Sasuke opened his eyes slowly. And here I hoped Hell was a myth, he thought disappointedly.
He resigned to himself to whatever punishment was coming because he deserved it. He looked around himself and was surprised to see what looked like a prison, with him in a cell.
Why am I in a cell, his sluggish mind questioned.
Sasuke rubbed his head as the dull headache of a concussion began to escalate. He felt confused and lethargic, but a sense of dread began to settle in his gut. More and more, Sasuke got the sickening feeling that he wasn't dead.
Worse than that, someone had put him in a cell, someone who likely didn't like him. And worst of all, Sasuke had little chakra and obvious head injuries that were slowing his thinking.
After a few deep breaths and a moment of meditation, Sasuke turned angry sharingan eyes to the man outside of his cell. "Well, well Sasuke. I didn't expect you to wake up today, let alone sense me and use your sharingan," the man said almost proudly.
"What do you want," Sasuke ground out as he glared at none other than Madara Uchiha, the man ultimately responsible for his family's demise.
Sasuke suddenly grabbed at his head and scrunched his eyes, panting. "So, I see the chakra drain finally kicked in. You won't be able to use your sharingan while you stay here, or any jutsu for that matter," Madara said with the sound of a smile on his face.
Sasuke forced his eyes open so he could watch the enemy, "I won't ask you again: what do you want from me?"
Madara chuckled darkly from his casual leaning position on the opposite wall, "You're not in any position to interrogate me." Madara then stood up fully and walked up to the door of Sasuke's cell, most of his face still hidden beneath his mask. His new rinnengan shone through menacingly alongside his mangekyo sharingan.
"I will tell you this though, don't try escaping. This cell is designed to drain your chakra, and I have a little insurance policy too," he leaned in closer, voice dropping to a whisper, "Test me, and I'll make you wish you hadn't."
"You don't scare me Madara. There's nothing left you can do to me," Sasuke dismissed him, looking away.
Sasuke detested everything about the Uchiha patriarch. He had nothing left for Madara to take from him except his life. If the man tortured him or killed him, it didn't matter so long as Madara doing so gave him an opening to take revenge against him.
Sasuke snapped his eyes back to the mask when Madara began laughing suddenly, holding his stomach and slapping his knee. Sasuke raised a single eyebrow at the odd scene.
Madara looked ridiculous, behaving more like the Tobi persona he had played for so long. But just as quickly as he started, he stopped, and returned to the dark menacing aura he had been using.
Sasuke secretly decided Madara might seriously be schizophrenic.
"When did I say I was doing something to you? Foolish boy, you might not be quite as bright as I once thought," Sasuke's glare slowly bled into confusion the more Madara spoke.
Madara sighed and shook his head, "No matter, until I'm ready for you, you'll be staying here. Like I said, if you cross me, you'll regret it."
Madara began walking away even as he spoke, either not caring or not noticing Sasuke's defiant glare. As soon as Madara was through the door, Sasuke was up and searching his prison. There was only one dim light coming from the hallway, making it difficult to see, but Sasuke felt every inch.
He found three of his four walls were made of bars, and all had chakra draining seals. The fourth wall was solid concrete, and if his hearing was to be trusted, it was about fifty to sixty inches thick. He had to take frequent breaks, as he was still weak from his injuries.
Finally, Sasuke found a loose chuck in the left most corner where the concrete wall and floor met. He picked at it, trying to see if he could exploit the weakness to remove a bar. To his great surprise, he found a kunai hidden in a hole the chunk had been covering.
Sasuke's brows creased as he pondered the probability of a kunai being in a hole in the wall of an otherwise carefully maintained prison.
Who would leave a kunai there in the first place? A prisoner trying to hide his last weapon? Possibly. It would make more sense that that person had been killed or moved before they could retrieve it.
Being a ninja, Sasuke was naturally suspicious of such a gift. He sat examining it for what felt like a couple of hours, but as far as he could tell, it was just a normal kunai. He finally decided that it was simply coincidence. Even if it was some elaborate trap set by the enemy, he'd still rather be armed.
Sasuke then pondered howhe could use it. Madara had the pesky space/time warping jutsu to overcome before his kunai did any good. It was really a matter of getting him to use it and then striking him when he solidified before he could use the technique again.
He supposed he could conserve some chakra and settle for a mediocre chidori. The seals had drained him significantly, but he had always had deeper reserves than the average shinobi.
If Madara used his jutsu to avoid the chidori, then Sasuke could use the concealed kunai to strike a death blow.
It was highly improbable that it would work. The chidori alone wasn't guarantied. Not to mention the precise timing required that his injuries may interfere with. Sasuke sighed heavily, weighing the benefits of waiting to develop a better plan against an immediate strike.
On one hand, his only shot at escape might lie with using the kunai and strategizing to find the most effective way to utilize it would produce the best chance of killing Madara. On the other hand, the longer he waited, the more time Madara had to discover his kunai, and he had the element of surprise now.
Sasuke finally decided that leaving immediately would be best. There was no guarantee that his injuries would be treated, therefore he wouldn't get much stronger than he was now. Madara would not expect him to try something so soon. And he defiantly didn't expect him to have a weapon on him.
Sasuke was pleased with his decision, and slipped the kunai behind his waistband, hidden but ready for use. He was glad that he did, for not a few seconds later, Madara returned.
He was carrying a sack over his shoulder, and briefly Sasuke was tempted to ask, but decided to focus on meditating to help build up some chakra for his attack. Madara didn't speak as he lit another torch and threw the sack into a cell three down from his own on the opposite side of the hallway.
Madara swung the door closed but didn't lock it. Sasuke's brow creased as he listened for the sound, but only heard Madara's footsteps approaching his cell. Madara opened Sasuke's door with a little bowl of something that didn't smell edible.
As Madara set the bowl down, Sasuke struck. Sending his electric chakra to his right hand, Sasuke barely managed to produce a spark compared to his typical chidori, but it was enough. His hand went through Madara.
Before Sasuke could follow through with the kunai, Madara had already slammed him up against the cement wall. Sasuke dropped the kunai and pulled at Madara's hand so he could breathe, even a little.
"I warned you not to cross me Sasuke. But just so you know, I planted that kunai myself, because I wanted to show you what would happen. You just don't know how hard it was to wait for you to decide to use the kunai. I was about to break down and just do it, but thankfully you went along with my plan," Madara chuckled darkly, before suddenly dropping Sasuke and locking him back in.
"I doubt you would be able to see what I want you to see with this poor light, so if you don't mind sit here while I light the torches," Madara performed a small fireball jutsu that traveled down the hallway, lighting the rest of the torches as it passed. Sasuke winced slightly at the sudden light, but kept his eyes fixed on Madara.
Madara dragged out the sack he brought in earlier and dropped it in front of Sasuke's door. He pulled the bag off, and Sasuke inadvertently sucked in a breath.
The lump inside of the sack was Sakura. A very angry looking Sakura, bound and gagged.