Breakfast ended and all the people inside were herded toward the mine. Everyone looked disgruntled and unhappy, correlation to that morning. Naruto followed the line and soon everyone was taking a pickaxe or drill and sent to different parts of the mine. Once Naruto's turn, the cashier of mining equipment looked him up and down and pulled out a pickaxe. "Get moving brat to C5." Naruto grabbed the pick and took a crowded elevator down to his floor, floor C. Then, he started following the numbers until he arrived at a five, where a broad shoulder shinobi sat on a chair. "Alright, brat, you're assigned to me as long as I want ya. Behave good and get a steady profit of stone and I won't have to move ya to the F floors. Down there, people go missing and never see their families again. You can even hear the screams up here." He laughed and gave Naruto a big pat on the back that sent him stumbling. He found an empty bag and started to chisel away at stone.

Each swing of the pickaxe met hard stone, barely chipping off some bits of it. The stone in this country was tough and durable, making it a pain to mine and a perfect housing material. Of course, Naruto hadn't expected a mining business to go this poorly, basically being a prison at this point. After hours, sweat was building and he felt the air getting thinner and thinner. It felt like he couldn't get enough hair, and his body heat was growing rapidly.

One of the people next to him looked over and chuckled a bit, "The newbie's feeling some of the stale air, ha." Naruto tilted his head slightly, curious about "stale air." "The air down here is so bad and limited that breathings pretty hard on the first few days, but thank your lucky stars that you're not on floor F, or your corpse would already be rotting." Naruto took this to mind as he kept mining, chipping away at the mountain. By the time he finished, he accumulated a satisfactory amount of stone and was let off the hook for lunch. He took the elevator back up into the same cafeteria, where he was served the exact same meal, but with a little more meat. Naruto sat down at a table, which soon filled up with people. "So anyways, brat, why are ya in here. Kids usually aren't even able to pass the test to work here."

"I need money, and when I get some I'll leave." Naruto left his response vague. He knew that shinobi wouldn't be watching over him, he couldn't feel any eyes on him. I don't think they would care even if he had shinobi training, because there are so many of them. "Well you're a dumbass for trying to get money this way, just ask your mommy next time for cash, if you live to see her again." Naruto ignored this, he realized they were egging him on, but he wasn't going to fall for it. Yamomoto Sensei taught him better than that. Then he heard a voice coming from the cell, "Rip them to shreds! I've killed countries for less than that! You are so pathetic that the insults reach me!" Naruto did the best to ignore that ringing voice in his head and the taunts outside of his head, focusing on his meal. Pretty soon, lunch was over and Naruto was funneled back into the mine, with the same floor and area.

He found that the second time dealing with "stale air" was better than the first and the heat didn't bother him much. He was used to way hotter than this. However, this was pretty good training, as he felt his arms sore by the time dinner rolled around. Maybe there was a secondary benefit after all. Dinner was a carbon copy of lunch, but with more granola. This would get old fast. After dinner though, people started heading to the central area, and Naruto followed along. In there, he saw various mini poker tournaments playing. Then he heard behind him, "Hey kid! Buy in is cheap over here, we'll deal ya in." He looked over to see Takai and Okuma waving him over, and he went to them.

He sat down at the table and paid a small fee of entry, only 1/10 of the money he had earned today. "You know the rules and how to play?" Naruto nodded, Yamomoto had taught him many card games, mainly because they were bored at night and needed something to do. And because they lived next to one of the gambling capitals of the Elemental Nations. Naruto was dealt in and looked at his hand, it was shitty. Nothing matched up. "I'll raise 20."

Everyone looked at him and some smirked. "I'll call." "Call" "Raise 45" Naruto's turn came again, "Raise 60." "Fold" "Fold" The last guy at the table looked contemplative, before folding. He had rubbish as well, but then Naruto was revealed to have rubbish and the people in laughed a bit. "We took it easy on ya first round, but you won't do any better next one."

That night, Naruto showed everyone his aptitude at card games, from his excellent memory to learning mind games from Yamomoto. Naruto was an adept poker player and quickly made bank off of the games. That night he walked away with 20x his pay that day, a lot of money. When he got back he got slight glares from Takai, who was too confident and lost money to Naruto several times. Okuma was laughing at the ordeal, seeing his friend lose to a 14 year old was funny. They all went to sleep and the next day began what felt like a few seconds later.

Over the next month, some interesting things happened to Naruto, a series of positive and negative events unfolded. First, Naruto was making stacks of money at the gambling, and became infamous for his mind games and luck. He actually made a few "friends" by this, or people that he would talk to when he got the chance. In the little ladder of the whole hierarchy inside the prison, Naruto was decently high up.

The guards were satisfied with him, because he never rebelled or produced less than satisfactory amounts of stone, which gained him favor. In fact, they tended to let him off the hook if he were to get into fights or do something wrong, which played huge amounts of favors to Naruto for having the leverage. Speaking of fighting.

Naruto was highly skilled in combat, and any non-shinobi opponent who tried to jump him and steal his money was dealt with swiftly. The only person he couldn't beat was King, the man who sat at the top of the pyramid of influence and power. King was a former jonin, but some skills of his were breaching S Rank level.

King had a chakra suppressing seal around his neck, because if he didn't he would escape easily. King also took portions of money from those under him, making him the richest man inside, and he used the money to bribe guards and get stuff to the outside world. Inside this world, he was the king, as the name suggested. His nickname as a shinobi was The Living Afterimage, because his speed alone could leave after images and confuse enemies. That speed was easily Kage level speed.

A week ago, because of Naruto's climb in the artificial ranks of the prison, he was invited to a little meeting with King. Inside were other influential figures in the prison, whether through combat skill, money, or charisma was unknown as of now. "Well, men, I think we have a useful asset with us today. Naruto here decided to join in the cabal we have set up, and it's time to inform him of what will happen in a week time. In one week and 2 days, we will stage a breakout, killing all shinobi and guards present and will proceed to escape the Land of Earth. Because of your clear shinobi training and lack of a suppression seal, we need to know if you can help us." Naruto nodded to this.

"I have jutsu that can burn a path to escape from the company." King nodded and went back to talking. "Alright, I need two of you to gather former shinobi and give them instruction to kill the guards. I, personally, have a way to remove this seal temporarily and I will take care of Anbu. The rest of you will cover Naruto as he blows a whole in the wall of the west wing of the cafeteria. This will happen at breakfast time, as there are less guards present. Got it." Everyone in the room nodded and left. It looked like Naruto was getting out of here, and it was easier than he thought. All he had to do was wait. And then, time flied by until the day was upon them.

That same day, everyone sat at the breakfast table, groggy and tired, except for those who knew what today was. Naruto was a bit nervous, he had an important role, but it wasn't difficult. He knew what jutsu to do, his Ten Fiery Eyes, and that it could break anything. King looked at him and he nodded.

Naruto ran through hand seals, getting confused looks from those who didn't know what they did, and shocked looks from those who did. Takai looked like he was about to say something, but it was cut off as he whispered, "Scorch Release: Ten Fiery Suns." The suns formed around Naruto and he sent them forward, all combining into one massive sun that blew a whole open in the wall, but Naruto kept going. He started to create many holes in the wall, all that lead to freedom.

The guards were jolted awake, after the first ball formed and mobilized. But they were quickly dispatched by the shinobi prisoners. Just as Anbu appeared, they all were decapitated in an instant as King was seen covered in blood. His hand was laced in wind chakra and afterimages of him moving were seen throughout his path. "Run! Leave the prison!"

It was a stampede as everyone raced out. Naruto made a scorch clone to find his stuff and bring it back to him. He still needed those scrolls and food, it was useful. Naruto and everyone else followed King as he scaled the cliff nearby. All those without chakra went into the town to hide, but those with all followed King. Once on top of the mountain. King grabbed Naruto's shoulders and everyone body flickered away into the rising sun.

They stopped as everyone took a breath and King made sure to remove the seal from everyone, them all resting. Currently, it was King and 12 others with him, all various levels of shinobi. From the mountain top, King saw more shinobi as he motioned all of them to get ready. Naruto ran through hand signs as he whispered, "Scorch Release: Scorch Body." A layer of steam enveloped him and everyone backed away from the intense heat radiating from him. The small band of 50 shinobi arrived and battle began. King was running through them at high speeds, killing them with precise slashes and deadly punches. Naruto engaged in taijutsu with some of the weaker opponents, besting them with his scorch body. Eventually, all the shinobi were dead, and Naruto looked at the bodies. Normally, he would feel disgusted that he killed someone, but this time he felt nothing, like it didn't matter to him. He felt like they deserved it in a way.

King grabbed Naruto's shoulder and motioned for everyone to body flicker away. After a few minutes of rapid body flickering, they all left to the outskirts of the Land of Earth, where King instructed everyone to make a camp. Afterwards, King began to speak, "Alright everyone, we are finally free." A few cheers erupted, but were silenced. "If anyone wants to leave now, feel free to. In fact, leave any time you want, however, you will be a fugitive if you leave. I will keep us to safety for 2 months, afterward you will all scatter to different areas of the world to become untraceable. Got it." King's words made everyone nod, in fear and confidence.

King walked over to Naruto and gave him a slip of paper. "Learn the body flicker technique so I don't have to carry you everywhere." He left without saying another word and Naruto found the paper listed detailed instructions to the body flicker, only this one was different. It was called the Afterimage Flicker, the technique of King himself. And now, I will explain the technique.

Jutsu: Afterimage Flicker

Rank: S

Chakra cost: Heavy

Instead of just channeling the chakra required for a body flicker to the legs, the user will channel it to each limb and the brain, boosting reaction time and speed. In this mode, time will seem to slow down and you will move at insane speeds. The drawback besides heavy chakra cost is friction from running and the mental after effects. Only known user is King, but he claims not to have invented the jutsu. Rumors are that it circulated from an Uchiha at the Leaf Village named Shisui.

And for two months they hid in the mountains. Nothing happened and they weren't encountered by any shinobi. And for King's plan this worked fine. Each person was instructed to go to a different country in the Elemental Nations, all under a code name that could be identified by each other. Naruto was the only one not set to a destination, but King said it was because he isn't recognized since his name isn't in any shinobi database. In fact, King said that he could most likely go to the Hidden Stone Village for transport and maps of the world. Naruto was also given a code name, Burning Shadow. And so, they all left after that.

Naruto wandered through the mountains, stopping at towns for food and drinks. He was slowly getting closer to the Stone Village, but he couldn't use the Afterimage Flicker in fear of being spotted as a Shinobi. Yeah, Naruto was going to the Stone Village, he needed to buy jutsu scrolls and weapons for defending himself, and the Stone Village allowed anyone to buy Shinobi equipment, thankfully. Now, after the mining prison, Naruto was once again back on his path to becoming the strongest shinobi.

...

That's the end of this chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying the story, I am trying to make it as likeable as possible so that everyone can enjoy reading it. If you want to, leave feedback on improvements or suggestions and I will try to implement them. Have a good rest of your day or night.