Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi ❯ Spelunking (3) ( Chapter 7 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Chronicles of a Self-Made Shinobi: Spelunking (chap.3)

The cave began to drop immediately and soon the two shinobi were covered in absolute darkness. Kumiko tripped over a rock and Shikamaru caught her before she hit the ground. Shrugging him off, she sat on the ground and fumbled through her pack and threw something at him. “It's a headlamp, put it on.”

She strapped hers on then helped a struggling Shika with his. The lights illuminated the cave, which was much narrower than it seemed. Occasional grooves resembling stairs jutted out from the ground. Dark and grey, the cave continued forward until it split to the left and right.

“What a drag,” Shikamaru complained.

Kumiko scowled and threw him a rope. “Tie us together, if we separate you'll die.”

“Me?”

“I've got the air sampler.”

Shikamaru smiled a little and tied the rope around his waist securely, while Kumiko pulled out a small device and fiddled with the dials. “Ch, at least this thing's better made than that stupid ton of bricks,” she mumbled.

A pair of arms wrapped themselves around her and she jumped.

“Relax, I'm just tying the rope.”

When he finished she grabbed his hand. “I need your chakra again.”

“What am I; an electricity outlet?” she laughed and pressed his finger to the device.

In a few seconds it lit up and numbers moved across the screen. She held it in front of one of the pathways, then the other, and pointed to the right. “This way.”

The cave continued on without change. The numbers on the air sampler grew steadily as they moved forward. The air was becoming denser and denser. Kumiko's eyes itched, then watered. The tears stung as they rolled down her cheek, and soon she squeezed them shut and stopped walking. She fumbled for Shikamaru's hand and pressed a pair of goggles into them, then placed her own flying goggles (she never went anywhere without them) over her eyes.

They continued deeper into the cave and entered a cavern with a steep drop. Kumiko aimed her headlamp over the edge and the light didn't reach the bottom. The air sampler went haywire when she held it above the pit.

“Jeeze, what a drag,” Shikamaru said, crouching down over the edge.

Kumiko opened his pack and pulled out a large length of rope. “Always,” she said turning to him. “Carry lots of rope.”

After tying it securely to a rock sticking up from the ground, she threw it over the edge. “You first.”

“Wait a minute. If that thing somehow breaks or unties we're dead,” Shikamaru protested.

“Who do you think I am?” Kumiko replied. “I can get us out, don't worry.”

He looked at her, then the rope uncertainly, and decided to trust her. He crawled over the edge, holding the rope in a death grip, and descended slowly into the pit.

“Shikamaru!” Kumiko called over the edge. “Don't use any chakra we don't know what might happen.”

“Psh, how troublesome,” she heard his distant voice answer.

A few minutes later he shouted up at her and tugged on the rope. She tightened the straps on her pack and donned her flying gloves and lowered herself a few feet into the pit. With an evil grin she let her legs go and slid down the rope. When the bottom came into view she leapt off with a shout and tumbled onto the ground. The pit was much smaller than she thought and Shikamaru caught her before she tumbled into the walls.

“What the hell? You're crazy.”

“Hehe, that was fun,” she said dusting herself off.

He grumbled something that sounded like `troublesome' then turned her to face the wall opposite them. There was an opening that seemed to glow yellow and a terrible smell wafted from it.

“I believe…that's what we're looking for,” Shikamaru said, holding his nose.

Kumiko nodded and led them forward. They stepped into an enormous cavern, the ancient graveyard. Dirty yellow light cast a sickly glow over the remains of old tombstones. They jutted from the ground at awkward angles, covered with unknown symbols and crumbling statues. Some of the mounds of dirt were uncovered, revealing the aging coffins.

In spite of herself, Kumiko clung to Shikamaru's arm. The lids had fallen off of some of the graves and she feared what was lying inside. They stepped carefully across the eerie underground graveyard, slowly approaching the place where the light seemed to be coming from. Her air sampler was protesting the toxicity of the cavern so she shut it off and stowed it in her pocket. Shikamaru placed a hand on the one that was gripping his arm. She realized she must be cutting off his circulation and quickly released it in embarrassment. But he grabbed onto her hand and held it in his.

The light seemed to be coming from an enormous crack in the wall that ran from the ground to the ceiling. They turned off their headlamps as they neared it, then peered inside. There was another cavern next to the one they were standing in, filled to the brim with uranium ore.

“Wha…wha…who builds their graveyard next to an enormous uranium deposit!!” Kumiko shouted angrily across the cavern.

The shout echoed off the walls and Shikamaru held onto his ears. “Ahh, don't shout like that. Anyway, this place is a ticking time-bomb. We'd better get out of here and tell the others.”

“We can't just leave it like this. It IS a ticking time-bomb. And I think the time is nearing its end. Chakra has been leaking out from this graveyard forever, and it just built up when it was abandoned. I was confused as to why now it started to leak to the surface, but it's simply that fact that enough decays to radon occurred to force it to the surface. I never considered what would happen if chakra mixed with some kind of natural gas, but judging from what we're doing down here in the first place, it's dangerous. Since the amount of this mixed gas coming from the ground is so small the effects are not too harmful. But down here…”

“If we lit a match this place would probably explode,” Shikamaru cut in. “That's why we need to get out as quickly as possible, so the Waterfall can get people down here to fix it. There's nothing we can do.”

“By the time they get organized it'll be too late. Can't you tell that?”

Shikmaru stayed silent.

“Do you understand what'll happen if this place explodes? It'll destroy the Waterfall village for sure, but it'll reach far beyond that. It may even leak into Konoha!”

He sighed. “I know, but what can we do?”

Kumiko stared into the uranium deposit cavern. When you looked straight into it, the light wasn't as ugly, maybe even pretty. Deception, all bad things cast a pretty light to confuse you into trusting it. In many things, with danger comes beauty.

“I've got a way,” she said after a few minutes. “I know how we can rid the air of the mixture, which will give Waterfall plenty of time to come down here and safely remove the ore deposit. I'll need to borrow your chakra because it's a summoning. It'll be fine.”

Shikamaru looked at her suspiciously. “What is it?”

“It summons a void contained in a box made of chakra. It'll suck all the air into it, it'll be fine...”

Shikmaru grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face him. “No it's not. You're lying, I can tell. Don't you dare try and take the high road and hurt yourself, it's written all over your face.”

Kumiko stared back at him. I've never seen this lazy bum so frightened before.

“You're not as troublesome as you seem. I…many people would be very upset if you disappeared, especially Lee…”

“It's something my father created a long time ago. I got all my interest and talents for creating things from him. He was born without an ounce of talent as a ninja. My mother, on the other hand, was very talented. When they married, she retired and helped him create his gadgets. She lent him her chakra to make everything work. One day he created the Void. It seemed perfect when he finished it, tested perfectly, carried out its duty perfectly. Since it was so big, it had to be something that was summoned. When all the preparations were complete he prepared to test its summoning. He created it so that non-shinobi, like himself, could summon it with the help of a ninja friend. He hoped it would be used to rid an area of harmful gasses, whether in battle or in the workplace. It would make all kinds of work so much safer. But when he summoned it, it almost killed him. Something was wrong in the makings…it…took almost all the life out of whoever summons it. My mother rushed him to the hospital, and luckily, they saved him in time. After that he forbade anyone from using it ever again.

When my parents died, I was left with everything, including his works on the Void. I was very small when they died, but I still remember how he used to hold my shoulders and tell me over and over never to use it. He was worried because he saw the same talent and ambition in me. Well…I never thought to use it, until now.”

You shouldn't…” Shikamaru began.

“It doesn't matter if I should or I shouldn't,” she snapped at him angrily. “All that matters is if I can or cannot. What can be done, must be done; it doesn't matter whether I should do it. If I don't risk my life to finish this mission, then how could I ever hope to become a shinobi. That's what you do isn't it? Risk your life for others.”

Shikamaru stared at her as she opened a scroll and began to write letters and symbols on it with blood from a pricked finger. The gas in the cavern obviously stung her opened cut but she didn't make a sound. When she was finished she held out her hand to him. “I need some of your chakra.”

He hesitated then pushed her hands away, crouched behind her, and took her in his arms. “When you fall, I'll catch you. I promise to bring you back safely, and alive.”