Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Those Things You Do ❯ The Strangest Things in the Strangest Places ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed!! This being my first story, I am taking all the advice I can get ^_^. Hopefully I will be able to answer some of the questions that have been asked. So first off: I am definitely going to be covering more about this cave for you all. I didn’t want to let Chapter 2 get too long because I wasn’t sure how good/bad it was going to be…still not too sure either V_V; Anyway, I read my last A/N and yeah…sorry for any confusion. Naruto is 17 in this story…it is let’s see…2 years from the where the manga is now …thus 2 years since he “brought back” Sasuke. (That will also be explained later…as will the whole situation with the Kyuubi ^_^; It is tied in with the whole Sasuke-saving thing) So with that said: On with the story!

Chapter 3: The Strangest Things in the Strangest Places

Sasuke gritted his teeth and glared at the door leading outside to where Naruto had just been taken. This was proving to be harder than he thought. Naruto was his best friend, though you wouldn’t really notice that upon first glance at the two. They had been through a lot together and Naruto had never once turned his back on Sasuke. And Sasuke truly appreciated this, even if he didn’t show it (which is normal…since he doesn’t show much of anything).

When Orochimaru had come into the picture and Sasuke had foolishly allowed himself to be swallowed by the idea of ultimate power, Naruto had brought him back to his senses. He had hunted Sasuke down after rigorous training and beaten the sense back into Sasuke. During their last battle two years ago in the Sound Village, Sasuke had finally come to realize that you didn’t need to follow anything but your own heart and values in order to obtain the strength you needed to fight.

‘Che…that dobe has definitely gotten smarter. How the hell did he do that?’ Sasuke wondered as he looked at all three of Naruto’s former senseis. He shook his head. They may be smart, but he seriously doubted Naruto listened to them long enough to actually learn anything. He continued to watch Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Iruka. They were all busy aiding Tsunade in figuring out a way to break free from their cave prison. And from the look of frustration on Iruka’s face, they were not getting very far.

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“There has to be a way Hokage,” Iruka whispered in earnest. He was worried, and that was an understatement. Of course, the closest thing to family to him was most likely being tortured or worse…was already dead. He needed to help Naruto. He’d do anything to save that loud, rambunctious boy. He shook his head, ‘He’s not the same Naruto as he was five years ago. He certainly has grown up…of course he still has his moments.’

Iruka smiled faintly as he remembered when just last week Tsunade-hime had called him into her office and started yelling at him to hunt down the little imp named Naruto. In confusion he had asked ‘why?’ Tsunade glared at him and then pointed out the window to the mountains where all of the Hokage’s faces were carved. Iruka had had to bite his cheek to stop from smiling. ‘That’s Naruto for you…’ he had thought idly as he looked at the swirls that were dotting Tsunade-hime’s carved-rock face. It appeared as though Naruto had been ‘training’ Konohamaru again. He had nodded to Tsunade and rushed out of the room to hunt down Naruto. Of course he could only scold the boy for so long before he gave up and treated him to ramen.

Iruka shook his head to clear his thoughts; he needed to focus on the matter at hand. He needed to help Tsunade-hime in anyway possible so that they could get out of this cave.

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Tsunade huffed again in frustration. She saw Iruka’s hopeful eyes looking at her and couldn’t take it anymore, “Iruka. Go and see how the medic-nins are doing with the injured. I want a full report. I need to know who is still capable of sparing chakra. I also need a body count. Find out just how many people are trapped in this cave. Kakashi go with him,” Kakashi looked up and then at Iruka and nodded and they dashed off.

Tsunade sighed as she felt the two shinobi leave. This was definitely a stressful time for everyone, but she couldn’t stand to look at Iruka’s worried face any longer. It was making her worried and she didn’t like excessive worry at all. In fact, she hated it. ‘Hopefully Kakashi can keep the chuunin busy. He has a knack for slowing things down,’ Tsunade thought wryly.

“Keeping him busy Tsunade?” Jiraiya asked as he leaned against a cold wall. He was tired. His chakra was still very low and at the rate it was returning to him, he seriously doubted he would be of much assistance to anyone for a few hours. His head hurt too. Too much thinking can do that to a person. After Naruto had been taken, which was about twenty minutes ago, Kakashi, Tsunade, Iruka and himself had all sat around and tried to assess the situation. Tsunade had sent Shizune, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai to analyze the cave walls and see just what they were made of. No one had returned yet with anything useful.

Jiraiya glanced around the cave and tried to focus on the strange energy emanating from the walls and bars. It felt like chakra, but there was something dangerous underneath it…something that he couldn’t describe. ‘Damn it,’ he thought angrily, ‘this is just a regular cave. Hell…I probably used to play in this cave. What kind of jutsu could possibly make the walls impenetrable?’

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Tsunade glanced to her side and noticed the frown on Jiraiya’s face. He looked to be in deep thought. She shook her head; she must really be tired if she had used ‘Jiraiya’ and ‘deep thought’ in the same sentence. She looked at everyone standing around. Naruto’s friends were antsy. She could tell they wanted to get out and fight and help Naruto. She understood exactly how they felt. Added to the feeling of helplessness was the feeling of being a caged animal. A shinobi was meant to die in combat, not rot away in a cave at the hands of his or her tormentor. That was one of the most degrading ways to die.

Sighing in pure exhaustion she looked at her hands. A medic-nin’s hands were deadly and life saving at the same time. A jutsu used to kill a man could also be used to save one if the ninja knows how to perform it correctly. She squeezed her fingers into the palms of her hands. These strong hands, the hands of the fifth Hokage could save the lives of hundreds of people in battle, but could not stop one man from destroying the home she loved. She winced as she felt a stab of pain and watched in morbid amusement as blood seeped from a cut where one of her nails had pierced the skin. ‘Where are they?’ she wondered impatiently as she looked around the cave. Her eyes widened as she noticed Shizune’s familiar face and chakra coming towards her. Hell, she almost jumped up and ran to the woman when she saw her coming.

“Well?” Tsunade asked quickly, hoping she was hiding her impatience. She knew everyone was incredibly tired, but now was not the time to slow down. A ninja never gives up and never backs down.

Shizune smiled, “Asuma and Kurenai think they have found something that may help us to break this strange jutsu barrier or at least figure out where it’s power comes from.” Tsunade grabbed her friend’s shoulders, “That is the best news I have heard all day. Let’s go J--- damn him.”

Jiraiya was already ahead of her. He had already headed over to where he could sense Kurenai and Asuma standing. He looked over his shoulder and saw Tsunade and Shizune following closely behind. He raised an eyebrow and smirked when he noticed the younger shinobi following too. ‘Seems like you have definitely made a place for yourself here Naruto…the Fourth would be proud,’ he thought as he came to a halt in front of the two jounin.

“It was really small, so we passed by it about six times before it caught our attention. It’s burnt pretty badly…but it looks like it was a…finger. But what is stranger is that it is pulsing with chakra,” Kurenai stated as she pointed to a small charred object. Upon closer inspection Tsunade and Jiraiya had both decided it was definitely the remains of a finger and judging by the amount of chakra emanating from it, it had recently come off of it’s owner’s hand, otherwise it would have already turned to ash.

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Sasuke and the others had come to a stop directly behind Tsunade and Jiraiya. Sasuke looked at the object on the wall in confusion, what kind of jutsu uses a finger to emanate chakra from? Is that even possible?

He thought back to when he had been under Orochimaru’s control. He couldn’t remember ever hearing about a jutsu that used human body parts to create barriers. Perhaps Orochimaru had created another forbidden technique…just like the one he had used to assist him in the destruction of the Sandaime. The Sandaime had had to use his very life to destroy that jutsu. How were they going to destroy this one?

He was pulled from his thoughts as Neji tapped his shoulder, “What?” Neji nodded in the direction of Tsunade, “The Hokage just asked you a question.” Sasuke blinked and scowled, had he just zoned out? Must be from exhaustion. ‘Or maybe that dobe was rubbing off on him,’ he thought as he turned his attention to Tsunade, “Yes?”

Tsunade ignored the fact that the boy was only half listening and began to question him, “Sasuke do you remember Orochimaru ever telling you about a jutsu technique involving the use of body parts?” She used her knowledge of muscle movement to judge the boy’s response; she was still slightly suspicious of the Uchiha heir after his last escapade with Orochimaru. She needed to make sure he wasn’t withholding any information that could ruin their chances of escape.

Sasuke saw the change in her demeanor; she was looking at him just like Neji would if he were determining whether or not an enemy was lying. ‘Wonderful,’ he thought. “No Hokage. He never once said anything about a jutsu like that. However, he may have developed the technique in private and perfected it after I had left.” Tsunade nodded and returned her attention back to the charred finger.

Sasuke watched in a detached kind of way, only vaguely noticing as jounin were ordered to search the caves for any other ‘body parts’. His thoughts drifted back to the distrust he had seen in Tsunade’s eyes. ‘It isn’t unusual. I was a missing-nin under the enemy’s control for three years…until Naruto came.’

He leaned against the wall to wait for further information on this “finger” and tried to take his mind off of the disturbing images that were running through his head. He kept imagining Naruto being tortured and slowly broken and then killed just for the entertainment it would provide the enemy.

He hated feeling like he could do nothing. Naruto had always been there for him and this time when Naruto needed his help, he could do nothing. What was worse was the fact that when Naruto had brought him back to Konoha, Sasuke had made a promise to himself to protect Naruto with his very life. He sighed as he remembered that day. He remembered every minute detail. Of course, who wouldn’t remember the day that you almost died…for the third time. *

___Flashback___

The Sound Village, upon first glance, was not a large village. In fact, it was really just a few shacks surrounding a larger building that held within it many secrets. This was a kind of “illusion” created to make the enemy think that Sound was weak. When in reality, the strength of sound lay underneath the dirt.

The largest compound in the center of the village was set in a basic square shape. There was a training courtyard in the center of the building and there were about fifty rooms throughout the top floor of the building. There were two dining areas and three kitchens. There was a “hospital” (it was more of a ‘science lab’ really) of sorts also, but rumor had it that if you have something the doctors wanted, they would take it from you with or without your permission, so most stayed away from that end of the south hallway.

Now what people don’t know about the Sound Village is that there is a secret passageway that leads down to a lower level. This lower level spreads out like an underground city. There are a few markets and weaponry shops, a ‘red light’ district and even a slave alley. Training grounds and tournament halls can also be found here. The lower level however, was where the weaker village members and ninja-in-training lived. This was for defense purposes of course.

The main building’s top level housed the strongest ninjas, a few potentials (for becoming Orochimaru’s body), and Orochimaru and Kabuto. If the village were to be attacked, which was highly unlikely, it was common knowledge that only two or three of the actual strongest would be needed to defend the village. Therefore the rest of the village supplied food, entertainment, and weaponry to the top-level men and women and the lower-level shinobi could focus on their training and not have to worry about being killed in a surprise attack.

Sasuke, being a potential, lived in the top level of the main compound. His room was on the north hallway and across from his doorway was a window that looked out into the forest that surrounded the Sound Village. His room was larger than average size (about 8 tatami mats) and had a bed, a dresser, a wash bin, a desk, and a closet. Not that he really cared. He barely spent time in it. He was usually in the courtyard behind his room training from dawn until night under Orochimaru’s supervision. After which he would return to his room and sleep.

After another day of extensive training, Sasuke had fallen into his bed, asleep halfway through the decent. He was rudely awakened by the sound of something scratching on his door. He frowned. Nobody would dare to disrupt his sleep. He had made it a point to show everyone that he would gladly break a few limbs if anyone bothered him. Also, the Sound Village had no animals in it. Anywhere. Orochimaru said that animals had been used before by different people to spy on him and so if anyone ever saw an animal they were to kill it immediately. Especially frogs. Sasuke had just accepted this fact, so when he heard the strange scratching at his door, he knew something was wrong.

He pulled a kunai from his pack near his bed and crossed the room to the door. He immediately called upon his Sharingan to assess if there was any strange chakra behind the door. There was a trace of something, but it was so weak, he doubted it was even worthy of his attention. He frowned again. Perhaps this was a test by Orochimaru. Or maybe Kabuto was trying to test him to make sure he was adequate enough for his master.

Sasuke grabbed the doorknob and opened the door in one swift motion. He looked outside into the hallway and noted that the only thing strange was the window being open across from his doorway but still there was no one outside of his doorway. He padded out into the hallway and frowned, there was nothing there either. He turned back and headed back toward his room. He was being stupid. He was in the center of Orochimaru’s hideout. No one would be able to get in and freely walk around.

Upon reaching his door he paused. There was something near the bottom of it, something jagged. Reaching down he touched the door and then drew his hand back; something was carved into the base of the door. He leaned down so that he could read it better:

‘Forest. Teme. Usual time. *’

Sasuke almost smirked in amusement. So the dobe had managed to get in here. He had finally managed to hunt down Sasuke and now he wanted payback for that last fight they had had. Sasuke’s face changed from a smirk of amusement to an angry frown. Why was Naruto still trying to find him? Did he still want Sasuke to come back? He didn’t want to go back. If he had, he would already be there. ‘Fine. If the dobe wants to fight again, I might as well see how much stronger I’ve gotten.’

With that Sasuke went back to his chambers and read the clock. It was only 2:30 am. He had a few hours before he had to meet with Naruto. The dobe hadn’t even specified a fighting spot. Sasuke figured he’d be waiting for him outside of the Sound village’s gates. ‘Might as well warm up and train before I go,’ Sasuke thought as he changed into his daily attire, which consisted of a black shirt and black shorts. His family crest was nowhere on the outfit. Since becoming a missing-nin, Sasuke had, for some reason, felt that it was wrong to wear his family crest while around Orochimaru. He had placed the shirt he had worn the day he had arrived to Sound Village in a box under his bed. He would wear it on the day that he killed Itachi.

Sasuke was ready to fight as dawn approached. He grabbed up his kunai from the target he had been practicing on in the training courtyard of Orochimaru’s hide out. He looked around and could see no movement from any of the hallways. ‘The guards must be drunk again,’ he almost rolled his eyes at the notion. What could you expect from the scum that seemed to follow Orochimaru.

He stopped at that thought. He supposed he was the same as them in one aspect. He did willingly follow Orochimaru. He could have stayed in Konoha, but he would never have achieved the power that he has gotten while training under Orochimaru. He smirked as he his mind conjured an image of Naruto from the last time they had fought. It had been a fierce battle. Neither knew who would come out on top. Naruto had definitely improved in his training, but so had Sasuke. In fact, during that last fight, Sasuke believed they were about even in terms of power.

He was actually excited about this upcoming battle. He wanted to see how much stronger he had gotten. He smirked again as he finished packing his weaponry and then turned to leave the courtyard. He stopped and his facial expression immediately changed from slightly amused to bored. In front of him stood Orochimaru with that ever-present icy grin, “Going out?”

Sasuke shrugged, “Yeah.”

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow and then laughed, “Kill him while you are at it. He is becoming a larger thorn than I had thought.”

Sasuke walked past him saying nothing.

“Sasuke. If you desert me, you will be the first to suffer and the last to die. And then you will be mine,” Orochimaru had whispered as Sasuke had walked past him and into the hallway.

Sasuke paused for a second, his eyes flaring in anger, ‘Bastard. I am not some tool to be used.’ He continued down the hallway that would lead him to the front gates of the compound. He walked down the entryway and smirked as a thought crossed his mind. As he walked through the gates that lead to the forest, he had come to a decision. He walked straight to Naruto…this was the fight that would decide his future. If Naruto could beat him, he would return to Konoha. If he beat Naruto, he would stay with Orochimaru.

___End Flashback___

“Sasuke-kun…are you alright?”

Sasuke frowned slightly as he was brought back to the present. He looked up into Sakura’s worried eyes. She was leaning over him, her pink hair falling into her face. Her eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying and tear tracks were clearly visible on her pale skin. Sasuke nodded. Sakura smiled and then leaned on the wall next to him, “You looked lost in your thoughts…um…if you don’t mind, what were you thinking about?”

“That dobe.”

Sakura’s eyes widened slightly and then softened as a small smile appeared on her lips. Sasuke had changed. Ever since Naruto had brought him back, the once stoic loner had become livelier. Sakura had actually seen him smile more than once in one day! She squatted on the ground and picked up a nearby twig and began to doodle in the dirt. Her movements were sluggish and slow; she had used most of her chakra earlier trying to heal her friends’ wounds.

She was about to ask Sasuke what he thought was going to happen to Naruto when a yell startled her from her question.

“Hokage!” Iruka had yelled as he raced toward the Godaime.


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*Usual time = I decided that Team 7 would have a usual training time. ^shrugs^ I really couldn’t remember if it was ever stated in the manga and I don’t have access to my manga at the moment and couldn’t find the info on any websites, so I just made this up. If anyone knows off hand if they did have a set time to meet with Kakashi, let me know ^_^ …they might just meet him at different times depending on the missions. Hn.

A/N: Another little note for everyone. I know it is still unclear what is going on with this cave, but I am trying to build the story up a bit. I had an idea for this jutsu a while back and thought it was kind of interesting, so I am trying to make it work out. So please just hold on a little longer. Kudos to anyone who can figure out where I am going with this jutsu…it is kind of disturbing. Think Kimimaru. But not. XD Confused? I’m starting to get confused myself lol. Anyway, next chapter is in the works right now as we speak and I am hoping to have it out by next week (around Wed. hopefully). And just as a teaser here is an excerpt:

Naruto winced as he watched the man pull the straw hat from his head and approach him. He knew that face and he knew those red eyes. He knew another who had similar yet different eyes: warmer eyes. Eyes he knew he could trust. Eyes that belonged to a person that he would gladly die for.

The person before him however was not someone he cared to see again. In fact, he could have lived the rest of his days without ever being in the presence of this man.

“Itachi Uchiha,” Naruto growled as his own eyes flashed a vibrant red.

Thanks to all the reviewers! <3!

~Inch