So Below
The lights in the dim corridors had changed to a brighter red, down every turning hall and up every flight of stairs alerting Silver that his break out attempts had indeed not gone unnoticed. Concealing his presence had been vital, he lacked the power to face any more of this organization's ninja on his own. He estimated any one of them to be in the middle ranks of a Genin or Chunin, clearly they were more willing to be here than he was but Silver was certain they were all in the same situation as he, brought to this location to train them and turn them into future elite. Even building up his reserves of chakra was of little help as he had to expend portions of it all again to scale the walls and hide within what few shadows remained.
His efforts were brought to an end after he’d ascended perhaps ten levels. ‘There hasn’t been sight or sound of any others in this place for the last three floors, even pushing my senses to their limits I cannot detect the faintest heart beat, breath, or scent.’ Silver considered while slowing his pace of silent steps up the ninth set of stares he let out a frustrated breath. Each flight had had an odd number of steps and each one had been located in a different quadrant of the building’s layout making it hard to judge both his distance beneath or above ground level or where exactly he was in the labyrinth-like facility.
“It isn’t probable anyone so close to my own level is capable of so thoroughly erasing the signs of their existence, and blending the presence of their chakra with my own, like they would have to to slip my detection that way as well.” his words echoed as he passed through the open door of the pass into a large empty space. He came upon a suspended wooden bridge that met in the center of the chamber in a four way crossroads. The supporting structures were a rust red metal with oak wood beams connecting it all, to the far right of the central bridge through one of the identical covered torii gate structures Silver felt the lightest breeze. That was undoubtedly the way towards whatever exit exists.
However, the man standing in the middle of that bridge crossroad made it all a mute point. His height and build were similar to Sarutobi-sensei’s suggesting similar age, he possessed wild black hair, brown eyes, and a handsome face that culminated in an X cross scar on his chin. Just by the presence of the man Silver knew this was not a man he could hope to hide from, escape seemed a similarly doomed cause to believe in. That did not make this escape a futile endeavor, though the step forward meant sacrificing the ones he’d made up to this point. Afterall to the far right lie the exit, a gentle breeze, he is close to the surface. Weaving half the regular signs of the summoning jutsu a slip of paper appeared in his hand, the seal paper he’d hidden in his room before.
“Young man, you must be aware that you will not be defeating me in this battle, your level of ability is below your level of potential. Stay here, I will ensure you become the greatest Shinobi this era has ever seen.” Danzo says from his relaxed position observing his young protege/prisoner. In this desperate stand he could not be the fearless shinobi Silver, but the emotional orphan, from the scroll Shiruba Kumo summoned his sword; shorter than a standard katana but longer than a wakizashi it fit his stature and strength.
“I can see you will need to be broken to be reforged into the perfect shinobi, here in the shadows will I make you all that a ninja must be.” Danzo said observing the white haired child taking up arms, shifting into his own fighting stance, Kunai in hand. “Though I admire your fortitude of spirit, here you must set it aside.” Taking a steadying breath Shiruba steadied his anxiety, gripping his sword in a one handed reverse grip and summoning five shuriken which he flung ahead of himself as he sprinted towards the older man. Danzo waves a simple Rat→ Dog→ Snake set of signs creating a Wind Style:Vacuum Wall, a swirling mass of air that remained in front of him deflecting the projectiles away while he braced his right arm, parrying the swift set of triple cuts brought by the fierce child.
Shiruba’s leaping slashes brought him in an arch over Danzo’s stance, landing on the rails of the bridge in a crouch facing towards the open drop to the lower levels of the hall. Kicking his bandage wrapped legs out behind him, slim senbon needles sailed out through the air towards his target, Shimura deflected the shining bites of furry to the side. Bringing his hand to his mouth as he kneads chakra in his core Shiruba releases it in a great burst using Water Style: Surging Sea, the water rushed forth as a waist high wave. Shimura’s answer was a chest height curving Earth Style: Mud Wall that deflected the wave off to the sides of the bridge, followed by Earth Style: Bullet Rock that had the child leaping away for cover as it broke through the mud wall like a sledgehammer.
‘What is this strategy of his,’ Danzo wonders as he tracks Kumo’s flight through the Root Meeting Hall, deflecting fairly thrown shuriken and Kunai, batting away the boy’s juvenile attempts at the nature transformation jutsu he had left books of in the room he’d designated for him to be left to study. ‘I have examined his test results from Tobirama-sama’s academy. The boy certainly is keen enough to tell his escape has failed by now, why persist in this manner?’ below them the other fledgling members of Lord Danzo’s group could get the faint sense of the relatively tame exchange. For the Leaf Jonin trained by Lords First and Second their new members’ attempts were no more than light training for Danzo to repel. It was above that only one had considered, Shiruba Kumo could tell he was overloading the techniques with more chakra than was necessary, it was a major drain on his stamina, left him panting and sweating, his arms were lead as he brought his sword soaring through the air, legs like weights, but this was not futile. There was a breeze from that far right door, and their chakra clashing could be sensed in the floors below. The saying goes as above…