Wow, three reviews for that last chapter. Heh, I think I get it. You guys don't like the idea of Naruto digging in a cave for several chapters right? Well no worries there, that'd be boring as hell to write. Hopefully what happens here will spark some of that interest back, I'd be kind of surprised if it didn't.
Disclaimer: Woot if you can't wait for the next manga chapter.
Restless like a newborn morning
The flame from the lantern cast light across the dusky mine, casting grey upon the unbreakable black. In this place there was only darkness and shadows, light merely invited the latter of the two. But it was enough to see where he was going; the rest came from senses trying to decide if they wanted to acknowledge their surroundings. A hollow howl gave word of the tunnel's path, the smell of coal and other musty things gave depth perception, along with the feel of the hardened ground beneath his feet. The taste of the damp air made his stomach turn, why wasn't this place ventilated? But none of these things really mattered, all he really knew was what his gut instinct told him; to turn around and walk away.
He suppressed those feelings as best he could, how could he look his sensei in the eye if he fled from a scary mine? Or rather, how would he survive telling Kisame such a thing? The deeper he descended into the darkness, the more this became a thing of pride. The mine was goading him, whispering for him to leave. But he wasn't going to succumb for a moment. To him the entrance was already closed off, there was absolutely no way he was leaving empty handed. So he gathered his courage and marched on, wilfully ignorant to the creeping shades all around him. But there was one thing he couldn't ignore, something he only just came to notice. There were footsteps that weren't his own. Cautiously he looked over his shoulder, searching for the source of the out of time steps. What he saw however was a faint silhouette to the distance, darkness within the shadows.
"Booooooooyyyyy!"
It really couldn't be helped. Naruto had no stomach for scary things. "HYEEEEAAAAAGGGHHH!" he yelled, as he turned tail and bolted into the darkness, his knees almost striking his chin as he flew into the deeper reaches of the mine. The flame of the lantern danced frantically, and dark claws appeared across the cavern walls. Naruto was on the verge of dying his slacks a darker shade, what the hell had he been thinking coming to a place like this?
Fortunately the footsteps behind had faded away, the voice no longer discernable amongst the howls of wind through the cave. Naruto was by no means comforted by this however, as the lantern suddenly died and the few shreds of incandescence he had disappeared. "Some swordsman you've turned out to be!" Eko called, berating Naruto for his display of cowardice. But whereas the blade felt no fear from the ominous presence behind him, he too didn't like this place in the slightest. In spite of himself he liked being here no more than his fleeing wielder.
But Naruto and Eko were soon to find their troubles were a lot worse than bad feelings or creepy silhouettes. They had been running blindly for a while now, or maybe just a few seconds. But their steps were getting louder, the echoes increasing in resonance as if there were an army around Naruto running alongside him. That told him he had just entered someplace large. Worse than the sound however, was the thing that his feet told him next. He had run out of ground to step on. "DAAAAHHH!"
THUD!
His fall hadn't been deep, but it was enough to knock him senseless. He had landed flat on his back, which now hurt like a bitch. Scattered dust and pieces of stone fell down upon him like a dry rain, coating his body in a layer of debris. Painfully he lifted himself up, rubbing his back as he tried to distinguish his surroundings. "What the hell?" he thought to himself, his dizzy head keeping his focus incomplete. The darkness had faded a little and he could just barely comprehend his environment. It seemed he had fallen into a broad pit of sorts. "Man I hate caves."
Eko had just started to agree when Naruto rudely hushed him. Though the sounds of his fall were still ringing out, and the wind could still be heard through the tunnels, so too had the footsteps returned. Naruto shivered in the darkness; the fall had as much succeeded to knock him out of his senses as it did to bring him back to them. He no longer felt the desire to run away, and instead let himself feel anger towards the approaching noise. He watched the place he had fallen from with a glare, noticing a faint light coming from the tunnel he had been not moments ago.
The silhouette from before appeared again, but this time it was more than a shadow. It had brought along a lantern of its own, pale light casting across its face and revealing a cold stare that it returned to Naruto. "Didn't figure you to be a wimp." Takumi said, as he turned to his right and crouched on the ground. There he began toying with something, while all Naruto could do was watch with a look of both disbelief and shame. Of all people, why did it have to be this guy he had fled from? "You left before I could give you this, you'd stand no chance of getting anything done without it."
Several strange sounds could be made, things clicking in and out of place, low thuds and even the noise of a spring jumping back into place. The most prominent sound however was the sound of a lonely beast, the whine of a dog longing for his master. With that came another call, as all around the room a hundred shadows clicked their tongues before departing into the tunnels. Takumi had changed the battery to a small generator, and with it had light up dozens of bulbs that lined the ceiling and walls. Naruto got to his feet with this revelation, turning on the spot as his breath left him.
The walls of the tall circular room were engraved with writings from languages Naruto didn't know. They all followed the same pattern of falling vertically down the walls, and gathering at the floor. On the ceiling these symbols took on another pattern, spiralling in an indiscernible vortex of words as it reached the centre, where Naruto was able to actually recognise something. Each of those foreign words all met to a single symbol, the kanji for morning star. Naruto's eyes narrowed at this, what did that mean?
"…If that's impressing you, wait til you look down there."
Following the cue Eko gave him, Naruto turned his eyes down to the floor below. Though he had been shocked by the sights around him, that which lay beneath him far surpassed what the writings achieved. He was standing upon a giant stone carving of what looked like a face. But that face belonged to no human being; it lacked such gentle and ugly features. This face was more like some sort of war mask, one decorated with curved horns at either temple. The eyes of this mask were deep and unclear, and the mouth which was free of coverage appeared harder than the mask itself. Beads and jewel shapes decorated this face, outlining a divide that cast down the middle. This thing on the floor, whatever depiction it was of, it looked like it was merely decoration to a grand and foreboding doorway.
"Looks like the old coot was right after all." Takumi said, as he took perch at the edge of the ledge Naruto had fallen off not long before. He too gave the face on the floor great attention, but was nowhere near as shocked as Naruto was. Though he hadn't been here in a long time, he knew this place enough that the monument held little mystery to him. "Sixteen possible routes to take in this damn place and you end up here. That thing drew in your energy didn't it boy?"
Naruto looked up at Takumi with bated breath, was that the feeling which hit him before? Sure enough, there was a peculiar sensation here, like gravity meant more than it would outside. The urge to sit back down was pretty strong, even though adrenaline was bursting through his veins. "What is this place?" he asked, his voice somehow weaker than it was before. He felt bad, too heavy to move freely. He shouldn't be feeling like this, no one should have to feel like this. "You pulling a trick old man?"
As his breaths came heavily, he watched Takumi slip off the ledge and onto his level. The rounin blacksmith joined him on the carving with his hands in his pockets, not paying the work of art the least bit of respect. Considering what Naruto knew, he could think of one giant Shinobi who would be pretty furious to see a sculpture being disregarded like this. "This is the place." Takumi said, oblivious to the thoughts of the boy beside him, who was beginning to slouch unappealingly. "I don't know exactly how it works, but this place acts as a passage of sorts. From what I know of my master's writings, it works a little something like this. When people die, their souls leave their body and turn into energy. This place draws in the energy of the environment and pulls souls in that same way. That energy is gathered, and through a certain method is refined. This is where my master made the seven swords, with the energy of nature and the recently deceased."
While Naruto gave him a predictably stupid expression, Takumi crouched down and lightly touched the stone monument. He wiped a layer of dirt and dust off, showing a dark green colour to lie underneath the blanket of grey. "Yeah, it's like I thought." he continued, as he rose back to his feet and looked over to the blank Naruto. "All the energy is gone; this place is trying to replenish its stores. So long as no one nearby dies, things should go slowly. But this will have to be the place we do this, we'll need to bring stuff over from the forge. This is gonna take a while, so you better get used to that feeling of yours. Let it get to you and you'll never get up again."
His voice was really pissing Naruto off, saying some things that made no sense and others that were obvious. He understood nothing about that energy talk, but even he could see that the longer he stayed here the more encumbered he would feel. But at the very least, he didn't doubt what this feeling was. He had experienced on many occasions before. "This is just like… Samehada." he thought, as he tried to straighten himself up. The sensation of having his energy consumed by some outside force reminded him almost exactly of the times he and Kisame had sparred against each other. His lips curled into a slight grin, and the faintest of laughs slipped through. Compared to then, this was nothing. "Quit your bellyaching, I ain't gonna stop here." he said, as he rolled his shoulders back and looked at Takumi with a smirk. "What're we waiting for, you need a rest old timer?"
The two pairs of azure eyes watched each other, silently communicating something that neither person understood. Both Uzumaki's stared at each other, their gazes narrowing as one tried to figure out the other. Once again that strange sense of familiarity came to Takumi, the thing that he couldn't place no matter how he thought about it. "Hey, boy," he began, his expression turning suspicious as his mind gave him the same message over and over again. "Who are you?"
The question made Naruto's smile slip for a second, he had almost forgotten his other purpose of coming to this place. He turned away, looking at the only other tunnel than the one he had come in. Even if he didn't know where it went, he intended on going down there in a moment. "Call me… Naruto." he said, before he stepped towards that passage. "This the way to what we're looking for?"
Time inside a mine becomes strange after a while. The only source of light comes from the bulbs in some places, and lanterns in the others. There was no smell of night, though after the many hours of working it must have been that time. Right? Well Naruto wasn't one to think about things like that. His focus was entirely on the task at hand, not letting even the important things distract him. More than once Takumi had stopped him from digging too deep and risking tunnel collapse. It was those moments that Naruto really wished he was a fast learner, however history tried to correct him.
That was how he'd spent the time since Takumi had given him that strange explanation. The old blacksmith had procured a couple of pickaxes, shovels and a wheelbarrow for them to work with. Then he had led Naruto into the deeper reaches of the mine, where previous workers hadn't yet tapped all the resources. The walls were still thick and rugged down here, with flecks of black, silver and other evocative colours that drew the two workers forward. These were what they were digging up, and so far they were doing a pretty decent job.
Sweat rolled down Naruto's hot brow, moisture feeling like oil on his skin. No matter how hard he rubbed the dampness never left him, he only succeeded in making himself filthy. But in spite of this he was grinning; two years of swinging a sword like the Ekokaeten made things like mining for ore a walk in the park. In fact, stuff like this had actually been part of his strength training. Not long after Eko had evolved from his previous katana state, Kisame had given him a task to ensure his apprentice would get the muscles to lift such a sword. He had sent Naruto in a cave, blocked the entrance and left Naruto digging for survival. Good times.
However great his efforts were however, he couldn't deny the fact that he was working with a master of such things. Where he worked so much faster and dug so much deeper, Takumi could almost sense the materials they needed and locked on to the right places. As a result, he still managed to produce more than the considerably stronger boy behind him. Of course, that fact drove Naruto insane, causing him to dig faster and deeper. Then of course he'd get stopped, called an idiot and moved on to the next vein.
Dropping the pickaxe down on the ground, Naruto reached over and dug his aching fingers into the wall of the mine. With slight strain, he pulled out a large rock covered in specks of some sort of metallic mould. However disgusting they may have looked, these were the ingredients he needed to make the Ekokaeten stronger, or "complete", apparently. "Hey, how much more of this do we need?" he asked, as he dropped the chunk of ore into the already piling up wheelbarrow. He did his best to invite some cool air in, flapping his haori naively. "You trying to make a whole other sword or something?"
Takumi let out a deep grunt as he threw the point of his tool into the stone wall. There it stayed as he released the handle and wiped his brow, taking in his breaths for just a moment. "Yes moron, I'm making several other swords." he replied, his voice ambiguous between sarcasm and otherwise. "What we're gonna be doing has never been done before, not even by my master. One screw up and you can say goodbye to the Ekokaeten. Now while I could care less about the fate of the blade, I've got a reputation to uphold. No way am I doing this unless I know I can do it right. So shut up and keep digging til I tell you to stop, got it?"
Without waiting for an answer he grabbed the pickaxe and resumed his assault on the defenceless mine. The walls yelped with each strike, but Takumi's frosty glare showed he could care less about it. Naruto realised he had found someone who was maybe as much of a hard-ass as his own sensei, and for some reason was not the least bit comforted. Though he grumbled, he too got back to his duty. But even as he chipped away at the stone, coal and ore he wasn't entirely focused. Whether it was the sense of a seven swordsman or just intuition of a companion, he knew that Eko was troubled. "How's it going buddy?" he asked, as he dug out some cracked and useless pieces of stone. "This whole thing bothering you?"
If he had been expecting to be snapped at by the blade, he was in for quite a surprise. Eko gave him no immediate response, and in truth he couldn't really blame him. He knew he would probably be in a state of shock or something, to find out that he had once been a living, breathing thing. "Nah, not really." Eko replied, putting a sudden stop to Naruto's sympathy, and almost killing Takumi as his wielder swung the pickaxe back. "If what that asshole says is true, then I was once a human, but I died right? If that's the case then there isn't anything complaining will do. Besides, I think life is pretty sweet as it is."
"There's no guarantee you were a human." Takumi said, reminding the boy and his blade that he could clearly hear Eko's words. He place the pickaxe aside and leant against the wooden support, folding his arms as he watched the sword sourly. "As you are, the height of your existence is your ability to speak, which is the only remotely human thing about you. The energy that was put into the blades wasn't discriminated by source; you were given whatever was there. For all we know, your awareness could come from a wild pig or something."
Takumi really had to be applauded. There were few people who could say such a cold thing with such an uncaring expression. Naruto could think of only one other person with an attitude like this, and that guy at least had some decency in him. Of course, he was the sort to crush an old gangster's head with a punch, but aside from that Kakuzu didn't seem all that bad. "You know something, Takumi-san?" Naruto asked, leaning on his pick axe as if it were a post. "You're a pretty grumpy guy, aren't you?"
From the look of things this suggestion was unexpected, Takumi's frown indicated that much. It seemed he had been expecting some sort of remark, but was met only with a tired look. For some reason that expression made him turn away, part of his anger fading reluctantly. "The sword doesn't have a past, its life consists of the energy of the environment and the souls of countless living things that were drawn in by the gate." he said, in a solemn and reluctant tone. He picked up some crumbled pieces of coal and rubbed them between his fingers, a deep and distant look on his face. "They weren't made to remember, only to kill indiscriminately. That was the design requested by whoever hired my master, and it was that design that my master worked towards for the rest of his life. He was a great blacksmith, so forgive me for having faith in his work."
Even though he said that, nothing could hide the bitterness in his voice. It made his tough exterior all the harder to follow, and for Naruto it made him all the harder to hate. Then came a thought to the blond boy's mind, one he often encountered when he met a person like Takumi. "I guess it isn't right to hate a guy for the way life makes him." he reminded himself, bowing his head miserably. He let out a discontented sigh, knowing there was only one way he could make this working relationship at least a little bit bearable. "Yo, Takumi-san." he said, lifting his head to look at the blacksmith. "What your master worked towards doesn't mean crap to me. I use the Ekokaeten to work towards my goals. And Eko doesn't care about killing; all he wants is to be the best sword out there. So with all due respect, could you take that crappy attitude and shove it back up your ass where it belongs?"
In this case, Takumi wasn't the only one staring at Naruto in shock. Eko too was taken aback by the rude and sudden request made by his wielder. Naruto could see this clearly, but he kept his tired gaze as he waited for the blacksmith's reply. Fortunately Takumi remained stunned for only a moment longer, before his vision cleared and once more he looked at Naruto. He thought to himself for several moments, moments where the younger boy anticipated an order to take his request and blow it out his ass. "Fuck… the brat's acting like a grownup." Takumi muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked aside. It went without saying that this annoyed him, his colourful use of language made his feelings very clear. He looked again at Naruto, his eyes narrowed with some suspicion and curiosity. "So what the hell is your goal anyway, that you need something like that to get even stronger?"
The feelings of surprise he had had only moments ago were then returned to Naruto, who squinted back at Takumi incomprehensively. He thought about it for a while, the cogs in his head seemed to cause a mechanical reaction as his arm pivoted to the back of his neck. He had not been expecting a question like this, and so hastily gave the only answer he could think of. "Uh… world peace?" he asked, scratching his ear questioningly. Unfortunately that response earned him exactly the opposite response he had received just a while ago, for the first time Takumi gave him an incredulous look that succeeded in embarrassing the boy. "Alright, I'm still working on that, ok?"
"… You know what? I want Gaara to be my wielder from now on."
To Naruto's dismay, the labour of that day was far from over. Even though he didn't want to believe it, it was a full week before Takumi was ready to even begin craft on the Ekokaeten. They had gathered the materials, wood, coal and metal, and brought in all the tools needed for the job. By the time they were done, there was a second forge set up in that mine, complete with a furnace that had been particularly strenuous to get in there.
Of course, this wasn't all he did through the course of the week. Since the length of his stay had been undetermined he commissioned Takaito to come back for him in a month's time. No matter how he looked at it, once the Ekokaeten was done he'd need to train with him. This would be the first time he'd taken his sword training to new levels without Kisame's guidance, so he had to admit he was nervous. It was lucky for him that Takumi had no shortage of things that needed doing, so he was often making trips to the main parts of the island to collect things. It had gotten to the stage were he was a recognised face.
"It's kinda weird, to be looked at for any reason other than Eko." he thought nervously, as he nodded a hello to the now familiar butcher as he passed. In truth he hadn't seen much of the blade lately; Takumi had taken him, claiming that he would need to study the craft of the blade to make sure nothing went wrong. It had been a long week, but Naruto was finally confident that Takumi meant what he said. Though in all truth, he was still quite a hard ass.
On this day, Takumi had sent him on a rather strange errand. Instead of the usual shop, he had told Naruto to go down to the harbour and buy a long reel of fishing line. Though he had no idea what use such a thing would have, Naruto accepted there was much about the arts of a blacksmith that made no sense to him. The look on Takumi's face when Naruto suggested making the Ekokaeten's edges serrated told him some things were best left unsaid.
However embarrassed Naruto had felt after being told in a slow and simple tone why that was a bad idea, he had at least had some good moments with Takumi. The blacksmith had a begrudging respect for Naruto's stamina, something Naruto from then on took pride in. there was still no love lost between the blacksmith and Eko, but considering how tiresome that had been, they had learned to live and let live. At least until Takumi was out of earshot that is.
Naruto cast his eyes over the pier as he crossed it, looking over the calm and tranquil sea. The peacefulness of this island was a little addictive, the feeling of suppression from the cave was nothing compared to the rest of the place. However there was one thing that broke Naruto's suddenly sleepy state; there was a rowing boat he didn't recognise here. Compared to the other vessels, this one was actually in pretty good condition. Looking around, he wondered if maybe someone from one of the other islands had come over. "Hey, obaachan!" he called, waving to the old lady he had met when he first arrived here. "Another stranger show up or something?"
The old lady, Chika was her name, looked up from her stool with a surprised face. She had previously been repairing a net, and as a result failed to notice Naruto was there at all. "Oh, I couldn't say for sure!" she called back, her seemingly closed eyes suggesting there wasn't much she did notice in the end. "My boy said that it just showed up sometime last night, we have no idea who it belongs to I'm afraid!"
Naruto cocked a brow at this, looking over to the small boat once again. Now that he thought about it, with waters like these who in their right minds would row all the way out to a place like this? Whoever it was, he would have to have a hell of a lot of guts if he intended to make it out alive. For each moment he looked at the boat, Naruto's curiosity grew more and more. From all the talk around town, he was the first visitor the island had seen in a long time. So it really didn't seem likely that someone else had joined them. "Maybe the owner just put a coat of paint on it?" he wondered, before shrugging to himself. He turned away and headed over to the old lady, he had other reasons for being here after all.
The small boat rocked in the cold water, the wooden oars rubbing against the wooden base. Underneath the rower's bench there was pure, unfiltered shadow. That shadow remained completely still, almost tangible, until a new sound came in. A small insect, a mosquito, hovered in the air making its obnoxious tone. However that noise came to a stop as it settled on the floor of the boat, making a momentary perch as it rested. But unbeknownst to the pest, that rest was its last. From the depths of the shadows, a long, pink tongue shot out, striking the mosquito and pulling the poor bug to an early grave.
