Chapter One: Welcome to Hell, boys!

The prison bus, old, rickety thing that it was, passed through the gate and headed towards the building surrounded by the razor-wire fence. He'd heard the terrified whispers on the bus- people suspected that it was electrified. He could not tell by simply looking at it. He hoped not.

The tall, black building loomed ominously over them as the bus approached. It was a place of punishment, of confinement- supposedly to keep criminals like him locked away from society, so that the world could rest easier. It was ugly, gloomy, and oddly imposing- and it was to be his home for the rest of his life. The jury of blood prison didn't believe in anything other than life sentences for anyone who had an aptitude for chakra. Like most others on the bus, Naruto Uzumaki had pleaded his innocence- truth be told, he still didn't believe that he had actually done anything wrong. If anything, he'd been trying to protect society, not endanger it.

Not that the jury would have any of it.

"You bastards! Let me go!"

The bus slowly approached Hozuki Castle, and Naruto heard the hushed whispers of his fellow inmates, as they drank in the sight of the prison with wide eyes. The driveway to the prison was long, almost absurdly so. Walls of razor wire lined the sides, and towered into the sky, scratching the cerulean beauty with claws of steel. The blonde boy peered out the window, eyes defiant. "My God," the scrawny man in front of him said, "they're lined with towers."

And so they were. Every ten feet or so stood a disgusting, twisting mini fortress, and at the top of each tower, there were several armed guards, clad in a sickly green. They smirked as the bus trundled by, and Naruto heard the sounds of someone about to be violently ill.

Hozuki castle itself was made of stone, and lay on the edge of a cliff. Stone walls encircled the castle itself, as well as the many smaller buildings there were scattered along the grounds. A long and exhaustive set of stairs led upwards into the bowels of the castle, and what lay beyond was anyone's guess.

The bus shuddered to a stop in front of the stairs, where several guards were waiting, firearms at the ready should any of them step out of line. Naruto gritted his teeth, as they all stood and shuffled awkwardly to the front of the bus, and descended just as uncertainly. All of the people on the bus were ninja, just like him, and they weren't used to being shackled. Their ankles were chained together, so that they were forced to proceed in a slow, awkward gait, as if they were only just learning to walk. Their wrists were cuffed together, so that they couldn't make any hand signs and produce chakra, which was what they were in trouble for in the first place. The result was a sad, sorry line of around nine ninja shuffling obediently after one another, staring at their feet because the sight before them was too frightening.

Naruto glared at the back of the head of the man in front of him, his eyes angry. Rather than cowed by the prison looming over him, he felt nothing but anger. Anger that he was even here to begin with, anger at the jury who had condemned him without a second thought, but perhaps more importantly, anger at himself for letting himself be caught in the first place.

They all stopped suddenly. Naruto could see a guard addressing the head of the group, a young man with short brown hair and dark glasses. He seemed somewhat familiar to the blonde boy.

"You follow me, you got that?" the guard shouted. Glasses-boy nodded silently. "If I hear so much as a squeak out of you maggots, there'll be hell to pay!"

Glasses-boy nodded again, and they began shuffling again, their chains clanking and gleaming cheekily in the sunlight. Up the steps they went, in that same awkward fashion, and there were guards both in front and behind them. Naruto, towards the back, could feel eyes boring into the back of his head. He turned to snap at whoever was staring, but a violent tug from those ahead of him made him think better of it. As they reached the top of the stairs (the boy behind him was panting profusely- how someone so unfit became a ninja, Naruto would never know-), the massive, polished oak doors opened, and, with a jerk of their chains, the shamed ninja went inside.

It was dark. Naruto could see little at first, but, as his eyes began to adjust, he saw that they were walking along a single strip of stone- the walls, if you could call them that, were hundreds upon hundreds of cells, most of which were filled. Stairwells twisted upwards, where yet more cells waited. There were more guards here, and they watched the procession of new additions impassively, as though they'd seen it a hundred times before. Probably they had.

Those weren't the only eyes that were watching them, though. Curious, malicious, and even bloodthirsty eyes stared out from the darkness of the cells, and as they walked, some of them spoke.

"Fish! New fish!" someone squealed.

"We're reeling them in," someone else noted, somewhat sadly.

"What a sorry bunch," was another remark.

"Aren't they cute?" another cooed, which was perhaps scariest of all, "Oh, these fish are just so cute."

"This way," their leading guard said, sounding bored, taking them through the halls of cells, and out into what appeared to be a courtyard. The sun twinkled in the sky, as though it was laughing at them. Before them stood more guards, as well as an old man wearing what appeared to be brown robes with a shawl. Half of his face appeared to be heavily bandaged, and his arm was in a sling. Dislike rose up in Naruto like a snake; he knew that this man meant trouble, whoever he was.

The bored guard stopped them, and told them to face their left. They did so, chains clanking loudly. Naruto found himself staring directly at the old man, and he quickly dropped his eyes, not wanting to look at the old man longer than he needed to.

The man to the right of the old geezer stepped forward. Aside from the old man himself, he was the only one not clad in the green of the guards- he chose to wear simple black clothing. His face was heavily scarred and twisted on one side, and his hair was close-cropped and dark. He glared at them, eyes smoldering dangerously. "Face the warden!" he snapped, "eyes forward!"

"Thank you, Obito," the warden rasped, "I'll take it from here."

"Yes, sir," the scarred man said politely, and when the warden's back was turned, his cowed smile turned into a terrible smirk. He stepped back, and his hand drifted to his waist- he was armed, too.

"So," the warden said, addressing them all directly. He had a presence about him, which was for sure- he radiated authority. "The fact that you're here is proof enough that you've all committed a terrible crime- the crime of chakra wielding. You've completely lost the trust of your respective villages, and for that, there is a price to pay."

"My name is Danzo Shimura," he continued, "and I believe in two things here at Hozuki prison- discipline, and repentance. Here you will receive both. You've already met Officer Obito," he nodded toward the sneering scarred man, who was fingering his gun lovingly, "and he is one of the many guards who will watch over you during your stay. Now, I want you to understand that you are all worthless. And dispensable," he added, letting a wry smile cross his face, and the effect was truly terrifying, "don't forget that. While you're here, your ass is mine. Any questions?"

"Yeah, when do we eat?" the fat boy next to Naruto asked. His hair was long and messy, and there were swirls inked into his cheeks.

The silence was deafening. The air could have been cut with a knife.

Danzo met Obito's eyes briefly, and inclined his head slightly. The scarred man grinned nastily, and jammed the butt of his gun deep into the fat boy's gut. "Oof!" he groaned, face twisted in agony. Obito jabbed at him again, this time hitting his chest- the sound of the metal hitting flesh made all the ninja wince.

Obito withdrew the gun, and leaned in to the groaning boy. "You eat when we say you eat, fat ass!" he roared. "You jump when we say you jump, and you shit when we say you shit!"

"Choji Akimichi," Danzo said, smiling in a grandfatherly way, "I should have known. Captured for using the expansion jutsu in public to allow for more food." He shook his head, still smiling, as though he couldn't believe someone could be so stupid. He moved down the line, stopping at Naruto. "And you're the Uzumaki boy. Captured for trying to kill one of our officers with a well-timed rasengan. My, my-"

"I was framed!" Naruto shouted desperately into Danzo's face, horribly aware that Obito was looming behind the warden, longing to beat him into submission, eyes glittering malevolently. "I don't belong here!"

Danzo cocked his head, amused. "Framed, you say?" he said, and laughed gently. Obito and the other guards snickered. Naruto ignored them.

"Yes!" he yelled furiously, even managing to stamp his foot, "I don't have time for this! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Ah, you see, that is where I disagree with you, Naruto," Danzo said, his wrinkled lips curled into a bemused grin, "You have done something wrong- something terribly, terribly wrong."

"I was defending myself!" Naruto bellowed. Choji, the one who had been hit in the stomach, nudged him worriedly and told him to shut up, but Naruto ignored him. "You bastards! How can you-"

He was suddenly silenced by a blow to his gut. While he'd been shouting, Obito had crept closer and jammed the butt of his gun into the boy's stomach. "Shut up," Obito said, sounding bored, and hit him again for good measure. Naruto couldn't breathe. He sank to his knees, gasping, tightness in his chest, blue lights winking in front of his eyes.

"On your feet," he heard Obito snarl, and, grimacing, he stood up, swaying slightly. Obito had absolutely winded him, and it hurt like a sonofabitch. Naruto considered letting the warden what exactly his deranged guard had done, and thought better of it. Danzo had seen- had probably even ordered it.

The blonde boy looked up, to see Obito's eyes boring into his own. They were dark tunnels that seemed to go on forever, menacing, full of hatred. "Got anything else to say?" the man asked softly, "because I would just love to sink this into your gut again."

Naruto shook his head frantically, furiously, the pain in his chest not quite gone. Furious but cowed for the moment, he averted his eyes, and stared at his chained ankles, until Danzo commanded their absolute attention.

"I have just one more thing to say to you boys," he said, still smiling in that grandfatherly way, "and that's welcome to Hell."

XxX

Obito took charge of them next, accompanied by six or seven more guards- not that the malicious scarred man needed them- they were all terrified by his mere presence. "This way, ladies," he sang, leading them not through the cells as they had expected, but down another hallway, deeper into the castle. Here the walls and floor were of stone. Passing through them, it was more depressing than seeing the future cellmates cooing and hissing at you through the bars, because there was- well, NOTHING. It was empty, drab- devoid of any colour at all. There weren't even any decorations of any sort.

"A guy could go crazy wandering around in this place," the scrawny boy in front of Naruto remarked quietly. He was of an unruly sort, with a mop of brown hair and curious shapes tattooed onto his cheeks; unlike Choji's, these were burgundy, and appeared to be upside-down triangles. His name was Kiba Inuzuka. The story went that he had had a gigantic dog with him, but it had fled once Kiba had been attacked.

Obito chuckled at the head of their line, and the guards sniggered along with him. They kept walking, until at last they stopped. The door was shut, and on it was a small silver plaque that simply read, 'infirmary'. It was clear from the rummaging and hushed whispers that there was someone inside. Obito rapped smartly on the door twice, and ordered them in, holding his gun menacingly, leering at them, his scars made more obvious and terrible in the half-light. They wasted no time in making their way into the infirmary.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the nurse said, turning away from her current patient, a youth that was mumbling to themselves, arms laced with bandages, and she smiled at them. She was pretty enough, Naruto thought, with chocolate-brown hair cut into a neat bob, warm brown eyes, plump lips, and a heart-shaped face. Purple stripes adorned her cheeks. "New inmates, Obito?"

"Yeah," Obito rasped, and gave her a devilish grin. It did not escape any of them that his eyes flickered briefly to her chest, and back to her face again. "They're here to be immunized."

"I see." The nurse moved away from Obito, and began rummaging around in a leather backpack. "Line them up for me, please."

"You heard the nurse," Obito barked, "into line!"

They did so silently, awkwardly, most of them unable to keep their eyes off the pretty nurse, who wore a tired smile. She raised her now gloved hands, and showed them the entire gigantic syringe, which was full of a suspicious-looking liquid.

"What's that?" Choji asked.

"It's a relaxing agent," she replied, "to make your first few days at Hozuki smoother."

From the way Obito was leering at them, Naruto figured she was lying, and was amazed that she expected them to believe her. Yet each of the ninja held their arms out willingly, and sighed contentedly as she administered the drug. It was as though they…wanted to believe that it was true. To them it WAS true.

"What is that, really?!" he demanded when it was his turn. Obito glowered at him, but said nothing for the moment. She sighed.

"Please stay still. You don't want me to break the needle off in your arm, do you?"

"No, but I want to know what the hell you're putting in my arm first," Naruto growled.

"It's a drug preventing the-" she began to say, but Obito cut her off sharply.

"Nurse Nohara! What did Danzo say? No telling the prisoners what's in there," he hissed, and the nurse blanched.

"Of course," she whispered, "I forgot my place."

Naruto stood his ground, and glared. "I don't need any stupid drug to keep me under control," he shouted, "I'm not crazy, and you can't MAKE me take anything I don't want to! I know my rights, damn it!"

Both Obito and Nurse Nohara stared at him, her expression one of sadness, his of amusement. Naruto had a feeling most of the other ninja were staring at him too. He didn't care. He wouldn't be injected with anything! He gritted his teeth, eyes bright and fiery. Inside of him, he could feel the Nine-tails growling in disgust, yearning to burst forth and rip them all open. Naruto could not quite describe the sensation. It was like he had a ball of fire inside his chest, one that writhed and burned and yowled for conflict, to draw blood. It flickered and surged deep inside him, and he could literally feel his innards burning inside him.

It was his darker half, and he wasn't about to let it out.

Obito began laughing. "Your rights," he gasped, chest heaving frantically, "your rights. You make me laugh, boy!"

"What's so damn funny?!" Naruto yelled furiously, stamping his foot in anger. His chains rattled noisily. Obito stopped laughing. His features became ugly once more, his scars appearing white in the half-light, in stark contrast to a face that had been burnt by the sun.

"In here you have no rights," he said simply, and punched him in the stomach for good measure. All the air went out of Naruto's lungs. He doubled over, gasping. White-blue stars appeared in front of his eyes.

He felt something cool and metallic brush against his neck, and he tried jerking away, but Obito held him tight, callused hands biting deep into the boy's arms until he had no choice but to let Nurse Nohara prick him. Because he was focused on it, Naruto rather thought he could feel the point of the needle slice into his flesh, like melted cheese, and regurgitate its' toxic innards into his bloodstream. It was probably just his thoughts running away with him in his panic, but he thought he could FEEL the liquid oozing into his blood- staining what was natural and good with its' poison. He imagined it as some sort of dangerous drug, seeping through his veins and leaving them frozen, useless. He shivered, as that ball of fire inside him suddenly flickered and died.

"There," nurse Nohara said approvingly, "that should do it."

There were no words to describe how Naruto felt. He felt vulnerable, weak; it was as though he'd been violated in some terrible, unspoken way. He couldn't lay a finger on it just yet, though. What had happened?

"Wh-what happened?" he murmured. All he received in return was a nasty grin from Obito.

Then he suddenly realised what had happened.

He tried to draw chakra from the Nine-tails, to summon that ball of fire. Nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing. "Wh-what the hell!" he bellowed, trying once more in vain to draw energy from his fireball, but it remained frozen and unresponsive.

He could do nothing but stare, eyes wide, at his trembling hands. They'd cut off his chakra supply. They'd practically castrated him. "Y-you're an evil bastard," he muttered to Obito, who smirked at him, "you're evil and I'll get you for this…"

"Sure," the scarred guard yawned, rolling his eyes. He turned to the nurse. "I won't always be here to handle pieces of shit like this," he nodded towards Naruto, who kept staring at his hands, bewildered, "you better be prepared next time."

She nodded, choosing to ignore his mild threat, and disappeared, apparently off to collect some uniforms. Obito watched her go, his expression tender. When she was gone, his face turned hard once more. "All right," he barked, "while Nurse Nohara is busy collecting your uniforms, I want you all to jump on the spot." When none of them moved, he pointed his gun at them. "What are you shitheads waiting for, a bloody invitation? FUCKING MOVE!" he roared, and they all jumped.

XxX

"What was all that about?" Naruto muttered. Obito snickered.

"It's to detect whether any of you were stupid enough to smuggle weapons in," he said tartly, and visibly brightened when Nurse Nohara returned. In her arms was a pile of grey clothes.

"Here are your uniforms," she said, eyes kind, "put them on, please."

XxX

Once they were dressed (the uniform had consisted of grey pants, a white undershirt, and a grey jacket emblazoned with their prisoner number), Obito marched them from the infirmary and to their respective cells. They were still chained together in a line, but if anyone felt even a fraction as bad as how Naruto felt at that moment, they wouldn't be able to muster the energy to run away or fight.

Which absolutely had been their intention.

As they reached the cells, they were greeted by catcalls. Prisoners shook the bars fiercely, eyes alight with malice as they called to the newcomers.

"They're back!" someone cheered.

"Sorriest lot I've seen yet!" someone else snorted. Choji whimpered.

"Here, fish, fish, fish…" another voice whispered, nearly overwhelmed by the din, but for those who heard it, it made their blood run cold.

Obito would stop the line, unshackle a prisoner, and shove them inside, regardless of whether the cell was occupied or not. By the way things were going, it looked like they were all going to have a cellmate. As they shuffled past the cells, Naruto noticed that several prisoners had curiously-coloured bands on their arms- the man in the cell Choji was going into had a bright yellow band on his arm. As the snuffling Choji entered, his eyes gleamed mischieviously.

"Keep moving, princess!" the guard snapped, tugging on Naruto's chain, and the blonde boy kept going, oblivious of the fact that he was now the only one left.

"Give him here, Obito," someone rasped. Obito glared at them.

"Not on your life, asswipe," he snarled. Onward they marched, until, three floors later, they finally stopped. Obito gestured towards one of the other guards. "Open this cell. Hey, Hatake," he called into the cell, "you've finally got some company!"

"Oh, goody," came the reply.

Naruto hardly felt it when the chains came off, and Obito shoved him hard between the shoulder blades, and he stumbled into the cell. "You'll pay for this," he snarled to the scarred man, "you'll pay, Obito!"

He just laughed, as he shut the door in Naruto's face.

"Ah…" the man in the cell sighed. Naruto turned and saw that he was lounging on the bed, watching him curiously. He was dressed in the grey and white of the prison, and was probably only thirty years old at best, but his spiked silver hair made him look much older. Though his lower face was covered with what appeared to be a bandana, the weary- almost tired- look in his eyes also gave the impression of someone old beyond their years. He had a scar running over his right eye. He didn't look particularly dangerous. All he looked was lethargic.

Now he looked at Naruto, and yawned. "Hi."

"Hi," Naruto mumbled, unnerved by the bandana. He stared at his surroundings- concrete cells, two cots, and a toilet- and then turned back to his cellmate. "Who're you?!"

"Names' Kakashi, Kakashi Hatake," he said. His eyes now appeared alert. "And who am I sharing my beloved cell and cot with, may I ask?" His voice was oozing with sarcasm, but Naruto ignored it, either because he didn't care or because he didn't get it.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" he shouted, "and I'm gonna kill that sonofabitch Obito!"

"Ah…and I have to put up with you for the rest of my life…?"

"What?!"

"Never mind. Look, kid, you're gonna get yourself killed," Kakashi told him lazily, repositioning himself on the cot so he was more comfortable. He said it quite matter-of-factly, as though declaring someone's death was something he did frequently- who knew, maybe it was.

Naruto turned to him, eyes blazing. "What the hell are you on about?!"

Kakashi sighed, exasperated. "You don't know how prison works, do you?"

"If I'd known, I wouldn't have asked, asshole," Naruto growled. Kakashi laughed, a little sadly.

"It's that attitude that's going to kill you. You won't last a week." Taking Naruto's questioning look in his stride, Kakashi continued; "Look, kid, you can't just prance in here and yell about justice and killing people. If the guards don't get you…somebody else will. I've seen people like you come and go plenty of times. Most times they quieten down and learn their place…but, sometimes they don't."

"HUH?!"

"I'm not finished. If the guards don't get you for spouting that rubbish, the Akatsuki will. And believe me when I say this, if they get you, you'll wish you were dead."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Naruto was puzzled. Did this mean he had more to worry about, other than wearing a stupid uniform and sharing his cell with THIS loser? "What did this- this Akatsuki- do?"

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a moment. "Huh…well…I think the last person who annoyed them was sent interstate for having…a broken jaw, and…a crushed diaphragm, maybe? He was as loud and annoying as you, and he annoyed the wrong person…he did it with his bare hands. I think he spent a week in the hole for that little stunt. They're scared of him, see."

Naruto sat on the other cot rather suddenly. His mouth felt very dry. "What kind of place IS this?!" he spluttered. He imagined Kakashi smiled at him sadly; he couldn't tell, not with the bandana in the way.

"This," he said, "is prison. Welcome to Hell, kid."