In the last chapter, we encountered the straaaange statue...! Find out what will happen in this chapter... After the commercial break.

"Would you like to save on Fanfiction insurance? Then switch to Fanfictive! Name any price and you shall have it!" (Disclaimer: Side effects include: Jumping in Joy, random hugging, strange unexplainable kissing, nausea, and death from happiness, consult your doctor if the Fanfictive insurance is right for you!)

"What's it doing...?" I was quick to ask; I took a battle-ready position as the statue was unusually rattling.

"Trust him," Nen whispered, "even if something happens we're prepared." Somehow Nen's calm voice soothed me yet again. The statue was still continuously shaking. I noticed the ground wasn't trembling, only the statue, what does this mean? Hey...! It's moving backwards! How is it doing that? Was it because of what Shikamaru did?

"!" Woah... The statue revealed a hidden trapdoor underneath it. It was an old light tan color with two grayish hatches attached to it. The statue stopped shuddering and Shikamaru began to open the trapdoor. I was nervous to enter wherever is below that trapdoor, but Nen motioned to follow anyway. The trapdoor lead to a long crooked ladder connected to an underground tunnel. The passageway wasn't supported at all so we had the fear that it could cave-in at any time. Well, at least I feared. It didn't look like anybody been here since forever.

"This cave was dug with confusion in mind." Shikamaru mentioned when we started walking down the corridor.

"Confusion?" I asked. I was walking behind Nen. The cave was so tight that it kind of made me claustrophobic. You could faintly hear the echo of my question.

"It's a maze; just follow me and we'll be out before you know it." He took a right turn at a T-intersection of the cavern. I didn't want to get lost so I trusted his word and followed Nen, who followed Shikamaru.

The cave was filled with underground spiders, insects and creatures. Spun webs were hanging, some of them abandoned. A few sections of the maze-like were damp, as if water had run through it earlier. It smelt like a swamp, but I didn't feel a need to actually pinch my nose; the scent was fine. I became quite distracted by my surroundings, even though nothing really interesting was going on but small, underground wildlife. If you can actually call them wildlife.

"What the...?" I bumped into Nen, but he was... Kneeling down?

"Yo, Nen, what's wrong?" He didn't answer me. Shikamaru turned around to see what all the turmoil was about.

"Hey! Nen!" He dropped on the rocky ground. What the heck happened to him?

"Shika-Shikamaru, what the-what the heck happened to Nen?"

"It looks like he's fainted."

"Fainted? From what?"

"I heard about his condition from Lady Tsunade, it may be a possibility that it's a side-effect?" But... How? He just knelt down and dropped dead-like after a few seconds! This has to be that after-effect I was thinking about before the statue opened! I turned Nen over, so I could carry him.

"Ack!" H-His eyes...! They're open! A-And completely gray! W-What the heck do I do?

"What the...?" He seemed shocked himself, and he should be! What the heck is going on here?

"We can't treat him with this kind of darkness; let's get out of here quickly." I guess we'll have to help him when we have better lighting. I began to carry Nen on my shoulders though I had a great fear that Nen might do something out-of-the-ordinary. Something strange might happen. I'm really worried, but Shikamaru doesn't seem to be as much. Unless he's bottling up his emotions, he's good at staying calm.

That sight will be locked into my mind forever... And probably give me nightmares too. Nen's entire eye was a dark shade of gray. No pupil, no iris, nothing. It almost felt like he was dead and a mindless soul possessed his body but remained motionless. Thinking about it... Isn't the Zenaq's Syndrome condition of Nen the same shade of gray? It HAS to be! But Nen's eyes had no texture; and his heart area was big, a dark gray, almost black. It wasn't as dreadful as the eye was.

I continued to follow Shikamaru; he was slowing down because I had the burden of Nen's heavy weight on my shoulders and I wasn't used to it. I carefully made sure that he didn't bump into my Javelin of Light and Darkness on my back. Hopefully we can still get to the exit quickly; I think Nen is getting heavier by the minute...

"I can smell the exit; we're almost at the end." He announced, which put relief in my face because we'll have a break and I'll have a chance to rest my shoulders. Wait a minute... How can you smell the exit? Which reminded me of something...

"Hey, Shikamaru...? What's a tailed beast, or the jinchuriki that Nen was talking about?" I tried to sound as serious as possible, and not seem like it's a random question.

He lightly sighed, "It's difficult to actually explain it to you." He said at first, "All you should know right now is that you have one contained inside of you and you need to always stay cautious." He sounded like he knew exactly when my question was coming. Does he have Plyden?

"Is having a tailed beast good or bad?" It doesn't make sense if Lady Sundae had to keep the conversation in private if it's good having a tailed beast inside of you. But I asked to make sure.

"To sum it up, it's dangerous." He paused for a moment, and then continued on. Did he use the correct word? I don't understand...! No one is telling me anything, all they tell me is that it's risky or unsafe... I want to know what this tailed beast is! After all, it's inside of me, right? I guess no one will understand it too much.

It was few minutes of silence and turning around corners while I noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. I was thankful, no more water droplets falling on top of my head and no more accidentally getting stuck in gigantic spider webs... It was blinding when we exited the cave, the light quickly enveloped me before I had time to prepare... The sun makes its way without warning us; the moon doesn't behave like that. That's why I'm more comfortable with the moon, as it's more beneficial and easier to adapt to.

"We took the right exit."

"So where are we?" The surroundings look like a large island, rugged reefs. Trees everywhere...

"The Land of Pine."

I have no idea what to put here... ._.

Uhh...

The end!

(Not until 70 chapters are finished... MWHAHAHA!)