The Box's Feast

Night fell over Hozuki Castle. Prisoners were placed back in their cells and guards began their last routine checks before they returned to their quarters.

Once all was quiet, Mui opened the door to Naruto and Hana's room. As he had anticipated, both were still unconscious and bound to their beds. He surveyed the room only once before he stepped inside. "Get ready to move them!" He called.

About five guards walked into the room and untied both of them. Naruto and Hana were then restrained to chairs and wheeled out of their quarters. The guards then followed Mui through the Hozuki Castle corridors. The only sounds to be heard were the screeching of the unoiled wheels through the hallways.

The guards stopped at Mui's office. He opened the door and they wheeled the two captives inside. Once both were inside and Mui had checked them over to make sure that they were still asleep, he walked over to a bookcase that no one would have suspected if they did not know what they were looking for.

The warden effortlessly pushed the bookcase to the side which revealed a long flight of stairs leading down into uneasy darkness that refused to give eyes enough light to see into. The two were taken from their wheelchairs and carried down a long flight of stairs. No one spoke a word, but each step the guards took made them shiver as they felt the crushing weight of the void around them.

For the five minutes that passed, it seemed like days. Once the guards reached the bottom, they felt the breath exhale from their lungs that they had been holding. They did not speak upon what made them so afraid for fear of retribution, but the look they gave each other told them that they wished they could leave this foreboding darkness soon.

With time, Mui and his four guards were gathered within a room with very small lighting. The shine from three above ceiling lamps offered just enough light to see tables lined with vials of unknown chemicals and two patient boards for their two captive prisoners. What they also noticed...was the large box neatly fitted into the side of a stone wall.

"Place them on the table. You may leave once you're done," Mui instructed. The guards couldn't have been more thankful.

Naruto and Hana were unchained and then placed on the two tables. The four guards left without word of mouth. This left the warden alone for a time until he noticed four cloaked figures wander into the room. Each figure wore an animal mask designated to them. Two stood at each table observing the two fallen warriors that had been a part of Akari's team.

"Hmmm, I did not expect one of them to be so small. Are you sure this chakra could be found in such a small boy? I find it hard to believe," one of them said.

Mui stared at Naruto's sleeping form before turning to the gathered members around him. "Appearances are often deceiving. I don't know the origins of this boy but I'm positive that with him and the woman, we can achieve what we all want," the warden said. The four others agreed and they began their work.

Off came Naruto's shirt and Hana's top. The sealing formula for Mui's juinjutsu that he used to restrict the prisoners appeared on their bodies. He placed his hand on top of Naruto's chest. With a surge of chakra and a few words muttered to himself, Mui released the restrictive jutsu he had placed on the long, red-haired boy. Notably, Naruto breathed just a little easier.

"Now the woman," another member said. The others agreed.

The five members turned towards Hana as Mui began to work. However, the warden felt a harsh chill run down his spine as if the eyes of death were upon him. Sharp, red, dangerous eyes, like those of a great demon, were piercing into the very depths of his soul. Startled, Mui turned around but the only thing that greeted him was a sleeping Naruto upon the stone table.

"Warden Mui, is there a problem?" one of the four members asked. The jonin placed a hand to his head and he noticed how much he had been sweating. He looked down at his hands and he noticed how blurry they seemed. In that blurriness, he could also see his soaked palm tremble. Perhaps...he was more tired than he thought.

"Nothing. Let's proceed," he said. He then placed his hand on Hana's stomach and removed the juinjutsu from her as well. Throughout the process, Mui could not shake the feeling of unease surrounding not just him but the other members as well.

Once preparations were done, the four members stood at the four corners of the room while Mui stood between the stone tables that held Naruto and Hana. Then, with outstretched arms, he began performing the necessary handsigns to transfer their chakra into the box.

As Mui wove his fingers and hands, the Box of Ultimate Bliss' face lit up in a flowing sea of malicious chakra. Dark energies swirled around it like a thousand swarms of death harbingers while the box began to resonate with Hana and Naruto's chakra.

"What is that on the boy's stomach?!" one of the members exclaimed. Everyone focused on Naruto and they saw a great sealing formula planted around his navel. Had they not been on the cusp of victory, the members and Mui might have thought to question what this meant, but...they did not.

Instead, they watched a surge of blue and red chakra swirl out of Naruto's body as the young Uzumaki shot open his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs. Not long after him, Hana screamed as a wondrous color of white chakra expelled from her body. White, red, and blue chakra clashed together with the dark aura of the Box of Ultimate Bliss. Its red eyes shined with an unholy intent as it continued to partake in the glorious meal presented before it.

For about a minute, the box suckled on the flowing chakra from Naruto and Hana before its hunger was sated. Both were dropped to their stone tables. Pain surged through their bodies, but...that did not stop a big smile from cracking the Kyuubi jinchuuriki's face.

"HeheheheheHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"

Mui and the four masked members turned to see Naruto with his arms spread out like a great eagle. They watched him laugh like an evil dictator who had just successfully conquered a ruling nation. Then, they all watched him...clap his hands together. With some effort and pain, he leaned himself up but never one stopped the reverberating sounds of his hands smacking against each other.

"Finally. Well done, Mui-san. My reason for coming here wasn't a waste of my time after all dattebayo! In gratitude for your efforts, I'll try to have Ryuzetsu kill you last. Consider it a parting reward," Naruto said.

Before Mui could even begin to fathom what the redhead could have been referring to, his eyes...would never forget the sight of the four council members of the Hozuki Castle. He would never forget...the stakes of blood impaled through their bodies. He would never forget...their screams as he could do nothing but watch as their frail bodies slide down the stakes which only served to pierce them harder. He would also never forget...the hypnotic, evil, vile stare of Naruto's red eyes and crooked smile.

The warden tried to move but a wave of killing intent stopped him where he stood. He was quick to notice that this wave of terror did not come from Naruto. No, it came from the woman who had laid next to the red-haired boy. He stared into the eyes of a great beast from Hana Uzumaki.

Mui could not move. He could not think. He could not speak. The Warden of Hozuki Castle was...too scared to move against the two individuals who had only seconds ago been his captives. Then...came the sickening crunches. He watched as the stakes of blood came alive and began piercing into the flesh of the members even more than before. Their bones crunched and cracked.

Their skin seemed to be struck by the sands of time as more and more wrinkles appeared upon them. Then, the blood covered their deceased bodies and rushed back to the redhead in the form of four red pills.

"These'll help my cultivation dattebayo! Come on, Hana. Something tells me this place isn't gonna be so secret anymore," Naruto said.

....

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