---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s been twelve months since Jin joined Orochimaru. The young rogue is currently in the center of the snake grotto of one of his benefactor’s numerous hideouts and he is not alone. Within the dimly lit room is also Sasuke Uchiha, he stands twenty paces away from Jin with his Kusanagi sword drawn.

“Whatever you have, I’ve trained for it.”

A smug Jin confidently replies, “You won’t even last a minute.”

“Hmph… let’s test that theory.”

In the blink of an eye, Sasuke appears right behind Jin and swipes at him with his blade. Jin quickly weaves his body to the side, the sword misses but still snips off some of Jin’s hair. Sasuke swings his sword again with Jin just barely avoiding the flurry of strikes with a few nicks. The way they each move is so quick and precise.

Sasuke swings his sword down with great force, however Jin is able to catch it in both his hands. Using the sword as leverage, Jin throws Sasuke to the side. The Uchiha fumbles and rolls for a brief moment, but is able to recover in the nick of time to dodge a flying kick from Jin. As Jin bolts past Sasuke, he disappears in a puff of smoke. Sasuke's eyes widen and he looks back only to receive a hefty punch to the face. Sasuke is sent flying across the room, but quickly recovers, landing gracefully.

Sasuke weaves several signs and slams his hand on the ground. “Chidori Stream.”

Aww, crap!! Jin turns to run away.

Lightning travels swiftly across the floor, tearing up the ground as it seeks out its intended target, Jin. As the lighting gets closer and closer, the young rogue takes a big leap, sidestepping to the left, but the jutsu is still hot on his tail. Still running, Jin feels like he’s Jerry being chased by Tom. Jin takes several more sidesteps to the left, left, right, and left again. Growing annoyed, Jin weaves a hand sign.

“Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!” Two clones appear right behind Jin.

Jin’s two clones stop running and take the full brunt of the Chidori Stream for Jin. They both disappear in a puff of smoke as they die, leaving behind a smokescreen. Jin bursts out of the smoke and flies right at Sasuke, delivering another mighty punch. Sasuke recovers as he lands right in front of the snake statue with candles in its eyes.

“I’m ending this… now!” Sasuke activates his Sharingan.

His skin pigment grows darker, turning dark-gray and his hair grows longer as it turns gray with a blue tint. Both his sclerae change from white to dark-gray. Additionally, a dark, star-shaped mark appeared across the bridge of his nose.

Well shit, he’s getting serious now… I should too. Jin thinks as he begins to channel gelel energy, amplifying himself. He looks at Sasuke with a maniacal grin.

Sasuke suddenly appears behind Jin, he winds up for a roundhouse kick. Jin quickly turns to block the kick and then counters with a kick of his own, but Sasuke leaps away. He throws several Chidori Senbon, but Jin performs several backflips and narrowly evades them. Jin and Sasuke immediately dash towards each other, continuing to trade blows with each other. Because the two keep reading each other, their back and forth go on for a moment. Sasuke takes another swing with his sword, but Jin ducks. The Uchiha uses the momentum from his prior swing to spin around for another slash of his sword. Jin however is able to punch Sasuke, sending him flying into the wall. The wall cracks and crumbles upon impact.

Smiling, Jin quickly dashes to Sasuke, pinning him. “Looks like it's my win.”

“Don’t get cocky…” Sasuke forces Jin off and throws him into the air. “Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!!”

Sasuke quickly spews forth a massive ball of flames from his mouth into the air. Still free falling, Jin braces himself.

You can do this, Jin… You can do this! Jin holds out his hand and opens it. “Ninja Art: Gelel Blast!!”

From his hand Jin fires an invisible concussive blast of gelel energy that’s been infused with chakra. The blast forces the fireball down to the ground and kicks up another smoke screen in the process, blinding Sasuke. The smoke begins to blow away, revealing Jin who’s holding a Gelel Rasengan. Sasuke in turn creates a Chidori and channels it through his sword with chakra flow.

“I know I’m supposed to be your training dummy and all, but I don’t plan on losing to you as you are now!!”

“It’s… over!”

They both leap at each other, poised to strike. Jin’s perception of time begins to slow; as they get closer, the slower time becomes. As they are mere centimeters away from clashing, Jin feels something grab his leg and is subsequently flung back.

Jin recovers while still in mid air and lands on the wall. The red-haired rogue looks to see walking from the wall to the ground and standing at the center of the room is Orochimaru with a sinister smile. He claps slowly, patronizing Jin and Sasuke’s match.

“A marvelous display of skill, but it’s time to work. ”Orochimaru ceases his heckling claps and folds his arms.

Please don’t let it be another Phantasm Castle summon…! A discouraged Jin thinks as he walks back down to ground level, reaching into his clothes. …It was hard enough hiding my identity let alone, not getting captured throughout that whole fiasco.

Jin’s wounds slowly heal thanks to his gelel stone. Sure hope I scored enough brownie points with Orochimaru to get some body mods.

Sasuke, it seems a number of my prisoners have escaped… you are to hunt them down and recapture them, I’ve already sent word to Karin. She’ll meet you there and assist you.”

“Hmph.” Sasuke exits the room after receiving his orders, leaving the red-haired rogue and one of the legendary sannin to themselves.

“...And what of me, Lord Orochimaru?” Jin awkwardly scratches the back of his head.

“I haven’t forgotten about you… you can come in now.”

Orochimaru gestures for someone to enter the room; Jin can hear footsteps coming from the darkness of the hallway, but they sound slow and like they’re dragging. The dim lights reveal the one entering the room. It appears to be a boy with black hair, no older than nine; he’s wearing the dirty, tattered clothes an experimental subject would wear. His blue eyes are dull and lifeless, it’s as if he’s completely given up and succumbed to despair. The boy stops dragging his feet when he reaches Orochimaru’s side.

The sight of this poor boy makes Jin wince and his gut wrench. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“This boy’s name is Rito, your assignment is to escort him to the northern hideout.” The Sound Village leader pets the despairing boy like a dog. “He needs some finishing touches before he’s fit enough to be a spare.”

“It will be done, Lord Orochimaru. Boy! It's time to go.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours have passed since they first left the hideout, the sun will begin to set in a few hours. Jin and Rito are walking through the forest in the warm evening breeze. This simple pleasure reminds Jin of the many summer vacations of his previous life, relaxing in the pool, going to the movies with friends, eating s’mores, and playing video games all night long.

Still walking, the boys reach a clearing with a river flowing through it. Jin takes a few steps closer, grabbing a nearby twig on the ground. The red-haired rogue drops the twig into the river and watches it gently float downstream.

“Perfect! Rito, undress and bathe yourself. You smell like a barnyard.” Jin tries to wave away the pungent odor and fails.

Rito follows orders and takes off his rags for clothes. Jin’s eyes widen with disgust and horror upon what he sees, Rito’s body is covered in scars. Some appear to be years old while others look recent, but they all seem to have been made with a doctor’s precision. Jin is reminded that he’s helping a madman and is overcome with guilt.

Jin’s attention returns to the same foul smell that has been irritating him for a while now. A few whiffs tell Jin the odor is coming from Rito’s discarded clothes; Jin weaves hand signs and spews flames from his mouth, incinerating the rags.

A satisfied Jin watches the fire burn for a minute before digging through his backpack for clothes. “...These are a little big for you, but we can get you some better fitting clothes when we reach the nearby town. And they’ll have food too.”

Jin tosses his spare clothes on the ground near Rito. The boy just sits in the water, not responding to Jin’s words. He just continues to go through the motions of bathing.

I want to help him bounce back from this, but I can’t do that if he doesn’t talk… Jin thinks to himself as he rummages through his bag. I should just be patient and try to earn his trust before anything… Hmm?

“Hey, brats--you wanna pass through here you gotta pay a toll, cough it up or things get ugly!” A man in brown ninja gear leaps down from a tree on the other side of the clearing. “I’m ugly…”

A rogue ninja turned bandit? Must’ve seen the smoke from the fire. Well, whatever… Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets. Jin spews a volley of bullets made of compressed air.

The ninja is sprayed by gunfire and falls to the ground with blood spilling from his many bullet wounds. After a brief moment, even more ninja bandits appear in a puff of smoke with their weapons at the ready. They quickly get into a formation that completely surrounds the boys.

“You’ve got some nerve doing that to our comrade. You’re dead meat, kid!” Says the biggest one in the back.

Of course there’s more, there’s always more… An annoyed Jin rises to his feet and weaves a sign. “Shadow Clone Jutsu!”