When they come that shall lay me in the earth
He lies in the center, an aureole of light rising up around him like flame. High in the shadows stand ten dark figures, hands a seal of concentration. Each seems to be vibrating, emitting sound just below the threshold of sound. They resonate, low tones contrasting and combining like as to shake a tooth loose from its' mooring.
The boy in the center, focus, shakes. His bones hum with their intent. He is loose, muscles lax with illusion and mind swimming with drugs. The light dances over his skin like tide, ebb and swell to the notes, casting eerie shadows to flicker upward and over his captors. They are watching him, gauging the reaction to their efforts
He isn't watching them.
His eyes are closed, head twisted to the east. The faintest of furrows is between his brows, all his unresponding body can manage. The wrinkle grows deeper as the hum intensifies, his left hand moves slightly. The light gathers, concentrates near his belly, driven from his head and limbs and torso, starts to gutter-
His eyes fly open.
The light flares, spreads back to cover him completely in less time than a thought. His faces smoothes, eyes drifting shut again; nothing more in his sight than the daze they've given him. They still watch him, as they have for the past three days.
Every time he forces them back, it takes less effort for them to wear him down.
They have all the time they need.
Far and far off, a young man frowns. His chopsticks still in mid-swoop. His teammates, sitting to either side of him pause in shock.
They've never seen Naruto distracted from his ramen for anything less than a full-scale attack, sometimes not even then.
"Naruto," says the girl, lays a hand on his shoulder. She leans towards him.
Naruto tilts his head to the left, eyes focused somewhere beyond the restaurant wall. He leans back to her without really noticing, unconsciously mimicking her body language, lowers his bowl.
He vanishes in a cloud of smoke. The bowl, still a good four inches above the table falls and bounces to the floor with a tremendous crash. The steaming broth flies near in all directions, the bowl itself miraculously unharmed.
The chopsticks are in splinters.