(A/N) I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. That pesky little thing called life keeps thwarting me from updating. It also doesn't help that finals are coming up and I've been studying for them.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. According to my parents, I don't own anything until I am 18. I do, however, own Riyu and Zulku, no matter what anyone says.

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Chapter 9 Death Traps

"Ah-achoo!" Naruto sneezed violently, causing to fall onto his bottom. Riyu stopped celebrating and looked down at Naruto, trying his best to grin sincerely down at him. Ever since the fight with Haku had ended, a massive headache had been present.

"You do know that when you sneeze, it means someone is talking about you?" Riyu asked almost sincerely. He had a pretty good idea who it was that was talking about him. Who else had almost nothing other than Naruto on her mind than Hinata. It was common knowledge that Hinata had a major crush on Naruto. That's why Riyu had started the bet in the first place.

Naruto raised himself to his feet. "Yeah, I know," he said rubbing his bottom.

Riyu and Naruto looked back at the still form of Haku. He haden't moved an inch since he was defeated. Naruto and Riyu exchanged looks before walking over towards Haku. His clothes were stained with blood from Riyu and Naruto's respective attacks. When the boys reached Haku, Naruto crouched down beside him and Riyu just stood there, looking down at Haku.

"Sorry," Naruto apologized, rubbing the back of his head nervously, "I guess we kinda overdid it a little, huh?"

Haku looked at him and closed his eyes and shook his head with a smile on his face. "No, you did great," He said," Now, since both of you have defeated me in combat, you may move on to the next floor."

Riyu gave Haku a puzzled look. "What? That's it?" He asked.

Haku grinned at Riyu. "Yes, that's it." Haku's expression went serious. "Now, both of you, listen well. I'm not exactly sure what they are, but I believe that there are more challenges up ahead, maybe more dificult than fighting me."

"Aw crap." Riyu said to himself, dropping his head.

Haku smiled at Riyu one last time and then turned to Naruto. "Naruto, I have something for you. If you would, please reach into my right pouch and remove its contents." Naruto obeyed. He pulled out a couple dozen of Haku's needles.

"What are these for?" Naruto asked.

"Let's just call it a gift. You may need them sometime in the future. I have no more need for them anymore anyway." Haku said. Naruto nodded and stuck the needles in his own pouch. "Now go, boys. And don't get yourseves killed. Now, get going." Haku finished, closing his eyes for a much deserved sleep.

"All right!" Naruto yelled, pumping his fist into the air. "Let's go Riyu!" Naruto sprinted all the way to the bottom of the stairs. When Naruto reached the bottom of the stairs, he beckoned for Riyu to come. Riyu shrugged and walked over.

Soon he joined Naruto and they both walked up the stairs until they were finally gone from the first floor, and to the second floor.

Haku weakly opened one eye to find that the boys had already gone up the stairs. "Heh, maybe they will find the treasure after all." Haku said to himself. He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

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"This temple gets more interesting by the second," Kakashi thought outloud as he entered the second floor with a still unconcious Sakura on his back.

He examined the stone room he was in. It wasn't as big as the previous room, and it wasn't that wide either. It was just a stone, square room with candles hanging from the ceiling. The candles ran all the way down the hallway in front of Kakashi. The hallway led east, in the direction of his male pupils.

At the entrance to the hallway were two very different statues. The statue on the left was that of a fox, but not just any fox. It was the fearsome Nine-Tailed Fox. Behind the statue was a statue of an eight-tailed fox, and behind that one was a seven-tailed fox, and so on, all the way to a one-tailed fox.

On the right side, however, was a statue of what appeared to be an older Naruto. But Kakashi knew better, he knew what his former sensei looked like compared to Naruto. The statue was of the Fourth Hokage. Behind him were a great diversity of unknown shinobi.

Kakashi stared at the statue of his former sensei. 'How interesting. It would appear that I am in for a rough journey.' Kakashi thought. He felt Sakura slightly slip from his back, so he adjusted her weight again. With that, Kakashi started down the hallway.

It wasn't a minute before he barely spotted the first trap. Spikes pointed from every direction: on the wall, floor, and the ceiling.

'Hmm...' Kakashi thought, bending down to survey the spikes. 'It seems as if the spikes are tipped with an extremely lethal poison. This appears to be a test of your courage, as well as your chakra control. This will be difficult, considering the extra weight I'm carrying.' Kakashi gently lowered Sakura to the ground and put his hands into a single seal, gathering as much chakra as he could to his feet. He didn't have that much chakra to spare, since fighting Zabuza took so much out of him. He had to use his sharingan eye, as well as a chidori. He would be lucky if he could get across this spike field.

Kakashi picked Sakura up bridal style so as not to risk her getting stabbed from above by a spike. He slowly, but steadily, lifted his left foot and brought it gently down onto a set of spikes. It landed slightly above the spikes, but no contact was made with the spikes. So far, so good, but he knew he wasn't out of the woods yet. He lifted his other foot and gently brought it down, it too not touching a single spike. Realizing he was safe, he started walking down the hall of spikes.

Eventually, the spikes began to get closer and closer, so that now there was little room to move his arms. His elbows barely missed the spikes on the walls, since he was holding Sakura. He also began to feel weaker and weaker. He surmised that there was something in the spikes that drained chakra. This was just icing on the cake, a cake Kakashi didn't want in the slightest.

Kakashi felt the chakra exhaustion beginning to set in. He found himself struggling to breath and remain consious. Finally, he saw the end of the spikes, but he didn't know if he had the strength to make it. He had to make it. His job was not done, and he intended to complete the mission.

Finally, he made it to the end. And just in time too. Any longer, and he felt he surely would have died. He quickly lowered himself to the ground and sat Sakura down against a wall. He then took a seat himself on the opposite wall and decided to wait for Sakura to wake up. He also needed this time to recover. He used almost all of his remaining chakra to cross the spike pit.

Kakashi sighed. "All I can hope for is that Riyu and Naruto are alive and well. I don't think that the two of them have the brain power to get through this temple."

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"Achoo!" Both Naruto and Riyu sneezed simultaniously as they continued down the hallway. It was completely identical to Kakashi's hallway in every way, even the statues were the same. Same walls, same stone room, and that means the same traps. They just didn't know it yet.

They had both just entered the hallway through the room, and already both of them had a bad feeling.

"Oh come on!" Naruto complained after the sneeze, "Is there anyone that doesn't talk about us?" The word "us" echoed throughout the long hallway.

"Apparently not," Riyu replied, trying to surpress a yawn, "By the way, I can't help shaking the feeling that the statue of the Fourth reminds me of somebody."

Naruto closed his eyes in thought. Did the fourth remind him of anybody? People like Ero-sennin and Kakashi-sensei would sometimes compare him to Naruto sometimes. But did that mean anything? Naruto decided to just give an answer. "Hmm...I can't think of anybody. Why?"

"Well, if you squint really hard, he kinda looks like you." Riyu said. He had looked up to the Fourth Hokage, even though he was dead, for quite some time. But his past was a mystery. On more than one occassion, Riyu had asked Kakashi all sorts of quetions, but Kakashi didn't know much about him either.

"Anywho," Naruto said, "Didn't Haku say something about more dangers up ahead or something?" In answer to Naruto's question, spikes appeared on the floor, walls, and the ceiling. The spikes ran all the way down the hallway into total darkness. Naruto and Riyu exchanged awed glances.

Naruto got as close as he could to the spikes and squinted down the hall. "How far do you think it goes?" He asked.

"...I dunno. I think the question is, how do we get across?" Riyu answered.

Naruto was hit by an idea. "Riyu, maybe we could jump across the spikes," He said.

Riyu rolled his eyes at his friends suggestion. "Uhh...Naruto, I don't think those spikes would let you jump," Riyu said, pointing at the spikes on the ceiling. Naruto looked where Riyu was pointing.

A mental image of Naruto jumping and getting stabbed in the head and dying. His face went pale. 'Okay,...time for plan B,' Naruto thought.

Both of the boys pondered their dilema for a few minutes, until Naruto was hit with another idea.

"I got it!" Naruto yelled. He had come up with the perfect plan.

"Okay, what is it this time?" Riyu asked sarcastically. He was anticipating another plan like the jumping plan.

"We'll channel our chakra to our feet and walk across the spikes," Naruto said.

"..." Riyu thought about it for a moment, and then looked up at Naruto and smiled. "That's not a bad idea Naruto. But I've had a massive headache ever since the fight with Haku. I'm not sure I could keep my chakra under control for that long," Riyu admitted. It was true. Ever since he had used the necklace, his head had felt like it had been slammed into the concrete ground.

"Well, if you don't want to, I guess you could stay back and-" Naruto said.

"Hey, I never said I couldn't do it. I just said my head hurts. I can do it!" Riyu whined.

Naruto looked at his friend. He decided that, if Riyu was up to it, he couldn't turn him down. Nodding to Riyu, they both brought their hands into a seal. And soon, their feet were encased in blue chakra. They looked at each other.

"Soooo...Who's going first?" Naruto asked worridly. He didn't want to be the first to die if his plan failed.

Riyu looked at him and sighed. "I guess I will," Riyu said with no enthusiasm at all in his voice. He approached the spikes, reluctantly brought his leg up, and carefully placed it on the spikes. Riyu glanced down and sighed in relief. No spikes were penetrating his flesh. 'Thank the Gods.' Riyu thought in relief. Little did he know, that was exactly what Naruto was thinking.

"Phew, what a relief. I thought for sure it wasn't going to work," Naruto said with a slight nervous chuckle.

Riyu whipped around to stare at his orange friend. "What do you mean you thought it wasn't gonna work? You made me be the guinnea pig, and you thought I was gonna die?"

Riyu yelled.

"Uhh...No." Naruto said. He stepped up to the spikes and they both started walking down the hallway. Riyu glared at the back of Naruto's head for a few minutes.

Soon, the hall got smaller, and the spikes got longer. And both of them felt like they were being drained of chakra. They struggled to keep their chakra at their feet. Finally, the end came, and they greatfully got off of the spiked hallway and onto the cold, hard ground.

"We made it!" Naruto said, sighing in relief.

"Yeah, and without anyone dying." Riyu said, starting down the hall.

"What, are you still mad that I made you test out the spikes?" Naruto asked as he followed his friend. Oh well, Riyu would get over it. He always did.

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Sakura could feel herself bobbing slightly as she came to. She slowly opened her eyes. Soon, her vision was clear and she remembered where she was. She glanced forward to see her sensei sitting across from her..

"Ugh. Kaka...Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said faintly.

Kakashi stopped. "Sakura, so you are feeling better?" Kakashi asked. She nodded, so he continued. "Good. Do you think you can stand?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think so," She replied. She stood to see if she could stand. She was steady, so she assumed she would be fine from this point. Kakashi stood to join her. Then they started walking down the hall. "Kakashi-sensei, what happened in the fight?" She asked.

"Well, because of you, I was able to defeat Zabuza. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I believe wer are making our way to the Tower of Destiny." Kakashi said, grinning behind his mask.

Sakura smiled too. She couldn't help but be glad. Kakashi had said that it was because of her that he was able to beat Zabuza. She felt that she wasn't the fragile little Sakura she used to be. She was a strong medical ninja, apprentice to the legendary Tsunade. Suddenly full of determination, she immitated Naruto and pointed forward.

"Let's go!" She yelled.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "All right, but you had better not yell like that again. You may wake the bats." He said teasingly.

Sakura froze. "B-bats?" She asked to no one in particular. She turned to her sensei. "Sorry sensei." Then she began to look in every direction, searching for any signs of bats.

"Relax Sakura, I was only kidding," Kakashi scolded playfully. He resumed his trek down the hallway.

"Uhh...right. I knew that," Sakura said, and then hurried agter her sensei.

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"Jump to the left!" Naruto yelled as yet another pendulam swung down from the ceiling and at the boys. Riyu did what he was told, as if he had a choice. While dodgeing, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

"Drop to the floor!" Riyu yelled. Naruto obeyed, and a split second later thousands of shuriken shot out of the walls. The shuriken barely knicked Naruto's spikey hair. Naruto felt something under him shake.

"Jump!" Naruto yelled. Both boys leapt into the air as an enormous blade swept across the floor.

This had been going on for at least ten minutes. Trap after trap after trap had gone off. They thought the traps would never stop. The thing was, the boys weren't sure what they had done for the traps to go off. Neither of them had hit a switch or anything. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the traps stopped. When Naruto and Riyu landed on the ground, they looked around nervously, exchanged nervous glances, and then sighed in relief. They bent over, panting heavily.

"Is...it done?" Riyu asked in between breaths.

"I...think...so," Naruto answered, letting his body fall back. Riyu did the same. They stayed that way for a few moments. Finally, Naruto broke the silence.

"Hey, Riyu." He said. He waited for Riyu to look over at him before he continued, "What was up with you using the byakugan? You know, during the fight with Haku."

Riyu brought his hands to his temples and started massaging them. "I'm not sure. Before that, I remeber wishing I could see Haku's tenketsu and close them, like what Neji did to Hinata during the Chunin Exam."

That last statement Made Naruto a little angry. Not at Riyu, but at Neji for what he had done to the beautiful Hinata. 'Wait a minute. Did I just say Hinata was beautiful?' Naruto thought. He couldn't understand why he would think that, but he wasn't going to let Riyu know. He quickly regained himself.

"Man, that's totally weird." Naruto commented.

"I know. And the weirdest thing was that I had complete consiousness when I was fighting, but it felt like I wasn't doing the attacks the whole time. None of the fighting was my style." Riyu said.

"We'll just have to ask Kakashi-sensei about it when we see him again, but now we had better get going," Naruto said, getting to his feet.

Riyu shrugged and rose to his feet too. However, neither of them budged an inch. They turned to each other.

"Soo..." Naruto said.

"So what?" Riyu asked.

"Whose gonna go first?" Naruto asked, praying inside that Riyu was going to.

However, Riyu said, "Well, it's obviously you."

"What? Why me?" Naruto yelled.

"Well...umm...you are going to be hokage one day," Riyu said, thinking on the spot. Riyu hoped upon hope that this would work. "And the Hokage is a fearless leader." Riyu crossed his fingers behind his back. He had no intention to go first.

Naruto scratched his head for a moment in thought. It all made sense. This could very well be a test for the title of Hokage."I guess you're right," Naruto admitted.

"I'm right? I mean, of course I'm right. Now lead the way, future Rokudaime of Konohagakure." Naruto said. He knew calling Naruto this would ensure he was going to lead the way.

Naruto nodded proudly and then started walking down the hall. Riyu smirked to himself. 'Like taking ramen from an idiot,' Riyu thought as he followed Naruto down the hall and into the unknown.

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Another pendulam swung down on Sakura and Kakashi, full intent to kill the intruders. They just stood stock still, not even batting an eyelash, as the pendulam slashed through the two of them.

Nothing happened. They both were still in one piece. Sakura smirked. "What a simple illusion," she said as both Kakashi and Sakura began their trek down the hall again.

"Hmm," Kakashi said in a bored tone, "It would appear that simply dodgeing these illusions sets off the actual traps. How clever."

Soon, they were out of the range of the traps. Sakura sighed. "I hope that Naruto and Riyu don't have to go through something like that," Sakura said.

"Why is that?" Kakashi asked.

"Knowing those two idiots, they would actually fall for the actual trap and dodge the illusions without even thinking," Sakura stated. She knew her male teammates would never stop to examine anything. Especially Naruto.

Kakashi peered forward. His eyes saw the that the end of the hall was near. He sighed and then brought his head back. "Well, the good news is that there don't appear to be any more traps along the way to the tower." Kakashi said.

Sakura looked over at her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, that's twice now that you have mentioned this Tower of Destiny. What exactly is it?" She asked.

"Well, the Tower of Destiny is, or was, something of a myth. It's a tower that holds something to do with destiny, but not much more was known. It was said to be attatched to the Temple of Lost Souls. But I never expected it to be true." Kakashi said, and then he paused. "However, I fear that the traps were misleading, and the tower itself is what we shoud fear."

Sakura was now walking beside Kakashi. "What do you mean by that?" She asked curiously as they passed the statue of the One-Tailed Fox.

"I mean that everything else was childs play. There must be something in the tower that must be very powerful. And whenever there is a powerful object, there is always a powerful guardian guarding it." Kakashi finished, now passing the statue of the Three-Tailed Fox. Sakura gulped nervously.

"That's what I think the statues represent," Kakashi said as they passed the Four-Tailed Fox statue.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"From the start, the tails of the foxes decreased, meaning that it was only going to get easier. Now that the statues are gaining more and more tails, that means that it is going to get harder at some point in the near future." He said, now passing the Six-Tailed demon statue.

'Great,' Sakura thought, 'I'm as good as dead. Why did Tsunade-sama have to give us this mission?'

Soon, a faint light game into fiew. It was rectangular, but it was light. Now they passed the Eight-Tailed Fox's statue, and Sakura began to tremble. The light was getting closer and closer, until they finally reached it. It wasn't a blinding light, nor would it cause you to squint slightly . It was light, though, and it was welcome.

When they reached the end of the hall, they saw a bridge. The bridge stretched from the hallway out to an enormous stone tower. Glancing up, the two of them realized that the tower was much bigger than they had thought.

They looked back down to the bridge. It was long, no doubt about that. It was the width of it that frightened them. It was no wider than a futon mattress. It also seemed quite old, like it could crumble to pieces with even the tiniest piece of pressure.

Both of them gulped, even Kakashi, as he took the first step onto the bridge that led to the tower.

The fabled, legendary Tower of Destiny.

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(A/N) Again, I'm soooooo sorry for not updating. I just have a lot going on, and I have been forced to study for my stupid finals on Monday.

Also, I know that more than half of you are going to tell me that the chapter was too short or not that much happened in it. I apologize. This was one of those chapters that are supposed to set a mood or tone. My english teacher told my class, last semester, that a chapter like this is needed in a story. Don't worry, I swear that the next chapter will be longer and much more action packed.

Okay, time to answer reviews.

Light of the Demons: The necklace does not steal bloodlines. It does something else though. The reason Riyu could use the byakugan so easilly will be revealed in due time. There is a reason, though. Thanks for the poll answer, and thanks for your review.

almostinsane: You have the right to be one of my favorite reviewers. Thanks for the review. Oh, and please pray for me. My school finals are going to be a nightmare.

badlevel50percent: I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. It makes me feel great when I hear that I am doing something right. (at last) Thanks for the review.

Nikkinmyjuliet: Thanks for the review.

kelly: The necklace will be gradually explained in time. Thanks for the compliment. At first, when I wrote them down, I didn't think that you all would really like them. I guess I was wrong. Thanks for the review.

pyro-chan the dragon king: Yeah...we'll go with that, as long as that stick stays far away. The mindless fluff will be in the chapter after the next one, and more after that one. Thanks for the review.

Raikiri1991: If you mean, Why do you call this story fusion, then you just have to wait to find out. However, if you mean what you wrote. It's kinda obvious, isn't it? Thanks for the review.

Dragon Man 180: Thank you, now maybe my friend will shut up, since he is a fan of your fictions. He's not a member, though. The necklace does have a draw back, so it's not one of those all powerful weapons. You're in for a surprise with Naruto and Hinata. Kakashi didn't leave Sakura behind. I said that he picked her up and put her on his back. Thanks for the review.

crazdninja: It is pretty cool, isn't it.

Okay, here is the gameplan for the next week. I'm going to try to update by Thursday. And I'm thinking of doing a Christmas oneshot, but I'm not sure if I should. It will be Naruto/Hinata, naturally. I would really like your opinions about the idea. Do you think I should do it or not?

Oh, and in response to sharingan kyuubi's personal message, (At least that's who I think it is) I do not know anyone by that name. Sorry.

Thanks Light of the Demons for your ideas. I will definitely be using them.

And anyone else with any ideas for flashbacks, please let me know. I will greatfully accept them, and give you credit on them.

You know the drill. 5 reviews or no updates.

Until next time.