23

Chapter 22: Land of my Forefathers

Waking up after getting your ass kicked is never a very fun thing to do. Waking up after getting your ass kicked while stuck down under a pool of water? Well…

"*cough cough cough*"

Naruto emerged from an underground lake, dragging Sai to the rocky shore before collapsing on his back, clearing his lungs of the copious amounts of liquid he had ingested., "*cough cough* You alright Sai-kouhai?"

"…"

Naruto frowned and took Sai's pulse. He was still alive and well, but it was now abundantly clear that the pale ninja was indeed suffering from chakra exhaustion. Naruto checked to see if he was still properly breathing and the results gave his eye something of a twitch, 'How can I be the one that actually woke up and dragged us out of the water and yet he's the one that didn't get a drop of excess water in his lungs?'

Naruto sighed and let Sai be for the time being. He took the time to look around the cave they were stuck in. From the roof, the water from the whirlpool was coming through, obviously how they had gotten in, but where was all of the water going?

Naruto formed a Kage Bunshin and had it jump into the water to look for a path to move towards while he rested and took stock of the situation at hand. As the clone submerged itself under the lake, Naruto leaned against a rock near Sai. Well their mission was an utter failure he had to say. All of the things that they looked through brought them nothing but misery, pain, anger (if Sai could even get angry, Naruto wasn't sure), and a lot of wasted time. Before they could even check the last tower to see if there was anything of use in there the thing was blown to hell by Deidara, an explosives specialist.

After a short fight, Naruto had attempted to flee from the rooftop they had managed to be trapped on by jumping into the raging waters below, right into a whirlpool. Needless to say, the fight didn't go so well for the two Konoha ninja. Deidara's ability to keep the battle at a range that Naruto and Sai couldn't contend at was the real issue of the battle. Deidara and his clay bombs were far too versatile for them to attempt fighting him at a distance, and with their inability to close the distance it was only a matter of time. They had been fighting all day long, whether it be the traps they were forced to survive, or the soulless golem that tried to kill them in the first tower, by the time they fought Deidara they had been fighting all day long.

Naruto started checking his equipment, but when he reached for the ninjato on his back he got an unpleasant surprise, "Fuck! My sword is broken again?" Naruto's sheath and blade had been busted, possibly when he fell onto the rooftop from so high in the air during the fight with Deidara. A few explosions caught him as well when he attempted to flee towards the edge so there could have been another way they broke as well. Who knew where he had deposited the broken pieces? There was no way for him to repair it this time.

This was just not his day. He and his partner had been run ragged the entire time and were attacked by a fresh opponent with superior tactics and the means to execute his gameplan.

Naruto's body didn't really register the fatigue, the things he did for his own personal training saw to that. However Sai didn't have his level of stamina, nor his ability to instantly heal the wounds he suffered getting through the traps, and injuries accumulate.

Naruto sighed as he looked at Sai's unconscious form, "Damn it kouhai, I told you to tell me if you were hurt or overexerted..." Naruto checked himself over, he didn't have anything hurt on him, he was absolutely fine other than his pride. And that had taken a vicious beating, as he didn't land a single shot on Deidara the entire time. Even his new super-charged explosive tag wasn't enough to finish him off.

"Why didn't you use my chakra? That would have made the results of the battle an afterthought." The Kyuubi decided to chime in. Naruto couldn't say he was ungrateful for the distraction, there wasn't much he could do at the moment and reflecting on what happened with a second opinion until Sai woke up was as good a time waster as he was going to get.

Naruto checked his gear, 'Sai was right there and we were flying on one of his flimsy ink birds. Even if Sai was able to stand up to a decent amount of exposure to the chakra his bird couldn't. We would have dropped from the sky like a stone and died. I just have to face it, Deidara had our number up there.'

Kyuubi growled from inside Naruto's head, "If you had come alone you could have destroyed that fool."

Naruto shrugged, mostly to himself, 'Maybe, but there's no such thing as a fair fight. Coming without Sai might have been easier, but he has his mission and I didn't see anything wrong with the help. Danzo-jiji wouldn't have sent him if he was weak. He just had a bad draw as an opponent. Deidara seems troublesome.'

Kyuubi agreed, Danzo was not one to undertrain his people. While he had a penchant for treating his ninja like pawns often, it couldn't be argued that he didn't make absolutely sure that they were ready for the missions that he planned to send them on. If he sent Sai then he thought that Sai was close to if not the absolute best that he had. Like Naruto said, Deidara simply caught them at the worst possible time on the worst possible terrain, "If you come across that man again I want you to eradicate him, no questions asked. Understood?"

Naruto scoffed, 'You don't control me. But you're right, if I see him again I'm going to drag him to the ground and rip his arms off, and not particularly in that order either. Where did he get all of those explosives from, and how did he have time to shape them? That's what I really want to know.'

"Get some rest. You cannot do anything while your partner is unconscious and weak. The bomber human must think you two died being thrown into the whirlpool so there is no one pursuing you at the moment. Take advantage of that and regain what strength you both can for the time being." Kyuubi said somewhat sagely.

Naruto hated doing nothing, but after flaring his chakra one good time eventually buckled and began to focus on the sound of the falling, crashing water to lull him to sleep.

XxX

"I'm so dead. I'm so dead, un!" Deidara repeated to himself as he flew over the whirlpool that the two boys fell into, looking for any sign that Naruto had survived and getting none, "I'M SO DEAD, UN!"

"Deidara get down here."

Deidara paled somewhat at the sound of the gruff voice calling his name. Looking down at the abandoned, ruined village, he saw a thick, hunched figure in a black robe with red clouds and the large straw hat that Akatsuki members are known to wear, "Deidara get down here now."

Deidara swallowed his nerves and landed his clay bird before pasting a nervous smile on his face, "Sasori no Danna! You made it down here at last, un!"

Sasori simply looked right at Deidara, "I thought you were going ahead to capture the jinchuuriki since you could move faster than I could through the air."

Deidara grinned apologetically, "Well you see, I did find him and fight him. He had another guy with him and we ended up getting into a little fight. They were kind of troublesome, but in the end they weren't that hard to beat."

Sasori kept his tone even, "And? You're not telling me everything Deidara, don't treat me as if I were a fool."

Deidara held his hands up in a placating fashion, "I never said that Sasori no Danna, un. But when I beat them and moved in to finish the jinchuuriki he took his partner and jumped off of the building I had him trapped on. And then he landed in the water and got sucked into the whirlpool. Whoops… un."

Sasori stared at Deidara for a long minute before sighing, "Your stupid excuse for 'art' jumped the gun did it not Deidara?"

Deidara got a tick mark on his head, "Hey! My art is better than your boring rust and wear attracting excuses! Besides, how was I supposed to know he was audacious enough to jump off of a building into a whirlpool? People don't do that, un!"

Sasori scoffed and walked away, "Apparently this person did."

Deidara simply watched Sasori walk away, "Sasori no Danna, shouldn't you be angrier about this? The jinchuuriki is dead. Leader-sama is going to tear us limb from limb for this."

Sasori never broke his stride, "He's dead is he? Did you see his body?" Deidara shook his head even though Sasori couldn't see it, "Then he's not dead. Tell me he's dead when we find his body… and then I'll show you how angry I can be."

Deidara followed behind Sasori slowly, "Sure thing, un." 'How is he not dead?'

Sasori spoke once more in his straightforward, gruff voice, "It's just as I remember it." Deidara gave him an odd look, but chalked it up to Sasori just being weird like that.

XxX

(Undisclosed Amount Of Time Later – Underground Cavern in Uzushiogakure)

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto cracked an eye as the loud pounding noises filled the cavern, "Ugh… what the hell is up now? Don't tell me they're attacking the river bottom now." Naruto got up and walked over to Sai while the loud thuds still rang out. Naruto kicked Sai in the hip sharply, "Sai-kouhai wake up. You've been lazy enough for my tastes."

Sai slowly opened his eyes, "Naruto-senpai where are we? What happened?"

Naruto looked around in order to figure out what was making that hellacious racket, "Long story short, you blacked out on me when the tide was about to turn in our fight with that Akatsuki bomber and I had to jump into the whirlpool in an effort to escape being blown up on top of one of the towers. I sure didn't see this one coming." Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance, "What the hell is that noise?"

Sai rubbed his head and sat up, "What are you talking about senpai? What noise?"

Naruto gave him a dry look, "You really can't hear that?"

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto gestured around his grandly as the sound rang out, "That noise. What is it?" Naruto shook his head and put that in the back of his mind for the time being, "My Kage Bunshin found out that there's a waterway path leading out but it's under the water. Can you hold your breath for a while so we can get out of here?"

Sai nodded and pulled himself to his feet, "I should be fine. How long have we been down here by the way?"

Naruto rubbed his head, "I'm not sure. I can't tell how long I've been asleep since we got down here. How's your chakra exhaustion?"

Sai generated some chakra before dropping it with a breath, "I should be okay with a soldier pill. It will get me out of here at the very least." Sai reached into his pack and fished out a pill before popping it, "That should hold me until we're safe enough to rest for real."

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto started gnashing his teeth as reasonably sized chunks of rocks started falling from the ceiling into the water nearby, "This is perfect… the place is caving in. Come on Sai, we need to get out of here before we get stuck in here. We lucked out up there but our window of escape is closing."

THUD

A boulder twice the size of the teenage ninja dropped into the water, "-Literally." Naruto dove into the water, followed closely behind by Sai. Once inside of the water it actually became more treacherous for the two, as swimming made it harder for them to dodge wayward debris falling in with them. Naruto brought Sai to an underwater tunnel that took them further under Uzushiogakure, where exactly, he wasn't sure, but it was better than sitting in a cave waiting for no one to save them.

Eventually the wound up in another underground aquifer, but upon their heads breaching the water they were forced to jump out to dodge a giant stone foot crashing into them. Naruto and Sai stood on the surface of the water to see the same statue from previously, pulling its leg out of the water and turning its gaze on them.

Naruto palmed his forehead, "How did that thing even get down here?"

Sai pulled out his drawing scroll, "Worry about that later senpai, we need to fight."

Naruto nodded and reached for his sealing paper only to pull out a soggy, messy wad of wet paper. Naruto sweatdropped at the sight of his most versatile ninja tool falling to the ground in pieces, "That is so not good." He looked over at Sai, "How do you still have ink and that scroll? You were underwater too!"

Sai spared Naruto a glance, "My scroll keeps my ink and brush inside as well and when it's shut it is air-tight, nothing gets in."

Naruto sighed, "Damn that's useful. I need to invest in something like that apparently." He was cut off by being forced to dodge another attack from the statue. Landing ashore, the two boys ran past the sentinel, dodging swings of its massive hands that ended up pounding into the wall hard, causing rocks to drop dangerously from the ceiling and narrowly miss them both, "That's the thing causing the damned cave in?"

Sai looked back as they both began running down a corridor, "It must be the protector of Uzushiogakure's inner sanctum, not just that one tower. You must have accidentally stumbled upon a secret area of the village when you fled from our attacker Naruto-senpai."

Hard thudding footsteps sounded out behind them at a louder and louder pace. The boys turned around to find the statue gaining on them, Naruto's eyes widened at the speed that it was walking at, "Why is it so much faster down here?"

Sai looked and turned around before pulling out his ink, "It must be the momentum that it can gain down here on this long straightaway as opposed to the room we had it in the first time. Sumi Nagashi (Ink Flush)." Sai poured some of his ink onto the ground and made a few hand-seals. Many ink snakes burst from the ground and attempted to ensnare the statue but upon making contact, the seal array reverted them back to ink.

"Was there any part of you that thought that would work?" Naruto gave Sai a dry look as they continued to run, "Sai-kouhai, nothing has changed since the last time we fought this thing, except this time I can't take control of it to beat it. Our jutsu will still disperse upon even touching this thing."

Sai nodded in agreement, "Uzushiogakure truly were fearsome seal masters if they could make buildings and living golems resistant to chakra based attacks."

Naruto shot a look over his shoulder, "Marvel at my ancestors' workmanship later, we still need to lose this thing and find the way out. My Kage Bunshin didn't find an exit, it just found a different path to use." When Sai gave him a questioning look he shrugged, "I told it to find me a path and that's what it did. I never said to go any further."

Naruto and Sai had to separate as now the statue had gotten close enough to nearly squash the both of them with its foot. It began swinging across at both boys, hitting more walls and causing more things to fall.

Naruto and Sai sped up as the cavern began collapsing, "What is this thing's problem? It's going to bury itself too if it keeps this up!"

The emotionless Root ninja rejoined with Naruto as they started putting more distance between them and the statue, "It must not care as long as it is able to repel all invaders. It possibly won't leave us alone until we are dead. I wonder how it knows where we are."

Naruto shook his head, "I don't know, but it's just a stupid statue. We might not be able to destroy it but we can outsmart it." They then entered a clearing where there were several possible tunnels to take, leading further underground, "So how are you at labyrinths and mazes Sai?"

Sai stood for a moment, the statue closing in behind them before grabbing Naruto and dragging him down a random path, he dragged Naruto so abruptly that Naruto didn't even have time to steady himself and channel chakra to his limbs. Now that he thought about it, Sai wasn't doing that either. After rounding a corner, Sai grabbed Naruto and pulled him against the wall, keeping him from speaking with his hand over his mouth. As the sound of thudding got lower and lower, Sai eventually removed his hand and gestured for Naruto to stay quiet.

Naruto spoke in a whisper, "What was that all about?"

Sai responded, "I know how it found us in the cave. When we last saw it we had left it in that tower with the elevator platform coming from the ground, correct?" Naruto nodded, "Well I believe that the statue can sense bursts of chakra anywhere within the inner workings of Uzushiogakure, like the way the wall absorbed our chakra when we tried to climb it at first, I believe it sends signals of our location to the statue, like some kind of radar."

Naruto's interest was piqued, "So you're saying that we're actually somewhere important in Uzu? But what about the statue, that bastard will just keep coming for us the entire time we're down here."

Sai shook his head, "It responds to bursts of chakra. If we refrain from using any at all then it won't be able to pinpoint our location and will return to its hibernation mode on its platform."

Naruto stroked his chin, he could see how that could work. He did flare his chakra before going to sleep in the cave, that left ample time for the statue to come from wherever its resting place was to somewhere it could attack them from, "Wait. Is the platform our only way out of here?"

Sai shrugged, "I'm not sure Naruto-senpai, but it's certainly the most blatant way out of here should we find it."

Naruto groaned lowly, "So to get out of here we pretty much have to go to the big, ugly, killer statue. That's just great." Naruto looked around where Sai had pulled him to, "Where the hell is this?"

Sai looked as well. The room, if you could call it that, was a dead-end area with one ornate door on the far wall. There were skeletons in old shinobi armor strewn about the vicinity. The two boys looked around, inspecting the skeletons. Sai picked up some old rusted kunai and shuriken before deeming them utterly useless and throwing them aside.

Naruto scooped down near one of the deceased skeleton ninja and picked up a dusty looking book. He blew the dust off of it and opened it up before reading it aloud.

(Autumn War. 3 days after the primary defenses shattered.)

The enemy alliance has fought their way into our border and are now moving towards the main citadel. In an effort to retreat and take stock of our resources and chances of launching a counterattack in the near future we secretly fled to the hidden whirlpool catacombs beneath the village.

There are approximately 32 of us remaining as the rest elected to remain above, leading the enemy fools into the towers to their deaths. The sounds of the fools screaming from the first tower ring out through our chambers as I write, they just seem to keep sending their men inside, knowing that the sentinel awaits them.

The moment the commotion up above stops we will strike.

(6 days since the primary defenses shattered.)

The battle above still rages. The village leader will not acquiesce to our requests to rejoin the battle above. The sounds of our brethren still combating the foe ring out as clear as day in our ears as we sit and wait down below. The men are growing stir crazy and bitter at our inaction, however we must go with the will of our leader, he knows what is needed for Uzushiogakure to survive.

Konoha will come. They will not let us fall, not after so many years, not after all that our alliance has gone through. We sit and wait for our moment, one cue. That is all we need to unleash hell upon the invading bastards.

(Two weeks since the primary defenses shattered)

The battle grows quieter above. We still hear the sounds of combat, but they are more sparse now, not the cacophony of noise that one would associate with the assistance of our allies as we initially estimated we would receive, however it has been weeks since the assault on our home and no aid from Konohagakure has been received.

Suna, Kumo, and Iwa are cowards. They preyed on our civilians, forcing us to divert a good amount of our genin and chunin to evacuation stations. Many of our warriors were lost to this purpose that I will not say was worthless, our civilians are as much a part of our beloved home as our shinobi forces, however, many of our troops were picked off keeping the people safe. To prey on our nation who has never intentionally slighted them in the least, this is treachery at its highest form.

Our village leader has had enough and is casting away the contingency plan. He is heading up with volunteers for one final battle with the invaders. I will be among the ones that head up to link up with any survivors for one last ditch effort at casting the allied force out.

This will be our finest hour, they will tell legends of our valor.

Blood smeared the pages of the final passage as there was no time span listed.

Akasuna no Sasori.

We believed that the invading force was an alliance of the three villages I have been cursing throughout these passages, but it was just him. Him and him alone. He commanded a force of such overwhelming numerical superiority we figured it was an alliance, the numerous hitae-ate visible did nothing to give us any belief to the contrary. But we were mistaken.

Never have I seen such mastery of Sunagakure's most sacred art of war. He was able to keep the remainder of our shinobi busy and combat our leader directly with his puppet force, but the ones he used on us at first were nothing compared to what we saw when he started feeling the pressure of our attack.

He released one puppet, just one. This puppet was horrifyingly effective, I have never and will never see anything like it ever again.

The Sandaime Kazekage had gone missing shortly before his attack. His whereabouts and well-being were unknown to all, but we now know just what happened to the wind shadow. He is now Sasori's most destructive tool of violence. The Iron Sand bloodline is fearsome, and Sasori somehow retained his ability to utilize it even in his death. One jutsu was enough to take us all out of action.

The village leader gave the few of us left after Sasori's jutsu instructions to come down here and place all of Uzushiogakure's valuables in the most secure place in the village. That was the last thing we were all able to do. A terrible paralysis had stricken us once the vault door closed. We cannot move, we cannot utilize our chakra, even breathing is becoming increasingly difficult. It is taking me the last of my strength to write down the events that have lead to our demise.

So long as the village's greatest treasure resides behind the impenetrable vault of Uzushiogakure's premier clan we will never be lost.

Naruto shut the journal and shook his head sadly, "Akasuna no Sasori?"

"Sunagakure's greatest puppet user ever Naruto-senpai, he was unmatched in the art. He went rogue almost twenty years ago however." Sai said to the blonde shinobi, "He must have been brought in as a closer when Uzu's defenses inflicted heavy enough losses on the ninja."

Naruto nodded at Sai's logic, "So…" He turned towards the ornate door where many skeletons were positioned, "Impenetrable vault. You want to see if we can get into it? We did come here to see if we could get something after all."

Sai looked apprehensive, "With all of the 'luck' that we've been getting out of everything else around here I don't think tampering with the safe would be wise Naruto-senpai."

Naruto walked over to the vault and gave it a look over, "Sai-kouhai, do you know anything about safe cracking? I was more of the direct assault type myself."

Sai reluctantly made his way over and gave the vault a look himself before shaking his head, "There's no conceivable way for me to break into the vault. We need the key or else this door stays shut senpai."

Naruto looked at the door intensely before his eyes widened, "Whoa. This is an elaborate blood seal array. Like, really elaborate. It's very, very precise about who it lets in, and I believe that anyone not of proper lineage will get a nasty little surprise for their troubles."

Sai walked around, pacing in thought before he stopped and looked at Naruto, "What was that last passage in the journal senpai?"

Naruto pulled it straight from memory, "So long as the village's greatest treasure resides behind the impenetrable vault of Uzushiogakure's premier clan we will never be lost." Naruto's eyes widened, "You don't think-?"

Sai nodded, "They were the most famous clan of the village. Go ahead and try it."

Naruto scowled at Sai, "Says the guy that won't get fried if he attempts to use it. Fine." Naruto pulled out a kunai and cut his palm, coating all of his fingers in blood before looking at his hand, then at Sai, and sighing, "When I die, you stay the hell away from my funeral."

Sai gave Naruto his 'smile', "If you die from this then I'll just leave you here with the rest of your family's village of origin. That's what you would want, right?"

Naruto's eye twitched, "You're an asshole kouhai." Naruto turned back to the door and placed his bloody hand against it. Wincing in anticipation for a violent rebuttal from the door he got a pleasant surprise as he heard the tumblers open from within, finally opening and revealing the contents within to the boys.

Looking within he saw that the vault wasn't very large. It was big enough for both Naruto and Sai to stand in and that was about it. There was no treasure of financial value, no stockpiled money, nothing of the sort. There was a shelf with a dozen scrolls on it. Sai reached for one and attempted to open it. Naruto watched him struggle before sighing and dragging a bloody finger across it, opening it. Sai grunted in thanks and began reading, ending up squinting at what was on it, "There's nothing on it at all senpai."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the scroll and swiped his bloody finger on the parchment as symbols appeared on the paper. Naruto handed it back to Sai, "There you go. Now read."

Sai looked at it again, "I can't read this senpai."

Naruto sighed and took it from him, "What are you dyslexic? It says clearly, 'Scroll 1 of Uzushiogakure's listed existing seal array combinations.' Get your head in the game Mr. Chakra Exhaustion."

Sai gave him a confused look, "I didn't see that at all. It looked like a bunch of random squiggles."

Naruto looked back at the scroll, he could read it as clear as day when Sai could not. Naruto smirked, "Wow, that's really, really good fuuinjutsu. You can't even read this unless you're an Uzumaki. Sucks for you and everyone else still in Root Sai-kouhai."

Sai nodded, "Quite, I assume. So I guess your Uzumaki blood is why it was nigh impossible for Danzo-sama to place his personal fuuinjutsu on you and have it stay effective."

Naruto shrugged, "I guess. Let's load this stuff up so we can get out of here already." Naruto and Sai packed all of the scrolls into Naruto's pockets for the time being, seeing as how any chakra use to seal them in a storage scroll would have tipped off the ever vigilant and uber tough guard statue that had apparently been killing things for over twenty years. After reading that, Naruto and Sai really didn't want to see exactly how good they were, not against that thing.

Naruto noticed something behind the shelves as they finished loading his pockets with scrolls, "What in the?" Naruto pulled the wooden shelves down to find another door behind them, a sheathed sword held in a groove on the door. It was a ninjato like Naruto's utterly eradicated sword. The sheath was black with silver and gold spiral designs all over it. The handle looked smooth and well made, but very plain.

Sai tried to pull it out, getting Naruto to push him back, "You'd think that you would have learned with the vault door and scrolls." Naruto latched on to the blade and tugged on it, getting no give whatsoever.

Naruto sweatdropped as he could have sworn, if Sai showed emotion he would have been giving Naruto the equivalent of an I-told-you-so look, "One moment. I've almost got it."

Sai watched Naruto tug away at the sword for the better part of a minute, "Yes, you've got it alright Naruto-senpai. One more tug and I think you might peel some of the sheath's covering off on your hands."

Naruto grunted in effort as he continued pulling, now planting his feet on the sides for leverage as he used his entire body to pull, "Fuck you Sai-kouhai! You sure don't show emotion, but you've got that sarcasm shit down pat don't you? Why don't you be useful and shut the hell up so I can concentrate, this is man's work!"

Sai shook his head and sat down outside the vault as Naruto kept pulling at the sword inside, "Damn it, I'm not leaving without this thing. It looks sweet and I need a replacement!" Naruto kept yanking at the sword with all of his might, "Don't you know who I am? I'm Naruto Uzu-'fucking'-maki! You're a stupid goddamn sword!"

Apparently upon utterance of the word 'Uzumaki', complete with the colorful swear and loud proclamation something in the groove holding the sword clicked and released the blade to Naruto in a burst of cold smoke, sending him flying backwards. Sai looked at the inside of the vault as the smoke cleared and his eyes widened in uncharacteristic surprise.

Naruto stood up with a triumphant grin on his face, "How do you like that you piece of archaic crap? I rule you." Naruto looked up at Sai, "Alright Sai, we've got everything I think, so let's get out of here before our luck turns again."

Sai didn't move, "Naruto-senpai, I think you should come here and see this too."

Naruto walked over inside the vault with Sai and found that the wall he had taken the ninjato from had collapsed. Naruto swung his arms about to clear the strangely cold smoke from view. When it cleared out, Naruto's jaw dropped at what they had found.

Encased in what seemed to look like ice was a white haired girl.

XxX

(Uzushiogakure – Above Ground)

"Sasori no Danna why are we still here, un?" Deidara asked as he sat by a fire, looking bored, "The jinchuuriki is gone, and we aren't even looking for him. Shouldn't we have reported back in to Leader-sama right now?"

Sasori kept looking towards the trio, now duo, towers of Uzushigakure, "When Uzushiogakure was first attacked many years ago, it was believed that the defenders were wiped out after a two week battle, however there were many surviving ninja that came out of hiding, fresh, for one last ditch effort at victory. Nothing is as it seems in this place. A few of the last defenders were never accounted for." He turned to Deidara, "As long as I haven't seen any bodies they aren't dead. They will be back topside soon enough and that is when we will finish them."

Deidara looked at Sasori and nodded, "Sasori no Danna why do you know so much about this, un?"

Sasori remained silent, forcing Deidara to sigh and pout about him being such a bastard so much of the time.

XxX

(Kirigakure – With Kakashi)

Kakashi sighed as he once again retired to the room he was sharing with Shikamaru for the night, 'Where the hell are you Naruto? It's been a week since you left. I can't keep Shikamaru and Tayuya off of my back about this forever. You need to make it back before we have to leave or I don't know what I'm going to have to do.'

He looked over at Shikamaru who was sleeping on a bed nearby, 'Should I send Pakkun or another one of my ninken? Would they even be able to find him? He's in a completely different country. I knew this was a bad idea…'

Thudding footsteps sounded off down the hall, stirring Shikamaru from his slumber. Kakashi cursed to himself and stood by the door, "Here we go again."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Kakashi opened the door with perhaps the most artificial eye-smile he had ever given anyone for any reason ever, "Why hello Tayuya. What can I do for you tonight?"

Tayuya stood in the doorway with an irritated scowl on her face and her hands on her hips, "Where the hell is the blonde asshole?"

Kakashi gave her a look, "What have I been telling you since day one? Where Naruto went was his business. If he wants you to know he'll tell you when he gets back."

Tayuya got a tick mark on her head, "Well then in that case could you tell me exactly how long it's going to take him to drag his whiskery, borderline homicidal, scar-faced ass back here? Because he's been gone long enough to file a missing persons report three times over."

Kakashi leaned against the doorframe, "Are you saying that you don't trust him? After all that he's done for you and you don't trust him enough to handle his own affairs elsewhere. Trust me when I say, this is as personal as any undertaking Naruto is going to attempt."

Tayuya looked down, "It's not that I don't trust him, he's the entire reason I'm not in a tiny cell or even dead right now. Honestly, I trust him a hell of a lot more now than I probably will ever trust you." She looked up at Kakashi, "No offense."

Kakashi gave her a true eye-smile, "None taken."

Tayuya ran her hand through her hair, "And I know he's strong. If he could beat Kimimaro then that's saying something, but I'm saying that he can't trust us? Why can't he trust us? You were his jounin sensei when he was a genin weren't you? That lazy bum over there was his classmate in your ninja academy wasn't he? And me, we're friends. I'm his friend… aren't I? I live next door to him and I see him pretty much every day."

'Oh hell… emotional female distress. I should have known even a girl like her still qualifies as a girl. Let's see, I need a way out here.' Kakashi thought to himself as he feigned interest as he subtly looked around the room, 'Damn you Shikamaru, you have an easy out. I know your ass isn't asleep. That lazy-bones stigma saved you today.'

"-those times he saw me when I was in solitary confinement. I mean, why would he just go and do something like that, spend time with me when he didn't have to, and then just up and leave like this without a single word? He trusted me enough to give me my weapon back inside of his own home and not now? Is it something I did Kakashi?"

Kakashi sighed to himself and resigned himself to his fate, "No Tayuya I don't think it was anything that you did. He's just a secretive kid these days."

"But why now, and why to me?" She asked, "It's not like I would have even tagged along, I just want to know what he's doing."

"*Sigh*"

XxX

(With Naruto and Sai)

Naruto and Sai both spent the longest time staring at the girl. Naruto wiped some fog from the clear barrier keeping the girl suspended. Her eyes were closed as she had a very serene look on her face, her heart shaped face. She had long white hair that went down her back with sharp claw-hammer bangs in front of her face. From her body type, Naruto and Sai figured that she was somewhere within their age range. How were they able to do this you ask? Well she was naked, that's how.

After a long time of the two boys just staring, Sai pointed at her, "So are you going to get her out of there Naruto-senpai?"

Naruto kept his eyes on the girl because… well come on. How often in life are you going to get a 100% valid reason to look at a girl you don't know naked and not feel somewhat like a deviant in the process? "How the fuck do you figure I'm going to go about pulling off that miracle Sai? I don't know any katon ninjutsu and this shit doesn't even look like ice anyway."

Sai gave him a dry look, "You opened and activated everything else we've come across so far. I don't see how you couldn't come up with a way to get this girl free as well."

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe, but do you think she'll be able to walk when we get her out? It's kind of dangerous to be around us right now if you haven't noticed." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, "Actually, more importantly; do you think she'll be able to chase us? Because if I woke up butt naked like her and found out that two guys had been staring at me for the better part of an hour I would run to the nearest living thing and kill it."

Sai frowned, "Who knows? But aren't you curious right now? You said you wanted to come for everything in Uzu. Well she's in Uzu, she's right here in front of you and I think you can get her out. Will you just leave her here until the end of time?"

Naruto looked down shamefully, "That would be pretty messed up huh? But Sai-kouhai, what in the blue hell am I going to do with her? I mean, she doesn't even look like she's related to me. Her face is too different. Her eye structure isn't as big as mine, her nose is more, I don't know, regal I guess. Seriously, who the hell is this girl?"

"There's only one way to find out senpai." Sai said as he gestured to the frozen girl.

Naruto rolled his eyes and cut his hand once more before sticking it to the stuff encasing the girl. It rapidly started to melt onto the ground. Naruto looked at his hand in surprise, "Man I've got some good blood. Did you see that? Like it was molten lava or something."

The girl almost collapsed onto the ground before Naruto and Sai caught her. The two stared at each other in confusion as neither had the slightest clue as to what to do in this situation. Slowly her eyes fluttered open to reveal amber eyes.

Naruto watched in interest as the girl looked into his eyes and blinked in confusion before finally speaking in a sweet voice, "Um, hello."

Naruto's face was unchanging as he answered her right back, "Hi there."

She looked around blankly, "Um, who are you and what am I doing here?"

Naruto shrugged, "In order asked; my name is Naruto, this is Sai, and we have no clue, we thought we could get that part from you."

She seemed to accept this as a reasonable answer, "I see… Okay… One more question."

Naruto nodded, "Shoot."

"Why am I naked?"

Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto turned back to her and answered, "We don't know that either." Naruto gave her body a good once over look, "Good on you though. Bravo."

The girl simply looked up at him from her back, not a single indication of discomfort towards her current situation. She crinkled her nose in a cute manner, "I hate to trouble you, but would either of you happen to have any clothes on you that I could wear. My own seem to be missing at the moment and this floor is cold."

Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto pulled a sealing scroll from his pocket and unsealed a change of clothes. The two boys gave her some privacy as they vacated the vault to allow her to change. Sai took this time to whisper to Naruto, "What are we going to do now senpai?"

Naruto glared at Sai, "I don't know! We definitely can't leave her here, that's for damn sure. Can you take her back to Konoha with you?"

Sai frowned, "And keep her where? I have only enough space in my lodgings for myself and Danzo-sama isn't accepting anyone else in Root either, he wouldn't take her regardless. She's too old to be trained by him properly now."

Naruto started pacing, "This is all turning into one massive clusterfuck, I swear… I came here looking for scrolls, maybe a family tree, you know, the usual stuff. I found Akatsuki a statue with a grievance and a hot naked girl sealed in a vault. What is it with my luck?"

"So who are you two again?"

Naruto and Sai turned around to see the girl with her white hair tied in twin ponytails going down her back. She had on a black pair of Naruto's shinobi pants rolled up to her knees with a black pair of sandals. She had on one of Naruto's black muscle shirt, and the sight of the girl adjusting it on her chest was actually quite appealing to Naruto, but it was business time, "Kami, I'm so stiff after being stuck in that place."

"Me too." Naruto said before he slapped himself, "Uh, what I meant was; shouldn't you give your own name before asking for someone else's?"

The girl's mouth opened in realization and she quickly bowed, "I'm so sorry. My name is Hamako Kiyomizu. Level 9 seal master apprentice of Uzushiogakure."

Naruto stared at her in shock, "You're a seal master? No way, you're so young, how can you be level 9? My sensei isn't even level 9, he says he's level 8."

She put her hands on her hips, "Well I just said I'm a seal master apprentice. I'm not a fully accredited seal master yet until sensei promotes me to level 10." She blinked in thought, "Wait, there's a battle going on right now!" She looked around rapidly, "W-Where's sensei? Where is anyone?" She then noticed the hitae-ate on the heads of the two boys. She broke out in a huge smile, "Konoha is here! Sensei said they would come! You must have beaten all of those jerks up top."

She looked at Sai and Naruto fondly, "So I'm sorry, I'm such an airhead sometimes, what were your names again?"

Naruto answered, "Well he doesn't really have a name. I just call him Sai, it seems to fit him." Sai nodded in acknowledgement, "And me, like I said I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

Hamako's eyes widened upon hearing his surname, "Uzumaki-sama! From Konoha? You must be related to Mito-sama somehow."

Naruto looked at her in confusion, "Mito-sama? Who is Mito? And –sama? Why am I –sama?"

Hamako latched onto Naruto's arm, "To be saved by a member of Mito-sama's family in Konoha… This is truly a blessing. Have you and your partner seen sensei yet. Others will probably call him village leader or something."

Naruto looked somewhat hesitant to accept her thanks, "Um, Hamako, I don't know how to tell you this so I'll let this guy do it. Tell her Sai."

Sai nodded, "Uzushiogakure fell while you were in that chamber. You've been asleep for the better part of nearly twenty years Hamako Kiyomizu."

Hamako just stared at them for a moment before a grin broke out on her face, "You guys need to stop fooling around. If Konoha is here that means that we won, you shouldn't fib like that. What if I had taken that seriously?" She finished with a small giggle.

Naruto looked down sadly and Sai simply kept emotionless eyes on her. Hamako stopped smiling, "You guys? Right? Tell me I'm right. Tell me that you're just messing with me, that Uzu is still okay." She asked in an increasingly desperate manner.

THUD

THUD

THUD

Naruto and Sai both turned towards the nearest wall and spoke at the same time, "Shit."

With that the wall crashed down as the sentinel came through, its eyes set firmly on Naruto and Sai. The two prepared to grab Hamako and run until the girl stepped towards the statue, "Stop being a nuisance Komainu-kun!" She spoke with utter authority.

The statue stopped moving at the girl's behest, shocking Naruto into a stupor, "How the hell did you do that? Do you have any idea the hell that thing put us through for the past two days?"

Hamako turned to Naruto, "What do you mean, 'how did I do that?' I was the one that made the seal that animated him, why wouldn't I have control over him? Now tell me…" She said I an increasingly dark tone, "What. Happened. To Uzu?" She was starting to shake as she spoke.

Naruto moved quickly and wrapped Hamako in a hug, "I'm so sorry Hamako, but Sai wasn't lying. This is real. Uzushiogakure was sacked a long time ago, you're the only person we found here alive and that's because you were in that odd hibernation chamber."

Hamako stood silently, leaning on Naruto's shoulder until she finally broke down and began to cry on him. Naruto simply held her and let her get it all out. He moved them over towards an unruined wall and let her weep for her lost land on him, it was the very least he could do for her for now.