THE FOUNDRY – ASK ME FOR HELP
Rara Prison
Rara Prison is a square structure in that it has four walls. It also has a lone wall in the middle of the four outer ones, in the centre of a courtyard. That wall has many cells within it as well as several other rooms for storing things. This allows the cells to be patrolled on all four sides constantly. It means that those prisoners trapped within are never not being watched by one of the many guards. Nobody escapes from Rara Prison, they have to be broken out.
Naruto, having climbed one of the outer walls sees several vantage points between him and Hinata's cell at the very top. There are small raised points from the ground from where it is easier to watch the prisoners. Some of them are tiny marble step pyramids, some are made of wood. There are even a couple of wooden scaffolds patrolled by many captains. There are countless places to watch from and nowhere to hide, even for a shinobi.
Naruto's grasp on the One True Sense gives him a remarkable range of perception. From here he can tell that Hinata is looking at him, seeing that he has climbed the outer wall. He can measure the rate of her breath, he can hear her whispers berating him for his foolish attempts to save her. Now he just needs to make sure that she can understand what he is going to say to her. He hopes that between the skills of the Endou clanswomen and the sense of the Hyuuga clanswomen she will be able to hear him if he raises his voice.
"You can hear me, right Hinata?" he asks.
"Of course I can hear you fool. I am Princess Endou, don't underestimate me. Can you hear me?"
"I can hear you Hinata."
Normally there would not be much to say at this distance. Whatever Naruto's plan for freeing Hinata is, she is wearing restraints made from incredibly tough material, there is no way she can help him. Most people would charge forward to rescue their spouse in this situation, but Naruto realises that something more needs to happen here. One of the advantages of having broken through in 'fate' is that he can recognise turning points in reality. He recognises the points at which getting things right is most important, not just in one respect but in all respects. That is why he needs to do more than rescue Hinata here, he needs to take another step towards repairing their partnership.
"I'm here to help you," Naruto says.
"Go away you fool; you can't help me here. All we can do is pray that my mother will return in time to use her ability to rescue me."
"Enri will take too long."
"I told you to go away," Hinata insists. "I don't need your help. I don't need you to help me escape from this prison. I don't need you to help me win his war."
"I'm your husband Hinata, I will be here for you no matter what. There is only one thing you need to do in order to escape from that place. Ask me for help. Ask me to break you out and then we can go back together. We will go back, we will take down the empire with Boruto and Himawari, all you need to do is ask for it."
"My husband? I don't know you Uzumaki Naruto. You just turned up in this world one day and everything started to change. My father saved me so that I could come back to save this world, but when I came back, I found it that wasn't what everyone wanted. What everyone wanted was to be saved by the great Uzumaki Naruto. What happened to my duty? I am the Empress of Homeworld, why do you make people hope more than I can?"
"I don't know, I just do what I think is right. I understand things in this place quickly, things everyone seems to think are important. Divine energy, divine oddities, these things aren't important to me, but they allow me to protect the people I care about."
"They are important!" Hinata insists. "I appreciate these things for how important they are, I am desperate to obtain these powers, to help my world and yet I can't. Somehow you are so perfect though, and you just expect me to like you! You remind me how inadequate I am. You make me feel like I'm not good enough for Homeworld."
"You're good enough for Homeworld Hinata. You're a good empress to this world. You're a good shinobi for the Hidden Leaf. You're a good mother to Boruto and Himawari. And you've been good to me."
"Then why do you keep going like you have been? It's relentless, you just don't stop. Why are you so obsessed with doing everything yourself and getting everything right? I thought reuniting with your friends would help you to share the burden, but the only reason you have wanted them close to you is so that you could protect them easily, isn't that right."
"That isn't true."
"Don't patronise me Uzumaki Naruto. When you first went to find people to join the resistance, when you found Marti Nina, when you went to take on General Nero, you left us out every time. You are trying to do everything yourself!"
"If I'm not perfect then someone I care about will die," Naruto says. "It's this place. Everyone here has said that it is so dangerous, that nobody could take back Homeworld but me, they said there is something different about me. If I stop then what happens to Boruto and Himawari, what happens to you?"
"There! You are dead set on protecting Homeworld by yourself! Don't tell me that you trust me to protect this world but then refuse to let me do it. You call yourself my husband, how can I trust someone like you? You call me your wife; you won't even share your burdens with me. Marriage must mean something very different where you come from."
"How could I possibly share my burdens with you? You have done everything you can to stay away from me since we met."
Hinata stops in her tracks. Until this point it seemed to her like Naruto was an invader in her world. It felt like he had stolen her responsibilities. He made her feel like a worthless empress. He made her feel like she wasn't competent enough to fight in this war. It never occurred to her that she took something just as important away from him as well.
"Go away," Hinata murmurs, "Save the pocket-worlders. Leave Homeworld to me. Nobody will blame you."
Captains converge on Naruto's position from the left and the right. He creates a 'life' enhanced rasen-shuriken and throws it to the right, eliminating half his attackers. Then Naruto propels himself to the right with his divine oddity, catches the rasen-shuriken and throws it back to the left, eliminating the other half. With a swift use of his divine oddity he returns to his starting position.
"You think just because we've made mistakes I'm giving up?" Naruto says.
"What?"
"I don't care if you want me to go away. I am coming over there, I am going to get you out of that cell and then we are leaving. We are going to work out these problems, and then we are going to save Homeworld, your empire, together."
Naruto leaps down from the outer wall and continues to make his way towards Hinata.
The empress in exile looks down from her cell, high up in the inner wall. She watches the 7th Hokage make his way through the guards employed to keep her here. He fights through them fearlessly, fighting for her. Even if there were no problems between the he must realise how difficult it will be for them to get out of here unharmed. She makes a simple conclusion; her husband is an idiot. Though it does leave her to wonder, perhaps he is her idiot.
Outside the Walls
Hannah is the first bravest enough to launch an attack against Yasmine. It's a volley of strikes, a straightforward martial arts style, only the first tier of techniques Naruto was hoping to teach her, but more effective than the Homeworld default. This superior striking technique, combined with Hannah's instinct telling her where to strike makes it difficult for Yasmine to fight back, but she does all the same. Each strike is blocked with superior speed, anticipated with an educated mind, and countered with a practiced arm.
Eventually an opening will appear in any technique, no matter how perfect it may seem. There are no exceptions to this, not even with Hannah. While it may not be possible for anyone on Hannah's level to capitalise on those small openings, it is possible for Yasmine. The general hits Hannah on the back of her head, a blind spot attack. She follows this up by grabbing the instinctual fighters head and slamming it down into her knee. Lastly, she knocks Hannah backward with a strike enhanced by golden 'lightning' and golden 'water' energy.
Indeed, Yasmine is a dual element fighter, just like Hannah. She used to think that she was rare as someone who mastered two elements. There are not many users of combinations outside of the pocket-worlders. She and Marti Nina used to be famed for it, but it seems that the physiology of the pocket-worlders means they are more likely to learn more than one element.
There are outliers for all people though, even the pocket-worlders. In their case Uzumaki Himawari is that outlier, for she is the Blaze Princess, the master of three elements. Himawari waits for Claude the Owl to dive across Yasmine's face, creating a momentary blind spot. The Blaze Princess leaps at this blind spot, striking at Yasmine with her three elements 'fire', 'wind' and 'lightning'.
It is a clean hit!
But even a clean hit from Himawari is not enough to breach Yasmine's defences. The general, much like her counterpart from Aturia, has a concentrated defence. She uses this to avoid damage from Himawari's attack.
Using a concentrated defence is always a slight risk though, unless your mastery of the regulation battle principle is absolute it will cost you. There will be an opening afterwards. Minato is the one to exploit that opening. For just a moment the 4th Hokage defies his orders not to participate in the battle by using his teleportation ability to put Hannah, Himawari and Mana around Yasmine.
The three human members of the team selected to fight Yasmine all unleash a barrage at once. They start by striking out rapidly. They keep punching and kicking until they are certain there is no spot left unstruck. Then they resort to their elements, bathing Yasmine in a cage of their divine energy. A cage of 'light', 'darkness', 'lightning', 'fire' and 'wind'. A cage within which one cannot escape the harmful effects of their energy, the perfect way to grind down an opponent of a greater power.
This looks like a good idea, but it has come at a great strategic cost.
Yasmine suddenly breaks free of the cage. She uses golden 'lightning' energy to form a thread on her finger and then she spins that thread around. The thread pulses like a lightning bolt, and despite their proficiency for the element, both Mana and Himawari are blasted away when they are struck by that lightning. Yasmine is not surprised that Hannah was the only one able to avoid the attack. The general grabs the thread at the midpoint with her other hand and throws it into Hannah's chest, shocking her and knocking her off her feet.
The strategic cost was too great because now she knows why Minato and Kushina aren't attacking. Their job is to take the others to safety.
Michel the Horse charges towards Yasmine but the general knocks him off his course with a simple wave of her hand. Her hand wave summons a 'water' wave that knocks Michel's legs out from under him.
Yasmine leaps forwards, getting her hands-on Minato. She grins, taking this man out will put her one step closer to victory. Minato may be an experienced shinobi who can teleport, but Yasmine has dealt with this type before. The solution to fighting someone like this is to take them out quickly and permanently. Yasmine does this with three strikes, first to the back of the head to disorient him, next to his shoulder to take his dominant arm out of play, then to the inside of his leg to immobilise him.
Kushina wishes she could move faster to save Minato but compared to Yasmine she is standing still. When her legs finally propel her forward, Minato has been taken out of the fight. The former Jinchuriki knows what this means, it shows just how strong their opponent is. She casts aside the former picture she had of Yasmine as an easy-going, fun-loving person who just happened to fall on the wrong side of this conflict. Yasmine is a veteran of more battles than she and Minato put together.
Kushina rushes Minato back to the other side of Sasuke's portal and into Sakura's care. She heads back immediately, knowing that the injuries, while severe, are not life threatening. There is a greater duty to be performed on the prison side of the portal, saving the lives of the others.
Hannah approaches Yasmine once again. This time she raises her hand, alternating 'light' and 'darkness' energy on her palm. She increases the intensity and frequency of both energy sources explosively, blinding Yasmine for just a moment. This is a chance to attack, a chance that nobody but her could have manufactured. She rushes towards the general, knowing that her eyesight will quickly recover. The general lashes out with an advanced defensive manoeuvre, standard military practice for when you are blinded, but Hannah's instincts saw this coming. Hannah dodges this strike and rolls forwards before straightening her body and unleashing a powerful kick to the side of Yasmine's head.
Yasmine is sent back along the ground!
An effective strike.
Yasmine laughs to herself. It is remarkable, she never thought that any class 7 would be capable of doing something like that to her. King Max wasn't bluffing when he said that his experiment would change the rules of combat in this world. However, Hannah is not ready for this stage yet.
Yasmine gestures towards herself with her fingers and a high-pressure beam of 'water' strikes Hannah from behind. The general gets to her feet and kicks Hannah back into that high-pressure beam. She does this five times in a row, volleying Hannah like a ball before finally landing a more powerful strike, driving Lara's daughter out through the other end of the beam.
The resistance is remarkable, fighting a general like this. However, the empire's strength has been accumulated over hundreds of years though, it won't lose to a group like this.
The Inner Wall
Naruto finishes scaling the inner wall of cells, reaching the solitary cell at the very top which contains his wife. Hinata's assessment still holds, he may be brave, but he is an idiot nonetheless. Naruto looks like he has been running for a week without rest. She knows that he has more stamina than almost anyone, but this is pushing it even for him.
"Do you want my help yet?" Naruto asks.
"I don't want your help. I am going to save Homeworld myself. I don't need to be protected by the likes of you, I am going to be the protector here. I am the Empress of Homeworld!"
"Are you still upset about that?"
"It's only been a few minutes since we last spoke!"
"Look Hinata, we can talk about this when we get out of here. We can change how we do things, but the first thing we need to do is escape. I can't force that on you, I need to know that you want to escape! I need us to be on the same page for once!"
"You are so stubborn. Why don't you just stop already! Why won't you leave this war to me!"
The rift between Hinata and Naruto only grows as they argue. One wants them to be closer so they can better protect the other. One wants them to be further apart so that their actions can be credited separately. Both can't have their way, one of them will have to change, otherwise this argument will persist forever. They will not escape Rara Prison and the resistance will be dealt a fatal blow.
But then something changes.
Hinata sees Naruto's ring.
Images come rushing into her mind. A young Naruto. Someone with eyes like her. They fight. They argue about fate. Everyone discounts Naruto. Naruto wins. Naruto doesn't give up. A war. Death on a scale she hasn't seen. A downcast Naruto. A younger Hinata. They hold hands. They keep going. They fight. They win. Naruto doesn't give up. The current Naruto. Himawari. Boruto. Their family, together. He fights for them. He fights the military. Naruto saves everyone. Naruto wins. Naruto doesn't give up. The current Naruto. A ring. That ring. He asks her to marry him. They unite. It's their family. The family he fought for. Naruto doesn't give up. She remembers some of his words. "When people are protecting something truly special to them, they truly can become as strong as they can be."
Hinata can still only remember fragments, but those words from Naruto's past are enough. That's why he's so strong, because he's made so many people special, because he's protecting so many people, because that's all he can do.
Naruto sees something change in Hinata's eyes and it gives him hope. He tries one more time.
"Hinata, I love you. Please, ask me for help."
"… … help me."