Chapter 19: Just To Survive
An older male with a bowl-style haircut and massively bushy eyebrows and was wearing a green jumpsuit and a Jounin flak jacket sitting in a wheel chair with his right leg in a cast watched as the distant two younger Shinobi closed the doors to the stadium.
"Gai-sensei!" yelled Lee and Tenten walking behind him. "We've sealed off the last of the exits to the stadium."
"Is this what it's really come to?" Tenten asked. "Moving the sick to the stadium then locking it down?"
"Unfortunately yes, Tsunade-sama can't seem to find a cure for this sickness and there is no more room at the hospital," Gai answered. "And there is the fact after the patients die, they mysteriously come back to life."
"Yosh! We must do everything we can to protect Konoha until this all settles down!" Lee exclaimed.
"I couldn't have said it better myself, Lee!" Gai said, giving a thumbs up to Lee.
They were about to leave when two ANBU appeared in front of Gai and his team. Gai was a bit surprised, he wasn't expecting the ANBU to show up like this.
"Hokage-sama just ordered the evacuation within a five mile radius of the stadium," one of the ANBU announced.
"What for?" asked Tenten.
"All the patients inside the stadium have all died," replied the second ANBU.
"Are you serious?" Tenten asked, yelling. "We just moved everyone into the stadium because the hospital was overwhelmed with patients and you're telling us they've all just died?"
"Unfortunately, yes they have," the ANBU said. "We need everyone cleared away from the stadium immediately."
"Well guys, you better stop asking questions and go ahead and get everyone around here evacuated," Gai ordered.
An hour passed since the ANBU and other Konoha-nin went door to door to evacuate everyone within the five mile radius of the stadium. A woman in a sleeveless grey kimono-style blouse and long blonde hair that was tied back into two ponytails looked out the window of her office as an ANBU appeared behind her.
"The area around the stadium has been evacuated, Hokage-sama," he said.
"So are you really going to do this, Tsunade-sama?" Tenten asked as she entered the office. "Isn't there any other way?"
"I- I have no choice, as I was treating the patients inside the stadium, they all just died from this strange illness that's been going around. The fact they returned to life after death, it can't be taken lightly. These undead are not like the ones we faced in battle during the war, those ones we could just seal away, these only die if there is trauma to their head. I can't have my ninja running out of chakra trying to kill them one by one. I've seen reports from all over the shinobi world that there is so many undead and those villages being overwhelmed. I'm destroying the stadium for the sake and safety of this village," Tsunade explained.
"We are ready to detonate the explosive tags that were placed on all the stadium's support beams, we just need your final word, Hokage-sama," the ANBU said.
Tsunade sighed and took a minute, "Do it."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," the ANBU said as he bowed and disappeared.
Tsunade and Tenten looked out the window of Tsunade's office, staring at the stadium off in the distance and waited. A few minutes passed then explosions started going off around the stadium. They watched as the stadium collapsed.
"Tsunade-sama!" yelled a female.
Tsunade turned from the window to see a woman bursting into her office with short, black hair and wearing a black kimono and high heels and she was holding a small pig with pearls around its neck and a red shirt.
"What is it Shizune?" asked Tsunade.
"Kakashi and his team have finally returned from their mission in Kusagakure but without Naruto," Shizune revealed.
"What?!" yelled Tsunade. "Take me to Kakashi immediately!"
Before Tsuande left her office, she turned to Tenten who was still staring out the office window.
"I need you and Lee to patrol the village wall. That blast from the stadium will surely attract the undead that might be roaming outside the walls. Take any of the dead out that you see and turn away any refugees, the village is on lockdown now and we're not accepting anyone at the moment. One last thing, make sure you aim for the undead's heads, it's the only way they're going down."
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Tenten said.
"Lee!" Tenten called out.
"What is it Tenten?" Lee asked.
"Tsunade-sama wants us to patrol along the wall to keep an eye out for any undead and refugees," answered Tenten.
"But Gai-sensei..."
"I'll be fine Lee, you must do what Tsunade-sama has ordered you two to do," Gai interrupted.
"So Tenten, what do we do if we find any undead or refugees?" asked Lee.
"We kill the undead on sight and we must hit them in the head only for them to die. As for the refugees, we have to turn them away," answered Tenten.
"Turn them away? We can't do that, we need to help..."
"I'm sorry Lee, those are Tsunade-sama's orders," Tenten said.
"I guess there is no other choice, even if it's the most unyouthful," Lee stated.
Tenten and Lee began patrolling the village wall from the top, looking down to the ground below outside the village to see if there were any undead or people trying to seek shelter in the village. Half an hour passed and they hadn't come across anything. Lee, worried about Gai who was still recovering from the massive injury he suffered during the Fourth Great Ninja War. Tenten, however, was surprised the explosions of the destroying the Chunin Exam stadium hadn't lured any of the undead from outside the walls. Three more hours passed and still nothing.
"We've been walking back and fourth along the wall for three hours, I wonder when we are going to be relieved," Tenten said.
"I don't know but so far we've lucked out and haven't seen any undead crowding the walls," Lee stated.
Lee looked into the village and stared at the ruins of the stadium. He felt a little sick since they had helped so many people get settled into the stadium which turned out to be their final resting place.
"Oh my God! Is the hospital burning?" Tenten yelled as she pointed to a long, three story building off in the distance with black smoke coming from behind the building.
"I think it is," Lee said. "What is going on here? First they blow the stadium up on all those people we ushered into and now the ANBU intentially set the hospital on fire, what's next?"
"I know, this is hard for me too," Tenten began. "People are getting sick with some incurable illness and they're dying from it at a rapid pace and to make it worse, after dying the come back to life to some kind of flesh-eating monster so I know they're doing this to protect the village."
"Why can't Tsunade-sama just find a cure already?" Lee exclaimed.
Before Lee could say anything else, the village wall on the other side of the village exploded. The explosion shook the wall and nearly knocked Tenten and Lee off the wall.
"What was that?" Tenten asked.
Once the smoke and dust cleared, they realized there was now a massive hole in the wall.
"Did someone just attack the wall?" Tenten asked. "Come on, we need to notify Tsunade-sama right away!"
Tsunade and Shizune were walking away after just debriefing with Kakashi and the whereabouts of Naruto when suddenly there was a large explosiong. The blast shook the ground they stood on. Once the shaking stopped, Tsunade and Shizune regained their composure.
"Was that another explosion at the stadium?" asked Shizune. "Or the hospital you ordered to burn down."
"I hope so," Tsunade said.
Tsundae jumped up to the rooftops and began looking around the village until she saw a massive hole in the western part of the wall.
"Oh my God..."
"What is it Tsunade-sama?" yelled Shizune.
Before Tsunade could answer, Lee and Tenten appeared before her.
"Tsunade-sama, the wall on the western side of the village has exploded and collapsed," said Tenten.
"I see it and we've got to get everyone out of the village," said Tsuande.
"What are you saying?" asked Lee.
"There's no way we have time to repair the wall to keep the undead out, we must evacuate everyone and regroup in Nami no Kuni," Tsunade said.
"Why Nami no Kuni?" asked Lee.
"It's the only island attatched to the mainland by a bridge we can easily destroy so the undead can't get to it. It's the safest location to evacuate to," replied Tsuande.
"Lee, Tenten, begin evacuating the village. Shizune return to Kakashi and tell him and his team to evacuate to Nami no Kuni and if I don't make it out of this, I name Kakashi the Rokudamie Hokage," ordered Tsuande.
"Tsunade-sama..." Shizune began to protest but was interrupted.
"I cannot be talked out of this Shizune, just do what I ask, please," Tsuande said.
"Hai," Shizune said, bowing.
Shizune, Lee and Tenten left.
"If Konoha falls, I might as well go down with it," Tsunade said to herself. "God, if my old self heard me say this, she'd beat me dead."
"Where are you going Lee?" asked Tenten. "We need to be evacuating all the civilians from the village."
"We got to find Gai-sensei first," Lee answered.
Tenten didn't say anything else and just followed Lee as they began searching the village for their sensei. They didn't have to search long as they found him in his wheelchair on the proch of his house.
"Gai-sensei!" shouted Lee.
"Lee, what is it?" asked Gai.
"There's been a massive breach in the village wall," Lee stated. "Tsunade-sama ordered the evacuation of the village and we're heading to Nami no Kuni for safe haven."
Gai sighed, "I wondered what that explosion was, it knocked some of stuff to the floor and broke out a couple of my windows."
"We've got to get the civilians out of here," Lee said.
Gai looked up at the sky, "Lee, I need you and Tenten to go without me."
"What?" Lee shouted, shocked. "We can't leave you here, we got to get out of the village!"
"Lee is right, we cannot leave you here," Tenten added.
"With me in my current state right now, there's no choice," Gai said. "I'll just be a burden."
"You're not a burden, Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled. "We are not leaving you here! I will carry you and Tenten can seal away your wheelchair into one of her weapons' scrolls."
Gai turned to Tenten who nodded.
Without another word, Lee turned around and allowed Gai to get on his back. Tenten pulled a scroll from her backpack and rolled it out. She placed the wheelchair over a black seal on the scroll and peformed a few hand seals and slammed her hand onto the scroll. The wheelchair then was sealed into the sealing scroll. Afterwards, Tenten rolled it back up and placed it back into her backpack. Lee and Tenten nodded to each other and began running through the village.
Lee and Tenten made it to the gate as they escorted everyone out of the village. Lee turned around one last time to look at the village he grew up in. He wasn't sad because he knew it was temporary and that they'd all return home once the disaster that was happening was over.
Three months passed since the village was evacuated as Lee and Gai walked through the streets of the village in Nami no Kuni.
"Ah Lee, it feels so youthful to be able to walk again. Nearly two and half years of recovery and phyiscal therapy finally payed off," Gai said.
"Yes it has!" Lee exclaimed.
"It's a shame Tsunade-sama never made it back to see the work she started on my leg worked in the end," Gai stated.
"Ah just the team that I wanted to see," said a male's voice.
Lee looked to see it was a man with short brown hair and almond shaped eyes. He was wearing the standard Jounin flak jacket and his long-sleeved navy blue shirt went up to his chin and wore a happuri-style forehead protector that framed his face.
"Yamato-san, what did you need us for?" asked Gai.
"I need you and your team to travel to me to the northeastern border of Hi no Kuni. I am supposed to meet up with a regiment from Kumogakure there," Yamato explained. "I'll be using my Mokuton ninjutsu to create a base there."
"A base? For what?" Gai asked.
"The plan is to establish several of these bases, scattered across Hi no Kuni on its borders and prepare ourselves for a counter-attack on the Roamers. The goal is to take back our homelands and villages and re-establish civilization," Yamato answered.
"Why do you want us to go with you?" Lee asked.
"I need your fighting skills. The plan is to place well skilled Shinobi in each of these bases in an effort to sweep through our homelands without incident," Yamato continued. "This is going to take time and it won't be the kind of mission we can complete in a day but this plan is still better than just hiding from the Roamers all the time. So will you come with me?"
"Yes, we will go," Gai answered.
"Well, I guess we're heading to the northeastern border then," Yamato said.
A week's journey turned into nearly a month after running into hordes of Roamers. The team killed as many as they could but when they used too much of their chakra (and energy in Lee's case) had to hide for a couple of days to rest and recover but the team finally reached the northeastern border.
"Well, here we are. This is where I'll be building the base," Yamato said.
"Yosh! Let's get started!" Lee exclaimed.
"No need Lee, I'll be able to create the entire base myself," said Yamato as he peformed hand seals. "Mokuton: Shichuuka no Jutsu!"
Wood began coming out the ground and formed a two story house. Lee and Tenten looked on in awe, not knowing someone was able to create such a place with their jutsu alone.
"Now I just need to build a few more of these and a nice sized wall around us," Yamato stated.
Several more houses formed from the ground and a tall wooden wall formed around the newly constructed base. After the creation of the base, Yamato began sweating and showing signs of fatigue.
"Are you okay?" asked Gai.
"Yeah I am fine, it just takes a lot out of me to use Mokuton this much," Yamato replied.
"So what do we do now, Gai-sensei?" asked Lee.
"Just pick the house you want." Yamato answered instead. "That house you pick is where you'll be staying until we get the green light to start the attack but as right now, I have to wait for our regitment from Kumogakure."
"I know our villages have been getting along a little better since the war but why did Kumogakure agree to help us?" asked Gai.
"Well, clearing out Hi no Kuni of the Roamers is just one step, we're going to clear out each country of Roamers until they're all eradicated," Yamato stated.
Days passed as Lee, Tenten and Gai trainted in the Northeastern Outpost. Shinobi from Kumogakure joined the compound and everyone began training with everyone. The training ranged from sharpening their aim to using their jutsu to hit the right spot.
"Lee, Tenten," Gai called. "Yamato-teichou has called for us."
Lee and Tenten followed Gai to the first building Yamato created when they first arrived. They entered the building and found Yamato behind a desk staring at a map of Hi no Kuni.
"You wanted to see us, Yamato-tecihou?" Gai asked.
"Yes, I'm sending you and your team back to Nami no Kuni to deliver this letter to Kakashi-senpai and get our first delivery of supplies," said Yamato.
"Hai," said Gai.
Gai and his team left the building and returned to their houses to pack their stuff for the trip. Thirty minutes later Gai and his team arrived at the Northeastern Outpost's gate. Two guards opened the gate door to allow Gai and his team to leave. They headed deep into the forests, heading southeast towards Nami no Kuni.
A few days later, after reaching Nami no Kuni and delivering the letter to Kakashi and receiving supplies, Gai and his team were now headed back to the Northeastern Outpost. The trip back to the base was quiet until Gai stopped his team suddenly.
"What's wrong, Gai-sensei?" asked Lee.
"I'm not sure, I'm sensing something," Gai replied.
Suddenly smoke bombs exploded which reduced Gai and his team's visibility to zero. Soon after the smoke bombs had exploded, Tenten started to choke on the smoke and then passed out.
Gai and Lee suddenly felt the need to sleep. As Lee tried to get to Tenten, his vision began to blur and then everything turned black. Gai, trying to reach both Lee and Tenten, succumbed to the smoke and passed out too.
Lee opens his eyes to find his hands are tied behind his back. Lee looks to his right to find Gai in the same position as well. He then looks to his left to find Tenten also kneeled down with her hands tied behind her back.
"Are they finally awake?" Lee heard a male's voice ask.
"Yes Father, they're all awake now," answered a female's voice.
Lee looked up to see a rather tall person walking toward them. He was wearing a white cloak and a hood over his head. He wore an old ANBU mask that looked similiar to a lamb. He had several others around him also wearing white cloaks. They were not wearing hoods or ANBU masks like the one walking toward him.
"I'm surprised I've gone this long without coming across ninja from Konohagakure," said the man while looking at Tenten's forehead protector. "And don't think about trying anything, that rope you're tied with surpresses your chakra. It's just an added measure to the smoke bombs that have already disrupted your chakra network."
"What's going on here?" Lee asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" said another male. "You have been captured so you can answer for your sins."
"Sins?" Tenten asked, confused.
"Everyone needs to be quiet," said the masked man. "I'll be asking the questions from now on."
The man turned his attention back to the shinobi he had captured.
"Which one of you is the leader?" asked the masked man.
"I am," Gai answered.
"Well leader, you can call me Father," Father said. "And I lead these people in white cloaks and we call ourselves The Saints since we are here to do God's work."
"Nobody cares who you are and who you lead! Just let us go!" Tenten yelled.
"Ha-ha, a fiesty young lady we have here," Father said. "But don't dare interrupt me again you disrespectful brat."
"Then what do you want from us?" asked Lee.
"Have you stopped and think why the dead have risen?" asked Father. "The answer is simple really, the way of the Shinobi has taken this world to a dark place from which it cannot escape from so now God has unleashed his wrath upon this world because of your sins."
"Our sins? We haven't committed-" Lee started but was interrupted.
"The bloodshed, the constant wars, everything a Shinobi stands for is a sin in the eyes of God and that's why the world is the way it is now," said Father.
"Why do you have such a hate for Shinobi?" asked Gai. "Aren't you one yourself?
"I will not lie, I did train as a Shinobi but not to be one but to help God rid the earth of you devil spawn when the time came," Father answered.
The man then took off his hood and removed his ANBU mask from his face, revealing his badly scarred face.
"I've hated Shinobi from a very young age. When I was a boy, my village was burned to the ground during the war between your Konohagakure and that wretched Iwagakure. My mother hid me in the closet right before a couple of Shinobi broke into our house. I watched my parents get murdered by them and after looting the house for anything they wanted to take, they set my house on fire. I did manage to escape, however, it came with a cost as you see my entire head and the right side of my body ended up being badly burned. Shortly after I found God and he spoke to me. He told me that one day he would cast his judgement over the world and if I helpd him, I'd be the first one let into Heaven. So here I am today, with God's judgement, I turn lost souls to God and kill the ones that choose to side with the devil," Father explained.
"I'm sorry for what you've been through but not all Shinobi are evil like the ones that killed your family and burned your house and village down," Lee said.
Father began to laugh, "You're sorry? You're sorry? You don't really mean that and you've lied, all Shinobi are evil. However, if you want to live, you only have to do one thing?"
"And what's that?" Gai asked.
"Repent for your sins by denouncing your alligence to Konohagakure and as a Shinobi and join us with God," Father replied.
Lee and Tenten looked at each other then at Gai who in turn was looking back at them. Gai nodded and they knew their sensei wasn't going to bow down to anyone.
"I think we should do it," Lee whispered Tenten.
"What? Why?" Tenten whispered back, "These people are a bunch of delusional lunatics."
"We don't have to like it but we should do it just to survive," Lee answered. "There's too many of them and I feel like if we don't do this, we're not going to live to see another day."
"Absolutely not, that would not do," Gai replied. "I simply cannot give up on my youthful will of fire."
Gai broke the ropes that were keeping his hands tied behind his back. He quickly charged at Father.
'I guess he figured out the ropes were not really chakra binding rope,' Father thought as he prepared for a hit.
Gai reached father and went for a kick. The kick landed right into the chest of Father but Gai knew it wasn't a clean hit as Father turned into a log.
"As I expected, you must be a taijutsu only Shinobi," Father said. "I have something for that."
A follower of Father appeared behind Gai, who was distracted with Father, his hands began to glow white and slapped Gai's right leg. Suddenly Gai fell to the ground.
"What did you do to me?" Gai asked as he saw the man with his glowing hands.
"He disabled your muscles and your nervous system. You can no longer move normally," Father said.
"Stop! We'll do it!" Lee yelled.
Gai looked at his favorite student in shock. He couldn't believe Lee would give up that easily. He looked at Tenten to see if she would stand with him as he fought back tears from Lee's apparent betrayal.
"I- I'll do it too," Tenten said relunctantly.
Gai couldn't believe his team would just give up like that, give up on their home, their way of life.
"What are you doing?" asked Gai, who was trying to regain control of his body.
"Smart choice kids," Father said. "Place the bags over thier heads and kill this one if he won't repent."
Lee's vision turned black as a cloth bag was placed over his face. Since no one could see him now, he let the tears he had been holding back fall.
'Gai-sensei, please forgive me. I am only doing this just to survive, please understand this,' Lee thought as the tears fell.
"Lee! Tenten!" Gai yelled.
"Shut up, either you decide to join us to repent for your sins and be reunited with your team or you can choose death," said a male.
It was the last thing Lee could hear as he was taken away from the spot they were being held captive. The only thing Lee could do is hope Gai would stop resisting and join just so they could survive.
In the darkness, Lee felt like he was traveling forever. He heard his captors talk amongst themselves. Lee couldn't make out what they were saying because they were whispering. He then heard Roamers but were quickly disposed of.
"Hey, open the gates!" yelled a female.
Lee heard rumbling which he assumed was the Gate the girl said to open.
"What do you want to do with these two, Father?" asked a male.
"Take them to the rehabilitation cells," answered Father. "I'll be there to speak to them later."
Lee was ushered to keep moving. He felt like he was walking across grass for a good distance. He heard a steel door open up and he was ushered to keep moving. Lee felt he was entering inside a building and was being led down a hallway.
"Put the girl in this cell," said the male ushering Lee. "Put the freak with the bushy eyebrows in this cell."
Lee was pushed forward and then the cloth bag was removed from his face. He found himself inside a prison cell. All that was in the cell was a concrete bed, a toilet and sink. He turned around to find a white cloak male with his hood on hiding his face close the cell door.
"Father will be here later some time to speak with you to tell you what you'll be doing," the male said and then walked away.
'Did I make the right decision? Maybe I should have defied them and helped Gai-sensei in defeating these people. No, that Father person had someone who had the ability to shut mme and Gai-sensei's muscles and nervous system down. Along with disrupting Tenten's chakra, we would have not been successful and we would have been killed. Maybe if me and Gai-sensei opened our Inner Gates,' Lee thought.
"Lee? Are you there?" called out a familiar voice. It sounded like it came from the cell on his left.
"Tenten? Is that you?" asked Lee.
"Did we make the right decision?" asked Lee.
"I- I don't know," Tenten replied. "I thought about it on the way to this place. No matter what we could have done to change our situation, with what these people were capable of doing, I think we would have lost the fight and ended up being killed."
"I think I should have helped Gai-sensei and opened up my Inner Gates," Lee said.
"It wouldn't of helped," said a voice that echoed through the cell block.
"That sounded like that Father guy," Tenten whispered.
"I have all kinds of ways of supressing any kind of advantage you think you might have," Father said as he stopped between Lee and Tenten's cell.
"It's a pitty really," Father said. "Here I was going to skip through all the unneccessary work and show you around the compound but now I don't think I can quite trust you yet to fully committing to repenting for your sins."
Lee and Tenten remained quiet.
Father sighed, "Now you're going to have to prove yourselves to me."
"Why are we in these cells anyway?" asked Lee.
"We put all our newcomers here where I talk to them to determine if I can intergrate them into my society or if they need some more convincing where I put them in The Box," Father answered.
"What is The Box?" Lee asked.
"It's the prison's old segregation cell block, where the cell doors are solid metal doors with a small window where you'll be kept isolated for three weeks. In that three weeks, inside your cell, will be a ten minute video that will be playing on how your ninja ways have angered God on the hour every hour. We also might let you out of The Box to do unwanted tasks. After those three weeks, we will hold a ceremony where you will denounce your alliance to Konohagakure and repent for your sins you've committed against God and then if I see that you're telling the truth, I will give you your white cloak to be a full member of The Saints," Father explained.
Lee and Tenten felt like they had made the wrong decision after all. Father smirked as he walked away.
"I have decided that I must place you in The Box," Father said. "See you in three weeks."
Lee and Tenten remained quiet as they listened to Father's footsteps fade away.
"We were better off dying trying to fight them," Tenten said.
"Possible," Lee replied.
Two people entered the cell block and walked to Lee and Tenten's cell. They opened the cell doors.
"Alright, you two are headed to The Box," said the male facing Lee's cell.
Lee and Tenten walked out of the cell they were placed in and followed the guard in front of them, the other guard was following behind. They left the cell block and walked down the hall passing two other cell block before the guards stopped.
Lee and Tenten entered another cell block but inside this cell block, the cell doors were solid metal with a small square window. Lee and Tenten were walked to the end of the cell block where they were placed in their isolation cells and the doors were shut.
The only thing in the cell was the same concrete bed, sink and toilet. Lee sighed as he sat down and stared at the floor. He hoped Gai-sensei somehow escaped The Saints and that he wasn't angry with his decision to join The Saints.
"You must be asking yourself, why are you here?" said a male's voice. Lee realized it was the video Father was talking about.
"You're here because you want to repent for your sins against God. Now you're wondering, how did I commit sins? The answer is simple, being a Shinobi from a Shinobi village. Shinobi are the root of all evil and God has frowned upon the failure of the world he created has become..."
Lee began to tun out the video because he felt so bad by betraying Gai-sensei like he did. Lee closed his eyes and before he knew it, he was asleep.
"Alright, get up!" said a guard.
Lee woke up to find two guards in his cell. He had been in the cell for at least two days with the same video playing every hour.
"There is some work you are needed for," said the second guard.
Lee was ushered outside. He saw a brick wall that went around the compound. He looked around and found the front gate. Two doors made of solid steel.
"Stop looking around, you got a job to do," said the guard that was following behind Lee.
Lee followed the guard that was in front of him to the back of the compound where he saw a fire and people throwing something into that fire.
"You're going to help them burn Roamers we killed that were walking around our compound," the guard in front of Lee said.
Lee walked over to the people burning bodies and began helping them, throwing Roamer bodies into the massive fire.
"So you're one of the newcomers?" said a young male with green eyes and short brown hair.
"I guess you can say that," Lee said, keeping his answer short.
"My name is Nagoyaka. I was just let out of The Box the day before you were brought in," continued the young man. "What's yours?"
"Lee," he answered. He didn't really want to talk with the boy but he wasn't going to be rude either.
Lee listened to the kid talk about his life before the Roamers as they both threw body after body into the fire. Lee, however, didn't share much and kept his answers to the kid's questions to a minimum. After the day of listening to the kid, Lee didn't realize that night had fallen as they watched the fire slowly die down. After the fire was no longer a threat of spreading, guards from The Box ushered Lee back towards the front of the compound. When he turned the corner, Lee saw Father walking. Father nodded at Lee but Lee didn't return the favor.
"Father! Father!" yelled a female who was running from the gate.
"Hikari, what is it?" asked Father.
"I've found more Shinobi. They're holding up in a cave about fifteen miles to the south," Hikari answered.
"Well, we better move and and intercept them," Father said.
'Whoever they are, I hope they're not in the cave when these people show up,' Lee thought.
Lee was then pushed to keep moving.
"Nobody told you to stop, keep moving," the guard from behind Lee said.
Lee woke up to the sound of the video playing once again. He didn't know what time it was or if it was day or night. He then felt the building shake a little as dust and dirt fell from the ceiling.
"What was that?" he asked.
Lee stayed quiet but he couldn't hear anything else. Suddenly he heard someone shout outside his cell that echoed through the cell block.
"You fucking bitch!" yelled the voice. "How dare you impersonate Ino!"
'Did they just say Ino?' Lee thought.
Suddenly Lee saw someone familiar, with kunai in hand staring at the wall. The blonde hair gave it away.
"It's Naruto-kun," Lee said. "How did he..."
Lee and Naruto made eye contact and Naruto looked surprised to see him.
"Centipede Brows," Naruto said.
"Centipede Brows," the voice said but sounded distant.
"Centipede Brows!" yelled Naruto.
Lee looked up from the floor. He didn't realize he had been so deep in thought thinking about everything that had happened in the last few weeks.
"Are you okay?" asked Naruto. "You looked like you were really spaced out there."
"I'm fine, Naruto-kun," said Lee.