Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, to the extent of my knowledge at least. Unless I'm the illegitimate son and heir of Masashi Kishimoto, sent down the river Nile at birth to avoid being killed by some bastard Pharaoh. That would explain my blonde hair and blue eyes. And the fact that the river Nile is most definitely in Japan.

Rated T. Rating may go up.

This is my first fan fiction. Please don't hurt me. Would appreciate constructive criticism.


The rhythmic clunking of the train welcomed Naruto as he wearily tore his eyelids open. It was a Friday afternoon, and he couldn't wait to get home. As was typical of the summer months it was far too hot, and in the London underground, far too hot became unbearable. Shirts clung to sweating bodies jealously, the temperament of mothers tested, and the regret of the suit-clad businessman was obvious.

Naruto smiled, glad that his job as a journalist required much less formal attire. Still drowsy, he cast his eyes around the carriage he occupied: it had become a pass time of his, gazing at the people who surrounded him and wondering what stories they had to tell; what secrets they desperately tried to keep hidden. His carriage was relative empty, the benefit of getting out before rush hour started. Sharing his carriage was a small boy and his mother, a dark haired young man, an elderly women and a hooded youth.

Naruto found his eyes drawn to the small boy trying desperately to get the attention of his mother, brandishing a small action figure as he was and waving it at her frantically. The mother, on the other hand, sat with a disgruntled look on her face, clearly practiced at the art of ignoring the small boy, and stared at the opposite window whilst fanning herself with a newspaper. The small boy noticed Naruto's gaze and smiled sheepishly at him before ceasing his attempts at getting his mother's attention.

Naruto's eyes continued on their way, to the hooded youth who was sat fidgeting, stubbornly trying to resist the urge to take his heavy hooded garment off lest his face be exposed to the world. The elderly women sitting opposite him held a small battery-powered fan in each hand. Overweight, her mouth hung open and her eyes were dreary, making her look as if she was slowly being cooked.

The whole carriage was feeling the effects of the heat, the lack of air conditioning painful for all to behold. Except, that is, for the dark haired man, as he sat exceptionally still in a full black suit with an impassive look on his face, betraying no emotions or looks of discomfort. Alright for some. Naruto grunted and shifted his weight uncomfortably. Not long now, he told himself, glancing at his watch.

The train started to slow, nearing the next station. Naruto sighed thankfully. He had started to feel light headed.

Tantalisingly slowly the tube pulled into the stop, and Naruto noticed the advertisements, bright and colourful, and oddly comforting in the stifling heat. In front of him the elderly women put away her fans and tried to hoist herself to her feet. Maybe I should help her? Naruto thought in passing, before returning his attention to the doors.

The tube had completely stopped moving now. The period between the tube stopping and doors opening seemed to stretch under the sickly heat.

As the doors began to open, Naruto listened expectantly for the refreshing whoosh of hydraulics and the comforting breeze. The doors never made it to the end of their journey.

Replacing the whooshing sound came a tremendous rumbling sound, deafeningly loud. The whole carriage shook, Naruto found himself lurching forward, and he barely managed to stop himself from colliding with the elderly lady by grabbing onto one of the overhead hand rails at the last minute. The lights flickered, desperately struggling to remain on, before spluttering pathetically and plunging the carriage into darkness.

Naruto fell to the ground with a gasp and clutched his ears - the shaking had stopped, but the noise was still so loud. He looked around desperately but could see nothing; the lights flickered on revealing the screaming face of the child and mother, a panic-stricken teen with his hood thrown back, the elderly women sitting in her chair with eyes closed and the dark haired young man sitting calmly. The lights went out again. It took Naruto a moment to realise that he was screaming, and that the mother and her child had also been screaming, but his vocal chords were nothing compared to the rumbling sound coming from up above.

As soon as it had started it stopped. Naruto's ears rung and the sound filled his ears until he wondered if he was deaf. He clutched at them pathetically in case they were bleeding or weren't there at all.

Lights flickered on again; a different colour this time, with more of an orangey hue. The emergency backup lights, Naruto registered. He pulled himself to his feet using a hand rail for support, and the cold sweat of fear mixing with the perspiration of a day's hard work sent tingles down his spine.

Naruto's hearing came back slowly as he glanced around the carriage in shock. The boy was screaming at the top of his lungs, his mother cradling him. The teen was sitting on his chair, his face as white as a bed sheet. The young man sat with the same impassive gaze on his face, as if nothing whatsoever had just happened. Lastly, Naruto turned his attention to the elderly women. Her eyes were still closed and her bag had dropped to the floor in the panic that had followed the deafening noise, its contents spread over the carriage floor.

Naruto had never seen a dead boy before, but he knew this was what one looked like.

Things happened very quickly after that. Naruto, light headed from heat and shock, stared down at the dead women before him. He felt himself backing away, raising his arms to push the reality of what had just happened away from him. She's dead. She's really dead.

Her head lulled to one side and saliva had started to gather on her upper lip. She looked like a gross, slimy reptile.

Naruto retched, bracing himself on the seat he had previously been sitting in.

The women now pressed the child to her breast; to shield his eyes or just for her own comfort, Naruto would never find out. Screams filled the air in the deadly silence that had followed the sound from earlier.

Naruto stood up quickly: too quickly the orangey lights glared at him as he suddenly began to feel claustrophobic. He felt his knees buckle and the cold metal floor rushed towards him.

He never made it to the floor. Strong arms caught him, and with surprising ease they lifted him into a chair adjacent to where he had thrown up.

Naruto glanced up. It was the younger man with the dark hair and the suit, and the look on his face confused Naruto - almost as if he was annoyed at himself for what he had just done. The look soon passed, to be replaced by the uncaring look from earlier. He turned abruptly and walked back to the seat he had previously occupied.

"T-Thank you," Naruto muttered. He hated people having to help him, but was slightly awed by the reflexes of the man. Equally he was annoyed with himself. The young man was about the same age as him, but he wasn't throwing up at the site of the dead old woman.

Naruto rubbed his face furiously. Get a grip! he shouted at himself. His turn had clearly panicked the mother, as she now rocked backwards and forwards holding her son, who was paralyzed by her fear.

Naruto's mind raced as he tried desperately to make sense of what was going on around him. The doors are shut and the power's out... It sounded like an explosion...a terrorist? No, it was far louder than an IED would have made. All Naruto knew for sure was that the doors were shut, they were at a station, and there were no lights on either, except for the orange hue of the emergency backup lights which even now began to flicker.

Whilst the carriage he was in was fairly calm - or at least as calm as could be expected under the circumstances - Naruto could hear screams from the carriages around him, confused and frightened, and he assumed that not all of the emergency lights were working.

Naruto strained his ears, hearing another sound over the panicked screams from the adjacent carriages. Again it was a human cry of fear, but this time it was different. It didn't carry with it a tale of confusion and claustrophobia, but instead brought a different story: one of intense, unbridled fear.

What's going on up there?

Naruto shook his head, determined not to let his imagination get the better of him. I need to remain calm. He glanced around at the inhabitants of the carriage.

First things first, he thought, taking off his coat and approaching the elderly women gingerly. When he was about half a metre away he threw the coat over her gross face. He thought it was the decent thing to do, and truth be told, he still found her dead, lulling head repulsive to behold. Then he turned to the other inhabitants of the carriage. Apart from screaming, they hadn't said a word since this had all started.

"Right," he announced, unsure what to say: what could he possibly say to counter what had just happened?

"We need to remain calm." He couldn't think of anything better, but said it more to convince himself than to appease his fellow passengers. He glanced around the carriage, expecting a response of some kind, but found none. The teenager sat as pale as he had been since the ordeal began; the man in the suit was in his own little world, apparently oblivious to what was going on around him (with the exception of his stunt earlier); and the mother still used her child as a doll.

"I'm sure somebody will come down to rescue us soon," Naruto tried again, attempting to make his voice sound as convincing as possible, but somehow he didn't believe himself. "They have protocol for this kind of thing, right?"

The lights flickered. How much longer were the lights going to last?

Naruto was become frustrated. Why won't they answer me!? The screaming from the other carriages was beginning to subside now as people calmed slightly, but this was far from a good thing. The sounds from above the stations - screams of agony, groans the likes of which you never want to hear in your life; the types that send chills down your spine and scrape at your very soul - grew more audible as the occupants of the tubes quietened.

Naruto sighed, moving to the door. I have to get these guys out of here. Stepping up to the hydraulic door he hit the open button, calmly at first, but then with more urgency, until he was pounding it violently.

"That really isn't helping," came the curt, scathing comment from across the carriage. It cut Naruto like a knife.

Realising he had nearly started to panic, he turned angrily to the man in the suit. "Yeah? Well do you have a better idea?!"

The man looked at him as if he was something he had trodden in. He lifted a finger and pointed at the red 'break in case of emergency' glass box, encasing a hammer.

"That might help, not that you want to go out there."

Naruto scowled. Who does this guy think he is? It's as if he knows exactly what's going on!

"Who are you?" Naruto inquired suspiciously.

A smile spread slowly across the man's lips, and he leaned back, putting his hands behind the back of his head. With the screams subsiding and the sounds of what was going on above reaching the passengers of the surrounding carriages, panic stricken shouts could be heard, windows smashing as others remembered the small red hammers.

"Uchiha Sasuke".