Naruto opened his eyes slowly to find himself lying on the hard floor of a long corridor. It wasn't dark but it wasn't light either and it wasn't cold, but it wasn't quite warm either. The whole corridor just seemed to be completely empty. The only things that made it look even remotely used were the several doors that lined the long passage way. Every door was exactly the same, but Naruto knew that what they lead to would be completely different. He sighed as he lifted himself up. He had to get moving now. He had no time to waste.
Naruto made his way to the first door. He knew that what he was looking for would definitely not be behind it, but he wanted to make sure that he was in the right place. The door was painted the same dull grey color that the rest of the hallway was painted. Just like all the other doors were painted. He couldn't help but feel the lack of any sort of emotion in this hallway. It was just neutral and he didn't like it.
Opening the door, Naruto found a room filled with snakes. At least he thought they were snakes. They were moving like snakes, but they weren't actually snakes at all. After looking closer at the creatures, Naruto realized that they were actually spinal cords. He smiled. That meant that he was in the right place. He was in Kimimaro's mind. Now the only thing he had to do was to find the memory that would show Kimimaro exactly who he was working for. That was easier said than done. Sealed memories were often hidden much deeper in the mind and Naruto didn't have much time to look for it. He closed the door and ran in the direction that he believed the memory would be. He could only hope that he was running in the right direction.
As Naruto ran down the corridor he continued to look around, hoping that something would change to give him a sign that he was nearing his target, but nothing ever did. He even had to stop a few times to make sure that he wasn't going in circles. Each time he stopped he found new forms of skeletal animal or structures, including birds made of ribcages and scorpions made of skeleton hands. The one thing that he couldn't find was a memory. There didn't seem to be any sort of recollection of any of Kimimaro's life inside of his own mind. But that wasn't right. No one could spend their whole life without any sort of memory. Even those who had amnesia would remember everything after their amnesia.
Finally, Naruto opened the door and was met with something different from what had been behind all the other doors. It was a cage. Not like the one that was in Naruto's mind, but it was small and a little boy sat inside of it crying. "That is fake," Naruto mumbled to himself. It was a fake memory, but at least it was something. Now the only thing he had to do was make his way through the fake memories in order to find the real ones. "Are you okay?" he said a little louder.
The young Kimimaro looked up at him with a slight amount of confusion and fear.
"Would you like to get out of there?" Naruto asked.
The child looked skeptical, but he nodded anyway.
Naruto walked into the room so that he was standing right in front of the cage. He put his hand between the bars so that the boy would be able to take it, but Kimimaro shied away from the foreign object in his cage. "I can get you out of here, but I need your help."
"My help?" he asked quietly.
"Yea," Naruto said with a smile. "The only way for me to get you out of here is for me to find a certain locked door. I was hoping that maybe you would know where it is."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Kimimaro said nervously.
"I'm sure you've seen it," Naruto said. "You passed it on your way to this cage."
"I don't remember anything like that," Kimimaro shook his head.
"Please try to remember," Naruto said. "It is the only way for me to free you."
"I don't remember," Kimimaro said again.
"Okay," Naruto said with a reassuring smile. "Let's try something different then. Will you close your eyes for me?"
Kimimaro stared at Naruto. He didn't trust the man. Everyone who came to his cell always wanted to use or hurt him. They never wanted to free him.
"Just trust me," Naruto said. "I want to help you."
"Why?" asked Kimimaro.
"Because," Naruto said. "I don't think that anyone should be trapped in a place like this."
"I don't understand," Kimimaro said quietly.
"You don't have to understand," Naruto reassured. "You just have to trust that I will do everything that I can to get you out of here. Please close your eyes."
This time Kimimaro only nodded and did as he was told.
"Okay," Naruto said calmly. "Do you remember anything outside of this place?"
Kimimaro shook his head.
"I know it's hard," Naruto said, "but I need you to try and remember anything."
"I remember a long hall," Kimimaro said. "There's a man walking next to me. I can't see his face though."
"That's okay," Naruto said. He already knew who the man was. It was the bastard known as Orochimaru. "Is there anything else that you can remember?"
"I wanted to go back to where I came from," Kimimaro said, "but the man said that it was locked."
"Where did you come from?" Naruto asked. That was what he needed.
"I don't remember," Kimimaro frowned.
"That's okay," Naruto said. "Do you remember which direction you came from though?"
"It was that way," Kimimaro said as he pointed in the direction that Naruto had been heading in the first place. He opened his eyes and was met with Naruto's kind smile.
"Thank you," Naruto said as he stood. "That was all that I needed. Now I promise that I will get you out of here."
"Wait!" Kimimaro gasped. "You aren't leaving!"
"I don't want to," Naruto said, "but this is the only way for me to get you out of here. Just trust me okay."
"Will you come back?" Kimimaro asked.
"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Naruto reassured.
"Do you promise?" Kimimaro asked.
"I promise," Naruto said as he put his hand through the bars once more to give Kimimaro a pinky promise. This time Kimimaro didn't hesitate to take the offered hand and he looped his own pinky around Naruto's.
Naruto smiled once more before he turned to leave the room. He had to hurry. He didn't know how much longer Sasuke could hold their enemies back.
"There!" Naruto exclaimed when the door finally came into view at the very end of the long hallway. It looked like all of the other doors, but this one also had chains wrapped around it. There was no way that Naruto would be able to remove the chains. The only one who would be able to do that was Kimimaro himself.
Naruto focused his chakra and began to do a short series of hand signs. When he was done the older Kimimaro was materializing beside him.
"What?" Kimimaro gasped. He didn't know how he got from the field where he was fighting along side his master to some long hallway with the kid that had been in a trance ever since he had started the hand signs. "Who are you?" he growled as he tried to pull out a weapon only to find that there was none there. That was no matter though. He could just use his bones and this boy wouldn't know what hit him.
"My name is Naruto," Naruto said.
"Where did you take me?" Kimimaro asked.
"We're inside your mind," Naruto answered.
"My mind?" asked Kimimaro.
"That's right," Naruto nodded. "I want to show you something if that is okay with you."
"What do you want to show me?" asked Kimimaro. It was strange, but for some reason he felt that he could trust Naruto. It felt almost like he had met Naruto some time ago and had trusted him then, but he couldn't remember ever meeting him.
"It's behind this door," Naruto said as he pointed to the locked door. "I just need your help."
"It's locked," Kimimaro said.
"Yea," Naruto nodded, "but this is your mind. You can unlock it."
"I don't know," Kimimaro said skeptically.
"I promised to set you free from your cage Kimimaro," Naruto said, "but you have to be the one to open the door."
Kimimaro didn't know why, but he smiled at Naruto's words. Happy that the boy was keeping a promise that he didn't even remember making with the other. "What do I have to do?" asked Kimimaro.
Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but instead he gasped and clutched his stomach as though something had just stabbed him. He fell to his knees and began coughing.
"Are you okay?" Kimimaro asked.
"Open the door," Naruto gasped. "Please. I can't keep us here for much longer."
Kimimaro quickly turned, grabbed the door, and ripped it open chains and all. The first thing he felt was a breeze of warm air wafting over him. Then a house came into his view. His house, he remembered suddenly. The place where he lived with his mother.
"Kimimaro!" a woman, his mother he realized, called from the front door. Kimimaro was just about to step forward when a younger version of him raced past him. The boy looked ragged. Almost like he had been locked up in a cage for years, but when he passed through the door his whole appearance changed. He looked much more healthy and happy. "There you are," his mother smiled. "Did you have fun playing with your friends?"
"Yes mommy," the younger Kimimaro giggled. Kimimaro stood at the entrance of the door watching the event that he had never been able to remember until now.
"You should go in," Naruto coughed. Kimimaro looked over to him and realized that he was beginning to fade. He didn't want this to end. He wanted to remember everything that happened with his mother so he walked through the door that had kept his memories at bay for so long. His mind was suddenly bombarded with memories. Real memories. He remembered living in a warm home with his loving mother, instead of in a cold cage alone. He remembered everyone praising him for being so strong, instead of fearing his power. He remembered Orochimaru attacking his village and his family trying to protect them, instead of his family using him to try to take over the village. He remembered his mother running away with him when they were told to retreat, instead of being the only one to survive after killing all of the villagers. He remembered his mother taking him to the lake where she rested in the place of the beautiful flower. He remembered running off to get some twigs for a fire like his mother had asked him to only to return to find her missing. He remembered Orochimaru coming into the clearing with his mother's dead body instead of the flower that Orochimaru had given him in his fake memories. And, most of all, he remembered Orochimaru performing some sort of hand seal before everything went blank and he found himself in the clutches of the evil bastard that had killed his mother. Kimimaro clenched his fists painfully as Naruto's hold on the jutsu finally slipped and the two of them returned to their real bodies.