Underbelly

This arena is probably more of a blessing than a punishment

So far we've been here around 2 months or so? It's hard to keep track of time when you're underground

Yeah, after I killed my first opponent, we got thrown into an arguably more comfortable room. All it had was a couple stone beds and a, no pun intended, shitty toilet & sink

Akari's eye kept her out of the fighting for a while. Unlike me, it was actually ripped out and her Uzumaki-vitality only helped keep it from becoming infected and stuff so I fought for the next month or so

The matches were.. easy? Only the rare few who had knowledge of chakra and Jutsu were a challenge and those were few and far in between for this area

My first match after the crazy guy was this woman with a crazy water affinity. She could pretty much pull water out of the air without hand seals. The only thing - Her control was shit. It would be brute force or nothing

Needless to say, she was an easy opponent

We had a match at least once a day, sometimes twice. There were a few times I had a challenge, like this one time I faced a Genin-Level from Kumo with the Swift Release. Only thing that kept him back was his chakra. Then there was a guy from the Yuki Clan (I think it was a dude. They really are all androgynous) and they knew a fair few jutsu that would have beaten me if not for my speed

Yes, I've thanked Jiraiya more than once after a match, the bastard

Anyways, after Akari healed up enough to fight and not fall over from horrible hand eye coordination, the whole place became a joke. We switched off every other day and now we've become the strongest two in the Underbelly

The only reason we keep fighting is for 'experience'. Akari needs it more than me at this point really, so I'm just lying back, trying to find people to recruit

I know what you're thinking - 'Recruit?! But these people are knife wielding insane crazy people! Why would you want to recruit them?!'

To say the least.. Bloodlines

Psh, that's such an Orochimaru thing to say. I'm serious though. Half of these people are just survivors of their clan that Yagura threw down here for entertainment. I've seen quite a bit of them down here during matches and a fair few of them have the experience and competency to make it out if they tried hard enough

"Fubuki Yuki.."

A young boy (I can definitely tell this time, thank god), about fourteen, one of the 3 Yuki still left alive down here and one of the more talented. He's developed a special Ice Release technique using Ice Dust and Mini Expanding particles of the stuff. When the opponent breathes it in, it's like Moon Dust - Cuts open your airways and leaves you bleeding out and unable to breathe unless a medic is nearby

He's definitely on my list

"Mahime Kaguya"

Fifteen and one of the few females born to the Kaguya, a rarity in the clan. Her bone release is extraordinarily flexible and can change density at a moments notice, meaning if she wants to hit something, it's going to hit.

It's always kinda freaky watching her fight and seeing her bones twist and turn like rubber and then solidify like nothing happened

Really hoping to convince her to come with us

"Ranko Hinaga"

A 15 year old who migrated down from Suna. Apparently she pissed off Rasa so much, he chased her out of the country, then she came here and pissed off Obi-ra so he threw her down here

Turns out, she has the Lava release? And it's very scary watching her melt her opponents to death?

Don't know why I want her in, but fuck it

Then, finally, we have -

"Kiruo Tachi"

This guy… He's interesting. With a bloodline I've never seen before - what I ended up just calling 'Acid Release - he's survived here for almost three years - much longer than a lot of the guys here

But there's a difference. I've only been here for two months and have become almost famous around the community. Kiruo, however - nobody even know his name. I've asked around and nobody knows who he is

'But Hoshi, how do you know about him??' Yeah, to answer that - I was honestly just lucky

Last week, I caught one of his matches. Not surprisingly, there were only a few people in the audience. Genjutsu? Most probable answer

His opponent… I felt bad for him. Kiruo played the guy like a fiddle. A very brutal match to watch

But when I saw his acid shit, oh I had to get him on my side

Which brings us to our first person

"Who the hell are you?"

A smile

"Fubuki! It's nice to meet you! I'm here to make a deal"

The guy stood inspecting me for a moment before narrowing his eyes

"The fuck do you mean..?"