A Mother's Plea

As soon as he said that, the walls began to shake, the ceiling began to quake, and the ground began to rumble. Stone slabs which held the hidden lab together came undone as Mui covered his head from the falling debris. Chakra exploded from the box in a violent eruption that would no doubt send the underground system caving in on itself.

He watched Naruto wave to him before the two left the room.

Once they both left the room, the two began walking back up the flight of stairs that had been used to carry them down. The rumbling never stopped and neither did the shaking. By now, they could hear the sounds of the alarms around the prison going off. No doubt prisoners and guards were waking up from their sleep.

"How do you feel?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I don't feel as drained as I did about two weeks ago. So we have the box. What now?" Hana asked.

Naruto smirked. "We wait for Mui to open it of course. He's been waiting a long time for this. A man like him...would only do this for the hope of something," he replied.

"And you want to see that hope turn to ash?" she asked.

Naruto did not reply to her. The only indication of his response was that the smile on his face had gotten bigger. However, that smile wouldn't stay for long because both noticed a blur of speed pass them by. Through the piercing darkness of the night sky, they could see Mui above them and ready to intercept.

"Try not to kill him. I want Ryuzetsu to have the pleasure," Naruto said as he kept walking. Meanwhile, a surge of chakra expelled from Hana's body.

"No promises," she replied.

"Katon: Tenrō," Mui shouted as he thrust his palm outward to place the restrictive seal on their bodies once again. He hoped to get Naruto first before subduing Hana, but that was not to be his fate. Instead, a vicious claw grabbed his face. Hana then crashed him into the adjacent wall. She then swung her body and launched her foot into his abdomen propelling him through the wall and out into the prison area.

Hana proceeded into the main prison area as well along with Naruto.

Neither could begin to ask why the prisoners and the guards were outside staring at the massive box that had just appeared in the recreation area for the prisoners. Everyone stared at its demonic presence and shape with wide eyes.

As Naruto and Hana entered the field, so did Ryuzetsu and Akari. "Well done, Akari," Naruto quietly praised to the Kusa chunin. The woman offered the redhead a swift bow of her head before she returned to the task at hand.

The Kusagakure team, Mui, the guards, and the prisoners bore witness to the massive box standing in front of them. So filled with vile chakra was it that it could make the very hairs on the body stand on end. North, South, East, and West, a mask stared it every direction. None were safe from the gaze it left upon them. Yet, no one was more trapped by its gaze...than Ryuzetsu.

The young kunoichi stared at the massive box whose height was so great that she couldn't even see the top of it. It probably didn't help that it was so dark outside, but...the point still stood. It seemed like a never-ending structure fit to consume all those unworthy of being within its presence. This...was the box that had taken her friend. This...was the box that had caused her countless nightmares.

Now.

Now should be the time that she was telling Naruto and Akari that she was right. The box was evil. The box had to be destroyed. This...should be the time for her to avenge her friend who had been taken back its evil presence from the greed of men. This should be the time that the numerous ways she thought to turn the Box of Ultimate Bliss into ash would be fulfilled. THIS SHOULD BE THE TIME!

But...it wasn't. Ryuzetsu could not hold her unbridled praise of the majesty of the box. Now, she saw why so many coveted it so heavily. Strength exploded from within its chambers that would rend and tear weaklings into nothingness. Such vibrant colors, such powerful waves of aura, such...beauty, they were all to be admired.

Yes, perhaps...Muku could not open the box because...he was just a simple weakling like she thought he was. However, it was clear to her that Naruto and Hana were not weak. It was faint, but she could feel their chakra permeating the air. It had been because of them that the box was waiting to be opened. Muku...was not worthy of the power within the box, but...she was. She was worthy to wield the arcane chakra that laid within its walls. That power...was hers to take.

Naruto, Hana, and Akari, discreetly watched the way Ryuzetsu showed her appreciation for the Box of Ultimate Bliss. They did not tell her, but she had been making constantly slow steps towards it. It was almost like she couldn't wait to prove that she was indeed capable of doing what that pathetic boy Muku could not. She...could control the box and...she could break Kusagakure, nay the very chains which hold the world in place if she so chose.

Mui groaned and he picked himself up from the cracked debris that he had crashed into. He stared up at the box in wonder before his senses returned to him. "Guards, hold that Kusgakure team! Let none of them near the Box! They are to be charged with the murder of the prison elders!" Mui shouted.

Confused though they were, the prison guards quickly surrounded Naruto, Hana, Akari, and Ryuzetsu. The four stood close together as they watched the soldiers arm weapons ready to be deployed if the group took a step out of line.

"...I want to kill him," Akari said. The feeling was shared between the other three as well, even though Ryuzetsu knew she shouldn't feel this way.

Meanwhile, Mui turned back to the box. To anyone else, it might seem like the energy swirling around the box was without purpose, but there was one. It was just waiting...for the Gatekeeper, the one that held the special authority to communicate with the box of desires until another was selected. For so long, for so long he had dreamed of this moment.

A handsign here, a palm gesture there, Mui held up his hands to the Box of Ultimate Bliss. "Hear me, Box of Ultimate Bliss. Fulfill my wish. Grant my desire. Open your gates, I command you! Please, if no other wish be within your power, then please let this one be so. Please…,"

Tears fell from the prison warden's face. Naruto narrowed his eyes for a moment before clarity came upon him. It must have been the same for Akari and Ryuzetsu because both were equally shocked as the other. Once the latter got over her shock, only a sea of rage remained within her body.

"Please bring back my son. Please let me see my son Muku again!" He proclaimed.

Before long, a surge of red chakra exploded from the box and the protective covering that had been a mask fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The face behind the mask remained motionless for only a second. Its eyes then shined with that same red, evil aura that Mui had seen back in the underground lab.

....

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