999: Nine Shinobi Behind Nine Doors With Nine Hours

by Mar 'Darry' Darren

Naruto was just a normal college boy but that changes when he wakes up on board a ship with eight strangers. The weird thing is that he has the feeling that he knew most of them from somewhere. But with nine hours until the ship sinks to go through nine doors in order to escape, can Naruto figure it all out or will he never make it to the ninth door? NaruHina

1. Nine Strangers

999: Nine Shinobi Behind Nine Doors With Nine Hours

Nine Strangers

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.

It was dark and foggy night as the nameless cruiser ship drifted through the currents, seemingly going nowhere in particular. In the background was no foghorn or light from a nearby lighthouse; the sea had nothing but darkness and a dense fog. Then, a countdown was heard; ticking like in a grandfather clock, foreign and yet still readable. It was counting down from the number nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…one…zero.

*BOOM!*

That timer had set something off and a section along the lower hull of the ship exploded! That shook even the water nearby the sight of the explosion, now a huge hole that was letting in water at very slow rate despite its size; that ship should be well on its way to sinking. But that all doesn't matter as the impact of the explosion had awoken someone from their sleep rather violently and rudely.

It was a young man, almost passed his twenties but when he started to move off the very thin bed he was lying on…BANG! He hit the ceiling really hard and before he could recover from the recoil, he instead fell off the bed into the very hard floor beneath. It turned out hat he was sleeping on a three bunk bed and more specifically, on the top bunk which will explain hitting the ceiling and the hard fall clearly.

"OWW! Dammit!" The young man clearly didn't appreciate what had happened already since awakening from his slumber as he rubbed the large bump on his forehead; where he hit the ceiling. "What the hell is going on?" He muttered as he got up from the floor only to feel dizzy and uneasy for a short moment before realizing that he didn't recognize his surroundings at all. "What the hell!? Where the hell am I!?" He panicked for a while until the ship shook again, nearly causing him to fall off his feet again. That had calmed him down a little, 'Okay. Okay Naruto. Just keep cool and look around.'

Apparently this young man's name was Naruto Uzumaki from a country known as Japan but that wasn't important right now for him. Naruto just took a good gander on what was in the room he was standing in. It appeared to be a quarters or something with a set of two three bunk beds on opposite sides to each other, a sink with a bulletin board above, a table with a set of chairs and a window that was completely circular in shape. This looked a lot like the rooms from the old cruiser ships that Naruto learned in history class; of course, he was the only one to pay the most attention to the professor during the boring lectures.

Still, there was something else that stand out more than that window. It was metal door on the door end of the room. It had the number [9] in red paint for some reason. There was even some kind of device to the right which seemed to be some kind of scanner but Naruto ignored that; that door is the only thing keeping him from leaving, he had to see if it can be opened.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

"Dammit! Open up!" Naruto banged on it with all his strength but the door won't budge at all or yield to his pounding. But, as Naruto raised his left fist to strike the door again, he noticed something that he didn't when he first awoke.

On his left wrist was a bracelet. One of a design that Naruto wasn't familiar with. It looked like a watch or something only it didn't tell the time but a single number. The number [5]. Just like on the door. "What...what the hell is this?" Naruto muttered to himself and he then turned over the bracelet to see that the strap had no button or hook to unstrap it; no matter how hard Naruto tugs on it, the bracelet won't come off. "Dammit! Why won't it come off!?" Naruto said until he gave up on tugging and turned the bracelet over again and saw that there were dials on both the right and left side of the part that shown the number [5] but no matter how many times Naruto pressed them, nothing ever happened.

Naruto was getting a little tired of all these questions without answers so he just looked around the room again and saw the window still on the same wall as before. This time, Naruto was planning to see if he really was on a ship. If he was, there should be the ocean or any other body of water big enough for a ship to sail in. But when Naruto did look through it, the window showed only darkness, pitch black darkness.

"Dang it! What is going here?" Naruto was too tired to even yell but when he started to move away from the window, he heard something that sent shivers throughout his body. A cracking sound, like when a glass hits the ground. Naruto looked back at the window slowly as if time itself had become sluggish only to see that the window had a crack in it.

*Crack! Crack! Crack!*

Naruto could only watch in horror as the cracks in the window got bigger and bigger until the window broke wide open, letting in a gusher of water! "Dammit!" Naruto rushed towards the door in retaliation to the new circumstance of drowning in the room. "God dammit! Why doesn't this thing open!?" The door just isn't listening to even a young man about to drown in the room as it still didn't budge to Naruto's pounding at its steel metal plates and bolts.

Naruto soon got tired again and just looked back to see that the water still was coming in this seal tight room; it slowly raised until it made it passed it ankles. "Guess I will have to find at least something to open this goddamm door." Fortunately for Naruto, he was always the champion at finding things all the way from being kids in Elementary School. So now it was his cue to find a way out!

With flashes of the surroundings, a spark surged through his mind as it focused on a simple objective: Seek a way out!

XXXXX

The first thing Naruto always does in a treasure hunt is to gather what can be found in plain view so that he will have the strength left to find the others. And he did find such items, a note folded into two was attached to the bulletin board while on the sink was a picture frame containing the picture of a ship like the Titanic due to its shape and for being surrounded in fog.

The note was white in color but Naruto noticed that by the way he was holding it, there was a red line on the bottom to the left and ends at the folded indications. A blue line started at the same spot going to the right judging by the arrow on the end pointing in that direction. Above the red line a red bolded triangle with the right angle at the top left corner; there was also a red triangle that was not bolded with the right angle on the bottom right corner. Above the blue line with the arrow were triangles too in the color blue but were have opposite corners from top to bottom compared to the ones on the left.

Naruto didn't know what that meant but didn't care and kept looking only to see that the three bunk bed from which he fell from had a blue suitcase with a keyhole and a four digit lock so Naruto ignored it. Next to his three bunk bed was a tall pot with a cap on, the clear sign of hiding something so Naruto looked in to find a blue colored key; it was meant for the blue suitcase but without the four digit combination, it won't open. The stand carrying the pot had a door too so Naruto opened it while trying to not get his bottom wet from the rising waters; inside, he found a screwdriver.

It was prefect since the picture frame had screws in it. After loosening the screws, the picture came out of the frame and Naruto saw that there was something on the other side; it looked like the triangles on the note from the bulletin board. It meant to Naruto that the note contained half the combination to unlock the blue suitcase and this photograph was the key; so far, Naruto had deduced that the note said in order;

[7] [4] [6] [3]

That only meant that Naruto had to find a not similar to this one in order to get the entire combination for the blue suitcase as well as something red in color; maybe another suitcase. It didn't take long for Naruto to inspect the bunk beds and found another note indeed but it not just triangles but squares too on both sides. It also had a blue line and a red one with an arrow pointing to the right. It said this according to the key on the photograph;

[0] [2] [8] [5]

Now that Naruto had gotten the full combinations, he could open the suitcase but something had told him that he will need to find and open a red suitcase so he started to look for the suitcase and the key to open it. Naruto had found the red suitcase in a closet next to his bed bunk but when he found a red key taped to a full body mirror,

Naruto saw something that he couldn't take his eyes away from. There, in the reflection of the mirror, he saw himself for sure with his sun kissed blond hair and ocean blue eyes along with his weird birthmarks that resemble whisker marks. But, he saw that his eyes were baggy and his skin wriggled; he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days, like he was nearly dead.

"Who did this to me? Why the hell is all this happening to me?" Naruto muttered until it hit him like a heavy mallet to the head. He remembered, remembered the exact things that happened before walking up in this room about to be submerged in water.

Flashback Begins!

It was midnight when Naruto was finally back at his old apartment. When he joined college, he needed a place to stay and eat rather than at school and this was the closest place to the college he was studying at. Apartment room 201 was run down compared to the others, costing only 630$ a month which should barely scratched the fortune that his long deceased parents left him but Naruto had stayed in the one room affair for 3 years and 7 months so he was desperate in need for a job sooner or later to pay for the rest of his college days.

But this evening, Naruto noticed that his window was left open; he could have sworn to leave it closed when he left earlier that day. But when Naruto approached the window, to close and keep the cold evening wind out, he saw someone in the reflection! When Naruto turned to get a better look at the intruder, he couldn't tell much since it was someone wearing a thick black cloak with a gasmask covering the face but Naruto suddenly felt drowsy and dizzy. The room started to fill thick with white smoke.

{Consider this a privilege.} Naruto started to hear a strange voice that he didn't even recognize to be human at all; it was like the speaker spoke through a voice changer to hide their voice. {You have been selected to take part in a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game…where you will your life on the line.} That was the last thing Naruto remembered before passing out and the world became dark.

Flashback Ends!

"That's right! That is what has happened to me! That bastard had gassed me in my apartment and took me here, where ever that is, for this [Nonary Game]!" Naruto said as he finished searching through his memories. Then the cold water reached half way to his kneecaps which alerted him back to reality. Now that he had both the combinations and the keys, he can open the suitcases and see what there is to use in order to get out.

The first order of business was the blue suitcase, the first one he found in the room. He used the combination according to the key found in the back of the ship photo that went like this: (0263). Along with the blue key, the suitcase opened to show a file book like those used to sort out papers and other things.

Inside this file book talked about a concept called the [digital root] which was found by adding a certain number of numbers and if the result is a double digit number, the two digits are combined to form the [digital root]. The example went like this; 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] so the [digital root] will be [5]. Along with this concept on paper were a set of three scan cards with the numbers [1], [2], and [3].

With that found, Naruto hurried to the red suitcase and entered the red key along with the combination from the notes translated by the key to be: (7485). Inside were a set of three scan cards too but with the numbers [6], [7] and [8]. That was it, there is nothing left to find in this room and the water was now knee high so Naruto trudged to the door.

He then got the mechanism that seemed to act like the doors lock so if Naruto can unlock it, the door will open and let him out. After trying every single one of the scan cards at once failed, Naruto realized that if he could try to find three numbers who [digital root] is [5] then the door will be unlocked. He eventually found the only possible group of numbers to be: [1], [6] and [7]. They add up like so: 1 + 6 + 7 = 14 1 + 4 = [5] That is why it work as the door now opened with a creaking sound but Naruto didn't care; the door was open and now he could escape.

XXXXX

The sight of the door open was enough to make Naruto knee down with a released breath only for a few seconds before charging out of the room like a wild animal after the cage was unlocked. Naruto had saw that the door led into a long hallway which seemed to prove that he was on one of the lower decks of this ship. Naruto then ran through the hallway in order to get away from the flooding waters only to see a plain door facing him.

This one didn't have a number on it but Naruto was not taking chances and tried to open it only to see that the door yielded rather easily. On the other side, it was something that took his breath away; a fancy room with wooden polished staircase going up through the ceiling. Naruto knew that he was either in a fancy mansion or an expensive ship but before he could stare longer, he heard a noise from behind.

Naruto turned to see the water from his room still coming but this time, a wave was coming! "Arrgh!" Naruto furiously abandoned the door and raced up the stairs to see another door this time with a label 'C Deck'. Naruto ignored it and passed through the door that opened to his desperate might and Naruto saw another set and stairs and climbed those as well to see a door with the label 'B Deck'. Once again, Naruto ignored it and passed through the door and again and saw yet another set of stairs but when he just started to run up them, he saw a sight that froze him in his steps.

There, on the left were four strangers coming down from one of the doors up there and three more hurried down from the right. They also froze when they saw him but it was only short lived compared to the time it took for Naruto to recover. They walked up to him as Naruto was blocking the only stair way down for them.

The first one was a woman of immense beautify with a well-developed body and long blonde hair like him but with revealing clothes and jewelry almost like a [dancer]. "Hey get out the hell of the way!" She yelled at him but before Naruto could respond, she pushed him aside only a little and raced for the door that Naruto had just came from!

Naruto raced for her and proved to be faster than the [dancer] as he beat her for the door. "No! Don't! There is water coming from the bottom deck! It come be on the C Deck by now!" Naruto protested and succeeded and calming down the [dancer] a little until the others came for Naruto to get a better look at them.

The first one to go after the [dancer] was a boy about his age but with clothes more casual than the [dancer]'s, almost like a biker with an impatient look on his face and [silver hair]. The next one was an immense elderly man with the build of a [lion] and black hair that drifted downward covering his entire back. After the [lion] was a young girl, almost like a pre-teen with [pink hair] and a high voice. Right behind her was a much older man who was dressed like a [prince]. After them came the remaining two, a large burly man with hair sticking out his cap, standing strong and firm like a [mountain]; behind him was a sweaty pale man who seemed to be afraid of everything around him with black hair in the shape of a [bird's nest].

"What do you mean water!?" The [mountain] demanded and Naruto sighed as he can clearly see that they won't listen, the blond himself doesn't know yet if the water was still rising or stopped. Reluctantly, Naruto let the crowd go down the stairs only to forget about investigating the rising water when they all saw two double doors that all have a number emblazed on with paint like the one in the room Naruto woke up in. The one of the left had the number [5] like Naruto's while the one on the right had the number [4].

"Dammit! There are doors like that too!" The boy with the [silver hair] cursed at this sight and the [lion] nodded.

"I have checked all the hallways upstairs too, they all have locked doors. We can't go through these." Naruto couldn't believe it; he was about to forget about this crazy crowd and race up the stairs only to hear that the doors up there were all impassable. And then came the question that Naruto had to ask,

"Did you awaken in a room with a numbered door?" When those words were asked, it started answers to be received there and through like an echo in a cavern.

"Me too." "Yeah so did me." "I woke up in a room like that." "There was a numbered door in mine." Naruto couldn't think of what to say about all this; why were complete strangers invited to this game under the same circumstances as himself?

The boy with the [silver hair] couldn't it anymore and tried to open the numbered doors here on the 'B Deck'. It didn't budge. "Damm! Open you asshole!" The boy tired and tried again but had no luck.

"Move. You are in the way." The [mountain] man pushed the [silver hair] boy out of the way and tried to move them with all his might. The doors only prove to be stronger as they still didn't budge.

"Dammit. These bastards are just not moving any time soon." While the [mountain] was grumbling to himself, Naruto checked the doors out closer only to discover,

"Maybe these doors work like the ones that locked the rooms from which all of us awoke in." Naruto theorized and everyone else got a good look at it and agreed thoroughly but before Naruto could say any more, he froze at the sight he behold still going down the stairs.

A girl about his age and was really pretty. She had a slim but graceful figure with hair that only the clear night sky black can muster. Her eyes were like a moon, clear and while with black pupils. But Naruto knew that this was no stranger; this was Hinata Hyuga, a girl he knew for sure but hadn't seen since they were children.

She too froze at the sight of Naruto and only the latter had the strength to even approach her while Hinata stayed still like a statue. But before Naruto could get even close, the ship shook again and caused Naruto lose his balance. He fell down the stairs and landed on his back but he was penned down by Hinata who also fell but had a softer landing, right into his chest.

Time had frozen as they gazed into each other's eyes, blushing by how close they were. In fact, their faces were close enough to kiss each other but not of them moved in. They instead stayed that way, not wanting to get up or even move.

In the midst of this interaction came a voice that Naruto swore to never forget in his life. The voice that sounded cold like metal and harsh like the desert night. It was mechanical, like that of a robot but it had tone in it that caused everyone else to cringe.

{I welcome you all, from the bottom of my heart, to my vessel.} Any chances of continuing and any hints of this budging romance were broken like a magic spell. Everyone was able to trace that voice to a speaker on one of the corners where the ceiling meets two of the walls that form the room the strangers were in. {My name is [Zero]…captain of this ship. I am also the one who invited you all here. It is time for the Nonary Game to begin.}

End of Chapter 1

*Hello everyone! This is MircThomas19 here with a new story in a new genre combo altogether. I have done pretty much all romance and mostly adventure but this game called 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors or simply 999 had always drawn to me about horror and suspense; it was rated M for mature for all its scary scenes, gore, blood, and coarse language after all.

I have thought about doing a story on it since I love the game so much but I had to think hard on who was going to fill out the roles. Some were easy, some took a little hard decision making but I managed to put it all together for the sake of those who read the Naruto manga and played the game.

I will have to make changes to the story based on how well I remember it and I will try my best to have the room escape tutorials in words. I sure hope you aren't too offended by my choice of characters because I had to choose a Naruto character to fill out the ninth man who turned out to be a scientist and yet died the first. Also for Ace who happened to be the main villain as well. Enjoy it!*

Characters:

Junpei ~ Naruto Uzumaki

June/Akane Kurashiki ~ Hinata Hyuga

Ace/Gentarou Hongou ~ Madara Uchiha

Lotus/Hazuki Kashiwabara ~ Tsunade

Seven/Real Name Unknown ~ Jiraiya

Snake/Light Field ~ Neji Hyuga

Clover/Clover Field ~ Sakura Haruno

Santa/Aoi Kurashiki ~ Kiba Inuzuka

Ninth Man/Teruaki Kubota ~ Danzo Shimura