Chapter One: Depths of Darkness

It had been more than a week since Otohime first killed those two kids and her hands her still trembling. She sat in the corner of her cell. Curled into a ball and weeping for death to take her away and end her suffering. She was weeping so hard that she barely noticed the guards open the door to her cell and shove her cellmate into the cell with her.

If she had bothered to look up at that moment she would have seen the terrified and pained expression on the boy’s expression. However, she did not giving the boy enough time to hide his troubles for her sake before approaching Otohime and wrapping his arms around her. “Hey Oto, would you like to hear a story,” Hoori asked trying to get her to cheer up. Otohime gladly welcomed the embraced for it was the only comfort in this hell she had. She sniffed and wiped the tears out of her eyes before turning to look at Hoori. “W-what kind of story,” she asked between sobs.

The room was pitch black and had been for the entire time they had been there. The darkness was suffocating and a representation of their current state. The fact that they had gotten use to it enough to see relatively clearly was depressing beyond measure. “I read it the story in a book a day before…you know…”, Hoori said. His voice trailed off at the end with his voice dripping with sadness. “It is titled The Hydromancer. It is a legend that has been told in our village for generations and it tells of a hero who will rise from Umigakure and can use Water Release to wash away the sins of the earth and bring about a new and better era,” Hoori said. Otohime’s actually laughed at that, but her laugh was dead and full of doubt. “Well, this hero better get started because they have a lot of work to do,” Otohime replied. With that said, Hoori began telling Otohime the legend.

When Hoori had finished, the fragrant of food reached Otohime’s nose leading her to look around for the source and get distracted from Hoori’s presence. The cell was small and there wasn’t much in there. The depressing bland grey walls were thin and allowed the screams of children in the other parts of the underground base to be clearly heard. There were small holes in the wall closer to the ground and at some point rats often would come out of those holes. However, that stopped happening recently when Hoori was forced to kill and cook one of the rats for the two of them because the two of them were close to starving to death.

That was eight days ago and they haven’t eaten anything since then. The cell was very hot and dry so they could be close to starvation again now. After awhile Otohime looked back at Hoori, “Do you have food,” she asked and shifted her weight a bit.

“Nothing can hide from your nose can it,” Hoori said amusingly. Otohime’s sad expression turned to a smug smile and she held her head up proudly for a second. “Of course, you should know that by now,” she responded. Hoori reached into the pockets of his tattered pants and took out the bread he had snatched from a guard and handed it to Otohime.

Otohime greedy reached out for the food as if it was a gift from god, but stopped mid way. “Aren’t you going to eat,” she asked. Hoori shook his head, “I will eat next time and besides I heard from the guards your next test is today so you will need your strength,” Hoori said. Otohime took the slice of bread from her friends and started to eat it slowly Hoori stood up and created a small sphere of concentrated light above his right hand to dimly illuminate the area, but not bright enough to attract attention. “Hurry up Otohime, I have something to show you before it starts,”

Otohime scowled at Hoori between bites. “I will eat at the pace I want and you are not one to talk,” she said with annoyance in her voice. Even with Otohime’s mental state her temper was as short as ever, which made Hoori smiled a bit. It was comforting to know that some things will never change no matter how suffocating the darkness becomes. It took five minutes for Otohime to finish and when she did she stood up to face Hoori. “So, what is it you want to show me,” she asked.

Hoori extinguished the light and formed several hand seals. He cloaked his hand in chakra and converted it into water, which water and compressed it to give the water a lot of pressure. Normally, the technique would be much to advanced for someone his age, but he was no ordinary person. He was a Child of Chakra and one of the benefits that come from this was how his chakra control was a lot better than his peers on top of how the chakra itself is a lot more potent. “It’s called Water Release: Water Weapons and with your natural skill with water I think you could manage learning this technique,” Hoori said.

Otohime’s eyes changed to a bright azure color and she analyzed the technique. This was a result of a hiden of the Watatsumi Clan called the Water Mimicry Technique. It allowed them to instantly memorize and learn any Water Release technique they see and Otohime was using it to learn the technique Hoori was showing her. She spent the next few hours getting a feel for the technique and having her chakra reserves restored by Hoori. Then without warning their cell door opened. It was time. Otohime looked sadly at the open door of her cell. She didn’t want go out, but stay in the cell. “Otohime, remember this is a win-win situation. If you lose you will be freed of this and if you win you get to become a hero and save your opponent’s humanity. You will allow them to die as a human and not a monster,” Hoori said as he grabbed her hand to get her attention. Otohime nodded with tears already nodding. She knew what Hoori’s words meant. It meant that he too had to kill, but Otohime ignored that. She couldn’t allow herself to think of Hoori as a killer. He was the only source of light in this sea of darkness and so she ignored the thought. “That isn’t an excuse to kill,” Otohime said. She slowly walked to the guard who stood at the doorway. “You are right. It isn’t an excuse. It is a survival mechanism,” Hoori said wisely.

Getting impatient, the guard yanked Otohime out of the cell and threw her on the ground beside him and then closed and locked the door of the cell. He picked Otohime up by the arm. He had an iron grip and it took Otohime all she had to stop herself from crying out in pain. She was led down a long dark corridor to a small exam room. She forced into an exam table and restrained with the Temporary Paralysis Technique.

Otohime remained seated in the exam room for several unbearable minutes. At the five minute mark a black haired woman walked in. She wasted no time in conversation and gave Otohime a few shots. Unbeknownst to Otohime, these shots were developed to increase the development rate of Kekkei Genkai. It is a very drug it has a lot of potentially lethal side effects and for the desired effects of the drug to take place the patient needs to have adrenaline course through them for awhile.

The guard walked back in and dispelled the technique. Otohime was once again led through another long dark corridor to a dimly lit room. The slam of the door behind her made Otohime jump and the sound of a turning of the lock sent a cold shiver down her spine. It didn’t take long for Otohime to realize the this was the exact same room she was in when she killed the two kids when she had first arrived. The dead give away was blood stain on the floor in the center of the room.

The sound of a door opening, closing, and locking on the other side of the room sent another shiver down her spine. The chakra signature of her next opponent was a lot darker and colder than the kids she killed before. Otohime had no doubt that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her.

Otohime allowed Hoori’s advice bounce in her head over and over while reluctantly getting into a fighting stance. “Otohime, is that you,” the boy said with his tone filled with bloodlust. The blood lust was almost enough to prevent her from recognizing the source. It was a boy from the Kaneko Clan who used to be a member of Umigakure. She was the ringleader of the kids who used to bully Otohime. The desire for revenge vanquished all reluctance she had towards fighting even though her desire not to kill was still there. In this fight, unlike last time, she will fight back. “I am going to enjoy this. Let’s continue where we left off. When I am finished with you I am going to get my revenge on that Child of Chakra for what he did to me years ago. I will tell him how his best friend died and pain she felt before killing him myself when the depression finally sets in,” the boy said. Otohime heard the shifting of feet in front of her when the boy got into a fighting stance of his own.

The room was deathly silent for a moment allowing the tension to rise. When the tension seemed to have reached its max the two dashed at each other and clashed in the center. Right on top of the blood stain. Otohime threw several punches at the boy who easily knocked them away. This was easy for him and Otohime knew it. She knew that his Taijutsu capabilities were leagues beyond her own. He was after a member of the Kaneko Clan and Otohime was merely a Active Yin Style novice.

In return, the Kaneko boy threw a furry of kicks Otohime’s way. She was able to dodge most of them, but the last one hit her squarely in the stomach and knocking her away and the wind out of her lungs. As she tried to recover the boy lunged at her attempting to kick her once more. This attempt wasn’t as successful as the last as Otohime was able to form a tiger hand seal to create a small wave that carried her away from the opponent.

This continued for several minutes. In some exchanges her opponent would get a solid hit in her two and in others he wouldn’t hit at all. All in all, the Otohime seemed to be at a huge disadvantage for the majority of the fight. At the 15 minute mark the two combatants were ankle deep in water due to Otohime’s constant use of the technique. At first glance it would seem that Otohime was losing badly for she was covered in bruises and out of breath and her opponent only had one or two and wasn’t the slightest bit tired. “It’s over Otohime. You didn’t stand a chance to begin with,” the boy said with a sneer. “Not…yet…I still have one more card to play,” Otohime said between breaths. She extended her arms out in front of her and formed the hand seal for Mind Body Switch. “You must be joking. You aren’t honestly stupid enough to try that are you? If you miss its over for you,” he said laughing. Otohime answered him by exclaiming, “Mind Body Switch Technique!” The boy sighed and side stepped after seeing this Otohime seemingly lost consciousness.

Meanwhile in an adjacent room there was a group of missing-nin and researcher observing the fight and intently taking notes. They had been there the whole time and didn’t look please. “Well, that is disappointing. Looks like its another win for that boy,” said one researcher as he began packing up. One man raised his hand to tell the researcher to stop. He was in a black cloak and had an aura of authority to him that suggested he was in charge. The researcher who was packing stopped. “Have you not been paying attention to fight,” the cloaked man said.

“I have. This girl was simply out of her league. She never stranded a chance,” the researcher replied. The cloak man sighed and said, “Since you were to distracted in what the boy was doing I guess I will have to spell it out for you guys. She used Water Release: Surfing Strike to not only try to get away, but also to slowly flood the room so she can later freeze the water to freeze the boy in place and trap him. However, she knew this won’t be easy. The boy is pretty smart and he would have learned of her plan so she had to find a way to blind him to what was happened. To do this she let him hit her, which I learned because each time he came after and before a hit she flinched noticeably as if she was holding something back. By letting him hit her she inflated his ego and his inflated ego blinded him to what was happening. She had planned all of this from the start and your favorite subject was nothing more than a puppet to her. She is only six, but she was able to plan hundreds of steps ahead and predict his every move from the start. All that was left was to lower the boy’s guard completely, which she did by pretending to use the Mind Body Switch Technique and passing out.”

Shocked silence filled the room for a few short seconds. Finally one researcher said, “Yes she is pretty smart for her age, but no six year old is that smart. I admit that the first part of this claim of yours is true and she did plan to cover the room in water from the start. I don’t believe that she had planned out every small detail that happened in this fight. She is no Ryuuki sir. Your emotions are getting in the way of your judgment.”

The cloaked man glared at the researcher when he heard the researcher speak that name. He focused an overwhelming amount of killing intent the researchers way. The killing intent was so potent that it was suffocating, or at least appeared that way for the researcher suddenly started gasping for air and clawing at his neck as if he was having some sort of panic attack or like someone was choking him. “I thought I made it clear I do not want to here that name spoken. Ever! Try that again and you will be put in the same position as the kids we are experimenting on,” the cloaked man said angrily before he stopped focusing his killing intent on the researcher. In a calmer voice the cloaked man said, “If you don’t believe me stay to watch and you will see it is you whose judgment is being clouded by judgment. If I am right we are making her the future host of our special project.”

As if on cue the boy began running to Otohime. When he was within striking range Otohime suddenly dropped the act and leaped into the air and she channeled most of the remaining chakra she had remaining into the water to convert it into ice and reinforce the ice. Just like the man had predicted, the ice froze around the boy’s ankles to freeze him in place. He tried to break free, but the ice was to strong. He was trapped, defenseless, and venerable. When he realized his new situation his facial expression changed from confident, to confused, to shocked and scared in a second.

When Otohime landed on the ice it was her who now had a confident expression. She looked at her old bully. Her eyes were filled with anger and seemed to be able to stare straight into the boy’s soul. Her anger was enough to unnerve the boy even more to cause his fear to grow. Angry eyes were just the start and the boy realized this at that moment. He was going to die by her hands. “H-hey, Otohime. I was kidding about killing Hoori. I promise. We are great friends ask him,” he said to Otohime panicking. Otohime was to angry to answer. She cupped her hands and a kunai made out of water appeared in-between her hands. She grasped the kunai with one hand and let her other hand drop to her side. Otohime slowly approached the boy and repeating Hoori's words over and over again in her head. Otohime’s feet felt like it was filled with cement. She really didn’t want to kill even if it was the boy who used to bully her. However, the raging anger inside her that was ignited by the boy threatening Hoori’s continued her forward. Each step she took and the racing of her heart seemed unusually loud to her. Her mind blocked out all other sensations so for those agonizingly long moments the only people who existed to Otohime was her and her opponent. When she was a few inches away the boy attempted to punch her, but Otohime saw the attack coming from a mile away and side stepped it. In that moment she extended her arm and the kunai pierce the boy’s skin missing the heart. The sound of the kunai going the skin was nearly enough to make Otohime have a panic attack. The blood that splattered on her face didn’t make that any easier. “You missed,” the boy wheezed out.

Otohime stabbed the boy again and again she missed any vital organs and the boy repeated the words. This happened 24 times and finally the 25th stab pierced the boy’s heart. The boy stared blankly into Otohime’s before collapsing to the ground, his ankles still trapped in ice. She looked at herself. She was covered head to toe in the boy’s blood and had an expression almost as blank as the boy’s. “It’s not my fault right Hoori? I saved him right,” Otohime asked, clearly delusional and delirious.