Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto but I do own this story and any OC's. This is a completely original story idea in the world of Naruto. Any similarity or relevance to another work is completely coincidental and I apologize.
Authors Note1-Sorry for the huge delay. I have had this chapter done for a while but I have been busy elsewhere to post it. Also, I plan on taking a break from writing this story to start on a couple others. My enthusiasm for writing this story is gone. I do plan to continue it so no worries to any of my readers. Also don't forget to check the Update page because I updated it.
Authors Note2- Just so people know. This is actually two chapters in one. They were both kind of short so I just decided to combine them together. I also have a new editor so YEAH!!! BIG THANK YOU to my editor! I will post the other chapters sometime here when I get a chance so YEAH!!
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"This place is huge. We have been around so many twists and turns and still no sign of the exit. I expected this place to be kind of small but boy was I wrong. How is the Byakugan going?" Hinata and Naruto had been wandering around for about an hour in the cave where they awoke from being kidnaped.
"Not very good. This cave wall isn't made from any ordinary rock. I can see through it but it's not going to be enough to help. Sorry Naruto."
"Don't worry about it Hinata. It's not your fault. It's this damn cave." He took a second to look around. "Something isn't right with it. I have a really bad feeling about being here. We should hurry." Hinata nodded slightly and followed the now running Naruto. They soon came out to a big opening with a couple bodies laying around. "More Bodies." Hinata walked over to one of them. "They alive this time?" She shook her head.
"No. They have been dead for a while now. From blood loss it looks like but, there isn't any blood here, not even dried. How strange."
"So what path should we take?" Naruto was no longer paying attention to the bodies but instead to three paths in front of him. Hinata looked at paths. They appeared to be the same and there were no markings or other signs to distinguish them apart.
"Let me use my Byakugan and check the paths. Byakugan!" She examined each of the paths in only a few seconds. "I don't know. Each of the paths looks exactly alike."
"Well that's just great. How are we supposed to get out of here then? Ughh. Damn him, that bastard. Why would he make such a place? All of these damn paths. Most of them will probably just lead to dead ends like the other ones. And all of these bodies laying around. That worthless monster. He deserves what he got." Naruto sat down and put his hand on his head. Hinata started to get concerned.
"Are you okay Naruto?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. It's just frustrating having to keep taking all of these paths and then back tracking. It feels like we haven't gotten anywhere. Uhh. But siting around complaining isn't going to get us anywhere. Come on Hinata. Lets just take the middle one and hope for the best." Naruto stood up and ran into the middle path with Hinata following behind him.
"I hope Ookii didn't have any traps around or we might be in trouble. These walls are so small that we won't have much room to evade them."
"I know what you mean but I wouldn't worry too much. I think we would have already run into some traps by now if they were here."
"Yeah. You're probably right. I still can't help but worry though, especially with that room. Something was off about it." They went around a few turns before coming out to a very familiar room.
"What?! But we were just here. And this isn't one of the other paths either. This is really freaky. What do you think of it Hinata?" She was over looking at the same body as before.
"This is very strange. This is the exact same person as before but something is different about him. I don't know what it is though." She knelt over the body and looked it over.
"Are you sure you're not just imagining it? I mean this is freaky and all. You know, about being in the same room and everything but I don't think it has to do with the bodies." Hinata was still looking the over the body.
"He has been moved." She stood up and walked over to Naruto.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean he has literally been moved. Someone most have been here and moved the body in that little time that we left the room."
"So you mean that someone else is in here with us. I sure hope they're friends because I don't think this place needs any more bodies in it." Naruto walked over to the other paths. "Well why don't we try a different path this time."
"Lets just keep our guard up."
"Yeah. Of course." They ran through the path on the right for a little ways before coming back out in the same room they were just in. "Damn. Why do we keep coming out here? It doesn't make any sense. Hey Hinata. You wait right here and let me go through one of the paths and see if I come back out here okay."
"Well . . . I don't think splitting up right now would be the best of ideas but we don't have much else to really try."
"Well then it looks like I am going." It didn't take him more then a second to run into the middle path again. Hinata wanted to object some more but that was out of the question now. She went and checked the same body again.
"It's been moved again. Not much but still enough to say someone else is here. Hmm." She heard footsteps coming from the entrance path. Naruto soon came bolting out.
"So it does come back here then. This is really strange. You said there was probably someone else in here to right? Well what if we are in some kind of weird Jutsu?"
"Wait, that's it Naruto. I think that were in a Genjutsu. I didn't catch it before because these cave walls were throwing off my Byakugan, but now that I think about it. It's the only thing that makes sense and that would explain why there's no blood and how the bodies moved."
"Okay. That's nice to know an all but how do we dispel it. I'm not exactly good at dealing with Genjutsu."
"Don't worry. I will be able to dispel it." She put her hands together and did a dispelling technique. The place changed greatly. They were still in the same big room but two of the paths were gone and dried blood was everywhere. More bodies also appeared.
"Whoa. This is almost like the room we were trapped in. Well no sense staying her any longer. Lets go. The way out has to be right there." They started to walk over to the path when another big man appeared from the path. He looked almost exactly like Ookii but was shorter and didn't have any cuts on his body. He was also more muscular.
"So. You two must be the kids that my brother got. Leaf Ninja huh. That must be how you took care of him so easily. He's not much of a fighter besides his strength and that little toy box of his." He took a few steps toward them.
"Then you must want revenge huh."
"Ha. Not at all. You actually did me a favor. I have been planing to get rid of him for a while now but he has been proving difficult to kill. What with him increasing his strength by sacrificing peoples souls along with his own."
"What?"
"Oh. You didn't know. Yeah. That's how he got all that strength. That big hatchet he uses cuts right into a persons soul and absorbs the strength of the them. Disgusting I think." He took a few more steps toward them.
"Are you here to just kill us then? In some other sick way."
"Actually. Yes. I am here to kill you for increasing my strength but I have some kind of consideration. I just need your body. I'm not actually going to harm your soul. Now before we begin. I would like to tell you that my name is Kikan Suru. Otherwise known as, the Body manipulator." He made multiple hand signs in an instant and yelled out "Corpse Manipulation Jutsu." The bodies that were laying around the room soon began to move and then stand up.
"What a dirty way to fight. Using the bodies of the dead. You are just as bad as your brother. You're both monsters. Shadow Clone Jutsu." The room started to fill up with shadow clones. "All right guys. Attack!" The clones started attacking the bodies knocking all of them on the ground. "How's that?" Kikan Smiled.
"Fool. They are already dead. You can't kill them again. Now rise my dead minions." The bodies raised back up from the ground and went after the clones little by little dispersing them.
"Damn it. They won't stay down."
"You have to go after Kikan, Naruto. He's one controlling them. It's no good to just beat them up over an over again. They're almost like puppets. You go after Kikan and I will hold them off. "
"Well if you're sure Hinata." He nodded and went after Kikan.
"Ah. Close corners combat huh. Be my guest." Naruto ran in and swung a few times which were easily dodged. "Come now. You are too slow." Kikan then attacked back. He was much quicker then Naruto but that didn't matter. Naruto still managed to dodge the attacks and went in for more.
"Damn. He is quick. I can't touch him."
"Okay. You know what. You seem to amuse me so I think I am going to play with you for a bit before finishing you off." Kikan went in again but he was attacking much faster this time and managed to punch Naruto's left shoulder. "Great. That's all I need."
"What are you talking about? You just barely punched me. You can't expect too win with just that one punch."
"Oh. You will see." He made a few hand signs and said "Body Manipulation Jutsu." He kept the same stance and it appeared as if nothing happened.
"So what are you doing. I still feel perfectly, ugh. My arm! I can't feel it any more. What did you do to it!?
"Hehehe. Oh you can't feel it any more. Well that's to bad. I guess you will just have to fight with one arm now and me . . . with three." He did a few more hand signs.
"What do you mean with three?"
"Well why don't you let me show you. Hyah." Naruto's arm started to twitch and turn and then punched him in the face.
"Ow. What the hell was that about?"
"Do you like it? I can control your arm now. Quite a nifty technique I think. Now lets see. What should I have you hit next? Oh I know." He made a few more hand signs before controlling Naruto's arm again. His own arm was now punching him in his gut over and over again. Naruto was having enough of it and grabbed his arm and forced it to the ground. Pinning it under his knees. "Well now. That's no fun." Kikan ran up to Naruto and kicked him in the face knocking him unconscious.
"Naruto! Are you okay?!" Hinata ran up to him. "Naruto! Naruto wake up! Come on get up!" He was out cold and the last of his clones dispersed. "This isn't good. What am I going to do now?" Kikan started to walk toward her.
"Well little girl. Looks like you and your boyfriend here are going to meet the same fate together. Death. But don't worry. I promise it will only hurt for moment. Hehehe." Kikan charged in with a kunai planning to end it quickly.
"I won't let you harm Naruto anymore!" She activated her Byakugan and ran at him as well. Her gentle fist style proved to be a little too much for him and she managed to connect a few times sealing off his chakra flow in a few places.
"Damn you Bitch. You have the Byakugan. This will be a little more challenging then I thought. But no matter. You will still die." He ran in again but still couldn't hit her. He's leaving himself open. This is my chance." She went in with a palm thrust and managed to connect to his gut. "Got him." He gave her a little smile. "Fool." He reached up and grabbed her neck. "It's all over now." He threw her over on top of Naruto. "I can't move my body." He smiled again. "Now my zombies. Destroy them." He made a few hand signs and the Corpses started to come after her.
"I won't be able to stop them." They came in closer. "No. Naruto. You have to help. I can't do this alone." They were only a few feet away. "Naruto. I'm sorry." They had her surrounded only inch's away. She thought it was all over. She waited for it to come. The pain of the corpses attacking her. But nothing happened. The bodies only stood there. "What happened? Uh. I can move again." They all fell to the ground lifeless as they should be. She glanced over at Kikan who was now also on the ground motionless and above his body was another man. He was kind of tall with green hair. "Who are you?"
"No one you have to be concerned with . . . yet." He had a voice full of hatred. "The exit is right through here. Now I must be off." The man ran through the exit and disappeared.
"He seems so familiar but I don't think I have met him before . . . Oh Naruto!" She got up off of him. He was still unconscious. "Naruto come on, wake up." He started to move around and then sat up.
"Oww. What happened?" He looked at Kikan. "Did you kill him?"
She shook her head. "No. Someone else came in and killed him. I don't know who it was though. He left before I could ask." Naruto stood up and ran over to Kikan. "Take it easy Naruto. You shouldn't move around this quick." He just stared at Kikan.
"Wow. This guy certainly did a number on him. He has a huge hole right through his chest. I'm glad he wasn't an enemy or we would have been toast."
"Come on Naruto. He said the exit is right here." He nodded and they took the path which soon came to the outside.
"Yes. Oh sweet freedom. Whoa. It's still daytime. We must have been in there all night! Come on Hinata we have to get going."
"Yes. We still have a ways to go."
"Yeah and this time we won't get sidetracked by music or anything like that." They started off not noticing the man was still watching them.
"Good. The boy was alive to. I can't have one them die early on me or that would definitely cause some problems. Ugh. But this is such a pain running back and forth. Oh well. Not much choice I suppose."
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A good day of traveling later
"Hold on Hinata. I don't think I can take another step." He fell to ground holding his stomach. "Ughhh."
"Naruto, are you okay!?" She ran over to him. "Did you get injured somehow or do you have some kind of stomach virus?"
"No. It's nothing like that. Ugh, it's much worse." He took a minute before saying anything else. "I'm starving." He began to cry a little. "I haven't eaten anything all day. I don't think . . . I can go on. I need something to eat."
"Oh Naruto. Why do you have to scare me like that? We don't have any food. Those guys stole all of it when we were kidnaped and we haven't seen any other places around here to eat."
"Yeah, that's true. Wait a minute." His eyes grew wide. "Hehehe." He started to rummage through his backpack. "They didn't take all of it. Look at this." He had a huge smile on his face as he pulled out two big cups of instant ramen noodles. "Oh yeah! They left us some noodles. Okay, I will go get us some firewood." Before Hinata could even say a word Naruto was gone. It didn't take him even a minute to come back with a hand full of firewood. "Okay. Got the firewood and here's my handy dandy little pot. Oh and we can't forget about water." He pulled out a pot and a bottle full of water.
"But where did . . . ?" She stopped knowing it was probably better not to ask. Within another minute he had a fire going with the pot of water on it.
"I think we should probably stop here for the night. It's getting late and there isn't much reason to travel in the dark."
Hinata was still amazed at how fast he just did that. "Yeah. That's a good idea. I'll go set up the tent."
"Eh don't worry about that. We can do it later. Lets just eat something and talk." Naruto fixed the two instant soups and handed one to Hinata who sat across from him. "Sorry but it's gonna have to be eaten plain. I lost the flavor packets a while ago."
"That's no problem. This will be great. Thank you Naruto."
"Well I don't know about great but it is food." He took a big sip. "Eh. This it way too bland for me. I wish I had something to go with it."
"Well Naruto. There are probably wild mushrooms that grow around this area. That would give it some flavor. I mean. It would be better then nothing."
"Mushrooms huh? I will take a quick look around and . . . hey wait. Those are mushrooms aren't they?" He pointed to some bright looking mushrooms growing under a nearby tree. "I didn't see those before. Oh well, mushrooms are mushrooms." He ran over and picked a few. "You want any Hinata?"
"Um, Naruto. I don't think those are safe to eat. I don't . . . even know what they are. And you shouldn't eat something if you don't know what it is."
"Eh, what's the worst that could happen." He dropped a few pieces into the soup stirring it around and then taking another sip. "Wow, that's not bad. Are you sure you don't want any?"
"Um. No. That's okay. Thank you though."
"You know Hinata that was a good idea. I wouldn't have thought of using wild mushrooms. You must know quite a bit about cooking."
"Um. Naruto . . . here." She pulled out a couple bottles from her bag. "Put some of this in the soup with it. It should make it taste even better. Not to mention, get rid of any poison that may be in the mushrooms."
"Oh. Thank's Hinata." He poured a bit of each bottle into the soup and once again took another sip. "Wow! This is really great. You know Hinata I think I told you this before but you would make a great wife." She started to blush.
"Oh . . . um . . . uh . . . thank you, Naruto."
"Speaking of which Hinata. Just out of curiosity, do you like anyone in the Hidden Leaf Village. Cause you know, I could help you get together with someone." She about choked on the noodles.
"Um . . . well . . . I."
"Ah so you do like someone. Come on don't be shy Hinata. Who is it? I promise I won't tell. Is it Kiba? I mean you two are on the same team and you seem to get along pretty well or maybe it's Shino. He's also on your team but then again he's really creepy."
"Um . . . no it's not . . . "
"Not Kiba or Shino huh. So it's someone from another team them. Hmm let me see. I don't think it's Choji or bushy brow. Hmm."
"Naruto please . . . it's um . . . a secret." She was praying that he would drop it.
"Ah okay. I understand. Some kind of girl thing right."
"Yeah . . . kind of. So . . . um . . . what about you Naruto. Is there anyone special that you like in the village?" He took a big sip and finished off the rest of his soup.
"Me? Isn't obvious? I like Sakura. Hehe. She is so beautiful."
"Oh . . . well um. Is there anyone else that you like?"
"Someone else? Hmm. Well lets see. Out of the other Genin I know. Ino is just simply scary. Even more then Sakura sometimes. Umm then there's Tenten but I think she has it for Neji. I mean those two are almost always together no matter where they go. There's also Temari but she isn't from the village so that doesn't count and even if she was. I think Garaa would kill me if I had anything to do with her. There's also some other Genin girls around to but I don't really know any of them well."
"So that's everyone then." She wanted his opinion on her.
"Uh yeah I think so but out of all of them I would still choose Sakura."
"Why?! I mean . . . what about her do you like?"
"About Sakura? Well everything. I mean she is beautiful and smart. She has some really good Ninja abilities especially her chakra control. That is something else. Plus, she is also training under Grandma Tsunade. She is close to perfect." Hinata wished she never asked.
"Well . . . does . . . she like you?" She asked already well knowing the answer.
"Hehe. No, of course not. She doesn't like me and probably never will in that way. I think I will only be able to get to stay friends. But! That doesn't mean I can't keep trying."
"I. . .don't think . . . she is right for you. I mean . . . she probably won't ever like you . . . like that . . . and . . . if she does. I doubt it will be for who you really are. You should find someone who likes you for being you. I'm just trying to say . . . maybe to . . . move on." She hated to talk about people behind their back, especially when it came to a relationship but she had to find someway to get him to stop wanting Sakura.
"Well. I suppose you are probably right but we are still young. I mean once I get older I will probably move on and look for someone else but for right now. I think I will just stick with what I am doing. Unless I find someone else now that is." Hinata was glad that she at least had some kind of chance. "So what are your dream's Hinata. I mean I obviously want to become the greatest Hokage but what about you? I have never heard what you want to do."
"Me? Well. I suppose I want to become a strong Ninja. Strong enough that I can impress my father and be . . . the daughter that he always wanted but . . . my sister Hanabi is going to fill that role." Naruto crossed his arms and got a little angry.
"That's what I don't like about some of the Hyugas. They're all so snobby and expect everyone and everything to be perfect. Excluding you of course Hinata. You're cool. A little weird at times but still cool. But anyways. Don't you have any other goals? Just for you that is?" Hinata blushed again. He actually thought she was cool.
"I have never really thought about it before. Well actually. I do have one other goal but . . . that's a secret." She couldn't tell him her other goal was to get together with him.
"I bet it's to get together with this guy you like right?" She blushed again and looked away. "Yeah I am definitely right. Well Hinata I wish the best of luck getting together with whoever you like."
"Thank you Naruto."
"Yeah, no problem. Anyway it's getting awfully late and we should get to bed. We still have about a another day's worth of traveling before we get there. Ohhh. We still have to set up the tent. Ugh."
"Hehe. I told you we should have set it up then."
"You know Hinata. When you're right, you're right."
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Authors Note3- Well I know those two chapters were kind of lame and you are probably thinking, wow this is going nowhere. Well it is going somewhere. I promise. It's just I needed these few crap chapters to make way for my better ones. I just couldn't write them any better then this. Anyway after two more chapters (maybe one if they're short) I should be getting to the main storyline. So thanks for reading and reviewing.