Awaken, My Darling. [Sharingan Training V.1]

Dawn had just broke, the sun poking through Griffith's blinds. The light from the distant star bounced around the corners of his room, ultimately settling on the man's snow-white hair, creating an image only a skilled artist could replicate. Griffith went about his typical early-morning routine of breakfast and getting dressed before heading out to the forest for a day chocked full of training. He effortlessly tied the thin rope around his waist like he had done many times before and tied his headband around it. Without the headband, many would question, due to his appearance and gentle persona, his validity as a shinobi. However, with it on one's body, there was no mistake. Griffith carried around his headband with pride. After all, it was one of the few things he had that was all his own in this life.

Traversing through the dense forest to his typical training spot, Griffith took a look around and inhaled a deep, sweeping breath before closing his eyes and exhaling, relaxing every bit of his body for the upcoming session.

Immediately, he got to work.

1/10

The sound of rusted steel piercing make-shift wooden targets echoed throughout the forest. Each strike reverberated around the thick collection of trees, bouncing off their bark like a ping pong ball. The sound repeated over and over again, proof that someone was hard at work somewhere within the forest.

Though shinobi typically opted to train within the village's training grounds, Griffith was incredibly particular about where he trained. As a man who made a conscious effort to avoid human interaction whenever it didn't benefit him, the deep embrace of the village outskirts was a perfect place for him to hone his skills in solitude. Despite the fact that there had been many stories about individuals getting captured in the forest, Griffith refused to alter his routine. After all, routine was the seed that would eventually bear the fruits of one's labor.

Shing.

That's when he heard it. The sound of a blade being unsheathed. Griffith couldn't pinpoint exactly where the sound was coming from, but he had a decent sense of its general direction. With his hand gripping a kunai, he slowly backed up, his eyes swirling around his environment, doing their best to investigate what was now hostile territory. He brought the kunai to his own chest level and entered his defensive stance, preparing himself for an encounter from any direction.

2/10

The air had gotten thick, tension adding weight to the cool breeze that swept and swirled its way through the forest lands. Griffith's hair flowed effortlessly alongside it, making way for his eyes to better purvey the training grounds turned battlefield. The ruffling of the leaves aided in masking his stalker's movements, making their footsteps indistinguishable from the sound of that of the shaking leaves.

"Now!"

Before he could properly react, four men surrounded Griffith. He tightened his stance and looked around as best as he could. He was properly caged in by four men in all-black clothing, each equipped with a mask. Could they be from the village? Thieves? He thought. His mind raced, pointless questions without answers sprung up one after the other, shaking his confidence with each one. "Who are you? What do you want?"

His attackers began laughing in unison, as if they were a rehearsed comedy troupe. Without answering Griffith's question, they attacked.

3/10

Four kunai flew towards the center, targeting Griffith from each possible direction. He was cornered. Shamelessly caught, like a mere street cat being chased by the local town dogs. For a second, his mind went blank. In that one second, the young man embraced every memory he had ever lived up to that point. The people he had loved, the many he had hated. His father he never got to see. His weak mother, raising a young girl through sheer willpower in her old age. And of course, he thought of Ryougi -- the young woman he had sworn to protect nearly a decade ago.

As if on instinct, Griffith's body moved, no longer entranced by the warm embrace of his most precious memories. His hair flung to the side as he moved his head, confirming the precise position of each of his opponents, and rode the wind as he jumped over the incoming kunai, re-positioning himself at the crux of a tree where he had a much better outlook of his situation.  The four kunai initially thrown with murderous intent struck each other, the clanging sound of metal replacing the now minutes old sound of metal striking wood.

Griffith threw the kunai in his hand at the foot of one of his enemies, causing them to jump backwards next to his ally. Subconsciously, he was already putting into practice the things he learned at the Academy years ago. He had to break their formation. Four on one was a bad place to be, but trapped between all of them was even worse.

4/10

The thrown kunai had done nothing to dwindle the confidence of the four attacking men. After all, they had Griffith outnumbered four to one. They acted without hesitation, responding to the attempt in breaking their formation by storming the tree on which Griffith had affirmed a position. The one taking the helm position arrived first and aimed a kick at Griffith's midsection.

Despite being a shinobi for many years, this was the first time Griffith ever felt as if his life was really in danger. In the past, he had never been assigned missions that were too difficult, and it was rare that bandits would attack those carrying around a shinobi headband for fear of their skills. These men, however, showed no fear in their attack on Griffith.

Still, Griffith's body was fine tuned for combat situations. He instinctively turned his hips to avoid the head on strike and grabbed the man's leg, flipping to the other side of the tree before being bombarded by the onslaught of the other three assailants. They attacked with kunai in hand, refusing to be wavered by the attack on their partner.

Using his high ground to his advantage, Griffith kicked the wrist of one of the assailants and knocked the kunai out of his hand before dropping an axe kick on the head of one of the other two attackers. While this had momentarily paused their advances, the fourth assailant mercilessly advanced. Due to the sheer number of attackers, the fourth man broke through Griffith's defenses and struck a blow to his stomach before being met with a punch in retaliation, knocking the fourth man onto the ground at the foot of the tree.

5/10

Adrenaline racing through his system, it took a few seconds before the events that had just transpired to register in Griffith's brain. He moved his hand to his stomach, holding the area that had just been struck tightly.

It's wet...? He thought. He looked over to his side and noticed a kunai jabbed into his stomach, blood pouring out of the large gash it had created. Griffith gripped the kunai and pulled it out in one swoop, prompting spurts of blood to fly out of his new injury, backed up by the clogging the kunai had caused.

His vision blurring from the sharp pain and sudden loss of blood, Griffith tumbled down the tree, holding his injury throughout the entire ordeal.

Is this really it...? All the promises I've made... The goals I've set... Stumped by some no-name bandits? Shit, this sucks... Once again, for a split second, his mind wandered to a place where time did not exist. It pondered everything he had witnessed in his short time here on Earth. His aspirations, the days to come, the days that had passed... Everything.

Unbeknownst to Griffith, a deep flame had been swirling within the pits of his stomach. This was a pitch black flame that contrasted the winter white color of his hair. The flame afforded to him by his blood. It surged through every inch of his body, fueling him with power he had never felt before.

When Griffith came back to his senses, he immediately noticed the difference in clarity. Although he could not tell, his eyes had become red and had a single, black dot circling around each pupil. The world looked anew. Colors were more vibrant. He noticed everything about himself and the world around him. The breathing of insects, the movement of each individual leaf, and the burning chakra of his enemies.

"That's... That's the Sharingan! No! But your hair -- it's... it's white! That's impossible!" His assailants stumbled for reasoning, shocked by the initial transformation of the man they originally perceived as helpless. They soon collected themselves and became reinvigorated with new purpose.

"I guess we'll have to rob you of those precious eyes, now. They'll fetch a heavy price in the Black Market, I'm sure."

6/10

The world had never looked quite as beautiful as it did in this very moment. Through his eyes, Griffith became synced with the life of everything around him. He stood up, his newfound power and adrenaline negating any effects the wound on his side would normally have. He felt completely reborn, as if the mounting struggles and pain he had persevered through had been washed away by a tidal wave.

They're so... Slow? Something was off. Griffith noticed that everything around him was moving much slower than his brain was normally comfortable with. It was as if everything around him was moving at half speed, while his own person was moving at normal speed. A slight smile appeared on his face, knowing full well the scale of the powers he had just unearthed. After a few seconds, Griffith's smile erupted into a rage of laughter, his nefarious nature slowly becoming more and more unhinged.

"What's wrong with him?" His enemies looked at each other then back to Griffith, puzzled by a bleeding man's laughter. "I'm sorry. For years, I had been told this would be impossible." Griffith's laughter settled down and his face became focused on the enemy directly in front of him.

7/10

The four men, now regathered, charged at Griffith in their box-formation. From an outsider perspective, those with the advantage were as obvious as the sun rising each morning. Not only was it four against one, but they had him cornered in their formation. Flawless execution of group tactics had gotten them this far. However, this would be the end for them.

The Sharingan afforded Griffith with more than enough time to counter attack the incoming effort. He shifted his position as such to avoid all angles of the attack and planted a kick to the right side of one of the attackers. He then unsheathed a kunai and sliced open one of the other assaulter's necks, blood spewing onto the face of his ally and blinding him. Impeded by his lack of sight, the man ran into his remaining ally's face, causing both of them to fall to the ground.

Filled to the brim with bloodlust, Griffith pounced onto the nearest enemy and jammed his kunai into the man's heart before doing the same to the enemy blinded by blood squirming on the ground.

Now in a one on one situation with the dazed, remaining enemy, Griffith made light work of him. He flipped him onto the ground and held a kunai at his throat. He looked into his eyes with his own new, crimson colored ones and flashed him a silent smile before giving him the same fate as his allies.

His hands covered in blood, Griffith looked up to the sky and took a deep breath.

8/10

In that moment, as Griffith looked up to the blue sky above, emotion overwhelmed him. Every struggle he had faced in his life had become amplified. Tears began to well up in his eyes and dripped down his cheeks onto the soil below. The pain that had initially subsided returned in force, his vision blackening as a result.

"Ryougi... Please... I'm sorry." Griffith collapsed. He fell face first into the dirt, blood staining the ground a dark red as he slowly bled out. The initial injury had been exasperated even further by his movements in combat. He was cold and weak. If left alone, he'd surely die. What a pitiful way for a human to die. Yet it fit him perfectly. Dying completely and utterly alone.

9/10

The sound of horses galloping and the following tune of wheels spinning against the ground could be heard in the distance. An elderly man could be seen on a wagon, carrying goods into the village for profit and trade. He had become tired on his trips from village to village and was looking for a place to spend the night before re-engaging in trade tomorrow.

The wheels of fate began to spin for Griffith just as it spun on the distant wagon. The old man came across Griffith's unconscious body and threw him onto the wagon without hesitation, bandaging his wound as best as he could. He then carried him into the village, rushing to any hospital he could find.


The sound of rain pelting against the window was enough to awake the young man entranced by a deep slumber. A faint knock could be heard against the door protecting the privacy of his room, a young woman's footsteps immediately following the knocks. He turned his gaze to the door and saw the face of his most precious person.

"Ryougi..." He whispered. She smiled at him gingerly and embraced him, taking care to avoid the wound he had suffered.

10/10