Deep within the Land of Hot Springs, the moon cast an eerie glow over the landscape.
There, in the heart of an open forest, a man and a woman abruptly woke as they felt a sudden haze of confusion.
The man, his features rugged but kind, squinted through the darkness. He turned towards his wife, who was equally terrified at what they were doing there.
"Relax, honey," he said, but his own voice trembled slightly, betraying his unease.
"Where are we?! I can't move!"
The man also tried to shift his body but found it immobilized, bound by some unseen force. Looking around, he noticed strange black circular patterns etched into the ground surrounding them.
The woman's breath quickened, and as the fear suffocated her, her heart began to race.
"What's happening?!" she cried out. "Someone, please help us!"
Before the man could say anything, a jolt of excruciating pain gripped his body like a vice. He then screamed into the night as his form was being shrouded in swirling dust.
The woman's eyes widened in horror.
After the dust settled, a boy was in her husband's place. He was young, with disheveled black hair, his skin was marred with cracks akin to shattered porcelain, and his face was devoid of eyes.
The sight twisted her gut, and the terror intensified within her.
"Honey!"
Before she could fully process the horror, her own body was seized with the same agonizing pain. It ripped through her, and she screeched as the world went completely black.
When things subsided, a girl with a blonde ponytail was in her place.
From the shadows, Arthur stepped into the moonlight.
Two kunai with charms attached were in his hand as he approached the two corpses.
The Reanimation ritual was near completion. As for who sat before him, they were none other than Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka.
After he plunged both kunai into their skulls, disbelief passed through their expressions.
"Where am I?" Shikamaru wondered aloud.
The real question to have asked was, where and when did Arthur get their cells?
Arthur had grave-robed and desecrated their remains the same night he had done the same to Rin Nohara. Not that these two would have known.
"Ino?" he wondered, looking at her foreign features. "Is that you?"
"Yes, it's me," she panicked, recognizing his tone and face. "But where are we?"
They locked eyes, unsure of what was happening. Then, before they could contemplate their fate, the ground quaked, and they felt something stir beneath their feet.
Three coffins tore through the soil in front of them. Shikamaru felt dread rising in his chest. "What's happening?" Each lid then began to creak open one by one as Ino quivered at the emerging figures inside.
The first was a tall man, seemingly a samurai. The second was a stranger with pale hair and shark-like teeth. And the third had a face mask with dark hair.
Ino swallowed hard. "Shikamaru, why's their bodies look like that?
"I don't know, but…" When he glanced down at himself, he finally noticed his cracked skin and the lack of breath or fluid in his system. "Ino… I think we're dead…"
Arthur, unfazed by the turmoil around him, drew a small amount of his own blood.
'Summoning jutsu…'
In the dispersing fog, the body of a small, monkey-like girl emerged. "Surprise!" But when she looked around at the gloomy atmosphere, she clung toward Arthur's neck. "Why is it so cold here, daddy?!"
Ino and Shikamaru finally noticed him, so they stared in disbelief, wanting to run but being unable to.
Koko then pointed to the three men. "Who're they, daddy?"
"Their names are Tatewaki, Mangetsu, and Zabuza…"
"They look like they want to eat me!" she pressed, hiding behind his shoulders.
"Tatewaki," he began, "is skilled with the sword. Mangetsu, a member of the Hōzuki clan, possesses rare abilities over water. And Zabuza… Well, let's just say he made a name for himself as the Devil of the Mist Village."
As Arthur finally turned around for Shikamaru to get a clear picture, he knew who he was.
"You… You're Arthur Bennett from the Leaf!" he announced. Then his voice became urgent. "How did you summon us back from the dead? No… Why did you summon us?!"
"You remember," Arthur coolly said. "That's good… I'll put it simply: the world has changed since you two walked in it, and you were chosen to be a part of that change."
"But why?" Ino protested. "What did we ever do to deserve this?"
Arthur chose not to regard them, knowing that they didn't know who had slain them. He was, after all, transformed as an unsuspecting Sound shinobi back then.
"Try to understand," his voice echoed. "This is your new reality…"
If they could feel, the chill would have settled deep in the depths of their hearts.
Shikamaru, now being able to move, turned to his former comrade with a very concerned expression. "Ino, what's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"
"It's… it's a little hazy, but…" She hesitated, wrestling with the flood of emotion. "I remember being in the Chūnin Exams, fighting someone. Then... I can't recall."
Shikamaru finally understood: the figure before them was the perpetrator!
"You…" he stammered. "You were one back in the Forest of Death; you were the one who killed us!"
'Impressive,' Arthur thought. 'No surprise the smartest ninja in this world figured that out so quickly.'
"Arthur!" Ino cried out in disbelief. "Did you really kill us?!" He kept quiet, confirming Shikamaru's claims. "W-why did you do it?! I thought we were all working from the same village!"
"Hmph…" Arthur scoffed. "You really thought that?"
"No!" she tried again. "I need answers! What have you—"
Arthur raised a single finger, effectively silencing her. The act only made Shikamaru more uneasy at the terrible situation they were in.
Suddenly, the three summoned corpses stepped out of their respective coffins, moving toward Ino and Shikamaru. They formed a line next to them as Arthur stepped to the center of this macabre assembly. Koko rested playfully on his shoulder.
It was glaringly obvious to Shikamaru: he, Ino, and the three shinobi were all dead puppets at Arthur's command.
"Congrats," Arthur said, knowing Shikamaru's thoughts. "This jutsu was developed by the second Hokage himself, and the two of you are slaves to it."
Ino's dead heart plummeted. How could this be happening? Her once solid world was now a perverse illusion.
As she glanced at Shikamaru, the gravity of their situation bore down on them. They were dead, just as they had figured, and there seemed to be no way of escape.
Arthur formed a hand sign, allowing her to speak.
The face she made was one of despair. "Just answer me this: if you're really the one who killed us, why?!"
"If you must know," he coolly said, "I didn't kill you; I completely slew you from existence…"
"W-why?!" Shikamaru protested. If he had blood, it would have been rushing. "Why would you betray the Leaf?!"
"Isn't it ironic?" Arthur mused. "Even after dying, you, an intellectual, are just as stupid as the nonsense you're spouting."
Ino tried to cry tears, but no liquid fell. She was truly, and all that was left was an empty void where her heart should be.
"I've had enough explaining," Arthur continued as he pointed at them. "The two of you, come to terms with your premature deaths quickly, for you still serve a purpose."
Shikamaru clenched his fists in anger as he demanded, "What possible reason do you have for bringing us back as corpses?"
Arthur merely cracked his neck, prompting Koko to jump down. He was sick of speaking.
"You guys are gonna make daddy angry!" Koko chirped. "Don't you get it? He needs you to help him get stronger!"
"Help him?" Ino asked, "But why us?"
Koko innocently shrugged. "I don't really know. Te-he."
Why Arthur had chosen these two was because of their specialties.
Ino, a Yamanaka, possessed abilities similar to Alice's. Shikamaru was regarded as a tactical genius, meaning he could devise almost any strategy on the fly.
It's then that Shikamaru understood: this was a training session for Arthur!
"We're not helping you in this messed-up game!" he shouted.
But who were they to go against his will?