..Project TBS, Part 2..
Thump.
"Again"
Thump.
"Again"
Thump.
"Again"
Thump.
"Again" The woman sighed a long frustrated sigh "Is this really the girl whos supposed to be the strongest kunoichi? she cant even break a tree stump"
"She is only nine years old, ma'am"
She scoffed "Doesnt matter, she is supposed to have amazing strength and poweress, all I see is a silly weak child with no potential whatsoever. Pathetic really"
Hitomi felt the tears burn in her eyes, she had endured years of pain all for a stupid nose-stuck-in-the-air-like-shes-too-good-to-see-the-grass-she-walks-on to insult her like shes not even there. Ill show her, Ill show them all "Arrgh!" Hitomi slammed her hand against the dented side of the tree stump.
The skies turned dark within an instant as a large rumble of thunder coveredd the area as a sharp strike of lightning sliced through the stump.
"Somebody fetch one of the shinobi x" The woman muttered in awe and shock as she pushed herself from the ground, turning to look at Hitomi who was sitting down on the grass a few feet away from her after the lightning strike had thrown her back "How did you-?"
The thunder never came again and instead a light shower of rain replaced the skies "I- I want my brother"
Soon, Hitomi found herself secluded in one of the many rooms of the underground facility, wires being shoved harshly into her skin, shinobi and researchers shouting commands at each other and frantically securing her to a hard metal bed. They had at least placed a blanket on it for her 'comfort'.
"Subject 2440, could you repeat what you did earlier for us?"
"I-i dont know w-what I did" She whimpered, trying to breath steady.
There was silence, the faint buzz of mumbling being heard from the small groups of shinobi around the edges of the room, hidden partially by large observing screens and large flourescent lights.
"Where is she?!" The familiar voice of her older brother demanded, faint hints of panic lacing his tone. He quickly appeared in the room, locating Hitomi instantly. An arm stopped him from moving any further "What are you doing?" The owner of the arm turned to face him, murmuring a vague apology before is hand darted violently to deliver a painful slap to Kakuzus face.
"Kakuzu!" As soon as her yell left her throat, a sharp blast of wind whistled from outside the facility, catching the attention of the shinobi who all nodded in silent confirmation to one and other. Hitomi was pinned back as Kakuzu recieved another slap, this time forcing him to the ground from its ferocity.
A monitor in the room beeped, a message being displayed on the screen "Looks like a thunderstorms just rolled in. Sorry about that, Kakuzu"
Kakuzu growled at the hand that was offered to help him to his feet, batting it away as he quickly approached Hitomi, waving away the shinobi who had been holding her back, allowing her to spring forward into her brothers arms "Are you alright?"
She nodded, squeezing him tighter "Are you?" His large warm hand petted her head before he gave her a reasurring 'mmhm'
"We need to continue todays testing, we have to ask you to leave the room" One of the shinobi requested, his body tensed incase he had to use force to get the two apart
Kakuzu nodded, although hesitated for a few minutes before he released his sister "Ill be waiting for you. Promise" Hitomi nodded, watching him as he left the room before she was forced to sit down and begin further testing.
I went through multiple experiments that day. I was shown multiple images of war and wounds and insects in an attempt to get a reaction, one of the shinobi X monitored the weather outside.
After that, they soon moved to a variety of stimuli on myself. Electric shocks, small cuts, ripping my finger nails, forcing my joints to crack. I remember biting my tongue so hard so as not to cry out that blood was leaking from my mouth and was staining my clothes.
I mustve been a terrifying sight when I returned home that night. A small silently crying child with blood staining her face and clothes gripping tightly to the hand of a scowling shinobi.
I suffered nightmares that night. And most nights after. My body hurt, my chakra was almost gone from subconsciously controlling this giant storm, everything just stung.
"So, this storm, it was linked to your . . emotions?"
She shrugged "Somehow, yes. It took me a long time to fully control it, in fact, it was only during the war that I displayed such delicate control over it that I surprised even myself"
"I assume the experiments continued after this?"
"Of course. They never stopped. This is what they wanted, a human weapon. I was the only success they had so far, they were going to push ever limit of mine they could, they would push me to death if they had to in the name of 'research' so they could make the next unlucky soul stronger. They never got that chance however, since I was the only one who lived. . " She let out a sigh "And that leads to the next part, my first solo mission. . "
After graduating the academy, Hitomi was quickly assigned a C-ranked mission. Higher than they would normally assign recent graduates, but they had to give her a field test, and this was perfect.
The thick tracker that was locked to her ankle beeped lowly every few seconds, she had tied a thick layer of bandage around it during her mission to dull the beep so she didnt give herself away. She wasnt going to mess up her first ever mission, as difficult as it had been.
She had been tasked to blow up a nearby facility that belonged to one of the other villages, she had been told it was some kind of information hub. All she had to do was get in quietly, take out anyone who was in her way, get herself to the center of the building, lace it with every explosive item she had in her possession then get out before the building came down around her.
It had been a long mission, it seemed easy now that she looked back on the events, everything seemed to happen naturally. It was anything but easy to the young kunoichi but she managed, and her kinjutsu was improving the more she used it, and it aided her greatly during the mission.
Hitomi stopped in the middle of a clearing, she wasnt far from home now, only a few more minutes and she would be there.
She pushed the stray hair from her face, reaching down to stratch at the skin under the tracker. She was definitely looking forward to getting this stupid thing removed. Deciding she would walk the rest of the way, she took the first couple steps forward.
Something clicked.
Her heart thudded loudly as she looked down, seeing the gleam of wire under her foot. Shit. Shit. Shit. She took a few quick breaths before leaping up in the air. Almost immediately kunai flew out from every tree around her, she kept jumping upwards but the further up she went, the more kunais appeared to follow her. She took out her own kunai, trying her best to deflect the on coming weapons as she had no choice but to return to the ground.
She landed roughly on the ground, her ankle cracking painfully under her weight as she jumped out of the way.
A loud scream erupting from her as she felt the blade of the kunais hitting her, one in her waist, another hit her shoulder as she jerked her body in an attempt to dodge, another soon skimmed the back of her knee, causing her to collapse on the ground.
Desperately, she used her arms to crawl backwards. The kunais were still coming, she had never seen or heard of a trap such as this, another kunai hit, and then another, she narrowing avoided one to her face. She attempted to use her kinjutsu but the kunais were coming too fast and she wasnt strong enough to keep up.
Her arms gave out under her weight as she could no longer keep herself moving out of danger, blood seeping from her wounds, the kunais still sticking out of her painfully and awkwardly as she curled herself into a ball, closing her eyes tightly as she waited for the eventual final blow.
The sound of metal against metal sounded infront of her, something snapped soon after, and then a hand was on her shoulder.
"Little Hitomi, are you alright?" Kakuzu. She opened her eyes, her vision blurred from her tears of terror "Your bleeding"
"Kakuzu!" She sniffed, reaching her hand out to grab his sleeve.
"Did no one tell you about these?!" She shook her head, hearing him grit his teeth together in anger "Im gonna kill them. Thats the first thing they should tell you once you leave the village for the first time! These are designed to keep everyone but us out! You couldve died!"
"Kakuzu, just take me home. Please. I want to get away from here" She sobbed quietly, gripping his sleeve tighter.
He scooped her up as gently as he could, hearing her hiss in pain as some of the kunai fell out, a trail of blood following them "Ill get you home safe, I promise. Just stay awake. After you recover Ill teach you about these traps, Im so sorry "
She nodded, pressing her face against his flak jacket, holding onto him tightly as he started moving, sprinting the last few meters towards the village.
"That event embedded a memory so deeply inside of me, that sometimes I still dream about it and wake up in a cold sweat. I was barely a young teen at the time, it scarred me, it created such a terribly strong fear inside of me"
"What fear is that?" He asked
Hitomis eyes flicked up to meet his, almost unsure if he was asking a serious question. Upon seeing he was, she hid the small smirk of ironic amusement as she responded,
"Fear of death."