Posted: October 18, 2013
Last Updated: October 18, 2013
Chapter WC: 6,447
Story WC: 130,221

NOTE: There is an extremely important Author's Note at the bottom of this chapter.

Worth Dying For

Chapter 18
Three

-2:00 PM, August 6, 312 TE-

-Underground Cavern, Nagi Island-

I slid into a defensive stance before Momochi's presence even fully registered. "What are you doing here?" I snarled.

At the same time he snapped, "This is the Leaf team?"

While I hesitated, surprised by his words, a young woman with long black hair stepped forward and held her hands up in a placating manner. "Please, we mean no harm," she said.

An audible buzzing arose from Aburame. "You are the masked shinobi who attacked us," he accused.

"Please," she said again. "I am Haku, Zabuza-sama's apprentice. We apologize for attacking you previously, but we truly didn't mean any harm. We were merely attempting to draw the attention of a few hunter-nin so that a colleague of ours could pass unimpeded."

"You tried to kill us!" I yelled.

Momochi scoffed. "You were interfering with my mission. If it came down to it, I'd do it again in a heartbeat," he sneered.

While I spluttered in incoherent anger, Haku waved his hands. "We are sorry for any harm we did to you and your team," she said sincerely.

"You did seem to be stalling," Yamanaka said slowly.

"You can't actually be believing what's they're saying!" I protested. "Not after—" I turned to our teacher. "Sensei, tell her!"

But he wasn't paying any attention. Hatake-sensei had his nose buried in his porn book again, blotting out the world around him. I growled, frustrated. Sometimes he took the whole 'you're the mission captain' thing way too seriously. And I still contested that this was not a mission that a Genin should be in charge of.

He wanted me to make the decisions? Fine, I'd make a fucking decision.

When I opened my mouth angrily, Yamanaka startled me by gripping my arm. She didn't say anything, but her eyes were wide and her lips pursed—and I knew exactly what she was thinking. I looked away reluctantly. We didn't have time for all this. Uchiha didn't have time for this.

"Good to see I didn't permanently cripple you, Copy-Cat," Momochi said with a smirk.

Hatake-sensei hummed in reply, not looking up. Momochi's lips curled back into a bestial grin and I quickly stepped forward. "Whatever happened in the past, we need to get our teammate now. So are we going to find this Yagura or what?" I demanded. God, why did I have to be the mature one when I'd been rallying against this whole plan just a few seconds ago?

Something had to be wrong with me, I thought while bemoaning this new, complicated situation. I kept choosing to trust people that I really shouldn't. Sure, the whole issue with Shimura-sensei had turned out fine and the fuck up with my teammates had too, but that just meant I'd probably already run out of my good luck.

Momochi pinned me with sharp stare for a minute. Then with a grunt he turned and proceeded further into the cavern, leaving the other Mist-nin to watch warily as we followed after him. At the back of the cavern the walls bottlenecked into a narrow path and then abruptly opened again to show an immense underground lake, nearly half the size of Toyama Bay. There were lights on the walls near the entrance, but after that the cavity just faded into darkness.

Stopping near the edge of the rock that jutted out over the water, Momochi jerked his head forward. "That's where the Sanbi is resting," he said. "We managed to bring it here with Yūkimaru-dono's help. It's deep down there, far beneath the water. We have seen any movement from it in years. You'll have to dive to get to it."

Well this day just kept getting better and better. Uchiha was going to fucking owe me when we got him back. And I still wasn't entirely convince that this wasn't just some convoluted trap, despite the brave face I put on.

I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. "Well then, let's just get this over with. Do you have another one of those rebreathers?"

Haku produced one immediately. It looked just like the other ones we'd used, except that it was slightly larger and there was a flattened circle at the front where there was another seal.

"This is a deep sea rebreather," Haku explained. "It has added seals for temperature and pressure control. You can only go about 1500 feet down with this model, but that should be more than enough. This seal on the front is for lighting." She traced one of the etched lines that ran from the seal, over the edge of the mask, and connected to the mouth-seal. "It's designed so that the more chakra you use, the brighter the light will be. Below a certain level the light will turn off completely, though you will still be able to breathe. It may take some practice to learn to control the light's intensity."

"…Thanks," I said grudgingly. "I guess you're not too bad of a kunoichi, even if your 'Master' is a jackass."

Momochi tossed his head back and exploded with laughter. The sound bounced off the cavern walls and echoed around us, multiplying in intensity. As I shot him a startled look, Haku began to giggle as well and said, "I am a boy."

I did a double take. "Wha…?!" Even staring at 'him' now, there was no way I could picture Haku being male; he was too damn effeminate. Hell, he made Uchiha look like the epitome of manliness! "Right, well," I said awkwardly, then carefully took the probably extremely expensive rebreather so that I wouldn't have to talk.

I put it on, but repressed the urge to test it out just yet—though it would be quite fun to blind Hatake-sensei. Instead I stripped off my equipment and then my shirt; they would only get in the way. It was a good thing that scroll containers were sealed so as to be waterproof, I thought distractedly, because otherwise all of my clothing would be lost. Perhaps I should invest in a waterproof bag as well. I took a deep breath and reveled in how crisp the air tasted through the rebreather, lacking the moisture of the cavern's naturally humid environment.

The water seemed to be growing blacker and more menacing with each passing second. I took one last glance at the worried countenances of my teammates, reminding myself why I was acting insane again, then screwed my eyes close. I took a reflexive breath even though I didn't actually have to hold it and jumped off the ledge.

The water felt like ice and I instantly gasped from the shock of it. A second later I gasped again, this time from the warmth that was spreading out from my rebreather, sliding over my skin until it had enveloped me like a bubble. Shaking my head, I channeled more chakra into the device and the seal on its front lit up like a flashlight. I still couldn't see anything, but now that was just because there was nothing to see. Yet.

I began to dive straight down. Or at least I was fairly sure it was straight down. There was nothing in the inky black water to give me any sort of point of reference, which left me feeling faintly disoriented and dizzy. I swam on regardless, figuring that I'd run into a rock wall or something eventually.

I didn't. I had been underwater for what felt like ages without seeing anything at all. The paranoid part of my mind began to wonder if I was swimming in circles while in a genjutsu. I couldn't think of any reason for the Mist-nin to do that though, so I let it go. Instead I just made another mental note to learn more about detecting genjutsu.

Abruptly I realized that my light was reflecting off something. The cavern wall, from the look of it, I thought with a sigh. I started to turn away, only to stop at the last second. Maybe it was just the hue of my light, but the 'rock' looked distinctly greenish. And smooth. The bottom of my stomach began to drop as I tentatively swam closer. It definitely wasn't a rock, but it was also huge; I felt like a minnow swimming up to a whale. I swallowed thickly. This must be the Sanbi.

The knowledge that I was deep underwater with one of the tailed beasts—physical and in person, not just trapped in my stomach—was not particularly comforting. I was right up next to it now, but it was so large, and my light so small, that I couldn't really tell what it looked like. How exactly was I supposed to get to Yagura? How could I even figure out where he was? It was extremely tempting to head back to the surface and admit that I had no fucking clue what I was doing, but that would just eat up more time. It felt like I was some stuck in some sort of countdown, only I had no idea how much time was left.

I closed my eyes and treaded water. By now I was about 90% sure that I'd met the real Kyuubi that day during Shimura-sensei's training. I didn't know if meditating would help me find the beast again, but I didn't have another option or idea, so I steadied my breathing and let myself drift. Floating in water was an added distraction at first, but quickly became soothing instead. This time I had no problems getting my mind to slip away.

I opened my eyes to the silent swamp. I couldn't stop a sigh of relief nor the grin that found its way onto my face. I knew my way this time so I quickly sloshed through the swamp until I came across the stone platform. The Kyuubi was more intimidating now that I knew it was real—but also less so, since I already knew it couldn't touch me. It growled again as I stepped forward.

"So, I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot," I greeted with a forced grin.

"And exactly what foot should we have used?" the Kyuubi sneered.

"Look, we're stuck together—"

The beast snapped at me suddenly and I flinched back. "Leave me be, human scum!" it roared.

"Seriously, can we just—"

The Kyuubi let rip a ferocious roar. When it had faded away I wiped my face, disgusted by the moisture of its breath. Then I planted my feet shoulder-width apart and glowered up at it, allowing my annoyance and pressing urgency to take the reins.

"Look," I said again forcefully, "you know the Sanbi, right?" That caused the demon to stop short and I felt a jolt of victory run through me. "It's a few feet away from me right now and it is unconscious or dormant or something—pretty much completely vulnerable. It's one of you, right; like your kin or something? Well I'm here to help it. I just need to wake up its jinchuuriki—"

Throwing its head back, the Kyuubi let loose a strangled barking sound that made me jump. A moment later I realized that the demon was laughing. It took far longer than was necessary for it to calm down. When it had, it lowered its head and peered down at me with its black lips peeled back into an ugly expression.

"Typical human," the Kyuubi spat. "You twist your words and fold them over each other like origami. But you cannot lie to me—I've known more than enough of you vile monsters. I already know that your intentions serve no one but yourselves. You'll gladly trample upon anyone else who gets in your way."

"Hey, that's not true!" I protested.

"Is it not?" the Kyuubi sneered. "Have you ever known a human who wasn't a lying, treacherous, sack of vomit? And you! You, who revels in your ignorance and wears your imbecility like a badge of honor, you can't even resist calling my brethren an it, like some kind of animal!"

"You…have a gender?"

The Kyuubi made that barking laugh sound again. All nine of its tails were lashing wildly despite their chains. "Humans," the Kyuubi said, spitting the word out as though it were a curse.

"Right, because you're such a paragon of morality!" I snapped back. "At least I don't go around destroying villages and eating babies! And how the hell should I have known that you have a gender? You're supposed to be a mass of chakra or something." I narrowed my eyes up at the Kyuubi. "Wait, are you female?"

"Of course not!" the Kyuubi roared.

"Well, exactly how was I supposed to know?" I huffed. "You look like a fox to me."

"And you look like a hairless weasel to me," he retorted.

"Okay, we're getting nowhere with this. The fact of the matter is that your 'brethren' really is out there, and he really is vulnerable. I want to wake him up to help his jinchuuriki, true, but doing so will also wake the Sanbi up, which you want. It's a win-win," I said. Honestly, I wasn't sure that the Kyuubi wanted to help the Sanbi, as they could easily be rivals or something, but the way he'd reacted made me think he did. "All I need is a sliver of your chakra; just enough to jolt the Sanbi awake."

The Kyuubi growled lowly while eyeing me for a long minute. Then his black lips stretched up into a cruel smirk. "And what would I receive for this, little one?" he asked in a rumbling tone.

Ah, shit. Here was exactly what every story and myth warned against—making a deal with a demon. "Look," I snapped instead of answering him directly, "I want to help the Sanbi's jinchuuriki, but I don't owe him anything. I don't have to help him."

I held my breath for a moment while the Kyuubi growled down at me. This was a test as well as an argument. Ever since I'd first acknowledged that I had faced the real Kyuubi a part of me had been fixed on the realization that the demon—the living, breathing, and most importantly thinking Kyuubi—was stuck inside me. I had been horrified and disturbed to think that the Kyuubi could have been watching me all my life; that he knew everything I'd ever done. The idea of being observed like that… It made me sick to my stomach.

When the Kyuubi didn't refute my statement about not having to help Yagura, I very nearly sighed in relief. If he didn't know about Uchiha's kidnapping, then he couldn't see anything outside the seal. More confident now, I pushed him a little bit farther.

"And the Sanbi is still helpless. He can't fight back. I could easily shove a jutsu into his head. Maybe that would even wake up the jinchuuriki for me. What do you think?"

The Kyuubi roared again and I could all but see his hatred for me growing and multiplying. A small voice in the back of my head said that emotionally blackmailing an immortal demon that was sealed into me probably wasn't the best idea. But acknowledging that would mean acknowledging that it had emotions to blackmail, so I chose to do the mental equivalent of sticking my fingers in my ears and singing at the top of my lungs.

Belatedly I realized that the Kyuubi had been ranting and cursing me once more. Then without any warning I was shoved out of the Kyuubi's seal—a sensation which felt rather like being pushed off a cliff. I gasped automatically and panicked when I found myself underwater, expecting to get a lungful of liquid. It took a moment, and a mental smack of the head, to remember exactly where I was.

Well, shit, what was I supposed to do now? I had been hoping he—

I felt the Kyuubi's chakra race down my nerve endings and wrap around me like coils of fire. It was a feeling that was simultaneously sharp and fuzzy, as though flames were licking at my skin but not quite burning me. This time I was able to keep a clear mind. I could see the red energy enveloping me like a glowing cloak, and could feel the water around me quickly heating up. I panted at the sudden energy rush, then grinned. Naruto 2, Kyuubi 0.

I reached out and touched a large spike that was growing out the Sanbi. Green chakra rose up to meet me, brushing against the red energy that was emanating from my hand. The two chakras pushed back and forth against each other for a moment, attempting to mix like oil and water. I could feel the other chakra. Not just a static-y, electrical sensation as most chakra felt like; no, this was cold, prickly, and vaguely foamy. It wasn't a bad feeling necessarily, but it was so shockingly different from any chakra I'd ever felt before that it made the back of my neck tingle even in my chakra-fueled state. I felt myself instinctively snarling, but at the same time my heart rate slowed a bit, calmed by an alien sort of familiarity.

Forcing my face to slacken, I took in a deep breath. I may have had a clear mind, but the Kyuubi's chakra was heightening all of my emotions. I reacted more strongly to anything I felt, and I was led by my instincts much more than my head. I guessed this was what people meant when they referred to 'animal instinct'. Except that the Kyuubi wasn't really an animal, apparently…

A pale glow lit up somewhere to my right. I looked up, confused, and instantly froze. It wasn't just a light—it was a huge, glowing yellow eye that was as large as I was tall. And it was staring straight at me.

Shit, shit, shit!

I hadn't thought of what I was going to do once the Sanbi woke up. I guess I'd thought that Yagura would awaken first—

The green chakra beneath me began swirling agitatedly, rather like a stormy sea. Bubbles formed in its depths and the color of it darkened as it somehow grew in strength and potency. The Sanbi's eye closed again, and a moment later I realized why: It was dissolving into that green chakra. It shrank before my stunned gaze, quickly reforming into a tiny shape.

A tiny human shape.

Shocked back into action, I swiftly swam up to it. The human shape was still covered in a chakra cloak much like my own, but through it I could see a boy. Or perhaps young man might be more accurate; it was really hard to tell. He had pale green hair and a vertical line of stitches that ran from below his left eye to his chin. He was also still unconscious, slowly sinking further into the dark water.

Uttering a mental curse, I took in a deep breath and removed my rebreather. It fit easily onto Yagura's face at exactly the same time as the green chakra around him faded away. I could see his chest moving as he began to breathe and resisted the urge to sigh in relief.

And now I somehow had to swim back to the surface with an unconscious body and only one rebreather between us… Shit, I really hadn't thought this through. I'd literally just jumped into the water mere minutes after finding out what I was supposed to do. They clearly hadn't thought it through either, which to me was more proof that they had no clue what they were doing and were just praying that this would work. Well it had worked, but now I needed to get back without drowning in the process. I'd never suffocated before, but I had little doubt that it would knock me out and the both of us would sink to the bottom of the ocean—or sea cave, or whatever this was.

I grabbed Yagura around the waist, focused on the direction I was pretty sure was up, and began to swim as fast as I could. It was impossible to tell how far I got before my air started to run out, but I'd like to think I covered a lot of ground—water, whatever. Eventually however I could feel the strain on my lungs quickly progress to a painful burning sensation. It felt like there was something in my chest struggling to get out and even though I was trying my damnedest to hold on, I was just about out of air. Fuckity fucking fuck. There were black spots dancing in my vision but I just needed to go a little bit further. Then I could try to somehow keep Yagura's mouth and nose closed while I used the rebreather, just for a moment….

Yagura moved. I didn't even notice at first, as intent as I was on not drowning, so it came as more than a shock when a fist suddenly drove into my temple and nearly knocked me out. I gasped and swallowed a mouthful of salt water, and sure has hell had no way of hanging on when Yagura started to thrash in my grip. I tried to cough and took in more water as the previously dancing black spots started to completely take over my vision. I grabbed at my throat, but had I had no air left and no way to take a breath and nothing at all that I could do to stop myself from blacking out—

A solid object was pressed to my mouth. As the darkness swallowed me up I lost control over my motor functions and started breathing again. In a small corner at the back of my mind I was surprised to take in a deep lungful of fresh air. I hacked and coughed for a full minute, expelling the water I'd swallowed and getting the much-needed oxygen to my brain. Before long I could breathe—and think—normally again.

Floating across from me in the water was Yagura, fully awake and aware. He was watching me with sharp, pupil-less red eyes that had the same sort of look that Uchiha often wore—like he was studying and memorizing everything he saw. I tensed up when he suddenly formed a hand seal and he stilled, waiting until I had calmed, before channeling chakra into a jutsu. The water around his head wavered, then a bubble formed over his mouth. My eyebrow shot up as he began to breathe through the bubble.

A water-breathing jutsu of some kind? It must pull oxygen from the surrounding water to create the bubble or something, but I'd never heard of anything like it before. Even the Mist-nin we'd met today all used rebreathers.

Yagura pointed upward and when I nodded we both began to swim. Belatedly I realized that I was no longer using the Kyuubi's chakra, though I couldn't remember when I'd stopped channeling it. It was a bit disturbing to think that I couldn't even feel the difference between when I was and wasn't using it. I shivered faintly, and resolved to never use it unless I had no other choice.

The water above us was a lighter blue now, and we both increased our pace. A minute later we burst into the cold cavern air and bobbed in the waves our movement had created. We didn't even have the chance to regain our bearings before hands were reaching down and pulling us out of the water. I collapsed to my knees on the rock floor.

Most of the Mist-nin were standing back near the bottlenecked passage that led into the rest of the cavern. They were showing a lot of restraint, considering the eager expressions most of them were wearing. Momochi and two other shinobi were all crouched around Yagura, speaking rapidly to him in hushed tones.

I looked up as Haku—and damn, he still looked like girl; it was almost creepy—stopped next to me and held out a thick blanket. Nodding my thanks, I pulled off the rebreather and used it to dry off. My hair was plastered to my face, partially obscuring my vision and tickling the back of my neck.

"You did better than I thought you would," Hatake-sensei said.

I snorted. "Considering your expectations, I could have drowned and still done better than you 'thought I would'." I tactfully didn't mention the part where I had nearly drowned.

"Thank you," said a soft voice.

Slowly I stood up. Yagura was standing before me, completely dry. He looked a little bit older now that we were out of the water, but still not old enough to be a Kage.

I shrugged uneasily. "No sweat. It didn't take long anyway," I said. Yagura's raised eyebrow spoke volumes about what he thought of that, but he merely nodded.

"You need rest, Mizukage-sama," one of the MRF kunoichi said. "Then we can—"

"What about Sasuke-kun?" Yamanaka protested.

"Tomorrow—"

I took an angry step forward. "No, not tomorrow! This has already taken too long. We've done what you asked, now you have to uphold your end of the bargain."

"What are they referring to?" Yagura demanded.

Everyone hesitated for a moment. "Yagura-sama," Momochi started, then coughed. "We have had a team of hunter-nin tailing us for about a week. Earlier today they captured the Leaf-nin's teammate and…Yūkimaru-dono. We agreed to assist with their teammate's rescue in return for Uzumaki's aid."

The skin around Yagura's eyes tightened, but he didn't otherwise react. "We are wasting time then. We begin now," he said.

Yagura's red eyes locked onto mine and I nodded gratefully. He was the first other jinchuuriki I'd met. How bizarre it was, to know that not only was there someone like me out there, but that he had made it all the way to Kage. All of the Mist-nin here… They'd defected for him. It was one thing to die for your leader, but to become a traitor for him? They believed in him that much…?

I couldn't help but look away.

o-O-o

-3:00 PM, August 6, 312 TE-

-Underground Cavern, Nagi Island-

I sighed, frustrated with how long it was taking to get ready. The MRF had to retrieve some of Yagura's old belongings. Meanwhile we had no choice but to wait. We weren't allowed to see the MRF's base, no surprise there. The entire time we'd been waiting, Yagura had been sitting on the cavern's ledge with his eyes closed, letting his feet trail through the water while a small amount of chakra radiated from him. My teammates were quietly talking amongst themselves while I paced back and forth restlessly.

When at last my frayed patience reached an end, I strode purposefully over to Yagura and sat down next to him. Gōzu—one of the few who'd remained behind—growled and moved forward, but backed down after a single glance from Yagura. I marveled at the control he had over the Mist-nin even after being gone for four years.

"How did you become the Mizukage so young?" I asked him.

Yagura closed his eyes again and smiled. "I am older than I look," he answered. "Being a jinchuuriki allows us to age…gracefully."

I snorted, but wondered if I'd age like him. Would I age normally—growing old and eventually dying? Or one day would I just…stop? Frozen in time, immortal… There was a sort of disturbing allure to that.

"You haven't aged over the past few years, have you?" I said aloud. "Could you feel anything? Or was it just like sleeping?"

Yagura stayed silent for a minute and I thought he wasn't going to answer. Then he said, "Yesterday I was freed from the prison of my mind and was attacked by my own village. Yesterday I was fleeing from Mist, sure I was to die. Yesterday Yūkimaru was only a toddler…"

I gulped, my throat suddenly dry. I hadn't thought of it that way. For him the past four years hadn't happened at all. "The boy? Who is he?" I asked carefully.

Again a silence stretched between us. When Yagura finally turned and looked at me there was a self-deprecating smirk on his face. "He is my son, though I have yet to actually meet him. His mother was loyal to certain parties that I have…ethical disagreements with."

"The shinobi who was controlling you," I guessed, though internally I was only freaking out all the more. The kid was his son? Damn, I really knew how to step on all the exploding tags today.

Yagura rolled his shoulder. "The 'Puppet Master', I've been told he is being called. My memories say that the woman was a kind person regardless, but I do not know how much I can trust them, especially since Yūkimaru was born with the express intention of being the next bearer of Isobu."

A shiver ran down my back. God, Yagura could remember what happened while he was being controlled? That was the most horrifying thing I'd ever heard—to be trapped in your own body, watching but unable to do anything… I'd rather be buried alive than live through something like that. I pushed my dark thoughts away as quickly as possible and instead let my mind latch onto something else Yagura had said.

"Isobu?"

"The Sanbi," Yagura clarified.

"It—he has a name?" I said, confused. "I thought Sanbi was its name?"

Yagura smiled faintly. "The Sanbi is merely what we call it—a description. Has the Kyuubi not told you his name yet?"

I scratched the side of my nose and stared down at the dark water. "Yeah, well, we've only spoken twice so far and we kind of…don't get along…" I muttered.

"Yes, I can imagine as much. The Kyuubi must have a lot of pent up anger. He was amongst the first of the Bijuu to be sealed away, and has not had time out in between as Isobu has."

I flinched at the reminder that not everything was as it seemed with the Bijuu. They had both a gender and a name? Any more of this and I'd start thinking of them as people. Yagura glanced down at my stomach and I realized that I had been holding my stomach, right over the seal. I dropped my hand like I'd been burned.

"So, wait, the Kyuubi was sealed before I was born?" I questioned. I remembered the Kyuubi saying something like that before too, about how he'd been imprisoned for a century.

Yagura glanced at me sidelong. "…You do not know?" He pursed his lips. "I am not sure that I should say anything if your Hokage has not."

"Know what?"

He studied me for a moment while I grew increasingly more agitated. "The Kyuubi was first sealed in 185 TE into Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the First Hokage. In 278 TE he was resealed into Uzumaki Kushina."

"Uzumaki," I repeated breathlessly.

"Before I…went to sleep, we had next to no information about you. I do not know if you are actually an Uzumaki, or if you were merely named after them to honor the previous jinchuuriki," Yagura said. "Do you know who your parents were?"

"No, I—" I shook my head. "No. I've always been told that I'm just an orphan."

"I met Uzumaki Kushina once, when I was just a Chuunin," Yagura said carefully. "I will admit that you look a bit like her. That may be merely false hope, however. While we prided ourselves on having an exceptional information network, we knew nothing about what actually happened when the Kyuubi 'attacked' your village. I can only assume that Kushina was killed, releasing him."

"On the same day that I was born…" I mused while narrowing my eyes.

Why had the Third Hokage never told me anything about this? Wasn't this something I should know? He should at least be able to guess whether or not I was related to this Kushina. He could even run a blood test, if he wanted to. Except that he clearly didn't want to. Did he already know who my parents were…?

"So you do get along with the—Isobu?" I asked hurriedly, wanting to distract myself from the dark path my thoughts were turning down.

"Yes," Yagura replied. "We have formed a partnership of sorts. We can work together seamlessly, which strengthens both of us. For example…" He gestured to the water below us and trailed his right foot through it in a circle. "One of Isobu's special skills is electrolocation, the ability to sense electrical fields in water, including those caused by brain function. I can use that to feel for any life forms nearby; over quite a large distance, actually, if I use a lot of chakra. With a bit of luck this will lead to finding Yūkimaru-kun and your teammate."

"Uchiha Sasuke," I said.

Yagura glanced at me sharply, then nodded. "I have come across one life sign that could potentially be a lead. It was gone quickly, however, so I have a very limited range of accuracy."

"It's somewhere to start at least," I said grimly. I stood and stretched my back. "Which direction? I can—"

"Mizukage-sama."

We both turned back. Momochi had returned and was holding out a scroll. "Give me just a moment, Naruto-kun," Yagura said.

Nodding, I returned to where my teammates were waiting in the larger portion of the cavern. Yamanaka glanced up when I resumed my pacing next to her. Her knuckles were white from how hard she was gripping the material of her dress and on any other day she'd be worrying loudly about wrinkles.

"The Fourth Mizukage isn't what I was expecting," Yamanaka said quietly. "Do you think he'll really be able to help?"

I glanced back to where Momochi's tall shape was blocking the entrance to the cavern that housed the underground lake. "Yeah…I think he can."

When Yagura walked in a minute later, he looked completely different. He'd only changed clothes, but the difference was striking. He was wearing a black body suit, brown boots, and had a thick green scarf wrapped around his neck. It kind of reminded me of the one that psycho from Sand had been wearing, and I wondered if it could be used as a weapon; neither Yagura nor Gaara seemed like the frivolous, 'fashionable' type. On Yagura's back was a long, hooked staff that looked like it could deal some nasty damage.

Now he looked like a real shinobi instead of something the cat dragged in. Or fox, in this case.

"Let's go," Yagura said.

o-O-o

-4:00 PM, August 6, 312 TE-

-Underground Cavern, Nagi Island-

Sasuke couldn't move his arms or wiggle his feet, but he could sit up at least. He had been doing so for the past half an hour and the red eyed boy had been staring back. Sasuke had also been thinking furiously about how to get out of this situation, but it was hard to do so over his raging headache and the ringing in his ears, to say nothing of the sharp, distracting pain that shot up through his chest with every breath he took.

Kakashi had taught them how to escape with their hands bound and how to fight without chakra, but not how to do both at the same time. And certainly not with two high-leveled shinobi nearby. Sasuke needed something to get the cuffs off, then he could break the cage's lock and slip out. He glanced around, but the hunter-nin had been careful to leave nothing of use nearby. The room itself was little more than a small, round hole-in-the-wall. The only light came from a lantern hanging on the wall. There was no door to the nook, but outside it was only darkness.

Perhaps the cage itself then… Sasuke shifted onto his knees and took a closer look at its corners. It looked like the cage walls had been slotted together, and yet an experimental shove from his shoulder showed that they were as solid as though they were welded together. The cage was bolted to the cave wall, but those bolts were dug in deep.

Moving awkwardly, Sasuke sat with his back against the rock. He jerked his chin at the cage door, then mimed pushing his feet toward it. When he repeated the motion a second time, something in the boy's eyes sparked and he hurried to comply. He sat with his back against the cage and lined his feet up with Sasuke's. The cage was just the right size for them to still have bended knees while in that position, and Sasuke pushed against the soles of the boy's feet. In doing so, he started to push the cage away from the rock wall. The metal squeaked, but the bolts didn't budge. Sasuke grunted and pushed harder, but without chakra it seemed that he wasn't strong enough.

A tall shadow appeared at the entrance to the room. Sasuke froze. A man stepped into the light cast by the lantern.

It was Kakashi. All of Sasuke's muscles slackened with relief. The Jounin crouched down beside the cage. He gripped one corner and it came apart beneath his hand. He did the same to the other three corners and the entire cage door pulled away. Kakashi silently set the door aside, untied and pulled out their gags, then took out a small metal pick and began unlocking their shackles.

Sasuke stared at the ground while Kakashi worked. He couldn't even rescue himself, he thought bitterly. He had to wait for his teacher like a helpless child.

Kakashi snapped his fingers to catch Sasuke's attention. The boy's head jerked up, and he winced at the motion. He hadn't realized he had been drifting off. He felt nauseous too, and clinically recognized it as another symptom of his concussion. Kakashi snapped his fingers again and finally Sasuke focused on him. There was a small dog beside his teacher now. When had Kakashi summoned him?

I distract, Kakashi signed rapidly with his hands. You guard boy. Flee. Dog guide you. Meet town dawn.

Dawn? How long had he been unconscious? Sasuke ignored the uneasy thought and nodded his consent, careful not to move his head too quickly. Now was the not the time for him to act like a child. He had to prove himself, and currently that meant getting the boy to safety.

o-O-o

Ninken – ninja dogs

A/N: Welp, this chapter wound up being impossible to write. I ultimately changed the plot three times and rewrote it even more than that… The difficult I had also forced me to create a more detailed outline for the rest of this plot arc though, so the next couple of chapters will be much easier (and faster).

Electrolocation/electroreception is real ability that sharks and a few other aquatic animals have, and it works very similarly to how Yagura explained in this chapter. It's actually pretty fascinating, so if you want to find out more about how it works, look it up.

IMPORTANT:

I have a big question for you guys. The more I've written this story, the more I have become frustrated with how constricting first person POV can be. There are a lot of plot-lines that I want to show but can't because Naruto isn't aware of them, and the interludes I've been using have only been able to help so much with that—and that's also where part of the struggle I had with this chapter came from. Ultimately, I've decided to rewrite this story in third person limited POV. The story and events won't be changing for the most part, beyond a few aesthetic and logic adjustments. Only a couple of scenes will be fully rewritten (such as the prologue, which I've decided to change 100%, and the torture scene which will be tweaked a bit). I do, however, intend to add in a ton of extra scenes that will show some of the events that have been going on behind the scenes, events that I have planned for but only been able to hint at so far.

So the question is this: would you, as readers, prefer it if I overwrote this story with the new one, even though the chapters will be ordered differently and there will be new content? Or would you rather I uploaded it as an entirely new story? I'm open to either one, so I'll go with whatever the popular opinion is (unless someone comes up with a really good argument that sways me one way or another xD).

I intend to continue writing and posting the next few chapters while I do the rewrite. It should go fairly quickly regardless; I've been working on it for a week so far and I'm nearly 20k in already. If anyone has any further thoughts/questions about it, or has any suggestions about the story that they really think should be changed, please let me know!

Thanks for reading and sticking with me so far!

-SR

Some men succeed because they are destined to, but most men succeed because they are determined to.

-Anatole France