The Leaf Village Hospital.
Glancing outside a window at the topmost room in a hospital was Rock Lee.
The sterile walls of his room offered him little comfort since his body was immobilized in a cast. But the arrival of Jada, a cheerful friend, turned things around.
A wide smile spread across his face as she entered the room. "How're you feeling today, Lee?"
"Jada! You came to visit!"
"Of course. I promised I wouldn't miss a day until you recovered."
She drew closer to his bedside, and her hand gently rested on his arm. He sighed slightly, admitting, "I miss training… I miss the thrill of working hard."
Jada squeezed his arm reassuringly and said, "I know, but you need to rest. You'll be back on your feet in no time."
"I am glad you have so much hope for me. But is this Tsunade really as good as you say she is?"
"Yeah, she is!"
"But what if I never recover?"
Jada's smile faltered as she said in a firm tone, "Don't talk like that. Tsunade will heal you. She's the best medic in the world."
He apologized for making her worry, so she punched him in the arm.
"Owe! What was that for?"
"Because," she answered, flexing her arm, "you have to say it with the power of youth!"
A comfortable laughter fell between them, followed by a pleasant quietness. He looked at her with a sense of appreciation. She had always been there for him, like a constant source of support he didn't know about.
Jada herself had a reputation in the Leaf, one that many in her age group couldn't amount to. She was well known throughout the village and respected among her fellow ninjas. And while he didn't envy her, he most certainly wanted to get back into the action.
"Jada, I get pretty nervous when I think about it."
"It's okay to be nervous, Lee. Everyone's afraid of something. Like me, I'm afraid of spiders. Ha-ha."
"That is not what I meant… I have faced Neji hundreds of times and Jasper once. But none of them compared to Arthur."
Her demeanour shifted hearing that name. "Arthur…? What about him?"
"He was something else… I have never met an opponent like him before. It was like fighting a ghost. He predicted my every move and saw through my attacks like they were nothing. It was terrifying, to say the least."
Jada only listened, unwilling to say anything. No one quite knew how she felt about Arthur, and the description Lee gave her was chilling.
"Hmm…?" she said, looking elsewhere. Without a moment's notice, she then rose from her seat. "Lee… I need to leave for a moment."
He looked at her, unable to make out her face. "Is something wrong?"
She simply nodded with a grave expression. "I'll be right back…"
Remembering what she said earlier about youth, he confidently pumped his fist and announced, "Please, try not to let him or anyone bring you down! That's what Guy-sensei always taught—" Click! The door closed behind her before he could finish. "—us…?"
✟
The Land of Tea.
Team 7 could be heard discussing the situation amongst themselves.
Was this for real? Was this some sort of genjutsu being caused by Aoi?
Naruto tried to defuse the situation, believing this to be some sort of mistake. Yet Sasuke remained cautious. Sakura, as always, was trying to be the voice of reason by looking for a peaceful solution. But Arthur ignored their pleas.
"You can't be serious!" Naruto suddenly shouted. "What did that all mean to you then?!"
He remembered their casual lunch together and the way Arthur connected with the boy as if they were friends. Even Sakura was wildly taken aback.
"Open your eyes, Naruto..." Sasuke suddenly said, stepping forward. "I'd recognize that look from anywhere, and who's to say he wasn't an enemy from the beginning?"
Arthur remained stoic. Leave it to the sole genius among them to understand the situation. And if Arthur truly was an enemy (which he was), then their predicament was more dire than anyone could have expected.
How on earth could they have let him trick them like that?
The tension grew even more from silent behaviour.
"Desmond!" screamed Naruto.
"Pitiful boy…" Arthur finally said. "Listen to your friend already and quit being in denial."
Blood boiling, Naruto rushed forward.
"Wait!" Sasuke yelled.
But it was too late, so he was forced to follow him.
Arthur crossed his arms, bracing himself for the impact.
Bang!
Naruto sent him flying upward. Seeing this, Sasuke leapt right off Naruto's shoulders, activated his Sharingan, and met Arthur in the air. He tried to spin Arthur around, but Arthur knocked back his hand. So Naruto leapt above them both to perform a technique.
"Uzumaki barrage!"
Arthur turned his head, only to see Naruto's foot coming down from above.
Bang!
He stopped it with one hand, but Sasuke capitalized with an attack of his own.
"Lion's barrage!"
Bang!
The Uchiha's kick connected. As Arthur began to fall, he saw Sakura activate a series of hand signs as a long rope covered in explosive tags erupted from the ground.
Arthur landed, and the impact was followed by a large detonation.
Ka-boom-boom!
"Did we get him?" Naruto asked after landing with Sasuke.
The cloud created by the aftereffects finally cleared, revealing Arthur dusting himself off. His body was hardly scathed!
Idate's reaction was one for the record books. His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at Arthur, trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
Team 7's teamwork and coordination were indeed flawless. Not even Team 10 managed to land a successful like that on Arthur back in the Forest of Death. And while he could have countered it, he had simply never seen it before since it was a team attack taken straight from one of the video games.
"That the best you three could do?" he scoffed.
Naruto and Sasuke, still determined, moved into a defensive stance. The main character was the first to move. Launching himself, his fist connected with Arthur's face.
Boom!
A thunderous impact echoed through the shore, yet what troubled Naruto was that Arthur remained unmoved from his spot.
Gradually, the red imprint left behind was slowly fading away.
"You call that a punch…?" Arthur mocked with an amused tone. Then he grabbed Naruto's wrist, and with a swift motion, he twisted the boy's arm, sending him crashing to the ground. "Think I'm done?"
Naruto was quickly picked up like a ragdoll and slammed several times in quick succession.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
Sasuke, Sakura, and Idate all gasped as they witnessed the raw strength being displayed. The Naruto Uzumaki was being reduced to a helpless plaything.
When Arthur finished, he stood over the boy with cold eyes. "You're supposed to be the hero? How pathetic..."
Naruto, struggling to regain his footing, glared at Arthur. He was hurt and angry, but his eyes still showed determination. He would not be defeated so easily.
"We're not finished yet!" he shouted in defiance.
Suddenly, Sasuke appeared right above Arthur from behind, aiming a well-timed kick. Arthur, however, managed to dodge by blurring away. Naruto, seeing where he landed, launched another attack.
"Wait, Naruto!" yelled Sasuke.
But the boy was already on the move with an aimed fist.
Bang!
It connected with Arthur's chest, yet the impact was absorbed. Undeterred, Naruto continued his assault, sending a flurry of punches and kicks.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
His bravado faltered when he saw that Arthur wasn't being fazed one bit.
When Arthur saw an opening, he sent a strike right to the boy's chest.
Boom!
The blow caused Naruto to cough up stomach fluid. His breathing became laboured, but he still refused to give up, a resilience that even Arthur was impressed by.
Poof!
Naruto's body converted into a puff cloud.
'A shadow clone…?' Arthur noticed.
Just then, several identical copies of Naruto materialized around Arthur.
Arthur's eyes narrowed, understanding why this was the main character's most-used technique—he hadn't even seen when Naruto performed the hand sign.
"You're through!" a Naruto yelled.
The clones then attacked from all directions with synchronized movements. Sasuke joined them, forcing Arthur to get on the defensive end.
One kick was dodged, then two more. By the time they thought they had him cornered, he quickly summoned a katana and began cutting through the clones one by one.
Shing-shing-shing!
"Sasuke, watch out!" screamed a Naruto.
Woosh!
The Uchiha would have almost had his head sliced off if a clone had not pulled him back in time.
But the Narutos weren't finished. One appeared behind Arthur with his fist drawn. Arthur spun around and cut the Naruto in two.
As one dispersed, more kept being summoned. It was then that Arthur began to understand why the Multi-Shadow Clone technique was forbidden: he was gradually being overwhelmed and forced to constantly be on his toes.
Suddenly, all the clones pulled out kunai and chucked them.
With a fluid motion, Arthur stopped in his tracks and began deflecting them all with his katana.
Ching-ching-ching-ching-ching!
Sakura and Idate were awestruck by his perfect swordsmanship.
In just a matter of seconds, the last of the kunai lay motionless on the floor.
"Any more tricks?" Arthur wondered, brandishing his weapon.
"We've gotta think of a better strategy!" a clone suggested.
But before they could act, Arthur dashed in and unleashed a barrage of attacks, fast enough not to be seen.
Shing-shing-shing-shing!
The clones were cut down one by one as their bodies turned into puff clouds. Idate watched in horror.
"It's alright," Sakura assured after seeing his worried face. She then reached for something in her pouch. "Just wait."
When he looked, he understood their new plan: the clones were being defeated on purpose so that a larger puff cloud could be formed to deter Arthur's vision.
By the time all of the clones dispersed, Arthur was now trapped inside a newly formed cloud. Yet he remained stoic and began looking around for his targets.
"Hmm…?" he said upon noticing something odd.
The colour of the cloud wasn't traditionally white; there was a mix of purple smoke in it.
'Poison…' he knew. 'So Sakura wasn't just sitting around.' Still though, Arthur was never truly in trouble. 'Crimson gaze…'
Now he could see what was happening: Naruto and Sasuke had already been running forward at him with their signature techniques.
"Rasengan!"
"Chidori!"
Ka-boom!
A shockwave instantly cleared the poison cloud. And when Sakura and Idate looked, they were beyond flabbergasted. Arthur was holding both their wrists in place, stopping their attack!
Had he not dropped his katana in time and not had his Crimson Gaze, the Rasengan and Chidori would have surely landed.
The boys' eyes were the same, showing how frustrated they were by his level of skill.
"Those are each of your most powerful jutsus, aren't they?" Arthur mocked. Then in one motion, he flung both ninjas behind him. "They're so weak…"
The boys managed to safely land before regrouping with Sakura. This allowed Arthur to perform the Poison Extraction jutsu and remove the toxins he had breathed in earlier.
"There's no stopping him!" Idate panicked.
"We're not giving up!" Naruto encouraged.
When they saw Arthur dash forward, the two boys also charged in and met him in the middle. The scene soon turned into a flurry of back-and-forth taijutsu. The boys were giving it all that they had, yet each of their attacks met nothing but air.
Sakura formed hand signs to create an illusion around Arthur. Her hope was to disrupt his focus and give her teammates an opportunity to strike. But Arthur was no pushover; he saw through the genjutsu instantly and broke it.
"What?!" she said in surprise. "Fine. Try this!" She set up another trap like before while they were still fighting. But, as if knowing where they were placed, he evaded them all. "No way!"
"How is he doing that?!" Idate wondered.
"I… I don't know," she admitted.
Then she finally saw something odd about the way Arthur looked. His eyes, his eyes were glowing red. They hadn't looked like that before he emerged out of the poisonous puff cloud. That could only mean one thing: this was the power of Arthur's Kekkei Genkai!