copyright: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
pairing: Mainly SASUNARU, but there'll be mentions of other couples too.
rating: PG-13 for swearing
a/n: This was an old story that I found on my old computer's hard drive. It was meant for a one-shot, but I suppose that when I was writing it before, I got a bit ambitious. Haha! So I recently re-edited it and now it's become a 6.5k worded story;; So I hope you like this, cuz I actually like this idea a lot (my younger self was a genius at making up plots that would never be completed, hurhur).
Please rate and review!
-Underground-
He accelerated down the twisted metal rod, breathing the ice cold air that whipped about his head. He spun the board under his feet and leaned forward, his bag thumping his side repeatedly. Like a feline, he twisted gracefully as his board scraped the hard metal pole and pivoted him to the left and down the long steel snake and into the white clouds. He was finally heading out to the 'Underground.' Sky-boarding down the metal rods that held up *Kumogakure was the only other way he could get down there—smuggling onto a shuttle cost waay too much *yor for the young boy, and plus, it was illegal. Besides, the thrill of launching down from the metal pipes was enticing and addicting.
Uzumaki Naruto was quite well known for his skills at navigating down the metal jungle. He had tried to leave for the 'Underground' 2 years ago but his teacher, Jiraiya, had outclassed him easily and sent him flying into a cargo air-ship that was bound for Kumogakure. Naruto could easily remember his former teacher's sadistic laugh as he was dragged into detention where the other guys made fun of him for not reaching the 'Underground.'
His sleek orange and blue *sky-board made another sharp pivot over an opening pipe on the curving pole. The poles, or what the government called, 'the last reminder of the cruel world below' were in their own weird way, alive. Naruto could hear them. He could hear their deep breathing at night in his little apartment; the groans and shudders of the heavy metal. The young sky-boarder knew that the poles were being energized by something called 'chakra', which Jiraiya told him was a type of energy that every human in the *Sekai had. Naruto felt quite connected to the poles.
Oddly enough.
Naruto give a hard blink and rubbed his goggles. He always thought that when he would finally go down to the 'Underground', the Belt of Clouds would softly envelop him. Not freaking spray water in his face. Jiraiya, that liar! Clouds aren't made of fluffy stuff! Naruto yelped as he nearly fell off the metal pole.
"Damn! With the clouds here, I can barely see where I'm boarding," growled Naruto. He dug his left heel into a socket on the sky-board's exterior and muttered," I guess Jiraiya was right about installing an auto-pilot."
Naruto continued downwards blindly, trusting his sky-board to take the turns or anything that got in his way. The blonde teen bolted towards the 'Underground', his face full of determination.
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Flashback
"Hey Pervy-sage!"
The older, white-haired man spun around and thumped the young blonde, furiously muttering," Don't call me that!"
Naruto sputtered and held his head in pain," Errrg! Stupid Pervy-sage!"
"You're asking for another one kid," Jiraiya threatened, holding up an already-clenched fist.
Naruto glared and rubbed his head again. He sat down and muttered darkly to himself.
"Now what is it?" Jiraiya said, looking up from his papers.
Naruto pouted and grumbled," Why'd you stop me?" "Stop you? Whatever do you—ahhh, that."
Jiraiya cackled at the memory of tossing his foolish student off the metal poles. "Stop laughing Pervy-sage! Why'd you stop me," Naruto shouted.
Jiraiya chuckled this time, putting his hands up in front of him," Easy Naruto, easy there." "How can I? You stopped me from reaching the 'Underground'!"
Jiraiya scoffed, thinking 'This again?' and turned around, not wanting to hear the younger blonde. Naruto saw this and grabbed the back of his shirt.
"Why'd you stop me! C'mon Pervy-sage! Tell me!" Jiraiya sighed and pried the tan hands off his lab coat.
"I stopped you because you're obviously not ready to go down there Naruto." Naruto scoffed this time," Me? Not ready? Hell, I've been ready since I was born!"
Jiraiya pinched the bridge of his nose," You still need to train more. I can't just let you board down there without a clue in the world…" Jiraiya faced Naruto again," Besides, you'd have gotten killed as soon as you touched the 'Underground's' floor."
"Not even! I'm super strong, you cow," insulted the young boy. This time, instead of pinching the bridge of his nose, Jiraiya grabbed Naruto's and dragged him outside of his empty classroom and to his office.
Upon entering his office, Jiraiya promptly swung Naruto into a cushioned seat. The older man sat in front of Naruto and darkly muttered," If the government heard about you, especially you trying to go to the 'Underground' it would cause problems for me." Naruto scowled and replied hotly," I'll go in secret!" Jiraiya sighed and leaned back into his seat, stretching his back.
"Honestly Naruto, why are you so intent on reaching 'Underground'?" Naruto's eyes gleamed with determination," How could you not know Pervy-sage? After all, you're the one who told me about it!"
Jiraiya blinked. "Whut?"
Naruto grinned foxily," Ya know! The Uchiha treasures!"
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Naruto gave one last wipe to his goggles and saw the clouds starting fade. At last! After years of merely looking off the edge of the floating city's shore! The 'Underground' was about to finally be beneath his feet!
As the clouds spat Naruto out, he opened his eyes and peered down at the 'Underground' at last. It was just as Jiraiya had said.
Dark and ancient looking.
Naruto grinned, Finally! The Uchiha treasures are within reach!
Naruto glanced down at the metal poles and to his horror saw green vegetation beginning to climb up the slanted rods. Naruto grit his teeth and struck the board with his heel and an electronic voice echoed," Hover-waves, activated."
Naruto's sky-board gave a small whizz under his feet, and then propelled itself and Naruto up about 5 inches above the metal rod. The blue air-waves continued to shift Naruto forward and over the moss that was beginning to appear on the metal rods. As he continued, the moss began to clump into thicker bunches and grow higher off the poles.
"Remember Naruto! You'll know when you're close to the floor when you begin to see moss on the rods. That's a sign to start slowin' it down, otherwise you'll shoot off the pole and blast around the surface of 'Underground'! Alright?"
Naruto grinned. He was lucky to have been taught by one of the most famous sky-boarders in all of Kumogakure. Jiraiya was even known as a Sage! Naruto leaned backwards and the waves below his board took the hint to slow down. Slowly, the young blonde began his descent into the treetops of the 'Underground.'
Although he had perfected the art of 'slowing down', Naruto hadn't perfected the art of 'watch where you're going.' As soon as the boy slowly descended down into the tall trees, the part of the board that was tipped backwards thumped against an exceptionally large moss clump, sending Naruto crashing down almost 50 feet into the trees.
But at least the trees cushioned his fall… somewhat.
Naruto groaned as he sat up on top of a pile of broken branches and clumps of moss. He was glad it had stopped the fall and prevented him from breaking his neck. What if the guys heard about how stupid he was? Breaking his neck as soon as he touched 'Underground' floor?
'Just thinking about it makes me feel so uncool.'
Naruto stood up on bruised legs and picked up his sky-board, compressing it easily to fit into his pants pocket. He looked around.
All around him, the trees were massive. Not only were they massive, they seemed so full of life as an invisible wind caressed its leaves. Naruto shifted his bag and proceeded forward.
"Now… If the Pervy-sage was right… I should find a dirt road if I walk…" Naruto pulled out an old yellow map. He scanned his coordinates and grumbled," If I walk.. If I walk… Ah! If I keep walking west, I'll hit a road that'll reach..
"Koh-noh-ha?" Naruto lowered his map and looked west," Konoha? Is that a town?" Naruto shifted his bag again and shrugged. "If it is, then I'll see if I can ask s'more questions there."
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Flashback
"Hey Pervy-Sage." The white-haired put up a fist," One of these days, Naruto. One of these days."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, why do you know so much about 'Underground?' You know waaaay more than any of the *info disks at the library," the blonde questioned. Jiraiya looked at him and snorted," That's how great I am, shrimp."
Naruto huffed and spun around in his chair. "You're no fun, Pervy-Sage." The boy stopped his spinning and sat up. "But seriously..." Naruto began to whisper quietly," how come you know, but everyone else here doesn't?"
Jiraiya thumped the graded tests on his desk and looked at him tiredly. Why was this kid's curiosity level bigger than the government's ego? Why did he, the great Jiraiya, have to have this kid in his class?
"Listen, Naruto…" When the Pervy-Sage called him by his actual name and not an insult, Naruto knew this was serious stuff. "You wouldn't understand anything right now if I just decided to spill everything." Naruto gave a whine but was hushed by Jiraiya again.
The older hissed quietly," I don't know what the government is up to, but keep your curiosity on the down low." The teacher straightened himself and walked to the door. He turned around and flicked a card at Naruto before leaving.
Written on the worn-out business card, Jiraiya messily wrote 'find me at the onsens tonight" on the back. Naruto frowned, 'Onsen? That pervert just wants me to help him peep on girls again.' He pocketed the card and left the school, muttering about perverts and bathes.
"Hurry up and tell me Pervy-Sage," hissed Naruto.
Jiraiya giggled quietly to himself as he peered through the hole in the wooden fence, separating the two males from the harem of steam and female naked-ness. Naruto rubbed his head and thought angrily, 'I should've just skipped! I knew he would do this!'
Jiraiya, glanced at Naruto's head rubbing. He smirked and looked back into the hole—only this time he whispered loudly also. Naruto looked at the old man in shock. Was this guy sane? What if one of those girls heard him? They would get a huge beating by the bathes owner, Tsunade, and perhaps a beating from her granddaughter, Sakura!
The teen sat up from his crouched position in an attempt to cover the old Sage's whispering. But the Sage saw and pinned Naruto easily to the ground, continuing his whispers.
"P-pervert sage! What are you doing? What if Sakura or the old Hag come out here and beat us to death?" Naruto wailed quietly. He wanted to live dammit! The old Hag and her daughter were the strongest in Kumogakure! To top that off, they had the shortest tempers seen on a woman—and women had short tempers, Naruto found.
After a few minutes of struggling ("I'll kill you! I'll smash your balls up so hard, they'll turn into gall bladder stones!") and whispering, Jiraiya finally acknowledged the teen and let him go.
Naruto glared and as about to beat the old man, when Naruto saw a green eye peak from the hole. He furrowed his brows together and crawled to the hole.
"S-sakura-chan?"
The eye curved and disappeared from sight, but the voice lingered quietly," Long time no see, Naruto." There was a pause and then she whispered," You've been talking about 'Underground' haven't you? Otherwise Jiraiya-sama—ah, Jiraiya-sensei wouldn't have brought you here." Naruto looked quizzical.
Hadn't the old man brought Naruto so that he had a peeping partner? Jiraiya snorted silently and replied," He hasn't stopped talking about 'Underground' since the earthquake."
"Ahh, I see." Naruto clutched his head. What was going on?
"Naruto." Said boy snapped into attention and looked at his sensei. "You need to keep quiet about this. You can't talk about this outside or with anyone else. You can refer to 'Underground' but whatever we tell you about it, you have to keep to yourself." The jade eye stared intensely at Naruto's nod.
"First, let's start off with the Uchiha treasures…"
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"Is this the place?"
Naruto looked up from his aged map and stared at a large wooden gate. On its wooden exterior, there was a giant red symbol painted on. The blonde tilted his head and rolled his map up. Stowing it away, Naruto approached the giant doors and tapped it softly.
No response.
'Of course, Uzumaki! There shouldn't be anyone here in 'Underground…' After all, this place is cursed…' Naruto shook his head. This was the only town on the map that Jiraiya provided him. So he couldn't just leave. Besides, he was an Uzumaki! No dumb wooden door was gunna get in the way of his treasure hunt!
Naruto pulled out his sky-board again and dropped it to the floor. The folded board suddenly expanded as it touched the floor. It hovered and waited for Naruto to step onto it, which he did.
"I'll just fly over the wall."
Naruto looked at the enormous wall that joined with the doors. The blonde gave a small hop and the sky-board glowed. The blonde leaned forward and the glow disappeared, only to reappear from under the board, sending Naruto speeding up the giant concrete wall. The boarder smirked. This was fairly easy, considering what Jiraiya had told him about 'Underground.' Naruto gave a mental hurrah. If he could surpass this gate, then most likely the treasure was on the other side! It was common logic among treasure hunters: Barriers were made to keep people away from precious things, especially treasure.
Zooming to the top, Naruto flipped mid-air and landed on the top of the concrete wall. He grinned down onto an ancient village below him," So this is Konoha!" Naruto took a deep breathe and descended the giant wall and into the empty village.
The village of Konoha was extremely large, but not as large as Kumogakure. The buildings, were old and dirty; many of the signs or windows were broken or covered in vines. From the top, Naruto had seen the roads diverging toward the farthest end of the village and centering in on a lone red building. The building had an old symbol that Naruto recognized from his textbooks on ancient writing. Above the red building, loomed a giant mountain with 5 sculpted heads. 4 of them, all male, were intact, but the last one was thoroughly trashed and destroyed. There was a familiar diamond seated on something that looked like a forehead, but the teen paid no attention to it anymore.
Upon arriving at floor level, Naruto hopped off the sky-board and pocketed it away again. He ruffled his yellow locks and looked around. Indeed, the village was empty. "Wonder who lived here," Naruto muttered aloud. Everything seemed to be mostly in one piece, so there had no been a war to wipe out the population. It was fairly clean too and no signs of bones or rotting carcasses. Naruto cracked his neck and put his hands on his hips.
"If I was Uchiha treasure, where would I hide?"
Naruto blinked and then smiled to himself. 'Of course! Important treasures belong in important places.' He was right to choose Jiraiya as his teacher. The man knew everything! From sky-boarding to the 'Underground', there was basically nothing unknown to the sage.
Naruto, deciding that Konoha was safe, leisurely walked towards the red building he had seen earlier—there was no need to rush after all. No one was there, right? The teen could take a couple of minutes and look at the old architecture, right? There was a 0% chance that anyone else was here. After all, this was 'Underground' and after all, he was Uzumaki Naruto!
There wasn't anything to worry about, right?
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Flashback
"T-that's what it is? The Uchiha treasures?"
Jiraiya nodded and Naruto heard a sigh from Sakura across the fence. "It took awhile to find evidence from Grandmother Tsunade, but I found it. And the scroll clearly stated that if anyone got their hands on the Uchiha treasures, they could bribe the government into selling not only Kumogakure, but even *Kirigakure! It's no joke Naruto, believe me."
Naruto opened his mouth to reply but shut it. How, if anything, could a treasure like that exist? There was no one, not even in the government, that could easily buy that much. And how did Granny Tsunade know about such an awesome treasure like that and not tell Naruto!
Jiraiya analyzed Naruto's blank face and then looked up at the dark sky.
"Hey brat. We're gunna leave."
Naruto snapped into attention whispering," Wait, right now!" They heard the water shift across the fence, as if Sakura was also getting ready to leave. "B-but Pervy-Sage, we just talked for like… 15 minutes! Couldn't I ask Sakura-chan more about the 'Underground?'"
Jiraiya gave him a warning look and sat up. He gave a long stretch and turned around, his wooden sandals clacking behind him," Give it a rest kid. It's late and you have school tomorrow." Naruto protested quietly, but Jiraiya turned around and replied," Why not choose a more appropriate place? Make it a date." With that Jiraiya walked coolly away.
Naruto swore he could hear Sakura giggle from across the wooden barrier. "Don't worry Naruto. Truthfully, I only found out about the Uchiha treasures. I don't know much about the 'Underground' itself." Naruto laughed stiffly and replied," Don't worry Sakura-chan! I'm sure you'll find out more later! Nihihi!" Another giggle. "Alright. But remember Naruto. You can't tell anyone. Got it?" Naruto agreed and heard splashing on the other side.
Bidding him goodbye, Sakura added," Oh, Naruto." "Yeah?" "I promise I'll tell you everything I find out, okay?"
Naruto gave a toothy grin—too bad his long time crush couldn't see it—and turned away from the onsen. "Don't bother Sakura-chan." "Eh?"
"I'll just go down to the 'Underground' and find out for myself!"
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As expected, the red building was the most important building there. Unlike the rest of the buildings there in Konoha, the structure of the red one was large and 'in-charge' one may say. But how was he suppose to get in? From afar, the building looked fairly easy to break in, but up close, Naruto felt cold looking at the spikes protruding from the shut doors—'guess kicking the door open is out.' The windows were boarded up also, with the same giant spikes popping out from it.
The teen crossed his arms and looked up at the sky. The sun had finally risen above Konoha's walls and the rays gave Naruto a nice comfort. Escaping at night was a good idea: at least now he'd have more time and light to search for an entrance.
Firstly, Naruto began to walk around the circumference of the structure, staring at the angle at which the building met the ground. Surely there had to be a crack or a hole for Naruto to begin hacking at! Alas, there was none.
Secondly, Naruto decided to check if there were any gaping holes on the roof top for him to hop down. Using his sky-board, Naruto whirled up the building walls (avoiding the spiked windows at all costs) and hovered above the flat roof. No such luck either.
Thirdly, Naruto decided that perhaps the doors and windows were illusions! The spiked entrances were there to scare off an intruder, Naruto hypothesized. So Naruto, not wanting to sacrifice his body, rolled out a nearby barrel to the closest door. With a heavy push, the barrel spun towards the door, only to be stabbed by the numerous spikes. Naruto paled at the barrel and was glad he didn't decide to run straight into the spikes.
He had to hand it to those Konoha-residents, they sure knew how to keep a person out of a building. Naruto sat on a bench nearby. He should've thought this treasure hunt in more detail. He should've known things like this would happen and he should have gone and bought more things in advance. Saying that 'I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I can get through anything!' wasn't cutting it. Naruto rubbed his head angrily. He should've gone to Ten-Ten, dammit! Why had he forgotten about her up till now? The woman sold things from weapons to bombs! If he had gone there, bought a couple of bombs, then come down here, he would have been rolling around in Uchiha gold by now!
The blonde teen looked up at the sky: the sun was now right above the village of Konoha. This meant that Naruto had spent his whole morning devising plans in trying to get into this accursed building.
"Ahh! So frustrating!"
Naruto threw off his bag and ripped it open. Grabbing his water bottle, he gulped its contents down in anger. A building, throwing off Uzumaki Naruto? God sure was cruel. After finishing his bottle, Naruto huffed and laid back on the cement bench. What could he do now? Naruto tilted his head and stared at the red structure.
'I tried everything so far. I even yelled out 'Open!' to it… What else can I do?'
Naruto sighed and laid there for a couple of minutes. But soon he sat up quickly. "Shoot. I have to pee!" He stood up and held his crotch tightly. Muttering curses, he looked from right to left. Where were the bathrooms? Growling, Naruto picked up his bag and ran past the large red building and towards the mountain where the 5 heads were carved. He had seen a couple of green leaves peak out when Naruto had first entered. If there were no bathrooms, he'd have to relieve himself—the old-fashioned way!
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He sighed in relief and zipped his orange pants up. Thank god his intuition was right.
Indeed, there were trees under the chins of the 5 faces. Not only that, it looked like there was a school nestled in this woody area. Naruto washed his hands in a puddle nearby and wiped his hands on his pants. Slowly, he trudged around the school and finally settled himself on a swing that sat outside the entrance of the school.
"I should have told Pervy-Sage at least. He'd probably called me an idiot and then point me to the right direction." Naruto sighed. "I bet the guys are eating lunch right now."
Naruto looked up into the tree top that held the swing. He sighed again and decided to just play around a little. Pushing himself, Naruto began to swing lightly back and forth. 'Ahh. Just what I needed! A stress-relieving swing!' Naruto began to rock himself on the swing with more power, sending the blond higher and higher into the tree top. At the peak, Naruto looked at the school building and then glanced at the 5 faces, concentrating on the 5th face and its poor status. That 5th face looked so shabby. It was probably the shabbiest structure in all of Konoha. Instead of a full face, only the forehead and a familiar diamond remained in tact.
As Naruto slowly descended, he blinked out a sharp flash of light that seemed to pop out from the 5th stone face. He rubbed his eyes and halted the swing. "What was that?" He looked up in curiosity at the 5th face. Something had flashed a light at him.
"But what?"
Naruto furrowed his brows together and gathered his bag again. Stepping out from under the tree top, he looked at all the 5 faces and spotted something that he hadn't seen till now: a small walkway that curved into a small warehouse-looking entrance which settled under the 3rd face. Naruto's eyes followed the walkway backwards and saw that the steps leading up to it was actually nearby.
"Maybe…?"
Naruto sprinted towards the estimated area of the bottom of the stairs. "Could I find something there?" He passed over a red bridge and saw the stairs ahead of him. He skidded to a stop and looked up at the staircase. The stairs were made of wood and many of the steps had already deteriorated away. The teen pulled out his sky-board again popped it on. "There's gotta be something here, or where else can I find the Uchiha treasures?" Kicking his board alive, Naruto glided over the stairs and proceeded easily over the slightly-rotted walkway as well. As he approached the warehouse entrance he had seen earlier, Naruto stopped and hovered in the air. The air was a lot colder than before and the teen had developed a major case of goose bumps. Perhaps… it was the altitude? Naruto shrugged off the cold, prickly feeling and continued on.
Upon arriving at the entrance, Naruto gulped. The entrance was open, unlike the red building's doors and windows. But it was dark—extremely dark. Naruto dug through his bag and pulled out a sleek metallic flashlight. 'At least I didn't forget to buy this…´He thought with a sigh of relief. Naruto fumbled with the switch, the light flickered on. Pointing the beam of light into the deep darkness, Naruto tensed in fear of something popping up.
"Arg, if the guys saw me now… Being a wussy when it really came down to it." Naruto shook his head. "They'd make fun of me for all eternity. Especially Kiba." He gave one last shiver and put his sky-board away. Naruto slowly edged himself down the rocky steps of the dark entrance.
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The inside was colder. A lot colder than the outside. Every time a misguided breeze blew through him, Naruto sprang up and threw himself at a wall. Unlike in his video games, the dark tunnel had no messy trials and cunning split ends. The path was straight, dark, and cold.
Naruto walked slowly down the tunnel. Its height was nearly 3 times his own height and the width was big enough to fit 2 bloated Choujis after BBQ. Occasionally, Naruto would take out his lighter and light an old wooden lamp that would appear sometimes. The light that came from lighting those lanterns kept Naruto sane. If there was no light, then Naruto was basically walking around blindly. With the lit lanterns, he could glance back and still see the faint orange lights—they comforted the teen.
He continued to venture deeper into the tunnel, until he hit a large open room. Instead of it being completely dark and spooky, there was a collapsed hole at the top that allowed a slender beam of light enter and brighten the cave room. Naruto ran to the middle of the room and glanced around. Unlike the rest of the tunnel, this room had things like moss and grass growing on the walls and floor. The light probably helped the small flowers in the middle of the room to blossom slowly too. The teen wiped his sweaty brow. This place was giving him the chills, but he was sweating so much that it made no sense to Naruto.
He sat down and opened his bag again. This time he pulled out a small snack and munched on it quietly. 'Ramen would taste so much better than crackers right now… But I'd have to spend 3 more minutes here, waiting for the water to cook the noodles…' Naruto thought sadly. He munched the last bit of his crackers and stood up, brushing the crumbs away from his clothes. Naruto gathered and bag and walked to the other side of the room where the tunnel continued into the blackness.
As he continued, Naruto felt colder and colder. He realized that the deeper he went, the colder the feeling became: and that scared Naruto. What was at the end of the tunnel? He was utterly spooked. 'No. I gotta stay focused! Just keep lighting any lanterns you see and keep walking…' The blonde nodded to himself, determined to get out. Soon, Naruto hit an incline and found that the tunnel was starting to go upwards. Slowly, he dragged himself upward, shivering all the while.
"Why is it so damn cold," Naruto muttered. The boy paused and dug through his bag, pulling out his orange jacket. He wrapped himself up in his warm jacket and shivered momentarily. Seriously! Why was it so cold? Slowly, Naruto felt the incline flatten out under his feet and saw the tunnel looking a tad brighter than before.
Brighter? Had he reached the exit?
Naruto's pace increased while his mind exploded with questions: What was at the end? The treasure? Nothing? Did he walk across the 'Underground' and appear on the other side of it? Would he find out a clue that would bring him closer to the Uchiha treasures?
Naruto sped up and turned another corner, his breathe slowly becoming visible. Where could he be going to make it so cold?—He lit another lantern—Did he arrive in the Land of Snow?—Another turn—Or maybe he discovered a giant freezer?—He made a sharp left—Why was it so cold?—One more turn.
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Flashback
[See author's notes after reading this section]
"At 10:47 AM, on January 23, 2XXX, the village of Kumogakure was struck by an earthquake that rocked the town for 5 minutes. Scientists tells KNN that the power of the quake was at least a 9.11, setting a record high in over 50 years—"
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"Naruto! What are you doing?"
The blonde glanced at the brown-haired teacher. "Naruto! Get down from there! We need to go and evacuate like everyone else," the teacher pleaded. Naruto gave a long stare at the teacher but turned away.
They were so close, so clear. Their voices, but what were they saying exactly? "If only this fence wasn't in the way, I could go." Naruto's thin hands laced itself between the metal openings of the safety fence. Though there was a massive shudder and shivering from the ground under his feet, the boy ignored it. He focused his attention on the other side of the fence, on a dark hole that ripped into the white clouds.
Naruto tightened his grip. This fence… "If only it wasn't here." It was the only thing separating him from the edge of the floating village's land and miles upon miles of cloud and sky. "If only it wasn't here," Naruto repeated, his eyes red with frustration. "I could go there and make them be quiet."
"Naruto!" The teacher grabbed the tan blonde's arm and threw Naruto over his shoulder. "We have to go! You'll die out here!"
Naruto struggled in the teacher's hold, screaming," Let me go, Iruka-sensei! They won't keep quiet until I'm there! They won't keep quiet!"
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"Ya know Uzumaki Naruto?"
"Room 1010?"
"Yeah. I heard he hears voices from the direction the 'Underground.'"
"Oh dear. Did he hit his head during the Kumogakure Quake?"
"''mthinkin so. The 'Underground' is a bad omen. Hearing voices is bad already… But hearing them from the 'Underground?' The kid's a nutcase."
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"They don't mean it Naruto. You're not a freak." Naruto glanced at Iruka nervously. The teacher smiled.
"They just don't understand."
"But I do hear them, Iruka-sensei. I dunno what they're saying, but I can hear them."
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"Uzumaki! You have a guest!" The teen looked up from his *info disk player.
"Who're you?"
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"Scientists are currently worried on the stability of the poles that hold Kumogakure up. Government official, Yakushi Kabuto, stated in a press conference an hour after the quake:
'The percentage that the poles are instable due to the quake is a mere 4%. We, your government, have already planned out steps to bypass that 4% and make it a 0% chance of any of the poles collapsing.'"
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"What do you think those voices are telling you?"
"…"
"Naruto?"
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"But what's really nutty about the kid, is that he wants to go to the 'Underground.'"
"Oh my word! He must have had something big hit his head for wanting to go there."
"But what's worse, is he's corrupting the other kids with the 'Underground' nonsense!"
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"Me? I'm the great Sage, Jiraiya."
"Sage? You? You look like a giant white furball."
"You—little cretin!"
.
"The voices… Some of them sound like they're whining and stuff. But…"
"But what, Naruto?"
"Some of those voices sound like they're crying. Like they're in pain."
.
"But scientists are skeptical about Yakushi-san's plan. Our Intel reporter, Shiranui Genma has the latest."
"Thank you, Anko. We're here live at the press conference and we have here one of the scientists against the governments plans. Hello, Morino Ibiki. So our question is why are you against the plan?"
"Because there is no plan."
.
"We shouldn't let our children near him anymore."
"Otherwise he'll corrupt them into wanting to go to the 'Underground' also."
"That boy is a monster!"
.
"Whenever I hear their voices, I can't sleep."
"How long have you heard them, Naruto?"
"All my life, I guess."
.
"So why're you here, old man?"
"Sage! And I'm here because I heard that you've been giddy about the 'Underground.'"
.
"No plan? What do you mean, Ibiki-san?"
"It's because it's the government's plan. The government has never helped us. If we don't act now, then in 10 or maybe even 5 years from now, Kumogakure will collapse into the 'Underground."
.
"Do you know a lot about the 'Underground'? Please, I need to know!"
.
"Don't get near Uzumaki Naruto, okay? He's bad news."
.
"We have just gotten word… t-that Morino Ibiki and several other scientists who were working under him have been violently murdered—"
.
"Why didn't you tell me that you've been hearing these voices all this time, Naruto?"
.
"Hey kid, when you graduate junior high… come find me. I'm a teacher at Shinobi High. We'll talk more about the 'Underground' then."
.
"If you even talk to Uzumaki Naruto, you'll be cursed by the tailed demons of the 'Underground'!"
.
"Officials are baffled at the violent killing of these scientists. They believe that the killer may be a radical working for hire…"
.
"I didn't want to scare you, Iruka-sensei. I didn't want to scare anyone."
breakbreakbreakbreak
Naruto caught his breathe and stared at the path ahead of him. He was so close. He was always so close. In front of him was what seemed to be a large chunk of a boulder. The boulder, though, had odd carvings and mismatched etchings in it. Looking up close at it, Naruto saw the same symbol he had seen on the red building's front.
He was always so close.
Naruto growled and punched the rock, only to howl in pain.
He was always so close.
He knelt down and rocked back in forth in pain, clutching at his assumed broken fist.
He was always so… so close.
There came a crack, followed by hollow thumping. Naruto looked back up and glanced at the rock.
So close.
Nearby where he had punched, Naruto saw that the rock had crumbled at the corner. He jumped up and gingerly moved away the rocks. The opening, was just large enough for him to squeeze through. "It was common logic among treasure hunters: Barriers were made to keep people away from precious things, especially treasure." Naruto nodded to himself.
So, so close.
He noticed the abundance of cold mist pouring out from the opening. Not only was the cold mist pouring out from it, there was a soft white light glowing from it. Naruto glanced at his bag that leaned against his side. He knew it wouldn't fit if he tried going in with it attached. So Naruto took it off, grabbed his map, checked his pocketed sky-board and knelt down on his knees. 'This is it. I have to find something here.' He gently held his hurt hand close to his body and began to squeeze through.
"Ar-rrgg…" Naruto closed his eyes and shoved his head from under the opening. As he struggled to free his shoulders and arms, he muttered quietly that he should lose weight or take yoga lessons. With his arms popped out, Naruto grabbed the side of the rock with his good hand and dragged the lower half of his body through the hole.
"Almost… there…!"
And with a grunt, Naruto finally dragged himself from out of the opening. He stood up slowly and looked around.
It was extremely cold now. He was in a medium sized room, much smaller than the darker cave room that he had been to before. Instead of a collapsed hole at the ceiling of the room, Naruto saw several giant icicles hanging down. There were opening were there was a soft light hitting the ice, creating the white glow. Naruto took another look around and saw that this room was much different than th other.
Besides the size or the fact that there were icicles hanging from the ceiling, the room looked man-made. There was a small row of stairs that led down into a dark pit, while on the sides of the room there was a walkway that circled the entire room. What caught Naruto's eyes was that along the walls of the walkways were lamps. But the lamps were already lit.
Naruto shifted uncomfortably and looked down at the stairs. They didn't seem to go that far down, but the light from the lit lamps seemed like they couldn't penetrate the darkness in the pit. The teen gulped and rubbed his hurt hand again.
"I'm already here," the boy muttered. "I can't back down now."
He inched slowly to the staircase and gripped a stone railing that split the stairs in half. With each step, Naruto heard not only the echo of his footsteps, but he swore he could he a soft murmuring. A whisper.
He took out his flashlight and shone it down at his feet. If he pointed directly out into the dark pit, Naruto was afraid he might faint if he saw anything there. He took another step.
Step—"Em aher uyo anc?"—Naruto shuddered: why was this voice so clear to him?
Step—"Uyo rae owh?"—Naruto found himself shaking with each step.
Step—"Eon tiltel, dcears uyo rae?"—Even though it was whispering, Naruto could tell it was a man's voice; it was too deep and husky to be a female's voice.
Step—"Eon tiltel, ucet uyo'er."—Naruto looked at his feet and with the light, saw that he was standing on the last step of the stairs.
Step—"Emni uyo amek ll'I hiknt I."-Slowly, Naruto began to look up.
"Uyo toabu tahw, Sasuke si enam ym?"
Naruto shifted the beam of light upwards, his eyes staring at the ground his flashlight slowly exposed.
"Em orf olokgin uyo rae?..."
Naruto blinked hard repeatedly, trying to push the voice out of his head. Where was this bastard hiding at? He must have been laying low here in the dark.
"Where are you..?" Naruto's light beamed straight out and his heart stopped slowly.
"Dobe, erhe higrt m'I."
Naruto's blue eyes stared deeply into red eyes. The blonde took a step back and tripped over the stair. Falling, he let go of his flashlight and let it roll back into the abyss.
But Naruto didn't care. All he could see were two red orbs, spinning wildly in front of him and all he could hear was the strangers deep husky whispers that seemed to only scare the blonde even more.
'I should've just bought the bombs.'
breakbreakbreakbreak
a/n: H-how was it? It was long huh? Ha… But! I did note at one flashback to check here.
flashback note: You'll notice that during the flashback, whenever I break. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the breaks begin to slowly become smaller and smaller with each conversation change. After just one 'break' there's no more noticeable breaks.
The breaks are actually the . between each conversation. So like this:
"I love sasunaru, what about you?"
"Oh I love it!"
.
"There was a monkey in his pants."
"Dear lord."
With each space break, there is a new conversation. But if you took notice of it, after the breaks a conversation from earlier is continued.
This method of space breaking was actually founded by Aldous Huxley in his book Brave New World. It's a wonderful book if you're into a dark futuristic theme.
the odd whispering: If you remember, towards the end, Naruto hears those whispers and stuff. The italicized quotes. You probably were like," What the hell is this?" If you bothered to try and figure out what each quote was, then you'd probably know that I flipped a whole sentence backwards, and then rewrote each word backwards.
So here is what the quotes are:
"Em aher uyo anc?" : "Can you hear me?"
"Uyo rae owh?" : "Who are you?"
"Eon tiltel, dcears uyo rae?" : "Are you scared, little one?"
"Eon tiltel, ucet uyo'er." : "You're cute, little one."
"Emni uyo amek ll'I hiknt I." : "I think I'll make you mine."
"Uyo toabu tahw, Sasuke si enam ym?" : "My name is Sasuke, what about you?"
"Em orf olokgin uyo rae?..." : "Are you looking for me?..."
"Dobe, erhe higrt m'I." : "I'm right here, dobe."
HOPEFULLY, you guys got who was speaking in this italicized backwards-ness.
starred terms: there are a couple of unique names/things in the story that I'd like to address.
-Kumogakure: The Village Hidden in the Clouds. It's basically a village/island that is held up in the sky by giant metal poles that are connected to the ground of the 'Underground.'
-Yor: it's currency. It's worth is about the same as a dollar. 1 yor equals 1 dollar.
-Sekai: Japanese term for "the world." So it's basically Naruto's world here in the story.
-Sky-boards: Skateboards without wheels. They've been designed to allow the skater to fly into the air or hover or grind.
-Info disks: The info disc replaces the books in a library. All you need to do is check out an info disk and when played will show you all the info you need to know. They're also fairly easy to duplicate.
-Info disk players: You use it by taking an info disk, putting it in and allowing it to play the information to you. It's essentially a DVD player.
preview: Naruto finds himself in deep water when this red-eyed man takes a liking into him. He attempts to escape, but finds himself making a deal with this man.