Naruto : Venom

That's awfully smart of her, she knows that she doesn't have any physical skills to help plead her case so she's bartering with the one thing she does have. Conveniently for her, that happens to be one thing Sasuke and I are lacking.

...

Gina nods her head. "Yes. Gina is not a fighter, she's a healer." For all of Sasuke and my skills, we're talentless when it comes to healing.

"Sasuke, your call. It is you who she will be healing." I leave it up to him.

He sighs in resignation. "Fine. Get over here before I change my mind."

She smiles and happily bounces over to the prone Sasuke.

"Alvarcus, if you even think she's trying something funny, cut off a limb or two." Sasuke's steely cold voice yanks all of the bubbliness out of Gina and her happy smile fades.

I lay a hand on her shoulder as a warning. "Right now we don't trust you. You'll have to earn that. Heal Sasuke and we have no reason to attack you. Cross us and do something malicious to him and... use your imagination. He and I can be very creative when we want to be."

She nods briskly. She's still nervous around us. Good. "Gina is going to start now." Her clawed hands turn green and Sasuke visibly relaxes.

"She's good." He says after a half hour has gone by. "The pain is already almost gone. I'm impressed, it isn't usually that fast that the pain fades."

"You don't have severe wounds." She calmly says as she works on a rather long cut on Sasuke's forearm. It's always fascinating to watch medic nins work, to visibly see wounds seal themselves close and leave no trace behind. "Gina is not doing much. The worst is minor internal bleeding, Gina has fixed that already."

She continues in silence for another ten minutes. Neither Sasuke or I disturb her work.

The green glow fades from her hands. She stands up. "Gina is done!" She turns to me with a questioning look on her face as she meekly extends out her hands. "You next?"

"Can you regrow skin? That is all I need. I've taken care of everything else." She nods.

Sasuke sits up against the wall as I lay down for Gina to start working on me. Her hands reach out to me and start to glow green. She sharply inhales and stares at me.

I look right back at her, but what I see doesn't really make sense. There isn't a shred of pity in her eyes nor is there any kind of empathy for what I must have gone through. Neither is there confusion about her misreading what has to be the diagnostic jutsu like I've come to expect. No, the only thing I can see in her is wonder. She finds me amazing.

"You used the diagnostic jutsu didn't you?" Sasuke asks. He didn't even watch her, all he heard was the inhale of breath.

"Gina did." She pauses. Quietly she asks me, "You have five hearts?"

"Yep. Now you know why I only need my skin back." This is new. I've never had a person react this way why they discovered what the Jiongu did to me.

She start to work on me without any further questions. She's done in only a quick fifteen minutes, I was missing a lot of skin. My neck is smooth again -minus the scar from Samehada, that isn't going away. Even the newly made skin is still marked by a jagged white tear- and she patched up my shredded arms and legs and a few rents and gouges on my chest and back.

"Gina is done!" She calls out happily. "Can... can Gina stay with you two? Gina promises to be useful! She can heal you both!" She sounds desperate.

This goes beyond trying to use us to survive, she must have endured truly horrific things down here. Orochimaru usually only uses scum for his experiments. Murderers, rapists, bandits, thieves, and who knows what else. That means that this place, this Pit, is full of criminals. Anyone who isn't prepared for this kind of lifestyle would be scared senseless by the atrocities down here.

I turn to Sasuke. "I'm game. It would be nice to have someone to fix you up."

He snorts at me. "She fixed you up too."

"Yeah, but I didn't need to be fixed up. You did." I accuse Sasuke.

"Jerk." He turns to Gina. "Yes, you can stay." Gina starts to jump around happily. "I can't believe I agreed to this." Sasuke mumbles to himself.

"It helps that she's easy on the eyes." I suggest. "Although, she doesn't look like Ino. I know you two were a thing."

"WE WERE NOT A THING!" Sasuke shouts. "Ahem. We were not a thing."

Holy crap! Could it be? Has Ino actually managed to woo the stoic Uchiha? "I don't judge. Ino is hot."

Sasuke blushes madly.

"Oh my Kami you did! You actually went after Ino!" I can't believe it! I never would have expected this!

He turns even more red. "It was only a few times." He mumbles under his breath.

"Sasuke you scoundrel! A few times!" I wipe a fake tear off of my face. "I've never been more proud. So, how was it? She a good kisser?"

"Oh shut up!" He lobs a rock at my head. I lazily dodge it, he wasn't trying that hard to hit me. "Can we not talk about this now? We are in the middle of a creature infested cesspit of carnage and death where we literally have to fight for food."

"Fine, fine. I'll let it drop." I smirk at him. "I'm still going to grill you for details later."

"Whatever."

...

The Next Morning, The Pit

"Oi. Alvarcus get up." Sasuke prods me with his foot. I took the first watch and he did the second.

"Mmmpf five more minutes." I intelligently reply.

"Get up now. We have a visitor." This time he kicks me.

"Ow! I'm up dammit I'm up! Quit kicking me! I was awake after the first one!" That bastard got me a good five times. "Great, those are going to bruise. Did you have to aim for my face?"

"Ahem." A voice I don't know echos through the air. I turn to face the unknown person. "My name is Hiro." Hiro is a bird-man. He's covered in feathers and has talons for feet. His eyes have huge pupils, so he can probably see very well in these conditions. Thankfully I have the Jiongu for eyes, it can adjust just like his if not better. Sasuke has the Sharingan, enough said about that.

"Sasuke."

"Alvarcus."

"Gina." Oh she is still around. I forgot she stayed with us last night. Was that night? The Pit has no sunlight, so I have no idea.

Hiro bristles at Gina's introduction. Interesting, is there bad blood between them, or is he mad that she got to us first?

"I will be blunt: I want you two to work for me, to be a part of my faction down here. I'm one of the strongest people here, I've been here nearly the longest. I know how things work, I can help you survive."

"No." Sasuke blandly says to the bird-man.

Hiro's feathers puff up. Most likely from agitation. "You both are new, fresh meat. Without protection you'll die. I offer that protection, I will teach you how to live in The Pit."

"No." I say this time.

His feathers ruffle even more. "What ever she has told you is a lie!" Hiro angrily points at Gina. "She has no talent! She's weak! She won't be able to protect you! She's a bottom feeder! She'll get you killed!"

"She didn't promise to defend us." Sasuke says in a bored tone. "Besides, you saw us yesterday. Do you really think we need protection? No, you're here to get us to protect you."

The bird-man's feathers slowly lie back down. He must have remembered that he is trying to recruit us. "You don't know how things work down here. Sure what you did was showy and made a statement, but that isn't the best use for strength. Even if you have strength, which you both most certainly do, you aren't using it right."

"Bullshit." I call him out. "Down here strength is everything. The strong feast while the weak die. We're strong, we will feast like kings. And you, if you're lucky we'll leave you some scraps." He bristles at my words. "You seek us out for your own ends, you want us to further your power. You need to understand something here birdbrain. We aren't pieces on the game board, we aren't even players. We're the Game Masters. The strong will make the rules and the weak will follow them. And you, you aren't strong." I start to let killing intent waft off of me. Not enough to scare him away, but enough to make him wary. "Run along little birdy, the cat has come to play."

That does it, Hiro finally loses his temper. "I WILL NOT BE TALKED DOWN TO BY FRESH MEAT! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A PIT DUEL!" He roars at me.

I laugh. "Pit duel? How lame. Couldn't you come up with a better name for that? Let me guess, a fight to the death. One on one. You vs me."

He grins sadistically. "Yes. It is one of the rules down here, consider this a free lesson in how things work. Anyone can challenge anyone. Once a Pit Duel has been issued there will only be one that walks away."

"Cool." I nonchalantly say. "Where we doing this?" His feathers lay down a little. He seems unsure, confused. "Oh, I get it now! You think that would scare me! You thought I would beg for forgiveness and plead for you to let me go." His feathers are completely down, he looks much smaller than he did when he first approached us. "You were wrong. Let's duel. Right now."

"Let's not be so hasty!" He tries to stop me.

I walk right past him towards the open center of The Pit. "Well?" I call out to the surrounding people. They must want to see the fight since there wasn't a crowd here moments ago.

"You heard his challenge. I accept. Or will you back out? Will you be a coward?" I'm goading him to fight me. I want him to. I will make an example out of one of the 'strongest' down here.

The crowd roars in approval of me. Soon Hiro is pushed through them and is standing across from me. Quite a crowd is gathering around us, these Pit Duels must be their form of entertainment. In that case, I better make this a good show.

Sasuke calmly walks up to me. "Alvarcus, don't reveal too much." That is all he says.

"Whenever you're ready birdbrain." I taunt Hiro.

He lunges at me, talon raised ready to rake across my chest. I calmly snap my hand forward and bat his leg away. He follows up with a flurry of punches and kicks. I don't let any connect. I'm toying with him, he is as threatening as a new gennin fresh out of the Academy. In other words, not at all. I start doing more and more dramatic dodges. I start flipping out of the way instead of stepping. I roll along the ground when I could have leaned out of the way. I dramatically bat away punches and kicks when a simple tap would redirect them away from me. I want everyone watching to know I'm not trying at all. The crowd loves it.

Each attack I dodge they cheer. Each flip I do they howl in approval. Each punch or kick I swat away they jest at Hiro. I let it go on for a solid five minutes before I catch his next punch.

"I'm bored now." I say with a yawn. "You were boring. Are you really one of the strongest down here?" I snap his arm like a twig. He crumples to the ground. "Well that was a waste of time. And you wanted me to work under you? Please, I'll be running this place in a week." I calmly walk over to him and place my foot on his neck. His eyes widen in fear, his hands flounder against my leg. I push down.

"You've made your point."

I hear footsteps from behind me. I casually look over my shoulder at the person who is interrupting my fight. He's also a bird-man. Interesting.

"What will it take to get you to release my brother?"

The crowd falls silent. This person, he must be a real player. They have a respect for him, a fear.

"I was under the impression that Pit Duels were to the death." I calmly say without removing any pressure on Hiro's neck.

"Exceptions can be made." The newcomer assures me. "We can discuss this like adults, not squabble like mindless beasts."

I let up on the pressure. "What do you offer?" This one, he seems dangerous. Not physically dangerous, but socially dangerous. The others listen to what he says.

"My faction will not attack you. You will not attack us." Murmurs go through the crowd. That must be a pretty big deal.

I look to Sasuke. "We don't want a peace treaty. We want to be kings. He challenged Alvarcus to the duel, he knows the consequences. We decline. Kill him."

CRUNCH

I snapped Hiro's neck.

"DIE!" His brother lunges at me with fury in his eyes. He doesn't make it close to me.

"Chidori." Sasuke puts his fist through the bird-man's chest. Blood flies through the air. He dies a quick messy death.

Silence falls in The Pit. We did just casually take down one of the big players.

"Let's set some rules right now." Sasuke says to the crowd. "You don't fuck with us, we don't kill you. You let us do as we please. You don't oppose us. You just roll over and take it. Then, in a month or two we'll leave and you low-lifes can go back to gutting each other to your hearts content. If you have a problem with that, get out here now."

One person steps forward. A gorilla human hybrid. "You punks think you can order us around? I won't-"

His head thuds to the ground. I cut it off with a wind whip.

"Anyone else?" I call out. No one steps forward. "Good."

...

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