Naruto watches in horror as Zabuza turns into a Hollow, the white mask coagulating as the grotesque form towers over them. Fog spreads rapidly, engulfing the area with unbelievable speed and the man turns back, taking a step toward Haku.
Naruto grabs Haku's hand, tugging hard as he forcefully shoves himself in the masked man's path. He rummages through his pocket for the Soul Candy because if he doesn't do it now, he'll definitely regret it later.
The sensation of seeing his own body run off is highly disorienting, but Naruto has other things to worry about right now. Sasuke's somehow leading Zabuza away, just not quickly enough and the fog is starting to seriously impair his vision.
Naruto takes a moment to calm himself down. His first priority is to keep this man away from Haku. Naruto doesn't know what he did to Zabuza, but he won't stand by to let the same fate befall Haku.
He needs to stall for time. Until Sasuke can come back. Until Naruto can figure something out. So, he blurts questions, hoping to hit some good conversation starter to get this guy talking. "What are you doing? Why did you do that to Zabuza? Who are you?"
Naruto backs up slowly and nudges Haku to stay behind him as discreetly as he can.
The man steps forward, black boots clicking on cement as his cloak sways. His single eye is dark and piercing. Naruto suppresses an urge to shiver as he feels a prickling chill run down his spine as he stares at the bizarre orange mask shaded by the cowl of the cloak.
"I am… pursuing a certain venture. For my purpose, I need the energy of souls. You see, the energy levels of a spirit are not always homogeneous. I've found they are most lucrative in a state of despair, anguish."
Naruto swallows dryly. "Yeah, and what happens to the spirits, then?" Keep talking, please keep talking.
Naruto tries to cautiously look around without turning his head too much, but he can't see anything other than fog and it's weird because Naruto can hear Sasuke fighting but the sound seems to be distorted, coming from random directions. He can't seem to find Hinata at all either. So far, Naruto's trying to keep the conversation alive, but this guy's not going to talk forever….
The man spreads his gloved hands outward in an apologetic manner. "Well, they are simply consumed. That one," he nods to the side and Naruto assumes he means Zabuza, but Naruto can't see anything beyond about one meter in this thick fog, how could this man possibly see better when he's only got one eye– "is botched. But this one, this one is high quality. I'll spare you and the other one if you step aside now, boy."
Naruto raises his Zanpakuto. It feels unwieldy, too heavy at the tip with a short handle that makes him hesitant on whether to hold it with one or two hands and holy crap, Naruto's never properly held a sword in his life before; what in the world is he supposed to do with this?
But it's not as if he can just, like the man says, step aside and let him do whatever he said he's going to do with Haku. And even if he did, as if Naruto trusts this guy to keep his word.
Naruto draws a breath quickly and braces himself as the man flashes forward unbelievably fast.
Suddenly, Naruto finds himself frozen, all thoughts arrested; transfixed as he watches the man's eye morph, blooming blood red–
The sound of water trickling by fills his ears and Naruto opens his eyes to a dim, sickly yellow light, flooding over the walls of an underground sewer.
He stands still. The water flows over his sandals but doesn't linger, refusing to soak his socks. It doesn't stink and looks… pretty clean for a sewer, although truthfully, Naruto's never been in one; he's never had any business wandering in a sewer.
What is he doing here?
Naruto's thoughts scatter. He can't remember why he's here, why he needs to be away from here. Or why he needs to find something here.
But he just has a feeling he needs something, something here.
Naruto observes that there is a gentle current. Water flows naturally in the direction of an outlet, he reasons. It'll lead him to where he needs to be. Some feeling in his gut is telling him he needs to go there.
Naruto reaches a large cavernous opening and as he steps through, the path he took here disappears. But he doesn't feel uneasy. He feels right.
Small ripples gradually propagate outward as Naruto steps closer to the enormous cage in the center of the space. The bars are made of cold metal and they reach so high that Naruto has to tilt his head up to stare at the intriguing paper stuck at the center.
Only to scramble backward as a ferocious roar sends the water arcing outward, menacing and vicious as the very air trembles. Naruto claps his hands over his ears, watching as two cat-like red eyes seem to pierce right through him and–
Long flowing strands of hair splay across Naruto's field of vision and within a second, he finds himself back, back from where?
"Don't you dare touch him." Hinata stands before him, poised and resolute.
"Hinata–"
Before he can finish, the man lunges again, the eye is back to normal, and Hinata meets him blow for blow, assured and graceful. And Naruto is amazed. He'd never expected Hinata to be this strong; maybe they'll get out of this–
Then, Naruto notices. And his hope crumbles. The man is still holding onto the umbrella. He's been fighting evenly matched with Hinata… with only one hand. How can this be happening?
Hinata takes a glancing blow on the forearm and Naruto feels so useless. He can't even assist in any way and Hinata's not going to last once this guy gets serious. Naruto doesn't know what he's playing at but–
Steel clashes with steel as sparks fly and the screech of metal rings across the cemetery. Sasuke's arms shake as he slams his blade against the stranger's. Naruto hadn't even seen him draw it; where in the world did he pull it out from?
But then something clicks. Their eyes are the same.
Sasuke disengages, pulling back to stand beside Hinata. "Naruto! Go to Hatake Shoten and get help. We'll hold him here, so hurry!"
Naruto clenches his jaw. There's no way they'll last that long. Naruto knows he can't do anything, but he can't run here. He refuses to run away and come back only to find them gone or worse, dead.
The man said he wanted something from Naruto. And he wants Haku.
Naruto turns around. There is one thing he can do right now. Yes, he needs to hurry, but this is something even he can do. He steps back and hefts his Zanpakuto up, forcing it down hilt first.
"Haku, I'm going to send you to Soul Society!" Naruto declares unapologetically, and he hopes he's doing this right because he can't let this guy get to Haku, he needs to send him away now.
"But Zabuza-san is still–"
"Sasuke took care of it!" Naruto spews, hoping it's true and Haku nods standing still, confused but compliant, as Naruto knocks him on the forehead. He concentrates, letting spiritual particles flow to his Zanpakuto, gathering to the end. Naruto remembers Sasuke's sticky note exercise and channels that feeling with every last scrap of focus he has.
He takes a sigh of relief as Haku fades away into blue light and Naruto turns back to Hinata and Sasuke's fight without a second thought, just in time to see Hinata be pummeled in the stomach, flying backward. Naruto rushes to the side, catching her before she can hit the grave marker.
Sasuke stands alone, frame wracked with weariness, readying his stance again.
But the stranger doesn't move.
"To think the Quincy still live. And I see you've sent my spirit away. How prudent of you." He sheathes the sword into a hidden scabbard in the umbrella and turns to retrieve his cane. "Uzumaki Naruto, I will come for you soon."
Naruto blinks twice in confusion. He just disappeared, as though he'd never been there in the first place, into thin air.
A clatter startles Naruto from his thoughts. He turns to look and his breath catches in his throat as Sasuke falls limply to the ground.
"Sasuke!" Naruto scrambles over. Sasuke is pale; his normally white skin is now whiter than bleached sheets and beads of sweat trail down his face. Hinata walks over, exhaustion clearly showing in her sluggish movements.
"He's overused his spiritual energy. It's probably fatigue. He should recover."
Naruto nods quickly. "Hinata, are you hurt?"
She shakes her head quickly, but Naruto can see she's holding her arm awkwardly to the side and he's worried; he's so frustrated with his own powerlessness. "Let's go back to my house; I'll call my dad and have him look at your arm. Help me get Sasuke up?"
Hinata makes to help shift Sasuke, but he moves a little and manages to prop himself up into a sitting position with a little help. "Wait, Naruto. Get your body first." Sasuke points at where the two of them are huddled behind a gravestone and Naruto nearly laughs at the sight.
Both Naruto and Sasuke's bodies are hugging each other in fear and they just look so frightened that Naruto is almost hesitant to approach them.
"Hey, uh, what's are your names?" Naruto hears Sasuke huff and wonders if he's asked a silly question.
"Chappy," the gikon in Sasuke's body says.
"Gamakichi," Naruto's body mutters.
Naruto frowns. They certainly seem rather unfriendly. No, they must be too scared. He puts on his friendliest smile, usually reserved for crying children and fluffy animals. "It's to meet you. I'm Naruto! The guy sitting on the ground is Sasuke and the one next to him is Hinata. Thanks for taking care of my body!"
"Just get my gigai already! They're just artificial souls; they can't hold conversation for heaven's sake."
Naruto smirks. It sounds like Sasuke's already recovering if he has enough energy to be pissed off.
They stagger back to Naruto's house and somehow run into Kakashi, Rin and Obito on the way back.
Rin immediately ushers Hinata over to the clinic once they reach Naruto's house and runs a hand over her arm. She clicks her tongue and pushes Sasuke to lie down. "Rest. Don't move."
She smiles, "I'm Rin, what's your name?"
"Hinata. I'm Hyuuga Hinata. It's nice to meet you, Rin-san."
"You as well, Hinata-chan. Alright, I'm all done! How does it feel- Sasuke, lie back down, don't think I can't see you from over here."
"Er, Naruto, let's talk in another room, alright?" Obito slowly pulls him away and lets Naruto lead them to the living room.
Kakashi and Obito look concerned, but Naruto doesn't even know where to begin.
Kakashi clears his throat softly. "Naruto, we came to check since a Hollow appeared. Did you guys manage to take care of it?"
Naruto nods. "Sasuke did."
"No wonder he's in that shape. His reiryoku wasn't even close to being recovered. What were you guys thinking? Why didn't you leave it to us?" Obito asks gently.
Naruto shakes his head. They'd never expected it to turn out like this. "A spirit came and asked us to help his friend pass on. But when we got there, there was this man… he, he turned Zabuza into a Hollow."
Obito clenches his fists and Kakashi's expression turns dark, but neither of them looks surprised. Naruto's mind turns this around sluggishly and he gives up, filing it away for later.
Naruto gets up, feeling restless, and boils some water to make tea. He'd had so much adrenaline running through him just a bit ago. He'd felt like he couldn't remember anything there; all the pieces were like scraps of paper, drifting apart in water as he attempted to grasp them. And what had that presence in the cage been? Naruto had never felt rage so bitter, so agonized.
But what can Naruto say? He was about to be attacked by that man, then he was somehow in a sewer meandering for what felt like nearly a whole hour and he just pops right back out and no time has passed? No. Now's definitely not a good time for that. He needs answers, but the problem at hand is more pressing.
He needs to know what he can about that man and Naruto needs to be ready the next time. "He had an orange mask. With one eye hole. The man, I mean."
Neither of them shows any sign of recognition. Naruto feels disheartened. He'd wanted to get some answers, but it must have been too much to hope for.
Kakashi wanders over and gives Naruto a hand with the tea by getting the cups out and scooping out some green tea leaves.
"He said he wanted something from me. He's going to come back. What should I do?" And it's a feeling like a bitter taste in the back of his mouth, insistent and dissonant; lingering faintly in his mind. "I couldn't do anything today."
Kakashi puts a hand on his shoulder, "Naruto, I think I know what's going on. Is your father coming back soon?"
"Yeah, in a few hours."
Naruto pours tea for the two of them as he racks his brain trying to remember more. "He had Sharingan."
Obito and Kakashi exchange a look that Naruto can't decipher. He opens his mouth to ask, but Rin walks in with Hinata and they sit at the table as well.
"Sasuke needs to rest for a day or so and he'll be fine. Just don't go chasing any more Hollows, okay?"
Naruto nods seriously. "I can't be this useless next time. I need to be stronger."
Kakashi pats his shoulder, moving to speak but Rin beats him to it. "Sasuke told me; he thinks you should learn how to make kage bunshin."
"Really? What's it do? When can I get started?"
Rin smiles patiently, "I'll show you the hand seals and then we'll work on molding reishi, alright?"
And this is exactly how Minato returns to find one hundred Narutos in the house.
Notes:
Hi!
I'm sorry for the late update! I'd been meaning to post this yesterday, but I completely forgot. XD I'm trying to move the plot along faster now, but for some reason I just love writing fluff and filler stuff. Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!
- bluewindfall