Hi again everyone! This is the last of Dragon Ruler 06's story! Now, I'm going to add my chapters up as I make them. Enjoy!

Heavy breathing was heard up and down the hall as red eyes wondered over to the other three. Naruto had a shallow gash on his side, but it bled more then it should have. Kyuubi had already wrapped it up, hoping to slow down the bleeding a bit, but the blood kept seeping through. Sasuke had a few scratches on his shoulders and one on his left leg. Gaara had a couple slash marks on his back and a twisted ankle from when he turned to sharply. Kyuubi, on the other hand, was in the worst condition of the four. Three was a large gash on his shoulders and on his right arm. His back had a couple shallow gashes as well as both of his legs. Gripped in his hand was a handgun. "I think we found out what the others were talking about and what killed the guys three years ago," Naruto spoke, leaning against the wall.

"Dobe," Sasuke breathed out. "You didn't figure that out when we saw the video?"

"Shut up, teme," Naruto growled back.

"Guys, knock it off," Kyuubi broke up the fight that he knew was about to start. "Right now, we need to get to the others. Mainly Sakura and Hinata since they are better with wounds then any of the others."

"Hey guys!" a male voice called out to them before the four turned to look at the approaching six.

"Where're Temari and Kankuro?" Gaara asked, glaring at both Lee and Sakura.

Sakura looked over to Ino. "You said you would call them and tell them what happened," the pink-haired girl said.

"Sorry, I forgot," the blonde replied.

"Where are my brother and sister?!" Gaara snapped, wanting an answer.

There was a silent pause before Lee broke it. "We ran into those things and they attacked us. They got Temari first, but we managed to get her away from them, but she was too badly hurt. She died when we were in a room away from those things. Kankuro told me and Sakura and to get into the vents and get out while he held them back. We heard him yelling. I think those things got to him. Sorry, Gaara."

Gaara's eyes ere widened in shock, 'My brother and sister?' he thought to himself. 'Dead? It can't be! I won't believe it!'

"You guys had a run in with those things as well?" Shikamaru asked, looking at the injured four.

"Yeah," Kyuubi replied. "We can't get the bleeding to stop, though. Just slow it down some."

"Let me take a look," Sakura said as she approached the tallest red-head.

"Look at them first," Kyuubi said, nudging his head towards the other three.

"You're more injured then them," Shino pointed out. "I'll take a look at them. If there is any poison in their system, I can tell."

"What makes you think it's poison?" Sasuke asked.

"You're still bleeding, and it isn't stopping, right?" Sasuke nodded in response. "Some of those creatures had knives. There might be a poison on them or in their fangs, maybe even their claws, that is stopping your body from healing itself and closing your wounds. That way, it can make it easier for them to find you because of the scent of your blood."

"So if that is the case, those creatures can find us easily?" Ino asked.

"It's a hunch," Shino replied as he walked over to the group while Kyuubi looked at the other six.

"You guys haven't seen Neji or the others on your way up, have you?" the red-head asked. The others just shook their heads. "Have you heard from them?"

"Only when Tenten called Temari about what they found and same thing when Kiba called Shino," Sakura replied.

"You saw no sign of them?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing," Shikamaru replied.

"What did you guys find?" Kyuubi asked once again. Shikamaru and Lee pulled out the camera that they had found earlier. "Who do they belong to?"

"This one belonged to Hidan and Kakuzu," Shikamaru replied.

"Tobi and Zetsu," Lee said, holding up his camera a little.

"We found one as well," Naruto said as Shino inspected his wounds. "It belonged to Kisame. He said that he, dad, and Itachi split up. They might still be around here somewhere. If they are, maybe they're still alive and they got Neji and the others."

"Maybe," Sasuke spoke up. "Was the keyword."

"These wounds don't have any poison in them," Shino said when he was done looking at Naruto's wound before wrapping them up with clean bandages Sakura gave him. "But there is something in them that won't let the body heal itself. I can't figure out what it is." When he was done with Naruto's bandages, he starts to work on Sasuke's and then Gaara's.

"They'll stop eventually," Kyuubi said. "Its just getting a little slower then usual."

"You guys might die of blood lose by the time they stop!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Doubt it," Kyuubi started to argue. "In case you forgot, I was in a gang a few years back. I got shot in the chest, very close to my heart. Hell, the shock should have killed me, but I was still alive and kicking. With Naruto, remember that he was always picked on when he was a kid. He came home with wounds that should have killed someone his age, but he was still alive. Sasuke and Gaara keep trying to commit suicide and they keep failing."

"Will you quit bringing up the suicide thing?" Sasuke asked, glaring at the taller red-head with his onyx eyes.

"Point is that it'll take more then a few wounds to take us down."

"We should still get you guys looked after," Shikamaru stated. "But we need to get somewhere safer first."

"And that would be where?" Gaara asked. "In case you haven't noticed, but those things are all over the place. We were chased by about ten of them before we finally lost them five minutes ago when we hid in a random room." The group was silent for a moment before Shikamaru broke it with a small sigh.

"In the videos, did any of them mention something about the stories being true or false?" the teen boy asked.

"Tobi said that they weren't finding anything," Sakura replied.

"The video we had only showed Kisame when he was killed," Kyuubi stated. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that since in the video we found, Hidan said that the stories were dangerously close to being true because he and Kakuzu kept finding blood stains all over that floor. Think about it for a minute. Kiba told us that the video that he found of Pein and Umi, Umi said that they weren't finding any proof of the stories being true, but Hidan and Kakuzu were finding plenty of proof. So maybe the tenth floor is where those creatures live most of the time. They might leave that floor from time to time to see if they can find anything to eat, but other then that, they may just stay on the tenth floor."

"What do you mean eat?" Sasuke asked, narrowing his eyes.

"The things that attacked Temari looked like they were trying to eat her," Sakura replied. "And on the video, it showed those things kill Tobi. Kind of. It just showed them and then blood was covering the screen."

"And when we saw Kakuzu on the camera, it looked like he was nearly eaten alive," Shikamaru added. "So I think that those things live on the tenth floor since we saw all those blood stains. If that is where they live, and if they only leave that floor to find something to eat, then they have this whole hotel to run through. Even if we do run into a few of them, there won't be very many since most of them will be in other places, but they most likely think we're headed towards the first floor to get out. So they will most likely be on the lower floors. At most, five or six of them. A few might even be on the higher floors, but we can easily get them out of our way."

"Shikamaru, I'm going to tell you a little something about that," Kyuubi said. "You know my aim is perfect. I have never missed a target unless is want to just for intimidation. I shot those things in the head and it was still moving. We can't get rid of them that easily."

"But Sasuke brought along a few grenades, right, Sasuke?" Shikamaru asked, looking over to the ebony-haired teenager, who nodded his head. "We can use the grenades to clear a path if we run into too many of them. And I bet we can easily outrun them."

"Shikamaru, they caught a hold of Naruto! And he's a little speed demon!" He sat down to let Sakura wrap up his legs before a thought hit him. "Wait a minute, if you think they live on the tenth floor, then how come none of you four, who were on the tenth floor, are hurt even the slightest?"

"Probably because they weren't on the tenth floor," the lazy teen replied. "I said that they might leave that floor if they were looking for something to eat. There might be some around here somewhere, so we need to get going."

"The closest thing we have as a clue to our father and Itachi being around is the camera we found," Naruto said. "Maybe there's something on one of these floors that they know about, but we haven't found. If we can find out what it is, then maybe we can find them."

"Something like what?" Chouji asked. "Like a secret door or passage?"

"Maybe," Shino agreed, finishing up his bandaging on Gaara's back. "The question is though: 'What floor?'."

"Let's search this one, first," Kyuubi suggested as Sakura finished bandaging his legs. "And let's hope that we don't run into those things. Have any of you tried to get a hold of anyone in Neji's group?"

"I tried calling Hinata and Tenten," Ino replied. "But I couldn't get an answer."

"Same when I tried to call Kiba back, and when I tried to call Neji," Shino added.

"We better find them and make sure that they're alright," Sasuke said. "Kyuubi told them to meet us on this floor, so they're either on the floors below us or somewhere on this one and we just haven't found them yet."

"We didn't see them on the way up here, and we took the stairs," Sakura stated. "We ran into a few of those things on our way here, but we managed to outsmart them."

"How so?" Gaara asked.

"We hid in the vents again before the things could see us."

"Well, come on," Kyuubi said, standing up to his feet. "We have friends and family to find in this place. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I refuse to leave this place without them." The others nodded in agreement before they started to walk down the hallway. They had to stop from time to time to change the bandages on the four injured teens and so Kyuubi could rest since he was hurt the worst and couldn't walk very fast because of his injured legs. When they heard clattering down the hall, they all stopped in their tracks and turned towards the sound, but saw nothing. Kyuubi pulled out the handgun that was strapped to his waist, aiming it down the hall.

Naruto tugged on his older brother's arm when he saw the shadow against the wall. "Kyuubi, come on," the blond whispered so that whatever was around the corner wouldn't hear him. "We need to get going before it sees us here."

"I think it already knows we're here," Sasuke stated when he heard noises coming from down the hallway. "We need to get going. Now!" The group turned and ran, Kyuubi limping a bit, turning around from time to time to make sure they weren't being followed. Eventually, about seven of the creatures came around the corner, running towards the group.

Kyuubi stopped in his tracks, turning around as he pulled out another handgun. "Kyuubi!" Naruto called out. "What are you doing?!"

"Get going!" the red-head replied. "I'll hold them back!"

"But Kyuubi-"

"Now!!"

Naruto didn't want to leave his brother, but Sasuke grabbed onto his arm and pulled him away. Kyuubi shot at the creatures until his guns ran out of bullets before he tossed them to the ground. The creatures stood still about three yards from him, watching him to see if he would do anything else, but Kyuubi had nothing else to fight with except for the few daggers he carried on himself. "Sorry, dad," Kyuubi whispered to himself. "Sorry, Naruto. I tried to help." Before the creatures lunged at him, he was pulled into the room next to him.

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"Do you think he's still alive?" Naruto asked the others. All of them were hiding in a room, behind a lock door. They heard gunshots for about five minutes before nothing. Naruto jumped when his phone started to ring, playing 'Brother, My Brother'. He had different songs as ring tones for everyone in his phone book on his cell. Easier to tell who was calling him. He quickly picked it up, nearly dropping it in anticipation, before answering it and placing it on speaker so everyone could hear. "Kyuubi? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Kyuubi's voice replied. "Someone managed to snatch me out of the way before those things got to me.

"Who got you?"

"You aren't going to believe it, but you're going to be really happy about it. Dad was the one who got to me."

"Dad?! Is he alright?! What about the others?!"

"Chill out, Naruto. Here. Talk to dad for a little bit. Not too long since my phone's about dead."

There was some distant talking before a new voice came on through the phone. "Naruto?"

"Dad?!" Naruto replied in a bit of a shock.

"The one and only," the other person on the phone replied in a joking tone before talking in a serious tone. "Are you and your friends alright?"

"As alright as we're going to be."

"Arashi-san?" Sasuke spoke up. "Is Itachi with you?"

"Yeah, Itachi's with me, Sasuke."

"How did you know that was Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"He's the first person that came to mind that would ask about Itachi. Where are you and your friends?"

"Behind a locked door," Naruto bluntly stated.

"Naruto," Arashi's stern voice said. "Can you be a little more specific? Did you see a room number? Or anything in the hall that can help out? I can't ask you to make noise if you hear me walking by the room in case you mistake my footsteps for those things. Then you'll be giving away your location."

"Did anybody see anything that can help dad out?" Naruto asked the group.

"In front of the door was a painting of a lake and on both sides to it are dead potted plants," Shikamaru replied.

"Got it," Arashi replied. "I'll be coming to get you, okay?"

"Dad, you're coming alone?!" Naruto nearly snapped, not really thinking that was a good idea.

"If I could, I would. But Itachi's really worried about Sasuke, so he's coming with me. Zetsu, Pein, and Deidara are going to stay in here with Kyuubi and the rest of your friends."

"Wait a minute, Neji, Hinata, Kiba, and Tenten are with you?"

"Yep."

"How come they didn't call and tell us?" Sakura asked.

"Their phones are dead," Arashi simply stated. "Alright, Itachi and I are on our way. Don't move from that room unless you have to, understood?"

Naruto looked at the others who nodded. "We all understand, dad."

"Alright. We'll see you in a bit. Stay put and I mean it!" It sounded like he would have said more, but then the phone hung up. Kyuubi's phone just died.

"Wonder where they had been all this time," Sasuke said. "And why they never came home."

"They must have had reasons," Naruto replied, sitting down next to the brunet. "But at least we know that they're still alive!" Sasuke smirked, nodding an in agreement before a scrapping sound was heard outside of the room. Everyone looked towards the door when the sound of metal scratching against wood was heard before the tip of a knife was seen coming through the door. The group jumped when they saw the knife tip before it pulled out and another stab hit the door, letting a little more of the knife become seen. "I think that those things are out there," Naruto said.

"Arashi said not to leave the room unless we had no choice, right?" Sakura asked. "I don't think we have a choice in the matter anymore."

"How the hell do you suggest we get out then," Sasuke growled out. "There's that thing out there." Then Sakura pointed towards the vent in the wall. Sasuke looked at it before turning to the blond to his right. "We need to get that thing opened." Naruto nodded as both pulled out a dagger and started to remove the cover of the vent. "Girls first," Sasuke said when they finally removed the cover. By then, there were already ten stab marks in the door. Ino came over before Naruto helped her up into the vent, then Sakura. After her was Lee, then Shikamaru, Shino, Gaara, then Naruto. Sasuke went into the vent next to help Naruto get Chouji in, but as soon as Chouji was halfway in, the door gave away and Chouji got stuck because of his stomach.

"Come on, Chouji!" Naruto nearly yelled.

"Suck in your gut!" Shikamaru yelled from near the back.

"Ah! One of them has me!" Chouji screamed, thrashing around a bit. "It won't let go!" The grip that Sasuke and Naruto had on the larger teen was starting to slip. They both gripped him a little further up his arms, trying to pull him into the vent. Chouji yelled painfully as tears started to leave his eyes. The others started to grip onto Naruto and Sasuke when they saw that the two, along with Chouji, were starting to slowly slide out of the vent. Eventually, Chouji slipped from their grip. When the teen fell to the ground, lying on his back, he cracked open an eye to see about ten of the creatures staring down at him. He yelled out before the dove onto him, tearing away pieces of his flesh.

Sasuke and Naruto closed their eyes before turning their heads back. Tears were forming in the blonde's before slowly pouring down his face. Sasuke opened his eyes, looking at the others behind him. "Back up," he mouthed to them before the group started to back away. Sasuke backed up as well, helping Naruto a bit, who looked like he was about to collapse. They stayed in the vent for a bit before gunshots were heard from the room. Everyone looked towards the opening when shrieks were heard while the sound of gunshots still echoed through the air. Eventually, there was silence.

"Where do you think they went?" a familiar voice asked.

"Somewhere where those things couldn't get them," another replied. "And since the only way out would be that door right there, I'd say the vent." There were some footsteps before a face appearing. "Hey, kids. You might want to come out of there right now before more of those things come here." Sasuke crawled towards the front of the vent before the blond man helped him out. As soon as Sasuke saw the other person, he ran towards him and wrapped his arms around the brunet's waist. Arashi helped the others out of the vents, managing to get Naruto off of him long enough to get them out. But as soon as all of them were out, Naruto was attached to the blond man once again. "It's alright, Naruto," Arashi chuckled a little as he wrapped his arms around the blonde's shoulders. "It's alright now."

"So you're Arashi Uzumaki?" Ino asked, trying to make sure she didn't throw up from the sight of the creature's headless bodies and Chouji's ripped-apart one.

"Yes. Now come on. We need to get somewhere safe before more of those things come here." Naruto released the hold he had in Arashi's waist before he and the others followed Itachi and Arashi out of the room.

"Dad?" Naruto spoke up after walking in silence for about five minutes. "How come you never came home?"

Arashi sighed before he replied. "The five of us that did survive that night hid in a room that only appeared from midnight to sunrise. The room disappears in the morning as soon as the sun rises, just like those creatures and anything else in that room. Zetsu and Pein had been trying to keep Deidara in there so he wouldn't get himself killed. He's been in pretty bad shape since Sasori died. Really unstable. Keeps telling himself that he could have helped Sasori and things like that."

"What if the creatures find that room?" Sasuke asked, not letting go of the hold he had on Itachi's ripped jeans.

"They won't unless they follow us there," Itachi replied. "But we've found another way into the room. So even if the direct door is blocked, we have other paths to take. If all are blocked, we're screwed over."

Sasuke looked up at his brother before noticing that Itachi's arm was bandaged. "What happened to your arm, Aniki?" Sasuke asked, looking up into Itachi's black eyes.

"One of them got a hold of me one day," the older sibling replied. "I managed to get away with Arashi and Pein's help with just a ruined arm. You seem to be in worse shape, otouto."

"We got chased by those things," Naruto stated. "On this floor."

"We know," Arashi said. "Kyuubi told us. At least you're all alive."

"Not all of us," Sakura sadly stated, looking over to the corpse of her friend.

Arashi sighed softly. "I don't want to sound cold-hearted or cruel or anything like that, but you cannot let the deaths of your friends get to you otherwise, you'll end up dead. That's why we never let Deidara out of the room. Three years, and he still blames himself for Sasori's death. Zetsu is nearly in the same boat, but not bad enough to where we shouldn't let him out of the room."

"Where is the room, dad?" Naruto asked. "I mean, Gaara, Kyuubi, Sasuke, and I have all been around this floor check it out, even every room, but we didn't see you guys anywhere."

"He said the door to the room appears at midnight, Naruto," Shikamaru pointed out. Arashi stopped in his tracks, peering around a corner.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked.

"Well," Arashi began. "Right now, those creatures are in front of the door. They must have smelled Kyuubi's blood or something. And there are a lot of them there. I highly doubt we can get past them just to get to the other paths."

"What do you mean by that last part?" Shino asked this time.

"To get to the other paths, we need to get to the other end of that hall since all of the other paths are over there and the crowd is way too big to pass through."

"There aren't any on this side of the hall?" Sasuke asked.

"Nope," Itachi replied.