Ryūki

Ryūki was an esteemed jonin from Yugakure. He had a very niche skillset specialising in psychological and illusionist techniques.

He surveyed his new underground base he was assigned to. Behind him stood his entourage handling the box Hiruzen delivered to him.

As his eyes scanned the various bare tunnels and pipelines leading to the depths of the unknown, he smirked. This would become the beginning of his empire.

They escorted the box to a small cage-like cell within the deepest chamber and placed it at the bottom. Ryūki dismissed most of the members leaving two Konohagakure shinobi with him.

He entered the cell and took out a scroll from his bosom. He bit his finger until it drew bold and smeared it on the scroll's opening and unsealed it to reveal dense cryptic writing in it.

He flipped it over and placed the writing face down over the box and aligned it until he heard a click. The box was opened.

Within the box was a small cotton cushion and on it lay a swaddled infant. It's eyelids were shut tight and stuck together with dried tears. A foul smell emitted from it. It had soiled itself.

Ryūki laughed a little.

"Heh, I didn't expect the fabled Kyuubi no kitsune to look so innocent," he commented to the shinobi behind him.

Hearing his voice the baby woke up and began mewling in hunger. Ryūki turned away in disgust. He closed the box again tightly and exited the cell before sealing the doors with another seal. The seal had a swirling pattern in the centre with branches extending out of the outermost swirl that wiggles and wrapped around the cage.

"You have seen how it is, yes? You may leave now."

The two ANBU agents gave a slight nod and disappeared.

Ryūki waited a while before calling in one of his subordinates. "Has the passage been completed?"

"Yes, sir."

"Get one of those bitches here. Better if she has a baby."

"Yes, sir."

The subordinate left to enter another tunnel until he reached a hidden unfinished drill site. There was mud and rocks piled up waiting to be discarded. He entered the newly dug linear passageway. He ran for ten minutes in a straight line until he reached the end. The passage end was blocked by bedrock.

He pulled out his kunai and drew a long line over his left arm and let the blood flow onto the stone floor.

The blood got absorbed very fast and entered small, invisible capillaries between the rocks. It activated a mechanism and the boulders shifted to open up to an exit.

A blast of hot, turbid air hit his face as soon as ot opened. He choked on the heavy smell of sulfur and coughed. It smelled metallic and burned his throat.

The shinobi braved the hot boiling air untilhe reached a barren settlement amidst the hell-like place. It was surrounded by pools of hot blood-red water and shrouded in reddish steam.

This was the Valley of Hell. And the people in front of him were the people of the banished Chinoike clan.

The environment was horrible. The women were dressed in scant clothes and had swallow faces and the men were unkempt. They looked malnourished. There was no clean water here nor was the land fertile due to the extremely high iron content in the sould that bled into the water. Yet they somehow survived here in peace ever since the Warring States era.

The shinobi came up to one woman who was clutching her stomach and sitting listlessly at the outskirts of the dwelling.  He began interrogating her with his bloody kunai after dragging her off behind some rock protrusions.

"Do you know of any woman here who is lactating?"

The woman was scared to tears. "No- no. W-Why?"

The shinobi felt impatient. He was about to silence her when he heard a small cry from her basket. She had a child with her.

"Is this your child?"

"No!" The woman screamed.

The shinobi grew impatient after the repeated denials.

"Are you producing milk?"

She began frantically pleading with him to let her go.

He gritted his teeth and impatiently grabbed her chest and squeezed. She screamed in pain.

When he released her, her shirt was damp. She collapsed and begged him to spare her.

"Stop crying." He slapped her and she quietened down to a whimper.

"I'll make you an offer. Follow me and do as I say and you'll be provided with food for yourself and your child. You won't have to eat the wild roots here."

The woman's pupils contracted.

Her lips trembled and she swallowed. Food?

When was the last time she ate a proper meal? Wasn't it years and years ago when she was still a child?

The people of Chinoike had long forgotten how rice tasted.

And so, for the sake of her child and herself, she agreed.

She followed him back with her basket through the tunnels and was presented in front of Ryūki.

"She's a little thin, isn't she? Can she provide anything at all?"

"She can."

"Heh."

Ryūki stood up and began inspecting her closely.

"A woman's body is really such a miracle. Even in this state she can provide?" He said as he traced her ribs.

He placed a small blood mark on her neck. The tattoo wiggled and transformed into a collar.

"Well, we'll provide you with food and the necessary items. Make sure to behave yourself and just do as you're told. Understood?"

She nodded in fear.

She understood if she did anything out of line she would die and along with her, her child.

"Take her in."

The subordinate nodded and brought her to the cage with the box. There was a small mattress provided near the corner far from the cage.

"Every six hours you are to feed tht creature in the cage. You may not open the cage. Only feed it through the bars. You may not step out of this cell. We will send you food and water twice a day."

He said all that and brought her closer to the cage. He reached his hand in and pulled the box closer to the edge and opened the lid.

Then he turned to her and pulled open her shirt and pressed her to the little gap on one side of the cage. It was just large enough to reach one arm in.

She tearfully held the baby up with one hand through the cage and uncomfortably positioned the infant's mouth to her exposed breast. The infant hungrily latched on and suckled like it was it's last meal. It reached it's small arms out and gripped onto her desperately.

Throughout the whole breastfeeding session, the shinobi didn't leave. He only left once she placed the infant down back into the box.

He returned with a tray of food and placed it next to the mattress and didn't return again.

She finally sat down onto her new bed and sobbed quietly as she shovelled the food into her belly. Her child would finally have proper food to eat. No matter how she was humiliated, she would still choose to do this over and over again.

............

Author's Note:

I do try to keep it as close to the canon so it takes me time to write because I need to keep searching for random information so I can link it to the storyline. Also, yea, Chinoike Clan exists. You'll find out more about that later.

I felt horrible writing this chapter but what can I do, I just had to write so I can further the plot :)

I'd rather make characters face tragedy than let them die because once they die, they cannot be used anymore and the rest of the people have to move on from them. :))

Aaaa I'm so excited because my brain is bursting with ideas. XD

Tell me what you think of all the developments you see here ;)