Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Recap:

"'Hey, this may sound sudden to you Naruto, but me and Benny here have been here for a while… wanna bust this joint?' 'Heh, now you're speaking my language!' Naruto said in excitement."

–Chapter 5

Chapter Six

"Well then, what's the quickest way out of this god-forsaken city?" Sasuke asked. "Let us try that way," Lee suggested. Sasuke, Lee, and Leaf head towards the southern end of the city. They notice that a lot of mining equipment around a large cave. "Well, let us check what is inside," Lee said as he and Leaf walked into the cave. "Uhh… hmph, whatever…" Sasuke said under his breath.

The three walked through the main corridors of the cave when Sasuke asks, "Hey, Lee, why'd we come in here again?" Lee responds, "Unlike you, Sasuke, I saw that in order to take the shortcut to Hearthome, we need to head through this cave and retrieve an object to allow us through a gate which will lead us straight to h—"

"Ok, I get it," Sasuke cuts him off, "So when exactly did you find this out?" "Yesterday, when the rest of you were back at the hotel, I scouted around for the quickest exit, and I saw that in the northern bit of the city, there was gate that I was mentioning before you so rudely cut me off," Lee explained, "It should be a little father in here… Leaf, you are aware of what the object is, am I correct?" "Yeah, it looks somewhat like a full piece of finger armor…" she agreed.

"What, you mean this?" Sasuke asked as he held up what looked like a bluish-white finger armor ring. "Great Sasuke, you found it! Now come on, let us go use it." Lee said with excitement. Sasuke placed the ring on his left middle finger, and an orb-like design on the knuckle area of the ring began to glow brightly for a second, then it faded as if nothing ever happened. "So, what's that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked the others, hoping they'd know. "Hmm… no clue, but come on, we do not have any time to waste," Lee responded. Sasuke simply shrugged and walked towards the exit with the other two behind him.

At the Oreburgh City Detention Center, Naruto, Akito, and Benjamin were discussing the easiest way out of the area. "So I say that we use a transformation jutsu to make us look like visitors, and then when we're out of the holding area, we run like hell!" Naruto stated, "Pretty good plan, huh?" "I didn't know you could use transformation on other people, that'd work for sure!" Akito responded in excitement.

"W-well, that's not particularly what I said; I mean… uh… you guys can use transformation jutsu, right?"

"Sorry, we aren't ninja, I'm afraid the only thing we can do is hand-to-hand combat, and even then we'd still probably get our asses handed to us…" Akito responded in mild disappointment. "Oh, well… hmm," Naruto quickly responded, "We could—"

"Listen, Naruto, It's nice that you're trying to help us, but our time is actually almost up here, we get out in a month, you however have got a mighty hefty stay on you, how about me and Benny distract the guards while you do your plans alone!" Akito suggested. "But, I can't just leave you here!"Naruto said loudly. "Nah, we can do it…" Benjamin quietly stated, "…trust us…" Naruto paused to think for a second, "…Are you sure?" Akito put on a grin and stuck his thumb up. "…Right!" Naruto quickly stated.

As Sasuke and the others reached the gate north of town, Sasuke noticed a woman walking out of the detention center. "Hey, Lee…" Sasuke said, "Check out that hot piece of ass, eh?" "Yeah… wait, I can swear I've seen her before…" Lee stated in mid thought. "Really?" Sasuke asked. "Yeah, I do not know, specifically but I am certain that I have seen those facial features somewhere before…" Lee explained to him.

Then the girl looked both ways and hid behind the side of the building unknowing that it was the side facing the others. She then put up a basic Ram hand sign and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. When the clouds passed, Naruto was there in the girl's previous position. He looked back and ran towards the gate, not aware that the others were there. "W-wait… That was Naruto!" Sasuke shouted in astonishment. "What is funny is that is only going to add to add to the SasuNaru fan ba—" Lee said before being grabbed by Sasuke. "I don't EVER want to hear you even mention SasuNaru around me ever again! Got it!" Sasuke threatened with a kunai to Lee's neck. "Yeah, yeah, never again!" Lee said frightened.

Naruto arrived at the gate to see the others examining it. "Hey guys, what'd ya find out?" Naruto innocently asked. "The real question is how was your…" Sasuke checks the sun, "…30 minutes of hard time?" Sasuke asked. "I made two new friends and spread a reputation that I was in for manslaughter! Pretty impressive, huh?" Naruto proudly said. Sasuke turned to Lee and said, "Told ya, now pay up!" Lee grabs a ¥1000 note out of his hip pouch and gives it to Sasuke with a sour face. "Ok, let's continue onward!" Sasuke says in a leader-like tone. Sasuke sticks the finger with the ring in a socket on the door and twists 90° counterclockwise. The ring shines and forces it and Sasuke out of the socket, then the gate slowly opens in a fashion as if it hadn't been opened in ages. Once open, the team makes it through and turns right towards Hearthome city.

On their way, they are forced to stop by a group of people inspecting a local cave in the mountain, which happened to be the way they had to go. "Who are those clowns?" Naruto mockingly asked, "And what the hell are they wearing?" Sasuke goes up to the group to ask if they could pass, but is immediately pushed back. "We can't allow you to pass, kid…" one of the men boldly said. "Tch…!" Sasuke grunted in retaliation, "And why not?" "That is none of your concern," the man says, "The point is that you're not allowed, now go away!" "You don't want this to get ugly do you?" Sasuke angrily asked. "Heh… what can a stupid brat like you do to a group of adults?" the man mockingly asked. "Heh… You'd be…" Sasuke started, he then activated a chidori in his hand, "…Surprised!" Then men backed up a bit in fear at Sasuke's chidori.

"Now step aside… or else" Sasuke said with a demonic look on his face. The men step to the side for the four of them. They quickly run past the strangely dressed men into the cave to see a man on top of a larger hill in there. "C'mon, we don't have any time to lose," Naruto told the others. They attempt to walk through the cave, but the man jumps in front of them and tells them to leave.

"That's what we're trying to do buddy, now let us through!" Naruto commanded. The man punches Naruto in the stomach, launching him backwards. Lee runs up to the man to attempt to punch him back, but the man catches his attack and throws him off towards Naruto. Sasuke runs up to the man and pulls out a kunai to attempt to stab him. The man readies himself but Sasuke smirks and intentionally misses with the kunai only to twist around for an attempt at a sweep kick, but the man's quick reaction makes him flip over Sasuke, grab him by his arms and slam him into the ground, knocking him unconscious.

Leaf stood in horror, watching the ones she thought were the strongest group around get so easily defeated by one man. The man stared at her with a cold glare. She recoils to his gaze when two of the men from outside grab her and knock her unconscious with a chloroform rag. They drag her and the others off to an unknown location for testing. "Hmhmhmm…" the man snickered. "Master Cyrus, what is so funny, they're only kids, it's not like they're important to our plans…" one of the higher up grunts asked, "unless…" Finally," Cyrus said in excitement, "we have found one of the final key to our mission; the blonde child holds the power of a demon… I can see it in his eyes… The Nine-Tailed Fox is ours!"