Well here is chapter two. Again I would like to thank shkamaru15 for all of his help with making this a team effort. I would also like to remind everyone that neither of us own Naruto.
Hey! Should those be there?
Hinata sat and stared at the mysterious stone ring that dominated the far side of the room they were currently trapped in. It was very large and imposing. It was covered by a series of seven, evenly spaced symbols along the outside edge of the ring.
"Look out!" yelled Kiba as he leapt backwards to avoid more falling debris.
Hinata heard several startled yells from behind her quickly followed by the characteristic popping sound of disappearing shadow clones. Spinning around she saw the tell tale puffs of smoke that indicated the early departure of three of Naruto's clones.
"It's no use guys," Naruto said to the rest of his surviving clones as they gathered around him, "there is no way we can move those rocks." With a casual wave of his hand he dismissed the remainder of his clones.
Hinata breathed a small sigh of relief. She had begun to worry if they were going to have enough air to breath. While it was handy in most situations to have a small army of Narutos ; a small army of hot, sweaty, shirtless Narutos... Hinata quickly thrust that train of thought from her mind. The last thing she needed to do in this dangerous situation was to start daydreaming about her secret crush, Naruto. No. She had to keep focused. Trapped in a cave with limited air was not a good place for either daydreaming or a small army of Narutos, shirtless or otherwise.
"Hey, hey Hinata are you ok?" asked Naruto from directly in front of her.
"EEP!" was all she could say as she fell backwards towards the pedestal that she had been standing next to. Desperately trying to catch herself Hinata flung out her arm, as soon as it made contact with the pedestal everything lit up.
Hinata, Naruto, and Kiba assumed defensive crouches in case Hinata had sprung some sort of trap.
"Hinata what did you do?" ask Kiba as he glanced around looking for possible danger.
"I...I... j...j...ust touched one of the p...p...ads on the p...pedestal and it moved." Answered Hinata , her stutter coming back in full force due to her nervousness.
"The pedestal moved?! Wow Hinata-chan you've gotten strong!" exclaimed Naruto as he stood next to her, arms placed behind his head and a big smile on his face.
"Naruto you dolt! The pedestal didn't move one of these pads did!" shouted Kiba, who had now moved over to the chest high pedestal. He pointed to a now brightly lit pad.
"Kiba-kun..." Hinata began.
"Ney, Ney who you calling dolt? Dog breath boy?" shouted Naruto as he crowded up next to Kiba on the small platform that the pedestal stood on.
"Grrr!" was Akamaru's contribution to the conversation. Things began to go rapidly downhill at that point, as Kiba, Akamaru and Naruto all began to punch, claw and bite each other in a withering pile on the floor.
Heaving a heavy sigh Hinata turned her attention back to the still glowing pads. After a few minutes of careful study Hinata noticed that the seven symbols on the ring were also represented at various points on the pad. They were however mixed in with many other symbols. With a trembling hand Hinata slowly reached out and placed her left hand on another one of the pads that circled the faintly glowing center stone. As soon as she touched the pad it lit up. Hinata also noticed that the round, red center stone also began to glow brighter. With growing confidence Hinata proceeded to touch a pad in each ring closer to the central stone. Each time she pressed on there was a loud snapping sound, which steadily increased in volume.
The noise had finally reached a point where it had caught the attention of the two boys and dog. They were now poised in mid-fight, their eyes glued to her.
"Hinata!" Kiba began, only to stare in shock as Hinata placed both hands on the glowing center stone and pushed. What followed was like nothing they had ever seen before.
The ring which had stood silent and motionless up to this point suddenly sprang to life. With a horrible grinding noise of stone on stone the massive ring began to move. Suddenly it stopped and a chevron containing one of the symbols snapped into place. Instantly the ring began to spin again repeating the process six more times.
While this was happening the boys had dusted themselves off and approached the now suddenly nervous Hinata.
"Uh... Hinata-chan are you sure that was a good idea? " asked Naruto as he stood next to her. "What do you think it is?"
"I don't know Naruto-kun, I...I... just couldn't stop myself. It was like the stone was calling to me."
"I hope it isn't a trap." Said Kiba.
"Yip." barked Akamaru in complete agreement with his partners thought.
As if on cue the final chevron locked into place and a massive water spout shot out from the center of the ring. It hovered in the air for a few moments in utter defiance of gravity; something the three young shinobi could appreciate, before collapsing back into the center of the ring where it formed a smooth, horizontal pool.
After staring at it for a few silent moments Naruto began to walk towards it.
"Naruto-kun, be careful, don't get too close." Hinata said in a hushed voice, half raising her hand as if to hold Naruto back.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan I'm not going anywhere near that thing!"
"Well what the hell you going to do then?" asked Kiba, his eyes still firmly fixed on the ring.
"This!" said Naruto as he rapidly put his hands through a complex set of motions "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Instantly a cloud of smoke appeared. As it dissipated one of Naruto's many clones stepped forward.
"Go see what's on the other side," Naruto told the still somewhat confused clone. Without any further hesitation Naruto stepped forward and pushed the clone into the center of the pool. It promptly disappeared without a trace. "Now we just have to wait till it comes back," said Naruto. He flashed a devilish grin at Hinata causing her to blush. " Hey, Hinata-chan are you alright? You look like you have a fever."
"N...no N...naruto-kun... I'm fine..." Hinata stammered out. She tried to stay focused on what Naruto was saying but kept getting lost in his blue eyes.
"Are you sure? You're red all over, you don't look so good." Gently placing his hand on her forhead tried to take Hinata's temperature. "We can't have you getting sick now Hinata, there is no way to get you to a hospital! I don't know if I could play a Doctor for you!"
"…play Doctor…you!" What did he just say! Screamed Hinata's inner self. Does Naruto want to play doctor with me? Oh My God what do I do? What do I say?
Before Naruto could go any further in his examination of Hinata's health or Hinata could complete her train of thought; the clone stepped back through the water.
At that moment the ring made a strange sucking noise and seemed to collapse in on its' self. Naruto spun away from Hinata and rushed over to his clone.
"What did you find?" Naruto asked the clone.
"It leads outside. The ring opens up in the middle of a forest. It seems perfectly safe, but something seemed a little off."
"Hinata, can you get the ring to open up again?" Kiba asked.
"I think so," said Hinata. The dark haired young girl moved back over to the pedestal and began to press the pads in the same order she had the first time. Within a few moments the trio stood in front of the ring.
"Is everyone ready?" asked Kiba as he held Akamaru.
"Yes, I'm ready," answered Hinata.
" We're ready!" shouted Naruto and his shadow clone in unison. They reached down and grabbed the treasure chest that Naruto had discovered when they had first entered this hidden room.
"Fine, let's do this!" shouted Kiba. Without a backward glance Kiba turned and walked through the water ring. Naruto and his clone followed right on his heels. Hinata looked around her briefly and with a small sigh she also stepped through the ring.
What happened next was impossible for Hinata to describe. It felt like she was falling and being pulled apart at the same time. She seemed to be falling through some sort of tunnel without any sense of speed. It was the most exciting thing that she had ever felt. The next thing she knew she was stumbling out into the sunshine into a leaf covered clearing. Regaining her balance she spotted Kiba and Naruto several feet away. They were standing side by side and looking silently up into the air. Hinata walked over to them and looked up.
"Hey guys should those be there?" asked Naruto in a puzzled voice.
"This can't be good." Kiba said in a remarkably calm voice.
Hinata couldn't help but nod her head in silent agreement as she stared up at the three gigantic planets that dominated the sky overhead. No this can't be good at all.