Thinking of: Mary's little lamb!!
Eating: Sweeney Todd's Pies!!
Drinking: Blueberry Umfkins
Listening to: Apologize by Timbaland ft. One Republic
Feels: hungry...
Start
Naruto waited...
Waited in the dark...
Waited in the cold...
Waited in the vast emptiness...
He wasn't exactly sure who he was waiting for... but just did anyway. Whoever it was that was going to get him had better hurry. He chafed his hands together blowing into them... or at least tried to. Apparently, his sense of touch gradually faded away as well. It was just a moment ago, his sense of sight had dissipated... and recently he began loosing his sense of touch...
He hugged himself in the dark... and waited...
His patience gradually diminished the longer he stayed there... wherever he was...
Another moment passed and he heard something... something far intelligible than a voice... far duller than footfalls. He held still and raised his head, focusing on that faint sound that escalated in terms of distinction... it was a familiar hammering that echoed from within him... throbbing a string of warmth through his veins, injecting his senses back in place as it stretched into every fibre of his body...
His drifting thread of awareness reattached itself into a far corner of his mind; it hauled him away from his state of nothingness and into the condition of his immobile body. His back relished the cool surface that pressed against it, he felt the humidity in his surrounding sap the moist out of his numb skin; he heard the constant cackling of flickering flames and felt the presence of another person.
His strength flowed back to his body like a river would the sea... then he heard himself breathe ever so slowly, noticing a red-orange sheet veil his sight. Slowly, he drew them apart, casting a horizontal flare of light, brashly stunning him for a moment. He winced, turned his head away, and decided to resume his attempt.
Gradually he parted his eyes open... from afar he saw a statuesque person sittingly nobly on a high-backed seat, its edges adorned by gold, its red cushion promised comfort.
"And so you have awakened" spoke a silky voice that belonged to a woman, echoing in... where ever he was.
Naruto turned his head and stared at a... high-vaulted ceiling, lit by dim red lights as dancing shadows licked its stucco surface. In the middle of it all was a circle that contained a triangle from within, its angles touching the round symbol, three figures of distorted people out of the circle facing the angles of the triangle. He grunted and pushed himself upright before slouching against his knees, his palm pressing against his forehead as he forced a rising migraine to ebb away.
"What do you want from me?" grunted Naruto, wincing at the absence of pain that each pulse throbbed in his head, it promised agony in the future and that would be the last thing he'd need in his current situation.
An eerie giggle resonated against the curved walls; he felt it vibrate against his chest. Turning his head towards the direction of the woman, he took in her features. A pale angular face stood out from raven-curtained fringes of hair and black clothing. She propped her chin delicately on her right fist and gazed at him.
"Ironically enough, I have something that you've been looking for..."
Naruto widened his eyes in response. To be honest, he didn't exactly know what he's been looking for, other than the given fact that it was his heirloom. A smirk graced the woman's lips, though she may be a mere mile away from him in the chamber they occupied, Naruto could see her well.
"There's a story in our bible that speaks of Jashin-sama's gift, a gift to be received by the deserving" she began
Naruto had been trying to recuperate the whole while and masked it through feigning interest during then, he wondered where he was, he wondered where Sakura was, he wondered how he ended up here, and he wondered where Sakura did.
"We believed that being a devout follower would please him and choose one of us, so we offered him sacrifices, performed rituals—an ancient tradition created, that lives on. It was all done, just so we may wield the mark he granted... the mark that is embedded on the back of your hand..."
"What are you trying to get at?" interrupted Naruto, bringing a knee to his chest to rest his right arm
He watched her eyes narrow in malice and her grin widen in covetousness; her free hand rested on the armrest, tapping her lanky fingers on it as it echoed uncannily along with the cackling fire that hung on brackets against the walls.
"Eons of years ago, one can only be Kage when he wields the mark. Centuries later, the mark disappears, thus began our religion, believing that Jashin-sama had abandoned us. We grew devout, our rituals grew demanding and our sacrifices graduated to the most extreme of measures... until finally, the new method of becoming Kage is to hack our way to the position"
She rose from her seat and Naruto tensed. Her cloak flapped against her high boots that tapped elegantly on the marble floor as she slowly strode towards him. He readily positioned his hand near a tag to summon a weapon and ended up cursing in the end when he realized the absence of his trenchcoat, he slowly backed away from her as she approached him.
"Rise" she commanded, her head held high when she was approximately five feet away
Out of adrenaline, he obliged and stood his ground with unrivaled courage. Eyes dangerously focused on her cat-like ones, which was gray and bore hints of green. Her height proved to be ridiculously tall, her boots must have escalated it; he faced her breasts when she came face to face with him, and thus he craned his neck.
"How did you get it?" she spoke in a dangerously low tone
"My father..." began Naruto, "gave it to me..."
The intensity of her gaze grew suffocatingly threatening, it silenced every corner of the room until Naruto could no longer hear the fire... or at least that's what he thought. She drew away from their distance and turned her back on him, muttering some words until her shoulders shook.
Naruto's brows furrowed...
A giggle echoed in the room until he saw her throw her head back to release a howling laughter. He inwardly questioned her sanity as he began looking around to familiarize his surrounding. Walls embellished with red-tinted painting of men fighting men, spilling blood, revolved around the theme of gore. The floor... bore an interesting design, the junction where it meets the wall was painted black, making a large circle, and the lines that soon took form to him, seemed to resemble a larger scale of a triangle. Apparently, doors were not an option, seeing to it that he found none—Ugh!!
Naruto's eyes flickered about as he grasped his neck with delicated fingers. Nothing. Nothing was choking him, despite the fact that he felt the pressure tighten around his neck to the point where air can no longer pass through. He was on a gagging reflex, proving that within a matter of minutes, he may pass out from lack of air or die.
He saw the woman turn around, wringing her neck with a manic glint in her eye, a grin proved her amusement as he saw her face blacken. She released her own neck and Naruto's knees buckled to the relief, he sputtered against the marble floor, gasping feebly.
He heard her approach, saw her boots from his peripheral vision, and felt two cold fingertips gently press the area just behind the bone of his chin. He blinked in confusion before he felt the gradual pressure against his windpipe, his instinct to leap away failed when her chakra slipped around her body, momentarily sapping away his strength.
He grunted and winced as he rose to her wordless command, feet nearly dangling as she brought him at eye-level. His eyes flickered here and there, panicking slightly when his hands lay limp by his sides and failed to comply to his wish.
"Listen," she hissed, "only the people in my village had been doing their rituals, I have been the most devout of all. I have done everything to attain my position. I offered my honorable father's blood to Jashin-sama, defied my impudent husband's words for Jashin-sama and disowned my dubious daughter for being unfaithful to Jashin-sama and this is what I get?!"
Her chest heaved and Naruto's face blackened. She turned away from him muttering incoherent words about should have killed, brother and something about mistake before turning back to him.
"You don't have any idea what I've been through, and you do not deserve his mark!! Those who are deserving receives it!! I AM DESERVING!!" with that, she tossed Naruto across the room, he grunted in pain as his back slammed painfully against the wall before he fell back down to the floor. He groaned before massaging the area behind his chin, glaring at the woman before him.
Though he couldn't exactly understand what she's trying to say, he guessed that she was the leader of a village he currently set foot in; a pyrrhic victory indeed. Her eyes bulged at the magnitude of hatred towards him and yet a manic grin displayed on her abstract demeanor. She was breathing heavily, her knees slightly bent, padded shoulders hunched as her gloved hands hovered to her sides in a claw-like manner.
"I... I understand now, my next goal is to kill you" she giggled maliciously, she licked her lips carefully before she set down some seals, muttering the summoning phrase. Smoke wisped around her forearms, ebbing away to reveal a pair of foreign weapon: it had a small silver shell covering her hands as she gripped its horizontal angle, from the knuckles of this weapon stood a foot-long blade... similar to Yoburo-sama's painting...
Recollecting herself, her face smoothly resumed its impassive demeanor. Raising her right weapon, she pointed it directly at Naruto's face and spoke, "Jashin-sama delivered you to me so that I may acquire his mark. Child, let Jashin-sama's judgement befall on you..."
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Bound in chains and thrown in a dungeon, Sakura rolled to her knees, wrists chained together hung by her right side. She glared at her sneering captor's malicious grin before she bolted right back at her with both hands glowing in chakra.
"Maa, pinky, you're becoming too much of a trouble, ne?" she sighed, tapping Sakura's punch away, the girl's back turned to her as a result. Soreda planted her boots on the small of her back before nudging Sakura back in the far corner of the cell.
The smaller kunoichi stumbled on the cemented floor, groaning in pain as she struggled herself back to her feet. By then, the sound of irons clanking shut echoed before she spun and flew towards the iron bars with a chakra-laden kick.
Soreda, who stood behind the iron bars, stared at Sakura's endeavor with lethargic amusement. A deep dent formed on the metal, a smug smirk tugged at Sakura's lips.
"You're really just wasting your energy, pinky," sighed Soreda, leaning forward while tapping a finger against the dent, "this is chakra proof, you know?"
Sakura blinked feeling a foreign response at the soles of her feet, she sensed that it meant nothing but danger and desperately began yanking her foot free. Soreda sighed and straightened her back, hands on hips as she spoke airily, "ooh, you're in for it now"
She felt her chakra recollect themselves from a concentrated area, acting as if it had a mind of its own. Seconds later, it released a massive force blowing her back on the other end of the cell.
She yelped in pain as the stonewalls promised a nasty bruise on her back before collapsing on her rear. Her head hung low in a feeble attempt to look upright, at least her skull hadn't cracked in the process, but the blow it received began taking its toll on her.
She focused on Soreda, the petite woman who's features began to slightly blur in her eyes, the woman shook her head sympathetically before walking away. Sakura fought back in a fraught attempt to remain conscious, but worried for she was failing miserably.
Quickly gathering chakra to fortify her vigilance, the darkness began fading away, signifying the diminutive chance of success. She stayed like that until her chakra ran out in the expense of avoiding slumbering in oblivion. The moment she gained stability, she crawled to a safe corner of the dungeon and hugged herself.
The lunatic named Mirugi had torn Naruto away from her in her reckless attempt of escape. She remembered being knocked down before awaking in the hands of Soreda, binding her in chains... where, eventually she was thrown in here.
She sighed, shook her head, and pressed her forehead in the fold of her arms. It seemed as if she was hurled in a pit of trials the moment she accepted her task, it appeared as if the world was searching for ways to prove her unworthy... she wondered what had become of Naruto and where he was. What they were doing to him and how he was... her thoughts drifted to the night before, triggering her sudden breakdown as her sobs ricocheted in the cell.
Shaken by a sudden psst throughout the dungeon, she sniffled quietly, waiting to hear it again before bawling once more.
"Don't cry, luv, or they'll hear you," whispered a voice from the nearby cell. Sakura blinked before cautiosly tottering to the iron bars. She pressed her forehead against it, trying to chance a look on the neighbouring cell to the right.
"Who's they?" asked Sakura, catching a glimpse of curly locks of golden hair, the closer she was, the stronger she sensed the presence of a male.
"The shadows..." he whispered back, "or that's what they call it... they eliminate those who disturb the peace down here... how'd you end up here, you don't seem like a fellow villager around these parts"
"My name's Haruno Sakura, I'm from Konoha," she began, palming her tears away from her cheeks "my friend and I stumbled near your village and they threw me in here... for reasons unknown..."
The man hummed carefully
"What about you?"
"You can call me Ichida; I was thrown here for trying to convince... my wife to lead a different life..."
Sakura furrowed her brows, "isn't that a little too... I dunno... harsh? I mean you were just trying... you seem like a nice person. You are her husband, after all."
The man chuckled softly, like the way the wind would ruffle up leaves, "our culture is quite different in this village... I... I don't even know the name of this village anymore... it was once a noble ninja village... but its values had fallen away to make way for the extreme cult every villager was going through—but it's great to be in the presence of a ninja again... nice to meet you, Haruno-san"
Sakura sensed the lack in explanation and didn't buy the sudden end to it, instead she probed on, "my friend and I were ambushed by two of your villagers, their skills are those of an elite jounin and a lesser Kage... and yet they don't carry the name of your village—"
"The values of the ways of the ninja had long been forgotten... as I've said, our culture is different. People here value the name of Jashin more than they do with being a ninja... they kill in the name of Jashin, throw sado-masochistic methods to painfully bring an end to their victim's lives... it's quite sad, really" he sighed stepping away from the iron bars
Sakura's eyes trailed into the darkness of the dim corridors, faint fire that hung on the brackets of the walls provided, glowed serenely. She listened to the way he dragged his foot to the end of his cell. From the way he said it, explained it, and shared his own views... he didn't seem happy at all and she didn't entirely understand how such a good person ended up in a position he didn't deserve.
"There was one of us though... he forged his own forehead protector... trying to revive the ninja ways... Our Kage disliked it and fought him to the death..."
"What happened?" asked Sakura
When he didn't asnwer, she sighed and trudged back to her corner
"Will they ever let us out?" she inquired
...
She pressed her back against the wall...
...
She slid down to the floor...
...
She waited for an answer...
...
"You can only hope for your friend's rescue..."
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Unarmed and unprepared, Naruto dodged the vicious swipes of the woman as she came at him. He leaped away, frantically searching for an object that can prove itself to be a potential weapon but found none in the virtually bare room. He resorted to leaping to her throne and lifted it, directing its legs at her.
Noting that it was actually made of gold, he began swinging at her with unexperienced maneauvers before she knocked it away from his grip. He inwardly cursed and resorted to dodging the swipes once more. Apparently, his chakra hadn't fully regenerated yet and needed to wait it out.
It happened in a split second when she lunged forth with her weapon; he sidestepped holding it in place (risking a deep cut in the skin of his left palm), spun around and threw a backfist at her stomach, successfully knocking her grip off the said weapon. The woman stumbled back before Naruto wielded it like she would on his right hand, the one with the deep cut began hissing as it healed in its own accord.
Immediately, a surge of energy deluged his system, triggering his chakra back to life.
She cursed and began charging towards him again—
He tugged the weapon off his hand—
She drew her weapon back—
He brought his fingers together in a cross
"Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!!"
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"Well, that wasn't the only reason I was thrown here, I also tried teaching my daughter the ways of the ninja, taught her how to use her chakra... I s'pose that had been the last straw..."
"So you're a ninja?" asked Sakura, voice echoing as she stared at the stone walls that covered three parts of the solemn cell.
He chuckled, voice resonating from the other side as it reached her by slightly muffled means, "That was a long time ago..."
Sakura nodded, though she knew that he couldn't tell. She palmed the cemented floor, then perked up, "who are the shadows? What are they?"
"Ridiculously enough, they just mere guards down here... their skills match to those of jounin level, so to speak... like your captor... that lady... she's a special case though, as you've said, the level of a lesser Kage..."
Though she didn't remember mentioning which level each captor was, Sakura wanted to probe on, having a different idea work up in her mind made her too eager to pay attention to such little details, "so they're the ones that makes sure that the dungeon keeps quiet, right?"
"Right"
"And if it isn't, what happens?"
"They torture you to silence..."
"How? Do they like go in or something?"
The man chuckled once more, "I really can't tell since I've been quiet up until now, but every now and then, I'd hear the sound of the gates creaking open and shut, if there aren't new prisoners to be thrown in, wails of agony echo these walls"
A wicked smile framed Sakura's face, "so that means they do enter these cells, so they can torture the prisoners"
There was a momentary pause before Ichida spoke, "what are you planning to do? You can't possibly... you can't. No one has escaped these bars, how can you—you're not even sure if they enter the cells—"
"Ichida-san, you just mentioned that these shadows are of jounin level. Why is that? So that they are armed and ready for any prisoners, making them capable of entering and exit the cells with a high survival rate."
"But no one has escaped, Haruno-san. Not one. How can you be so sure that you will?"
"Ichida-san, I am a kunoichi of Konoha." There was a thoughtful moment of silence before Sakura rose to her feet, adjusting her gloves as she flexed her hands, "for once in this village, we're gonna change that fact. There will be a breakout... believe it!"
To Be Continued...
A/N: Here is the web address for the image for that weapon The-Crazy-Woman-Naruto-is-Fighting-Against used "img212.imageshack.us/img212/9641/katar111bh9.jpg"
And I'm not discouraging anyone from solving the riddle, it's just that someone PMed me with an essay-like thing with under each line, goes his or her answer, stating that he or she "obviously" knows what the ending is and told me that my story sucks and that he or she should just continue writing it for everyone's sake.
I was honestly aggravated and infuriated, and instead of doing it on a personal scale, I did it publicly... I won't be mentioning names to save that person's reputation, but I've don it publicly to make it a harder impact. Person, you know who you are, consider yourself lucky I'm in a more forgiving mood right now, else I would have done worse, and you have no Idea what I'm capable of.
Other than that, thank you reviewers. I stopped speaking, begging for reviews when I grew tired of it, I only speak when necessary. The latter rant I've given out was necessary. This is to prove everyone that no one can walk all over me just because I don't talk all the time or recently. As a matter of fact, I have.
IF you think that I just gave up with asking reviews, never think that this story and I are "a sinking ship like the Titanic." If you, person, expect me to stoop down to your level so low that I will give up and "go in a corner and cry" as you said, think again. Think Again because you're wrong.
I don't do that, I don't deign myself for anyone at all unless necessary. And don't you ever dare add in the fact that putting up "useless words that no one can understand at all," you must be really stupid and fucking low! I do have a reference for those words and I use them for a reason, it's called Emphasis. There's a thing called Dictionary by the end of the installation, and if you can't even think about reading those words, then you must be fucking lower and fucking stupider than a shit pooped by some bimbo bitch's shit!
Now that's over with, I'm sorry about the inconvenience...
Oh yes, some may notice my daily update, I'm just making up the most of my freetime, My mom's handling my school files, I'm supposed to be studying for the entrance exams for college... heh, yeah right. Anyways, since I have an impatient nature, I've been typing since ten and kicked my pace up a notch, thus the quick types, then been scribbling notes of the story outline when out of the computer, so when I get back, I don't have to stare and wait for some magic to work.
Now, that's explained, I think it'll be quite impossible to wait for new stories out a week, since I also check my stories out via internet phone, so I keep my e-mail in check and I read mah stories out of boredom, if , let's say, I was waiting for some people or so.
But unfortunately, I think the day where the long updates are soon coming at hand. When I don't update for more than two days, you may expect that I'm in a place with no internet, since I flew back to the place where college is, and my typing will be done quite leisurely. Still have to fly between two countries for very, very complicated matters based on school and immigration... yeah... oh well... better enjoy what we have here
I don't even know if you guys managed to take that all in, heh, but it's always quite interesting to know how the author's life goes, right?
Dictionary:
Relished: to enjoy or take great pleasure in an experience
Covetousness: to have a strong desire to possess something that belongs to somebody else
Peripheral: at or relating to the edge of something, as opposed to its center
Pyrrhic victory: a victory won at such great cost to the victor that it is tantamount to a defeat
Tantamount: equivalent to a particular thing in effect, outcome, or value, especially something unpleasant
Ricocheted: to hit a surface and bounce, traveling away in a different direction