Naruto Shippuden -H-: Chapter 034: Zaire's Torture Chamber
Zaire had made light of the fact that Orochimaru had return to the outer dimension in his Sage Mode, as he had healed Tetsuga of his injuries.
"You are always reckless during these fights, why not try to avoid things that you know are coming?" asked Zaire to Tetsuga.
"Eh, I was just excited that someone had actually showed up around here, after Greshem did not return, I figured it was that spy that I have been sensing, but Orochimaru and those other three showed up instead and next thing I know, we are engaged in battle, I was not complaining though." said Tetsuga to Zaire as they both directed their attention to Orochimaru.
"That is quite the confidence you two have now, but the powers of this form bring my true potential to light." said Orochimaru as he had a navel snake emerging from his stomach area, four horns coming out of his head, and the purple markings around his eyes extending to the sides of his face, hiss brill also covered his eyes.
"So that is Sage Mode, or at least Orochimaru's version of it, looks a lot like Kabuto if you ask me." said Suigetsu.
"To be honest I think this would be the perfect opportunity to really show these vagabonds some real hell, but if Naruto is here, no point in digging around the ditch, let's go." said Tetsuga to Zaire.
"You three leave us alone, or I will be the one you face next time, oh and you can deactivate that Sage Mode of yours, we are finished with this little game here." said Zaire to Orochimaru and Taka.
"What, they think they can just run away now that Naruto is here, what the hell is this about?" asked Suigetsu who was mad that Tetsuga was leaving before Orochimaru could fight in Sage Mode.
"Suigetsu you dumbass, this is a good thing, it means we can move on without possible dying." said Karin to Suigetsu.
"I doubt that, these two have some kind of plan going on around this area, we are still in harm's way." said Jugo to Karin and Suigetsu.
"Well, if you two have seen enough then I will be on my way to see Hirudeguarn at this time, that is unless you would like to stop me." said Orochimaru as he was still in Sage Mode, and analyzing Zaire and Tetsuga's actions.
"Nah, feel free to go see him, I tried to tell you that before, but you insisted on fighting instead, though with Zaire here, it makes sense that you would return to your original goal after all." said Tetsuga as he and Zaire quickly left the Watering Grounds, not worrying about Orochimaru or Taka in the process.
"So they are gone now, just like that, good riddance, at least we can proceed on with this stupid damn journey without any more scares, at least until we get to this Hirudeguarn guy." said Suigetsu with a tone of annoyance.
"Enough complaining, we will head to the northern part of the city's gates, then we will observe and see what those Knights of Dawn do about Naruto being in the city, once that decision is made, then we will search for anything of value and go directly to my brother." said Orochimaru as he exited Sage Mode and started to slowly walk towards the direction of the Sun-Braced Grove, with Taka directly behind him.
On the other side of the outer gates of the city, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Sai were tending to the young girl that Naruto had saved from committing suicide earlier.
"She is resting now, I guess she was one of the prisoners of this city, perhaps the trauma she experienced had drove her beyond her breaking point." said Sakura as she gazed over towards the large castle hanging on the mountain range, several miles from her location.
"The most important thing is that she is still alive, I mean it would have been terrible had Naruto not been here." said Sai with a worried tone.
"We need to see if there are any more people trapped in this village like this young lady here, of course we will have to wait for her to wake up, meanwhile we will have to see what Naruto does about this whole predicament, what a drag, I would rather personally deal with them." said Shikamaru to Sai and Sakura.
"Ohhhhh, where am I?" asked the girl as she had finally awoken.
"Relax, you are in good hands now trust me, my name is Sakura Haruno, and I have tended to your wounds, now I need you to tell me who did this to you, so that I can get a grasp of who may be behind this." said Sakura to the young lady.
"I was trapped in an underground series of tunnels, located under this large grassy plain where the climate is always sunny and bright, it is east of here, on the outside of these gates." said the girl as she could not stand up yet.
"I see, I am glad that you are feeling better mentally as well, just relax here, we have someone in there now who will take care of those freaks that did this to you." said Sakura with reassurance.
"I hope you are right." said the young woman with a worried look in her eyes.
"Now that the enemy knows we are here, I might as well use my Super Beast Scroll to fly in the air and see where this sunny plain area is that she had just spoken of, better than waiting here doing nothing." said Sai as he drew one large bird and hopped on top of it.
"That sounds good, but be careful, we don't know if something is waiting for us up in the air as well." said Shikamaru to Sai cautiously.
"I know, let me observe for an hour, and figure out the layout of this city, I will then draw it for reference, it will make navigating the surroundings much easier." said Sai to Shikamaru as he flew around two hundred feet into the air on his ink bird and started to observe the surrounding areas.
Sasuke and Bee had taken the golden sword from the cemetery after they had fought off the undead creatures that ambushed them, and have now arrived on the proximity of the Sun-Braced Grove, continuing their search for clues concerning the foe they were dealing with.
"Man after killing those stupid undead goons, if am just glad that we were not hung up to ties like balloons." said Bee as he was looking around the bright, sunny forest that surrounded the grassy plain that he and Sasuke were walking in.
"This place is much different from the past one, it is not dark and gloomy, at least those sunglasses if yours will come in handy now." said Sasuke to Bee in a joking manner.
"Hey man, protecting the eyes is the most important thing about being a shinobi, you should know, I mean there could be some kind of monster out here that wants to still my eyes." said Bee with an eccentric tone of fear.
"You really don't get out much anymore do you." said Gyuki to Bee in his mind with a facepalm.
"I don't sense any chakra signatures around here, although I can see feint footprints in the tall grass over there, it seems to lead into the northern area of that oak tree forest." said Sasuke to Bee as the two shinobi headed towards the tall grass to observe the foot prints.
"I see, there was someone coming and going through here, foot prints leading to and from this area, let's go see what this person was doing shall we." said Sasuke to Bee as the two ran towards the forest, following the direction of the footprints.
"If the enemy has any traps in store, then I am going to bust their shit up to even up the score." said Bee as he pulled out Samehada in preparations of any potential threat.
"I see, it is best to be ready for the worst at all times, it makes the realization much more easier to take in." said Sasuke as he had his Eternal Mangekyou activated, but his Rinnegan deactivated.
"Here we are in the forest, oh yeah, but the footprints seem to lead to that creek bed over there, not sure what that is about, oh yeah." said Bee to Sasuke.
"I can detect chakra signatures from below that creek bed, I bet their is an underground cave down there, in any case, do the honors Bee." said Sasuke to Bee.
"Samehada let's destroy this punk ass rock until we find the entrance." said Bee as he cracked the living weapon on the ground destroying the rock and water around the area.
"I see a hole over their, let's go Bee, it must be the entrance to the underground area where I sensed those chakra signatures." said Sasuke as he had the Golden Sword beside his own, strapped to his back.
Sasuke and Bee quickly ran over to the location of the entrance of the underground area that Bee had managed to uncover.
"It is large enough for at least three people to enter at once, must be some kind of tunnel that could lead into the city, perhaps it belongs to those Knights of Dawn." said Sasuke to Bee.
"I want to see what these freaks be hiding, maybe if we find something really cool like that sword, then it could be worth writing." said Bee as he and Sasuke started to carefully enter the underground tunnel that seemed to be dug at a slight angle is it had wooden steps that led down into the heart of the underground cave.
There were many multi-colored lights that hung on both sides of the underground tunnels that Sasuke and Bee found themselves in, with many decorations like old ninja tools and aged wooden furniture that surrounded the series of tunnels.
"Someone is using this as a hideout as I speak, they could still be down here, but let's not destroy this place should a battle develop, there might be more secrets awaiting us down here that could be of some value." said Sasuke to Bee as they walked down the long walkway and arrived at a fork in the next set of tunnels, with two different paths awaiting them.
"Normally this would be a bad time considering I have a bad sense of direction, but with that eye of yours, finding the right way is as easy as ever." said Bee.
"Well, I sense chakra signatures from both ends of these tunnels, though they both seem to lead to the same destination, so we will both head towards the right tunnel, let's go." said Sasuke to Bee.
"Got ya, I wonder if any of my records will be down here, hehehe." said Bee as he and Sasuke entered the right tunnel, hoping to find some sort of clue to what this underground tunnel may be for.
"There are more of these lights, looks like winter lights, it is still very dark down here, but, I can see a door to the left, just a few meters in front of us." said Sasuke as he and Bee walked closer to the door.
"Oh man, I bet the enemy could be behind that door, if that is true, then their luck sure is poor." said Bee as he and Sasuke stood right in front of the door, ready to enter the unknown.
"I will bust down the door, then I want you to immediately rush in with Samehada and see what the contents of this room contains." said Sasuke as he prepared to knock the door down with his fist.
"Let's go, I am ready to wreck some sad fool's shit today, fool, ya fool." said Bee as Sasuke knocked down the door.
Bee then swiftly entered the room, but there was no lights in the room, though some feint sounds of scratching could be heard.
"Sasuke, I cannot see well, but something smells really bad in here, maybe if you could light a torch, then we can make out what that scratching noise is." said Bee as Sasuke walked into the room and prepared to light a piece of wood he found on the floor beside him.
The room then lit up, as a table with many shinobi tools covered in blood could be seen at the far end of the room, and in the other corner was someone covered with a white cloth, which was also covered in blood.
"Wh...what is this, some kind of torture room?" asked Sasuke with confusion.
"Hey man, yo alright?" asked Bee as he approached the person covered in the white, bloody cloth.
"Bee, be careful, we do not know if this is a trap or not." said Sasuke as he had his Eternal Mangekyou ready in case of a combat situation.
"I got it, hey you alright, let me get this cover off ya." said Bee as he reached down and took the blood soaked cover off the person, and he immediately dropped it.
"This is terrible, who could have done this." said Bee as he was visually disturbed.
"There is no sense in this shit, I bet it was one of those fucking Knights of Dawn." said Sasuke as they both saw the condition that the person under the cloth was in.
The man's skin had been removed, and his left leg was amputated from the knee down, his eyes were sewn shut as he was clawing at the dirt wall beside him, making small moans in the process.
"I don't know what to do Sasuke, this is fucked up, who could have done such a terrible thing?" asked Bee.
"I know this might seem bad, but we have no other choice but to put this man out of his misery." said Sasuke with a saddened tone.
"Ughhh, NO GO AWAY, I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT, I AM READY FOR ASCENSION!" yelled the man loudly as he started clawing at the wall much more intensely, causing his skinned fingers to break off of his hand.
"Bee, come back." said Sasuke to Bee as he focused his eye on the tortured and disturbed man.
"Ameterasu." said Sasuke as he covered the room, and the man in the black flames.
"Sasuke, why?" asked Bee who was disturbed by the whole situation.
"He was too far gone, not to mention that he was going to die at any moment, there was nothing more I could do than send him to the afterlife, at least he will not be suffering anymore." said Sasuke as he activated his Susanoo and decided to destroy the entire underground caverns.
"I bet there were hundreds of people like this down here, the smell was unbearable, but those poor people's conditions were even more so." said Gyuki within Bee's mind.
"That's it, I am going to kill every last one of those sick fucks as soon as I can, they will pay for what they did to these people." said Sasuke with a fierce look of anger on his face.
"It is time to avenge these lost souls my man, let's show them what happens when you torture the innocent." said Bee as he activated his Version 1 Eight Tailed Chakra cloak.
"Let's go." said Sasuke as he and Bee ran out of the forest and towards the main gates of Lazarus.
Elsewhere, Zaire and Tetsuga arrived on top of a building on the far east of the city.
"Seems someone has destroyed me underground caverns, whoever it was will be eviscerated in the most glorious way, but that comes later, for now, we shall invite Naruto to the Castle of Leviticus, and then show him the true sights of our grand emperor and god, Hirudeguarn!" said Zaire as he stood atop the marble building with a tone of joy as he overlooked the city.
"Yes, this is the atonement we have been waiting for, the day when the gods finally end their tears and the sun shines down atop the Golden Hero." said Tetsuga as the two jumped down from atop the building and walked towards the location of the suburbs of the city.
"Naruto, it will be so nice to meet you under formal circumstances, I will be sure not to skin you alive at least, hehehe." laughed Zaire as veins were visible on his forehead.
-To be continued next time with Chapter 035...-