copyright: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
rating: PG-13
a/n: omg thank you guys ;w; I really didn't expect any reviews for the last chapter, but ya'll proved me wrong. Thanks especially to those who reviewed! You guys give me the energy to continue! So let's start!
-Underground-
Uzumaki Naruto believed that he was everything but a coward. He would not scream in the face of danger, nor would he run from it. He was a master at being cool—he was a master at keeping cool.
But when the 17-year-old teen decided to blatantly ignore all laws against traveling to the 'Underground', to hunt for treasures, and to crawl through small holes in giant glowing rocks—Naruto realized that being cool was getting the hell out of there.
ASAP.
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As his flashlight rolled away into the darkness, the beam of light continued to concentrate on the red-eyed stranger's legs. The long pair of legs remained still and Naruto, who kept his frightened gaze on the spinning eyes, hoped that the man was bolted to that spot. Whoever, or whatever, this guy was, Uzumaki Naruto would not stick around to find out. Slowly edging himself up one step at a time, Naruto heard the mysterious whispering begin again.
"Iogng uyo rae ewerh?"
Naruto took a sharp intake of cold air and slide up one more step. Should he hold his breathe?
"Uyo rewe I fi eeval doluwt'n I."
Naruto gulped the cold air he inhaled and opened to take another breathe. The voice seemed to get more commanding with each whisper. The blonde bit his lip and lifted his body up another rock step.
"Em dendatsun odt'n uyo messe ti. Kapes uyo od guagelan tawh?"
In an almost futile attempt to keep his last bit of pride, Naruto whispered back," I don't know who you are…" He lifted himself up again.
"Guagelan kanes's manded atht kapes uyo, ha…"
"Or why you're here…" Two more steps, Naruto counted. He edged to the second to last step. "But I'm not gunna stick around to find out." He lifted himself up. One more.
"Really? Because I don't think I gave you permission to leave, dobe."
Naruto jolted up, his goose bumps multiplying with every word the voice said. The unknown whisperer suddenly was able to speak in his language! There really was no time to stick around—if this guy could communicate with Naruto within 10 minutes of their initial meeting, he did not want to stick around and see what would happen in another 10 minutes.
Quickly, Naruto stood up on shaking legs and took the final step up. The red eyes that had gazed at him suddenly lowered into a piercing glare.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Naruto held his injured hand and slowly backed away. The light on his flashlight flickered as on of the long legs shifted forward. Naruto began to sweat profusely and muttered to the other man," I am going to leave and not come back." The other gave a quiet snort. "You think I'll just let you go? You're the first person I've seen in quite awhile."
Naruto gave a hollow laugh and continued to back slowly away from the dark pit," That so? That must suck. I'm sorry to ruin your party, but I really must get going…!"
"You do not leave unless I say you may."
The cold air suddenly dropped in temperature and Naruto felt a sparking sensation in the air. He took two steps back and felt a strong gust of wind blowing from behind him and down into the pit. He watched in slight fascination and fear as the flames from the lit lamps floated off of their burning candles ('Oh my God, I'm going to die! This guy's gunna burn my corpse up!') and followed their orange glow. They swirled about in the cold air and plunged into the dark trench. The flames slowly settled against the walls of the cavity and Naruto saw a flash of black hair and white skin in the orange glow.
But the blonde didn't care. Instead of taking another second to look back at how his whisperer looked like, Naruto spun around and dove into the small hole. He shoved himself desperately and swore he heard hollow steps clicking behind him.
"I'm telling you, don't try to leave me."
Dammit! Had he gained weight or something? Why wasn't he sliding out of the hole like earlier?
"You'll only regret it later."
He pushed his head out and shoved his good arm out. 'Fuck, fuck! C'mon! Pull yourself out Uzumaki!'
"Even if you escape…"
Finally! He kicked at the ground and forced his legs to propel themselves out. Naruto stood up shaking legs and grabbed his bag.
"…I'll just find you and make you mine later on."
Naruto bolted. He gave one last glance and saw two white feet in front of the hole—when did he get there so fast? The blonde raced out of there, the wind behind him extinguishing the lanterns he had lit earlier. He didn't care that during his shoving and pushing he had probably hurt his hand even more. He didn't care about how tired he suddenly got. He didn't even care about the Uchiha treasure at that point.
All he wanted to do was get the hell out of there, go home and sleep his fright away.
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'The exit!'
Naruto pushed himself off the rock wall and hurtled to the exit. He popped his sky-board out of his pocket and threw it out in front of him. In mid-expansion, Naruto jumped and landed on his board, blasting off the edge of the walkway and down into the small forest below. But the sun had already set and Naruto found himself dodging trees every other second.
He made a pivot and crashed. Looking up, he saw from the dark outlines, that he was lying underneath the tree he had swung from earlier. Naruto picked himself up and groped for his sky-board.
'Dammit, it's too dark to try and get out of here right now… But that guy back there could be right on my trail…!' Naruto finally felt the smooth board and picked it up. He patted his pockets for his flashlight but remembered how he had dropped it into the pit. The blonde rubbed his head in frustration.
Where was he going to go now? There was no way he could board all the way to the nearest pole, let alone navigate back up them—it would be like committing suicide. Naruto squinted around… swing, tree, tree, bush, school, tree…
Naruto shot a desperate look at the school. Naruto held back a scared whine. 'I have no other choice. It's either I run back out and into the wild 'Underground' or I spend more time looking for a place to go…'
Naruto boosted himself up and stuffed his compressed board into his left pocket. Slowly, the teen edged himself against the wall and began to blindly feel for a door or window of any kind. After a minute or so, Naruto felt his fingers move from concrete to glass: a window! He gave a fist pump and thanked the Gods. Perhaps they pitied him?
Naruto began to find his eyes adjusting to the darkening blackness of the 'Underground' and saw that there were no scary spikes or any other shenanigans popping out from the window. The blonde let his good hand feel the edge of the window and began to pry it open. To his luck and astonishment, the window slid open with a painful groan.
The Gods were pitying him! Naruto squeezed his fist in happiness—when he would get home, he would have to offer 10 times more than he usually did.
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After breaking into the school (Naruto never thought he'd have to actually break into a school before; he usually tried escaping them), Naruto had stumbled into what looked to be the old school director's room.
Upon entering, the blonde threw his bag to the floor, grabbed any heavy furniture he could find and pressed it against the door. It was difficult with one hand, but he was so scared out of his mind, that Naruto suddenly gained unknowable strength. He then made quick work with the smaller furniture and create a miniature fort in the back corner of the room, away from the window he had bolted down and the door. Crawling into his fort, Naruto pulled out his bag and grabbed his lighter and a small bowl. He was too scared to eat, so instead of putting food into his bowl he picked off chunks of wood from the walls and furniture and threw them in. He set the wood on fire and placed his miniature fireplace in the middle of his small fort. He sat stiffly against the wall and stared at the bright flame in front of him.
This was not how he planned his trip to be.
Naruto had planned out that when he got to the 'Underground' he would parade to the Uchiha treasures, slay any monster in sight, bring back the gold, impress Sakura-chan, marry, and have snotty blonde or pink kids that would go on the same awesome adventure that their awesome father went on. End of story.
But now—now, everything was ruined. He was stuck in the 'Underground' with a creepy stalker who was whispering to Naruto every minute, he had probably broken his hand, and now he was too freaked out to eat.
Naruto slowly began to loosen up and crawled to his bag. He took out a small sleeping bag and sat on top it, bandaging his hurt hand. Honestly, what was he thinking when he had punched that rock? Naruto sighed and cut off the bandage with his teeth. He stared at his handiwork and muttered," If only Sakura-chan was here." He watched the bindings slide off a little. "She coulda made it look better."
With a long sigh, the tired blonde shifted into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. As he drifted off into his sleep, he couldn't help but think 'Where was that guy now? Is he really going to find me?' Naruto shift deeper into his bag and crawled into a ball. As his conscience began to fuzz, Naruto remembered two red orbs, spinning wildly in his mind.
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He groaned as felt his body crack and stretch out. He sat up and looked down at his small bowl. Naruto picked it up and heaved himself out of his hiding place, dumping the leftover ashes into a small hole in the corner of the room.
He could barely sleep last night. All he could think about was what would he do if the stranger began scratching away at the windows or door. At one point, Naruto felt like pissing in his pants from the mere thought of what the stranger with abnormal capabilities would do to silly Naruto.
Naruto combed his fingers through his spiky locks and slowly unbolted the window. Naruto slide the window open and stared at the dark sky. He saw that the sun was rising, but it was still to low to rise above the concrete wall in Konoha. Instead, a rosy blush of sky peeked over the wall and disappeared into the dark indigo sky. Naruto groaned and heaved himself up and out the window and trudged over to a small water spout. He twisted it with much effort and watched the cold water dribble into his waiting hands. He washed his face fervently, and slapped his cheeks several times. He needed to wake himself up quickly. He would half to leave the village and return to Kumogakure and recollect himself.
Naruto gradually edged back to the window, heaved himself back up, and slowly packed his things. He gave a loud yawn and looked down at his clothes. They were still okay—it's not like he had gone and slayed any demon to get his clothes dirty.
He groaned and twisted his back several times and sighed as his spine popped back into place. He took up his bag with a swish and shouldered it over his body. Jumping out the window, Naruto flipped his sky-board out and sluggishly whirled away from the school and decided that it would be awhile before he'd come back here.
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Naruto halted in front of the dark red building. He stared at the leftover barrel from his stupidity before and shook his head. From rolling a barrel to finding a stranger in a cave—he was going to have a hard time explaining it to the others on the case of why he wasn't bloody rich.
Naruto pocketed his hands and glided away. Though the trip had been a…disaster on his part, he now knew what to expect from the village of Konoha. The blonde nodded to himself and mumbled," At least I'll get away from that crazy dude in the cave." His mind flashbacked and Naruto shuddered at the image of the two white feet standing in front of the hole. He sighed and looked up, only to swerve suddenly and completely fall on his butt. Falling, he crashed into a stand of old knickknacks and knocked several of them over.
"W-who put that pole there?" Naruto grunted, as he rubbed his rear end. Due to his lack of attention to his surroundings, the teen almost crashed head first into a giant cable pole. The blonde pouted at the pole and grabbed his fallen board. He glanced at the stand and shook his head. He felt bad, but there wasn't anyone there to get mad at him about it.
As he was about to hop onto his board, Naruto heard a wheeze and a shuffle. The blonde spun around in fighting stance, to see an old hermit looking at him. Naruto blinked and thought 'why is there an old man here?'
The old man, stood lean and straight. His snowy white hair covered most of his eyes except for the mouth and his dark clothes suggested to Naruto that the man must have just woken up.
"U-uhhh…" The old man looked at the blonde and pointed a thin finger," You." Naruto gulped. "Did you break my pots?" The teen bowed deeply and sputtered," I-it was an accident sir! I really didn't mean it! I mean… I t-thought there was no one still living here in the 'Underground'!" The old man straightened his back and coughed into a fist.
"How will you pay me back?" Naruto gave a 'huh', and the old man gave a full-toothed grin. He stuck out his hand and waved it in front of the teen," You know… compensation. You break, you buy?" Naruto bit his lip. He didn't really have anything of value, besides his sky-board, but other than that he was low on valuables.
"Uhm, I actually don't have anything…" The old man jutted his chin out and nodded to Naruto's sky-board," What about that?" Naruto held it defensively," I-I'm really sorry. I can't give this away." The old man lifted his head and replied," I see. Then what will you do?"
Naruto bit his lower lip. He was going to leave, as quickly as possible, but now he was stuck trying to barter with an old man! Crazy guy. Naruto tried again," Sir, I know I broke your pots and all, but I have to go." "Why so, boy?"
Naruto moved his arms animatedly," Because there's this really crazy dude trying to catch me!" The old man chuckled," Really?" Naruto nodded.
"Really."
The old man turned around and stretched his arms up to the sky. To Naruto, the old man looked pretty healthy to be living in the 'Underground.' Judging by the looks of his body (Uzumaki Naruto was not checking out an old guy), he must've been very handsome and tall (again, he was not checking out an old guy) when he was younger.
"You must do something for me because of this," the old man spoke out loud. Naruto bit his lip for the umpteenth time. God was so nice to him last night! Now he was being delayed! That crazy guy could come at any moment…! Naruto apologized again, but the old man lifted a hand, stopping the teen in mid-apology.
"To compensate, why don't you stick around here? I haven't had company in awhile." Naruto gulped—the worst request was made! "B-but I… I really need to leave…—"
"Hey kid, don't lie to me. You got nothing else to do, am I right," the older turned around, a pinky stuffed in his ear. Naruto flushed shamefully. 'Damn, these Konoha people are sure weird! First the guy in the cave, now this old timer. I gotta bail though— '
"—name." Naruto looked up from his thoughts. The old man repeated himself," Your name?" Naruto stuttered," U-uzumaki Naruto!" There was an awkward silence between the man and Naruto. Naruto rubbed the back of his head and glanced else where. The old man snorted and sat down on a wooden bench next to the pottery stand," Uzumaki Naruto, huh?" He glanced at the blonde. "The name's Kasuse." Naruto gave a quick bow.
"Uhhm, so.. K-kasuse-san…" "I'll ask the questions here kid." Naruto shut his mouth and gave a look. The old man hmph'ed and then asked," Why're you out here in Konoha, kid?" Naruto shifted his weight onto his left leg," Uhhm.. I came looking for something." Kasuse turned his head to Naruto. "Like what?" Naruto scratched his head and muttered," It's kinda a secret, old timer." The white-haired snorted," Hey kid, remember. Compensation." Naruto made a noise close to disbelief and rebellion.
He looked down and replied," I'm lookin' for the Uchiha treasures…" The old man kept quiet again and scratched his stomach ('The old guy's toned too? Really, Konoha people are so weird.'). He turned his covered face to Naruto and chuckled," That it?" Naruto's mouth dropped. ''That it?' The hell! Doesn't this old timer realize how much money the Uchiha treasures are worth?' Naruto sputtered," D-do you know where it is?" Kasuse laughed (his laugh was a deep chuckle, Naruto noticed) and stood up, his hand on his hip.
"Say, since you've provided me a little company… Why don't I show you where the treasure is?" Naruto nearly dropped his board. The old man had to be insanely awesome or insanely stupid! But whatever the case, he was going to show Naruto where the treasure was, so it really didn't matter!
"R-really Kasuse-san?" The older chuckled deeply and folded his hands together in his black night shirt. He nodded towards the area that Naruto had just sped from. But Naruto hesitated.
Should he go back and most likely run into that crazy bastard? Or should he just leave and come back another time? Most likely the old man would be still here if he came back in a week… but…
"Are you coming or not, Naruto-kun?" Naruto gave a gulp and nodded, pocketing his sky-board away. He was already this close. He may as well go with the old man anyway.
There was a slim chance that the bastard would attack both Naruto and old Kasuse anyway.
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They arrived in another part of the village, but this time they arrived in a more formal part. From Naruto's point of view, it was almost as if his Japanese textbook had diarrhea and spewed out a picture of olden time houses. The rooftops were constructed with a deep black tiling and on nearly every door or window a small little red and white fan symbol was painted on.
Kasuse's voice floated to Naruto," This is the Uchiha residency." Naruto glanced and asked," Residency?" "But of course. Did you think the name 'Uchiha treasures' was just a name? It belonged to a royal family of Konoha." Naruto's mouth 'oh'-ed and looked back at the buildings. Suddenly Kasuse patted Naruto's shoulder and nodded him to follow him.
While they began to walk, Kasuse seemed to talk a whole new personality. He became more animated and spoke a lot more to Naruto then their initial meeting. "Here, was the commonery house. The servants would come and go from there all the time." Naruto nodded, but thought 'What does this have to do with the treasures?'
Eventually, Kasuse had dragged Naruto deep within the village, to a large black-roofed home. Kasuse nodded," And here is the main hall. The main family lived here." Naruto looked up at the large door and saw a brown, tattered banner with the same symbol hanging on it. "Hey, Kasuse-san… That symbol…?" "Ah, that's the Uchiha symbol." Naruto nodded again and followed after the old man.
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The old man walked around the house and Naruto noticed that the way the old man lingered in a hallway or walked past a room, his body language seemed to say that he had been here before.
Naruto spoke up," Have you been here before?" Kasuse glanced back at the boy and chuckled again," Oh yes. Many, many times." Not only did Kasuse seem a little more animated, Naruto swore his white hair was suddenly spiking out in the back. But the teen shook the thought away, it could have been the wind.
Kasuse finally stopped in front a pair of twin sliding doors. He turned to Naruto and blasted another toothy-grin," Beyond these doors, is what you want." Naruto's eyes widened. He was about to thank him, but Kasuse cut him short," Since I brought you here, I need compensation also." Naruto stopped.
Of course. This guy was all about give and take. Naruto hummed and replied," How about I give you anything you want after we go in?" The grin grew bigger," Oh, that would be nice." Naruto nodded. With the amount of money Sakura-chan had estimated, Naruto could buy this old man all of Konoha if he wanted!
Naruto slowly opened the sliding door and saw that there was another in front. He frowned and stepped forward to open the next, and saw the same thing again. Naruto proceeded forward and grabbed hold of the next sliding door. 'Really! Just to show how rich they are, they make two rooms of nothingness to get to the real one? Geez. Konoha people so weird.' And with that thought, Naruto pulled open the door to reveal, not a mountain of gold, but a dark and neat bedroom.
Naruto blinked. Where was the gold? The jewels? The diamonds and crowns? Where was all the riches that he had dreamt of? Naruto stepped inside and looked around. To his dismay, there was nothing. He clenched his good fist and was about to punch a wall when he heard a sharp click. Naruto turned around, only to have his chin grabbed and maneuvered to face away from the door, while a strong arm snaked around his waist.
"W-what the fuck! Who is this? K-kasuse-san?"
A deep chuckle rumbled from behind Naruto. Naruto blinked. "K-kasuse…san?" "It was quite… fun walking around here with you, little one. But I'm afraid the game is over." Sweat dripped down Naruto's forehead as he felt a familiar cold embrace his body.
"Y-you…" Naruto started," W-who are you…?"
"Ahh, if only you listened to me the first time, dobe. It wouldn't have been much of a shock to you."
Naruto froze. That whisper. He struggled against the tight embrace," Y-you bastard! H-how'd you find me?" Another chuckle.
"I actually found you the moment you entered the school room."
Naruto felt himself weak.
"But it seemed like a good idea at the time to let you feel like you had escaped."
He had been toyed with this whole time.
"You were awfully cute, sleeping in such a small bag. I was almost tempted to rip you out from there and take you then." Another chuckle. "But that wouldn't have been fun."
Naruto whispered quietly," S-so you lied to me?" "Ah, but I didn't lie about everything, dobe. I only lied about being on old man."
Naruto felt the arms left go and was suddenly pushed down to the bed. Naruto lay on the dusty bed without moving. This guy… 'T-this guy's a demon…?' Naruto didn't dare to look up. He counted the seconds and heard shuffling behind him.
"Look at me," commanded the whisper. Naruto kept still.
'One, two, three…'
"Being disobedient I see? Well, I can't blame you. You came straight from the snake's den."
'…f-four, five, six—'
A white hand gripped the tan chin and turned it. Naruto's gaze from the dusty bed sheets suddenly was ripped away and the blonde felt himself staring at an extremely good-looking man.
The white skinned man stood there, his lean body embraced by black clothing, and his black hair split in the center and spiked at the back. But the eyes, though they weren't red, they were still spinning.
Naruto kept still and looked down again, only to have his head turned forward. His captor gave him a handsome smirk.
"You look absolutely… delicious, Naruto-kun." Naruto flushed at the comment. Dammit! Why was he making so many blunders lately? He should've just gone home! Naruto wretched his head away and looked down at the sheets. He felt the bed sink and saw that the man had pinned him down by trapping Naruto between his long white limbs. The blonde suddenly felt something messing with his hair and turned, only to be held down again. "Y-you bastard… Let me go…!"
"Oh, but Naruto-kun. You promised to give me 'anything I wanted', if I showed you the treasure." Naruto hissed back—the man was sniffing his hair! "You showed me an empty room, bastard!"
"But on the contrary." The man flipped Naruto over and held both his injured and good wrists within one cold hand (but the younger noticed an extreme amount of gentleness that was put into pinning him down). Struggling, the boy found that the pale man had placed a white knee atop his chest, preventing any serious struggle. Naruto bit out," But what, teme?"
Naruto watched the handsome man smirk and he replied," You're looking right at the treasure, dobe."
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a/n: Huhu, sorry it's a bit short compared to the other one. But yeah. BUT SERIOUSLY. YOU GUYS ARE SO KIND IN REVIEWING ;_;I never expected such a reaction to this plot line.
One of you asked me (Gaara'sLuver1) where I got this idea from. Honestly, I can tell you that I don't remember. This is an old story I found in my hard drive. But if you're asking because you want ideas, try expanding your reading. I read a lot of weird books when I was little and I researched the darnest things too. So I bet I had gotten this idea during a random google-search. Haha;
But anyway, I'm sorry if this chapter seems a little less qualtied compared to the other one. It's finals this week and I wanted to give you guys something for the abundant love that you guys gave me with chapter 1 (hahah, whut). THANK YOU AGAIN! oh and please do review ;w; I love reading them so much and it really will help me.
backwards whispers: yes, there were some whispers again. So I'll translate them here:
"Iogng uyo rae ewerh?" : "Where are you going?"
"Uyo rewe I fi eeval doluwt'n I." : "I wouldn't leave if I were you."
"Em dendatsun odt'n uyo messe ti. Kapes uyo od guagelan tawh?" : "It seems you don't understand me. What language do you speak?"
"Guagelan kanes's manded atht kapes uyo, ha…" : "Ah, you speak that damned snake's language…"
Oh, and by the way. Did you guys notice that Kasuse is Sasuke scrambled? Just pointin' that out.
preview: The stranger, or Sasuke, strikes another deal with Naruto. But this time, the deal is that Naruto must take Sasuke back to Kumogakure.