Hey everyone,

Hope you enjoy chapter 6. It is shorter than usual, but I'll try to update soon.

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Chapter 6, "The Pit of Hell"

Shikamaru walked into the room stacked with lower ranked guards. He surveyed it once.

"He stabbed Naruto, then tried to escape. Once he saw us he ran back, but we can't find him anywhere in the room," one of the guards reported.

Shikamaru gritted his teeth. Sasuke had gone too far this time. Naruto was his friend, and God knows he was going to avenge him. "He is not an idiot. He knew you were there. He was trying to lure you back into the room. There is probably a secret exit in the room somewhere. I want you to tap the floor and walls, see if you can find something," he stated, frowning. " And find me the map of the castle as soon as possible. I'll be in Naruto's room."

"I think I found it. The wall sounds hollow here," one of the guards stated.

Shikamaru rushed towards him and began to touch the wall looking for a way to open the door. He frowned when he couldn't find the edges. "Find me an axe, fifty men, and hounds. We found the door easily, so the rout must be complicated enough that only he can navigate."

Less than a minute later, Two men were hacking down the wall, before troops swarmed the maze, dogs barking on his trail.

"I'll be damned if I let him get away," Shikamaru whispered. Truly, Sasuke had gone too far this time.

XXXXXX

Sasuke sat in his cage, hands and feet bound by the heaviest of metal. His plan failed miserably. He was a fool, he thought. He was a fool for believing he might actually outrun the soldiers to escape and save that annoying blond, he dwelled more. Not only did his plot fail, but also he led them right to his secret escape route. Not that it mattered anymore; he was stuck underground in that musty jail where all the others murders and forgotten people rotted.

He should've let Naruto fade out of existence, he wished. But that brought on the thought of the sick boy, and he wondered if Naruto had made it; if he had survived. He lost a lot of blood. Would he really be all right after such an injury?

He looked down at his feet, hearing the echo of tortured screams. He hissed; Itachi is only pretending to be the nicer brother. Men were still being tortured in the basement of the castle. Itachi wasn't more moral and humane, Sasuke thought, but merely better at acting.

He heard footsteps, and quickly tensed up. After all, he was parked there like a sitting duck. He might as well have a bounty on his head. The guards could torture him all they want down there, and no one would ever know about it. After all, that prison was known as the pit of hell.

"Hi King," A guard said ogling with droopy bloodshot fisheyes. He wasn't a regular guard though. He was one of those punished guards who dwell in the pit of hell. He might as well be a prisoner. He looked demented. "You can call me Zabuza."

"…"

"Everyone upstairs is talking about you."

The remove king glanced at him, but tried not to give him much attention.

"The boys upstairs talked to me today. They asked me for a favor," he said in a seesaw voice. "Can you imagine that? Asking me for a favor after they've treated me like an outcast."

Sasuke looked at him again. Was that an opportunity?

"They told me to really take care of you. They said you shouldn't be lonely. That I should put you in the same sell with Mickey."

"Did they?" All the prisoners there were deadly dangerous. That was why they were kept in individual cells. They wanted some inmate to get rid of him for them. "What a nerve. Treating you like shit and then trying to get you to do them a favor."

"I thought so too. Until, I heard what you did."

"Hn."

"Naruto. He's pretty. His hair is so shiny. Like sunshine or gold. I see him all the time. He smiles at me. No one smiles at me but him. And you hurt him."

"But then I saved him."

"He always smells nice. The other guards were laughing at me once, and he told them to stop. They were saying that only twisted pervs worked in the hell pit. That no one sane would do what we do. I told them no; the prisoners here deserve what we do to them. Then called me a mad man. But he defended me."

Sasuke gulped.

"I used to enforce your laws. I believed in them. Look there," he walked in and pointed at the cell opposite to Sasuke were a man sat on the ground still enough to be dead. "That's dog. Dog killed another man."

Sasuke gulped again, body shaking soft as the mad guard leaned closer to him. Why did he ever do that? He hired man men for torture and interrogation purposes, and at the end…

"I believed in you until you hurt that angel," the man smiled at the thought of Naruto. "He always smelled nice," he repeated.

"I saved him. You have to believe me."

"Should I save you like you saved him?"

"Help me get out."

"No one gets out of here. You and I are going to stay here forever."

"My brother-"

"No one cares about anyone in the pit. No one tries to save food that has already been tossed in the trash."

"I'm not trash."

"You are a sinner, and like everyone here, you need to be punished. Your rules." The man bit his lip, before taking a few steps back, and then turned around and walked out of the cell.

A few minutes later he returned with his tools. He stood outside the cell, looking inside, and began to pull hot coal out of a small heated golden box, and tossing them at Sasuke.

The raven twisted around trying to evade the hot pieces, but it was hard to escape while tied in a room the size of a doghouse.

"Dance," the man smiled.

"You're insane!" Sasuke screamed at the man. Wrong move, he thought as soon as he did.

The man's smile faded. He wasn't going to toy with Sasuke. No. He was going to make him pay. Punish him according to the rules. "Shut up or I'll get my rats!"

Suddenly the guard looked to the side, and them back at Sasuke, "I'll be back."

He quickly began walking away, and soon two of the upstairs guards appeared; A red head, and another others with hair almost the color of orange.

"How does it feel to be the one abused?" One of them spoke to Sasuke, before addressing. "Revenge does have a sweet taste to it, doesn't it, Yahiko?"

"Nagato, lets just get away from here. This place gives me the creeps."

"Remember what that man did to Conan," Nagato turned to Yahiko glaring, and then back to Sasuke. "Do you remember what you did to her?"

Sasuke looked at the man eyes wide, "No. Was she one of my wives?"

"Number twenty nine. She was my fiancé before you decided you liked her piercing."

"And you are here for your revenge?" Sasuke spat.

"If you are afraid I'm going to kill you, relax I won't. Why would I? You get to be imprisoned in the hell you created. You made your own hell. That's divine punishment."

"So you are here to gloat?" Sasuke faked a resilient expression, while his core shook and trembled.

"I've waited for this day for so long. I even became your guard thinking one day I would have a chance to finish you off myself, but this! This is so much better."

"Nagato, that's enough, brother. Don't go down to his level," Yahiko stated, before giving Sasuke a pathetic look. "I'm saying this for his sake and not yours, King."

The two men began to walk again, leaving Sasuke shaking in his dark corner alone. He was all-alone, wasn't he? His end was near, and it wasn't going to be pretty. "Is-"

His words stopped them in their tracks.

"Is Naruto alright?" He continued.

"Why? Are you worried about the man your stabbed?"

"I just want to know."

"You'll know at your public trial."

The raven closed his eyes, and when he opened it again, it was morning. No light ever entered the pit, but he could tell. He had always had a reliable internal clock. He looked next to him and found shitty food spilled on the ground. Was he supposed to eat of the ground like a dog? He wouldn't. He would never! But then his stomach growled, a little louder than his ego. He bent down, feeling of humiliation almost choking him. He licked the grub before dry heaving at the taste.

"How could someone live like that?" For a second there, he thought it was inhumane to force even criminals to live that way. Then he saw what he had thought was a dead corpse moving in the cell in front of him. A thin man stared at him with tired lilac eyes. Then he pointed at a piece of bread on the ground in front of Sasuke.

The raven ogled at it. He should eat it, he thought, before suddenly feeling guilty. The man was there because of him after all. He was sure he deserved it, but maybe… He should have just executed him rather than imprison him where a guard treated and called him like a dog.

"Do you want this?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. He doesn't bring me food anymore," the man spoke in a weak beaten voice. "I think he wants me to stave to death. He's bored of torturing me."

The raven walked as far as he could towards the other's cell, and tossed the bread to him. "You mean Zabuza?"

The other nodded.

"You're here, why?"

"I was accused of killing someone."

"Did you?"

"He deserved it."

"You're not going to deny it?"

"I'm already here and half dead. I don't have a reason to deny it."

"You say he deserved it? What did he do?"

"Doesn't matter anymore," he swallowed the last bite of bread. "You shouldn't waste your food on others anymore."

"Hn. I don't feel like eating anymore."

"Why are you here?"

"You don't recognize me?"

"Should I?"

"Like you said; doesn't matter anymore," Sasuke whispered.

XXXXXXX

Iruka sat by Naruto's side, wiping the sweat off his forehead, with flimsy hands. "I can't believe he did that to you," Iruka whispered, almost in pain. It was as if one of his sons tried to murder the other. He was so angry at the raven, yet so worried about him down in the pit. He felt guilty. He should've sent for Itachi a long time ago, before Sasuke's sanity was completely gone.

"Don't worry," Naruto gulped, wincing.

"Don't talk-"

"I'm fine Iruka."

"Does it hurt more? The medicine they gave you must be wearing off."

"It is just pain. I can handle it," Naruto tried to sit him, recoiling as he did so. He spoke slowly, his voice hardly audible. "Did they get him?"

"Yes," Iruka nodded. "They sent him to the pit. He will be tried publicly next week."

"He'll be executed, won't he?" Naruto frowned.

"I don't see any other…" Iruka paused eyes suddenly watery. "The people keep calling for it. They are mopes of people in front of the castle calling for his death."

"Must be hard for you. He was like a son to you."

"I still have you. I almost lost you because of him," Iruka whispered.

"How is Kakashi handling it? And Master Itachi."

"They don't want him executed but not even the king could save him now. He just murdered so many people. Maybe we should want him dead too. It is just that…"

"Did you see him?"

"In the pit?" Iruka spoke in shock.

"Yes. I go there sometimes. It's horrible."

"I can't see him. Not there. Not like that. Not the way he is."

"Can I?"

Iruka looked up, more shock drawn on his face. "I can't let you do that."

"I have something I want to ask him."

"You're sick Naruto. Just rest."

"By the time I finish resting, he would be dead. I want to see him."

"It is not sanitary, and you have an open wound."

"Doctor patched me up. Plus, I'll only be there for a few minutes. Don't let me ask Master Itachi for it please."

Iruka shook his head, "I'll think about it."

"Did Master Itachi ask about me?"

"He checked on you every five minutes when you out of it, but he had to go calm down the people outside."

"Shouldn't you be outside too. You're the Grand Vizier. You should address the people."

"I have nothing to say. I don't think I live in the castle anymore."

"But-"

"I've failed."

"No you didn't."

The man clutched Naruto's hand into his, leaning in and speaking with a twisted and pained face. "I've failed as a mentor, as a Vizier, as a father. I didn't control. But worse, I didn't protect you, the people, or him. How can I be responsible for anyone's life anymore?"

Naruto froze. He didn't think any of it was Iruka's fault, but he knew the man would hear nothing if he tried to defend him. Plus, the situation was grimmer to be changed by a few words of support. "It is not your fault. I untied him, and he must've used the chance to grab the knife."

"Nara said he thinks Sasuke felt guilty after stabbing you. He ran out of the quarters and lured them were you were lying before escaping into the passage. Do you think he felt guilty?"

"I've never heard Shikamaru say anything wrong. So it must be true. I'll know more once I speak to him."

"You're still on that."

"It will take more than two minute to forget. I really want to talk to him."

"Once you can stand on your own."

"I can stand on my own now."

"Not today."

- To be continued-

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