"Raven Uzumi, for your crime of high treason, you shall be put to death exactly 24 hours from now. Until then, you shall remain imprisoned." A guard grabbed each of my arms just below the shoulder and lifted me off the ground.
"No! Please! Uncle, you know I would never do anything like this! Please, you know that I didn't do it! Uncle!" My uncle did nothing, however, despite my cries. He looked away, clenching and unclenching his jaw. I turned to my brother as we passed him, but knew instantly that it would be futile to ask him for help. His face showed a mixture of shock, grief and revulsion.
"How could you?" he asked as I was carried by. "They're the ones that killed our parents, remember? Does that mean nothing to you? How could you be helping them?"
"Brother," I was sobbing now. "Brother, I would never… Brother, please, you know – "
"Don't call me brother," he said, his face stony. "And the only thing I know is that my sister isn't a traitor." He spat on the ground at my feet and the guards continued to carry me out.
They brought me down several flights of stairs and through more than a few hidden doorways until we reached a part of the village that I never knew existed: a dungeon. It was eerie down there: the walls were lit with red light, there were rusted manacles hanging everywhere, a few bones and more than a few rats. I hated rats.
The guards led me down, right to the end, where they chained my hands and feet to the wall. The chains rattled whenever I moved. The guards left, and I was left sobbing alone with the rats.
Several hours later, long after I had cried myself out, the door at the far end of the dungeon opened and closed swiftly. I wondered if my execution was already at hand.
My uncle stepped into the torchlight, and I gasped. His eyes, instead of being his regular grey – or even the black and silver swirl of our clan's kekkei genkai – were a pale purple with concentric black rings, getting smaller and the eyes getting darker in color the closer they got to the pupils.
"U-Uncle?" I stammered.
"Raven, listen to me. We don't have much time. I'm supposed to wipe your memory before the execution." I started to protest, but he didn't give me the chance. I'm not going to do that. I don't believe that you actually were helping those assassins, but I have no proof, so I can't get you out of this the political way. However, I'm also not going to let you die."
"So what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to help you escape. There's a secret tunnel leading out of here, that was supposedly sealed when the city was built."
"So it wasn't sealed, then?" Uncle shook his head.
"This end was turned into a secret door, just in case we needed an escape route. The other end is blocked by a brick wall leading into the sewers. Break it down and you'll be free." He unchained me and pressed a few paper bombs into my hand.
"Won't they notice that I'm missing? I mean, even in the sewers, they'll feel a tremor or hear a noise. Then one of the first things they do will be to check on me. And when they see I'm not here…"
"We'll sequence the explosions so that they all go off simultaneously." He placed a paper bomb on either side of where I had been chained. They faded into the wall almost immediately. "As for noticing your absence, well, I think they'll have bigger things on their mind."
A sudden thought hit me. "I won't ever be able to come back here, will I?"
"…No."
"I shouldn't go back to my house, to get any of my stuff."
"No."
"How close is the nearest town?" My voice sounded dead as the words came out of my mouth.
"About a day's journey to the northwest. You'll need money to get in; they really don't like vagabonds." He pulled his coin-purse from inside his robes and handed it to me. "And… I'll pack you some supplies. They'll be in a bag by the hollow tree near the ruins of the old outpost."
"Thank you."
He pressed the eye of one of the gargoyles carved into the pillar at the edge of the room, and a portion of the wall swung inwards to reveal a passage down into the rock. I started down it, but my uncle stopped me with a hand on my shoulder.
"Place a paper bomb every once in a while along the walls of the tunnel. The blue ones are synced to my chakra so only I can set them off. The red one is for blasting into the sewers. You need to be ready to set yours off when mine go, otherwise the diversion might be lost." He looked into my eyes for a moment. "Good luck, Raven."
The stone moved back into place behind me, and everything was plunged into darkness. I formed the seal of the rooster with my hands. "Ninpo: Cat's Eye Jutsu."
Instantly the entire passage was visible. That's what my technique did: it allowed a human to see in the darkness as well as a cat. I set off down the tunnel at a light jog, placing blue paper bombs at intervals along the tunnel's walls until I was out.
It took me another half-hour of jogging downhill to get to the bricked up end. I placed the red paper bomb before moving back to sit on the rocks at the edge of the slope.
I had almost fallen asleep where I sat when I heard a boom echoing down the tunnel, accompanied by a soft rumble from the ground. Another one followed a moment later. I leapt up and set off my paper bomb with my chakra. It lit, and the paper consumed easily. The wall exploded and before the smoke had even cleared, I was off down into the sewers.
I realized that if anyone heard my explosion echoing through the sewers, the police would be down to investigate, and with them would come my clan.
No, I thought to myself. They cannot be my clan anymore. I am in exile now, and if they catch me, the will kill me. It was a scary thought. The Uzumi clan – my ex-clan – were some of the most powerful ninja in the world. When they found me…
I reminded myself that they would only find me if I let them find me. I was an Uzumi, too. I would not sit here and wait to be discovered. I would flee. But first I had to make it out of these sewers. I put on a burst of speed.
I got to the end of the main sewage tunnel. To my left was a ladder leading up to the surface. I climbed it and carefully lifted the wooden cover to peek out.
I was at the edge of the eastern wall. To my right, the Shizu River wound its way under the wall. A large group of people were clustered around the East Gate, on my left. Most of them were civilians, but I recognized a few of my comrades there, too. Hoping that word hadn't yet reached them yet that I was a supposed traitor, I jogged over quickly.
"Hey, Ginneo!" My friend, Ginneo, turned towards me. His expression quickly chaned to relief when he saw me, followed by concern when he took in the fact that I was covered in soot.
"Raven! What happened to you?"
"There was an explosion down in the sewers while I was trying to catch Ms. Zani's cat, and I was covered in smoke. The cat got away, too."
"You can worry about that later. Right now we've got bigger problems." I stepped out into the street and realized the genius of my uncle's plan.
The bombs going off underneath the mountain that formed the center of the village had caused a massive landslide on the eastern slope. The Uzumi were managing to hold it off, but just barely. It was clear that they would need reinforcements soon.
"If we can get the men from the eastern outpost to come back and help…" Ginneo murmured. I saw my chance instantly.
"I'll go get them." Ginneo looked at me in surprise. Usually I didn't like to go out the East Gate; it gave me chills. I pressed on, regardless. "I can get there and back quickly, and they trust my word. Hold the fort until I get back, eh?" He nodded solemly and called out orders for the gates to be opened.
"Be swift, Raven." I cupped his face in my hand and gave him a smile, then sprinted out through the open gates. And of course, even in these dire circumstances, I got a chill down my back.
Author's Note
This story takes place roughly 250-300 years before the start of the series Naruto. Raven Uzumi (and yes, I know Raven isn't a Japanese name, but that's what her name is) currently has no direct ties with any of the characters in the actual series. She is related to Haku through her brother (who helped found the Yuki clan - which is Haku's clan) and the Senju and Uchiha clans distantly (the Uzumi clan is descended from the youngest child of the Rikudo Sage, his daughter, whose existence was forgotten in the shadows cast by her big brothers ^-^).
The villages with ninjas described in these chapters are not the modern Hidden Villages that we all know and love; these are moreover villages that have an intensely high population of a single ninja clan living and working there. Oftentimes, these ninja will be employed by the village, or the police, or as mercenaries, etc. While they hold positions of power, and may indirectly control a village, the ninja clans do not openly control them - unless there is a coup d'état.
Comments and criticisms welcome! :)