Which Way to Konoha?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Naruto related!
"It all started when Kakashi-sensei, told me to go fishing…"
Naruto couldn't help but grumble as he took off his socks and dropped them carelessly beside his crumpled orange jacket, wrinkled black undershirt, and almost empty weapon pouch. Soon his chain mail shirt followed by his orange him standing in only his boxers, his Konoha headband, and Tsunade's cursed necklace. Goose bumps rose along his exposed skin and he cursed Kakashi-sensei again.
"Stupid Kakashi-sensei!" wailed Naruto, "I don't see why I have to be the one that fishes; Sakura and Sai are just as good at fishing."
He walked to the bank of the river and glared at the empty branches of the trees that surrounded him. He knew that Kakashi-sensei had only given him this task because he could more easily recuperate from the freezing, late autumn waters but that didn't stop the task from being unfair. He took a deep breath and stepped into the icy waters, no regrets he promised himself, but when the water touched his bare legs he couldn't keep his suffering silent.
"YATTA! That's cold!" Naruto yelled, wincing as he continued in the icy water. He barely registered the autumn birds that scattered at his shout. He stopped waist deep, a shiver crawling down his spine with the speed a drowsy snail, he placed his hands millimeters from the water's semi-calm surface waiting for a fish to swim by.
The water was rather murky but Naruto had no problem fling two shrimp sized fish onto the bank behind him. After several more minutes with no luck, Naruto was starting to get eager. He knew that he couldn't make any sudden movements without scaring the fish away for good, but his legs were numb from the cold, and he was growing restless.
Underneath the dark waters of the muddy river a flash of scales could just barely be seen lazily swimming against the tide a little bit deeper in. So with the skills of a ninja, Naruto tried to move as silently and gracefully through the water towards the large expanse of gleaming scales. Naruto nearly shouted out in success as he finally reached the fish's side without scaring it away, but he held in his joy and with bent knees, his hands entered the water as quick as lightening. Naruto was surprised to find that the length of his arms could not properly reach around the fish's body, but shrugged off the implications as he smirked down at the fish.
"Alright fish, be prepared to face defeat from the number one, super great ninja and future Hokage of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto crowed, he couldn't help but boast.
Even without a steady grip around the fish, Naruto lifted with his legs and found that the fish didn't budge. Naruto bent his legs again, and this time with chakra infused muscles and a battle cry lifted the massive fish… a few centimeters above the water's surface. Naruto grunted and groaned as he supplied more chakra into lifting the aquatic animal. By now the fish started to squirm.
"Waah!" Naruto exclaimed, as the fish wiggled so much that he lost his balance. Naruto's feet were swept from underneath him and he was dunked head first underwater. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut as he was submerged fighting not to breathe in the water from the shock of the icy waters. He opened one eye and in shock opened the other. The fish that he had tried to catch looked soullessly back at him. It wasn't the gaze of the fish that had Naruto gasping in surprise; it was the fish's size. The monster's head alone was the same height as Kakashi-sensei was tall and its length couldn't be determined as its body disappeared in the muddy clouds that Naruto's feet had kicked up when he slipped.
Naruto struggled, trying to climb towards the surface of the water to refill his lungs with air. He could feel the river's current pulling him away from the shallows where he had started his fishing exploit and down the river. The closer to the surface he got, the nearer the fish appeared, and Naruto knew something wasn't right. When he finally broke the plane of water into the ventilated atmosphere, Naruto greedily sucked in as much air as he could.
Before he could satisfy his bodies need, the monstrous fish leapt from the depths of the water and latched itself onto Naruto's head.
"Gaw! Let me go!" Naruto's muffled yowling sounded from the moist, dark cavern of the man-eating fish's mouth. Naruto's fist beat the sides of the fish's head, seeking any spot that would guarantee a release. Naruto even tried to use chakra enhanced hits to batter the fish's sides. But the more he struggled the tighter he was held in the fish's toothless jaws.
As he continued to battle the fish he found he was quickly running out of both air and energy. Naruto was starting to get desperate as his body floated further and further away from where he began fishing for the team's dinner. Black spots roamed his line of vision, and Naruto was feeling light-headed. With one last struggle, his Konoha headband came off and drifted down the monstrous fish's throat. With a frenzied cry Naruto felt himself regain strength as he tried to dive down the fish's esophagus, frantically trying to take back the headband he had gotten from Iruka-sensei.
"Give that back... Spit it out, right NOW!" Naruto howled. He kicked his legs and swung his arms, trying to get deeper in the cavern of the monster's mouth. With a terrible hacking sound, Naruto found himself back in the water his decorative head piece had disappeared along with one of his few treasured valuables. With angry eyes he looked around for the fish that had eaten Iruka-sensei's headband. All he saw of the fish was a faint outline of the fish's tail-fin as it swam downstream. Naruto passionately took off after the fish.
Even with his ridiculous stamina, Naruto's limps felt like lead and his chest felt tight. His body grew weaker and his vision stared to go black. Naruto reluctantly began to scramble towards the vaporous sky. After a millennium, he reached the water's surface, and broke through with ease, gulping in as much air as his lungs could hold.
With one last sorrowful glance downstream, Naruto pushed his burning limps to move him to solid ground. When he was in shallow enough water, he used his hands to heave himself on to dry land.
On sturdy ground once again, he rolled onto his back and gasped for air his eyes sliding closed.
"I gotta… get back to… my… team soon," Naruto muttered out loud to himself. His mumbling masked the cracking of a branch the usual signal of an approaching predator. Naruto never even heard the whisper of clothing, as his eyes grew heavy and his ears could only register the sweet lull of exhaustion. Darkness surrounded him and he did nothing to stop it.
"Genjustu: Blank Mind, success," was whispered throughout the otherwise silent world. With nary a complaint from Naruto, who gladly embraced the sometimes too familiar blankness and succumbed to its sigh of slumber.
'Shoot…' Naruto thought before he knew no more.
"When I woke up I found myself in a cell like the ones in Konoha's T&I's…"
To be continued…
