Chapter 14: Draining Chakra

"Do you think Jiraiya-sensei will find and help us?" Nia asked the only other person in the cavern with her.

"Probably not." Naruto answered, keeping his pace slightly ahead of Nia's, "Well, that depends if he ends up getting drunk or not."

Nia sighed, "You're right... We're screwed if we never find a way out."

"You shouldn't give up so quickly." The male attempted to calm his friend's anxiousness.

Nia smiled.

As long as he's with me, I'll probably be fine.

"We're screwed the moment those ghosts show themselves, y'know? So don't give up till then, Curly Brow."

The kunoichi frowned then said, "How long are you gonna keep acting this way?! Ghosts. Aren't. Reaaal."

"Okay okay, I'll stop." Naruto chuckled.

Nia sighed.

'Maybe I'm more in danger as long as I'm with him...'

The two continued wandering around. During this time, rats and other small critters scurried across the floors or run up the walls. Since she has a fear of rats, Nia kept getting closer and closer into Naruto's personal space.

He didn't seem to notice and kept a watch out for dead souls of the past.

Suddenly, while Nia wasn't on guard, a huge furry beast sprinted over her sandals.

"AHHHHHH!" She freaked out and jumped repeatedly on each foot, "Get away from me! Get awaaaaaay!"

Her rising panic reached Naruto also and he frantically looked around with a kunai in hand, "What is it, Curly Brow?! Did a ghost show up?!"

"N-No..." She whimpered as she tried to control her breathing, "I... I saw..."

"What'd you see?" Naruto kept his guard up, "You're freaking me out! Did you really see a ghost?!"

"I saw a rat okay!"

Naruto sweat-dropped, "A rat? Really...?"

"Yeah! It was all hairy, huge, and mean-looking; You should've seen it, Naruto."

A few seconds passed by with Naruto biting his lip then instantly, he bursted out in a fit of laughter.

"It's not funny!" Nia got embarrassed.

"Y-Yeah it is!" The blonde continued laughing, "Y-You... You call me out on ghosts, b-but- ahahaha, you're scared of r-rats. Who's the scardy-cat now? I can't tell!"

"Naruto...!"

For about a minute, the genin poked fun at his sibling student; Oh how badly Nia wanted to tell him to go off in another direction! However, she didn't do that. The moment was special to her. She never really knew what it was like to make a guy laugh so hard unintentionally. It warmed her heart to have experienced something as small as that.

She ended up wearing a smile on her face for the next few minutes.

'He laughed... because of me.'

At a certain point, Nia and Naruto ended up in a icy part of the cavern. Icicles hanged off the ceilings and stuck out of the ground several feet high. The temperature was in the negatives and Naruto shook like a leaf.

"I-It's so c-c-cold in this place, y'know?" His teeth chattered while he rubbed his arms in an effort to warm himself.

"I know but if you keep on chattering your teeth like that, they're gonna break off."

Naruto didn't respond; he only blew into his hands and rubbed them together. He saw that Nia seemed to be unaffected.

"Aren't you freezing?!" He questioned.

"No. In the Hidden Cloud, it's usually cold like this sometimes but for some reason, no ice forms because of it."

"I guess being within the clouds makes sense."

"Let's keep walking, Naruto."

"Yeah."

"What's this?" Mumi and her gang stumbled upon something crucial after carefully trying to find her victim for about half an hour but with no luck.

She noticed the boulder that kept the cavern she inhabited from being spotted by others was gone. There was only a large hole in the ground. Mumi looked on with confusion but then she suddenly came to a realization.

"Don't tell me..." She snickered, "They've actually managed to somehow end up where I've wanted them...?"

The three men beside her made comments about how lucky they all were to have victims that rounded up bringing themselves into their own predators dangerous spot. Mumi agreed with them then descended to the ground of her favorite place in the world.

There she saw a very small crater in the ground that made the shape of a human being. The sight of it brought immense joy to the long-haired woman. Her victim was definitely wandering around the cave and the best part was... They've probably ran out of chakra by now if they been there for a certain amount of time.

"They must be crawling around by now." The bald male smirked as he thought of the consequences a ordinarily ninja would have being in a cavern that sapped chakra away.

Mumi shook her head, "No, not the young man. I can sense that he has an enormous supply of chakra within him. He shouldn't be down for at least an hour or two. As for the girl..."

Nia dropped to her knees; she breathed heavily as if she just ran two days straight without stopping for a break.

"Nia." Naruto bended down to her, "What's wrong? Why are you out of breath?"

The girl huffed a few times before she answered, "I'm... I'm getting low on chakra. This cavern is taking a toll on my body."

"Can you still walk?"

"I... I can try."

Slowly, she stood up on her feet and attempted to walk. She told Naruto that though she was weakened, she could still get by.

'At that pace though... She'll never be able to get out of here to see the light of day.' The genin thought as he watched his friend move slowly.

For the sake of saving her chakra and for her chances of getting out alive, Naruto bended down in front of her with his arms behind him. Nia looked at him with a tilted head until the young man explained that if she wanted to stay alive and get out the cavern faster, she would have to let him give her a piggy back ride.

"I don't know..." She hesitated, "I don't wanna be a burden to you..."

"Quit complaining and hop on, would ya?" Naruto looked back at her, "We're not leaving till you get on."

Nia looked down in deep thought,

'Why is he trying to help someone like me? Any other guy would've left me for dead at this point... If I was just more beautiful, then I would believe that he genuinely wants to save me... But I'm not a pretty girl...'

"I'm gonna get you out of here alive, Nia."

"Huh?" The girl quickly gazed at Naruto.

"I swear that I will no matter what!" Naruto made a vow to his friend.

"You will?"

"Yeah." The blonde nodded then made intense eye contact with the kunoichi, "I never go back on my word! That's my nindou: My ninja way!"

This reply seemed to surprise Nia.

'His ninja way...?'

It took a few seconds, but Naruto's facial expression and his way of words eventually made Nia realize that he was indeed serious in what he sworn. Slowly she placed herself on his back and wrapped her arms over his shoulders.

"I believe you." She then said to the ninja firmly.

Something about him made her feel relatively calm and assured of survival. Naruto nodded then began to walk forward. The ice crystals brought light to the area they were in and thus made it easy for him to get around just as long as he was careful not to slip on the icy floor below.

"I'm not gonna give up looking for a way out of here no matter what!" The ninja declared before making his signature hand seal, "Multi-shadow clone jutsu!"

Poof!

About six-hundred copies of him spawned all around. The blonde looked around in disappointment.

"Damn! I was trying to make about a thousand, but I only ended up making a few hundred at most..."

Nia stared at the produced clones with widened eyes.

'Amazing... Even with this cavern eating away our chakra, he can still make several hundred clones! The whole area is nearly packed!'

She then stared at the sulking ninja.

'Just how much chakra does a jinchuuriki have...? It's amazing. No wonder why Uncle Bee is always so hyper and energetic...! Actually wait... that one chick, Yugito, is a jinchuuriki also but she's not hyper like Naruto and Bee, so I guess my assumptions are wrong.'

"SEARCH FOR ANYTHING THAT'LL GET US OUT OF THIS PLACE! YOU HEAR ME?!"

"YEAH!" The clones all energetically shout before running off in random directions.

They all sounded like a group of children screaming at the top of their lungs but only ten times worse. Nia had to cover her ears until they all finally went into motion.

The original panicked as he didn't get the chance to tell his clones that they were standing on ice. Because of this, a couple hundred of his copies ended up colliding into one another and vanished once hitting something sharp. The numbers dwindled down to less than four-hundred fifty clones after that.

All the clones and the original sighed and complained to one another. The leader then instructed his copies that if they're gonna run, make sure they find grounding that can actually make it possible. They all nod and walk in whatever direction they were heading anyway.

"Even if I didn't produce the number of clones I wanted and that some of them were destroyed just now, I'm sure one of us will be able to locate a way out of this place, y'know?" Naruto strolled with a couple dozen of his copies by his side and Nia's.

They all agreed with his comment and followed the single path ahead of them.

Meanwhile, Mumi and her henchmen were separated from one another in a search for either a dead body or a limping one. They scanned the area for around ten minutes before one of the henchman ran into an army of Naruto's

"What the hell is this?" The curly-haired male witnessed the strange sight before him.

His talking caught the attention of the copies and some of them turned their attention on him.

"You one of the guys who tried to kidnap me?!" One pointed his finger at him.

"How are you even awake?! Lady Mumi didn't wake you!" The man responded.

"Oh! So you ARE one of the henchmen then!"

The lone evil ninja got into a stance, preparing for battle.

This same event was occurring with the other two henchmen. Each were in a battle with a different section of clones. All three had to deal with a minimum of at at least seventy to a hundred copies.

Mumi, on the other hand, was easily passing through whichever clones threw themselves at her; She was nearest to the original out of the four.

Naruto and his group were now running on solid ground too. He sensed that his clones were being destroyed and knew right away that Mumi was close to reaching him.

"Don't freak out now, but that lady is onto us!" He warned Nia.

"Seriously?" She looked back but didn't see anything yet, "We need to hurry!"

"I know!"

The group ran for not more than a minute when they got close to a dead end. The original instructed for all the clones to attack the wall at once with all they got.

"HAAAAAAA!" They all grunt as they prepared their fists or kicks to make a huge impact.

Several jumped into the air to make sure that their success would be definite. A few moments later, the wall got completely destroyed and a whole new area came into view, disappointing everyone. However, again they reached a dead end. They all were in a large room that contained many cells and prisons.

Inside those, rotten corpses and/or skeletons were leaning against the walls or bars or just laying dead on the floor. The stench they emitted was strong enough to destroy a few clones. There must've been a few hundred of lost lives in that single room.

"Gah, it stinks in here!" Naruto covered his nose.

"It's hard to even breathe!" Nia tried to protect her nose from the smell as well, "What even happened to all these people?"

"I drained them out of their chakra once I finished having a night with them." The sound of an temptress alerted the ears of all those around.

Quickly, Naruto and his clones turned around and saw the same beautiful lady from his time at the village a couple days prior.

"That's her right there!" Nia exclaimed, "She's the one who kidnapped you, Naruto!"

"It was her?!" The blonde stared wide-eyed at the woman in front of him.

'But that's the woman I met in the village the other day...!'

"Indeed it was," Mumi smiled, "You see... You have something that I need..."

"My chakra, right?!" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, so the girl told you, did she?"

No one replied.

Naruto only thought to himself for a brief moment.

'I need to be careful... With every passing second, I can feel my strength leaving me...'

This caused the woman to giggle then lick her lips, "I will be having you all to myself, dear Naruto."

"Over my dead body, Lady!"

"Feisty, are you?" Mumi flipped her hair, "I like men with attitude!"

'This lady is starting to really get on my nerves...' Nia thought to herself as she glared at the promiscuous woman.

"What's with that mug you're giving me, little girl? Don't tell me you're comparing your mutant-looking face to my angelic one?"

"I'd rather deal with how I look than be a woman with no class who doesn't know how to keep her legs shut!" Nia retaliated as soon as a vein pulsed on her temple, "Tell me... What's it like having numerous diseases, you filthy skank?!"

"What the hell's going on here?!" Naruto got dramatic while all his other clones were talking amongst themselves on what each woman just said to the other, "Nia, why are you calling this woman a-"

"Because she's trying to sleep with you!"

The ninja tilted his head, "Why doesn't she just go to sleep herself? Does she need to be by someone?"

Nia placed her hand on her face then sighed and sweat-dropped, "I meant she wants to... you know... get intimate with you, Naruto."

"Intimate...?"

The sixteen-year-old had to give himself a moment to think. Finally he understood the meaning of what Nia said.

"GAH!" He freaked out with a reddened face, "YOU MEAN THAT KIND OF SLEEP?!"

"What else?" The woman smirked, "Though I do feel bad about it I'll admit. I mean, you're so innocent; I bet you never had that sort of fun yet. Don't worry though, I won't be too wild."

Naruto gritted his teeth, "You're sick, y'know?!"

Mumi giggled, "I do what must be done."

Instantly, she made a few signs.

"Earth Style: Ground Shaker!"

Mumi then slammed her hand to the floor and immediately the room began to tremble as if an earthquake just took place. Naruto and his clones were losing their balance as the ground then began to crack and cause a few clones to fall to their deaths.

Naruto had his remaining clones distract Mumi once he spotted a weird tunnel in one of the prison cells. He went to it and automatically knew he didn't have the strength to break it open himself.

"I got a bit of strength left so..." Nia drew her fist back then very roughly smashed it against the bars. They broke, flew into the wall, and got stuck in there.

"There." She said, "You can go in the tunnel now."

'Scary... She reminds too much of Sakura when it comes to her strength...'

Naruto nodded anyway and sprinted into the misty new area. Mumi grew frustrated and tried to chase after them but was first forced to deal with the clones.

"Good news, my clones were able to beat those other jerks up but only a little of them remain. They're headed to help us out now!" Naruto gave intel to Nia.

"T-That's great..." She barely was able to respond back; Her arms were staring to loosen up.

"Curly Brow!" Naruto stopped as soon as he noticed the girl had her eyes closed and was barely breathing.

He took her off his back and leaned her against a wall in the torch-filled area.

"Curly Brow!" He shook her shoulders but received no response, "NIA!"

Weakly, the kunoichi opened her eyes and saw her friend trying desperately to get her attention.

"I... I can hear you..." She said with a tired voice, "D-Don't worry about me..."

"The cavern is really taking a enormous amount of your energy; I need to hurry and get you out of here before it's too late." Naruto said with a look of concern.

Nia stared at the blue-eyed boy with narrowed eyes, "Listen, I can't even move right now. There's no hope in me getting out of here alive. You have goals and dreams to accomplish! Leave me and save yourself, Naruto. Who cares if I-"

"Don't even DARE say what I think you're going to say!" The Konoha ninja stood up and placed his hand to his himself.

"I told you I wasn't going to abandon you already... No matter what you say, I ain't going nowhere unless you're with me too." Naruto began a heart-felt speech, "I don't care if you believe you're not worthy of staying alive right now or that no one will care about you if you die. I'll admit, as a kid I struggled with those thoughts too at times but eventually, I regretted every last negative thing I told myself. I found people who mean the world to me now and that I wanna protect."

Nia said nothing. Her vision was getting blurry but she could still hear and understand what Naruto was saying to her.

The young teen bended down to her level, touched her shoulder then smiled.

"My sensei, Kakashi, once told my team about the importance of friendship. He said: Those who break the rules are regarded as nothing more than scum but... Whoever abandons their friends are even worse than scum."

"W-Worse than scum?" Nia replied weakly.

"Yeah!" Naruto nodded, "I'm not scum nor worse than it! I'm going to save you no matter what!"

Immediately, Nia's face burned and she received butterflies in her stomach.

'There's that strange feeling again...' She said in her thoughts. She couldn't control the wonderful feeling she was receiving.

She stared at Naruto in admiration and awe. However, the moment was cut short.

"Huh?" The genin male suddenly got a message from his clones.

'Damn it! She's here!'

"Earth Style: Dancing petals!"

Like earlier with Nia, a rainbow-colored rainbow of flower petals came racing towards Naruto in an attempt to constrain him. He dodged them and threw shuriken from the direction they came. Mumi used her flowers to form a shield around her.

'That's just like Gaara's sand defense!" Naruto noticed the similarities in her defense mechanism.

"It's quite handy, don't you think?" The black-haired female smiled an arrogant smile.

"Pfft! It's all right, I'll give you that."

As he tried to move forward, Naruto realized that his body was in a very weakened state. He tripped and landed on his stomach. The two genin had been inside the cavern for over an hour and finally they both now we're paying the price for it.

'Darn! The cavern ... It's hard to even move... Maybe I shouldn't have used as much shadow clones. That exhausted me quite a bit even quicker than I expected it would've."

Loudly, the woman laughed, "Look at you on the floor like you are! You've ran out of so much chakra that I don't think I need you anymore. It's such a shame... You had so much of it too."

"As long as you're hands aren't on me, I'll be just fine."

"You really think so?"

Naruto slowly stumbled onto his feet; He was clearly exhausted, "Y-Yeah..."

"Well then." Mumi flipped her hair off her shoulder then performed a new set of hand seals, "Earth Style: Mud Moat Transportation!"

The ground immediately turned into just that: Mud, and lots of it.

Naruto, Nia, and Mumi herself was caught in it and was being dragged down. Naruto tried to free himself from the jutsu so he could save Nia but the mud acted like quicksand and wouldn't let him go. Eventually, all three were swallowed whole.

The next thing Naruto knew, he was bounded to the wall by chakra restraints and couldn't free himself no matter how hard he tried to. The room he was in was somewhat large like a field and had orange brick walls with a tiny hint of brown mixed in.

Mumi appeared in front of him while Nia appeared against the wall half-conscious. The kunoichi saw her friend in restraints and asked if he was alright.

"Don't bother asking Naruto." Mumi placed his chin in her hand, "He won't be alive soon."

"Get your hands off me, Lady!"

"No can do; I've decided that I'd start with what I originally planned. It's better to take a little of your chakra than to have none..."

Mumi closed her eyes and began inching her lips closer to Naruto's.

The genin watched hopelessly as the woman neared his lips. In a desperate attempt, he pulled his lips in and turned away his face. The lady only managed to kiss his cheek.

"Hm?" She opened her eyes and saw that her victim tilted away from her. She smiled when she observed the redness in his face.

"Wow! Who knew you were the shy type. You didn't seem like it all back there. What a nice surprise."

"I'm not red cause I'm fond of you!" Naruto barked.

The truth was, he was embarrassed by it.

The two exchanged a few words before Naruto noticed Nia's facial expression. It was as clear as day that she was pretty ticked off. Her fist was clenched and her eyebrows furrowed. The glare she gave Mumi was one of great fierceness.

"Stop trying to use Whisker Cheeks." She demanded.

"Whisker cheeks? Is that what you call him?"

Naruto sweat-dropped, "Didn't you say you wasn't going to call me that ever again, Curly Brow?!"

"Well, you still call me Curly Brow...!"

The two bickered for a bit before Mumi turned her attention on Nia and walked over to her then squeezed her cheeks in her hand, "You little smart-mouthed, good-for-nothing. I didn't forget that little stunt you pulled with your paralysis jutsu. I'll make you pay for what you've done."

Without warning, Mumi threw Nia across the room like a rag doll. In her weakened state, there was nothing the dark brown-haired girl could do; She was very vulnerable at the moment.

"Get away from her!" Naruto watched as his comrade was being assaulted right in front of him.

He wildly tried to loosen his prison yet couldn't. His chakra was much too low as was his strength.

Mumi slammed her foot to Nia's side repeatedly. The girl reached down to cover her wounded spot but Mumi would just jab her in another place. She used her flowers to hold her victim steady as she used her like a punching bag.

"This is what you get!" The woman threw a hook to Nia's face, "For using that annoying genjutsu on me like that!"

Brutally, she used taijutsu to continually do so and was getting stronger with each jab.

"Stop! Stop hurting her! I'm the one you're after, aren't I?! Beat me up instead!" Naruto yelled in an attempt to get Mumi to do as he said.

Unfortunately, she disagreed and found pounding mercilessly on the kunoichi more exciting for the moment. Naruto gritted his teeth.

'Nia's in danger but I can't do anything to help her...! These chakra cuffs won't go away and I can't break them.'

"Gya!" Shrieked the young girl as her evil enemy kicked her into the wall.

Blood flowed out her mouth and top of her head. Her arms were bruised and her legs were cut by the sharp petals thrown at her. Mumi approached Nia with a sadistic smile.

"You have no idea how much entertainment this brings me to see you suffer."

Again, Nia was tortured with slaps and knuckles to the face. Naruto watched horrified as these beatings were occurring right in front of him. The poor girl was helpless and couldn't defend herself in the state the cavern put her in. Naruto felt something evil yet powerful swirling in him quickly.

'I... I need more power... If I don't get out of these restraints...'

Red bubbles began to form slowly around his body. The anger was beginning to take control of him. Even though he heard from Yamato that he needed to use his own strength to protect others, if he didn't use the nine-tails chakra right at this moment, someone may die a slow, brutal, and bloody death.

'I... I can't let Nia be killed.' The jinchuuriki said in his thoughts as his canine teeth and claws began to form. The whiskers on his cheeks widened and grew fuller also, 'I said I'd get her out of this place no matter what! I... can't g-go back on my word...!'

For a few seconds, the genin watched as his female comrade bled from out her nose. Her head hung low and her glasses slipped off and crashed to the ground. Nia seemed to be drifting to an unconscious state.

Instantly, about two tails formed and Naruto's eye color changed to a bloody dark red with cat-like slit shaped eyes replacing his usual round ones.

Soon, he gathered enough strength to break off the restraints easily and jumped in front of Mumi with animal aggressive behavior.

He let his inner beast give him power in the heat of the moment.

--

A/N- Now the two-tailed Naruto has been unraveled. This chapter took a long time to write honestly but I hope that it was enjoyable to read.

Anyway, thanks for reading :) have a great day everyone.