The feeling of thirst finally settled in.
Arthur didn't need a clock. His body kept a record of its needs, and thirst—this parched dryness—was its way of telling him it was close to the time when the guard would return with his meager ration of water.
Today, things would be different.
Arthur rose from the floor, having spent the night not just resting but strategizing. The guard's unexpected lapse of vigilance regarding his chains had given him clarity on how to enact a foolhardy plan—one he was daring to try.
That familiar clanking noise echoed down the corridor as Arthur steeled himself to the floor and closed his eyes to feign sleep.
When the door opened, the guard's gruff voice said, "Up, scum. This is your last cup of water before I ship you off." Arthur stayed still. "Didn't ya hear me?! I said get up!"
Because Arthur didn't move, the guard angrily took out his keys and unlocked the cell doors before rumbling his way inside to check if Arthur was even alive. Right then and there, as the guard leaned in and his face was inches away, Arthur popped right up and slammed his fist cleanly into the guard's chin!
The guard grunted, more surprised than hurt. His eyes glazed over as confusion crossed his face. It wasn't enough. So Arthur threw all his weight behind a second blow at the guard's neck.
Bang!
The guard finally doubled over before crumbling to the floor. Arthur then scrambled over and took the keys. They were attached to a ring, so he quickly sorted through them until he found the one that fit the chains.
Then he secured the guard's limbs with the chains that had bound him for far too long. It might not hold this man forever, but it would surely buy Arthur some time to escape.
Emerging from the cell, Arthur found himself in what appeared to be a dungeon.
No time to thank, just run!
The corridors stretched like an unending tunnel. Every corner that could be rounded, he placed himself along the wall and waited. An exit needed to be found, but everywhere he turned looked the same.
There was no other person in sight no matter where he ran, and he knew there wouldn't be because the guard "we ship you off"; he said "I". That meant the fatso was likely the only guard running this jail.
Worst case scenario, there were more like him outside. But that remained to be seen.
It wasn't long until a door finally broke the monotony of the corridor. Arthur approached it and saw what looked like a medical unit inside. It was filled with syringes, bandages, IV bags, and the lot.
With furrowed brows, he skipped it and ran elsewhere.
Turning another corner, he heard the faint sound of someone's whimper. It drew him towards a different door, one similar to the cell he had been in.
So he peered inside it and saw a woman huddled in the corner of the room. She had long brown hair, freckles, and was streaked with grime down her back. Most of her face was obscured, yet something about her looked familiar.
Arthur cycled through the keys and found the right one. The woman flinched at the sound of the door opening. Her eyes widened in terror as she cowered further into the corner.
"P-please, don't hurt me again," she said.
"You can relax; I'm not a guard." He then took a step closer as his eyes scanned the room for anything worthwhile. Finding nothing, he turned to her to ask, "Who're you?"
The woman's gaze darted around the room. She scrutinized him carefully until she spoke with a trembling voice, "Please... help me."
"Help you with what?" he countered.
"Help me get out of here... He… he kept injecting me with something, and it hurt."
Arthur's eyes narrowed. This seemed different from the treatment he'd received. Something was off—something he didn't understand.
"I'll ask again," he demanded, "who are you?"
The woman hesitated nervously as she stammered, "I-I'm just a scientist."
"A scientist?" Arthur repeated, skeptical.
Most scientists didn't cower in fear or beg for help. Let alone find themselves being experimented on.
"Yes," she insisted. "They brought me here against my will."
"What's your name?"
"I'm Yukimi…"
Suddenly, Arthur remembered who she was. Yukimi was a character in the story's filler arc.
Her full name was Yukimi Iburi, from the forgotten Iburi clan. She was ostracized for her weak smoke technique, a jutsu that allowed her and members of her clan to turn their bodies into natural smoke.
Because of this jutsu, they were unable to go outside, lest they fully turned into smoke and died.
Orochimaru, who was involved in this arc, offered her clan a solution—a cursed seal. When Leaf ninjas Kakashi Hatake and Yamato trailed Orochimaru, they discovered the Iburi clan's secret location.
Orochimaru, who was also fleeing the Leaf Village at the time, sought to use Yukimi's blood to help cross the Fire Country's borders via smoke. This led to Orochimaru massacring her entire clan in order to gain their smoke Kekkei Genkai.
His plan proved to be a failure since the only member whose blood was good enough for him to use was Yukimi herself.
Devastated and unstable at the sight of her dead family, Yukimi was saved by the two Leaf ninjas and the spirits of her fallen clanmates. Her jutsu would then be stabilized, allowing her to be free to explore the world she had longed for.
Arthur recalled all these events, which had taken place no more than five years ago.
Yukimi wasn't at all a scientist. Or perhaps she was, considering that her story ended without any explanations those many years ago.
Because of all that, a devious thought came to mind. Scientist or not, this character could be used.
"Wait here," Arthur ordered.
He turned, shut and locked the doors, then ran, leaving her staring in a mix of fear and confusion.
"Don't leave me!" she cried from inside.
But Arthur didn't care. Instead, he backtracked and searched for that medical room he had passed earlier. Once he found it, he unlocked the doors and gathered the necessary supplies: bandage rolls, antiseptic solution, and the works.
With the items safely stored in a medical bag, he hurried back to Yukimi's cell.
"Y… You're back," she said as he opened the doors again.
"Come on," he demanded. "We're leaving."
There was a brief hesitation until she finally got up to follow him. Together, they navigated the maze without spotting a single guard. There wasn't even a security checkpoint of any kind.
Once they reached a heavy metal door different from all the rest, Arthur believed it would lead to the outside world. As such, he inserted the right key and threw open the door to reveal a scene far removed from the dungeon halls.
The two soon stood in a remote clearing, bathed in the morning sun. Birds chirped in the surrounding forest.
Arthur had always envisioned escape, but now was not the time to settle on scenery. He turned to Yukimi and said, "Follow me."
She looked at him and was unsure of herself. This child had freed her from a nightmare, but his own reasons for being in there remained shrouded in mystery. At the same time, she was the one to ask for help. Surely, she wouldn't easily let go of the one who could ensure her survival.
"Alright, but where are we going?" she asked in a small tone.
Arthur didn't answer. He simply turned and ran towards the dense trees, allowing Yukimi to follow.
The two plunged into the dense forest, a welcome change from their prison. Arthur led the way by pushing through the undergrowth. Yukimi followed close behind with ragged breaths.
After hours of running, she finally became exhausted and asked to relax for a moment.
The trees had thinned and revealed a sight that made her gasp: a small town nestled in a valley with smoke curling from chimneys.
"We made it," she said after sagging against a tree trunk.
She was relieved, but Arthur knew better. In a cold voice, he said, "Not quite. Towns can be dangerous, too. We can't just waltz in."
She frowned, asking, "What do you mean? Someone inside there can help us."
"Unless they're slave traders involved with that guard, I doubt it. A town this close to where our prison was would have a way of sniffing out outsiders, especially escapees like us."
Yukimi's face blanched as her initial relief again turned to fear. In a dreadful whisper constricting her throat, she asked, "So where do we run to now?"
"West…"
"How do you know which way's—"
"The sun rises east and sets west," he interrupted, making her feel idiotic. "Keep following me if you don't know."
Yukimi didn't argue; she was too exhausted and too frightened to formulate a plan of her own. Arthur, however, had a strange sense of purpose, a cold logic that went against her instilled sliver of hope.
So he led her deeper into the woods and away from the town's lights until they found a secluded clearing.
Considering that the prison they just left didn't sound any alarms, there was likely not going to be anyone trying to hunt them down.
Arthur sat down with his back against a tree trunk as his gaze was fixed on the distance. Yukimi watched him with a growing curiosity. He was an enigma.
Suddenly, he reached for her arm, making her flinch. Before she could protest, he was already cleaning her wounds with the healing jutsu.
"You're injured," he stated. "So that man really was performing tests on you, huh?"
Yukimi stared at him, speechless, before finally saying, "Yeah..."
"Mind telling me about it?"
"S… Sure, but h-how do you know how to do that?"
Yukimi was referring to his healing technique. Arthur finished healing the last of her wounds. His eyes were cold and emotionless. She watched him as one question swirled in her mind: why was he so quiet now?
As they sat in the quiet clearing, things finally settled on them. Pragmatically, Arthur decided it was time to gather information.
"Where are you from?" he asked.
She ignored the fact that he refused to answer her earlier question. "Honestly? I don't have a home, not really."
"What happened?"
"I was saved years ago after my clan died and have been traveling ever since."
Arthur was right. This was indeed the same Yukimi from the Iburi clan. But he needed her to elaborate on those facts. "Tell me more…"
"I, uh," she stumbled, unsure how much to reveal to a stranger. But her gratitude for her freedom prompted her to continue. "I was asleep in my lab one day until I was attacked for not paying my rent on time. They found out that I was special and decided to sell me off like a slave."
"What made you so special?" Arthur intoned. But Yukimi looked away awkwardly. "Fine… Then how long were you in that prison?"
"I only arrived a few moments ago. What about you?"
"Hmph," Arthur scoffed. A few moments ago? Yukimi by no means could compare to his turmoil in that prison. "I honestly don't know. Could have been days, could have been weeks."
"I'm sorry to hear that. But if it hadn't been for you..." she trailed off with a grateful smile. "I don't know what would have happened to me."
Arthur watched her with utter contempt. Her story seemed to check out. Whatever they were injecting her with likely kept her chakra low, preventing her from escaping.
The only thing he couldn't piece together was why this filler character was placed in the same prison just moments before he was scheduled to be shipped off.
Those details didn't matter now; he had escaped with an unexpected prize: her Kekkei Genkai.
Kekkei Genkai were special abilities passed down through generations in certain clans. These abilities came from genetic anomalies and manifest in different ways. They could allow a user to combine basic elements like water and wind to create a new one, such as ice.
Some Kekkei Genkai even granted unique body manipulation abilities, such as freely controlling bones.
The abilities themselves are highly coveted, with some villages even attempting to steal or transplant them into others.
The moment Arthur verified that this character was indeed Yukimi Iburi, he knew taking her out of the prison was a necessity. She did, after all, interact with two other important characters from this world.
If anything, Arthur could convince her to tag along with him and meet those from her past. That would be expanding her story and adding an alternative narrative to things.
But why would a villain do that?
Sunlight dappled through the leaves and fell on Yukimi's face. She blinked it away with a smile, staying grateful for Arthur's help. He had not only saved her; he also healed her wounds. Such a person couldn't possibly be evil.
"Thank you," she whispered, looking down at her arm.
She looked up, expecting to have her feeling reciprocated. Instead she saw a cold glint in his eyes that lashed out.
Bang!
Arthur struck her in the neck. He watched her crumple to the ground, trying to breathe. Small wisps of smoke began to show themselves on her legs. She was trying to turn into smoke.
"Looks like you managed to recover some chakra during that run of ours," Arthur said, lifting up his legs.
Bang-bang-bang!
Three stomps straight to her trachea. The force was enough to knock her unconscious, stopping her Kekkei Genkai from fully activating.
No regret was felt. Only Arthur's cold features remained.
The ninja world was quite the unfair one. Those who were strong were so because they were born with power. And those who didn't have power had only one way to achieve it: take it by force.
Hard work would only get someone so far, and Arthur didn't feel like giving this world any more chances.
One name surfaced in Arthur's mind, a character who had been merely a servant to one of the antagonists: Kabuto Yakushi.
Kabuto had become a significant asset through the art of cellular transfer. By absorbing the DNA of others, he gained their techniques and their Kekkei Genkai. And once he acquired enough power, he was strong enough to start an entire war!
Arthur wasn't Kabuto; he didn't possess the same techniques or scientific knowledge, but the core principle remained: taking someone else's DNA in this world was power. And Yukimi, with her unique Kekkei Genkai and ability to transform her body into smoke, would be Arthur's first victim.
Arthur kneeled beside her unconscious form and pulled out his medical tools. He began by extracting specific tissues, ones most likely to hold the essence of her Kekkei Genkai.
Blood spewed across his hands and into IV bags. He worked as his stomach churned from the sight.
Hours later.
The once-pristine clearing was now a macabre tableau. It was long past dusk, and the sunlight was seen in eerie twilight.
Arthur surveyed his handiwork. In his hand, he held a vial filled with Yukimi's essence. She had inevitably died due to intense blood loss, and her lifeless body was ripped apart.
Arthur had never seen this much blood on him or anyone before, yet his expression remained stoic.