Arthur hovered to the top of the village walls before solidifying himself. The Leaf stretched out before him.
Destroyed houses huddled together, black smoke curled from various areas, and a strange barrier was over the Chūnin Stadium. That could only mean one thing: Orochimaru was trying to kill Hiruzen again.
So Arthur closed his eyes for a moment to focus.
'Crimson gaze…'
The world around him sharpened. He saw the fluctuation of various chakra signatures and the tremours from villagers scattering to hide underground. Then something else snagged at his senses: a familiar musk was quickly making its way to his location.
How? When? Had Arthur revealed something during the fight with Lee? Or had it been his escape from Alice?
It didn't matter. Arthur slowly opened his eyes. He wouldn't allow himself to be captured by anyone.
So he crouched low to look down at the village and assessed his options for this incoming threat. The main gate was quite close, but it was also slightly guarded. As he was thinking, that familiar musk was zeroing in.
When the kid leaped over the top of the walls, he landed with a crouch right behind Arthur.
"Kiba Inuzuka…" Arthur said, slowly rising to face him. "I wonder what brings you here?"
Kiba's brow furrowed as he growled, "Don't play dumb! We all know what you did to Lee and Sasuke."
'News travels fast…'
Arthur felt a tad annoyed. His last fight couldn't have happened any more than ten minutes ago. As for how Kiba managed to track him down, the Inuzuka clan—with their heightened sense of smell—likely picked up his trail.
Not even Arthur's Chakra Disguise technique, at its current level, was good enough to hide from Kiba's nostrils. But why was Kiba alone? Where was his backup? Maybe Arthur could turn this to his advantage; maybe he could use this boy's stupidity to create a diversion.
"What could I have possibly done to those two?" he asked, feigning innocence.
Akamaru barked as Kiba screamed, "You're kidding!"
"Nonsense… I had my match with Sasuke and had a little sparring session with Lee, is all."
"A little?! You crippled him and left him lying there to die!"
"Typical Lee. Always pushing himself too hard." Then Arthur's tone lowered. "He does break so easily…"
Anger radiated from Kiba as his fists clenched, causing Akamaru to bark louder. "Don't try to justify your actions! You're a danger to this village, and I won't let you get away with what you've done!"
This was good. Kiba was enraged. So Arthur pushed him further.
"Come now, Kiba… I was only playing a game."
"A game?! You think hurting people is fun, is that it? You're a monster, Arthur, and I'm taking you down right here!"
At that, Akamaru launched himself up and immediately transformed into his owner. "Fang-over-fang!" With a synchronized movement, both Kiba and Akamaru spun around in opposite directions, creating a whirlwind of brown fur and white fangs.
'Water prison jutsu...'
The moment they closed in from opposite sides, Arthur stretched his arms, causing a sphere of water to erupt from his palms and encase both of them in his trap. They scrambled in surprise, trying to claw their way out. But the water prison held firm.
Akamaru whimpered, knowing it couldn't hold its breath for much longer. Animal cruelty, yes, but for Arthur, it was nothing more than another obstacle who chose to get in his way.
As Kiba continued to pound his cage with frustration, Arthur looked at him struggling. There was a means for this boy to avoid confrontation, but the Genin had chosen pride over reason.
Arthur was not going to show any mercy!
"I'm curious to know something," he calmly said, retracting his arms back. The prison broke as he quickly unfurled a scroll from his pouch, drawing out his Boltswords. "Since when did I ever consider you things people…?" In one motion, he stabbed through the water, charging it with electricity!
Kiba and Akamaru's voices pierced his ears as the electrified water tore through their skins, destroying their organs faster than their minds could process. Then, in a blinding flash, it ended. Both of their bodies collapsed onto the platform. Akamaru was no longer breathing, and Kiba lay there without any pupils in his eyes.
It didn't take a doctor to know that water and electricity don't mix. Arthur's attack caused the electrical currents from his Boltswords to pass through the water and to their bodies, leaving them a smouldering ruin.
Silence soon filled the scene after Arthur resealed his weapons back into their scroll. He then walked over the wall's ledge to consider his act.
Kiba and Akamaru had undoubtedly died. And Arthur felt no pity for them, no sense of remorse, no regret for his actions—nothing.
Kiba himself was hardly given any real background after his defeat against Naruto in the preliminaries. His movements were predictable, and his wannabe heroic act led to both his and his pet's deaths.
The Inuzuka police force would surely hunt Arthur down, but he didn't care. They were a clan that lacked creativity and were amateurish at best. Blind egotism over the truth is how they walked.
Arthur soon placed his foot over the ledge to take in the scene of the destroyed village. Buildings burned, smoke billowed into the sky, villagers continued to scream, and Orochimaru's barrier still hadn't receded yet.
None of it fazed Arthur.
As he continued to watch, the wind suddenly moved past his hair. Someone landed behind him. He didn't turn around, knowing who it was beforehand.
"Arthur," the person gasped upon seeing the dead bodies. "You… Why did you kill them?!"
"Jada… Do you really wanna know?"
"They were our friends, Arthur! Kiba. Akamaru. You knew what they meant to me—to all of us!"
Arthur's expression remained unchanged, and he still hadn't turned. When he spoke, his voice dripped with iciness. "I wonder which path you'll choose…"
"What?!"
"You came here with your Sharingan active. That means you're looking for a fight, are you not?"
While he was right, she activated them on the pretense that she wouldn't have to use them. But after seeing this act, it finally dawned on her: Arthur was never on the village's side to begin with.
"You…" she said with a shriek. "What was it all for then?!" Yet he remained quiet. "You agreed to help us; you agreed to fix the story!"
Finally, he turned around. "There is no story, Jada…" His words made her stumble back in disbelief. "There are no friends. In this world, there's only survival. Cast aside your illusions and join me instead."
"H… heartless," she choked. "You never cared, did you?"
"Cared for what exactly? Cared to live out my days in a village that oppresses others? Cared to endanger myself for those without a reward?" He tilted his chin, showing his seriousness. "Now why would I ever care to do things like that?"
Jada's heart pounded louder than she had ever felt it. Right then and there, Arthur saw something he never would have expected: her eyes were beginning to bleed as her Sharingan transformed into a crimson kaleidoscope with two intricate black lotus patterns swirling with her shocked face.
Jada had awakened her Mangekyō Sharingan. The fabled Uchiha curse had taken hold of her.
An oppressive silence was between them. Only the sound of the distant crackle of flames from the village below could be heard.
She stood rooted to the spot as her red eyes locked onto his. He could almost see the gears turning behind her gaze and the cogs of denial grinding against the brutal truth he had revealed.
From the moment she awakened the Sharingan, Arthur had a feeling this would happen. And now that it has, with the Mangekyō in her eyes, he saw a whirlwind of emotions eddying within them. Betrayal, rage, a desperate yearning to stop him at any cost—all of it was felt.
"Arthur, you—"
Before she could articulate anything, the world lurched beneath their feet. A thunderous explosion set off far from them was powerful enough to shake the very foundations of the village wall. Dust and debris rained down, momentarily obscuring their vision.
Arthur saw the hesitation in Jada's stance. It was the opening he needed, so with a thrust of his legs, he launched himself off the wall. His body defied gravity for a fleeting moment before plunging below.
He wouldn't spare a single glance back. Jada's eyes—he had seen that look a thousand times before. It was the look of a hunter, and he, Arthur, was now the hunted.
'Crimson gaze…'
Looking at his surroundings without needing to turn to the left or right, he could feel her menacing glance still perched on the wall. She was staring him down with a bleeding resolve that spoke volumes.
Yet he continued his run. He knew she wouldn't chase him today. The flames, the screams, and the very destruction of the village she held dear demanded her attention. But he also knew, with certainty, that they would meet again.
The look in her eyes promised that.
✟
Having busted out of the ravaged village, Arthur didn't stop running.
He needed to put serious distance between himself and any form of civilization fast. Trees were like green streaks as he raced past them. When they finally thinned, a small, secluded clearing was revealed.
He skidded to a halt, knowing no one had followed him.
'Summoning jutsu…'
Smoke coalesced, revealing a small primate covered in a thick coat of brown fur.
"Surprise!" Koko shrieked. She quickly flung herself toward him, swinging around his neck with surprising strength. "I missed you so much!"
Koko, still very much a child, remained blissfully unaware of the problems unfolding within the village walls. Her innocent joy wasn't at all deterred by Arthur's lack of a smile.
"You've gained some weight," he said, scratching her head lightly.
She giggled with a laughter sounding more like tinkling bells. "Yeah!" she chirped, burying her face into his neck. "I've practiced lots! I'm faster now, too!"
A warm statement, but there was no possible way she could have expanded her fighting skills in that short period of time without proper guidance. At least that's what Arthur thought. What surprised him more was how her vocal skills seemed to have improved.
"I'd like to see that one day," he said, "but right now, you need to stay by my side."
Her head rubbed affectionately on his neck. "Okay, daddy!"
Arthur had made a wise choice in raising this baby chimp, for she trusted him implicitly. But that wasn't the reason he summoned her. From what he recalled, Hiruzen summoned Enma to help him during his fight with Orochimaru.
If the Hokage tried to summon anything this time around, only Koko would appear. Arthur was never going to let that happen.
"Where are we headed now, daddy?"
"A little walk. So don't leave my side, alright?"
Koko readily agreed, snuggling closer to his arm.
So much had happened since he arrived in this world. He was thrown in prison, ready to be sold off as a slave, only to break free. Then he had to fend for himself without help and acquired a Kekkei Genkai by force. Through his cold nights alone, he thrived like no other.
And when he finally found the Leaf Village, he was revealed to be the biggest underdog.
Those burdens didn't stop him whatsoever. He defeated a Seven Ninja Swordsman and acquired his weapon. Then he obtained his second Kekkei Genkai, a process that was excoriatingly painful. When he returned, his training amplified, giving him the edge he needed.
Nothing could stop him; nothing would.
Even after he was captured at the stadium, he had escaped a potential life sentence, overthrown the Sharingan, defeated the Genin with the best taijutsu, psyched out the best Jōnin at hand-to-hand combat, and killed a canine.
Did he have any regrets? None. He could not; he was Arthur Bennett, the sole ninja thrust into a world he now sought to destroy. Even if he had to do it alone.
As he turned his back on the burning village, Koko safely clung to him.
This was just the beginning, the beginning to Arthur's path of war.