Well here it is! Second chapter, and if you can't guess some of the objects then you need to play Jak again. But I got wonderful feed back for this story and here is the next chapter, I hope that you all enjoy it.

Precursor Artifacts

Chapter 2

Time seemed to slow down for Naruto, his arms flailing to find purchase as he plummeted back first into the black sludge about a hundred feet below him. He knew that the stuff was bad news from the platforms but the stench was just vile. He knew that it was game over for him when he fell in, and he could see his short life flashing before his eyes as he plummeted to what seemed to be his demise below.

The fun times with the old man, ramen at Ichiraku, the small amount of time that he played with Gaara all flashed through his eyes before he closed them and plummeted into the drink of dark sludge. As soon as his body hit the sluge he knew that it wasn't going to be a painless death. The sludge stung, like it was full of needles that were sticking into Naruto's skin. It hurt, but not as bad as Naruto could have had it. He let out one last breath of air and was sucked farther into the sludge.

Then he started squirming and it started burning, and needles seemingling shot deep under his skin. With whatever air was left Naruto turned around and started swimming up through the sludge. His eyes shot open, blazing red and the black sludge ejected him from the pool, all the way up to the central platform.

Rolling over, Naruto sucked in the precious air that had been denied to him in the sludge. Dark electricity coiled around and through his body and it was agony for Naruto. One more pulse of chakra and the black sludge was gone, but he couldn't feel any more chakra. The red chakra that seemed to have save him was gone, what was that?

Naruto didn't care at the moment, all that really mattered was his life at the moment. But his curiosity returned and he made his way towards the table which he now found to be a sort of casket. So this entire place was a tomb, but who could be so important for this big of a tomb to be built for them? Curious, Naruto did whatever child who hadn't been yet told that graverobbing or disturbing the dead wasn't okay.

He started pushing open the casket. It didn't budge at first, but he kept trying until he collapsed with exhaustion. He knew what chakra was, and that red chakra was helpful seeing as it got him out of the sludge pool. And so trying to channel that, Naruto found that he couldn't, maybe it came out only when he was in danger? Trying to channel any chakra at all, Naruto found that he couldn't.

That was odd, he found that he had always been able to channel chakra of some kind, seening as at five years of age he had more chakra than the average chunin. So where did all of his chakra go? Getting up once again, Naruto started pushing on the plate that kept him from peering into the casket. With a roar of effort, Naruto managed to get the thing to budge just a bit.

It didn't budge again after that, the slab of strange metal was just to heavy to move for a five year old. Naruto sat with his back against the casket and he tried searching for the energy that he had before, because he wanted to see what was inside the casket. After what seemed like an hour, Naruto found it but it wasn't exactly like the red power that he used, it was thicker, and felt like pure strength turned into energy.

And so with all the mental fortitude that Naruto had, he pulled at that red energy, trying to pull it to the surface so he could channel it and use it again. It came slower than the first time, but it seemed to be thicker and gave Naruto more strength. Getting up, Naruto began pushing at the metal lid to the thick casket. It began moving faster than last time, it was as if Naruto's own strength had doubled! It was amazing and in almost no time at all. Breathing heavily Naruto leaned into the grave and looked at what was inside.

Dust was the big thing, the person buried here was so old that all that was left was dust, not even bones remained. but scattered in the dust was metal parts. One long tube of what looked like steel, and it had a handle by which Naruto picked up. It was about as long as Naruto's leg and waist. When Naruto jostled the thing something near the handle that was loose and so Naruto pulled it, and fell flat on his ass when the entire thing recoiled.

A wave of red energy shot out of the tube and the recoil was enough to knock Naruto down.

Hopping back up Naruto cheered, "That was freaking awesome! I love toys!" Naruto shouted and got into a position to do it again without falling on his rear. Pulling the trigger again, Naruto found the recoil changed directions and forced the gun to fly up and hit him in the face instead. Falling and groaning Naruto gave up on trying to fire the thing and instead sealed it in the storage seal on the back of his hand. Grabbing the odd objects in the casket as well Naruto sealed those and moved on. The platforms on the opposite side seemed much more stable and only one fell, meaning Naruto had plenty of time to move on.

The rest of the area was pretty much the same as the area that he was in, and so Naruto moved on, looking for a way out more than anything else. Naruto turned left when he got to an intersection and found himself in a small room that had creepy statues in it. He looked around the room, for some reason not being able to meet the eyes of the creepy statues. They were made from the same brass like metal and had weird bug eyes that seemed to look right through Naruto as he made his way to the center of the room where a small box on a pedestal.

Putting his hand on the box he was surprised when something started clicking inside the box, and he removed his hand hastily before something could happened to his now more valuable than ever last hand. But nothing happened other than the box clicking open and Naruto peeked inside the box, finding an old tome. Reaching up inside and delicately picking up the book Naruto flipped opened to the first page and began reading.

Personal Journal of the Last Eco Sage

Jak

I have found that in my long life, that this strange energy that many call 'chakra' has becoming more and more common in people. The ability to use eco is slowly dying out in many people, as strangely their ears are also becoming more and more rounded. I feel, it is my duty as the last Eco Sage of the world to record what Eco is and it's capabilities. Hopefully one day, somebody, anybody with a heart pure enough and with the ability to use Eco will come along and find my tomb and bring Eco back to the world. Hopefully one day somebody will bring peace back to the world that we are experiencing now.

I can only hope that the one who finds this does not become manipulated by the Dark Eco, as Gal and Miya were and Erol. For if it were to happen, then the world would surely come to an end.

And so Naruto closed the book there, he placed it back into the box and sealed the box that was protecting the ancient book. He needed to find a way out of there, he couldn't be reading books at a time like that. Sealing the book in the seal on his hand, he left the room. And so with his curiosity at an all time high, Naruto continued on with his journey to get out of the tomb of Jak. Heading down the other path when he got back to the intersection Naruto looked at some of the pictures, which seemed to be telling the story of Jak now that he knew whose tomb he'd just raided was.

But that brought up more questions, was that dark sludge Dark Eco? Why couldn't he feel his chakra any more? And what did the book mean about being manipulated by the Dark Eco? How could something that wasn't alive manipulate you? Was this Eco something like chakra or was it something totally different? Naruto continued exploring the tomb, searching for a way out. He didn't have water and if he couldn't find a way out in three days then most likely he'd die of dehydration and that was something that he didn't want.

He didn't survive that black sludge and make it all this way all for nothing and to only die in the end. With more resolve in mind, he walked down the bronze colored hallways. There wasn't really much else in that little part of the tomb but turning at what seemed to be the tenth intersection in that damnable tomb, he came to a room where there were parts scattered everywhere. Looking around, it appeared that somebody had been down here raiding the place for something but they didn't take anything. Picking up everything and organizing it into things that might or might not be useful, Naruto looked at some of the containers in the corners of the rooms. Different types of glowing liquids were in there and he stopped and pulled the book out, hoping to find out what it was. Maybe this was that type of Eco that the book mentioned.

Flipping delicately through the pages of the large tomb, Naruto found a few entries on the Eco and looking at the different metal drums, the eco he was looking at right now was a liquid type of Yellow Eco. Looking around he wanted to take it all with him, because it wasn't going to help anybody just sitting around in the hall of the dead. But he didn't have enough space in the storage seal on his wrist, seeing as there was only so much that he could take in it.

An idea went through his head, and he searched through the random parts until he found something sharp and he cut a bit of his hair off. Using more of his hair he tied it to the end of a rather small bar and dipped it into the liquid Yellow Eco. Painting carefully on one of his bare legs, Naruto was hoping that the eco could be used like ink and allow him to make a storage seal. After what seemed to be an hours, but what was only a few minutes, Naruto had managed to create another storage on his leg. Grabbing a random metal bar, he tried to seal it, trying to channel the eco instead of his chakra which seemed to be gone.

With a poof of yellow smoke, the bar disappeared and he channeled the Yellow Eco again and the bar appeared. Naruto cheered, it appeared that the Eco was a thicker more viscous and solid version of chakra that could be channeled just as easily as chakra could provided that one knew what it was. Or at least, that was his thoughts, but for now Naruto began taking a look at some of what looked like to be blue prints for some type of vehicle, and another was for some type of robot. But a few more were blueprints for robotic limbs and prosthetic limbs.

This was what Naruto needed, when he got out of the tomb he could use the parts to make himself a prosthetic limb for what appeared to be his arm that was no longer healing at the pace that it was earlier but it was still enough to make sure that he wouldn't be bleeding out any time soon. Storing all that he could, Naruto made another seal for the drums of liquid eco that were in the tomb. Strange things were in this tomb, but it was made in ancient times so who knew what the customs were back then.

Getting up Naruto continued allow the way, feeling a little better now that he had sat down for a little bit even it if had not been for long. So Naruto continued and continued on through the tomb, sealing whatever that he could seeing as it would be more use to him than the dead. He was only five and it probably wouldn't have mattered if he was older, the dead were the dead and objects were more useful to the alive than the dead.

Slowly but surely the brass/bronze metal walls of the tomb gave way to a cave system that went in one straight line. But to Naruto's dismay it stopped at a flat wall and he collapsed against the wall. Maybe it was all pointless? He was going to die here, and he couldn't even try to get past the quicksand because there was a gaping chasm between him and the entire room that he needed to get into. No! NO! That kind of thinking was not the kind of the thinking that got him all this way! He was not going to give up on life and he would make it out of there.

His head hit the back of the stone and something sounded off. It wasn't like hitting a regular stone wall, instead it sounded more... hollow. Something was one the other side! But he wasn't strong enough to break through stone just yet. But maybe that strange metal thing in the casket could! If it could knock him on his ass then there was a high chance that it could break through stone. Pulling the thing out the seal, Naruto pointed it at the stone wall, and fired, falling flat on his rear Naruto checked the damage and was amazing to find that indeed there was a crack in the wall and so pointing the thing at the wall again Naruto fired again.

Only to be disappointed when it clicked instead of firing. He groaned and sat back down, now the thing wasn't doing what it was supposed to. Pulling the other things out of the seal Naruto sat down and looked at the gun. Maybe it was just out of energy? Fiddling with the red thing on the top, Naruto was surprised when it came off easily. Grabbing the yellow one instead, he tried fitting it on to the spot were the red thing had when and it slid right into place, before clicking again and the yellow object slid so that it was on the side of the weapon, sticking up diagonally off of it and the barrel of the object extended a bit.

Grinning to himself Naruto pulled the trigger again and was surprised instead of a force of energy it was a single concentrated bolt of yellow energy that flew from the barrel and chipped the stone wall. So each of the objects did different things? That was interesting, but Naruto didn't dwell on it and instead he began firing at the stone wall chipping it and creating a small hole that he could see out of. Stale cave air came rushing in but it was a welcome reprieve of still musty air in the tomb. The thing clicked again and Naruto groaned. Sitting back down he pulled out the blue object and took the yellow one off, the blue one sliding in the object smoothly before the barrel shortened but multiple barrels appeared.

Naruto fired once and several bullets came flying out of the thing, surprising him. Aiming at the side of the small hole Naruto held down the trigger and a spray of bullets came out, carving chunks out the stone. It wasn't big enough even for tiny little Naruto, and so with a sigh Naruto attached the purple object. It kind of reminded him of the Dark Eco that he fell into, but he didn't dwell on that and instead attached it to the object. What appeared to be a tiny little face appeared on the end of the object, with triangular eyes narrowed in an emotion that Naruto just couldn't precisely put his finger on.

Aiming at the top of the hole, Naruto pulled the trigger and was surprised when he got a fizzle instead of a click. Okay... that was strange. Maybe it was like the blue and he had to hold it? Holding the trigger, Naruto was amazed when a ball of electricity was formed at the end of the object. Aiming carefully Naruto released the trigger and the ball of electricity flew at the wall and obliterated half of it. Naruto's jaw simply dropped, and when he shook the shock off he sealed the object away and began running out of the cave system which appeared to be pretty linear. That is until the cave started spiraling upwards and Naruto ran his good hand along the wall as he slowed his pace and made his way up.

He was forced to shield his eyes from the rays of the harsh sun, but the breath of the hot arid air was the best thing that he'd ever felt seeing as all he'd been breathing was stagnant air for who knows how long. Naruto relaxed for a moment before he realized that he still needed to get back to the old man. So walking around he still needed to get his bearing and find out where the hell he was. So walking he found the nearest civilian and the first time he asked was, "Excuse me mister! I was wondering where I might find the Hokage."

The man gave Naruto a strange look before answering, "You're a little late on the uptake aren't you? The Hokage left a week ago, he should be back in Konoha by now."

Naruto stared at the man before he shouted, "Oh you have got to be kidding me!"

I love cliff hangers by the way, hope you enjoyed and have a great day/night.