a/n: Hey guys! Coursework has been a pain again, but I managed to get this chapter done between the demonic pieces of extended essay's I've had to get done, phew! Let me know what you think of it, enjoy guys :)
Naruto gulped as he saw the huge brass doors, sensing huge spiritual energy within the room. He saw the gold engravings on the door; sickeningly familiar to him.
"It looks like the door from the vision... could this be...?"
Naruto pondered, wondering if The Manipulator really was inside the room behind those huge doors before him. He looked down to the new tome given to him by the mysterious woman back in the abyss, but knew it wouldn't be much use to him considering he couldn't even read any of its strange language. He put it in a large pouch on his ninja belt and looked back up and gulped, knowing that if he was to ever return to the real world, he'd probably have to kill who- or whatever, was inside.
"It's now or never..."
The blonde pushed on both sides of the door in the middle, slowly going inwards while opening, creating a loud scraping noise from the doors contact to the stone floor. The door was now mostly open and Naruto still stood in the same position as before, cautiously looking around the seemingly huge chamber for what was in stall for him.
"Welcome, Naruto. You are now a phantom, an apparition, in my lair."
Naruto's eyes opened wide and scanned the room, looking for whoever just spoke. He saw only shadows engulfing the room.
"Where are you?! Show yourself, you coward!"
Naruto impulsively snapped into the shadows, knowing that this man must have been The Manipulator if going by the mysterious woman's advice from before, which going by the sincerity of her help, he was sure she wouldn't have lied.
"I don't need to show myself to you, Naruto. But there's someone else I'd like to show to you instead."
The voice sounded deep and booming, and almost ghostly too. Naruto clenched his fists tight and now felt anger brewing, even before he saw who this man wanted him to see.
"Are you... The Manipulator."
Naruto questioned, his tone was deep with solemn determination.
"I'll let you figure that one out... but now let me introduce to you my guest."
The sound of rattling chains echoed throughout the room, sounding ominous enough to make Naruto feel even more sick with anxiety of who was supposedly in those chains. The noise became louder as it got closer, now a figure bound in chains was starting to emerge from the shadows.
Naruto's eyes became wide as saucers as the figure emerged from the shadows, limping towards him while bound in bloody chains.
"N-Naruto...K-Kun..."
"H-Hinata!"
Naruto sprinted towards the Hyuga, his vision blurred from the running but could still make out her blood-stained clothes and wounds all over her body. He fast approached her to try and rescue her, seeing how much torment she must have been through judging by all her wounds.
"I don't think so, Naruto."
A huge wall of energy appeared before Naruto's eyes, but he managed to slow down enough to avoid outright collision. He started punching the wall instinctively, putting all his might in each punch but not making any difference. He summoned a shadow clone, and it began to form his trademark Jutsu.
"Rasengan!"
He put all his weight behind the ball of energy and smashed it into the wall before him, a huge blast of energy erupted from the ball and a screeching sound of chakra exuded from the collision. The Rasengan was kept against the wall for a few seconds, but it eventually began to diminish in size. The wall, however, was still intact, and Naruto now saw another figure standing behind Hinata after the mist of the collision dissipated.
"Stop hiding behind this Jutsu you coward! Come out and face me!" Naruto shouted.
Naruto's fists clenched so much so that his knuckles could be heard cracking in the room. If Kyuubi was there, he would certainly be glowing red in fury, but he didn't need the fox to show his rage at The Manipulator for hurting one of his best friend's so much. The man laughed, and Hinata fell to the floor, her chains were now being tightened by the man behind her.
"You... YOU BASTARD!"
Naruto screamed, as it was now truly clear that one of his best friend's really were at The Manipulator's mercy. Naruto's eyes turned yellow and his pupils became vertical rectangles; his sage-mode was now in effect. He summoned two Shadow clones and they both started forming chakra in each of Naruto's hands, now forming two huge Rasengan's.
"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"
Naruto charged towards the green wall one more time, now slamming both huge Rasengan's into the wall creating a huge explosion of energy. Naruto could only wish that Kyuubi were there to help him, but knew that right now he had to use all his own power to save Hinata. The wall began to crack, looking ready to break at any moment. However, laughter could be heard in the room and the wall began to glow, now making an eerie sound.
"#8. Seki"
The area which Naruto attacked with his Rasengan began to turn light blue, even making him cautious although he was still enraged. The sound began to intensify, and before Naruto could react he was sent flying backwards by a powerful burst of energy from the wall, even dispelling his Rasengan's.
"S-Stop it!"
Hinata shouted into the shadows behind her, tears filling her eyes as she couldn't bear to see Naruto harmed by the foul man behind of all it.
"Silence!"
Hinata began to scream as the chains surrounding her began to clamp down, now almost choking her and digging further into her body. She was writhing in pain, her screams heard by Naruto who tried his hardest to recover from the powerful blast. He felt beyond dizzy, his vision severely blurred, but the sound of Hinata screaming meant he couldn't afford to waste anymore time, not while those closest to him are in such agony.
"You..."
Naruto staggered up on to his feet, now at least 15 meters away from the green wall where he was sent flying back.
"You fucking monster!"
Naruto yelled as he began to stagger towards the green wall, now picking up his pace and going into a full run once more. Another shadow clone appeared and formed chakra in Naruto's hands again, but now creating wind energy instead, one of his most powerful Jutsu.
Naruto created a Wind-style Rasengan, but not the Rasenshuriken, knowing that could easily harm Hinata with the collateral damage. He fast approached the wall, almost slamming the Jutsu into the cracked area already weakened from before, which he was sure would break through.
"#9. Geki."
Naruto froze in his tracks, a red energy now paralysed his entire body just as he was about to attack the wall once more.
"W-What the hell is this?!"
"Something beyond your comprehension. Have you even thought about what you're doing right now, Naruto? This is merely a vision I planted inside of your mind, so how do you think you can rescue the Hyuga if she isn't even here?"
Naruto was silent, his eyes wide with bewilderment to how this felt so real to him, yet all his efforts to rescue Hinata could all be in vain.
"W-Why did you bring me here then? What's your motive?!"
"For you to feel pain, Naruto, like the pain you put me through before."
Naruto was shocked at the mans foul words, now knowing that they must have had a connection before all of this happened, and that the man was clearly seeking sinister vengeance.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"That's something you don't need to know. You have until tomorrow night to come to this hideout; you can bring anyone you want, it doesn't matter."
"Fine, I'll be there... but if you hurt Hinata anymore then you've done already, I'll kill you a thousand times over." Naruto growled menacingly at the shadowed man, yet he laughed once again.
"How very cliché of you to say that, Naruto. It'll be interesting to see if you'll live up to those words... anyway, I dare say even you have already figured out where my base of operations is, so until tomorrow then... Naruto."
The man laughed eerily in the shadows, while Hinata could be seen on the cold floor with tears streaming down her face. Naruto felt sick to his stomach with anger, now becoming hatred, to the man who could harm such an innocent young woman so much. The surroundings began to fade away around Naruto, the strange Jutsu was finally being released and Naruto's apparition was fading from the room.
"Don't worry, Hinata... I'll be there to rescue you soon, believe it."
Naruto smiled sadly yet determinedly to the Hyuga, who couldn't help but feel a ray of hope even in these circumstances when Naruto reassured her like that. She smiled although more tears fell down her face, and now her body was being dragged off slowly into the shadows by the chains encasing her.
"I believe you... Naruto-kun."
Naruto felt the anger and hatred return once more after seeing her disappear, but was now controlled by determination to rescue her from The Manipulator. Naruto now knew that it was definitely a man, but still more questions arose; who was this man from Naruto's past, and why did he want vengeance?
These questions were at the forefront of Naruto's mind, but he knew that he'd save them from when he confronted the man tomorrow, and that he needed to train his hardest with Kiba, Sakura and Sai, those who he wanted to bring, to destroy this villain, save Hinata and answer all those questions for once and for all.
The surroundings had now almost completely disappeared, and Naruto felt a familiar chakra inside him once more, it was Kyuubi.
"Kyu, are you there?"
'I'm here Kit, can you finally hear me now?!'
"Yeah! What, was you here all along?"
'Yes, you Baka!'
"I couldn't even feel your presence though... so I guess you know everything that happened then?"
'I do Kit, and let's just say we need to have a chat about that book the annoying woman gave to you...'
"Wait, you know what it's about?..."
'You could say that, but let's save that for later, your mutt is crying like a bitch waiting for you to wake up.'
Naruto smirked, already excited to see his boyfriend again and quell his tears. Naruto felt strange and almost woozy, and then heard voices, which he guessed must have been people around him in the real world.
"Wait, his eyes are moving! It looks like he's about to wake up!"
Naruto's eyes slowly flicked open and saw a very bright light, almost like a blinding glare to his eyes which had been adjusted to the darkness of the abyss. His vision eventually became clearer and saw a large forehead yet again engulfing his vision, it was undeniably Sakura.
"Naruto!"
"H-Hey... Sakura."
Naruto sat up in a groggy manner and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up fully.
"Are you ok Naruto?..."
"Yeah, I'm fine. How long have I been out?"
"A few hours, we had the meeting at 12pm, so It's about 3pm now Naruto."
Naruto looked out the window behind his bed, which he now noticed was definitely his new room in Kiba's house, and saw it was starting to get dark out already due to it being winter. He knew he only had until tomorrow to prepare to rescue Hinata and fight The Manipulator, and he wasn't willing to bet on The Manipulator being weak, so the blonde felt more determined than ever to train, even if it was only for one night.
"I need to get stronger."
"W-What?"
Naruto spoke rhetorically to himself, completely confusing Sakura who didn't know what he was talking about. He got up from his bed and walked to the door, leaving behind a bewildered Sakura for a moment.
"W-Wait Naruto! What happened, has it got something to do with the pendant?" Naruto stopped and turned back around to Sakura.
"To cut a long story short, I now know where they're hiding Hinata." Sakura gasped surprisedly, and then got up to walk with Naruto to learn more.
"R-Really? What else did you see?"
"I was taken to The Manipulator's hideout in my Psyche apparently, and now know that he's a lot tougher than I ever expected, so I need to train as soon as possible. I think the hideout is in Kusagakure."
Naruto walked to the door and opened it, while Sakura followed him to learn more. She nodded to his explanation, not as surprised as she thought she would be, considering she already theorized who The Manipulator could be after hearing it was in one of Orochimaru's hideouts.
The door opened and Naruto jumped back as someone else was about to enter his room. He had brown shaggy hair and those irresistible eyes that couldn't be mistaken for anyone elses.
"H-Hey Kib-!"
Kiba grabbed Naruto closer and kissed him passionately, causing Sakura to blush madly. Naruto closed his eyes and melted into the kiss, secretly glad that Kiba greeted him in this way and not crying like a baby as Kyuubi said he would. The kiss showed all of Kiba's worry more than anything else could, but also his gratitude that Naruto was up and walking again. He pulled away and smirked confidently, clearly trying to give the masculine impression that he wasn't crying before, even though tears were still visible in his eyes.
"I'm so glad you're up Naruto... what happened?"
Naruto sighed as he had to explain it again to Kiba and probably everyone else in the village at this rate. He walked with Kiba and Sakura downstairs and into the kitchen to fetch something to eat after all the internal stress he went through in his psyche. He explained the situation thoroughly to them and Sai, who decided to visit his beloved Naru and see how he was doing.
"So we just gotta train like crazy then, that's what you're saying? But I doubt one night's gonna make that much of a difference Nar, and besides, you got me, Sakura and Sai coming right!?"
"Righty-o! I'll defeat this nasty Manipulator with you Naru, don't fret!"
Naruto rolled his eyes at Sai's comment, but couldn't exactly explain the strength of The Manipulator, as he was stopped before he could even get to him, let alone fight him in real battle.
'Kit, I think the key to success is that book you were given, remember?'
"The book? But how can I still have it if I was dreaming?!"
Naruto was skeptical at first, but after some persuasion from Kyuubi he started patting his pockets down to see if he still somehow had the book given to him from his experience in the abyss of his psyche. He was shocked, however, when he found Sakura holding it in her hands across the table.
"W-Where..."
"I found it next to you on your bed, so I guess that's what you were looking for then!" Sakura handed it to Naruto, who took it and saw it was indeed that very book he somehow gained in his psyche
"How can this be here Kyu? It can't be real..."
'I'll explain that to you later as well as the book itself Kit, but right now all of you are gonna need to train using it if you want to overcome The Manipulator's strange abilities, so tell them to follow you outside for the training.'
"This better not be a joke Kyuubi, it's just a damned book for Kami's sake!"
'It's more than that Kit... it's far, far more than just that.'
a/n: There it is! What do you think of The Manipulator now that you've seen their abilities and possible motives? And why does Kyuubi speak of that book so importantly for the gangs chance against The Manipulator? Let me know what you think of it in a review, would you kindly? =)