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I'm in an extremely foul mood. I won't explain why, but I'm starting to give up on something important that even the adults in my life have given up on. I feel sick with stress and rage and there's no immediate relief. 
my phone just told me I have 20% left so I can't VM you guys right now, but I will later.
Please enjoy this weeks chapter.
Edit:Sorry about that ^ Im in a much better mood today. Here are the links for previous chapters, in case anyone needs them.
chapter 19 has links to chapters 1-18
Naruto fanfic a future without you
Chapter 30: Trees and corpses
NARUTO'S POV
"Hmmmm..." He hummed peacefully, his eyes shut. He felt really sleepy, but couldn't fall asleep. The ground was so soft though, and warm, and he was so... Tired...
He felt somebody's hand on his face. A warm, soft hand, the thumb tracing the birthmarks on his cheek. He felt compelled to wake, so he blinked his eyes open while reaching up and placing his hand over the other's, lacing their fingers together.
"Are you okay?" Hinata asked in a whisper, leaning over him, looking concerned. He noticed her other hand was braced against his chest, with her knees on either side of him supporting the entirety of her weight so she didn't hurt him.
"I'm fine." He said, yawning and sitting up to hug her lightly. Then he looked around, noticing they were in a shady area, under some very thick trees, and there were splintered chunks of wood lying around them.
"Where are we, Naruto-kun? Where are the others?" Hinata looked up at him, causing him to look down at her.
"Dunno... But..." He looked at the soft, red grass, the dark red tree trunks and light red leaves. He could feel an intense power in the air and in every leaf, every grass blade, every insect crawling on the ground or flying in the air. "We're definitely in Uzushio. It's just how Uri said it was! And I feel really... Awesome..."
A little too awesome. This whole place had a relaxing effect that made him want to sleep forever. Not a good sign.
He had to move. Exercise would get his blood pumping, and he wouldn't be so eager to pass out.
"C'mon, get up." He pushed himself to his feet, holding her so she followed suit and so he had something to remind him of his mission. He had a job to do. He couldn't relax now.
Once they were on their feet, Naruto separated from her while keeping their fingers laced together. This was a very shady, and cold place. The treetops were so thick with leaves it was blocking out both light and warmth. The trees were fairly tall too, so he couldn't really see the leaves from down where he and Hinata were. The ground was a series of short, rolling hills, with a few grassy depressions here and there. Naruto and Hinata were standing in the middle of one, so it was almost like being at the bottom of some grass-lined bowl.
He noticed a rope ladder swing down out of nowhere in front of them, and stumbled back in shock. It wasn't attached to any of the trunks, but seemed to be hung from one of the tallest branches.
He stared at it suspiciously, and then at the broken planks of wood around them.
"Oh yeah," he said, remembering. "We fell right? From some tree house?"
Hinata nodded anxiously.
When the fog had cleared, they'd been standing on top of some wooden hut, which was built atop some thick branches. However, the roof had caved in too quickly for them to react, and they'd fallen through, straight to the ground. He'd been quick to grab Hinata and hold her to him, turning so it would be his back that hit the ground and prevent any injury to her. But the ground had turned out to be really soothing, like he'd landed on hot, crazy-soft pillows instead of hard packed soil, and he'd passed out.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hinata asked again.
Naruto grinned, but it quickly fell into a warm, sleepy smile.
"I'm fine!" He said through a yawn, rubbing one eye. "More importantly, where'd this ladder come from?"
"Is somebody here?" Hinata asked.
He knit his brow. Who'd be here? Unless--! Unless his clan was here! Unless they'd made it here before him, since this was their rendezvous point!
Of course it could be somebody dangerous...
"Hinata, activate your byakugan okay?" He told her. "And keep a close eye on everything around you, okay? Don't let anything or anyone get close."
She nodded, taking her hand back to activate her bloodline before nodding to him.
He started climbing first, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure she was staying close to him before looking back to the treetops. There was a circular opening in the leaves, more than wide enough for them to climb through. He could see something else beyond that, but couldn't make out what it was.
When they reached the top of the ladder, having climbed through the little opening without touching a single leaf, Naruto gasped.
"What is it?!" Hinata asked, making him laugh at her tone of alarm.
"It's nothing bad!" He answered, getting off the ladder and pushing himself to his feet. There was a moment of déjà vu as he reached through to help her up. She too was surprised by the sight.
It wasn't just one tree house. It was hundreds of them, built sturdily and stealthily. They were all sandwiched between a thick floor and roof of woven branches and thick leaves. They looked like little wooden huts, circular with broad cone-shaped wooden roofs, and little windows and doorways. There were many openings in the bottom layer of branches and leaves, so wooden ramps and rope bridges connected the huts. Some were smaller than the others, with one very large one in the center. This one was strange, as it had a young tree growing out of it, and the roof had been punctured by the growing trunk in a way that made it clear the tree wasn't supposed to be there. Naruto didn't remember seeing any thin tree trunks on the forest floor...
"Do you see anybody?" He asked.
Hinata shook her head. "No... But..."
"What?"
"This whole place is buzzing with chakra! There's so much of it! Everywhere!" She whispered, shaking his arm in amazement. "It's running freely though everything here, even the tree houses and the rope bridges. Like blood through human veins, only so much faster..."
He did not quite get why, but he immediately thought it was because of Kairi. This had something to do with her.
"C'mon." He said, taking her hand again. "Let's check out that weird hut over there..."
They headed towards the strange, large hut with the young tree growing out of it in silence as they kept an eye on their surroundings. Someone had had to toss that ladder down, the wind didn't just blow it over, he was sure of it! There was somebody up here...
They both froze when they came to a part of one connecting ramp that squeaked beneath Naruto's feet. He dashed back lightly, watching the wood suspiciously for a moment before stepping over it and entering the large hut.
"Ugh! It's so dusty..." He complained, cupping his elbow over his mouth. "Hope you're not sensitive to this kind of stuff, Hinata."
"Hahaha. I'm fine, Naruto-kun. There are many dusty old rooms that no one ever enters but me back at the Hyuga House. And you seem more sensitive to it than most people."
He made a face at her for that, but she only laughed.
They walked to the center of the one-room hut, glancing around. It was mostly empty, except for some crates stacked in a pyramid by the wall. The young tree was behind them, with its roots stretching out from under them, curled over the floor, coiled around the floorboards. Naruto took a step in its direction and recoiled, gagging.
"Disgusting!" He snapped, glaring at the crates. "Whats in those boxes?! It smells terrible!"
"Should we open them?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
"Can you see what's inside of them?"
She nodded. "Yes, but... It just looks like ordinary food to me. Food overflowing with chakra but still..."
"Hmm. Stay over here okay? Watch where you step." Naruto said, dropping her hand once again to approach the boxes, kneeling beside them. He held his breath as he picked one up, turning it over in his hands. There were preservation seals on all sides. He checked another, and three more.
All of them. Crates of food with preservation seals on them. Hidden treehouses, random rope ladders...
"I think I know what this place is, Hinata." Naruto told her, moving the boxes out of the way. "It's an evacuation shelter. An emergency hideout, in case the village was ever attacked."
"But then, why didn't more villagers survive?" Hinata asked. "And why hasn't any of the food been used?"
"They hid it too well I guess. Or they couldn't get to it in... Time..."
He froze, staring at the half rotten, red haired corpse of a stranger. He had been hidden behind these boxes for who knew how long, probably since the slaughter. He was sitting on the floor with his back up against the wall, looking up with dead, rotting eyes that looked at the ceiling with despair. His arms and legs had turned into thick tree roots and become one with floor. There were thin limbs growing out of his skin, with ends the same color as flesh. Out of his back grew the trunk, probably one with his spine, which had broken through the rotting, moldy section of the roof.
For a moment, they were so shocked and disgusted neither he nor Hinata moved. Then she stifled a scream, which made him shoot to his feet and scramble back. This was horrific. And impossible! In more ways than one...
"That's not possible..." Hinata said, making him jump. "The corpse... If it's from the massacre... It should have already..."
"I know." Naruto nodded, looking away from the corpse. "I know... I don't know why... I'm not sure how... Wait."
He looked at the boxes again. Of course.
"What is it?" Hinata asked.
"It's the preservation seals." He said, pointing at the boxes. "They're meant to preserve emergency food rations, but I guess if you stack a whole bunch of them around a corpse, it WOULDNT rot as fast, would it?"
Hinata stared at the corpse sympathetically. "He might have been injured. Or poisoned. And didn't know any medical ninjutsu or first aid. He probably stacked those crates around himself to avoid death long enough to be rescued. But no one came... Wait."
"What now?" He asked. He really didn't want to look at the corpse again.
"He's holding something." She said, leaving him to approach it.
Reluctantly, he faced the corpse again and saw that she was right. One tree root had a strange wooden hand, whose fingers were coiled around a leather bound book.
Hinata knelt and clapped her hands together.
"Forgive me." She said before prying the book free and returning to Naruto's side.
"What's it say?" He asked as she leafed through it.
Her face fell as she turned it over in her hands, letting him watch as blank pages flew between her fingers.
"That's weird." He said, crossing his arms. "Why would a dying guy hold onto an empty book?"
"I don't know..." Hinata said quietly before her face lit up. "Oh!"
She pinched down the pages when she found a page that wasn't empty. Naruto grinned at the drawing of a map. A map of the island, showing the location of the village, the sacred tree, the forests and springs. Everything.
"Yes! You're awesome, Hinata!" Naruto three his arms around her in a tight hug before taking the map/book from her. He noticed she was quite flustered, with a face as red as the tree leaves. "This is great! Now we can find Kairi."
"What about the others?" She asked.
"Don't worry. This place is a lot safer during the day, or at least that's what Uri said. Besides, the others are probably looking for Kairi too. If we head there, we'll meet up with them for sure! Now let's go!"
She nodded, but turned slowly to look at the corpse. Naruto's heart sank for some reason. Here was a member of his clan, who'd died alone, waiting for help that never came. He had probably lost his immediate family in the massacre, and had run here for safety, but been injured. The look in his eyes...
Tucking the map under his arm, he walked over to the corpse and brushed his eyes shut. Revealing one of his seal stones, he absorbed the corpse into it, tree parts and all.
Smiling weakly at Hinata he took her hand and led them out.
Back on the forest floor, they took a closer look at the map, and were able to pinpoint their location together. Afterwards, they started heading east, to Kairi.
Hinata leaned forward while she walked, looking concerned.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked with a grin.
"You seem more awake now." She commented.
"Yeah!" He cupped a hand around his elbow and punched the air. "I dunno why, but being up in that tree house made me feel better. What's up?"
Hinata giggled, a sound that made his heart melt, his smile become nervous, and his face turn the lightest shade of red.
"Nothing. I just prefer it when you're full of energy. It suits you better to be running around, eager..."
Naruto's face fell, becoming blank as his eyes looked so far into the distance they were looking back. Maybe that was true. He felt very nostalgic and comfortable like this, but before, when he was living and fighting for his clan, he was a lot different. If Tsuna saw him now, laughing and smiling with an "outsider" like this, he'd be shocked.
Truth was, he'd had no right to judge Sasuke for being infamous in the shadows. He of all people had no right to talk after what happened in the arena...
"About the arena," Hinata said, making him jump. "The rogue ninja on the ship mentioned 'the arena.' You seemed like you knew what that was... Naruto-kun? What are you doing up there?"
He'd jumped onto a tree trunk, sticking to it with the tree-climbing exercise. Only his back was up against the trunk, and his arms were bent backwards, hugging it. He looked surprised since he'd thought she'd read his mind for a minute there, but he slowly got down, acting like nothing happened.
"Ughhh... Well the arena is..." He coughed, trying to relax and look Hinata in the eye. "It's like an underground coliseum where rogues and criminals fight each other for prizes. They're usually provided by some major black market organization, because those are the guys who sponsor it. It has a motion seal placed in the center of it, so it's a 'moving room.' There's a time reflect seal too, so the motion seal doesn't go out of control. But a moving room is hard to locate, so it can pop up anywhere and the only way to get to it is to go through one of the secret entrances. They're hidden teleportation seals, and if you activate one, then it'll take you to it's linked 'moving room' or place..."
"I see... But what's a moving room?" Hinata asked.
"It's a place! Only it has motion sealed into it, so it moves on its own. Secretly. The Uzumaki are the only ones who know about the moving rooms, since we created them."
"How do you even seal motion?" Hinata asked. "How's that possible...?"
"Mmm." Naruto curled his lips and rubbed the back of his head. That one was too difficult to explain. With words anyway, so he knelt and tore a single grass blade out.
He stood, closing his eyes, stretching his arm out as far as he could, and releasing the blade into the air. He let it fall, focusing on the chakra that still ran through the blade, and his own.
Quickly, he spun in an uncoiling downward motion, feeling the seal appear on his hand and snapping his eyes open just as he caught the blade.
Shooting to his feet with a huge smile on his face, he opened his hand. Hinata looked at the grass blade, which now had a burning motion seal on it. Naruto turned his hand upside down, and let the blade fall once more. Only this time, it seemed to jump or dash down, disappearing when it reached the spot in the air where Naruto grabbed it and reappearing where he'd dropped it a second time only to continually repeat it's jumping/dashing downward motion and disappearing trick, endlessly.
Hinata watched this in awe for a few moments before giving Naruto a gaping, sighful smile and going around the blade to grab his arm and shake it excitedly.
"That's amazing! It's amazing you can do something like that, Naruto-kun!" She told him.
He laughed, looking very proud of himself for impressing her.
"Yeah, I know, I'm awesome!" He declared, pounding his fist on his chest three quick times.
Hinata slowly lost her smile, the look in her eye becoming hopeful.
"What's up now?" Naruto asked.
She grabbed his shirt, looking a little desperate.
"Naruto-kun! What... What about the memory seal?"
He flinched, then quickly moved his arms so his hands grabbed her elbows.
"How do you know about that?" He asked, hiding all kinds of dread from showing on his face.
"I... I heard it by chance."
Something told him she was lying through her teeth, but something else told him she had her reasons so he decided not to call her bluff.
"It's forbidden jutsu, and if you do use it, you get the death sentence. Not a quick death either..." Naruto answered, feeling very uneasy. "The memory seal can cause brain damage and death to the person or animal you cast it on. And removing it is... Close to impossible. It starts tightening on its own as soon as it's placed. The more time passes, the tighter it'll be. And if the castor increases the amount of chakra that goes to it, the tightening will speed up."
"What if... What if you kill the castor?" Hinata asked, looking a little horrified but hopeful all the same.
Naruto ran this over in his mind then slowly nodded.
"Yeah... Actually that might work. No ones ever tried it before, so it might work..."
Hinata nodded, gripping his shirt and looking like she was trying to steel her nerves. Naruto smiled at the conflicted look on her face and pulled her in for a tight hug, getting his face so close to hers their foreheads and noses touched and kissing her would have been easy.
"Don't worry about the memory seal, okay?" He said, grinning. "It's got nothing to do with us! Now let's hurry and get to Kairi."
SASUKE'S POV
Sakura stood next to him, eyes glittering, hands cupped around her gaping mouth, looking every bit surprised as he was (that being said, he looked calm, steady, not surprised at all).
They had come to a section of the forest that was much darker, with thicker treetops, so only thin beams of sunlight broke through, each one a great distance from the other. The tall trees had their roots curled around and stretched over massive chunks of seamless building material. Light, brown-yellow walls that had crumbled under the weight of the trees. Under the walls were red roads of a similar building material that ran over hills and under quite a few trees. There were collapsed building and homes, small bridges over now overflowing river beds of red water, shattered windows, shops, numerous libraries, and in the distance a waterfall of scarlet water, with lily pads floating in the connected pond. The tree roots were coiled and curled and wrapped over anything and everything they could reach. It was a little ominous: village ruins that were so skillfully hidden by the thick trees like this, trees that had grown in such strange locations, like they weren't supposed to grow there at all. Quite a few of them were in the streets, or growing out of the homes, and there was even one whose roots and lower quarter were trapped in the lily pond.
And where were the skeletons? There had been a massacre here, and nobody had buried the bodies. There should have been skeletons everywhere...
"Sasuke, do these trees also have--?" Sakura began to ask just as he activated his sharingan and looked up.
"Yes, but they're a lot smaller than the others." He answered. "Too small for the naked eye."
"Which way should we go?"
"Naruto said that you should be able to see the sacred tree from the waterfall, but," he looked around at all the trees, "that could be any of these. Maybe if we climb those cliffs we'll be able to get a better look."
He pointed to the somewhat tall cliffs behind the waterfall and accidentally noticed the large house built into the cliff side a good distance off the ground, fairly close to the waterfall.
"You think that's the village leaders home?" Sakura asked, half guessing his thoughts.
There were a few flights of stairs carved out of the cliff side. Reaching the house would be fairly easy.
"Yes. Let's go."
my phone just told me I have 20% left so I can't VM you guys right now, but I will later. Please enjoy this weeks chapter.
Edit:Sorry about that ^ Im in a much better mood today. Here are the links for previous chapters, in case anyone needs them.
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chapter 19 has links to chapters 1-18
Naruto fanfic a future without you
Chapter 30: Trees and corpses
NARUTO'S POV
"Hmmmm..." He hummed peacefully, his eyes shut. He felt really sleepy, but couldn't fall asleep. The ground was so soft though, and warm, and he was so... Tired...
He felt somebody's hand on his face. A warm, soft hand, the thumb tracing the birthmarks on his cheek. He felt compelled to wake, so he blinked his eyes open while reaching up and placing his hand over the other's, lacing their fingers together.
"Are you okay?" Hinata asked in a whisper, leaning over him, looking concerned. He noticed her other hand was braced against his chest, with her knees on either side of him supporting the entirety of her weight so she didn't hurt him.
"I'm fine." He said, yawning and sitting up to hug her lightly. Then he looked around, noticing they were in a shady area, under some very thick trees, and there were splintered chunks of wood lying around them.
"Where are we, Naruto-kun? Where are the others?" Hinata looked up at him, causing him to look down at her.
"Dunno... But..." He looked at the soft, red grass, the dark red tree trunks and light red leaves. He could feel an intense power in the air and in every leaf, every grass blade, every insect crawling on the ground or flying in the air. "We're definitely in Uzushio. It's just how Uri said it was! And I feel really... Awesome..."
A little too awesome. This whole place had a relaxing effect that made him want to sleep forever. Not a good sign.
He had to move. Exercise would get his blood pumping, and he wouldn't be so eager to pass out.
"C'mon, get up." He pushed himself to his feet, holding her so she followed suit and so he had something to remind him of his mission. He had a job to do. He couldn't relax now.
Once they were on their feet, Naruto separated from her while keeping their fingers laced together. This was a very shady, and cold place. The treetops were so thick with leaves it was blocking out both light and warmth. The trees were fairly tall too, so he couldn't really see the leaves from down where he and Hinata were. The ground was a series of short, rolling hills, with a few grassy depressions here and there. Naruto and Hinata were standing in the middle of one, so it was almost like being at the bottom of some grass-lined bowl.
He noticed a rope ladder swing down out of nowhere in front of them, and stumbled back in shock. It wasn't attached to any of the trunks, but seemed to be hung from one of the tallest branches.
He stared at it suspiciously, and then at the broken planks of wood around them.
"Oh yeah," he said, remembering. "We fell right? From some tree house?"
Hinata nodded anxiously.
When the fog had cleared, they'd been standing on top of some wooden hut, which was built atop some thick branches. However, the roof had caved in too quickly for them to react, and they'd fallen through, straight to the ground. He'd been quick to grab Hinata and hold her to him, turning so it would be his back that hit the ground and prevent any injury to her. But the ground had turned out to be really soothing, like he'd landed on hot, crazy-soft pillows instead of hard packed soil, and he'd passed out.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hinata asked again.
Naruto grinned, but it quickly fell into a warm, sleepy smile.
"I'm fine!" He said through a yawn, rubbing one eye. "More importantly, where'd this ladder come from?"
"Is somebody here?" Hinata asked.
He knit his brow. Who'd be here? Unless--! Unless his clan was here! Unless they'd made it here before him, since this was their rendezvous point!
Of course it could be somebody dangerous...
"Hinata, activate your byakugan okay?" He told her. "And keep a close eye on everything around you, okay? Don't let anything or anyone get close."
She nodded, taking her hand back to activate her bloodline before nodding to him.
He started climbing first, glancing over his shoulder every few minutes to make sure she was staying close to him before looking back to the treetops. There was a circular opening in the leaves, more than wide enough for them to climb through. He could see something else beyond that, but couldn't make out what it was.
When they reached the top of the ladder, having climbed through the little opening without touching a single leaf, Naruto gasped.
"What is it?!" Hinata asked, making him laugh at her tone of alarm.
"It's nothing bad!" He answered, getting off the ladder and pushing himself to his feet. There was a moment of déjà vu as he reached through to help her up. She too was surprised by the sight.
It wasn't just one tree house. It was hundreds of them, built sturdily and stealthily. They were all sandwiched between a thick floor and roof of woven branches and thick leaves. They looked like little wooden huts, circular with broad cone-shaped wooden roofs, and little windows and doorways. There were many openings in the bottom layer of branches and leaves, so wooden ramps and rope bridges connected the huts. Some were smaller than the others, with one very large one in the center. This one was strange, as it had a young tree growing out of it, and the roof had been punctured by the growing trunk in a way that made it clear the tree wasn't supposed to be there. Naruto didn't remember seeing any thin tree trunks on the forest floor...
"Do you see anybody?" He asked.
Hinata shook her head. "No... But..."
"What?"
"This whole place is buzzing with chakra! There's so much of it! Everywhere!" She whispered, shaking his arm in amazement. "It's running freely though everything here, even the tree houses and the rope bridges. Like blood through human veins, only so much faster..."
He did not quite get why, but he immediately thought it was because of Kairi. This had something to do with her.
"C'mon." He said, taking her hand again. "Let's check out that weird hut over there..."
They headed towards the strange, large hut with the young tree growing out of it in silence as they kept an eye on their surroundings. Someone had had to toss that ladder down, the wind didn't just blow it over, he was sure of it! There was somebody up here...
They both froze when they came to a part of one connecting ramp that squeaked beneath Naruto's feet. He dashed back lightly, watching the wood suspiciously for a moment before stepping over it and entering the large hut.
"Ugh! It's so dusty..." He complained, cupping his elbow over his mouth. "Hope you're not sensitive to this kind of stuff, Hinata."
"Hahaha. I'm fine, Naruto-kun. There are many dusty old rooms that no one ever enters but me back at the Hyuga House. And you seem more sensitive to it than most people."
He made a face at her for that, but she only laughed.
They walked to the center of the one-room hut, glancing around. It was mostly empty, except for some crates stacked in a pyramid by the wall. The young tree was behind them, with its roots stretching out from under them, curled over the floor, coiled around the floorboards. Naruto took a step in its direction and recoiled, gagging.
"Disgusting!" He snapped, glaring at the crates. "Whats in those boxes?! It smells terrible!"
"Should we open them?" Hinata asked hesitantly.
"Can you see what's inside of them?"
She nodded. "Yes, but... It just looks like ordinary food to me. Food overflowing with chakra but still..."
"Hmm. Stay over here okay? Watch where you step." Naruto said, dropping her hand once again to approach the boxes, kneeling beside them. He held his breath as he picked one up, turning it over in his hands. There were preservation seals on all sides. He checked another, and three more.
All of them. Crates of food with preservation seals on them. Hidden treehouses, random rope ladders...
"I think I know what this place is, Hinata." Naruto told her, moving the boxes out of the way. "It's an evacuation shelter. An emergency hideout, in case the village was ever attacked."
"But then, why didn't more villagers survive?" Hinata asked. "And why hasn't any of the food been used?"
"They hid it too well I guess. Or they couldn't get to it in... Time..."
He froze, staring at the half rotten, red haired corpse of a stranger. He had been hidden behind these boxes for who knew how long, probably since the slaughter. He was sitting on the floor with his back up against the wall, looking up with dead, rotting eyes that looked at the ceiling with despair. His arms and legs had turned into thick tree roots and become one with floor. There were thin limbs growing out of his skin, with ends the same color as flesh. Out of his back grew the trunk, probably one with his spine, which had broken through the rotting, moldy section of the roof.
For a moment, they were so shocked and disgusted neither he nor Hinata moved. Then she stifled a scream, which made him shoot to his feet and scramble back. This was horrific. And impossible! In more ways than one...
"That's not possible..." Hinata said, making him jump. "The corpse... If it's from the massacre... It should have already..."
"I know." Naruto nodded, looking away from the corpse. "I know... I don't know why... I'm not sure how... Wait."
He looked at the boxes again. Of course.
"What is it?" Hinata asked.
"It's the preservation seals." He said, pointing at the boxes. "They're meant to preserve emergency food rations, but I guess if you stack a whole bunch of them around a corpse, it WOULDNT rot as fast, would it?"
Hinata stared at the corpse sympathetically. "He might have been injured. Or poisoned. And didn't know any medical ninjutsu or first aid. He probably stacked those crates around himself to avoid death long enough to be rescued. But no one came... Wait."
"What now?" He asked. He really didn't want to look at the corpse again.
"He's holding something." She said, leaving him to approach it.
Reluctantly, he faced the corpse again and saw that she was right. One tree root had a strange wooden hand, whose fingers were coiled around a leather bound book.
Hinata knelt and clapped her hands together.
"Forgive me." She said before prying the book free and returning to Naruto's side.
"What's it say?" He asked as she leafed through it.
Her face fell as she turned it over in her hands, letting him watch as blank pages flew between her fingers.
"That's weird." He said, crossing his arms. "Why would a dying guy hold onto an empty book?"
"I don't know..." Hinata said quietly before her face lit up. "Oh!"
She pinched down the pages when she found a page that wasn't empty. Naruto grinned at the drawing of a map. A map of the island, showing the location of the village, the sacred tree, the forests and springs. Everything.
"Yes! You're awesome, Hinata!" Naruto three his arms around her in a tight hug before taking the map/book from her. He noticed she was quite flustered, with a face as red as the tree leaves. "This is great! Now we can find Kairi."
"What about the others?" She asked.
"Don't worry. This place is a lot safer during the day, or at least that's what Uri said. Besides, the others are probably looking for Kairi too. If we head there, we'll meet up with them for sure! Now let's go!"
She nodded, but turned slowly to look at the corpse. Naruto's heart sank for some reason. Here was a member of his clan, who'd died alone, waiting for help that never came. He had probably lost his immediate family in the massacre, and had run here for safety, but been injured. The look in his eyes...
Tucking the map under his arm, he walked over to the corpse and brushed his eyes shut. Revealing one of his seal stones, he absorbed the corpse into it, tree parts and all.
Smiling weakly at Hinata he took her hand and led them out.
Back on the forest floor, they took a closer look at the map, and were able to pinpoint their location together. Afterwards, they started heading east, to Kairi.
Hinata leaned forward while she walked, looking concerned.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked with a grin.
"You seem more awake now." She commented.
"Yeah!" He cupped a hand around his elbow and punched the air. "I dunno why, but being up in that tree house made me feel better. What's up?"
Hinata giggled, a sound that made his heart melt, his smile become nervous, and his face turn the lightest shade of red.
"Nothing. I just prefer it when you're full of energy. It suits you better to be running around, eager..."
Naruto's face fell, becoming blank as his eyes looked so far into the distance they were looking back. Maybe that was true. He felt very nostalgic and comfortable like this, but before, when he was living and fighting for his clan, he was a lot different. If Tsuna saw him now, laughing and smiling with an "outsider" like this, he'd be shocked.
Truth was, he'd had no right to judge Sasuke for being infamous in the shadows. He of all people had no right to talk after what happened in the arena...
"About the arena," Hinata said, making him jump. "The rogue ninja on the ship mentioned 'the arena.' You seemed like you knew what that was... Naruto-kun? What are you doing up there?"
He'd jumped onto a tree trunk, sticking to it with the tree-climbing exercise. Only his back was up against the trunk, and his arms were bent backwards, hugging it. He looked surprised since he'd thought she'd read his mind for a minute there, but he slowly got down, acting like nothing happened.
"Ughhh... Well the arena is..." He coughed, trying to relax and look Hinata in the eye. "It's like an underground coliseum where rogues and criminals fight each other for prizes. They're usually provided by some major black market organization, because those are the guys who sponsor it. It has a motion seal placed in the center of it, so it's a 'moving room.' There's a time reflect seal too, so the motion seal doesn't go out of control. But a moving room is hard to locate, so it can pop up anywhere and the only way to get to it is to go through one of the secret entrances. They're hidden teleportation seals, and if you activate one, then it'll take you to it's linked 'moving room' or place..."
"I see... But what's a moving room?" Hinata asked.
"It's a place! Only it has motion sealed into it, so it moves on its own. Secretly. The Uzumaki are the only ones who know about the moving rooms, since we created them."
"How do you even seal motion?" Hinata asked. "How's that possible...?"
"Mmm." Naruto curled his lips and rubbed the back of his head. That one was too difficult to explain. With words anyway, so he knelt and tore a single grass blade out.
He stood, closing his eyes, stretching his arm out as far as he could, and releasing the blade into the air. He let it fall, focusing on the chakra that still ran through the blade, and his own.
Quickly, he spun in an uncoiling downward motion, feeling the seal appear on his hand and snapping his eyes open just as he caught the blade.
Shooting to his feet with a huge smile on his face, he opened his hand. Hinata looked at the grass blade, which now had a burning motion seal on it. Naruto turned his hand upside down, and let the blade fall once more. Only this time, it seemed to jump or dash down, disappearing when it reached the spot in the air where Naruto grabbed it and reappearing where he'd dropped it a second time only to continually repeat it's jumping/dashing downward motion and disappearing trick, endlessly.
Hinata watched this in awe for a few moments before giving Naruto a gaping, sighful smile and going around the blade to grab his arm and shake it excitedly.
"That's amazing! It's amazing you can do something like that, Naruto-kun!" She told him.
He laughed, looking very proud of himself for impressing her.
"Yeah, I know, I'm awesome!" He declared, pounding his fist on his chest three quick times.
Hinata slowly lost her smile, the look in her eye becoming hopeful.
"What's up now?" Naruto asked.
She grabbed his shirt, looking a little desperate.
"Naruto-kun! What... What about the memory seal?"
He flinched, then quickly moved his arms so his hands grabbed her elbows.
"How do you know about that?" He asked, hiding all kinds of dread from showing on his face.
"I... I heard it by chance."
Something told him she was lying through her teeth, but something else told him she had her reasons so he decided not to call her bluff.
"It's forbidden jutsu, and if you do use it, you get the death sentence. Not a quick death either..." Naruto answered, feeling very uneasy. "The memory seal can cause brain damage and death to the person or animal you cast it on. And removing it is... Close to impossible. It starts tightening on its own as soon as it's placed. The more time passes, the tighter it'll be. And if the castor increases the amount of chakra that goes to it, the tightening will speed up."
"What if... What if you kill the castor?" Hinata asked, looking a little horrified but hopeful all the same.
Naruto ran this over in his mind then slowly nodded.
"Yeah... Actually that might work. No ones ever tried it before, so it might work..."
Hinata nodded, gripping his shirt and looking like she was trying to steel her nerves. Naruto smiled at the conflicted look on her face and pulled her in for a tight hug, getting his face so close to hers their foreheads and noses touched and kissing her would have been easy.
"Don't worry about the memory seal, okay?" He said, grinning. "It's got nothing to do with us! Now let's hurry and get to Kairi."
SASUKE'S POV
Sakura stood next to him, eyes glittering, hands cupped around her gaping mouth, looking every bit surprised as he was (that being said, he looked calm, steady, not surprised at all).
They had come to a section of the forest that was much darker, with thicker treetops, so only thin beams of sunlight broke through, each one a great distance from the other. The tall trees had their roots curled around and stretched over massive chunks of seamless building material. Light, brown-yellow walls that had crumbled under the weight of the trees. Under the walls were red roads of a similar building material that ran over hills and under quite a few trees. There were collapsed building and homes, small bridges over now overflowing river beds of red water, shattered windows, shops, numerous libraries, and in the distance a waterfall of scarlet water, with lily pads floating in the connected pond. The tree roots were coiled and curled and wrapped over anything and everything they could reach. It was a little ominous: village ruins that were so skillfully hidden by the thick trees like this, trees that had grown in such strange locations, like they weren't supposed to grow there at all. Quite a few of them were in the streets, or growing out of the homes, and there was even one whose roots and lower quarter were trapped in the lily pond.
And where were the skeletons? There had been a massacre here, and nobody had buried the bodies. There should have been skeletons everywhere...
"Sasuke, do these trees also have--?" Sakura began to ask just as he activated his sharingan and looked up.
"Yes, but they're a lot smaller than the others." He answered. "Too small for the naked eye."
"Which way should we go?"
"Naruto said that you should be able to see the sacred tree from the waterfall, but," he looked around at all the trees, "that could be any of these. Maybe if we climb those cliffs we'll be able to get a better look."
He pointed to the somewhat tall cliffs behind the waterfall and accidentally noticed the large house built into the cliff side a good distance off the ground, fairly close to the waterfall.
"You think that's the village leaders home?" Sakura asked, half guessing his thoughts.
There were a few flights of stairs carved out of the cliff side. Reaching the house would be fairly easy.
"Yes. Let's go."
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