14 Chapter 14: Valley of Hell

The wild sound of the wind was blowing straight across his ears, the atmosphere was so cool that it was almost frightening, he could hazily see some birds flying in the air, what a dream?

"NARUTO!"

The loud shriek of someone immediately opened his eyes, and he frantically looked around to find the source of that voice.

"NARUTO!"

The first thing he saw that he was in the air, and was falling downwards, and to his utmost horror...he was really falling down from the SKY!

He looked down and saw Armin a few feet below him, everywhere around them were clouds and his heartbeat increased to danger levels, where the hell where they!

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!" yelled Naruto fearfully, never in his entire life he had been so frightened before!

"I Don't know...we are falling from the sky!" shouted Armin nervously, and this time Naruto truly realized this was not a dream.

They were really falling from the sky, and his dark eyes saw the ground a few thousand feet below them, what was happening? Only god knew how scared he was right now, and seeing tears coming from Armin's eyes was making him more nervous.

"We are going to die...Naruto! WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" said a tearful Armin, as he was sure that their death was now imminent.

Even if they were shinobi, they were approximately falling from at least a few thousand feet, and that meant death for anyone, and they were just kids. What chance in hell did they have of surviving?

Armin's vision started darkening, and he slowly felt unconsciousness approaching him.

"Am I going to die like this?" thought Armin sadly, how was he supposed to face his parents in the afterlife?

However he was shook violently, and he hazily opened his eyes and saw Naruto was firmly holding him and was yelling at him.

"Calm down...I'll get us out of this shit alive," promised Naruto quickly, and Armin saw his friend was scared too but he trusted Naruto.

Both of them saw the ground approaching, and they probably had 40 seconds before they were crushed to death, and Armin heard Naruto taking a deep breath.

"Armin...I am going to do something crazy," said Naruto nervously, and Armin didn't know why a small chuckle escaped from his lips.

"Aren't we all crazy bastards..." said Armin jokingly, if they were going to die at least he had his friend with him.

"I don't know if it will work, but I can feel a large amount of water in the air, if I can just convert a large amount of water then maybe we won't die from this crash.." thought Naruto tactically,

Naruto pushed ahead of Armin, and was now falling ahead of him. He was ignoring Armin's shouts and was trying to make his plan work, he had only one chance.

Either he would live or he would die.

He didn't care about his fate, but he had promised that he wouldn't let his friend die, and he would make sure nothing happens to Armin.

Armin was quite shocked when he felt a huge explosion of chakra, and when he looked below he was shocked to see Naruto's entire body wrapped in blue flames.

"What is this?" thought Armin in shock,

"Mizu Bunshin No Jutsu (Water Clone Technique)"

Armin had never seen something like this before, hundreds of clones of Naruto were now surrounding him and Naruto, and had formed a huge protective barrier around both of them.

But to his horror, he saw Naruto was falling down more quickly then before, and his eyes widened in shock when he saw Naruto had blood leaking out of his nose, and his eyes were probably closed.

"Shit...did he use all his chakra?," thought Armin in fear,

Further more, he saw the clones were also in panic as they didn't know where they were, and everywhere there was chaos.

"Clone army, prepare for crash landing. Surround yourselves around me and Armin right now!" yelled Naruto loudly,

Armin was further astonished when all the clones nodded, and almost a hundred clones surrounded him from all sides, he also saw many clones surrounding Naruto's body.

The ground neared and he closed his eyes hoping to survive, his heart was beating faster than ever...he was sweating badly, were they really thrown from the sky? Where were Mikasa and Rangiku?

All of these things were making him mad, and he just couldn't take it anymore.

He just closed his eyes hoping that it would be over soon.

He slowly opened his eyes, his clothes were all wet and his body was in immense pain. Armin rubbed his eyes in order to see clearly where he was, the last thing he remembered was falling from the sky with Naruto.

He suddenly jolted straight up, but fell flat on the ground as his legs were not able to sustain his weight. Only one thing was going on in his mind, if he was alive then where was his friend?

Fear, anxiety, nervousness- he was feeling all of these emotions at the same time. He had to find Naruto, no matter what happened!

He was floating on top of a small puddle of water, and he realized that the clones must have been destroyed on impact...but looking around he noticed he had fallen in a small field, while there were lots of tall trees nearby.

If Naruto had fallen straight into those trees, then his chance of survival was-

"I can't think like that...nothing will happen to him," thought Armin fiercely, and slowly tried to get up.

Suddenly something dropped from his pouch, and when he looked down it was a small scroll. What was a scroll doing in his pocket right now!

He picked up the scroll and observed it carefully, nothing was out of ordinary. It was just a simple scroll, what was he supposed to do with it?

"Don't act hastily...this world is full of lies,"

Armin remembered these words, Mikasa always used to tell him to be cautious, and right now he didn't think it was right to open this scroll.

"What if it's a bobby trap, I can't take such a risk now...I need to find Naruto first, and get him to safety," thought Armin firmly, and put the scroll back in his pouch.

With these thoughts in mind, Armin got up on his feet. He was not in top shape, but he was just glad that he was still alive instead of being crushed to death.

"There seems to be no one around, also I can't stay in the open for long. I'll have to go in the forest, and search for Naruto," said Armin seriously to himself,

He slowly started walking in the direction of the forest, his legs were hurting but they were atleast not broken. So many questions were going on in his mind, first was who dropped them from the sky?

That thought alone sent shivers down his spine as he remembered that memory, if not for Naruto then he would have been dead by now.

But the way Naruto saved him raised more questions for him, yesterday they had undergone the introduction ceremony, and everything had been fine. They had even slept peacefully in their barracks until this morning, he woke up to find himself falling from the sky.

Were they purposefully thrown or not?

"Gah...I'll go mad if I keep on thinking like this," thought Armin frustratingly, this was his problem. He always had an habit of over thinking about things, and that made him frustrated more than other people.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

A loud scream echoed across the entire area, and Armin was instantly brought out of his thoughts. He clenched his fists and was ready to fight, he knew they were just given basic shinobi training in blacklight in these few weeks, but he was capable of defending himself.

Or so he thought.

He heard hissing noises everywhere around him, and when he looked behind he was shocked to see a giant snake emerging from the ground beneath. And it was looking at Armin as if he was his prey.

"Holy Shit!"

Armin's scream echoed across the entire area, and he started running like hell. He didn't look back, he just ran and ran as fast as his legs could take him. He had a fear of snakes, and seeing a giant snake behind him was making him more nervous than ever.

He wondered if he could climb the trees, but it would take time and the snake was right on his back. Suddenly he lost his balance and fell flat on the ground sending jolts of pain across his entire body.

And when he looked back he was terrified, the snake was standing above him. It was looking at him murderously, and Armin tried to get up but failed as he realized his leg was twisted.

"Fuck this...I won't let you eat me!" yelled Armin angrily, and threw a few stones at the snake.

But the snake took the hits head on, and Armin was now really scared as the snake opened his mouth and he knew this was it for him now.

"I'm sorry, Mikasa, Naruto..."

He was waiting for the snake to eat him, but was quite surprised when an bright arrow cut straight across the snake's face and landed right between his legs, the creature's eyes widened for a moment and then his entire body collapsed to the right side in a quick motion.

"Yo..." said a new mysterious voice,

Armin looked up and was quite surprised as well as relieved to see his savior,

"You..."

He was in pain...terrible pain.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, the last thing which he remembered was being surrounded by his clones and then everything went black. He was quite surprised when he saw himself lying upside down on a branch of a tall tree.

"Where am I?" thought Naruto groggily, his vision was still blurry and his entire body was in pain.

Suddenly he realized blood dripping on the ground, and this blood was coming right of him. He slowly lifted his hand and touched his face, and to his shock the blood was his own.

He felt an unbearable jolt of pain in his left hand, and tried his best to suppress the scream in his throat. It seemed his landing didn't go well, and he had sustained some significant damage.

His eyes looked around the area, and he saw there were a lot of trees everywhere, it seemed he was in some kind of forest. There seemed to be no one nearby and that was making him a little nervous.

"I need to find Armin quickly...I can't leave him alone in such a place," thought Naruto firmly, and tried to move.

A wrong move, as he suddenly lost his balance and fell flat on the ground with a sickening thud, and this time he screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt some of his bones breaking.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH "

Armin was sitting silently in a small cave, he still couldn't believe what had happened today. First they fell from the sky like angels, next thing he knew his friend was nowhere to be found, then a giant snake almost killed him.

If not for her, he would have been dead...and he hated this.

"Rangiku...why did you save me?" asked Armin irritatingly,

The blonde girl gave a tired sigh and now sat beside Armin, and put a hand on his shoulders.

"Do I need a reason to?" asked Rangiku flatly, and Armin averted his eyes from her...he just couldn't bear this shame.

"You should have left me to die..." said Armin seriously, and this time Rangiku grabbed him firmly and looked at him straight in the eye.

"Why would I leave a friend to die? I don't understand..." said Rangiku frustratingly,

The sad look which she saw in her friend's eyes made her realize that maybe there was more to Armin than she knew. She didn't know anything about his past, so making assumptions would be useless.

"This is hell...this world is hell," said a terrified Armin, and his body started shaking badly.

Rangiku hugged Armin tightly, she didn't know what was happening to Armin...but maybe he had been through a very bad day.

"It'll be alright..." said Rangiku soothingly, and wiped the tears that were falling from Armin's eyes.

"Only the strong survive in our world...there is no place for weaklings. Except my friends tried to be strong for me, they protected me even though I am weakling...every time both of them saved me and even now you had to save my life. I can't bear that..." said Armin sadly, and this time Rangiku realized where the problem lay.

Armin had severe self esteem issues, whose roots were dug deep in his past. He had always relied on others and that was hurting his pride,

"It is not a bad thing if your friend helps you..." said Rangiku patiently,

"No, I want to fight along side everyone...I want to protect them too, and not just be a weakling. That's all there is to it...today I came to death almost two times," said Armin seriously,

"What happened to you?" asked Rangiku curiously, and what she heard next shocked her to the core.

"Both me and Naruto were thrown from the sky..." said Armin drastically, and Rangiku's eyes widened on hearing that.

"Impossible..." said Rangiku in horror,

"It's the truth...if not for Naruto, I'd be dead. He created so many water clones from thin air...it was just amazing, and now he's out there in the forest all alone and I can't do a FUCKING THING!" yelled Armin angrily and Rangiku immediately put a hand on his mouth.

"Shut up...do you want to get us killed? This forest is fucking dangerous, I woke up today and found myself hanging from a cliff," said Rangiku seriously and now it was Armin's turn to be shocked.

"What did you say?" asked Armin in a terrified voice, was this happening to all the cadets.

"Armin...we need to stay here, this forest has some very dangerous creatures...on my way here I noticed the bodies of some cadets," said Rangiku darkly,

This time Armin was horrified on hearing this, he was now really worried about his friends...he just wanted them to be safe. Rangiku realized what Armin must be thinking and decided to come clean.

"I didn't find Naruto or Mikasa's bodies...they are alive," said Rangiku comfortingly,

"That's a relief..." said Armin in a relieved tone, but he still had to find them no matter what happened.

"Armin...can I ask you something, it's about Naruto's power. I know he belongs from two powerful clans, and his father is a Hokage...but only the second Hokage had the ability to create water out of thin air...don't you think it's strange Naruto has the same ability?" asked Rangiku curiously,

Armin thought about Rangiku's theory, he had never seen something like that before, he knew Naruto was strong...but he had no idea he had abilities similar to the Second Hokage. Maybe...

"I don't know Rangiku...we'll ask him when we find him," said Armin firmly, and Rangiku was glad to see that her friend had now some confidence in himself, even it it was just for saving his friends...it was still a good sign that Armin was growing.

Armin then remembered something which he wanted to ask Rangiku since their battle with the snake...he had also not seen something like that before.

"Rangiku...what was that weapon you used to kill that snake?" asked Armin curiously,

This time Rangiku got a small smile on her face, and she made a hand seal and in the next moment a shining bow and arrow appeared in her right hand.

"Whoa...that's amazing," said an amazed Armin, and Rangiku giggled a little on seeing his reaction, he was kind of cute.

"This is the ability I inherited from my father...I can control my chakra and give it a precise shape and use it as a weapon. I can fire multiple arrows at once and can destroy enemies..." said Rangiku happily,

"Is that why you were chosen as blacklight?" asked Armin curiously,

Rangiku gave him a sheepish smile, and rubbed the back of her head in a comic way, which really made Armin smile a little more.

"I hope so..." said Rangiku sheepishly,

"Rangiku..." said Armin slowly and looked at the blonde girl with a kind smile,

"Huh?"

"I'm glad you are here..."

Naruto was slowly limping in the forest, his entire body felt like it had been through a meat grinder...blood was coming out from his head. To say he was injured would be an understatement.

He was badly wounded, and without any medical help he wouldn't last long in this forest.

But still it would be worth it...if he was able to save his friend.

His vision was blurry and with each step his legs were making him feel more and more pain, his left hand was certainly broken but he was not sure about the condition of his legs.

"I can't give up...I can't leave Mikasa and Armin here..." thought Naruto tiredly, and coughed up a little blood.

Some drips of blood fell on the grass beneath him, and when he looked down he was quite shocked when he found a trail of blood that was heading straight on ahead of him.

"What is this?" thought Naruto nervously, he certainly had a real bad feeling about this.

He slowly started limping in the direction of the blood trail, he was very nervous and he didn't even have any weapon to defend himself. In case of an attack he would be defenseless, as he had used almost all of his chakra in making those water clones.

Naruto took a small turn, and what he saw next would forever be arched in his mind. He had never seen such a horrifying sight before, and in an instant he puked on the ground badly.

There in front of him was a badly mutilated body...and from what it seemed this was a cadet of blacklight. It was a young boy the same age as him, but his stomach was tore apart...it was as if someone had teared him apart with their bare hands.

He coughed up a few more times...and put a hand on his chest to calm himself down. He then slowly moved his hands towards the edge of the body's jacket in order to find out who it was...the face was so badly mutilated and combine that with the foul stench, there was no way in hell he could identify this body without any identification or clue.

"Shinko Zaika"

Naruto remembered this boy, he was one of the trainees in his batch...but who killed him and in such a horrible way?

"There are no signs of any claw marks, or even bite marks of any animals...it's as if someone just teared him apart with their bare hands. This is horrible..." thought a terrified Naruto,

Suddenly he was able to feel someone's presence with his sensor skills...and in a few seconds these signatures multiplied. Naruto's heartbeat increased immediately as a horrible feeling came in his mind.

"I am surrounded..." thought Naruto nervously, and he tried to calm himself down.

The only question that remained was whether these signatures were friends or Foe.

He heard silent footsteps coming from nearby bushes and he was instantly on guard and was ready to defend himself with his right hand.

But...the thing that came out was something he had not even imagined in his wildest dreams.

"What is this?" thought Naruto frantically, his eyes widened further in shock...when multiple "things" came out of the bushes from all sides.

He was surrounded from all sides...and his enemies were not some animal, or creature...

It were humans...to be more specific they only looked as human. The fact that they were crawling with the help of their legs and hands was terrifying, they were all males and were wearing ragged clothes...but when he looked closely he was terrified to the core of his soul...as these people were wearing BLACKLIGHT Uniforms!

"What are you?" asked a terrified Naruto,

A few of them now looked at Naruto as if he was their prey, and this time Naruto saw what they really looked like. Their faces were horrible, they had long sharp canine like teeth, and their nails were very long. From their face it looked like they had been living here for years, and their hair were dirty and longer than his own.

If he could say...they all looked to be 15-16 years old.

"GUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

All these people...no these creatures made this terrifying howl, and Naruto saw the blood that was in their hands along with some pieces of flesh. Seeing Shinko's mutilated body and the state it was in...and the creatures standing in front of him made all sense to him.

SHINKO WAS EATEN ALIVE BY HUMANS!

One of the creatures jumped straight at Naruto like a wild dog, and Naruto was barely able to dodge the attack, he was further shocked when two of those creatures grabbed one of his legs and started biting him.

"FUCK YOU!" screamed Naruto in agony, and kicked both the creatures away and jumped a few meters away from these monsters.

These guys were not humans...they were animals, he didn't know what happened with them but right now he had to get out of here, or else they would eat him alive.

Ignoring the continuous pain in his legs, he started running at full speed...he could hear the creatures growls and they were right on his trail...and seeing them crawling at him like wild animals was making him more scared.

"What should I do?" asked Naruto out aloud, he had never been in such a situation before.

He had no chakra left to defend himself, and there seemed to be no one around who could help him, talking with those creatures was useless after all they were trying to eat him.

There were 5 of them on his trail...and he knew he wouldn't be able to run much longer.

"You are making the wrong choice, Naruto: because hell awaits you"

He clearly remembered what his mother had said to him. and it seemed she was fucking right. This was hell, and he had not even imagined such a thing happening in his wildest dreams.

Naruto suddenly felt someone grab him swiftly and hid him behind a tree, he felt a pair of hands on his mouth and when he looked back he was shocked to see it was Mikasa.

"Mikasa..." mumbled Naruto in shock, but she gave him a stern look telling him to be quiet.

She laid him down on the ground and suddenly one of those creatures popped right on their left side, and what happened next shocked Naruto even further.

Before the beast could attack them, Mikasa stabbed a kunai right through his skull. Naruto watched in shock, as the body fell lifelessly to the ground...and Mikasa slowly removed the kunai from the body.

This...this was murder.

"She just killed someone...she.." thought a shocked Naruto, his hand were shaking so badly and Mikasa noticed this and gave him a sympathetic look.

"It'll be alright..." said Mikasa warmly, and wiped a lone tear that slipped from Naruto's eyes.

She then picked up her kunai and swiftly went towards the creatures and Naruto watched in shock as she effortlessly killed 2 of them. A stab right across the heart, and a stab right between the eyes and the creatures fell lifelessly.

She killed them...it was as if she had done this before...it was as if she had no problem in taking a life, had she done this before?

This girl...was something else, there was so much about her that he didn't know.

She wiped away the blood from the kunai and slowly came and sat beside him, her heart broke a little when she saw the look in Naruto's eyes...but she didn't blame him one bit.

This was the first time he had seen a murder...she knew how she had felt when it had happened in front of her.

"I should not think about that memory right now..." thought Mikasa firmly,

"Only the victors survive in this war...this world is merciless Naruto. The sooner you accept it, the more chance you have of surviving this war" said Mikasa gently and tried to stop the blood that was leaking from his head.

She was still a little baffled when he still had the terrified look on his face.

"What is it?" asked Mikasa curiously, but she was quite shocked when a few drops of blood fell on Naruto's face.

She instantly looked up and was terrified when two of those creatures were right ABOVE them.

Before both of them could react the two creatures jumped at them and were now trying to eat them alive, Mikasa was trying to break free from her enemy's grasp but she lacked the strength.

She further bit her lip in frustration when she saw Naruto was still in shock...and the creature above him was just about to kill him.

"KILL HIM" yelled Mikasa loudly,

Naruto was broken out of his stupor as he heard Mikasa's loud voice, he looked up and saw the horrifying face of that creature and grabbed his hands in an effort to stop him, but he was quickly being overpowered.

"Am I really going to be eaten alive?" thought a shocked Naruto,

He saw the other creature was just about to eat Mikasa, and something in him changed.

"I won't let you harm her...bastards!" yelled Naruto angrily,

Mikasa was quite shocked on hearing that, but what she saw next terrified her soul. The look in Naruto's eyes changed, instead of his kind black eyes...they were now so cold that a chill went up her spine.

"What the-"

Mikasa couldn't speak, as Naruto just punched his right hand straight across his attacker's eyes and a pool of blood fell on his face as he just destroyed the creature's eyes, and in the next instant he ripped apart the creature's brain with his bare hand.

"GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The creature screamed in pain and fell flat on the ground...and she gave a firm kick on her attacker's groin and the creature fell to the side screaming in pain.

Naruto grabbed the kunai that was beside him, and in a flash he jumped right on the last creature...and started stabbing him right on his head again and again!

"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!

Mikasa watched in shock as Naruto continuously stabbed the now dead creature, he was not stopping at all- it was as if he just didn't want to stop.

She grabbed his hand firmly, and he looked at her murderously...there was a animalistic look in his eyes and it scared her a bit, he was like a true murderer right now.

"It's over..." said Mikasa firmly, and she tried to hold his hand but he shook her hand and started stabbing the creature again.

She again grabbed his hand and in a flash threw the kunai away...and before he could react she took him down and was now sitting on top of his chest.

He tried to shake her off, but she maintained her grip and went a little closer to his face and looked at him straight in his eyes.

"It's over, Naruto...we are safe." whispered Mikasa affectionately, and she saw the emptiness in his eyes, it was the same as it had been with her first kill.

She had never seen him so broken before, even if they were shinobi...they were just 8 year old kids, and today Naruto had taken two lives in a barbaric way...and she felt his pain.

None of them were sure who initiated the kiss, only that someone did- and somehow his lips pressed against hers.

Lips so different from his own; softer, as soft as rose petals, fuller, holding him in thrall at very first brush, her delighed gasp snaking through his ears. He pulled back, marveling, and then he went in again...marveled anew at the decadence of her...then again, and this time, moaning, she opened for him.

Her tongue rolled against his, bringing with it the tastes of summer: berries dipped in cream, newly blooming roses and sultry midnights. He dipped lower still, face brushing against hers and she came alive in his arms; wrapping her arms round his neck with a planitive cry. As focused on her as he was, he was able to follow her lead. When her tongue thrust, he knew to meet it. When her tongue retreated, he knew to chase it. He relished every new experience, growling with a sudden desire for more. More...everything.

Her fingers slicked through his hair, decadent sensations dancing over his scalp tickling skin that had never before been touched by another's hands. What was it about her that drove him crazy so? He was pretty sure it had something to do with the old saying. Opposites attract? If she was ice, then he was fire, destined to thaw her. There was just something about her cold demeanor that attracted him.

And right now he just didn't know what the fuck was going on...he was just doing it.

After a few seconds Mikasa broke the kiss...and she had a gobsmacked look on her face...one which was mirrored by Naruto as he too realized what had happened.

Both of them had just kissed each other...it was not intentional but it just happened. Both of them were out of their minds...and this just happened.

"What the fuck was that?" asked a shocked Mikasa, and she had a little embarrassed look on her face.

"I don't know..."