Author's Note: This is the second installment of the James of the Hidden Leaf Village series. If you haven't read the first, James of the Hidden Leaf Village, I highly recommend you do so, because if you haven't, you probably won't know half of what's going on.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Said and done. I don't own Naruto. Anyone who thinks I own Naruto is mislead and/or wrong.

Chapter One – Escape and Imprisonment

I felt like I opened my eyes, but I wasn't certain because all I was seeing was black. Darkness, that's it. Dazed would be the first thing that came to mind if you were to describe my mental state. I couldn't move my body at all except for the tips of my fingers and my head for a while. It felt like I was laying down on something, and whatever I was laying down on was very comfy.

Where am I? That was the first thing I wanted to know, though frankly, I couldn't exactly find that out when my entire body was out of order. So I tried thinking of the last thing I could remember.

Let's see…I battled that army with Naruto, and Gaara came to save us both…I went back to the war room…and I…I…wait…oh no…this isn't good!!! WHY AM I NOT DEAD!?!?!? Wait…am I dead? Is this what death is? Just a blackness that no one can escape from? If I'm not dead, that must mean Kaminari is still around, right? Kaminari, can you hear me!?

No response.

KAMINARI THIS ISN'T FUNNY!!!

No response.

She's not here…so, am I dead or what? I realized that while taking the time to think, I was now able to move most of my hand and a small portion of my legs. Seems like with time, I'll be able to move right again. Then I can find out where the hell I am. Heh, that's ironic, I could be in hell and not even know it.

I don't know how long I waited, but after a long while I was finally able to move my arms around freely. Well, as freely as they could. I tried swinging them around only to find I was trapped in some sort of barrier. I decided to get some light going to see where I was, so I concentrated my chakra to the tip of my index finger, making it glow enough that it lit the surrounding area. I looked around, and as soon as I realized where I was, I had a Class A freak out session.

I realized that I was inside a coffin.

After a while I'd managed to calm myself down a bit. Okay James…calm…calm…I'm inside a coffin…have I been buried!?!? How am I still alive!? It doesn't make any sense! …calm down, calm down…I have to find a way out of here… I tried pounding on the top of the coffin to break it down, but my arms had no room, and my attempt was poor. Okay, screw this! I made the hand sign and said, "Lightning Paralysis Jutsu!!!" My hands glowed with lightning, and I broke a big hole through the top, revealing that I was in some sort of cave. I climbed out of the coffin, landed on the floor and stumbled because my legs weren't ready yet. Thankfully I caught myself before I hit the stone floor face-first. I couldn't stand up, so I kinda half laid down while looking at where I was.

It looked like I was in some kind of tomb. The walls, floors, ceiling, and everything else seemed to be made of the exact same type of stone; a grayish rock that cast a gloomy outlook on this place.

"Who goes there!?!?" I heard someone shout. Two guards came into the room, and I had no idea what to do. "Grave robber, huh? Not on my watch!" He took out two tonfa and was at the ready with them.

"Whoa whoa, wait a sec!" I said to them, "I'm no grave robber! I just…came out from there…" I pointed to the coffin that I had blasted myself out of.

"Yeah, right. The dead don't rise, boy." The other guard said, "Now where is your accomplice that took the body out?"

"A-accomplice!?!?" I said, infuriated, "Look at me!!! I'm James!!! Remember? James Moretto!!!"

The two guards both looked at each other and laughed. "Boy…" a guard said in the middle of laughing, "James had been dead for some time now…hahaha…and besides…hehe…you don't even look like him at all!"

"Whadaya mean I don't-!" I stopped myself just in time to realize something. I had longer hair…a lot longer hair. It came down to my lower back, whereas before it barely covered all of my neck. I scratched my chin without even thinking about it, and discovered that I had a pretty good beard going too. My eyes widened in shock. No wonder they don't buy it…I probably don't look anything like how I looked before! How long have I been in that coffin anyways? I reasoned that there was probably no way I could possibly talk myself out of this one, and I didn't want to hurt anyone, so I simply held my hands out and said, "Okay, take me wherever you guys want…" in a gloomy, defeated voice.

"Not until you tell us where your accomplice is." One of the guards said.

I snapped. "GODDAMMIT I HAVE NO ACCOMPLICE!!! I AM THE BODY!!! I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, BUT I-" Before I could finish what I was saying, one of the guards hit me on the head hard enough to almost knock me out. I fell to the floor, and I thought my head may have been bleeding.

"How dare you attempt to steal the great James' body." One of the guards said in disgust. He picked me up, put my hands behind my back, bound them and said, "Do you know what the penalty is for attempting to raid the Hall of Honors?"

I dully thought of a few wisecracks I might have thrown at him, but decided not to and instead said, "I'm going to guess death?"

"That's right, boy," he said, "Not only death, death by public hanging."

"I didn't even realize that Konoha had that punishment." I dully said.

"That's because it hasn't had to be used for a very, very long time. Maybe a good twenty years or so when the last person tried to come and rob a grave from the Hall of Honors."

I had no idea what to do, so I figured I would just go with it. Soon enough, someone'll recognize me passing by or something, I might get lucky and be spotted by Tsunade or something. I doubt I'm going to get hanged in the end, I mean by the time the arrangements are made and such, someone would have seen me…right?

The guards walked me outside of the Hall of Honors, and I had to squint my eyes because it was so bright. We walked down the street, and went through the main gate. I tried spotting people I might recognize, but to no avail. We walked through a forest path I had never taken before, and eventually came across a building I'd never seen before. We entered the building, and as soon as I saw the cells I realized it was a jail. The guards led me up to a cell, threw me in, closed and locked it up. "Don't bother trying to use Jutsu here, boy," one of the guards said, "They don't work here. A special barrier has been erected to prevent the use of them."

I sat on the crappy bed supplied, not knowing what to do. All of my bodily functions hit at the same time, so I went pee and crap a lot that day.

At one point I asked the person in the cell across from me, "Hey, do you know about James Moretto?"

The guy looked at me and said, "Well duh. He's the one that wiped out all of them monsters a while back."

"How long ago did he do that?"

"mmm…I think it's probably been 'bout a year and a half now."