The blood loss made Ryu sleepy, and he wanted to continue to lay in the deep embrace of the ground. His eyelids felt as heavy as houses, threatening to close at any moment. Deep in a trance, Ryu felt his body going numb. Strangely, it was peaceful. Ryu was calm, and he accepted his fate. Until one last thought crossed his mind. His mother, the true reason he is venturing to the Hidden Leaf.
Ryu's journey to the Hidden Leaf wasn't only about offsetting the weapons his father, Haru, made for the Mist. It was driven by a more profound motivation—a deep-rooted desire for revenge against the Mist for what happened to his mother.
He still remembered it like it was yesterday; after all, it was the day he awakened his Sharingan. They lived in a small wooden cabin, hidden away in a dense forest. Ryu, only seven at the time, was curled up in a corner, engrossed in a book. The door suddenly burst open, and Haru staggered in, covered in blood, holding his mother's lifeless body. The horrifying sight would be forever etched into Ryu's memory.
Ryu was aware of his parents' history. They had been skilled shinobi who turned their backs on the Mist after witnessing its cruelty. They weren't a secretive family, but they had gone to great lengths to disappear from the world before Ryu was born.
Ryu grew up believing they had successfully evaded the Mist's grasp. However, they had underestimated the Mist's determination to hunt them down. Somehow, Mist Shinobi had discovered their whereabouts and prepared an ambush.
Ryu's parents, being former S-ranked shinobi, were not easily defeated. The battle that ensued was one for the ages, with countless Jonin and Elite Jonin attacking them. Ryu's mother, a formidable fighter, and his father, armed with his extraordinary weapons and equipment, fought back with unparalleled ferocity.
Despite their best efforts, the overwhelming odds eventually took their toll. His mother, weakened from her wounds, succumbed to her injuries in the heat of the battle. Haru, filled with grief and rage, continued to fight until he stood victorious over the fallen enemy forces.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ryu and Haru swore a solemn oath to avenge his mother's death. They would make the Mist regret ever crossing their path.
Ryu's body was giving out, but he couldn't afford to fall now. The thought of Haru being enslaved at the Mist's forge only strengthened his resolve. Ryu knew he needed to find a way to recover. Blood poured from his wounds at an alarming rate; if he wanted to survive, he needed to stop the bleeding immediately. But how could he do that?
As the edges of his vision began to blur, an idea popped into Ryu's mind. 'That could work... It should. Not like I'll have something to lose anyway, let's do this!' Ryu thought as he took action.
Ryu focused his chakra and concentrated on visualizing his body whole and healthy. He pictured his shoulder restored, his back free of stab wounds, and his left arm without the gash. As he felt his consciousness slipping away, Ryu mustered the last of his strength and activated the Jutsu.
A wave of warmth washed over him, and before his very eyes, his broken body mended itself. His shoulder snapped back into place, his back sealed its wounds, and the gash on his arm vanished. Fresh blood and oxygen surged through his veins, and Ryu felt a renewed energy coursing through him.
Breathing heavily, Ryu got to his feet. While the transformation healed his body, it wasn't permanent. He only just managed to use the preferment effect modifier, and even then it was just on keeping some long hair.
He needed more practice before he'd be able to make such complex changes permanent. Not to mention that Ryu didn't have a single clue as to what happened to his body. For all he knew, he fixed the current problem but harmed himself in a different way. Either way, he needed to see a medical professional. '...Let's hope for the best,' Ryu thought nervously.
For now, finding a doctor was his best course of action. He wanted to get examined. If he was perfectly fine, then this method was usable. But if he caused himself unknown damage, he needed to know. He glanced around the dense forest, wondering if help could be found within its shadows.
"Well, I should get moving," Ryu muttered to himself, smirking slightly as a funny thought crossed his mind. "I bet another team of Shinobi will show up here sooner or later. It'd be interesting to see their reactions to all this chaos. Thousands of piercing wounds everywhere—on the people, Shinobi, even the carriage. They'll probably assume I've got an army backing me up." Ryu chuckled at the thought, unaware that this was precisely the conclusion they would reach.
---
"Damn it!" Riku's hands slammed onto the table in front of him as he received the report. "A group of Shinobi and civilians were stabbed so many times that their bodies are unrecognizable. What's worse, there's no trace of the attackers. It's like they were never there..."
Riku's eyes widened, the gravity of the situation sinking in. "This must be the work of high-level Anbu if they can cover their tracks so well. This is terrible! We need to dispatch Anbu right away to track down the kid before it's too late." His words raced, betraying his nervousness as he rushed off to seek the Mizukage's approval.
---
Ryu's brow furrowed as he navigated the dense forest, the trees towering above him, their branches creating a canopy that filtered the sunlight into dappled patterns on the ground. He muttered to himself, "This is harder then I thought."
Having learned from his previous mistakes, Ryu decided to avoid the more visible road in favor of the cover provided by the forest's tangled undergrowth. Unfortunately, the heavy vegetation and muddy terrain made it all too easy for anyone to track him.
Rather than despair, Ryu chose to view this challenge as an opportunity for growth. He decided to use the Transformation Jutsu to alter the environment, restoring it to its original state before he had disturbed it, and making the transformation permanent.
The changes he made were subtle—bending a branch back into place, erasing a footprint from the damp earth, or smoothing the crushed underbrush. But each alteration required an immense level of concentration and fine control to ensure the scene appeared untouched and natural.
As Ryu proceeded, he quickly realized the time-consuming nature of this task. His pace slowed considerably as he meticulously restored the forest behind him. He was unaware that this delay would ultimately work to his advantage.
---
"Crow, what have you discovered?" asked Monkey, his voice muffled by the mask that concealed all but his eyes. The Anbu operative stood among the carnage, surveying the gruesome scene where Ryu had slaughtered the shinobi and civilians.
Crow, another Anbu operative with a mask bearing the image of a crow, crouched down and examined the ground closely, his eyes scanning the area for the slightest hint of a clue. "I've found nothing," he replied, his tone heavy with frustration. "The report was accurate—there are no traces left behind. Even we would struggle to accomplish something like this."
Monkey's eyes narrowed as he processed the implications. "This situation is more dire than I anticipated. We need to act quickly if we hope to have any chance of finding the kid. The skill level of those who helped him is alarmingly high, and they've likely covered a significant distance by now."
He turned to address the rest of the Anbu team, who stood at the ready, awaiting his command. "We need to fan out and search the area. Focus on any signs of movement or unusual activity in the vicinity. Be vigilant and report back with any findings."
The five Anbu members, their faces hidden behind masks depicting various animals, acknowledged the order with a silent nod. In a fluid, synchronized motion, they disappeared, their bodies flickering away to scour the surrounding area.
=======================================
...Was the first part cringy? I tried my best to tone it down, but what do you think?