Naruto felt doubly caged.
Not only was he a virtual prisoner in his own body, he was also trapped behind huge metal bars sunk deep into the hard cave floor.
The long jangling chains binding his wrists and ankles didn't help either, though they were unnecessary. He couldn't move a muscle.
He couldn't even speak.
Mind working furiously, he kept trying to come up with an explanation for everything. If he puzzled out the answer, maybe he could change things through force of will.
Kyuubi was still sealed within him. He was fairly certain of that. The fox's chakra had been flowing wildly through him, and he had never lost consciousness. At least he didn't think he had.
So, if the fox was not on its own… and still bound to him as always… how could it control him? Was his seal weakened? Had it been counteracted somehow? If so, why hadn't Nine Tails simply left him, then moved to savage and devour him as it always claimed it wanted to do.
Seals and demons were complicated things.
Perhaps Akatsuki had found some way to summon Kyuubi, while at the same time giving it enough freedom to overwhelm his own voluntary functions.
Concentrating as hard as he could, Naruto tried to find the place within his own mind that the great youma resided. He succeeded, though it was very difficult, and strong mental winds tried to force him back out of those figurative corridors.
Naruto pictured himself walking slowly, step by step, hands grabbing on to the walls for support.
When he finally made his way to Kyuubi's cage, he breathed a mental sigh of relief. The bars were still in place. But, something was…… different.
The great fox stood near the bars, but it took no notice of his approach. Its huge eyes seemed glazed over, and its tongue hung out of slack jaws. A huge pool of saliva spread out from the cage, flooding the one stretch of hallway.
"Hey! Bastard fox! Snap out of it!"
There was no reply from the demon. It didn't even move. Naruto had to look for a subtle rise and fall of Kyuubi's chest, just to see if it wasn't trapped in suspended animation or something.
"Dumb shit! We're in big trouble here. You always call me weak and pathetic. Look at you!"
Again, no response. Knowing that he may be asking for trouble later…… assuming there would ever be a later for him….. Naruto took out a brace of shuriken and tossed them at the great fox's nose.
That was no more effective than his angry words.
"Great. Just f-cking great. Now what do I do? Just wait until the moon is read, and watch as those nine assholes find some way to release that stupid catatonic fox?"
Naruto returned to his normal state of mind.
He thought back to his run to the cave. He would be impressed at his ability to avoid Jiraaiya and the ANBU squads, had it not left him in this terrible predicament. Speeding along, his Kyuubi-boosted vision giving him a good view of the night landscape, he had left his pursuers behind him.
But, one had stayed relatively close for a while.
It had been Hinata.
He also thought that he might have caught scent of a dog.
If that had been Pakkun…… or one of Kakashi's other summonings that he had seen hold Zazuban motionless on the Great Naruto Bridge…… there was a chance that the Leaf could trace him to this mountain.
That was not necessarily cause for celebration. Akatsuki was not populated by idiots and rash thinkers.
"It seems that word was correct. That is one more thing to be thankful for. So far, everything is going as expected."
Naruto recognized that voice. When the speaker walked into his field of vision, identity confirmed in the faint light of the single small torch burning outside of his cage, he cursed internally.
It was Itachi.
"Yeh. But I don't trust chains and bars. I should probably cut at least one leg off."
That was Kisame, the flickering light making his horrid mouth seem more terrible than usual. He began unwrapping Samehade.
"No," Itachi replied. "Activation of the one seal had given us control of Kyuubi. The demon in turn has complete control of the boy. We cannot risk anything going wrong before the book's seal is broken, counteracting Yondaime's seal and releasing the demon. Your wound could kill him. At which time the remainder of the Nine would kill you."
"Shit!" Kisame spat. "I just don't understand you, Itachi. You killed your entire clan, then doomed your brother to a life of misery and vengeance. And yet, you are so loath to injure other people you come into conflict with."
Itachi didn't answer. He simply stared at Naruto a moment longer, then headed back on his own.
Kisame stood there longer, chuckling.
"You luck out boy. Though, I bet you don't consider yourself too fortunate right now." The ugly man slammed his great weapon hard against the bars, making a loud sound that echoed throughout the dark tunnels.
Naruto didn't jump. He didn't even flinch. Kisame took that as evidence that the young shinobi wasn't playing possum.
"You men know what would happen to you, if by some miracle the boy escapes?" Kiasme spoke to unseen guards.
"Sir?" The answering voices sounded somewhat on edge.
Kisame had that effect on people.
When the hulking S-class criminal left, Naruto was left wondering just how long he had left before Akatsuki would move onto the next phase of their plans.
How was he going to get out of this one?
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
"We need to find Naruto," Hinata whispered to Pakkun.
"I know," the pug answered, sniffing furiously. "He's been here. I can follow his trail. But, we don't want to go where people are, at least until we get an idea of what's going on."
Hinata nodded. The two of them were squatting in a pitch black tunnel just off of the poorly lit main passageway.
"Here. I'll carry your forehead protector. The torches are placed so high that it might be possible for you to sneak around unseen if you're careful." Hinata covered her mouth, fighting the urge to cough. "If you find a way to him, come and let me know."
"OK. Stay in the dark. Hopefully, they won't have any animals of their own." With that, Pakkun left, padding along when he could, and crawling on his belly when necessary.
Unfortunately, a group of guards were making a routine sweep of the main tunnel area just as Pakkun scampered on his way.
"Over there. I thought I heard a sound. Bring more lights!" One shinobi, likely a mercenary given his lack of a headband or distinguishing clan marks, started walking towards Hinata's place of hiding.
Hinata had no choice but to move, and move silently. It was a precarious situation, to say the least. If she moved too slowly and cautiously, she might be seen. If she hurried too quickly, who knows what she might stumble on.
She found out fairly soon. Arms windmilling, she just managed to keep from falling into a pit, whose depth she had no means to judge. Running her hands along the ground, she made her way around the natural hazard, heading deeper into the darkness.
The guards still followed.
"I can't tell if these marks are new or not. They could be from one of the exploration teams. But, we better be sure."
"Ah…… come on…… who'd possibly be back there? Nobody could get in past those rocks. What are you saying? Do you think a giant Earth Spider is roaming the tunnels. Whoooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o. I'm so scared…."
"Hey… you want to explain to our Captain why we missed something… or you want to make excuses to the Nine?" That man's voice sounded nearly frantic. "Especially that guy with those freaking teeth?"
"Crap! What do you think?" The other man was not too happy sounding either. "Maybe it's a good idea to look back there any way. We have an excuse, right? And, it might not hurt to find another way out."
"Huh? What the hell are you talking about?"
"Well-l-l-l-l-l…" The man paused, as if he were making certain they weren't being overheard. "Those guys in the fancy robes…… they're up to something really weird, you know…… chances are that they may not want any witnesses…… know what I mean?"
There was a longer period of silence.
"Let's go then!"
The men were moving more quickly now, making Hinata push her luck. On a number of occasions, she banged into something and bruised herself, or came perilously close to plunging to her death.
Eventually, the voices started getting fainter. But, she had no idea where she was, or what turns she might have made.
It was time to take a risk of sorts.
Concentrating, she tried to gather enough chakra for the task. It might seem like a simple justsu, but it wasn't. While the amount of energy was nothing compared to that needed for Katon, Karyuu Endan or Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu, the finesse and control had to be exceptional.
In time, she held a small glowing ball of fire in one hand.
Hinata gasped, feeling as if she had wandered into a dream. She pinched herself, to make certain that she was actually awake.
She stood in the middle of a large cavern, fed by a sizeable number of tunnels. The vault of the ceiling looked like it belonged in a cathedral, not a cave.
Everywhere she looked, there were wonders.
It was good that she had stopped where she had. Not too far ahead of her, an enormous area was covered by wonderful terraced collections of shallow pools, some of which might have deep sink holes concealed in their opaque water.
The whole scene brought back memories of books on caves that her mother had read to her long ago, as the Hyuuga family had taken up residence in such natural homes when they first reached the shore of this land.
"I don't believe it…."
Carefully, she walked over to a cluster of round-shaped, thin-walled pouch-like formations of minerals. What were they called again? Oh! Of course. Cave balloons. The satiny lustrous silver-white formations were very rare and short-lasting.
Hinata had never hoped to really see one.
Cave balloons probably were made of moonmilk. Sure enough, she located shallow collections of the milk-like solution, made of countless crystals suspended in water. Her mother had said that the liquid, when it began powdery and dry, was used as an antacid many years ago.
She stared at the thick white substance a moment, then shook her head. Her stomach was queasy alright, but she had more than enough reasons for that.
Making her way back the way she had come, Hinata marveled at intricate and delicate crystal growths that covered the walls and floors of the cavern. Cave flowers.
She wished that Naruto could see this.
From central stem-like formations, countless crystals curled gracefully, fibrous and pellucid, each tiny crystal in itself worthy of study. Made up of fascicles of curved prisms, the blossoms were a thing of beauty. They formed floral clusters, bouquets, wreaths, garlands, and embellished large areas of the cave roof as well.
Looking in some of the clear pools of water, which collected water seeping down from above, she smiled, recognizing clusters of round objects that could only be Cave pearls. While most were spherical, some were cylindrical, irregular, cubical, or even hexagonal. There were those that reminded her of marbles, hailstones, cupcakes, cigars, oranges, pigeon's eggs, balls, and……of course…… pearls.
Stalactites were everywhere, some looking like slender, soda straws to thick, while others were massive pendants tens of feet long and wide. Stalagmites dotted the cave floor, assuming a fascinating variety of shapes.
The young ninja had to force herself to stop her tour, trying not to pay much attention to Boxwork, Draperies, Flowstone, Frostwork, and Helictites.
She needed to find Pakkun again.
Or, more precisely, he needed to find her, without falling prey to any of the hazardous areas of the tunnels.
Hopefully, those men would have gone back to the usual duty.
Numerous times, she held her breath, coming across huge pits, sink holes, and crevices, realizing just how close she had come to an early demise. As beautiful as the cavern had been, the tunnels were as frightful as the underworld itself.
That thought had her thinking of one particular myth.
Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami, who had died giving birth to one of their sons. He undertook a journey to Yomi, the shadowy land of the dead.
Izanami found little difference between Yomi and the land above, save for the eternal darkness. However, this suffocating darkness was enough to make him ache for the light and life above. Quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her at all for the shadows hid her appearance well. Nevertheless, he asked her to return with him. Izanami spat out at him, informing Izanagi that he was too late.
She had already eaten the food of the underworld and was now one with the land of the dead. She could no longer return to the living.
Hinata swallowed hard.
She knew that it was only a story, but was very glad that she hadn't eaten any of the moonmilk.
What about Naruto. Would Akatsuki be giving him any food?
What did that matter!
Izanagi was shocked at this news but he refused to give in to her wishes of being left to the dark embrace of Yomi. While Izanami was sleeping, he took the comb that bound his long hair and set it alight as a torch. Under the sudden burst of light, he saw the horrid form of the once beautiful and graceful Izanami.
She was now a rotting form of flesh with maggots and foul creatures running over her ravaged body.
Hinata gasped, picturing Naruto the same way.
Maybe this wasn't the best place to be thinking about that tale.
Crying out loud, Izanagi could no longer control his fear and started to run, intending to return to the living and abandon his death-ridden wife. Izanami woke up shrieking and indignant and chased after him.
Wild shikome or foul women also hunted for the frightened Izanagi, instructed by Izanami to bring him back.
Izanagi, thinking quickly, hurled down his headdress which became a bunch of black grapes. The shikome fell on these but continued pursuit.
Thinking about grapes had Hinata's belly rumbling.
She wished that she had taken time to eat dinner. Of course, if she had, she probably wouldn't be in this huge complex of caves and tunnels.
As frightening as this situation was, it still gave her some outside chance of helping Naruto.
Next, Izanagi threw down his comb which became a clump of bamboo shoots. Now it was Yomi's creatures that began to give chase, but Izanagi urinated against a tree, creating a great river that increased his lead.
When it rains it pours.
Mention of that little trick had Hinata looking for something akin to a toilet. She let the light die out, while she hurried to take care of her embarrassing business.
Unfortunately, they still pursued Izanagi, forcing him to hurl peaches at them. He knew this would not delay them for long, but he was nearly free, for the boundary of Yomi was now close at hand.
Izanagi burst out of the entrance and quickly pushed a boulder in the mouth of the cavern that was the entrance of Yomi. Izanami screamed from behind this impenetrable barricade and told Izanagi that if he left her she would destroy 1,000 residents of the living every day.
He furiously replied he would give life to 1,500.
And so began the existence of Death, caused by the hands of the proud Izanami, the abandoned wife of Izanagi.
The thought of death had Hinata stopping to say a short prayer. She was trapped behind an impenetrable barricade herself now, but she was hoping to save lives.
"There you are. You need to follow me quickly and very quietly. I have found Naruto."
Pakkun stepped into the light from the new ball of fire in Hinata's hand. "It will be tricky to reach him; but, we can do it if our luck holds out.
"Naruto-kun…." Hinata whispered.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Naruto cursed.
He felt like he was part of a side-show or something.
One by one, or in pairs, the Akatsuki members had all stopped by to look at him.
They were a motley looking collection of humanity. Some were remarkably handsome, while others were astounding in their hideousness. A few were very tall, while others were short or strangely misshapen.
The only thing common to all were the ornate and stately robes, the cold calculating look in their eyes, and the way they all spoke about him as if he were merely the vessel for Kyuubi, not a human being.
He would give anything to be able to wring each and every one of their necks!
Bastards.
F-cking heartless power hungry bastards.
One freakishly tall man had even made light of Naruto's appearance, laughing.
"The Kyuubi…… one of the three great devils…… imprisoned inside such a pitiful unremarkable whelp? How funny! How utterly amusing…."
Naruto wished that he could have a thousand clones each give that jerk '1000 years of pain.'
But still, he could not move, not even in the slightest. Bored, he had taken the journey inside his mind three more times, finding Nine Tails in the same blank-eyed comatose state.
At one point, he wanted to die in embarrassment. Obviously, his bladder needed emptying. His body did that on its own, automatically. The unseen guards had all snickered, making jokes at his expense.
He loved to rip out those assholes' hearts and cram them down their throats!
One guard even walked over to his bars, turned around, pulled down his fly and took a leak.
"They Nine will never know the difference," the chuckling man said. Naruto would be certain to remember that man's face.
His list of offenses didn't end there. When a different guard had walked over, bringing an early morning meal, the men had stepped in front of the cage to eat, each of them wondering aloud if Naruto was hungry.
He was.
He may not be able to move, but he was capable of salivating. His stomach practically roared out his hunger, causing the men to chuckle and wave their food in front of his face.
Busy eating, the guards walked away from the enclosure, talking about sundry things. When they did so, Naruto's eyes caught sight of something else. Movement. Low to the ground, and not well seen thanks to the fact that the torch sat above a natural shelf of rock which blocked some of its light.
It was a dog. Not just any dog.
Pakkun!
How could he have gotten in here? How could he have gotten this far into the caves? Those jerks in the fancy robes must have so much confidence in their hold on him that they don't have the place crawling with troops.
Either that, or they don't think that there was anyway for someone to escape before they perform their little ritual.
Pakkun carried something in his mouth. It looked like it might be a kunei. But, that wouldn't do him any good, given his paralyzed state!
But, it was not an ordinary kunei. It wasn't even a weapon at all. The truth, when it presented himself, had hi thinking back to the trick that he and Sasuke used against Zabuzan.
In a puff of smoke, Hinata resumed her natural form, the Henge wearing off.
She put her finger to her mouth, wanting to shush Naruto. Sniffing, she smelled the strong odor of urine and wrinkled up her nose.
"Shhhhhh……. Naruto-kun…… I'm here to help you….."
Naruto did not move or speak, of course. That would change soon enough, when Hinata brought the jewel up close to his face.
Suddenly, Naruto jerked. It was not his response, but some action of Kyuubi, faced with both the gemstone and the power of the Book of Seals. Naruto felt his arms push Hinata hard against the bars, then felt things go stiff again, when the jewel was not so close anymore.
"What the hell was that?" One of the guards came to look, just missing sight of a retreating pug and a transforming white-eyed ninja. "I swear there was a noise. And look, that son of a bitch moved some!"
Hinata, for her part, carefully maintained her transformed state. When the guard's fellow told him to stop having such a vivid imagination, and the man walked away, she resumed her form again.
Staring at Naruto, she tried to puzzle things out. In a way, this all worked to her advantage, at least for a little while longer. It was not necessary to kill Naruto immediately, if her experimentation didn't work.
She risked discovery, but she was willing to take the chance. Hearing her own words echoing in her mind, she bit her lip.
There was a lot more at stake here than her own life.
An idea came to mind. It might just work. It was certainly a way that might keep the jewel in contact with Naruto.
Holding the jewel in her hand, she quickly grasped Naruto's face, trying to pry open his mouth. He reacted the same way as before, bouncing her off of one of the stone walls.
Once again the guard came to look, but saw nothing unusual.
Her eyes went wide. She thought of another solution. It had her swallowing hard and trembling ever so slightly. She put the jewel in her mouth. This had better work.
If she swallowed the damn thing….
Naruto watched with rapt fascination, wondering just what Hinata was going to do. Each time his body had acted against his own wishes, hurting her, he had felt terrible waves of anguish.
"Naruto-kun…." Hinata whispered quietly.
She kissed Naruto swiftly and very fiercely. The action had Naruto's body reacting and recoiling. His mouth opened, and he began to choke when Hinata passed the gemstone into his mouth.
With a great blow, she caused him to swallow the ancient artifact.
"H-H-H---" Naruto's mouth moved. "Hinata!" He realized too late that he had spoken.
But, part of him didn't care. He had been brought here against his will. He had been thrown in cage. He had been mocked, laughed at, and pissed on.
"What the hell?" One of the guards stepped over and saw Naruto, a huge frown on his face.
"Need to take another leak?" Naruto asked, his voice rich with anger. He smiled, feeling the lock on his body disappear entirely. With his Chidori-like jutsu, he sliced through the chains binding him. His eyes narrowing, he formed Rasengan.
The first guard was thrown against the far wall of the tunnel, as the bars were torn out of the bedrock. Sliding to the ground limp, he looked as if he had been slammed hard by a giant hammer.
Blood spilled out of his mouth and trickled to the floor.
That had been foolish. Foolish and very noisy. Naruto's pent up anger had gotten the best of him. But, since there was reason enough for someone to come and investigate, he didn't worry about his next choice of jutsus.
He tore two huge chunks of rock out of the tunnel wall, keeping them suspended by his chakra. Using them like cymbals, he smashed them together on the remaining guard.
The dead body fell broken to the ground.
Hearing movement from down the other end of the passageway, Naruto grabbed Hinata's hand and began running. Pakkun followed after them. It would be dark ahead, as there were torches for only the next ten yards.
After that, who knew what lay in wait.
"That was rather sneaky, Hinata," Naruto said as he ran. "Taking advantage of me that way, so you could get a kiss!" His bravado wasn't as great s he made it out to be. He blushed, thinking back to her trick with the jewel.
"B-B-But….. I…… I……" Hinata felt weak in the knees at that moment.
"There I was, worrying about Akatsuki. I should have been worrying about you!" Naruto looked over and saw Hinata holding a small ball of flame. That was a useful trick.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata felt her face growing exceedingly warm. "I…."
"Wait until that perverted old hermit hears about this. He'll probably write a chapter in his book dedicated to you. 'Hot Lips Hyuuga,' or something like that. Maybe 'White-eyed Kissing Demon.' Damn…."
"NARUTO-KUN!!!" Hinata grimaced, hearing her shout echo down the tunnel in both directions. Great. Just great.
"I'm just teasing you, Hinata. I still can't believe that you're here…." Naruto's voice held surprise, but also gladness and pride.
Hinata ran along, her heart swelling. She had done it! They were by no means safe, and Akatsuki's plot had not been halted by any means of the imagination, but Naruto was free.
"Here, Pakkun." Naruto took a long thin rope out of his pouch. "Take this in your mouth. If we need to douse the light, or Hinata can't keep it up, you'll take the lead." Naruto chuckled. "Don't let go. In case you fall down a pit, we can pull you up." He laughed. "If we feel like it…."
Pakkun walked over, but instead of grabbing the rope, he bit Naruto's ankle.
"Yow!!!!" Naruto hopped around, the pug clamped to his leg.
Hinata began giggling, despite the seriousness of the situation.
"I we get hungry, Hinata, we can always eat Pakkun." Naruto and Hinata took off running as soon as Pakkun grabbed the rope in his mouth, then took off. "I think he took a bite out of me!"
"My paw is soft," the dog replied. "But that boy's head is soft!"
"I would have preferred that you save me without the dog next time, Hinata!" Naruto laughed "Hold on a second." He placed a number of explosive seals under rocks on the cave floor. "Hope that doesn't cause a cave in, if there's no another way out."
Chuckling, Naruto slapped an explosive seal on Hinata's backside.
"NARUTO-KUN!" She said, taking the paper off immediately.
Fortunately, it was an inactive seal.
"There's no time for play, children." Pakkun picked up speed. "The followers are closing in. I suggest we put out the light when we get to that intersection up ahead."
"OK!" Naruto said, smiling when he heard a quick series of explosions ring out behind them. "Let's hope it's just flunkies for now. I'm really not in the mood for meeting up with those nine rat bastards if I don't have to!"
He was worried what might happen if he faced off against any one of them, much less one of the functional pairs, or a larger group.
But, that's what he had been training so hard for.
All he could do was hope that Kyuubi was no longer a virtual vegetable. He might need an ample supply of the demon's chakra.
"Let's see if we can find a way out of this damn cave!" Naruto chose the passageway that slanted upward, waiting until after Hinata put out her light. "You guys do want to leave, don't you?" He smiled.
"Yes!!!" Both Hinata and Pakkun answered at the same time.