Thanks to Soprano-in-Waiting for editing!
Arisu ran towards the figure on the far horizon, but she didn't seem to be gaining any ground. She ran at full speed through unchanging surroundings. With her unique eyes leading her, she was finally able to close in on the person she was seeking.
She was nearing the edge of this space. She could feel her chakra draining. Her strength was beginning to fail her. She would have to end this quickly, or else risk serious damage to her chakra network and muscles.
She reached her target to see Sasuke standing, waiting for her. Her eyes shifted back to their original washed-out blood red color as her Doujutsu faded. She gasped for breath as she stood before him.
"You did well, this time." He flatly stated.
The world around her melted once again as the cavern reappeared; they were out of the Tsukuyomi. She fell to her hands and knees as her body started to shake. She was dangerously low on chakra as her body threatened to give out on her.
"A few more sessions and you'll have it perfected." Sasuke said tonelessly.
Arisu could hear his footsteps echo away from her and down the hall that they originally used to get to the cavern. He was leaving her there, in the state she was in. 'Does he even care if I stay conscious?' She wondered confusedly, as her body collapsed on the floor in utter exhaustion. Her mind fluttered between consciousness and darkness as the cold from the floor seeped from the stone to her body, numbing her sore muscles.
It seemed like hours passed before Arisu could feel her strength returning somewhat. She carefully moved herself to sit against one of the cavern walls as she tried to recover her strength. She didn't want to push herself too far and end up collapsing in some random hallway while she attempted to find her room. Who knows what would find her in there.
A new set of footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor after what seemed like hours. She looked up to see Junpei enter the cavern. "Hi," she greeted him. Her voice came out stronger than she thought it would in her condition.
"Training with Sasuke?" He questioned her as he approached. Arisu gave a tired nod as he knelt next to the tired girl. "We've all had training sessions with him; and he's left a few of us in worse shape. Here, eat one of these." He explained with a wry grin.
He pulled out a small bag and pulled out a single small blue pill. He gently pushed it into Arisu's open hand. She popped it gingerly into her mouth. She bit it in half once before swallowing it. Immediately she could feel her chakra and strength return to her at a fast rate.
"Do you always carry those along with you?" She questioned him.
He chuckled as he replaced the small bag into his pocket. "Yea, you learn to carry a few around. You either train with someone to the point of exhaustion, or you find someone else who's done the previous. Though some are more appreciative of help than others."
Arisu stretched out her arms, and arched her back. Her body didn't appreciate lying against the cold hard ground for so long. She couldn't even tell how much time had really passed.
"Sore?" Junpei asked politely.
"Just a bit," she responded, stretching more.
"Here, I'll show you to one of our secret spots." He got up, and offered a hand to the girl who gladly took the help to get to her feet. He led her down hallway after hallway until they reached another large, well-lit cavern. In the center of this one, however, was a large pool.
"It's not really a secret, but it works. It's somewhat warm, but not as hot as a hot spring. It works out pretty well to relax muscles." Junpei explained. "We all worked on it, well almost all of us, everyone that would be help with moving physical objects." He chuckled at some inside joke that Arisu missed.
"Anyways, I'll wait at the end of the hall. The rest of the rooms down at this end of the hideout aren't really used for anything."
Arisu looked at him, clearly confused; "Why are you going to do that?"
A slight blush crept across his face, "Well we don't exactly have female bathing suits here, and you don't have a change of clothes. Most people get cleaner if they bathe naked." He turned from her, ignoring the blush that crept across her cheeks, and pointed to one of the walls. There were make-shift shelves made out of the wall. "Towels are on the shelf. You can put your things there while you soak."
"Thank you, Junpei," Arisu responded kindly. She watched the door shut behind him and listened as his footsteps grew distant.
The coast was clear. She stripped and gingerly slipped into the large pool. The warm water was a godsend as she sat on one of the earth-made benches. She carefully stretched her limbs, working out the aches in her muscles and ligaments.
The black haired girl sat, and relaxed for a bit before a sudden chill in the air made her shiver. She could feel a cool breeze coming from the direction of the far wall. Arisu swam over to investigate the source, and noticed a small crack that was letting water leave the pool and flow out to the sea. 'It must be a small channel to let the excess water flow out to the sea, instead of flooding the rest of the base.'
With her curiosity satisfied, Arisu moved out of the way of the chilly air, and sat with the water up to her chin. With nothing to occupy her mind; it began to wander, bringing up memories of her family and friends. She didn't know how much she could trust Sasuke now, after the points that Junpei had brought up the day before. If Sasuke had an ulterior motive for her to stay here, she had to let her dad know, and soon.
'One problem with that, even if I do get the info, how do I even get it back to him?' She groaned as the new puzzle presented itself.
'Okay, Arisu. What would Dad do? Hmm…If I was Dad, and I needed to get information somewhere fast, I'd probably use my toads.' Arisu smiled at her plan, before she slumped back into the water, a scowl on her face. 'If I had the contract. Ugh! If only I could have convinced him to let me sign it, but nooo he wanted to wait until I was a chuunin…' The young genin stared at the ripples moving across the water as she tried to come up with another solution to her predicament. As she sat there thinking, something nagged at the back of her mind. Her eyes widened as she remembered a particular talk with her dad as a child.
"Sweetie, please listen to me carefully. You know how you have a little tadpole on your foot?" The young girl nodded. "It's a seal. If you're ever in trouble, like some bad men taking you, or if you get lost, all you have to do is wipe some of your blood on it. It'll summon a toad to wherever you are. The toad will come find me, and I'll come and get you. Understand?"
"Will Gamatatsu come?" She asked, her eyes lighting up at the idea of summoning her friend on her own.
Naruto laughed. "I don't think so. And don't even think about testing this on your own." Naruto eyed his daughter sternly. He could see the ideas forming. "The Toads have only agreed to this as a favor to me. If you use it when you don't really need help, it's disrespectful. Only use it if it's an emergency."
'The tattoo…' Arisu scrambled out of the water and close to a light as she grabbed her left foot, and inspected the small seal that resided in the arch. She let her foot slip back into the water as she scanned the room. Everything was smooth edges, nothing sharp that she could 'accidently' cut herself on.
She instinctively bit her lip, and the thought occurred to her. She tried to bite the inside of her lip. It happened so often while she shoveled down ramen at Ichiraku's. After a few failed attempts, she gave up. 'Why is it, when you are trying to bite your cheek; it's impossible.'
She nibbled on her thumb, but no success. She tried her molars on it, and still nothing. She bit down hard, in anger, and managed to bite the inside of her lip. "Ow…" she muttered quietly.
She managed to do what she was trying earlier. Arisu pulled herself out of the water as she put her thumb against the bite on her inside cheek. When she withdrew her thumb, it had a bit of blood on it. 'Hope this is enough.'
After pulling her foot up a bit higher, she wiped the blood across the tattoo. She sat waiting, expecting something to happen. 'It's been a while since this was put on me. I don't even remember anyone doing it. Maybe it's not active anymore.' She mused as her hope began to plummet.
A poof brought Arisu out of her thoughts as something splashed down into the pool at her feet. She moved, and carefully leaned over the edge for a closer look. In the water was a toad in shades of browns and dusty pink, no longer than a foot.
"Hello, Gamasaki at your service." The toad responded in a high voice.
"Hello," Arisu greeted it awkwardly. She blinked a few times before she attempted to cover herself; what if this toad was a boy? Not that she really had all that much to hide; it was a pride thing.
"No need for that, dearie," the toad spoke up, "It isn't anything I haven't seen before. Besides, we girls need to stick together, don't you know."
'A toad's body structure and a human's are much different.' Arisu thought to herself, mocking the response of the toad. "Right…"
"Don't worry, you aren't the only naked human I've seen. I saw your papa once, and let me tell you, I wouldn't mind seeing it again, even if he is the wrong species." Gamasaki added conspiratorially.
Arisu stiffed a giggle before her face went beat red. First she thought of the awkwardness her dad must have felt being naked before a girl toad; but the thought of her dad naked drove it straight out of her head. She shook herself vigorously to shake the disturbing thought out of her head.
Gamasaki cleared her throat, "Anyhoo, Why'd you summon me? It looks as if you aren't in any danger, just taking a nice bath. Did ya accidentally brush some blood on that seal of yours?"
"No, not exactly…" Arisu looked down, not knowing how to begin. As her voice bounced off the rock walls, she just realized how loud the two of them had been chatting. The kunoichi hurriedly checked her surroundings before she started explaining her situation. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "I was brought here to be trained to fight some great evil."
"Brought?" the toad questioned her with a furrowed brow, "By whom?"
"Sasuke."
Gamasaki gasped quietly, "You're here with that God-awful sonnuvagun?" The toad's face froze in shock for a few moments, before relaxing. She closed her eyes in recollection, "I remember now…the meeting that Naruto-sama had called us all for. You see darling, I'm ashamed to say I fell asleep since I haven't had been used in so many years. The last time I was summoned was by that dear Hinata-chan."
"My mom summoned you?" Arisu's brow knotted in confusion. 'Mom doesn't have a summoning contract…'
"Oh yes she did, sugar; Naruto-sama put a summon seal on her once they had started going steady. It was his way of protecting her when he couldn't be by her side. Rather romantic gesture, if I do say so myself."
"I never knew that…" There was more and more that Arisu was finding out about her parents.
"Now, back to the task at hand, honey." Gamasaki brought the subject back around, "What's the situation here with you?"
"I don't know where we are, or how to contact or find my dad. The water surrounding the island is dangerous so I can't leave myself. I thought that if I summoned you, you could find a way to let my dad know that I'm ok, and maybe where I am. I don't think Sasuke's telling me the truth of why he wants me here."
"Whaddya mean? What'd he tell y'all?" She questioned the girl.
"He told me I need to be trained so I can fight Madara. He's turned into some type of demon now. If I do, he will return my mom back to normal…" Her voice trailed off.
"What's wrong with your mama?" Gamasaki asked in a quiet voice. Last she had known, the Hokage's wife had been fine.
Arisu took a deep breath as she clenched her eyes shut, fighting tears. She had seen her mother only a few hours ago, thanks to Sasuke's Doujutsu. The harsh reality that her mother was most likely still in the Konoha hospital hit her hard. "Sasuke took one look at her some time ago when he first came looking for me, and she collapsed. She hasn't woken up since."
"Oh, you poor angel…" Gamasaki responded comfortingly, sad at the news of what had happened to the kind woman.
"I don't know if Sasuke plans on returning my mom to how she was before…but I had to try. People back in Konoha were looking at me different because they found out that Sasuke's actually my…" her voice choked up. She couldn't make herself admit that that man was any relation to her. It was already bad enough that she was spilling her whole life story to a toad she just summoned.
"Anyways," Arisu changed the subject quickly, "I guess I summoned you to find my dad, and tell him that I'm alright. See if he can come here, and do something. I don't know what's happening anymore…I'm only a new genin…"
"Don't worry baby, I'll go find Naruto-sama. I am one of the fastest toads of Mount Myoboku. That's why I was the one summoned with your seal. No matter how far away you are taken, I would be the fastest to alert Naruto-sama." The brown and dusty rose toad puffed out her chest in pride of her abilities.
"Alright," Arisu responded. "Then I'm putting all my trust in you, Gamasaki."
"I won't fail you. Now how do I get outta here?" Gamasaki asked the girl.
"There's a crack in the far wall that should lead out to the sea. You should be able to get out that way." Arisu directed, pointing to where she could feel the breeze coming from. The toad started swimming towards the crack in the wall.
"Thank you." Arisu called softly as the toad slipped through the crack. She got up quickly, and dried off her hair with a towel before getting dressed. She left the humid room, and headed down the hall. Junpei was still waiting at the end of the hall.
"No one came by, guess I stood out here for nothing," He joked.
"Still, thanks. I don't know what I'd have done if someone had actually walked in on me," She responded, laughing a bit herself, although it was only half in jest. If anyone had actually found her 'visitor', she would have been hauled before Sasuke in heartbeat, and who knows what he would have done.
Junpei lead Arisu back to her room. He joked about needing a map before heading down towards the kitchen. "When you get hungry, just come on down; everyone just grabs food when they're hungry, anyways. Just take this hallway, take an immediate right when you can; then take the second left and you can follow your nose from there."
"Alright," she acknowledged before entering her room. When she turned on the light, she was shocked to see a set of new clothes, PJ's, and a hair brush sitting on her bed in a neat pile. She was thankful that someone had taken the time to find her some things. She brushed out her hair out, and then fell onto her bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the next event in the wild ride that had become her life.