Chapter nine:

The show must go on.

It was well past midnight when Naru had the dream.

Dream sequence.

Naru was in a beautiful field of bright orange wildflowers, wearing some durable and-most importantly-nondescript clothing for traveling. The day was clear and hot and the sun beat down on her head, with a shake she sought to cool off her burning skull and jumped back as a strand of blonde hair fell before her eyes. 'what is happening, I have fiery red hair not these blonde locks…what is happening?'

Pushing the strange phenomena of her mysterious hair change aside, Naru walked forward and narrowly missed the sudden plunge of what would have been a gruesome fall. without even realizing it, she had stumbled on a large hole in the ground, one that fell so deep that its bottom was shrouded in dark, spectral mists-lost to those of the surface. With a gulp, she turned and fled away from the sinister drop. Suddenly the flowers didn't look so nice anymore, they resembled a field of spilt blood, gently dancing in the windless plain. As she ran, she saw the tops of the troupes tents and pushed on farther and faster, determined to reach that bright haven before it too changed. she broke onto the flat space and fell to her knees in shock, the ground was covered in bright orange wildflowers centered in puddles around the sleeping members.

Logically Naru knew that the troupe people weren't asleep, just as she knew that the puddles around them were not made of flowers, but she didn't want to think logically and she knew it was her downfall. As she sat there, blank ,blue eyes staring soullessly at the disposed bodies of her teachers and friends, she heard a laughter so vile it tore her battered heart into bleeding shreds. "come out, fight me you coward, fight me!" but the laughter continued and her eyes found the pointedly dead ones of her new friends and suddenly she screamed. Instead of the troupes faces she saw Hinata's and Lee's, old man thirds, crane-sensei and Anko-neechan. Everyone she knew and loved, all dead before her and she felt so helpless.

"Now this simply will not do!"

With a foreboding sense of vertigo, Naru felt herself suddenly pushed forward and was now face to face with a giant cell. Inside the dark interior, two massive red eyes burned and the booming voice reverberated off the metal walls. "Be gone foul monster, you will not lay your claws on her tonight, not while I live." as quickly as it had begun, it was over. Naru had the sense that something had happened to her and that the fox was currently her savior, but it was late and she needed some sleep.

Naru didn't even flinch when she banged against the flooded floor of the seal and calmly slept on with the fox wondering why he had decided to save her.

Sequence over.

Naru bolted out of her bed roll in panic, cold sweat rolled down her suddenly chilled body as her heart beat out a complicated rhythm that only she had a hope to decipher. Slightly woozy from her abrupt launch, Naru stood up and stumbled out of the small tent she was using. The stars glittered faintly in the pre-morning light as false dawn lit up the sky in tinges of purples and soft peach, with a mocking laugh that reverberated the cavern of her conscience, she felt pity for the night-always tricked into thinking its job was finished, when dawn was still hours from breaking.

The wet grass at her feet reminded her about her dream and she was almost reluctant to gaze downward to reassure herself that it was dew covering her feet, not blood. She groaned as she walked closer to the larger cooking pit, it had been only a few hours rest but with her current insomnia, it felt like seconds. with a air of indecisiveness, Naru calmly lit tinder using the flint and one of her kunai and started the daily trouble of cooking food for the whole of the troupe. She couldn't complain, everyone had a job here and she actually enjoyed cooking so with a shrug she started to make a thick porridge of rice meal, with banana and cream. There was also some fresh fish that she set on a rotating spit, that would be ready for lunch.

As Naru stirred the porridge, she wondered about her dream, what did it mean for her and her friends? She snapped out of her thoughts when one of the children who stayed with the troupe walked over to her and asked if breakfast was done. With a smile she helped the little one to dish up, glad for a break in her thoughts and the distraction it provided her.

0-0-0-0-0

Naru watched as the camp was slowly being packed away on the large carts provided by the troupe to be moved southward. The tents were all rolled up and equipment was stored in special boxes marked in kanji that showed what went where.

Naru felt conflicted with the amount of activity that echoed around the clearing, bells and hollow thunks followed by short yelps of pain as someone smashed something rolled freely around the energized camp. To her, it only seemed as though a few years had passed since she had walked along the long, dirt road toward a path that seemed so far out of reach. A wave of mild nostalgia flittered over her as she thought about her friends and her teachers. Naru let a grim smile pull the edges of her mouth back, as once again the memory of the dream slammed against the walls of the subconscious thought, tempting her into its sinister recesses.

With a uncomfortable shudder, she continued on with the folding of some blankets, forcing her mind to stubbornly think of the upcoming check in with the amazingly strong, but extremely perverted gamma sage. That was almost enough to go green in the gills once again. True it wasn't that she didn't like the man, it was just astounding as to the amount of perversion that one man could obtain, she snorted, shouldn't the mortal shell have cracked for him by now with all the flying lessons she had given him.

With a jubilant laugh, Naru wrestled with the small stack of blankets she had amassed and teetered down the clearing to one of the half-loaded cats.

that's when it hit her.

A sudden flash of pain screamed though her head and down her spine as Naru turned in a practiced half circle as Crane-sensei had taught her, her azure orbs jumping to different places as she sought out the source of intent. There, over by the trees, with a startling leap, Naru was off towards the road that led to the bustling village not even a half-mile away.

The intent flashed again, and Naru had to stop her stomach from utter rebellion as the twisted feeling wormed its way through the very fiber of her being. To her, it felt like a dark tentacles were suddenly forced into her head and then the moved randomly through her body. To the independent girl, this was nothing short of total violation of her person.

With a dry upheaval, Naru desperately tried to force away the concentrated feelings of the intent-anger, betrayal and most of all lust. For once in her very short life and since she had discovered the ability, Naru thanked any god and lady luck out there for her strange power of feeling emotions because now she was a konoichi on the hunt and she wasn't about to let the owner of the sick intent disappear.

Onward she ran, the bottoms of her plain brown work pants covered in thick dust, the un-taped ends fluttering like wings as Naru neared the village. Closer, became the mantra as she pushed through the stitch in her side, forcing herself to keep going even when she wanted to stop. Oh, her stubborn nature was going to be the death of her one day.

Finally! Wait…oh kami-sama.

Naru slid to a sudden halt as she came upon the scene. It must have been market day when it happened and as it was a very small village, she knew very well that it could not afford to have shinobi nor even samurai as guards.

It was a silent scene of chaos, stalls and their produce laid in far-flung piles as pieces of fabric and fires flew around them. Looking down, Naru had to force herself not to run away, blood flooded the market place as it ran sluggishly from the still bodies of the peaceful villagers. In some places some of the limbs had been torn off and thrown away from the original owners. It sickened the young girl as she watched the quiet plaza, her mind seemed to be flying into overdrive but nothing made sense, not anymore.

Suddenly, like a hot knife being thrown through her, Naru snapped out of her self-discriminating thoughts and looked up.

"who the fuck are you?"

0-0-0-0-0

Untoku watched the blonde beauty as she practically flew down the road towards him, her soulful azure eyes snapping with anger as her chakra and aura fluttered in unease. He, at first, felt the need to vent his formidable rage against those who were weaker then his self, but upon careful thought, had come up with some steady reasoning why it would be in his best interests to kidnap the spitfire konoichi.

A sickening grin split his chalky features as he saw her enter the bloody plaza, her pretty blues widening in horror and rage, her body frozen as the amassed carnage swept over them both.

Untoku gave a low chuckle, not noticing how it woke up the young Uzumaki, and calmly broadcasted his chakra.

"who the fuck are you?"

A frown hit his lips as he looked down at the girl and nearly had a violent nose bleed just by staring at her. Both her arms were raised as her dainty but deadly hands balled into fists, her eyes snapped blue fire while her voice carried the first hints of a snarl. Sadly to Untoku, he failed to realize that she was seriously pissed and instead rubbed his eyes as he swore he kept seeing a fiery goddess of war and mischief.

"look I'm not going to ask again, either tell me who you are or I'm gonna beat the answer out of ya!" oh how he loved her voice, so smooth and carrying a hidden purr.

With a dramatic sigh, he raised himself up to his full height and bowed in a neat flourish before answering the angry girl. "my name is Kishiba Untoku. Don't worry young Uzumaki Naru, you will learn to serve your betters, namely me but let us put that aside shall we… It has come to my intention that you have come here alone, such a brave, brave girl you are but it was all for not. I will be taking you to see my-I'm sorry, our master, he has been waiting a long time to meet you, let us not make him wait any longer shall we."

A rush of weightlessness and he was throwing a light half-moon kick at the startled girl as soon as his feet touched the ground.

Each kick was executed with deadly precision and complemented by punches to the gut, the neck and the base of the spine. With lightning fast reflexes that could have only come from years of near death experiences, he almost lazily dodged all of Naru's attempts to hit him back.

It wasn't a long fight.

Untoku swung out on the ball of his right foot while throwing out his left leg in a back-breaking kick that smashed straight into Naru's spine, knocking the air out of her lungs and causing her to fly through several broken stalls and a fence like a little konoichi rag doll. With a lazy swagger that made it look like he hadn't just fought someone, Untoku made his way over to the sprawled form of one Uzumaki Naru. Kneeling beside her, he put his fingers to the sides of her neck and felt for a pulse and nodded in relief when he found one.

Hearing sounds in the distance, he hurriedly put his arms under her prone body and picked up the unconscious girl and sped off into the southern most direction with nary a swish of evidence that he was even there.

0-0-0-0-0

Jiraiya walked out of one of the bathhouses that littered the countryside with renewed vigor and a perverted grin on his aged face. ah, those who are to young will never understand the joy of a supple body. Well no time to dwell on that topic, I just know the gaki's gonna chew my ear off and kick me to hell and back for being so late.

Though only having been gone for several weeks since his last meeting with his protégé, he felt the odd need to hurry his mission. As a spy and a damn good one to boot, Jiraiya had seen more death and destruction a thousand times over and was never one to question his instincts-which even now were blaring "code red" warnings all over his stimulated brain. With a chakra infused jump that landed him in a grove of trees, he was off to the last known camping spot of the acting troupes, feeling heavy-hearted and having no idea why but knowing that Naru was directly involved.

0-0-0-0-0

Drip…drip…drip…drip…

If there was ever a time in Naru's relatively short life that she could say with complete certainty and no hesitation whatsoever, it would be now.

Chained in a dark room that shed no light except for a tiny stunted candle that burned steadily by the door on a low, molded table. Lying on cold, wet stone floors as rats and creepy-crawly's moved freely about on the floor and over her legs. No, it was waking up in a foreign, and decidedly hostile, place with limited access to move freely and no visual, that really put a konoichi off her game.

But most konoichi didn't have the training Naru had and though brief it gave her the metaphorical card up the sleeve. Now came the hard part-gather info and don't do anything to get killed. So in the darkness she waited and waited and waited until a stroke of luck, neither good nor bad, smacked her square on the face.

0-0-0-0-0

Two days later, day four of imprisonment.

"…so I see ya' haven't…Eh' very interesting sir…maybe ya' should go and see her yerself beggin ya' pardon sir…ya' I'll do me best…" a voice loud and course like a crows, boomed through out the place beyond Naru's door and waking her up. She could tell that the person-male and heavy-set, due to his footsteps, was talking to someone she couldn't hear. It was only when she heard a set of keys being placed in the lock of her door that she looked up and then wished she hadn't.

Bright light flooded the small room, illuminating the form of the young konoichi and scaring away the rats around her in equal measure. She took careful stock of the man as he walked into the room and attached a tight pair of hand-cuffs to her wrists and hauling her out.

He looked to be in his later thirty's to mid forty's, long greasy hair that hung like straw from his head. Maybe it had once been a blonde color under the filth. His face was flat, as was his nose and littered with scars and lines, some looked quite new while others were puffy and white. The signs of a fighter surrounded him as he carried her away with arms like slabs of beef and as easy as if she weighed no more then a bag of rice, she was even fighting to get away and it slowed him down none at all. When she managed to look at his face more it was clear to Naru that he was as stupid as they come and really had no redeeming qualities. He made it worse when he started to whistle, showing a mouth with little teeth and those that were still hanging on to life were stained brownish/black and broken. It didn't help that the air around them stank of rot, sweat and bodily fluids of the unmentionable kind.

Glaring at him in anger Naru yelled right next to the space near his ribs, "oi put me down you ass I can walk damn well on my own!" he just pulled the struggling girl harder and walked down several hall-ways, not a wit scared of the tiny konoichi.

This continued until they both reached a door that was made of heavy steel and surrounded by granite walls, it looked as comforting as a tiger smiling down at a baby lamb. The big hulking man, whom Naru had decided looked like a minotaur, opened the door with a giant ring filled with hundreds of keys, and dragged the now more frightened Naru inside. The room was dark as The Minotaur dragged Naru to a chair in the middle and placed her into it before shackling her into place. Only leaving to light some lanterns and to bring a wheeled tray close to the restrained girl.

As The Minotaur was busy nit-picking, Naru looked around with her eyes as the strap on her forehead discouraged any movement and reflectively bit her lip in a attempt to not scream aloud. The room was one for torture. Large and rounded, it had a stone floor with several drains placed strategically around her and some other chairs. Some of those chairs still had silent people in them. The walls were lined with racks, all filled with devices that she could only guess at their purposes and cringe in pain not yet delivered. The tray placed next to her showed that it was filled with scalpels, vials, needles, pliers and a collection of clamps known as finger-breakers, their purposes easily known. The room was ungodly hot, curtsey of a round half-chimney that glowed menacingly red at the portion of the wall before her, axes, swords and a pair of standing shackles waited beside its fiery province. The Minotaur, walked back over to Naru with a pencil and a huge brown book under one beefy arm, before he sat in a small stool right beside the tray and unfortunately Naru herself.

He opened the book to a page filled with names and dates and scribbled in her Lineage. A small box was across from her name on the other side of the page, making the Uzumaki freeze in shock as the knowledge of her position truly hit home-she was going to be tortured and she could do nothing about it.

"Uzumaki Naru, date October second, questioning by Daiki Usainik… Naru shivered as his rough voice bounced around the room, causing some of the other victims present to groan in horror before The Minotaur slapped his heavy hand down on the tray to shut them up.

He looked at the bound girl and naru glared back with everything she had, determined to make him see that she would not bow. He grinned repulsively at her and said, "Okay, little' un' now be a good girly and tell me yer' name."

Naru snarled, "fuck you." he just grinned.

"Who are yer friends."

"go screw yourself in hell, prick!" that same grin answered her curse. "you can take a long walk off a short pier with blood coming out of your ass right into a horde of man-eating sharks, you bastard!" breathing heavy she continued, "I'm not gonna answer any of your shitty questions so stuff them where the sun don't shine you fuc…" a half startled screech of pain, blinding white hot pain, exploded on her right hand. Daring to look over Naru had to swallow the horror and bile that rose from the back of her throat.

The Minotaur had taken a medium sized cylinder with pointy pieces of metal sticking down from it and shoved it forcefully through her right hand. She concentrated on not throwing up at the sight of so much blood and the feel of her broken bones. Her body was stock still as shock coursed through her. The only part that showed any movement was her left hand as it convulsed in shared pain of its twin on the other side. The Minotaur smiled and laughed joyfully as Naru's big blue eyes conveyed her pain. Leaning forward, he blasted her with his rancid breath, insult to injury.

Between the pain and the disgust, she managed to hear him say, "where did you go train?" this time she stayed quiet. Questions flew past her as Naru attempted to concentrate but realized it was futile in the end, some of The Minotaur's inquiries were personal, some were general, some bordered on extremely perverse while others danced the line of national security. Time flowed differently, but she stayed quiet and left his rambling fill the unnatural stillness of the room.

"what are you?" Naru blinked her dry eyes as she focused through the pain to his words. He asked a valid question-what was she? She knew what she wanted to be, but it seemed impossible to answer a three word question, even more so because Naru felt that finally knowing would put all the wrongs to rights or so she felt anyway.

"no answer Goldie-locks, well that's jus' bad, ya' know, coulda' saved yer'self the pain." blood filled her mouth as she bit deep into the tender skin of her lips, the scream cracked and fizzled in her chest or maybe it was blood in her lungs, she lost count of several beatings she had gone through already. Well at this point it seemed pointless to ask questions of her own anyways. She looked at her poor abused body, blood from cuts marked everywhere her skin showed and in some places it didn't. her left arm stung with a fire that did not stop, it was quickly noted that he had grabbed out a solid steel baton and had "casually" bumped her arm in a angle the human anatomy was definitely not familiar with. She mentally kissed the use of her limbs good-bye and watched as The Minotaur lifted up the "breaker" as he called it and swung again on her left arm, laughing in glee as her eyes unfocused and a silent cry was wrenched from her bloody lips in the greatest of agony.

Malicious humor danced amongst his eyes as he talked some more, but all Naru heard was a blissful ringing in her ears that thankfully kept from hearing his coarse and nasty voice. She looked at him and in those moments of odd clarity one experiences from the world leveling out, Naru noticed he had black eyes.

The last thought she had before she passed out was that she really hated that color, black.

0-0-0-0-0

It was impossible to tell what time it was when Naru woke up, not that she had the chance to admire the time or place she was in as her stomach rejected everything in it: food, bile, blood, something that looked like a tooth, the only mercy she got was that a big tan hand pushed a large bucket under her face as she heaved.

Four minutes later and a now cramped stomach, Naru took in her surroundings.

It was a large room with three stone walls and in the place of the fourth there were bars with no door in sight. The floor was covered in what looked like straw and smelled horrible, Naru also noted that she was not alone. There were several women locked in with her, most were thin, ragged people with hollow eyes and cheeks, all were dressed in thin un-dyed torn pants and a sleeveless shirts that showed tears and cuts in varying degrees of use. Looking down, Naru grimaced when she noticed that several of the women boasted missing limbs or appendages, no-one was unmarked be it scars, cuts or bruises.

Looking over to her right, Naru caught sight of the heavily tanned woman who had passed her the bucket. She gave a thin smile that spoke of weariness rather then gratitude and said, "thanks, that would have gotten messy had you not pitched in." the other women smiled, "nah' was nothing child." Naru shivered, it was a wicked smile that spoke of a sarcastic humor and quick wit, almost like her but not quite.

Uzumaki Naru, pleased to meet you…" she held out a hand that showed signs of bandaging.

The woman clasped her hand in a warriors grip-hand on forearms, "Anikai Yoh, pleasure is all mine Uzumaki-kun." the both released their arms before Naru said, "call me Naru. I'm not into all that honorific crap the clans and higher-ups try to sell." Yoh laughed, it was no ladies laugh but a full throated guffaw that instantly made Naru more comfortable. Yoh calmed to a chuckle, "then please call me Yoh, makes no sense to call one out when the other isn't there don't you say."

Naru grinned and then winced as the full brunt of her injuries slammed into her at once. Yoh nodded sagely when Naru asked what happened. "you went an pissed him off, baka gaki, the torturer is not a man to ignore. I have been here for several years and in that time I have seen him kill those who looked at him wrong while others he will just beat you until the gambling man gets his winnings. He only takes orders from the one we girls call the Shadow."

Naru swallowed, "who's this Shadow and why does he keep me here and have me beat like a stray dog." the other just shrugged. "who knows who he is or why he keeps us here. The point is, if you want to survive play by the rules but make your own as you go along." Naru nodded and truly looked at Yoh. She seemed to be in her later thirty's with a heavily muscled figure and long, coarse black hair that showed just a little bit of grey in a tight ponytail. She wore the same outfit as the others but instead of hers falling off, it stretched over taut muscles and carried many more rips. She had a wide mouth that when she smiled showed two missing teeth. Her eyes were a light golden/brown with hints of green in them with one scar in the shape of a Z split the skin over her right eye. Her nose was slightly crooked, evidence that at some point it had been broken and then repaired quite well. If Yoh was standing, Naru would say that she was over six feet tall and handier with a staff then swords and more of a close distance fighter.

"oi Naru, get some rest girly, we have the yard tomorrow. Trust me on this one, you do not want to exhausted where we're goin.

With a sigh and a muffled groan, Naru laid down on the reeking straw and tried to sleep but her mind made that near impossible. why should I trust her. I only met Yoh today and not even an hour ago, what should I do? I'm trapped and confused. I haven't seen lee nor Hinata, so maybe they aren't here, but they could be an I would have no way of knowing. Also I don't know why I feel so comfortable around Yoh…I will watch her and see if she can be trusted-I want to trust my gut on this one but it couldn't hurt to see the facts for myself.

Naru didn't know when she fell asleep but it was thankfully a dreamless one.