"Wha-"
A cold finger was suddenly placed upon my lip, my teeth began to itch and if my head wasn't tied to a fucking chair I swear I would've bitten it off.
"Shh, let me stop you there, Ren, while your mental development is on par and dare I say might of even surpassed my expectations"
"Your physical body is.."
He breathed through his teeth dramatically then let out a long sigh, as if he was generally ashamed of what he was about to say, as if it generally hurt him. I was about to cut in with another slur, but I found my mouth forced open, inside he placed some sort of hard fabric strap and almost immediately realised what it was for. I tried to squirm, but my body was held stiff by several straps. I stared into his eyes, trying to convey the deep hatred I felt, but it seemed to fall short before the sannin's cold, cold eyes.
Simply using the word dripping could not describe the coldness within them. It was as if there were no mortal words to describe the scene before me, as if anything shy of some sort of demonic language could not compare.
"Subpar to say the least"
He continued.
"Don't worry Ren, while it will hurt a little, I won't be doing anything too painful today, the strap is to merely to stop you from you talking, believe me"
I didn't. But what really caught me out was the promise of greater pain for another day.
"Since you're the first subject I've used for more than testing, and well.."
"Since you are my son after all, I think it's only fair I explain the process, it is your body I'm improving after all"
"So let me begin, what I will be using today is an 8 centimetre long Chakura Kinzoku needle"
"Ah sorry, let me explain that for you, what I'm using here is a needle that I can inject my charka into"
"I'm using this particular needle as I need to be able to perceive through several bones to inject a serum, a serum that I concocted just for you Ren"
"This will help with both the process of administration as well as helping me pinpoint the exact areas of insertion, this way we can avoid any mistakes in poking holes in the wrong place"
His face took upon a smile, though it was stiff.. what was truly sickening was the fact that it appeared genuine. As if he was truly happy that he wouldn't make any mistakes on me. As if he was happy that he wouldn't cause any unnecessary pain.. as if he wasn't planning on shoving a huge ass fucking needle into my body. All of a sudden, his smile suddenly froze.
"Ah!"
"Buttt.. I guess I should warn you, I won't be administering any anaesthetic this time"
"Though I'm confident in my skills, I also need to use your reaction to the pain so that I can understand your limits to the serum"
"Naturally, when I see you at your limit, I'll allow a break and we can continue afterwards, this is both crucial for your mental wellbeing as well as to let me know when I can continue, as, if I was to do this while you were knocked out, it's possible I might make a mistake in the dosage"
"As any medical practitioner knows, pain is a good indicator for.."
He paused, and for once an expression I hadn't seen before took a hold of him. He put his finger to his chin and stared off into thin air. 'Holy fuck he doesn't have a fucking clue does he'. A minute passed and a smile broke its way upon his face.
"AH! Yes! As they say Ren, any good practitioner knows pain is a good indicator that there is damage to the tissue"
He smiled at me, this time with a confident gleam.
"Now, let us begin Ren"
When the needle first went through the skin, I had been able to endure. Though it was painful, the pain was more of a stinging feeling, as if I was stung by a large wasp. But my endurance was swiftly thrown out the window once it dug deeper. I felt the needle pierce further into my flesh, and I couldn't help clamping down onto the leather strap between my teeth. My canines were roaring at me to stop but I was unable to even notice.
I thought I had reached my peak, but I was soon in for a world of shock. When the needle pierced my bone, all thoughts fled my brain. I tried to jog my knee. Shake it. Something. I needed to move. But my body betrayed me. My body wouldn't listen. The straps were too tight. The previous claustrophobic feeling intensified. But it was promptly ignored in the face of a deep aching pain.
I felt my vision begin to blacken when the needle had stopped moving. 'Finally. Please. Stop.. Please.' My internal begging went unheard though. No god would step in and save me. I knew this already; my last life had shown me well. No god will save you from the pain, no matter how bad.
My vision was suddenly jolted to reality. The darkness which had previously crept upon me was swiftly driven back. I felt a chill flow deep within my bones and with it a steady onslaught of more. I felt a liquid tunnel deep inside and the bone became stone cold. Terribly cold. As if the bone would shatter from the temperature alone.
"As you've probably began to feel"
"I've begun inserting the serum now Ren"
"You should feel some more pain soo-"
His words were cut off and my body began spasming. I felt it. The pain. The coldness that had started from the bone had sunken into my flesh, meeting my nerves and sending a freezing shock all over my body. Simply using normal words could not describe the coldness I felt surround me. Simply saying my body felt like a cube of ice dropped deep within a cold lake, could not even come close to comparing it.
The pain became too much for my brain, I was suddenly driven deeper into a chilling numbness. But it didn't seem to last long. I don't remember when I woke up, but the pain seemed to have lessened. My eyes twitched and I was about to try and open them but then I heard that voice. That damned voice.
"Ah, your awake Ren"
"Good, then we can continue"
And continue he did. He said that since he was done with the left-hand carpal joint he would begin to work on my right. When he was done with that, he went back to my left hand and began working on my condyloid joint. Then he would move my right.
This sequence continued and continued. On and on he would work on a part of my body, then swap to the other side. Only to return close to the same spot as before to begin working on another bone he deemed necessary.
After the second bone. No, now I know that they aren't just bones, since he thought it apt to explain each use of the part he was piercing. No, they were joints. After the second joint I remember promptly passing out again. This continued on and on but by the fourth joint, I didn't pass out. Not until the seventh. Then it wasn't until the twelfth, and well. After that I lost count. It seemed that even my brain wouldn't let me rest from the torture. As I was forced to stay stay awake and listen to the sannin's monologue. Eventually the words became something different. I begin to try to find anything to keep me to. Something to keep me sane, something to stop the screaming I couldn't let out. That something became my only reprieve. It became the only thing I could hear over the pain. On and on, I heard his voice filled with gentleness, describing smoothly each and every use of the bone he was modifying.
I began to hang to his every word. When I lost count of the number of incisions.. when I forgot when I had last passed out. It became the only string holding me. Holding me alive. Holding my brain. Telling me sweetly to stay conscious. Telling me to stay awake. Telling me to stay with him.
When the words finally came to a stop, with it a flow of numbness covered my entire being. The pain seemed to fade and before I felt darkness consume me, I heard something about earning it.
—-—
-lostinmyownlabyrinth
Hello, welcome to my first fic, I've written stories before and am writing a very interesting oc novel atm, but I've long been enthralled with naruto fics, you could say it's my guilty pleasure. So, I'm really excited to begin my first naruto fic, I've done quite a bit of research and have been reading fics for a long time so even though my au is very far from canon I will still try to keep things relevant lore wise and law wise, but there might be some minor changes concerning both.
Though I'll be sure to include any warning before; this story is not romance focused and it will only appear in later chapters, although you may hear mc reference it now and then, I will try keep it down so that I don't scare away any non-fujoshis and will be sure to keep warnings in any chapters as I want to have non fujoshis enjoy my story too.
Concerning warnings with things like suicide references or references to self-harm, I won't be including those before it happens, I'll just keep the same general warning for each chapter.
Feel free to leave me some comments, recommendations or criticisms please. Especially about my writing style, I always want to make it better so please do leave me some constructive criticism.