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So much had happened in those two years. When a time like that is first mentioned, the mind immediately races to considering a time period so vast that a normal human being thinks that the period will never end. It will go on forever. For Lucius, the first part of the two years went by in relative peace and quiet. Even from the end of the Jonin exams, everything seemed to be going well. The exams themselves though gave him nightmares for a month.
There were not a large amount of people taking the exams in the first place. But both of the stages left Lucius shell-shocked and grasping for something to take hold of. During the first part when he had to face his greatest fear, Lucius had gone completely mental. He saw some footage afterword and couldn’t believe how he had acted. He looked like a mad man, kicking screaming, and all the spiders everywhere. Of course when he saw some other tapes Lucius realized that he wasn’t the only one. One person was scared of blood and drowning. Their room combined the fears as blood began slowly dripping from the ceiling. In an hour the room was one foot deep in blood before the pace picked up. Eventually the room filled up and she was screaming her lungs off, flailing about on the floor as the imaginary blood drowned her. The story was true for ninja after ninja except for a few who faced their fear with stone-hard determination.
Stage two wasn’t much better. In the battle they hadn’t said that there was no killing. As such, within the first two minutes his partner was nearly decapitated. He was rushed out by some medical ninja as Lucius had to take on the two blood thirsty chuunin by himself. The fight was completely one-sided…almost.as the fight went on his chakra reserves began to dwindle and his seals got weaker and weaker. In the final moments of the fight, Lucius dodged a barrage of kunai, shuriken, short swords, and even scythes from the weapon master. As he collapsed on the ground he felt a ripping sensation tear through his torso as he stared down at the sword protruding from his stomach. He coughed and blood began to trickle from his mouth. He was going to die. He was going to die and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His mind began to slip and somehow he felt his body moving on its own accord. Lucius felt like he was curled up in a ball watching a scary movie take place through his own eyes. Unintentionally, his body had released a secret art only known by the higher ups of his Senju bloodline. Matter in fact, he had never even seen his grandpa use it. Tattoos covered his face and his natural Uzumaki tattoos began to grow stronger. He could feel nature all around him and then he broke. Never before had Lucius fought with a blood thirst as he did now. Forests rose up and encompassed the battlefield and they bended to his will all of them. The others stood no chance. In seconds they were entangled by the never-ending onslaught of wood. He had them trapped by all of their limbs and was going to tear them apart. Then his mind snapped back in place and he gave up on the fight. His body was heavily wounded from an imperfect version of the sage mode his body had used in self-defense.
The fights were all bloody, horrific, and somehow beautiful all at once. When Lucius had been given the title of Jonin he couldn’t understand but he accepted it. After that first year though his life again took a downward turn. Lucius had politely refused the Kage who battered him with the question to teach a team of genin. Instead, he was given a mission where he track down a criminal. Lucius almost asked for the job to be reassigned but then he heard the specifics of the criminal. He was involved in human genetic modification. Going around town to town he promised to help children who were gravely injured. If the child had lost a leg he would miraculously get it back, same for any other organ or appendage. However, each limb was infused with different types of DNA which would eventually modify and kill the child. All of this in the name of science. Lucius accepted the mission and immediately rushed to capture the villain.
Tracking him down was the easy part. He found him in a village on the border of the Hidden Rain Village. Using an advanced transformation jutsu, he posed himself as a teenager who had lost his arm in a mining accident. Lucius gaped at how the criminal played the crowd. He was like a savior to them. They were giving him gold, animals, weapons, and anything else to heal their children. He would bring them one-by-one into a small hut and they would come out an hour later brand new. Standing in the line of devote villagers, he was eventually accepted into the hut. The man combed his snow white hair from his eyes and smiled with perfect teeth. After lying on the table, he began inspecting the wound and eventually decided what the perfect answer would be. Opening a door, the man revealed a closet housed with live animals and appendages that seemed to grow on trees. Grabbing an arm his size and a raccoon, the man pulled blood from the creature’s body and smiled; informing Lucius that he would experience a quick moment of pain as the arm was attached. This was all of the information that Lucius needed. In a flash, Lucius spun and nailed the man in his jaw with his right foot. Scrambling on the ground the man flipped a switch and a pink gas filled the hut. It was undoubtedly poison and Lucius placed a seal drawing it to one side. On further glance, the man was gone. Lucius cursed and began an extravagantly long process. He had to explain to the towns people what had happened, who the man was, and what would soon happen to their children. When the weeping began Lucius quieted the crowd down informing that he was a medic and could remove the limbs before the children died.
Over the next three days Lucius spent all of his time gently removing the hazardous limbs from the children. Incredibly he managed to save every single one. He returned their gifts and began tracking down where the sick villain had gone. A week later at midnight, Lucius had finally found him. He was in an abandoned village with some more of his sick animals and fake limbs. Lucius dropped down and slowly entered the village. Even after his first step, bright white lights turned on all around the village. There, at the end of the wide road where he stood, the villain stood calmly with a look of victory on his face. Lucius decided that the best bet, despite all of his training, was just a simple charge where he could kill the monster. The distance wasn’t halfway closed before three objects leapt in front of him blocking his way. Lucius stopped and stared, eyes wide and mouth trembling. In front of him stood three young girls. Their eyes were blood red and blank. Lucius pleaded for them to move but they stood still, steadfast in their determination. The villain laughed, his bright teeth flashing as he swept a hand around the street. There, crowding the houses, alley ways, rooftops and walls were children. Each with blood red eyes and blank expressions. In one uniform movement they all took out swords that should have been impossible for their frail bodies to carry. On further glance they also had bows and arrows on their backs.
The pale man with his white hair spoke one word and thirty of the children rushed him at once. Lucius leapt back, parrying the swords as he felt cuts open in his legs, back, and arms. Tears flowed from his eyes as he screamed at the children. Begging for them to wake up and stop this madness, to break from this monster’s control but nothing worked. Pressing his lips closed, Lucius ducked under the next sword that came his way. His right arm flew up and he locked eyes with his target. A young girl, maybe seven, with blond-shite hair and a blue and white Polk-a-dot dress. A smile touched her lips at the same time the kunai ripped through her skin and cut through her spinal cord. Time seemed to slow as thoughts rushed through his head. He imagined the girl skipping home from school. Eating dinner and laughing with her parents as she did schoolwork. All of that was gone. Her head hit the dirt road as blooded cam like a fountain from her neck. None of the children seemed to move, as if their control had been momentarily broken. Lucius looked up at the man. NO. This wasn’t a man. This wasn’t even a monster. This THING was a demon from the depths of hell itself.
The sound hit Lucius’s ears like a sonic boom. Laughter. The demon was laughing at the sight of the dead child. Rage encompassed Lucius’s mind and he charged this man as the sea of children took up their swords and rose against him. He could feel his hands moving and chakra being spent but it seemed to come back just as quickly. He could hear cries of pain as each child was slain. Either ripped apart by his wood or impaled by a kunai. The blood soaked his clothes and stained his hair and face. A small part of him cried out as each of the children died. Only one thought occupied his mind though. A deep need to kill this man. Hours went by and still the fight continued. Eventually the children stopped coming and the only person left was the demon, now shocked and cowering. Lucius breathed deeply, shaking his lungs as he began to sob uncontrollably. The street was soaked in blood and the bodies lay everywhere. Ranging from babies to young teens the dead were like a giant rotting mattress. Lucius glared at the demon and took a step. Hate filled his mind. Another step. The blond haired girl. Step. The sight of a small baby. Step. Suddenly he was face to face with the demon. He wanted to kill him but needed to make him suffer, needed to make him cry. Lucius made a barrier with the word blood. Forming around the man, a tall rectangular barrier was created. Then Lucius made a few short seals. One thought occupied his mind. A past memory that was perfect for his execution.
The Earth shifted and the man and the barrier sank downward. He stared up at Lucius’s cold face as he only imagined the horror that was to come. The demon opened his mouth to yell at the ninja but stopped as a drop hit his tongue. The taste of copper and iron filled his mouth as the drop of blood slid down his throat. Another drop fell.
Then another
And another.
Then one more.
Drop
After
Drop
Fell.
Yes this was it. Lucius would drown him in the blood of the children that he corrupted and forced Lucius to fight. Lucius stood as still as a statue as the sun began to rise and the blood started to pour into the hole. Then he hear it. The screams. The begging for mercy and forgiveness. Under the Kage’s orders he was order to give him mercy if required. Lucius didn’t care. The screams filled him with pleasure and as he looked down he felt more powerful than he had ever felt before. An hour later the man was at the surface. Banging against the top but Lucius turned away as he heard him drown.
Lucius approached the village in a daze. The blood caked his skin but he didn’t care, let it. Finally, the village gates were in sight. Four ninja guarded the gates and stared at this brown-red creature. Then stood at attention and yelled at the creature to stop. The only thing they got in return was a glare. With shock recognition swept through the four of them and they parted. Even with the blood in his hair and body, there was no mistaking the striking blue eyes and his height. This was Lucius. Grandson of Vukhan. Known among those as the “Little Sapling”. Silently with hate radiating from every pore Lucius walked through the village. Families stopped, mothers stared, children hid. This wasn’t the smiling polite Lucius who normally walked these streets. He arrived at the Kage’s office and barged in. The Kage was holding a meeting with the village elders and rose when he walked in, most likely to tear him to pieces. That wasn’t what happened at all. His name escaped her lips as he dropped a letter entailing what had happened on the mission. The elders rose but nobody challenged him. They stared like all the others.
Eight hours later the Kusa-nin that the Lady Kage had sent to investigate the battle sight finally arrived. They were greeted by the stench of rotting corpses and a tall tree. As they picked their way over the corpses they correctly identified each one as a child and the corpse in the now dried out hole as the suspect. The cause of death: drowning. What caught their interest though was what stood over the children. A tall tree stretched nearly 200 feet into the air with a trunk big enough to build a small house in. The leaves were a peculiar color. Red. Like in the fall. No that wasn’t quite right. They seemed to shimmer black instead of a lighter reddish-orange. They were the color of blood. Upon reporting what they found to the Kage Lucius earned a new title…
“The Blood Oak.”
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