NARUTO IS PROPERTY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO
"Kyuubi talking"
'Kyuubi thinking'
"Normal speech"
'Characters thinking'
Author's note:
Generation Lost
Chapter 4: Hand Of Blood
"There's a stain on my hand and it's red
Oh my god, am I losing it?
I can't help what I've done or I've said
It's the button I push"
"How's the brewing going?"
"Beautifully." Replied a middle-aged man with a white, dirty cloak. "We lowered the concentration of Hanzo's poison three weeks ago because the subjects would die way too quickly." The bald man gazed at the numerous vials in front of him, labeled with numbers. "This one, the number eight, was the last solution I created. The samples showed symptoms of a common cold, although one out of three would die due to the toxins."
Kabuto bent forward inspecting the purple colored liquids. He pointed to the last one in the line, it was labeled with the number 9. "And this one?"
"Well that one was an accident. I don't consider myself responsible for its making but it was the reason why I called you here, Kabuto-san."
The grey-haired young man turned his head to him, with an inquisitive look on his face.
"You see, potion number 9 has exceeded all our expectations. None of the subjects who drunk, inhaled or were injected with it have died yet, but they still tested positive for the poison."
"Is it still contagious?" asked the boy, analyzing the glass recipient in his hand.
"Highly." Asserted the older man. "With just a few infected within the city the virus should reach at least 90% of the population within a month… maybe less."
"When you say it was an accident…"
"Oh yes! I was brewing my Red Kiseki Tea next to the container and accidentally spilled some on the formula." The man was clearly embarrassed by his actions.
"And you still experimented with the contaminated formula?" Kabuto asked, reprovingly.
"I didn't think it'd matter. I supposed the venom was strong enough to dissolve the tea's traces. Apparently I was wrong."
Kabuto wandered around the makeshift lab quietly, vial in hand.
"Red Kiseki Tea, huh? I knew it was valuable but to have such an effect of Hanzo of the Salamander's poison… who'd have thought." He said the last part quietly to himself.
"Indeed. If Waterfall only knew twenty years ago, they could've charged The Salamander's enemies ten times its actual price to counteract his poison."
"Keep good track on formula 9's effect on the villagers. I'll send word to Sasuke-san with the good news and arrange for you to have a new batch of people to experiment with." Before leaving through the metal door, Kabuto turned his head slightly. "Well done, Imei."
Hinata always had a way of knowing when she wasn't welcomed. It wasn't really that hard to get, especially when the red-headed man who was overseeing the fights sent her and Naruto dirty looks when he thought they weren't watching. While she worried about their presence being an issue with the dangerous looking guards, Naruto seemed to rejoice in it.
Right now the object of her affection was right in the middle of the circle, surrounded by a loud crowd that had betted against him as soon as they saw him enter the ring. They had been cornered by the red-haired man as soon as they stepped closer to the crowd. The man, whose name they didn't know yet, guided them towards a couple of wooden benches for Naruto to take off his shirt and shoes, while explaining that given that it was his first time here he'd have to fight until he lost. The logic behind that rule was that it helped gamblers weight up the new contestant, so they got references for future matches. Hinata knew it wasn't the only reason. If they wanted the club to remain hidden from the authorities, they'd have to make sure no one ratted them out. By forcing Naruto fight they were making him an accomplice to their cause. Members couldn't go to the police without incriminating themselves.
The blond in disguise told her to gather as much information as she could while he was busy mopping the floor with his opponent's face. The Hyuuga was sure it wouldn't be as easy as they'd like. They were intruders as soon as they forced their way in, and the people in charge knew it. The red-headed, yellow-eyed referee was already whispering something to one of the guards while pointing to the Uzumaki. Not even the sight of Naruto's ripped chest and arms could distract her from the uneasiness that was consuming her. There were very slim chances they could get away from there without giving out their identities; they had compromised the whole team's mission.
"Gather 'round ladies and gents!" Hinata heard the red-haired man shout. The crowd quiet down, looking at their host intently. "Nagari here will fight 'till he drops!" He motioned for Naruto to come closer. Hinata gripped the Uzumaki's necklace harder, the one Naruto had given her to guard while he fought.
Naruto offered a sly smile at the front row, while jeers and catcalls washed over him.
"Come here, Itsumo." A bald guy, about a head taller than Naruto, approached them while taking off his shirt and handing it to a woman next to him. "Give him a warm welcome."
Laughter erupted from the crowd as the man called Itsumo cracked his knuckles with a wide grin plastered in his greasy face. Naruto barely listened to the supervisors words forbidding the use of teeth or nails, he was too pumped to notice much.
"Begin whenever you want."
Itsumo walked carelessly towards Naruto, stopping just a few inches away from him. He leaned forward. "C'mon, I'll let you hit me in the face just so you can say you at least managed to land a hit."
Naruto rolled his eyes. This guy had already pissed him off and they hadn't even passed thirty seconds. "You asked for it." As he reeled in his fist to knock his teeth out of his mouth, he caught sight of Hinata's meaningful glance. She shook her head curtly.
Naruto sighed. 'Fine.' His fist hit the man square in the face, but only at 5% his real strength so he didn't knock Itsumo out at once. He did however loose his balance and fell on his butt in the dirty ground, with a swollen jaw and disoriented eyeballs.
"Fucks sake!" the man exclaimed, standing back up with effort. The Uzumaki saw a couple of his teeth stained with blood. The people who were rooting for Itsumo suddenly fell silent, wondering how a sixteen-year-old could pack such a punch.
"That's what you get for getting cocky, pal." The black-haired Kyuubi container said with a smirk.
The man spit on the ground, then grimaced. If his jaw wasn't throbbing so badly he would've told him to go fuck himself, but he decided to dive in with a punch of his own. Without a warning, Naruto sped directly towards him, avoiding his fist with ease, grabbing onto his shoulders with both his hands and digging his knee into the man's sternum.
Itsumo emitted a mute scream. His green eyes darkened and rolled behind his skull; he fell unconscious to the dirty floor.
Silence reigned over the crowd. The woman that was with Itsumo rushed over to him screaming his name at the top of her lungs and, with help of two other men, took him towards the kitchen and out of sight.
"Now, whose next?" The blond asked, just to be answered by tons of cheers.
The Hyuuga had never minded Naruto's thirst for showing off in front of others. She knew he had all the right to want to prove himself after all the harsh, discouraging words he'd received when he was younger. But right now, he was drawing unwanted attention. Two new guards had approached the red-haired man, who she had learned his name was Fuumo, after reading the lips of a guard in their conversation, and she was pretty sure they were talking about Naruto between them. Judging from their glares she guessed it wasn't something good.
If they were going to continue with their façade, they'd better ease Fuumo's nerves.
"Nagari-kun!"
It wasn't his substitute name that made him react, it was Hinata's voice. The boy turned around, only to be met by the indigo-haired young woman leaping into his arms and clinging onto his torso. The blond took a few steps back in shock, his arms slowly locking around Hinata's frame.
"Hinamori?" The shinobi called, uncertain of what he was supposed to do with her on him and his face staring directly at Hinata's chest. He was barely aware of the men whistling at them.
The girl lowered her mouth to his ear and whispered, "They're going to be unto us if you don't start being more realistic, Nagari-kun. We'll never get close to them if they don't trust what they see."
The blond frowned. Of course Hinata was right, she always was. The problem was that it would be difficult to fake without making it seem that he was trying too hard. "Okay."
"Kid, you better kiss your girl goodbye 'cause when I'm done with you your mouth and face will be torn in half." The couple turned to a gruff, middle-aged man. His grin revealed a missing tooth and two golden teeth.
"Why so hostile? I thought this was supposed to be a friendly fight." The jinchuriki let Hinata on the ground and watched her go to her place at the front of the crowd. She sent him one last concerned look but Naruto replied with a wink that assured he had everything under control.
"You knocked out my friend, punk. Besides, everyone sheds blood on their first night. It's about time you do the same." Without waiting for the Fuumo's signal, the brute lurched at him like a mad bull. It crossed Naruto's mind to jump out of his way but he guessed he would only attract more attention if he leapt ten feet in the air. The teen got trapped in the man's hairy arms and they both fell heavily into the concrete floor.
'Ugh, he smells worse than Kiba!' Naruto thought in disgust as he raised his forearms to block the falling fists of the heavy man. As his sense of smell reached his limit, the blond launched a punch of his own as soon as the man pulled back his arm and hit him in the eye. The brown-haired man's left arm went to nurse his eye, and the blond launched another fist in his right ear to the guy fell to the side and away from him.
Making it seem that he was out of breath, the blond slowly stood up from the ground and massaged his arms. His opponent was still kneeling in the ground with a grimacing face.
'I didn't even hit you that hard.' He wanted to say to him, but a kid his age and size shouldn't be so cocky against a gorilla like him. So he gasped and waited for the man to stand up and deliver his promises of pain. The man came at him again, but this time with a punch ready to connect against his face. Naruto dodged and stepped back repeatedly, purposefully letting down his guard so the guy could at least touch him.
After five shots, the guy finally managed to kick Naruto in the cheek. With a grin, the brown-haired man watched as the blond skipped to his knee.
'Holy crap, you have all that muscle but can only hit that hard?' Naruto resisted the urge to laugh and shake his head. Instead he bit into his cheek and drew a mouthful of blood, then spit it on the ground.
"You're still standing, punk?" The man said with a taunting smirk and a black eye. He was panting heavily and a slick sheen of sweat covered his neck and chest.
"Barely." Naruto replied, trying not to roll his eyes. 'I'll fall asleep if you don't step up your game.'
The man drew a weak laugh. He was too tired to think of a jeer, so he decided to just finish Naruto up instead.
'There don't seem to be much more promising opponents here. Maybe I should just let him win.' The blond lowered his guard, while the man approached warily with his fists up. Suddenly his opponent caught the eye of Hinata who was watching closely. He winked at her with his good eye and sent a couple of kisses her way, before going in for Naruto's head.
Naruto tightened his fists. 'Or maybe not.' Turning on his left feet, the Uzumaki spun rapidly and hooked his heel to the side of the brute's head.
Hinata resisted the urge to pinch her nose as the Uzumaki's opponent hit the ground. It was the first time in her life she was so irritated at him. How did he manage to complete undercover missions with Jiraiya with such a careless behavior?
Just as she predicted, Fuumo dispatched his two advisors with some unknown orders, although she could guess what they were going to be. They were either going to kick them out or tip off Kudo's men about them. She really hoped it was the former, that way they would just scratch off this night as very dangerous and return to the hotel towards Yamato's wrath. But even then, she was sure they were going to watch them closely.
After witnessing the fight that just took place, no one else wanted to be Naruto's next victim. Not only were they afraid but also disgruntled at their lost money. Some were starting to think they had been tricked into betting against the not so inexperienced teen, so someone else could get all their money.
'Well there goes our cover.' The blond thought, massaging the back of his neck guiltily. He glanced at Hinata remorsefully but by the look of her disappointed face he could tell he really messed up this time.
"I was going to let him win, I swear." He said, approaching the girl with his head lowered. Hinata turned towards the man drooling lifelessly on the floor, then back to Naruto.
"I can see that."
"No really, it's just… I don't know what came over me." Maybe it was the heat of the battle, but for a split second a numb rage took control of his mind and he couldn't control it. Finding nothing else to say, Hinata sighed and looked away from him. Somehow the thought of her hating him was a thousand times worse than their lives and the mission being in danger.
"Why the long faces?" Fuumo asked as he approached them with an uncharacteristic grin. "You should be celebrating! It's the first time a man so young defeats the club's best!"
Hinata forced a smile and told him that Naruto didn't feel well. They were afraid his jaw had been broken.
"Don't worry, its fine. If it were broken you'd be yelling in pain. It's just swollen, nothing a couple of beers can't fix. C'mon, it's on the house." The man placed his arms around each one of them and led them towards the small bar almost hidden in the corner of the room.
Kowaki Fuumo was the club's manager. The once grumpy man they'd met almost an hour ago was gone and was now replaced by a jolly character that only praised Naruto's skills. He ordered three beers from a skinny old woman behind the counter. The beverages arrived minutes later in three dark glasses.
"Thank you but I have to pass, I don't like beer." The indigo-haired girl said politely, looking at the bubbling foam that slid down the glass surface. Fuumo's eyes narrowed for a second but he then turned to Naruto with a big smile.
"Well that's a shame. That means more for you Nagari-kun, let it cool you down." Although he wasn't at all in the mood to be drinking, the Kyuubi container had the feeling that Fuumo wasn't going to let them in peace until he drank the fishy glass of beer.
In the background, grunting noises and incoherent cries were heard, signifying the start of a new fight. Hinata's hand made its way to his and tapped him lightly three times.
Yep, it had something in it all right. This was it. They either refused and tried to run from that place or did as they were told and continued to play along Fuumo's little game. Either way they both were screwed; Yamato was going to skin them alive.
The blond considered it. 'Hinata's not going to like this.' He thought, placing an arm around her shoulders.
"Hin, you should at least have drink on me. It's not every day I defeat two grown men almost twice my size." Hinata's eyes widened and looked directly at him, startled. Did he really expect her to get drugged just to continue with his unhealthy habit of getting into dangerous situations?
"Please?" This time the blond leaned closer to her and pressed his forehead to hers. Not even the stink from the basement could overrun the delicious scent of the Hyuuga Heiress.
Her cheeks were beating heat but she could see the resolution on the Uzumaki's irises. Not even her father and all the elders could stop her from caving in to the look on Naruto's eyes. Even after all these years, her heart still belonged to him.
"I guess I could join in on a small toast." Hinata said, biting her lower lip. Naruto squeezed her hand gratefully. He could never ask for a more supporting partner.
He turned to his beer, finding it rather difficult since his eyes had been glued to her lips, and gulped it down realizing there was no turning back now.
'Huh'
His mind was slowly clearing up, although the faint sense of grogginess still clung to the back of his eyelids.
'I thought the drug would be stronger.'
Apart from the lingering sleepiness, and the faint but certain sensation that he was having a nightmare he didn't quite remember, the chuunin didn't feel much different from normal. Thanks to the Kyuubi's influence, most drugs and pills didn't act properly in his system, sometimes they didn't act at all. He'd say he'd been asleep for an hour tops.
He listened carefully, trying to place his whereabouts without opening his eyes. The only sound he could recollect was feet stepping on dry leaves and grass. They were obviously taking him away from the town, entering the forest that surrounded it.
He felt how his body swayed back and forth, his left arm hitting against someone else's limb.
'Could it be Hinata's?'
It was too dangerous to open his eyes to try and see. He let his head sway to the left along with the vehicle that was transporting him, and inhaled a quick whiff from the cold air. The vanilla scented air entered his nostrils and cleared his mind even more. Hinata was definitively next to him.
Good. Hopefully she wasn't too doped up.
The cart (Naruto figured out, since the surface was made out of wood and it creaked in all the right places) took a sharp turn to the right, which made Hinata's head hit his shoulder not so delicately. A soft groan followed.
"She'll wake up soon." The voice was of a male and it carried an accent Naruto recognized from the upper mountains of the North. Another man grunted his agreement but didn't reply.
Now the dark world outside his eyelids lighted up as they entered what the Kyuubi container supposed to be a cave. There was dust in the air, along with the distinct smell of burning tar feeding up the torches that enlightened the chilly place. That's when the blond noticed he was only wearing his jacket with no shirt underneath. His kidnappers had been kind enough to put his blue jacket back on.
They made a left turn, then a right then a left again. As they went deeper into the cave the air got colder. He could feel Hinata's hand and it was freezing.
'Just hang in there. We'll find out what they're doing with the missing people and then we can call backup.'
He noticed voices a few meters in front of them. They were getting louder and clear. Most of them were men's, but he thought he heard a woman's laugh.
'This is our stop.'
"Jirou! What did you bring for us today?" A young man's voice greeted.
"Just a couple of troublemakers. Fuumo didn't quite like them in the club so here they are."
"Whoa! Look at that! I haven't seen a chick so hot in a while!"
The blond in disguise heard shuffling noises, along with grunts of agreement from at least other two males around him. He really hoped they weren't touching her.
"The boy is a looker himself." The woman said with an approving tone. He supposed it was the same woman that grabbed his face with her hand and turned it to the left.
"Leave him alone, Noa. He's at least ten years younger than you."
"So what? I like what I see. Besides, that hasn't stopped you from feeling up most of the girls that come this way Akio." This was followed by a round of laughs from the guys.
"Guilty." Said the man called Akio, who Naruto already hated. There was a spanking sound that reverberated through the small room and made Hinata jolt awake, along with a yelp.
Everyone in the room laughed openly.
"Well, hello beautiful." Another man's voice said seductively, but was shoved aside by Akio.
"Back off, Jirou. This one's mine." Akio said, kneeling next to Hinata. The girl panicked at first, but the recollection of the events swam back into her brain. She collected her composure. "Hi. My name is Akio, and you must be tonight's meal."
Naruto could hear the lust in the man's voice, and was ready to open his eyes and smack the guy into the wall if it weren't for Hinata slapping him first.
"Don't touch me!" The young woman said firmly, her face was flushed and her eyes unforgiving. Akio giggled.
"I'm very sorry but that's not gonna be possible." He laughed. "Jirou, why don't you tie her up? And the boy too. We don't want them interrupting."
Either Hinata was a great actress, or she was really mad at whatever the man had done to her, since two guys had to restrain her while they tied her up. The Uzumaki let them tie his hands against his back, but he was too restless to fake asleep anymore.
"Now, what did a beauty like you do to catch Fuumo's attention?"
"It wasn't her. It was her boyfriend. Gave too good of a fight. Fuumo said he wanted to interrogate him himself." This was his cue. Faking dizziness, the Uzumaki opened his eyes.
"Blue eyes, nice." The chuunin looked at the owner of the voice. It was a black-haired woman, no older than thirty. She was wearing a red top and a short skirt. Naruto dismissed her, his eyes went for Hinata, who was looking at him intently.
"Are you okay?" he asked, not thinking about the mission in that moment. He just wanted to know the blue haired bastard hadn't hurt her. The girl immediately scooted towards him.
"Nagari-kun!"
"No no." Akio warned, grabbing her by her hair and yanking her away. The black-haired Uzumaki narrowed his eyes at Hinata's scream. "I'm sorry but she's with me tonight. Besides, Fuumo has business with you."
"Bastard you let her go!" The boy got up and charged against the short-haired man. But before he could get to them two thick arms wrapped him up and held him into place. Naruto yanked his head backwards and hit him square in the nose, the man yelled in pain as he let go of the boy.
There was no one else in his way to Hinata and Akio. He gave another step but suddenly the earth beneath his feet caved in, making him loose his footing. The blond went down with a crash, just a few feet away from Hinata and Akio. 'That guy can use earth Justus.'
Three pair of hands seized him. He squirmed for a bit but decided it was too early to blow his cover. They still didn't believe them ninjas.
The woman and another man tied his feet together.
"I liked you better when you were asleep, didn't we love?" Akio asked in Hinata's ear, while holding her chin firmly with his hand. The girl grunted in disgust. "I thought so too. Jirou, why don't you put him to sleep again? And clean your nose!"
"My pleasure." The Konoha-nin turned to see a dark-skinned man, wearing a scar across his neck and down his ear. Someone had tried to slit his neck open and failed. There was blood running down his lips and nostrils, and a glare only Anko could match.
"Don't hurt him!" Hinata pleaded, dropping a single tear on cue.
"Don't worry, Hinamori. I'll get us out of this." The boy responded confidently, as Jirou cracked his knuckles.
"Hinamori? That's a lovely name." Akio said with a smug smile, as he buried his nose on Hinata's long hair and took a deep whiff. The blond shot him a murderous glare; too mad for words. He was already imaging possible ways to kill that man, and they all were slow and painful.
Even when Jirou threw the first fist to his temple, Naruto was still glaring at Akio.
Cursing the boy, the bald man let his fists rain down on Naruto's head, hitting with all his strength.
"That boy's got a hard skull." Said Noa, sitting cross legged in a wooden chair next to the entrance. "Take this." She handed the man a kunai so he could use the handle against Naruto's head.
The first blow left a throbbing sensation behind Naruto's head, but the Uzumaki was still fixed on Hinata and her kidnapper. It had been a while since he wanted to stick a kunai through someone's brain so bad. Four more blows to the head but Naruto still didn't feel like going to sleep. He wondered if he could kill everyone in the room and just wait for Fuumo to give them answers without all this drama. But Hinata's eyes caught his and she shook her head curtly.
She was right. It was Hinata's turn to call the shots.
"Are you serious? What's going on with you tonight?" It was now time for the other woman in the room to get up front.
"It's like hitting a rock!" Exclaimed the scarred man, sweat covering his brow.
"Give me that!" She snatched the Knife out of Jirou's hand and turned to the boy. "I'll see you when Fuumo's done with you. Hopefully we still can have a little fun." She cupped his cheek and planted a kiss on his forehead. The Kyuubi container turned his head harshly away from her, missing the cold look that appeared on Hinata's face.
Next thing he knew was that the woman dug the handle in the back of his ear, and his vision distorted for a second. 'She's also a shinobi. And she can pack one hell of a punch.'
For the second time in two hours, Naruto faked asleep again.
"I hope you're happy. Thanks to your little escapade, you've compromised not only the whole mission but our safety in this town!" Yamato was positively mad, and it didn't help that the person he really wanted to scold was Kami-knows-where, living his own little adventure at the cost of the team's wellbeing.
If there was someone just as mad as Yamato, it had to be the Inuzuka. His nostrils were far too wide and his eyes had this crazed look in them. The tall boy had his arms crossed over his chest, and his nails were digging into his flesh.
"It's 2 AM and neither Naruto nor Hinata are back. What do you know about their whereabouts?" The team leader approached a Naruto clone, breathing down his face.
"How the hell are we supposed to know?" replied one of the clones rudely.
By now, Sakura's patience hit the limit, so she decided to be a little more assertive.
"You are parts of him. You must've an idea of what he was thinking when he summoned you!"
The clone, which had been sitting in the edge of the bed, was now hanging in the air by making of Sakura's hand around his neck. He gasped for air.
"I know you're mad because I saw you in your underwear, but if you think about it I was Hinata at that time so it's nothing to get so worked up." The black-haired Naruto clone said with a smirk, even though his face was starting to turn blue.
At the mention of Hinata's name, Kiba snapped and went for the clone. With a swift punch in the face, he was sent backwards into the bathroom door.
"Oof." The clone exclaimed. "Don't do that again! I might disappear!"
"Keep it quiet, all of you! We're still undercover!" Yamato ordered with a stern gaze at the youths. Sai was looking very interested in the whole situation. "Answer the question, clone."
"Whoa, so aggressive." Said the clone standing back up and dusting himself off. "You know, I might be a clone but I'm also Naruto so it's rude to call me as if I were a puppet."
"Naruto." Sakura said under her breath, green eyes shooting daggers his way. Even though he was just a tiny essence of the real Naruto, his attitude was still all over the place and could tick anyone off.
"Fine, I accept your apology." The Naruto clone said, turning towards Yamato. "He was thinking of going to the red light district, and sniff around the bar where most of the men had been abducted."
"Is that all of it?" The brown-haired ANBU asked, feeling a migraine already starting. He had seriously hoped they had just gone out on a date, but doing an independent investigation was more serious than the clone made it sound.
"Apart from thinking Hinata smelled really nice, that was it."
*Poof*
This time Kiba didn't hold anything back, and his fist went straight through the clone's face and into the smoke that appeared. The Inuzuka turned his black eyes to the remaining clone, the one who had taken Hinata's form, and approached threateningly.
Fortunately for the helpless clone, Yamato restrained him. "Don't. We might need him if Naruto wants to send in a message."
Kiba's confused face made him explain further. "The real Naruto now knows that we discovered his clones and are going to look for him. If he's in danger, he'll use another clone to transfer his situation to us."
"So we just wait? What if he can't use his clones?" Sakura questioned, placing her hands on her hips.
"No. We're going to look for them. We need to get out of the village before Kudo comes for use. Once regrouped, we'll figure out another plan of action."
Just when he was about to throw caution away so he could go look for Hinata, the door of the dark room finally flung open and in came Fuumo, with a lamp hanging from his hand and a knife firmly tucked in his belt.
With two brusque kicks to the stomach he woke the boy up, and sat him straight against the stone wall.
"Time to answer some questions before we decide what to do with you." He was clearly annoyed by him, and Naruto guessed it was because he just might have ruined his Fight Club reputation. He saw Jirou, Noa and another man entering the room behind him. His eyebrows knitted together. 'Where's the bastard that was with Hinata?'
A loud slap brought him back to reality. Fuumo kneeled in front of him. "Eyes on me."
"I'm gonna cut your hand." The boy said before he reminded himself to act scared. Too bad, he was too damn pissed.
"Really? How are you gonna do that without a knife like this one?" He proceeded to place the knife on top of Naruto's cheek. "Not so brave now, are we? Now before I cut your tongue you better tell me who do you work for?"
The blond could almost taste the rust on the steel knife. "I'm not working for anyone."
"Bullshit!" Fuumo dug the edge of the knife in his face, and guided the blade across Naruto's cheek until it hit his chin. The Uzumaki made a face. "Stop acting tough. Who are you working for? No boy could beat two of my best fighters without breaking a sweat!"
The man still wasn't implying he was a shinobi. The boy might still have a chance to protect his identity.
"My father is a police man back in my village. He taught me how to defend myself." Naruto answered with an honest face. There was a tiny stream of blond making its way down his neck.
"A policeman?" his answer seemed to have taken Fuumo aback. "Does he know you're here?"
"Of course, he's my father! He knows I'm here on vacations with my girlfriend."
Fuumo seemed to think about what he'd said, but he still didn't look convinced. "Tell me, Nagari-san. When did you arrive to Yugakure?"
The chuunin raised an eyebrow. "September 12. But why would that matte-"
There was a brief pause in which two things happened.
One, his mind went into a reset stage, where the events that had just happened in their hotel ran across his eyes, along with the information of Watari being killed and their identities being known by the enemy.
Two, Fuumo's eyes shone with understanding, his lips pursing together and a vein throbbing in his forehead.
"If you were a regular hostage I'll just hand you to the chemist for his experiments. But I think you deserve special treatment, don't you think guys?" He turned to look at his comrades, who understood perfectly. They unsheathed their weapons and approached greedily.
"Is it just me or does anybody else thinks we've reached an impasse?" Naruto asked, feeling the first bits of adrenaline beginning to boil after several days of sitting around in the village.
Fuumo raised his knife on top of his head and pulled it downward, ready to strike Naruto between the eyes. Just as it was about to impale him, the black-haired shinobi extended his neck upwards and closed his teeth against the blade, stopping it short from cutting the inside of his mouth and throat.
Through gritted teeth, Naruto said. "It isn't just me, then." The 16 year old bit hard enough to shatter the knife. Fuumo let out a gasp of surprise and fell backwards on top of his ass. Naruto kicked him with both his bound feet into the opposite side of the room.
Seeing as their prisoner was a dangerous one, the two men and women charged forward, Noa with a knife in hand and the men with a cheap sword.
Turning the tip of the blade with his tongue, Naruto spit it out with such a force it hit one of the men between his eyebrows. He fell with a dying scream.
"Bastard!" Screamed Jirou, swinging his blade at Naruto. The boy jumped backwards, as he broke free of the rope on his hand and feet by sheer force. He dodged another slash, stepped on the blade once it made contact with the ground so Jirou couldn't use his sword anymore, and grabbed the wrist of the woman that was about to stab him in the back.
"May I borrow this?" He snatched the kunai from Noa's hand, spun on his heel and slit the throat of the bald man. "Thanks." He gave her the knife back, just as Jirou was making his last attempts to speak in this world.
Just as he was walking away from her towards the crawling Fuumo, Noa yelled, "Kebari Sebon (Hair Needles)!" Black spikes of hair rushed towards his vital points rapidly, but Naruto managed to shuffle to the side, drop and roll, while grabbing the sword of the man whose name he never knew.
"Surrender. I don't want to kill a woman." The Kyuubi container said seriously.
"I'd rather die than surrender to a Konoha shinobi." Her hair elongated, then charged again. The boy teleported right behind her and knocked her out before she could figure out where he went.
"Fuumo." Said man gasped, while he stumbled into his feet and headed for the dark corridor outside but never got to the door.
Fuumo found himself being dragged against his will to the far back of the empty room. Naruto threw him against the cave wall and he almost blacked out as a jagged rock protruding from the surface dug into his kidney.
"Now." His capturer said, his eyes glinting with the small smirk that had formed in his face. With a gesture of his hand an air current came into existence and the door closed with a loud 'thud'. "I'm gonna treat you just like you treated me not five minutes ago."
"W-Who are you?" the man was sweating so much, he already had two dark, wet circles under his armpits.
"Oh, I thought you already knew that." The boy said, clearly enjoying himself. "Then again, I don't really know what you know."
Fuumo watched worriedly as the dark-haired boy found the knife that he had stuck in his face. His bulging eyes searched the blue ones of his torturer-to-be for some kind of sign of pity or mercy, but the only thing he found was anticipation.
Deciding that the only chance of coming out of this alive was to cooperate, Fuumo opened his shaking lips. "I'll tell you everything. Please don't hurt me!" He blurted out, watching expectantly as the boy he knew by the name of Nagari smiled widely, showing his canines.
"You don't understand." The Uzumaki said, placing the bloody edge right on top of the man's right hand. The older man then noticed how the wound on Nagari's face was already halfway healed. A yelp escaped the older man's lips. "I'll stop hurting you when you tell me everything."
Naruto navigated through the labyrinth of stone walls and wooden doors under the skin of the now deceased Fuumo. The disguise was so perfect he even copied the two-day stubble the Club manager had.
He tried to keep calm and walk slowly but he couldn't stop thinking of the possible scenarios in which he had gotten Hinata into with that Aoki guy.
Had she revealed her cover yet or was she still pretending to be an innocent girl that didn't know how to defend herself? He really hoped she had already killed the man with a blow to the heart but he knew Hinata wouldn't fight if that meant it would compromise his position. But even if she did, Aoki was a shinobi that could use earth jutsus.
"Where the hell are they?" Naruto muttered in a voice too deep to be his own, as he opened yet another door to find a poorly looking cupboard with just a few kettles and brooms in it.
He reached a an opened room with two armed guys sitting in metal chairs and trying to sync an old radio communicator, but only distortion could be heard from it. He decided to approach them, even though he didn't know how Fuumo behaved with others or if he even knew them.
"Do you know where Aoki is?" he asked, trying to disguise the angry tone in his voice but failing at it.
The two men, one with a bird and the other with an eye patch turned to him, with sleepy eyes. "Oh, It's you. Why are you doing here so early? It isn't even morning yet."
"I need him urgently." Fuumo pressed.
"I doubt he'll see you. He's with a woman in his room right now. It might be another hour before he sees anyone else."
It just downed on Naruto that he didn't know where Aoki's room was. He cursed under his breath and left swiftly.
Making up his mind, Naruto went back to the cupboard, locked himself inside and sat cross-legged in the floor with closed eyes. As the minutes went by, his mind slowly went blank, and his breathing became even. Suddenly he was very aware of the roaches roaming behind a bowl, and a natural water supply fifteen feet below him. His body became very warm, and his muscles felt stronger by the second.
His eyes opened and, even though Fuumo's face hadn't changed, he knew his eyes under the transformation technique were rimmed with yellow linings right on top of his eyelids. 'I'll use the natural energy to locate Hinata.'
He didn't even need to focus at all. Hinata was the only chakra he knew in all this cave, and it came like a light blue string that started not so far to his right, and ended seven more doors heading west.
"Right." The Uzumaki thought as he cancelled his Sage Mode and sprinted for Hinata's and Aoki's room.
"I can tell you're a virgin even with your clothes on." Whispered Aoki into Hinata's ear. He pushed her into a moth-eaten mattress that was so thin she might as well have fallen directly onto the stone floor.
Hinata glared at him through her black contact lenses. How many women had been in this same mattress, with her hands tied just like hers, watching as the blue-haired man removed his shirt with a wide grin?
"You know, for a man, being a lady's first is the highest honor." He took two steps forward as he removed his gloves. "Since your boyfriend couldn't fulfill his duty, the task has fallen on my hands. Lucky me!" He said the last words excitedly, as he bent down to reach for Hinata's pants.
"If lucky means being stuck with a taijutsu expert in the same room, then you're right." Hinata said with her jaw clenched. It had been a very long time since a man had pissed her off so much.
Aoki's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The Hyuuga heiress didn't wait for him to understand or speak, and shoved her feet into his stomach, along with a generous wave of chakra coming from the tips of her toes that painfully entered the man's skin and into his chakra points.
With a gurgling sound, Aoki hugged his middle. Every muscle in his body contracted and the pain reached a point so high that his mind shut down in three seconds. The man fell forward, right besides Hinata.
Sending chakra to her hands, she broke her bonds free, and was up and ready to go in less than a minute.
She could already feel the disapproving look on Kurenai's eyes not only for breaking protocol and using chakra, but also for not killing the man then and there. 'You'd be doing the world a favor.' Her sensei's silky voice chastised. Hinata sighed.
Even in her prosperous shinobi career, Hinata still had a lower than average killing rate for a chuunin who was about to apply for the jounin exam in six months. Turning her head to the lying man, the young woman kneeled next to his grimacing face and pushed her finger in four different places: his sternum, his neck, his left shoulder and his low back. With every stroke there was a chakra impulse that assured he wouldn't be able to mold chakra for at least two weeks without the aid of a Hyuuga.
Now that the rapist was down, she wondered what should be her next move.
She wanted to look for Naruto so they could get out of there as soon as possible, but she obviously couldn't walk around knocking on every door since she was already branded as a prisoner.
She took a long look at Aoki's body and face, memorizing every part of his features.
Hinata would now pass for Aoki, and look for Naruto herself before he started causing trouble around the enemy's base.
Suddenly the door swung open and in came the same man that had drugged them back at the Club. His eyes darted rapidly around the room until he found a half-naked ninja lying unconscious on the floor and the suspicious girl from before standing right next to him.
Hinata didn't wait for him to speak. She dashed forward, ready to strike him down with both her palms raised in front of her chest and a determined look on her face.
But Fuumo was faster than she thought, and managed to grab both her wrists before her palms had a chance to make contact with his chest. The Hyuuga didn't panic, as she was already molding charka to shoot it through her hands. Fuumo widened his eyes at her glowing hands and yelled
"Hinata, wait!"
Her eyes widened. Hearing her real name shocked her enough to stop the chakra flow.
"It's me." Now he was whispering, afraid that someone might hear them through the open door. Taking advantage of her cease fire, Fuumo lead her further inside, as he closed the door with his foot. "Look."
Hinata knew who he was before his henge no jutsu was cancelled, but she still couldn't hide her relief. A bright smile spread across her cheeks. "Naruto-kun!" She immediately closed her mouth, and looked around worriedly, fearing she had revealed the Uzumaki's identity. Naruto chuckled as he embraced her and she him.
"You OK?" the blond asked, breaking the hug and placing both his hands on the sides of her face. He looked her up and down, inspecting her face and clothes. Her cheeks were slightly reddened and her face was paler than normal, but that was just the secondary effects of the drug they had ingested. Her fake pupils looked back at him and the Uzumaki still couldn't get over the discomfort he felt every time he looked at her contacts. He missed her Hyuuga eyes.
Her clothes were somewhat ruffled and dirty, but other than that he found no sign that suggested she was hurt in any way.
Hinata wondered if Naruto had always been this caring before, but she guessed it was just because he had been worried about her whereabouts.
Taking both his hands on hers; she graced him with one of her small grins. "I'm fine, Nagari-kun."
Even in their current predicament, not only down in the cave but also with Yamato who was most certainly going to demote them to genins, Hinata couldn't help to think this was the most tender moment both of them had had in years. This is how she had dreamed they would meet again after he had kissed her goodbye before going on his training trip; not him thinking of her as a prostitute, but like this falling in each other's' arms and smiling fondly at each other.
His blue eyes shifted to her assailant. They hardened. "Is he dead?"
The girl could feel Naruto's killing intent rising. "No."
"Good. 'Cause I'm going to kill him." He stepped towards the unconscious shinobi, ready to break his neck, but Hinata hurried to his side and grabbed his arm with both her hands.
"Don't! He can't even mold chakra anymore."
"I don't care! He was gonna –" The Uzumaki stopped himself, not able to finish the sentence.
Hinata's eyes softened. Now she understood just why he was so concerned when he found her; it must have been agonizing for him imagining Aoki raping her, even if he knew she would never let him.
"Nagari-kun, we have more pressing matters to attend to. He's no longer of any concern for us." He still didn't budge. The Hyuuga sighed. "We have to return and tell Yamahiki-san what we know."
"About that." Naruto said in a whisper, looking at her apologetically. "He already knows about the clones."
Hinata looked appalled. Before she could say anything else, Naruto proceeded to tell her that Kudo's men knew Konoha Shinobi had infiltrated the village, and that Yamato had given the order to retreat.
"They're gonna look for us, they might already be on our trail but until they dispel my other clone I won't know." Naruto felt genuinely guilty for making Hinata follow him into their brave but stupid mission. "I'll take the whole blame for running away, Hin, I swear it!"
His childhood friend let go of his arm and stepped away. Naruto saw the disappointment in her eyes. "No, it's not your fault… I should've known better." Although she whispered the last part, Naruto could still hear. He wanted to say something to make her feel better but he knew it was useless. She was completely right; he had screwed them both.
"I'm really sorry." The blond sighed, his shoulders slumping.
"Me too."
Saying that the cave was big was an understatement. Every turn they made took them to a new chamber, very similar to the others but with distinct components, like an extra lamp or a red desk. It was getting colder, and Hinata thought it was because they were getting further into the mountain. People were starting to ask the two disguised shinobi why they were running around, sending them confused looks.
They also noticed they were encountering even more and more people. Some were wearing lab coats and others were armed to the teeth. The lab coats made Naruto want to investigate further, but Hinata made it clear they were to retreat, and any future approaches would be done by Yamato's or Hokage's orders.
It was when they thought they have found a familiar kitchen when they heard an alarm go off, blaring in their ears.
"Fuck."
Hinata heard Naruto curse under his breath, but ignored him as she tried to come up with a new plan. Their disguises were useless, as they have either found the dead pile of bodies Naruto left behind or Aoki announcing the girl was a shinobi in disguise that had blocked his chakra points much like Hyuuga were known to do.
She activated her Byakuugan.
"This way." She said, jogging in front of her childhood crush.
"Yes, ma'am." The black haired Uzumaki replied, trying to hide his excitement so not to get on Hinata's bad side again. If he were with Jiraiya, they would've started breaking necks a long time ago. But he respected Hinata's decision of avoiding any fighting.
After ten minutes of scurrying from a squad of ten men bursting through every door, Hinata found a locked cupboard that Naruto kicked open. It was too small for the two of them but they squeezed in anyway.
"I think we should lose the henge. It's no use anyway." Naruto whispered, listening closely to the footsteps outside. He had to admit it was a little bit uncomfortable to have to look at Aoki pressed against him.
"You're right." The Hyuuga conceded, steadying her breath. They both breathed the word 'kai' and immediately after, they were Hinamori and Nagari once again.
"How does it look out there?" Naruto asked, trying to ignore how Hinata's elbow was propped right on top of his crotch.
"There's three men a few meters from us, and four others looking into the kitchens. The rest have turn back. There's also…"
"Hmm?" Hinata had fallen silent, her eyes widened.
"It's… There's at least one-hundred ninja gathered right under us, and twenty dying men on a basement seven doors at our left." The girl was impressed they had managed to create a small military camp in the heart of the mountain.
"Any exits?" Naruto inquired. Hinata raised her head in alarm.
"They're coming."
The door flew open, revealing two pair of eyes that connected with theirs. Just as the man realized the two teens hiding inside were the ones they were looking for, Hinata pushed her fingers at the base of her neck. The other man watched as his partner fell to the floor without saying a word.
"HEL-Ugh!" Hinata crushed his throat swiftly.
"Do you think anyone heard them?" Hinata asked doubtfully.
"I don't know, let's ask them." Naruto pointed at three more men coming their way. It was clear they were also shinobi since two kunai came flying their way. Naruto grabbed them by the handle and handed one to Hinata. "Now this is just too convenient!"
The girl frowned at the excitement on Naruto's voice but still charged against the three men, blocking the oncoming knifes with her brand new one. As she went for the one in the left, Naruto threw his kunai with a chakra coat to make it sharper. It sliced in half a shuriken coming his way, along with the face of the owner. Before the third man had any time to react, Naruto kicked him in the side of his face and knocked him out for good.
"Let's see if they have any more weapons." Naruto said, taking back the kunai from between the wall and searching the dead man first. Hinata looked away from the bloodied man, and looted her own weapons.
"What is happening out there? We can't focus with all these noise." Imei said as he faced a short haired shinobi.
"My apologies, but two intruders have breached the hideout." The man was short and was sweating. He had been running all through the maze delivering messages.
Imei and Kabuto looked at him sharply. The grey-haired young man rose from his seat and approached the messenger.
"How did they get in?" He asked threateningly. The short man gulped.
"They, uh… They were brought in by Fuumo from the Fight Club. I don't know the details but it seems they were undercover and started killing our men."
"Hm… Remind me to kill Fuumo once we have the intruders in chains." The bald man said.
"Fuumo is dead, sir. He was killed by said intruders." Answered the black-haired soldier.
"Killed? How did you let this happen?"
"Don't worry, Kabuto-sama. We've had civilians that had tried to escape but they never make it. It's like a maze in here." Imei said, cleaning his old glasses.
"Yeah but civilians can't kill soldiers. How many more have they killed?" Kabuto demanded, an uneasy feeling starting to settle in his stomach.
"Er… More than fifteen men."
"Fifteen?!" It was now Imei's turn to get angry. "How is that possible? How many are they?"
"Just two, sir. But according to Aoki-san, they are part of the convoy Konoha sent on an undercover mission."
"Konoha, you say?" Kabuto whispered dangerously. He turned to Imei with clenched fists. "Why wasn't I informed on this?!"
"K-Kabuto-san, calm down." Imei raised his hands in an appeasing manner. "They were just to be dealt with as soon as they left the town. It's just six of them… well, seven if you count the dog."
Orochimaru's apprentice tensed all his muscles at the word 'dog'. The clogs in his head started working, just as he bit the inside of his cheek.
The other two men in the room looked at him with concern.
"You!" He suddenly said, pointing at the man by the door. "Tell Kudo to get off his ass and deal with them. I want them dead."
"And you." Kabuto turned to the old man once the messenger went off in his quest. "I want to know everything about this convoy. We need to clean this mess up before Sasuke-sama arrives."
"That was the last one." Hinata announced, calling back her Byakuugan.
"How far 'till the exit?" Naruto asked, wiping a few droplets of blood from the left side of his face. He wondered just how far inside the mountain they were.
"If we hurry, we can be outside in half an hour."
Naruto groaned. He was sick of running through the narrow corridors.
"Let's go, Nagari-kun. There are more coming from behind."
"Doton: Doruki Gaeshi." A voice boomed from the end of the hall they were heading to. The ground started to shake violently under her feet, and a low tremor that rapidly became a thunderous reverberation filled her ears. Hinata felt how a strong arm pressed against her belly and carried her away.
"Oof!" The girl breathed, as she and Naruto skipped on the ground, out of the way of the collapsing ceiling. As the dust cleared, they saw a heap of rock and earth piled in front of them, just the spot they were standing two seconds ago.
'How did he get there? I made sure no one was around with my Byakuugan.' The girl rose her head from the ground to take a better look at the new visitor.
Naruto was the first to get to his feet, already summoning two clones. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."
"Doruki Gaeshi!" The man from behind the debris called again, and the process repeated. But this time it wasn't the upper part of the cave that came at them, but the two walls of earth that surrounded them. Hinata didn't allow herself to blink, as she was witnessing how the two clones punched the oncoming walls into bits of dirt.
"Are you out of your mind?!" The real Naruto called, he coughed a few times. The dirt littered his throat and eyes. "You could bring down this whole cave!"
The attacker chuckled. He was approaching, walking over the collapsed surface. "Give me some credit. I wouldn't be a good earth user if I didn't know which stones to pull out."
"And who are you exactly?" Naruto could already see the man clearly. A 6' 4", tanned, heavy muscled man towered over the two young ninjas. He was grinning broadly at them, displaying one chipped tooth. Even in the cold cave, the man was only wearing a pair of dark-green trousers and two gold rings.
"You don't know? I supposed two Konoha spies would already know everything about me." He crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"Hn. You must be Kudo." The black-haired Chuunin said with little interest.
"Better known as The Mountain, back at the Eastern caves of the Land of Earth." He leaned forward to look at the two of them better. "I told you my name, how 'bout you tell me yours."
"Why bother? You're gonna die anyway." Naruto said, cracking his knuckles. "Leave this one to me, Hin."
"Tsch. You Konoha-nins are so conceited."
"Get him." The Uzumaki ordered to his clones, who charged at full speed towards the smiling man. Kudo made a quick set of hand signs, and summoned a thick slice of earth from the ground to protect himself.
"That's too thin. My clones will shatter it." Naruto said confidently to his friend, who was watching closely.
"He's applying chakra to that wall." Announced Hinata, just as the wall sprouted spikes all over his surface. The clones ran into it and disappeared into thin air.
"I hate earth users." Naruto mumbled.
The wall of spikes started to glide towards them, gathering speed. Hinata took Naruto's arm, ready to take off, but the blond shook her arm away and produced eight borrowed kunai.
"Look." The chuunin said with a smirk. Hinata felt a wave of fresh air hit her face gently as Naruto poured his chakra to the kunai, one between each finger. He swung the knifes at the same time, creating a whistling sound out of thin air.
Normal kunai would have shattered against the earth wall, but these ones cut clean through it, one by one. It was as if there was no wall at all. The earth structure collapsed into tiny pieces before reaching the Konoha chuunin, but the kunai kept on going through the hall until they finally reached Kudo. None of them hit him but one that flew close to his face still managed to cut his cheek.
"A wind user, huh? This is getting fun."
Naruto knew the man was smirking at him, even though he couldn't see him through the dust screen. 'This is no good… he's gonna have the upper hand as long as we remain underground.'
"He's going to crush us if we don't get out of this cave." Naruto heard his comrade said. "We should first loose him and look for another way outside."
The Uzumaki turned to her. "I know, but don't worry, there's still another way." His eyes widened at the sudden chakra surge coming from the man. Just as the two chuunin turned back to the man, Kudo was already within arm's reach of them.
"DON'T LET THIS WOMAN DISTRACT YOU FROM OUR FIGHT!"
Naruto managed to step back as his fist missed his nose, but Kudo continued to move forward and caught his jaw with his other fist.
It was during the fraction of a second that Kudo's fist touched Naruto's face, that the boy noticed how his hands were coated in solid earth, creating ferocious looking rock gauntlets.
The boy's feet left the ground, and he crashed into the nearest wall, cracking its surface with his back.
Hinata reacted just as the man turned his brown eyes to look at her. She shot her right hand towards his chest, whilst activating her Byakuugan once again, but Kudo captured her wrist within his rock-hard hand.
"A Hyuuga." Muttered the large man, frowning deeply. "What the hell is a Hyuuga doing in a place like this?"
Hinata hardened her eyes. "Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō!" Her palm released a chakra beam that went right through the man's left shoulder. Kudo roared as pain registered in his brain, and before Hinata could deactivate her jutsu, he lifted her over his head and threw her as far away as he could.
Hinata landed gracefully besides Naruto, and helped him stand up.
"AAAARRGHHH!"
Both chuunin saw Kudo kneeling and screaming his lungs out. He was looking at his left arm lying in front of him, perfectly cauterized and without a drop of blood.
"I didn't mean to." Hinata whispered, bringing a hand in front of her lips. She felt Naruto's hand resting on top of her shoulder reassuringly, although he didn't say anything. There was blood dripping down his chin and Hinata was pretty sure it would hurt him to talk right now.
"YOU BITCH!" the man raised his blood-shot eyes to the girl. "HOW DARE YOU USE SUCH LAME-ASS TRICKS ON ME? I'M GONNA PULVERIZE YOU FIRST!"
Normally a wound such as that would cause the subject to faint in matter of seconds, but Kudo was already back on his feet, glaring down at them and sweating all over.
"You can't perform any more jutsus without your other hand. Surrender now and I'll end your pain." The blond called, feeling a bump forming rapidly in the side of his jaw.
"You think this makes any difference? I can bury you with just one arm." He pressed his only remaining hand to the floor and poured chakra. The floor started to feel less rocky, and Naruto and Hinata's feet started to drown. They looked down and saw how the once solid ground was made out of a dark mud. "I'm gonna make your lungs burst with mud."
"I can't float on this!" Naruto hurried to say, as he tried to add more chakra to the sole of his feet but to no avail; the substance was already covering his feet.
"Nor jump." The girl said in alarm. Kudo was approaching with a murderous intent. He had no problem to walk on the mud. "What should we do?"
Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Just stay still, I'll get us out." His hands started moving in a blur. It took Hinata a few seconds to discover he was working on hand signs, although she'd never seen anyone do them so quickly without making a mistake. "Kuchiyose: Gamabushi Shibari*."
The mud under Hinata's feet started to feel slightly different. It was almost as if it had frozen back into rock but not quite; her feet were standing in something squishy and adhesive. She looked around and realized the extent of Naruto's jutsu. Walls, ground, roof and even doors were transformed into a pink, flexible material.
Kudo looked around, trying to make sense of the situation. "The fuck is this?"
"We're inside my frog's stomach." Naruto explained confidently, rising from his knees. Even though he looked pleased with himself, Hinata could see a trickle of sweat running down his face. "You have nowhere to go. Nobody's broken away from his jutsu in its invention."
Once the overgrown man was done looking around, he smirked disdainfully at the black-haired boy. "Cowards are the only ones who run away. I'm still stronger than you."
He rushed towards them, holding his fist in front of his face. Hinata remembered that he was still wearing a rock armour. From the corner of her eye she saw Naruto kneel down again and press chakra into the pink surface. Several appendices protruded from the top and the sides of the esophagus based labyrinth that went directly towards the enemy and held him in place.
Trapped, Kudo tried to force his way out. He even bit his bindings but the material only squirmed in his mouth. He was trapped.
"I'd love to get some information out of you but we're in a bit of a hurry, so I'm gonna make this quick." The teenage boy stepped closer to the man, who had stopped forcing his bindings.
Kudo rested his eyes on top of his opponent. "I should at least know the names of the ones who beat me. I know she's a Hyuuga, but you… what clan are you from?"
The boy smirked. "Me? I have no clan. Not yet. But if you must know…" The boy raised his hand, which had chakra running around it. The bluish energy resembled the form of a sharp blade. Kudo gritted his teeth for the imminent end, but he never took off his eyes from the young ninja in front of him.
"The name's Uzumaki Naruto." The blond claimed as he drove his hand into the man's chest, right over his heart. Kudo emitted a loud groan, as his eyes widened. Warmth spread down Naruto's forearm as his jacket drenched in fresh blood.
"Uzumaki… Konoha's Grinning Demon…" Kudo muttered just loud enough so Naruto could hear. His last words made Naruto frown. 'How does he know about Kyuubi?' He was sure that the Demon Fox being the bijuu living in his belly was the most guarded secret of his village. It was impossible for a missing-nin like him to have found out-
"Oh." He breathed as he realized that he had harvested a new nickname throughout his missions across the countries. He retrieved his hand from Kudo's chest and looked at the bright, red blood running down his fingers. 'Have I been smiling this whole time?' He just now felt how his face muscles returned back to normal as it dawned on him.
How could he have not noticed? How long has it been since they have known him by that name? It's not like he have been smiling like mad every time he made a kill, right? The whiskered boy tried to remember every time he had cut someone's head, arm or leg, every time he had broken someone's neck and tried to imagine himself from his victim's point of view to see if he had indeed been smiling as he did so.
The worst thing was that he couldn't put the blame on the fox, because he had been caged and quiet for years. It was all on him and him alone.
All this time he had trained so hard to prove people that he wasn't the demon that lived inside of him, but his resolve turned him into a different kind of demon. A devil made of flesh and bone.
"Naruto-kun?"
The blond snapped back into reality as he noticed Hinata approach him slowly. He turned his head to look at her. She seemed wary of him. He immediately started to panic.
'Did she see me smiling? God, what must she think of me? We could've just escaped and leave Kudo unconscious or something. Anything would've been better than me ramming my hand into his heart!'
His mental state became so unsound in the last few minutes that his jutsu dropped and Kudo's body fell to the floor heavily, startling the young man. He blurted out the first thing that came into his mind.
"I'm sorry you had to see that." The blond said, still holding his hand in front of his face.
Hinata shook her head. "A fight's a fight. I'm just sorry I couldn't help you more." Her words sounded honest but Naruto could hardly hold his head up in shame.
"I need to get this blood off me." He said quickly, looking for something to clean himself.
"Personally, I think red looks good on you."
Hinata and Naruto's head snapped in attention. They looked around for the owner of the voice.
"But that's only natural for someone who's good at killing."
In the dim-lighted hallway, the Konoha shinobi turned to the door nearest to them.
It was hard to see clearly, but the reflection of the candle in two rounded glasses stared back at them. Even though Hinata had already her Byakuugan active, she couldn't put a name to the face, although he looked pretty familiar.
Naruto, instead, was frowning in a way that his eyebrows almost covered the sight of his eyes. His fists clenched tightly and he even forgot the wetness in his right hand.
"Kabuto." He seethed. The killing intent he previously wanted so desperately to hide was now covering the whole place. "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same question, Naruto-kun." The man answered calmly. "I thought you were halfway around the world, in a brothel with your so-called master."
"Where is Sasuke?!" Naruto barked with rage.
"Oh! There we are. It's always Sasuke this or Sasuke that." The missing-nin chuckled with delight, although he didn't dare approach them. "You haven't changed much, Naruto-kun. Although you looked better with blond hair." His eyes then fell upon Hinata, who was now aware of who he was.
"And you came with your Hyuuga friend! My, Hinata-sama you sure have changed! Who would've thought that a mouse like you could've turned into such a beauty?"
"Cut the crap, Kabuto! What are you doing here?" Naruto demanded to know, taking a step forward. "Is Orochimaru also with you?"
Kabuto cocked his head to the side and seemed genuinely confused. Were they tricking him? Orochimaru had been dead for more than a month now.
"Haven't you heard? Orochimaru is dead." Kabuto said seriously. "Sasuke killed him."
Author's section
Hand of Blood – Bullet for My Valentine
Henge no Jutso – Transformation Technique.
Doton: Doruki Gaeshi – Earth Release: Earth Land Flip
Shugohakke Rokujūyon Shō! - Protective Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms
Kuchiyose: Gamabushi Shibari – Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind
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- Paty