Chapter seven

Noriko opened her eyes. 'Ow, my head.' She was laying on a cold cobblestone- like floor. She sat up. 'Eww. I'm covered in straw.' She looked around, pitch darkness greeting her. 'Where am I?', she wondered. Then she remembered. Oh god, she thought. She stood up. Her head hit the ceiling with a nasty crack. Pain exploded in her head. She quickly knelt down again, her eyes watering.

"What the f-" She almost said it, then she remembered a scene with Kakashi many years ago.

"Noriko. You cannot say those words," he told her sternly.

"Once you start to say those things, you lose character, and when you lose character you lose strength." He looked her in the eyes. "And once you lose your strength you will never be a ninja."

She had heard many of those words since then, both from adults and the children alike. She never had questioned Kakashi, but she thought it was unfair that everybody else got to say those words. "I'm not in charge of them Noriko, only you. And Naruto." He laughed.

'I've got to find a way back' She slowly crawled straight ahead, one of her hands reaching out, weary of another wall. She had only gone about 5 feet when her hand hit a smooth, cold wall. 'Well. Looks like I'm trapped.' But she couldn't shake the feeling that this place was not entirely real. She should have felt blood on her when she hit her head, but there was nothing back there.

"So. You've figured it out." A dark menacing voice rang out, coming from nowhere yet coming from inside her mind. The walls and ceiling dissipated, and Noriko saw that she was really in a hall, massive, with the tallest ceiling she had ever seen. There were pillars everywhere, and a huge fire burned in the corner. She could see no doors or windows. Standing in front of her, in the middle of the room was a slightly tall man, with longish black hair and red eyes. A crow was sitting on his shoulder. Noriko stood up uneasily, almost falling over. Her legs felt like lead. He took a step towards her. Her eyes darted around, looking for a way to escape.

"Leave me alone." She said. "Who are you and what do you want?" He didn't answer, he just stood there. Someone materialized next to him. It was a man, with long yellow hair, some tied back in a hair tie, some covering one of his eyes.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" he said. He stared at her intently. They both started to walk towards her. She backed up until she hit a wall. There was no escape.

"Don't be so scared," said the blond haired man. "We won't hurt you. That much." He snickered. "Try to think of happy things." His voice turned milky and soft, and the outer edge of Noriko's vision started to blur. It got harder to breathe, and she sank to her knees, her head pounding.

"Leave me..." She couldn't finish. She fell to the floor, unable to move a muscle.

They knelt down beside her. "Do you think she really has it?" asked Deidara. "After all, Hidan couldn't find it, and he looked everywhere." Itachi flipped her over onto her stomach.

"It should be right here." He pointed to the back of her right knee.

"How do we unseal it?" asked Deidara. Itachi shrugged.

"I have no idea. You can't even see it." His fingers brushed her knee. "You can feel the power tying to escape."

"Should we get Pain?"

"No." They whipped around. It was Hidan. He held up a thick leather book.

"Hey! When did you get here!?" Deidara pulled out a kunai.

"Calm down, Baka. Its really me."

He walked over to Noriko and knelt down with Itachi.

"Wait." Deidara walked back over to them. "She's really your..."

Hidan glared at him. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Wow." Itachi glared at Hidan. "I didn't know you were that cruel."

"Can we get on with the fucking unsealing?" Hidan sighed. He opened the book next to him.

Deidara scoffed. "What... Are YOU gonna try and unseal it? Ha!"

"Shut the fuck up." Itachi grabbed the book from Hidan.

"Hey!"

"Shut up Hidan." Itachi concentrated and made a complicated string of signs. He grabbed Deidara's kunai and stabbed Noriko's knee.

Deidara winced. "Couldn't you have knocked her out or something!?" Hidan smirked at him.

"What? Do you got feelings for her or something?" He stood up menacingly. "Better fucking not."

"No!" Deidara blushed. "It's just..."

"Oh god Deidara." Itachi stood up too. "Don't tell me..."

Whatever Itachi did was working, but none of them noticed. A huge seal was forming on her knee, so big it almost reached her ankles. She was still conscious, and the pain was so bad she almost passed out.

"Hey!" Deidara looked down at her. "Look!" The seal was done. Itachi gently touched it. There was a blinding light, and a sonic BOOM. Everyone was thrown back from Noriko. The explosion knocked her out.

"What the fuck was that!? What did you do Itachi?" Hidan yelled at him. They cautiously approached her again.

"Hm." Itachi thought for a moment. "Maybe you can open it. Hidan," he said. "There seems to be a seal on top of the seal. I think only those that share blood with her can open it."

"Do you think Konaha put it on?" asked Deidara.

"No." He shook his head. "No one in Konaha shares her blood. But why don't you try Hidan?"

Hidan sighed. "Do I fucking have to?" Itachi glared at him. "Fine." He touched the back of

Noriko's knee. There was a flash of light again, but this time both seals faded from her.

"Soooo..." Hidan looked at Itachi. "What now?"

"Now we wait."

Kakashi leaned against the wall, Asuma and Tsunade in front of him. They were in the Konaha hospital, in Kiba's room. Haru was there, sitting next to his father. Shikamaru stood behind Haru, hands on his shoulders, whispering in his ear. Haru was wide eyed, with a blank dead look. Kakashi glared at Shikamaru.

"Tsunade, I think we should send out a search party." She sighed.

"I just don't know that we can do that Kakashi. We are already stretched thin. We do not have the ninja's to go and do that." She laid a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Kakashi. I truly am." She walked out.

Shikamaru left too, pausing at the door. "So sorry Kakashi." He shook his head. "It's such a loss." Kakashi had to restrain himself from punching him. He turned to Asuma once Shikamaru was gone.

"What am I supposed to do? Tsunade forbade me to leave, we don't have spare ninja's, and Noriko's gone, how am I supposed to get her back?" He was close to hysterics. Asuma shook his head.

"Maybe we could round up people and go our selves, but Tsunade would kill us." He sighed. "I just don't know Kakashi. I'm sorry."

Wow that took FOREVER to upload sorry. I proof read it so if there are mistakes... Yeah I'm doing a AoT story too so pm me if you want to be in that. Also I need ideas for the next chapter so pm me for that too! ~

Thanks to Yuki for typing 95% of this!~