Vile kidnappings.

“Become a fine man,” uttered Tsunade, though ending the second part of the sentence in her own mind. “And, a fine Hokage.”A moment ago had she kissed a blond boy, a boy of about twelve years of age.On the forehead, a gentle kiss of appreciation. The boy’s name was Naruto, apparently of the genin rank in the forces of Konohagakure, the most renowned of the five great ninja villages.Spectating the sudden unforeseen event, were two people, unsurprisingly both ninja too.Jiraiya, another one of the legendary Sannin, was one among the two. Of the three Sannin, we have now seen them all.With Jiraiya was standing Shizune, staring a little wide eyed at the kiss. But not for long.As soon as Tsunade complimented Naruto, he started. “Yeah. Of course.” He put his hand behind his head, ruffled his spiky hair, and smiled baring his teeth wide.Jiraiya thought back, to how Tsunade had changed her mind to become the Hokage.It was hard enough without all the other disturbances, especially when Shizune had told him about Orochimaru’s little visit. When that circumstance was explained, Jiraiya began to overthink about the matter. Wild thoughts ran around in his mind, forcing him to act as quickly as possible, but at the same time, as subtle.He told Naruto to go roam around somewhere else, because he wanted to talk with Tsunade, try to reason with her and change her mind.Naruto took his frog purse and started down the lane, going where the road took him to, hoping to find some nice shops to eat good food. He wandered here and there, always finding too many shops but having too little money. He wanted to spend them carefully, and find the right delicacy to spend it on. If he spent it for a food item and found something more delicious, his heart would just not be able to take it.He kept on walking till he reached the town’s main market. It was actually kind of like a square, a huge one at that, and surrounded by shops, restaurants and pubs, with a few dozen hawkers roaming thereabout, shouting out and advertising their merchandise.The market was crowded with peoples of all kind; short, tall. Kids, senior citizens. Millennials, boomers. Each went about their own businesses, bargaining with the shopkeepers and searching for their requirements. Naruto leapt from this shop to that shop, and finally found his paradise. He bought popsicles, hanami dango on sticks and dipped in sugary syrups, and takoyaki made with a sauce he had never tried before in his life. With a big bowl of katsudon, he filled his stomach. He ate much more, and more, until he was bursting.He gave his remaining money and stared at his empty pouch with satisfaction, at money used for good use.Filled up with food, and hands full of souvenirs, he was planning to make his way back to the lodge.He was walking in a street jam-packed with people, and was rubbing his stomach as he walked, still greedily yearning for the savouries on either side of him, when suddenly he felt someone catch his leg. He turned back, to see an old little frail jiji grabbing his foot using both his arms. He seemed as if he was barely hanging onto life, but his grip was strong as steel. When Naruto turned towards him, he said, “young lad,… do you have anything to eat? I am…I am very hungry…Starving for days…Please…Please help me…Food…”Naruto stared at him for awhile. He had not met any beggars in this town till now. This was one of the first times for him experiencing this type of begging. There were not many beggars in Konoha. He still had some Udon leftovers that he had packed for eating later on. He felt that maybe he was too greedy. Sharing things is always a good thing. He decided to give his parcelled Udon to the old man.Naruto rummaged through his plastic bag, which contained items of different colours, and of varied importance as well. He found it after a while of searching, and took it out and pressed it towards the old man gently.“Here you go, old man. Hope you find this enough, ‘coz I can’t spare any more, sorry.”The man opened it and smelled the arousing aroma with excitement in his wrinkly eyes.“Oh boy, thank you very much. Very very much….hmmm…For this precious food, my lad, I would like to give something in return for you. follow me…”Naruto, a little confused, for he was thinking that he was wasting valuable time by following this old guy, started hesitantly. “ Old man, can ya make it fast? I need to go back to the hotel; I have things to do.” But the man ignored Naruto as if he were deaf, and continued down a narrow alleyway . It was just a mere space between two buildings, and it ended in a dead end after a few dozen paces. The last area had two dustbins, both loaded to the full, and more overflowing out. Mosquitoes swarmed the place, and it smelled rotten and disgusting.

Naruto thought about what gift the old man could give to him in a retarded place like this.After going to the last, the old-timer turned back, and saw Naruto eye to eye. Something was different; Naruto knew it in his heart. But he did not know what.The man then, after turning back, suddenly , smiled.And Naruto knew what felt wrong. The old man was no longer hunched. He seemed fit as a fiddle. Definitely not the way he seemed the first time he saw him.The old man smirked at him and said , “ I had never thought it would be so easy to lure you, child.” His voice was crystal clear now, with a never before had steadiness . It was earlier cracked and hollow.He looked Naruto in the eye, and, . . . . . Gone.His strength, and willpower, and a great many other things, all vanished. He could not even move his body, as if he were petrified. He focused on the old man, whom he now did not believe to be so old after all, and certainly not so helpless. He tried to focus on him, and it took him a lot of effort. His head felt suddenly lighter, and black dots danced in front of him.It’s certainly a jutsu that he used on me. Probably Genjutsu, thought Naruto, as he passed out from exhaustion which came from unknown origins.He hit the ground and closed his eyes, not registering everything that happened later until his next opening of his eyes, which was fairly after quite a while, deduced Naruto.

Thrice. Thrice he blinked to free himself of the groggy feeling downing him and to get his eyes adjusted to the dark space. He was bound, with thick ropes tied with expertise, each knot hard and strong.He surveyed the place. He was tied on a long vertical metal pole, probably two meters high, but it was not nearly tall enough to touch the ceiling. Tied hands and legs, he hung limply with numbness slowly spreading to every part of his body.He was in a godown, a small one at that, but it was high enough to hold an elephant with certain ease. There existed drought of light, and he was barely able to make out anything. Not that there was much to make out, anyway. He found the place to contain only a few dozen sacks full of grains, rice, wheat, and many more varieties. There was not a single furniture in the place, and it reeked of hay, oddly.There was no other person in the godown, excluding him. Neither the kidnapper, nor any of his possible accomplices. After peering out in all directions for a while, well, at least in all the directions his restrains allowed him to turn, he started to work on the rope. Severing the ropes was the only sensible plan to escape these confines.The ropes were thick, and tied correctly at his wrists with hard knots, restricting his movements extremely.Naruto looked at his hands, turning his head backwards. The first thing he should try, is obviously wriggling out the hands. That seemed hard, but at least it was a try. He wriggled, and wriggled, till the friction rubbed against his hands so much and increased that it seemed as if his hands were on fire. It seemed as if blood might come out any moment after the friction burned away the flesh.And thus he stopped that.Next was breaking apart the wooden pole to get away. There was no other way, and that in itself seemed nigh-impossible. Naruto tried what he could, but in vain. The wooden stump was good-quality oak, and from where it was derived, he did not know, but it was sturdy enough to withstand whatever pressure he could force upon it in his condition.He was now hopeless. He did not know what to do. His mind and heart both were racing together, and ideas tried to flow along with dangerous thoughts. But it was just a complete mind block. A stop of ideas. The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki struggled with mental exhaustion, and with what seemed like hours, gave up. His hands hurting, and his eyes showing off despair, he threw up his hands, not literally, and shouted inside his head.‘How am I supposed to escape now!? Nothing, not even one single damned idea is coming into my idiotic knucklehead. Who has kidnapped me? The Akatsuki? Most likely. Sasuke’s brother, even more probably. Since Jiraiya-Sensei had protected me from him and the shark guy with his stomach of big from summoning jutsu, I have not met him ever since. I guess he just tracked us down with his boast able Sharingan of his. But still, knowing that, or any such information, is useless now. I can’t do a single thing if I get killed when they come for getting the Kyūbi inside of me.Think, Naruto.Think with your brain. Squeeze it dry until all of your knowledge leaks out. Survey the surroundings, and analyse.’

And then it struck.Like a lightning flash, an idea came about bursting into his mind in within a millisecond.And idea to escape, once and for all. He did not know if it would work, but he will have to try.