Bored ice blue eyes scanned the dark room. The blonde figure was slumped against the cool, rough wall, head hung as he surveyed his surroundings. It was small, dark, damp and devoid of anything sharp. The perfect place to confine a ninja, right? Of course, which is why he was still sitting inside. That and the black seals that had been placed around his wrists to confine his chakra.

The village was being extra cautious, using seals on a man they weren't even sure was a ninja. For all they knew he was a merchant. Though, if they asked he wouldn't lie. No, he never lied. He just didn't answer the questions he didn't want to answer truthfully. It was one of the habits he had since he had left home for good. He was sick of getting lied to, so he chose to start fixing the problem by being honest. Well, honest verbally. Just thinking about the days past, he would grow dark with sorrow and anger. His past was something he had given up. Something he refused to look back at.

A creak from the door a few feet in front of him, brought the man out of his musings. He didn't feel shame at not having noticed the presence of the masked ANBU ninja as they entered the cell. He was imprisoned; he didn't truly need to be alert. At least not yet.

The figure moved forward, slowly coming to a stop in front of the man. Joints aching with the slowness of the move, the ANBU member crouched down in front of his prisoner. Bringing his masked, crows face within inches of his prisoners he asked, "What's your name?"

Blue eyes blinked slowly. That was not the first question he expected. With a mental shrug, the man answered quietly, "They call me Riku."

"Riku? That's what they call you?" the ANBU asked. "They call me Crow," he added as an after thought. "Now, if you wouldn't mind telling me your real name?" he pressured.

Riku shook his head, "I don't like to dig up painful memories with others, please don't do so with me."

Nodding slightly Crow continued, "Alright, we'll leave that till later. What was your business in our village?"

"Business," came the short reply.

"What type?" was the even shorter response.

"I don't ask about the type of business you conduct, don't ask about mine," Riku stated tersely.

Crow brought his face closer, in a threatening manner, "I need answers, Riku."

The prisoner just shrugged, "I need to get on with my business, yet we both seem to be stuck."

There was a moment of silence before Crow tried again. "Who is this 'they' that call you Riku?"

A small smile appeared on the blonde's face, "You, others. My friends, my comrades, my partners, my family, anyone who knows me now."

Crow nodded once again before standing up. Without another word, the ANBU left the room, leaving the prisoner in solitude once again.

A winning smile crawled over Riku's lips as he watched the door. He knew he had gotten off light. Next time the questioning would be more persistent, more painful. He could handle it. How many years of training did he undergo? How many times had he stabbed himself in cold blood to get over the pain? No, physical pain was not his weakness. No, it was all mental.

He needed to be freed quickly, however. He could with stand the pain, but this village… if they persisted they might discover the truth. Someone might recognize him. The chakra seals, as well, could pose a problem. As strong as he was, he was struggling to keep his disguise in place with the majority of his chakra sealed off.

"Come quickly, Itachi," he whispered to the empty room. He knew no one was listening, knew no one was watching. They would only notice if he screamed.

That was it! If Itachi didn't come by the end of the night, he would set his plan into action.

Night fell and there was still no sign of Itachi. Instead, there had been several ANBU members in and out of his cell. Each one asking questions, each one prying into his mind, each one more difficult than the last. Yet, none came away with more information than he wished them to. His name was Riku, he was here on business, he didn't like personal questions.

Each interrogation left a new wound. Slashes, stabs, gashes, he had had it all before. Training had been difficult, but it was possible to overcome the pain. And he had learned to do that many years ago.

With a small grin, Riku stopped fighting the chakra seals. He let his chakra be forced back into his body. He had enough physical disguises on at the moment that no one would recognize him for at least a day. Slowly the pressure built up. It rose, it pushed, it shoved. His chakra did not like being contained. Containing his chakra only caused him to get injured.

He let out a blood curdling scream as his chakra pounded at his skull. Another scream and the chakra caused new gashes to form on his body. When his chakra couldn't get out in the safer ways, it formed it's own outlets.

Scuffling and shouts, alerted the barely conscious man that people were coming to see what the matter was. He could only hope that he was unconscious by the time they entered the cell. He truly didn't want to answer their questions, the pounding and pain was clouding his mind.

"Itachi…" he murmured before passing out.

The door was thrown open moments later. A pink haired medic-nin and the ANBU Crow stepped into the room. Both froze at the picture in front of them. Riku was unconscious on the floor and new gashes were forming on his skin before their eyes. It was as if a ghost was attacking the prisoner.

"Crow! Get him to the hospital wing. I need to wake the Hokage. I don't know how to handle this one! I can heal wounds, but if they won't stop forming?" the medic-nin ordered as she ran out of the cell, intent on her own mission.

Sighing, the ANBU picked the unconscious man up and swiftly headed down the hall. He didn't make it far before a dark haired man dropped silently behind him. With one deft move, the intruder hit Crow's temples hard. With a small thud, the two men hit the ground. The intruder moved forward and picked Riku up. His brown eyes looked over his unconscious burden with hidden concern. He knew Riku was strong, but he still needed to get him out of the village and wake him up. A person could only take so much of their own chakra attacking them!

The escape from the village was simple. The village was sleeping and the guards were too absorbed in their own card games to notice the two men exiting. It was the trek through the woods to a safe distance that had Riku's rescuer worried. Forcing chakra into his feet, he moved at a faster pace.

After nearly a half an hour of running the pair came to a halt in a clearing. The trees were thick around them, and Riku's rescuer knew it would be hard to track them. He had masked all signs of their route. Feeling safe, Riku was lowered to the ground gently.

It was the punch to the face and the stern, "Naruto! Get up and let your chakra out!" that woke Riku.

Sitting up Riku cursed, "Damn. I hate doing that… it kills!" Blue eyes looked up and met brown ones, "It took you long enough, Itachi! And stop calling me that! We're still to close to Konoha!"

In an uncharacteristic show of emotions Itachi rolled his eyes, "No one is around us, Naruto. If anyone was we wouldn't be sitting here calmly."

A low growl burst from Naruto as he glared at the older man, "Just shut up and get these damn seals off of me." He was having a hard enough time trying to heal himself and fight the seals.

A/N: Thought I would try my hand at a Naruto fic. And for those of you that are reading my FMA/HP story… please don't kill me! I will update it soon! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this. I have an idea in my head and it'll hopefully come along nicely! Let me know what you thought!