999

Bad Ending #1 and a Strange Second Chance

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or 999.

Previously on 999: 9 Shinobi Behind 9 Doors with 9 Hours,

Despite Lotus saying that she felt no different, Naruto was still nervous that he has a human life in hand that depends on his precision in preforming the experiment. It seemed to be like the sample so Naruto at least knew what he was doing. Soon, the machine went back to left after Naruto followed its every instruction. [Congratulations. The experiment is complete and the door shall be unlocked.]

True to the word of the emotionless machine, the sound of a lock unlocking was heard as well as handcuffs unlocking as well and Lotus was freed from the experiment chair. Naruto and Seven were glad nothing bad had happened to Lotus and they fled for the door, not even looking back on the torture and experiment room. The Way Out Has Been Found, once again!

XXXXX

After that nightmare of a room, they came across a hallway like the ones from every floor they tried on this ship. They then approached a door with a special keyhole with the symbol that Naruto remembered that June called as the [Juniper] symbol. Deciding there was nothing to lose, Naruto tried to open the door only to find it unlocked. "What the hell?" Seven said in his shocked,

"They must have unlocked it with a key that had the Juniper symbol on." Naruto said and they made some sense since that is what the group left the others for. Going into the doorway, the group ended up at the main hallway on the 'B Deck'. What they saw next was something they couldn't believe, the sight was enough to turn their skin pale and their blood to ice.

Right in front of them, on the main staircase, were three bodies in puddles of blood. All of them recognized them as Santa, Clover and Ace. Their skin was still warms which made sense since Naruto and his group didn't spend as much as an hour behind Door [2] but there was no pulse or breath. They were all dead.

"What the hell is this bullshit?" Naruto couldn't believe it as he tried to find one body that wasn't dead among the pile. "Who the hell did this to them?" It seemed that the wounds were to be caused by an axe but Naruto can't recall where an axe was to be found anywhere on the ship. Who could have gotten an axe and used to kill everyone!?

"I have no idea Naruto but we better keep going or we will be next. We know how they died so let's just do what they wanted us to do." Seven said and Naruto meant so he just got up from the bodies and made a quick and silent prayer to them. Running up the stairs was what he did next with Seven and Lotus in tow, the only ones left he knew were still alive with June currently missing.

They soon reached a door they have forgotten about. It had a keyhole with the symbol for the sun on top. That matched the key found in the torture room so Naruto placed it inside and twisted it hard but…"What is wrong kid?" Seven asked seeing Naruto freeze up.

"Nothing." Naruto said in disbelief and fear, "I didn't feel it unlock!" Now they all were panicking.

"Is it the wrong key!?" Lotus asked but then she noticed something that the others did too. The door was already unlocked!

"B-but how!? The door was locked and we just got the key!" Naruto was not understanding any of this and it was starting to creep him out. Any way, they hurried through the door and came across another after a long hallway.

Unlike the other doors, it resembled much like the science fiction futuristic science films to say the least. There was no card reader, no doorknob, no keyhole and no RED anywhere. Not one of them knew if it was actually unlocked. Naruto tried it anyway and to their surprised, it moved and another hallway had shown in view.

It was a large and vast room on the end of the hallway. There were catwalks too and there was a submarine floating in water. But that wasn't what Naruto cared, no it was something much more sinister. There, on the floor near where the submarine was, June lying on the ground like a discarded doll and on top of a pool of blood.

"JUNE!" Naruto had forgotten about anything else, just getting to June. When he reached for her body, it was starting to feel cold. She was on the verge of dying for sure! "W-why? No…no…no no no!" Naruto was like an madman as that was all he could say as he clutched the dying body of June, the girl that was his best friend and more than that; he loved her, he was hoping to tell her that once he got out but now…

"Naru-chan…" The blonde looked down to see that Hinata was slowly opening her eyes, she ass still conscious at least.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto didn't care for code-names anymore, "Who did this to you!? I thought you will be safe with the others!"

"Naru-chan…I am…sorry…I wanted…to get out and…be with you…" Hinata was living her last moments but Naruto won't have it.

"No…please say your energy. There is a submarine Hinata-chan. We can escape in that. We can still be together." Naruto was now empty, his love was dying in his arms and he can't do a thing to stop it.

"No Naru-chan…it just wasn't meant to be..." Hinata was still cold but her eyes still had warmth and love that filled Naruto's suffering soul with. "Remember that time…when we were children?"

Naruto could just nod, he couldn't bear to make Hinata's last breathes go to waste. "That was when we always hanged out…we always had fun…you were my best friend…my only friend…" Naruto did nothing but remember those memories, they were the only thing smiling and laughing to Naruto. "We even joke…about us being married…we loved to play it…out…" Hinata was now losing her energy at an alarming rate. "We always did love it…so we promised…to…try it...for a change…" Hinata now more coughing than speaking but she still went on. "I…wanted…to…say Naru-kun…I…love…y~." That was it, Hinata's voice faded like dust in the win. She was gone, departed from this word as of this very moment and in Naruto's arms.

For a while he did nothing but still held her in his arms. He then looked at her, Hinata still looked beautiful even in death. Naruto then kissed on the frozen lips, not caring if they didn't respond back. After that, he left her in order to find Lotus and Seven who were left behind. But Fate was far from over when it came to tormenting him.

There, in the hallway, were the body of a mountain and a dancer as cold as ice and not moving at all. Now Naruto was the only one left, there was nothing to go back for. Naruto then left at a slow rate to the submarine. He had to escape or all this was for nothing but as he begun to descend down the stairs, he felt it.

A sharp and hot pain in back. He lost all strength and feeling in his arms so he fell. Fell off the ladder but not into the submarine but into the water around it. He could do nothing as his body floated for a little while before he could feel him sinking.

There was someone on the ship, someone who had murdered everyone and including Naruto. Who did this? Why? Why did this all happened? Naruto had no answer to himself as his world turned black and silent.

And then, there was something he then felt all of a sudden. Like he was falling but as a slow rate. It was like he was in water but he could breathe in it. Naruto couldn't see, couldn't hear but he could still feel something there. Something fluid as water but as vast as the while world. Naruto didn't know what it was as he soon felt like it was engulfing him.

Then he felt nothing again and he never once did.

XXXXX

A ship was drifting aimlessly and without any clear course through the foggy oceans. In the background, the silence was broken by the harsh and cold beeping of a timer. Once the timer went to zero, the ship shook as a section of the bottom portion exploded.

The explosion shook all the way to a bottom deck chamber and awoke a young man from his sleep rather rudely. He was unaware that he was sleeping on the top bunk of a three bed bunker. He hit the ground very hard.

Once he got up and into the light, we could see that it was an indeed a young man, in his early twenties. He was wearing a very common jacket over unclean shirt and his shorts were all wrinkly like it came out of the wash the wrong way. But then he got a headache but it didn't seem to come from his fall. He even remembered that his name is Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto saw everything about a group of strangers and one of them he recognized as his best friend from years ago. But before he could indulge deeper, a window to his room had burst open with water bursting in. He tried to panic while trying to figure why he felt like had done this before which was considered impossible.

After solving the puzzles of the room and opening the room. The young man hurried down the hallway and ran into the very strangers that he remembered somehow from his cell. As he gotten a closer look, he realized that he had missed some details about each of them.

The [lion] he remembered had a stuffy but strong shirt that described him as a well fit old man. The [prince] had the clothes of one with a burgundy tie, white shirt, a jacket with the yellow piping, and gray shacks. The boy with [silver] hair still had his clothes of a more common boy that had street clothes, loose and unkempt even more than Naruto's. The girl with the [pink hair] was like a school girl with her own jacket and more heavy clothing, her jacket covered all but her head showing. The [mountain] looked like an experienced construction worker with such clothes and scars on his face that ran all the way under his hat. The [dancer] had such clothing with jewelry and light clothing for hotter climates. Finally, the man with hair the shape of a [bird's nest] looked like an ordinary business man that was high on drugs and also work stress.

Then everything else had happened again. Naruto seeing Hinata Hyuga once again in years and yet felt like she was actually in his arms moments ago. Also the code names with the ninth man in the end holding the girl with the number [4] named 'Clover' hostage and forced the man with the number [1] named 'Ace' to open the door that had the number [5] emblazoned on like the one from Naruto's cell; only for the Ninth man to die behind it. But then came the choice between choosing which door to go through, Naruto could have gone with Hinata as she had a fright and fever but he wanted to investigate and look at the body closer.

This time, it felt like breaking from non-see-able bonds that pulled him a certain direction when Naruto said the words, "I choose Door [5]."

End of Chapter 7

*Hey guys! You might guess by now that the story is over but the game I am basing this one is one with multiple endings which made the game more fun as you can keep at it until you have unlocked all the endings. Remember how we covered only three rooms so far? There are plenty left but it was impossible to cover them all in one go. Still impressive that i have finally got this sage finished in the same evening as the last chapter isn't it?

All I can hope is that the way I am incorporating this chance at multiple endings makes sense even for a science fiction fanfic like this one. That is why this chapter is shorter than the others. Tell me what you think!*