The God of Wind:

Hey everyone, and especially to the guest reviewer who enquired if everything was okay, I'm doing alright. Dealing with something called PANDAS. Yes it sounds ridiculous, but it happens when you have strep for too long and it creates issues like OCD and unusual tics. So yeah, I was dealing with that and was actually in the hospital for a few days this past week due to it. So I'm glad to be getting back at it and thanks for the patience on this late chapter. It kind of slipped my mind to post it.

The Humming Mist Arc:

Chapter 13: And God laughs.

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The prison lay quiet and still. All the shinobi were in their cells sound asleep. Well, almost all. In his cell, Naruto was wide awake. The quiet scratch of his pencil blended with the loud snores of Danjiro a couple cells down. He worked by the dim yellow light of a seal he carved into the wall. It wasn't much, but it was enough to let him work. Sasuke kept watch silently, knees curled to his chest as he stared into the semi-dark corridor.

Thirteen days. They'd been in that Minamoto pricks private prison for nearly two weeks. At this point, Naruto had to put more weight into the possibility that their team might not find them. It was very possible Itojiro had covered his tracks too well. That just made his work all the more important. Over the past five days, he'd made a bit of progress. At least enough to loosen the restriction on their chakra some. That had made their scouting efforts more successful as he could create clones to transform into animals and explore the prison.

So far, they had made a fairly complete map of the level. Though they'd yet to find any other entrances besides the stairs and the staff exits, all of which were heavily guarded.

Naruto made another note on his breakdown of the bastardized prisoner seal. With a sigh he set the pencil down and rubbed his tired eyes. He should probably get to sleep. It wouldn't do to be tired if he had a fight tomorrow. Naruto placed a finger to the light seal, chakra pulsed through it, shutting the light off.

"Any luck?"

Naruto groaned as he started to seal away his materials. "A little. There's still an issue with the timing between shutting off the kill switch and the redundant motor restriction array. Both have to be deactivated and removed at once, and that's tricky."

Sasuke clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Guess we'll have to continue tomorrow. Think Minamoto is still looking forward to our fights?"

A snort of laughter escaped Naruto. He wasn't quite used to Sasuke having a sense of humor. They'd fought once each since the team fight, though neither on the same night. Ever since they came to an agreement, they'd put minimal effort into the fights. When they broke out, they didn't want the enemy to have more knowledge of their skills than necessary. Not to mention it kept them fresh and uninjured, which meant more time to study the prison layout. Naruto's third opponent had been taken care of swiftly. A slash to the ground to kick up dust and a chop to the back of the neck had gotten the trick done. Sasuke had been even faster in his fight, using a genjutsu with his Sharingan to put the woman he faced to sleep. According to the Uchiha, Takeru hadn't looked very pleased after that last one. Though it had cost them a visit and some punishment from the seal.

The next day the two got up to their usual tricks, using Naruto's disguised clones to scout the layout of the prison. At this point, the only area they hadn't been able to explore was the arena itself. Naruto resolved to plant some transformed clones during his next fight.

That evening, he got his chance. After a day where he'd discreetly timed the guard patrols and spent time reading from the admittedly limited selection in the library, Naruto had returned to his cell. He was contemplating a nap to get some extra rest, when someone pounded on the wooden cell door.

"Oi, Naruto, you're fighting tonight. You can stay put Uchiha, you've got the night off."

Naruto glanced up to see Denki, a guard he'd become familiar with. He was a little soft in the midsection, his grey uniform shirt stretched a little too tight, with thinning blond hair and a mustache. The man wasn't terrible, a bit of a hard ass, but he was fair. He had a wife and daughter at home, Naruto had overheard him bragging about his daughter glowingly.

"Well, I'll be back in a bit." Naruto told Sasuke, who was lying on his stomach reading a book from the library. The Uchiha grunted but didn't turn around.

Naruto pushed himself out of his futon and dusted off his hands, before following after Denki. He didn't actually need the guide anymore, but there was no chance they'd let him wander to the arena on his own.

Though it didn't escape his notice that the number of guards they sent to fetch them had decreased. 'We've been quiet, aside from needling him. Hopefully Minamoto is letting his guard down.' His match was halfway through the night's event.

Naruto exited the tunnel, to the familiar roar of boos from the crowd. They hadn't warmed up to him and Sasuke at all, they'd quickly become the villains of the fights. He'd gotten used to it. The bright lights bore down hotly on the floor. There were already drying patches of blood turning the dirt to mud the smell of iron mixed oddly with the smell of fried noodles and other delicious foods. The noise faded into the background, and he only focused on his opponent. Across from him stood a mostly unremarkable man. Short brown hair, dark eyes, not very tall, or very short, nor fat or thin. The only exception was a nasty scar over his right eye. He wore a long-sleeved red top and black pants,

The man offered him a thin-lipped smile and introduced himself. "I'm Tsubasa, apparently Lord Takeru wants me to draw a good fight out of you."

"Well, good luck with that."

Their fight was as unremarkable as his opponent's appearance. Tsubasa's first move was to perform the tiger seal and unleash a basic fireball jutsu. It was strong, but nothing compared to even Sasuke's.

He easily deduced what Takeru's angle was. 'Make me face a fire user to cancel out the wind. I could overpower it with wind, but that'd just give him the show he wants.' Naruto felt mischievous, so instead of countering with a jutsu, he eyed the gap between the fireball and the ground. With nimble flexibility he curled into a ball and rolled underneath the flames. The heat on his back was intense, but it didn't burn. While the glare of the fire obscured it, Naruto created a pair of clones in the form of rats. They scurried to safety unnoticed as he rolled to the other side of the fire ball.

On the other side he came out of his roll. Quick as a flash, he dashed towards his opponent. Another quick chop to the back of the neck ended it.

As he left the arena, Naruto glanced up to Takeru, who wore a furious expression. He gave the man a cheeky wink, holding back laughter as he entered the dark tunnel. After the usual process of returning his pouch and sword, Naruto made his way back to his cell.

When he got back, Sasuke glanced up. He saw the grin on Naruto's face and groaned. "What did you do now?"

"Eh, I poked the bear a little. Takeru thought he'd draw a fight out of me by putting a Fire Style user against me. So, I didn't use any jutsu and ended it quick like."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "If you keep antagonizing him, it's probably going to backfire on us. We don't want the guard routines changing up."

Naruto shrugged off Sasuke's words. This was the first time he'd outright tried to annoy Takeru. Though maybe he'd take Sasuke's advice into account and try to please Takeru just slightly in the next fight. He'd still be careful not to get injured. That evening, after they'd faked going to bed, they were up once more.

As Sasuke stood guard, Naruto's mind was split between the task at hand and something he'd been contemplating for several days.

"Hey, Sasuke, what do you think about letting Haku in on the plan?"

"Why?" Sasuke sounded curious, so he wasn't just denying the idea out of hand. Naruto paused mid stroke as he took notes on the seal.

"I mean … he's been nothing but helpful. I think he's pretty trustworthy." Naruto could see Sasuke wasn't convinced, so he added, "Plus, even if we remove our own seals, it'd just be us if anything went wrong. Having one more person could be useful."

"Huh, guess you're right."

Both of them knew Sasuke was mostly humoring him, but Naruto didn't mind. Ever since they'd been here Haku had been a good friend. He'd helped them out and proven himself to be kind and trustworthy. He couldn't stand the thought of just escaping and leaving Haku. It turned his stomach to even consider it.

"Good, let's tell him tomorrow."

Naruto got back to working on the seal, there was a new vigor. He couldn't wait to tell Haku.

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The next day, Naruto led Haku to their cell under the pretense of talking more about the Hidden Mist. They'd waited until most of the prison residents were having lunch in the cafeteria. Haku seemed to sense something strange the second he stepped into the small room. He glanced around, likely noting the lack of sound. Every other resident of the block was gone, leaving them in relative silence.

"Something tells me you don't want to talk about my village, Naruto."

"Sorry about tricking ya, but we wanted to let you in on something we've been working on."

Haku frowned thoughtfully. "Let me in on something?"

Naruto glanced to Sasuke. If they'd misjudged Haku, this could blow up in their faces. But he had faith they were making the right choice. Sasuke gave him an approving nod.

"Yeah, we're planning to escape this place, and we wanted to know if you wanted in."

Haku's gaze sharpened, for once he looked every bit a shinobi.

"Explain."

Explain, they did. After sitting down, Naruto relayed the plan so far to Haku as best he could, with help from Sasuke, who'd been mostly responsible for keeping track of the information on guard patrols and the prison layout. Fifteen minutes later, they were showing Haku the map, and going over the plan.

"From what we can figure, the guards are thinnest the day after a fight night. Our best guess right now is some of them escort VIP's home. That … or it has something to do with the fighters that occasionally disappear." Naruto explained.

The three shared a grim look. Haku, who had been here longer, had pointed out the fact fighters occasionally disappeared after big fights. It had happened after Naruto's second fight. A man with a bloodline that let him extend and contract his fingers at will, just disappeared over night despite surviving his fight. Given how Takeru talked about them, there were two possibilities. Either he grew bored of his 'toys' and had them disposed of. Or more likely, he sold them off. According to Haku, this wasn't the only suspected illegal arena in the continent. Sasuke spoke up next.

"We plan to escape on one of those days, when we'll have the least resistance. It should be easy to slip out, hopefully. After his last fight, Naruto found secret exits for the guests at the arena." Sasuke pointed to the drawing of the arena on the map, and two squares on either side of it. They had just been filled in last night. "That's where we're going to escape, since it will be an area, they won't think needs guarding."

Haku nodded with a thoughtful expression. "Might I make a suggestion?"

Naruto nodded easily enough.

"What if you released the rest of the prisoners at the same time? Surely that would cause a large distraction, which will make it easier to slip out unnoticed."

Though the suggestion was framed such that it sounded like a tactical move, Naruto could see through it. He'd known him for only a couple of weeks, but already Naruto could tell the kind of person Haku was. Like Choji, he was much kinder than was normal for a shinobi. No doubt he wanted to make sure everyone had a chance at escape instead of just leaving them. Internally, Naruto was grateful. He too had been wrestling with that idea, though he hadn't brought it up to Sasuke. Luckily, the Uchiha seemed amenable to it.

"That sounds like a good idea, we'll add it to the plan. We'll wait for the guards to come and unlock the cells for the day, it'll be the perfect time to release them without anyone realizing."

The three chatted for a while longer, namely about how Haku could fit into the day-to-day plans. He had much greater leeway than either of them, so the Mist Shinobi could be places that might seem suspicious if he or Sasuke were to linger. Eventually, though, Haku had to leave. The boy stood, stretching his limbs.

"I'll see you two later, I have a fight to get ready for. They came by and told me this morning. Apparently, I'm the main event."

"Sounds good. Good luck with the fight."

For the first time since they'd been there, neither Naruto nor Sasuke had a fight during the event, which provided a unique opportunity. During fights, there was hardly anyone in the special cell block. It was the perfect chance to work on the seal during the day. So, Naruto hunkered down in the darkest corner of the cell, where it was hard to tell what he was doing. He didn't dare use his light seal. Sasuke took up position leaning casually against the door.

Naruto was tenser than usual, as he examined his most recent notes on the seal. How could he possibly find a way to remove the kill-switch array and body-restriction at the same time?

Normally it wouldn't be so tricky, but the body-restriction array ran off a constantly shifting timer. It could activate five seconds after the kill-switch, or five milliseconds. There was also the issue of severing the seals connection to the nervous system.

'A shame it's not as simple as locking it up, like your dumbass father did with me.' Kurama commented.

'Remind me, which one of you is the one sealed inside a fourteen-year-old? I wonder who's really the dumbass?' Naruto took amusement in Kurama's annoyed growl. He was right though; it was a shame he couldn't just lock the seal up. Unfortunately, that could make it harder to remove later. 'If only I could just suppress the function somehow …'

Naruto's eyes widened; he was struck with sudden inspiration. Deep in the recesses of his mind, he felt a memory stir.

Training Ground 4, Hidden Leaf Village, 993 A.S. –

The sun hung high in the sky, casting harsh rays over the village. It was the hottest day of the year so far. At Training Ground 4, Naruto and Anko had taken a break from their taijutsu practice to take a dip in the river. They rested on the edge of the bank, legs trailing in the cool water as their bodies dripped onto the hard-packed dirt. The sunbaked grass felt like bristles under his palms. Goosebumps rose on his skin as a light breeze trailed across his wet legs.

Naruto stole the occasional glance at Anko when she wasn't looking. At first, he'd been embarrassed when the woman had shamelessly stripped down to just her mesh armor suit. The suit hadn't lasted much longer. He'd closed his eyes to avoid seeing her chest. As it turned out, she wore a flesh-colored sports bra and matching spats.

But it wasn't the woman's figure that had him fascinated. No, his attention was drawn to a mark on her neck. Three black tomoe, inside a seal that reminded him a bit of his eight-trigrams seal, though with six spikes instead of eight.

"You can't seem to stop staring brat, do you have a crush or something?" Anko had caught him, she wore a teasing smirk.

"NO!" Naruto insisted as he blushed, and shook his head in denial, though he couldn't meet her eyes.

Anko's smirk grew. She leaned forward, invading his space. "Are you sure?"

Naruto nodded emphatically.

In an instant, Anko moved back to where she'd been. "Good, that'd be pretty annoying."

He tried not to let her words sting too much. Much as he denied it, Naruto did have a bit of a crush on his teacher. But it wasn't like he intended to mention it, ever. Though he suspected Anko knew, her job was getting information from people, after all.

"So, if you weren't interested in my chest, why were you staring?"

Naruto's eyes flitted to her mark, then quickly away. "I … I was curious about that mark. It looks like some sort of seal inside a seal."

Anko's cheerful expression melted off her face. Her hand snapped up, quickly covering the mark. She looked at him moodily.

"Those are some sharp eyes ya got, brat."

Naruto flinched. She sounded upset, more than he'd ever heard. Anko had chewed him out plenty, but he'd never heard the pure anger in her voice like just then. Seeing his flinch, Anko's expression softened. "Don't worry kid, I'm not mad at you. Can't blame ya for being curious." Anko frowned as she stared into the gently moving river. "That mark is a … gift from my scumbag sensei. His name was Orochimaru, you might have heard of him, he's one of the Sannin. The seal around it helps keep it in check."

He had heard of Orochimaru, and the rest of the Sannin. They'd learned about them in history. Naruto had always been more interested in the other two, Jiraiya, who taught his father, and Tsunade, who was his second cousin. Naruto had heard rumors about Orochimaru, supposedly the genius of the trio. One of the boys in his first class, Yuu, had claimed his father said Orochimaru betrayed the village by doing inhumane experiments.

Naruto was hesitant to ask more, but his curiosity was too great. "What does it do?"

"It's called the Cursed Seal, and it lets the bearer use a powerful form of chakra. The caveat is it corrupts ya. Use it too much, and you'll become as sick and twisted as my sensei. The thing was prone to acting up, so Lord Hokage used the Evil Sealing Method to bind it. As long as my will stays strong, I don't have to worry about this thing." Anko rubbed her shoulder ruefully as she spoke. Abruptly, Anko shot to her feet. She towered over him, with her usual lopsided grin. "All right, enough about that, back to taijutsu training!"

"But I still wanna take a look at that Evil Sealing Method, it sounds interesting!" Naruto whined.

Anko rolled her eyes. "Tell ya what, you manage to go five minutes of grappling training, and I'll let you take a look ya little nerd."

Naruto grinned; he was definitely going to win that challenge! He couldn't wait to get a chance to examine such an interesting seal that could suppress another. Though there was just one problem.

"Uh, aren't we gonna get redressed first?"

Blood Arena Prison Special Cells, Present Day –

Naruto let out a gasp of shock. Could it really be that simple? He'd been trying so hard to remove the seal, simply suppressing it hadn't even crossed his mind. Obviously, he couldn't just use the Evil Sealing Method, it would have to be modified, 'But still …it could work.' He frowned, clutching his chin as he examined the bastardized Uzumaki seal.

Sasuke glanced over from the dimly lit doorway, he seemed to sense something had shifted. "Oi, what's going through that brain of yours?"

"I think … I think I figured out a way to deal with the seal."

"You found a way to remove it?" Sasuke asked quickly.

Naruto shook his head. "No, but I might be able to suppress it, which is the next best thing. If it works out … we can escape without it activating. That might be the best we can do, this seal is just too complex to remove, not without a lot of time."

"A while ago, you said this thing was anchored to someone, right?" Sasuke asked. Naruto could practically see the wheels turning in his head.

"Uh, yeah, probably Takeru if I had to guess."

"Well, I don't really want to walk around with this seal on me until you figure out how to remove it. I say when we escape, Takeru should suffer an 'accident' to remove the seals."

Naruto frowned. "Are you crazy, the second they know it's a prison break, it's going to be impossible to get to him. He'll be the one most heavily guarded. We can't risk it." He could see where Sasuke was coming from, still, the idea was risky. But the Uchiha wouldn't budge, and eventually, Naruto caved and agreed to his demand. "Fine, we can try to do it, but if he's too heavily guarded, we run, agreed?"

"I guess I can agree to that." Sasuke accepted the agreement reluctantly.

Thus, he found himself sitting down with the new idea in mind. Adjusting the Evil Sealing Method to suppress the prisoner seal shouldn't actually be that hard, he could use the Revealing Seal as a base to work on.

'I'll have this hammered out in no time, can't wait to tell Haku about this!'

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To Naruto's surprise, within hours he had the beginnings of a decent rudimentary attempt at his suppression seal. He'd worked diligently, writing, and rewriting the design. The time had flown by.

Combining the Evil Sealing Method with the Revealing Seal actually proved easy. All he had to do was link the Evil Sealing Methods suppressing mechanism into the Revealing Seal's mechanism for unraveling a seal's functions. It made it easy to infiltrate the complicated tangle of seals Takeru had created. The only slight problem was he had to find a way to make the suppressing seal easier to apply than either of the seals he was using to create it. Preferably, it could be applied with a tag.

That would make it less permanent, but given their plan to assassinate Takeru, hopefully that wouldn't matter. He tried to ignore the concerned flutter in his stomach. Naruto was still dubious about that idea.

In order to distract himself, he thought of how excited Haku would be when he learned about the breakthrough. 'Actually, now that I think about it …'

"Hey Sasuke, don't ya think the fights should have been over by now?"

Sasuke grunted thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it … yeah." Suddenly, the Uchiha perked up, and hissed out a warning. "Quick, hide everything!"

He didn't bother to question what had tipped Sasuke off. Quick as a flash, Naruto swiped up his supplies and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. The smoke had cleared away by the time he heard the first footsteps. They waited in tense silence as the footsteps grew closer. Finally, the lanky figure of Itojiro slinked around the corner. For once, he wasn't wearing his mask. He bore a savage grin, and his dark eyes danced with sadistic glee as he looked at them.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little Leaf Shinobi. Long time no see. Hope you've been having a productive stay."

Naruto didn't dare breathe. Did Itojiro know? How? They'd been so careful to avoid notice.

"What do you want?" Sasuke asked sharply.

"Now, now, why so serious?" The mad man chuckled. "I just came by to share some news, about that little friend of yours Haku."

Naruto looked at the man angrily. "What about him? Do you know why he isn't back yet?"

A part of him, deep down, wondered if Haku had turned them in. Seconds later, he felt sick for even thinking it. Itojiro's mad grin widened. "As it happens, I do. See, little Haku had an accident during his fight. He's currently in the infirmary in serious condition."

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Well there you go. The Plan is already facing challenges. What will become of Haku? Will they still attempt to escape? You'll have to wait and see. (Or go to my patre on and subscribe for as low as $1 where chapter 14 is already out!)

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RinneTaicho, Signing Off!