Enjoy!
The Long Way Home
Part 14
Experimentation
Chapter 3/3
That Nobu guy looked pissed.
So far Naruto had been knocked out, his hands and feet bound and had woken up in a musty smelling darkened room with no windows. Through the open doorway he could clearly see into a well lit room where three other guys including the very pissed off looking Nobu were heatedly talking. Unfortunately the conversation wasn't so heated that he could actually make out what they were saying.
He'd been knocked out before he'd had a chance to retaliate, which was really frustrating. He should have done it as soon as Sasuke had run but the knife against his throat had warned him not to. He regretted it now of course since with his hands and feet bound as they were he wasn't in much of a position to free himself.
Thankfully someone had been thoughtful enough to at least redress him so he wasn't naked anymore and he was vaguely surprised to note they had mistakenly put Sasuke's shirt on him instead of his own. Of course Sasuke had only been wearing his pants when he'd hightailed it out of camp so there was no way for them to know whose clothes they were dressing him in. But the shirt smelt like his absent friend and it made him think about what had happened to Sasuke.
All in all, Naruto wasn't sure what to make of Sasuke's escape. On one hand he was happy that Sasuke had gotten away but on the other hand he was pretty angry that the asshole hadn't stayed to fight. Though Naruto might not think twice about taking on six guys by himself, no matter the consequences, he had to assume that Sasuke thought the odds were a little too overwhelming for one person otherwise Sasuke would never have left.
Of course he didn't entirely understand what that meant for him. Did Sasuke have some kind of plan, or did he just use the chance to escape and save himself? Well Sasuke was a lot of things but Naruto would never call him a coward.
And sure, he might be selfish sometimes but it had been obvious that Sasuke had some kind of plan otherwise nothing he'd said to that Nobu guy made a whole lot of sense. After all they had a decent amount of money but it was nothing to gloat about the way Sasuke had been. Plus Sasuke had gone out of his way to point out that he would have been happy to trade their wildly exaggerated wealth for Naruto if he'd thought the bandits could be trusted. So then why run? That was what Naruto couldn't figure out.
At least Sasuke's suggestion that they had something worthwhile stealing seemed to mean that Naruto was still a prisoner. Which meant he was alive. Which was good. Assuming of course the bandits believed Sasuke might still be willing to trade what he had for his friend's life. That was a lot of assuming, especially where Sasuke was concerned.
Okay so Sasuke might have said some things to keep the bandits interested enough to spare him for the time being, but Naruto wasn't going to rely on the idea that this also meant Sasuke had a plan to come back for him.
If there was such a plan, he had no idea what Sasuke intended to do so for now it was best to think he had to get out of this on his own, just to be on the safe side. Besides the idea of Sasuke turning up just to find that Naruto had already saved himself was worth a good few days of gloating at the very least. If Sasuke had to save him, well, the gloating wouldn't be half as fun considering how a smug Sasuke never ever seemed to be able to let anything go.
But the idea of being his own hero was proving trickier than he would have hoped. His hands and feet were tied so securely they had started to feel numb and he was lying on plain, roughly laid wooden floorboards in a room with no furniture. At least he was in a room on his own for now and not all of the bandits seemed to be a part of the discussion in the next room either.
Some must have been outside keeping guard, which made the possibility of escape a little easier for him. He flexed his hands a few times to try and get the feeling to return and thought of what to do. Getting his feet free was going to be the first priority. Without the use of his legs, he wasn't sure what he could accomplish if anything.
As he wiggled around a little more on the floor, one of the bandits glanced into the room and walked away from his fuming comrade to squat down next to Naruto. Naruto looked up into a face with deep dark blue eyes and a very thoughtful though serious expression. He recognized him as the guy that had taken Sasuke's sword.
Out of the three men in the cabin this one looked the youngest but also the calmest. The way he looked at Naruto actually reminded him a little of Sasuke when Sasuke was trying to figure something out in his head. This observation didn't make him feel very reassured.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto replied fiercely, "Remember it, 'cause it's the name of the guy that'll be kicking your ass!"
Much to Naruto's surprise the guy actually smiled just a little at the boast as though the answer had given him a pleasant surprise. He'd obviously expected Naruto to be fearful.
"My name is Juro. Tell me Naruto, this friend of yours, he promised he would deal. I think Nobu will take him up on his deal if only we could find him."
"If he doesn't want to be found, you won't find him," Naruto told Juro. "He'll find you."
"You're sure?"
"Yes!"
Just after he'd said it, Naruto wondered whether he should have. What if Sasuke did intend to track the bandits down and Naruto had just ruined the surprise by telling them to expect him?
"Will he deal?" Juro asked curiously. "Does he value your life?"
Well that was a tricky question and 'probably' wasn't much of an answer even though it was the best one Naruto could truthfully offer up.
"I'd like to think so."
Thankfully Juro took this answer at face value and stood up again as though he was going to leave Naruto alone.
"Hey wait! I've been tied up for hours, how about a bathroom break?"
Juro looked him over carefully for a few moments.
"If you can hold it for now, I'll get someone to look after you in a little while."
Naruto didn't want to be demanding, especially because he didn't actually need to take a leak right now and was more hoping someone would just untie his legs long enough to get them working and kick a few asses. So he just nodded instead.
Naruto had been waiting patiently for his chance and finally it came in the form of the third man from the room beyond coming in and crouching down by his feet.
"Ah finally!" Naruto said relieved. "I've been waiting for ages to take a leak."
"Yeah, yeah," the man grumbled.
Naruto felt the rope around his ankles go slack and a rush of pins and needles as blood flowed back into his feet. The new guy didn't give him a chance to get over it though and hauled him roughly to his feet by his bound hands while Naruto scrambled to obey the silent command to get up. The problem was that it was really tough to walk at the moment and he didn't like his chances of walking three feet unassisted let alone make a break for it.
And besides, it had been at least three hours since Juro had visited him and he really did need a bathroom right now. So he let himself be led with the guy holding onto his arm to a little room just off the main one. The main gestured him inside the cramped little space and Naruto complied almost falling backwards at the smell that assaulted his nose when he did so.
"Get over it princess," the man told him gruffly. "A pit is the height of plumbing in a place like this. Be thankful it's been cleaned out sometime last month."
And apparently the only facilities six guys shared for at least the past month if his nose told him anything.
His hands were bound in front of him so it wasn't too difficult to take care of things and once he had finished, he stepped back and turned, happy his feet were once again under his own control and ready to get part two of his plan underway.
Nobu was now sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, scowling down at the wooden floor as if it had just insulted him. Juro had his eyes on their guest, though he didn't look worried or suspicious. However Naruto spotted Sasuke's sword, sheathed, though within easy reach of the thief. Still, he didn't want to waste this opportunity and besides, with on and off sparring over the last few weeks, Naruto had become adept at dodging that very same sword wielded by a guy with a lot more skill than he figured Juro had.
So when the other guy grabbed his shoulder to get him moving, Naruto shot his elbow back into the guy's face and sprang forward. He figured he had a few moments before Juro could reach the sword and instead went for Nobu who was rising from his chair, drawing that sharp knife of his. Naruto kicked the knife out of his hand and stepped in to deliver a vicious head-butt. Nobu fell back into his chair just as he simultaneously heard Juro call out for help combined with the sound of a sword sliding out of a wooden sheath.
Turning on Juro he backed up a few steps, waiting for him to make the first move but Juro held the sword out at the ready, still smart enough in this situation to know when to wait for backup. But Naruto couldn't wait and stepped in a little too hastily and barely managed to move to the side quick enough to avoid getting badly hurt by the wild swing sent his way in retaliation.
As it was he felt the blade slice across his arm but at least he was close enough now to hit Juro across the face with both of his bound hands. It was a solid hit but he'd been unable to put a lot of force behind it making Juro stagger but remain on his feet.
The door flew open in that moment and Naruto turned to find himself staring down the length of an arrow being pointed at him. In the few seconds it took for him to decide whether it would be wise to keep up the attack or not, he was tackled from behind by Juro and the pair rolled till Juro ended up on top. Unfortunately for Naruto with his hands still bound the way they were, there was no way to get the upper hand and even if he did, he'd probably just get an arrow in his back for the effort.
Juro stared down at him with wide, amazed eyes while a drop of blood from his newly torn lip dripped off and hit Naruto's cheek
"What are you?" Juro asked with what might even have been a little fear.
"What, don't people fight back in this country?"
"Rarely," Juro admitted. "Okay Naruto, I'm gonna let you up now and if you don't behave I'm pretty sure Araki is gonna shoot you. He's a good shot and quicker than you, I promise."
Naruto wasn't really in a position to disbelieve it. He grit his teeth and nodded while Juro got up and marched Naruto back into the small room again. He bound his feet back up all under the watchful gaze of the bowman and not giving Naruto a moment to resist.
"That was stupid by the way," Juro told him as he straightened up to leave. "Nobu was talking about killing you anyway and just ambushing your friend if and when he comes to trade for you. But you've attacked him twice now so I'm not sure if we'll be able to dissuade him from it this time. I hope for your sake it takes him a while to wake up."
Naruto rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling, a puff of air escaping his lungs in frustration at the failed attempt to escape.
"Well, that was pointless."
"That's pretty much what I say about all your plans, but you never listen," a voice below him remarked.
Earlier
Sasuke marked the spot carefully and took a few steps backwards, rubbing his dirty hands against his pants and memorizing the location. He would need to come back here and dig up their belongings again once Naruto was free.
He had no intention of taking their stuff anywhere near those bandits because he had no intention of making any deals. His plan was simple, scope out the area the bandits were holed up in and take them out one by one, preferably without getting Naruto killed in the process. Seemed like an easy enough plan.
Of course he was also hoping that the bandits did assume he would want to trade since the idea of getting their huge riches was the only thing that had probably kept Naruto alive. Well he hoped so anyway. And since Sasuke did not actually have any huge riches to offer like he had suggested, taking along their meagre belongings would only slow him down rather than help him out.
Sasuke waited it out for a little while before retracing his steps back to the spot where they had been ambushed. He had taken great pains in covering his own tracks once he had been free of the clearing but he was still able to make it back to the area and locate another set of tracks that lead off in the opposite direction.
It took some doing and a lot of walking out past the west of the river, but eventually Sasuke found himself crouched down behind a few bushes, looking toward a squat little rundown cabin. The area was almost overgrown by the trees and plants, which was good news for Sasuke. The hard to define perimeter surrounding the cabin would make it that much easier to sneak closer.
The cabin might have looked rundown but it sure wasn't abandoned. At least three men were out keeping lookout over the surrounding forest and Sasuke recognized them as three of the robbers from before. However, neither the guy that had taken his sword nor the one who had threatened Naruto was in sight. So there were at least two men in the cabin with their captive, probably three. Two of the men surrounding the cabin had bows which was unfortunate if they turned out to be any good with them. The third didn't seem to have any weapon that Sasuke could see.
Finding the cabin had taken the better part of the afternoon, but the sun hadn't set just yet. None of the lookouts seemed to be watching his location so he made himself a little more comfortable and waited for the night to come.
Sasuke was jolted out of his thoughts a few hours later when some sort of commotion started up in the little cabin. There was no way he was ready to use this to his advantage. For one thing, he wasn't really in a good spot to try and take out the guys outside yet and for another who knew whether this was an attempt by Naruto to try and escape or just some petty inner squabble between thieves.
Whatever it was, it didn't go on for long before Sasuke heard a shout and one of the archers from the side of the cabin left his post to run up the stairs to aid whoever had called to him.
Well maybe this was an opportunity of a sort. Sasuke left his hiding spot and circled through the dense trees to the side now left wide open from observation thanks to the lookout's departure and made a dash across to the side of the cabin. There were no windows here though and whatever had been happening inside had died down upon the arrival of the archer. strangely though he could hear muted voices coming from within but not coming through the walls.
The cabin didn't sit flush against the ground and instead sat on a series of wooden pylons leaving a two foot high gap between the cabin floor and the actual ground. Thinking that this was perhaps his best chance of doing some proper recon, Sasuke crawled into the gap moving further under the cabin, stopping when he heard something body-like hit the boards above him.
He turned over and laid down in the cool, slightly damp earth, propping his upper body up with his arms as best he could to get his face close to the boards above him hoping to hear and perhaps see a little of what was going on inside. Dim light filtered through the inch thick gaps in the boards around him except for just above him where he had heard that thump.
"That was stupid by the way. Nobu was talking about killing you anyway and just ambushing your friend if and when he comes to trade for you. But you've attacked him twice now so I'm not sure if we'll be able to dissuade him from it this time. I hope for your sake it takes him a while to wake up."
He heard the creak of the old boards and the body above him shifted as whoever had been speaking left the room.
"Well, that was pointless."
Sasuke smirked at the boards thinking how untrue that statement really was. After all, he had ended up finding Naruto at the very least due to that little disturbance.
"That's pretty much what I say about all your plans, but you never listen," Sasuke told the boards quietly.
All sounds above him ceased for a couple of heartbeats and then there was a lot of scuffling before an eye appeared in one of the gaps, lit up by that dim light somewhere off to his left.
"You came!" Naruto exclaimed apparently both excited and surprised. Thankfully he still managed to convey it in a low enough whisper so not to attract the unwanted attention of whomever it was who had just left the room.
"You sound surprised," Sasuke noted.
"Well, yeah. I mean not really. I just," Naruto sighed, "I guess I didn't really know what to think. You sort of just ran off."
It had actually never occurred to Sasuke that Naruto might think he'd run off just to save himself.
Sure, he'd taken the opportunity to give himself better footing to deal with these bastards, but he'd imagined that Naruto would believe that Sasuke would come back for him. After all, Naruto showed a lot of trust in him considering he hadn't done all that much to earn it in the last few years. Naruto was just a trusting sort of person he supposed.
But then of course, the last time Naruto had been a prisoner, he'd been surprised to see that Sasuke hadn't just up and left him that time either. So maybe the trust wasn't quite as strong as Sasuke had imagined after all.
"I'm not surprised that the idea of strategy is alien to you," Sasuke muttered.
"So fine, what's the plan then, genius?"
Okay so Sasuke didn't really have a plan either. Most of the plan he did have mostly involved him getting to this place and he'd figured the rest would just come to him after he'd had a chance to see what he was up against. And sure, he could sneak around camp, maybe take out the lookouts one by one but the problem with that plan was that it relied too much on luck.
"How many are in there with you?" Sasuke asked.
"Three now, I think the fourth one might have gone back outside. I'm pretty sure Nobu might still be unconscious but that other guy has probably come back around by now and-"
"You knocked two of them out?"
"Of course I did, I'm not helpless ya know! If that archer hadn't come in when he did I would have gotten all three."
"Could you do it again?"
Naruto paused for a moment, which told Sasuke a lot right then.
"I doubt it. They've got my hands and feet tied really tightly and without chakra I don't think I can get loose. Plus I'm pretty sure they're not ever going to let me go to the bathroom again."
Well you had it give Naruto some credit, he sure had guts.
If little brains sometimes.
Well there went both his backup and his distraction.
"C'mon Sasuke," Naruto urged after Sasuke had been quiet for a little too long. "You didn't come all this way just to let them kill me, did you? I think Nobu will when he wakes up. I uh, think I kind of pissed him off when I hit him before."
"You're showing an amazing lack of trust in me," Sasuke snapped in irritation. "No matter how many times over the past three months you make it tempting for me to leave you to your own mistakes have I ever done so? You're the one who's always threatening to leave."
"You can't blame this on me, it could easily have been you tied up in a thieves' hideout if they'd put a knife to your throat instead of mine. And what do you mean always? It was only that once."
That's right, Sasuke realised, that first time it hadn't been...
It was a stupid idea, Sasuke knew it as soon as it crossed his mind. But if Naruto was right and the archer was back at his post there was no way to sneak up on any of the sentries without another seeing him. Then he would either get shot or get himself surrounded when the alarm call went up. It was possible to save them both without using his stupid idea, but it just wasn't all that probable.
And besides, Naruto wasn't the only one who didn't seem to trust him all that much. But unlike Naruto's lack of trust with certain things, this one he could actually use.
"They will kill him," Sasuke said quietly. "That Nobu didn't look all that keen about killing to begin with, but that was nerves. Nerves make people do a lot of crazy things including snapping and going off the deep end. If he wants him dead, there might not be a lot I can do about that now."
"What?" Naruto asked in confusion. "Ah, Sasuke?"
Sasuke ignored the question. "You think he needs being protected from me, I can almost understand that, considering. But what about being protected from other people as well? Especially when you don't trust me to save him. After all, what do you think I would do in a no-win situation like this?"
From the little of him Sasuke could see, Naruto could not have looked more confused than if Sasuke had told him the sky was purple. But Sasuke didn't really care, he hadn't actually aimed that speech at Naruto.
"How about living up to your boast, or are you just talk after all?" Sasuke prodded.
"Sasuke, are you out of..."
It was almost like a switch had been flipped. He could see Naruto's blue eye and part of his face frowning in confusion, then his eye flared wider, red chased away blue and Sasuke found himself staring into the scowling eye of Kurama instead.
He heard a low, deep, dark growl and then the sound of something being torn. Then the eye was gone and Sasuke heard footsteps, creaking off in the direction the last pair had gone.
Without wasting more time, Sasuke scrambled back out towards the side of the cabin and searched out his first target. It was the archer that had run into the house, who now had his back to him, watching the trees ahead and completely unaware of Sasuke. He could be on him in seconds, he just had to wait for...
An ear-piercing scream shot out through the night air, making the archer jump a little and begin to turn his head. Before he finished the movement though, Sasuke had crept up behind him and put an arm around his throat and squeezed. The man struggled for a while but was unable to pry his attackers arm loose as he panicked and tried to get free. As soon as the man fell unconscious, Sasuke let him drop and recovered the bow, fitting and arrow and searched out another target.
Both of the other two men had run toward the front of the cabin when they'd heard the scream. Sasuke let fly with an arrow, hitting the second archer in the leg and was about to reach for another when the door opened, spilling light into the night and onto the last man who had just reached the doorway.
All Sasuke could see from his position was the last bandit now hurriedly backing up a few steps away from the doorway, holding a shaking dagger out in front of him as though it would protect him. Obviously whatever he saw inside was scaring him badly.
Kurama stepped out of the doorway, reached forward and grabbed the wrist with the knife and wrenched it upward. Even from here Sasuke could hear the crunch of bone and the man fell back onto the ground screaming in agony, clutching at his ruined wrist. Kurama stepped over him and continued onwards as calm as could be.
By now Sasuke had another arrow fitted and ready but kept the bow aimed downwards. The bandits were apparently all taken care of but that didn't mean he was out of danger just yet. He wanted to be ready for a confrontation, but he didn't really want to provoke another one either.
"I'm assuming you didn't actually kill anyone," Sasuke said to gain the demon's attention.
Red eyes finally did turn on him and Kurama gave him a deep frown.
"Would you care?"
"Not especially. Naruto can get touchy about it though."
Kurama looked around, apparently taking in the groaning man with an arrow in his leg and the unconscious man at Sasuke's feet.
"You are annoying," Kurama told him. "If you refused to help him, he would have been killed. I didn't know what you might do. You forced me to act."
"I was counting on that," Sasuke told him.
"I don't like being used," Kurama informed him darkly.
"I don't like you at all," Sasuke returned bluntly. "But if you insist that you can help Naruto, protect him and use more power than him you might as well be useful."
Well Kurama wasn't attacking him even though he looked for all the world like he wanted to. Even with the look though Sasuke began to feel confident enough to relax his hold on the bow even more.
"I could kill you here. Naruto might think the bandits got the better of you," Kurama told him as though testing the idea out in his own mind.
"Even if he believed that, you said you didn't want to hurt him and that me being dead would hurt him."
"Yes but he wouldn't be angry with me," Kurama pointed out. "He'd hate the thieves."
"So he'd just be hurt then."
Kurama spent a few moments watching him with an unimpressed look.
"There is a reason I didn't know whether you would endanger his life or not," Kurama said eventually. "It is because you're not the type of person anyone should trust. One day you will do something that will even make Naruto think you deserve to die. That will be a very happy day for me."
"I think we both know that even when he does think I deserve it he never actually wants it to happen."
"I notice you didn't deny the eventuality though."
Sasuke reached down and picked up the dropped quiver of arrows, slinging the strap over his shoulder before giving Kurama a bored look.
"It's still early in the week, I wouldn't discount anything yet."
At first Kurama didn't look pleased by Sasuke's glib attitude but then he suddenly smiled rather unpleasantly.
"At least your trick did allow me to prove something at the very least. While you were unable to help the situation today, I was. I wonder which one of us he might rely more on in the future."
Sasuke tried not to show how annoyed he was by that statement but didn't have a chance to respond before Naruto suddenly blinked, blue replaced red, and he looked around at the groaning devastated bandits with alarm.
"What the fuck just happened?"
Sasuke let the rest of the tension ease out of his body. Well at least he hadn't had to fight to get Naruto back this time.
"Grab that other bow and any weapons they have. We might as well rob them since they were so persistent in trying to rob us. I need to go get my sword so I will see to the ones inside."
"Sasuke! What the hell?"
"Kurama," Sasuke replied simply. "I'll explain later."
"But Sasuke... Did I...?"
Naruto was looking more than a little distressed standing amongst the fallen groaning or unconscious men.
Sasuke walked over to him, grabbed his chin and forced him to look away from the injured men and focus on him instead.
"None of this was you. You were willing enough to fight your way out ten minutes ago anyway, does it matter who did it in the end? And besides, they wanted to kill you, remember? None of them are dead," well he assumed the men inside were still alive, "so they are better off than you would have been if we'd let them do what they planned. If you feel sorry for them I may have to hit you."
Naruto still didn't look very happy but Sasuke could see he was trying to understand what Sasuke was telling him.
"Oh, right. Well I guess it's nice to have a little backup. Even when I can't remember any of it," Naruto muttered. "That's really annoying by the way."
Sasuke didn't reply and went to walk past Naruto into the cabin but Naruto grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"Are you okay?" Naruto asked him.
Sasuke had already shaken his arm off but the question still made him pause.
"Am I okay? You were the one captured and tied up."
"So I've got a few bruises maybe," Naruto replied as though it was nothing. "Plus I'm kinda getting sick of getting cut with your sword when you aren't even holding it, but I'll get over it. I wanted to make sure you didn't get hurt."
"Of course not."
"Good. Um, look Sasuke, I get now that what you said before was to get Kurama to come out and help, but I didn't think you would have just left me to die. I didn't mean to make you think that's what I thought when I was surprised you came for me."
"It is what you thought," Sasuke told him levelly.
When Naruto didn't reply, Sasuke went to move past him again but once more Naruto stopped him.
"I guess I'm still not really used to you turning up when I need you," Naruto admitted. "I mean not that I really needed you or anything," he went on to say, perhaps realizing that admitting such things might have sounded a little weak in the face of his rival. But then his expression cleared and he gave Sasuke a small smile. "But then you always do now. You know, show up. I just want you to know that I really do trust you, ya know?"
Sasuke would have thought that such a sentiment would make him roll his eyes or at least cause some sort of derision. But when that failed to happen it sort of left him at a loss.
"Yeah well, don't get too reliant on me saving your ass all the time," Sasuke replied awkwardly. "If you make it a habit, I might start to think keeping you around isn't worth it after all."
Annoyingly, Naruto seemed to see through the bluster and his smile widened.
"Uh huh, sure teme. You think my ass is totally worth saving."
Sasuke smirked at him. "Perhaps, though I'm not convinced regarding the rest of you."
Sasuke finally managed to pull away from him this time, taking advantage of Naruto's confusion over his last comment. So while he let that last jab settle into Naruto's understanding he made his way toward the cabin to get his sword. Just before he stepped in through the doorway he heard Naruto suddenly shout.
"You asshole, Sasuke!"
TBC in Part 15