By the time they'd finished off the seemingly endless horde of drop bears, the air was thick with floating animal corpses and drops of blood, to the point it was difficult just to keep it out of their eyes. At least the things didn't seem to stink too badly as they died, though there was a bit of a flow of fresh air in the chamber from an opening about a third of the way around from where they'd entered. Not wanting to continue without their weapons, and remembering that Shuko had said she needed this path to get mochi for guests at her travel station, they collected the swarm of dead bears, retrieving the kunai and shuriken stuck in most of them, and tossed them down the tunnel to slide out and be washed away down the underground river.
In the course of retrieving their equipment the trio also discovered that the bears seemed to have stashed an astounding amount of loot in their bowers, mostly jewelry or small weapons that had probably been carried away as part of a kill, but also including large numbers of crystal fragments, metallic nuggets, and shiny rocks - anything that would catch the light, it seemed. Particularly interesting pieces they stashed in the various pouches and pockets any worthwhile ninja had hidden in their clothing, but there was far more than they could carry without restricting their movements, and not knowing what dangers might still lie ahead none were willing to risk it. Finally, though, the last corpse had been tossed down the stony slide to oblivion and all but a handful of their weapons retrieved. The three genin hurried on, conscious of passing time and all really hoping to find someplace they could get at the river and wash away the stains of battle.
Exiting the weightless room they found themselves popping "up" through a hole in the floor of a "flat" tunnel, despite the fact that it was just about perpendicular to the steep climb they'd made to get into the chamber - and for that matter, the fact that they could see the curve of the ceiling dipping down in front and behind them as they went. This tunnel was much more natural looking, with clear signs of being carved by erosion despite being dry now, and they could hear the rushing of a waterfall ever closer ahead.
Eventually the air became warmer and moist against their skin, until finally the trio turned a corner and found themselves in an open grotto where the center of a large cavern's roof had collapsed and left an opening to the surface. A stream fell over the edge in a shining cascade, feeding a small pool that drained through another fissure near one wall. A scattering of man-high white mushrooms grew among the rubble of the ceiling, but all they could care about was water! Clean, flowing, plentiful water that they could WASH IN!
"Naruto," Sakura commanded, "Go wait down the tunnel while we get cleaned up."
"But Sakura-chan! I'm all yucky too, you know," he protested.
Even Hinata wasn't prepared to humor her crush this time. "It's ladies first, and two to one. Just wait a little bit, Naruto-kun, and then you get your turn." A sudden naughty thought struck her, and she grinned enticingly. "Unless you'd like to help wash my back, Na-ru-to-kuuun..." Naruto and Sakura both gagged on their tongues a moment, then the pink-haired girl had to laugh as the boy vanished in a puff of dust, unintelligible embarrassed protests echoing back around the corner of the tunnel.
Hinata joined in with a clear, uninhibited laugh that rang like a bell. Then she grabbed a free hand and pulled the taller girl toward the pool, already fumbling at the straps of her blood soaked body glove with the other hand.
The girls had worked some kind of miracle on his half-shredded jacket and shirt while Naruto was washing up, and after some initial awkwardness they all got used to the notion of sitting around a campfire in their underwear while the rest of their clothes dried. Much as they'd like to have pressed on, all three were exhausted from the hours-long, grinding fight against one bear after the next. While Naruto had already healed almost entirely both girls had pulled muscles and scrapes, not to mention the scattered claw or bite mark, and healing them to the point they wouldn't scar and would be mostly combat ready again after some sleep took the remainder of the Sakura's chakra.
In his dream, Naruto was the special guest of honor at the All-Nations Ramen Festival where he was served dish after dish of every imaginable kind of ramen, by Sakura and Hinata in their underwear.
Hinata "awoke" to discover that she was the Head of the Hyuuga clan, and immediately dispelled all the Caged Bird seals of the Branch members before running to the Hokage's tower to spend some quality time with Naruto, meeting Sakura along the way and dragging her along.
Sakura was the lead guitar and vocalist at a rock concert with a penguin and a scruffy orange cat for backup, and Kakashi-sensei on bongo drums. The cat bit a snake's head off as part of the stage act, and then she went crowd surfing.
Hey, you can't have irrelevant dreams all the time.
They woke to find themselves all snuggled together against the cool breeze after the fire died down, but at least their clothes were dry now. Continuing on, they found that the grotto where they'd taken their rest was just the antechamber to a huge caldera, the path from the tunnels - now paved with gravel again - leading down to a long, scenic bridge that crossed the still water of a small lake filling its bottom, an open pagoda lined with benches just inside the railing built at the very center of the lake.
Their steps tapping lightly on the boards of the central pagoda, all three paused to marvel at the beauty they'd never known was floating right over their heads. A ring of white moon-tree-substitute mushrooms grew all around the lake save for where the path was kept clear, smaller ones of all colors and shapes springing up like wildflowers around them, and the still waters mirrored the scene with only the slightest ripple. Hinata hugged her love closer for a moment, then pulled away a bit, turning to face him squarely. "Ne, Naruto-kun, I've decided" she sang, focusing his attention on her. "A girl can't live on snuggles alone."
Trying to figure out what that was supposed to mean, Naruto cocked his head a bit. "Eh? What do-mmph!"
Eyes the size of dinner plates, he gasped when her lips eventually retreated, and stammered for a moment before managing to force out any words. "Dyeh... does this mean, uh, you're my girlfriend now?" he asked dazedly.
Judging by the way she made his eyelids droop and ears flap with the follow-up kiss, Sakura guessed that was a 'yes.' "Well... good for Hinata, then..." she murmured. She watched them for a moment, remembering her first kiss, but then Naruto's eyes shot wide open and he pulled away from the smaller girl, pointing off to the side. "SAKURA-CHAN... AND INO!?" Snapped out of her reverie, the pink-haired kunoichi looked and...
"AAH! What the HELL!?" A younger version of herself and Ino were perched on the far bench of the pagoda, kissing softly with bright blushes spreading across their cheeks. "I'M... IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" the present-day version denied. "We were just practicing because we'd both told each other we had crushes but didn't know how to kiss! And, and right after that Ino said her crush was Sasuke, and I realized I had a rival so we started arguing. It was just a practice kiss, practice! It didn't even count!"
Naruto just rubbed the back of his head and laughed uncomfortably, while Hinata hid a blush with downcast eyes. It seemed weird for a moment until he realized it was more like the Hinata he'd known instead of this new, assertive Hinata that had joined their mission.
"It... didn't even count..." Sakura repeated to herself, looking back at the bench, only to find it empty again.
Time was pressing in on them, though, and they continued on. The bridge was easily wide enough to pass each other so Sakura started to hurry ahead, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing hers. Glancing over her shoulder, she found Hinata restraining her with her unoccupied arm. "You shouldn't go so fast, Sakura-chan," the smaller girl advised, "You could get caught in another ambush." Mollified, she let the new couple set the pace, Hinata swinging their joined hands gently in time with her steps.
Beyond the caldera the tunnel had actual finished walls instead of rough stone, though time and the elements had been unkind to the wood and plaster surface, and even Hinata didn't realize the floor had been carpet instead of dirt until they'd passed through an intact door which had kept the worst of the grime out. It was very dusty and smelled heavily of mold and rot, and the only illumination was still from the glowing mushrooms, though with the ample nutrients afforded by the wooden interior they grew large and thick enough to make it difficult to get past in some places.
They'd begun to pass other doors and intersections, but the only even partially clear path was straight ahead, so they kept on until they came to a staircase. A faint, rhythmic thumping echoed down it, and since the few signs of other people's passage lead up, up they went. The thumping was clearly audible as they reached the first landing with another door, and a shared glance told all three that they wanted to know what was causing it.
Hinata concentrated for a moment, then whispered, "All clear inside the doors, but there is some kind of barrier blocking me from seeing the whole room. It's very large, it extends as through as many floors and walls as I can see up and to either side."
Another shared look, to wordlessly agree that they couldn't possibly leave it at that, then Naruto nudged open the door and took a quick peek through - metallic columns and something moving on the other side, nothing terribly threatening looking and the columns were big enough to let them hide behind them if they were careful. The thumping was pretty deafening once the door was open, though. All three slipped in and Sakura closed it again, after checking that they wouldn't be locked in. Just as it latched she heard Naruto shout loudly from behind her, and grabbed for a kunai as she rolled and spun to see the cause...
Naruto was doubled over on the floor shaking, and for just a moment Sakura felt a surge of panic until she realized that he was just laughing too hard to stand up. Looking out between the massive metal columns - bars, she now realized, to an enormous cage - she realized why.
Long ears. Red fur. A short snout surmounted by baleful red eyes. Fluffy cotton-ball tails - nine of them - and a huge pestle manacled to its front paws that it used to pound incessantly in an equally prodigious mortar, a chute overhead pouring an endless stream of rice in, and a belt below hauling an endless ribbon of mochi paste away, while pulleys took the motion of the pestle and converted it to run dimly-seen machines in the distance that shaped the balls and wrapped leaves around them... it was Kyuubi no Usagi Yokou, imprisoned in a castle on the moon and doomed forever more to make mochi for the world below.
Yes, she could easily understand Naruto's giddiness, and it pulled a good laugh out of her, as well, though Hinata just looked from one to the other as if they'd gone mad. Waving off the bluenette's questions, she tossed the unresisting boy over her shoulder and led Hinata through the next door, out into a corridor with daylight visible at the far end. "Come on, let's see if we can find the outer barrier controls," she suggested, setting Naruto back on his feet as his fits of mirth subsided.
They checked the rooms opening off the sides of the corridor, but none held anything but dust or the occasional covered furniture, and they didn't meet anything more threatening than a bat and a lot of cobwebs. The room at the end of the hall had a large bank of windows with one pane half-broken out (the bat flew over their heads again and escaped out through it) and a large monitoring station with a number of consoles still functioning. One section had a grating over it secured by several heavy locks. Hinata was able to read through the dust and discover that it was marked with the words "INTERNAL PRISON BARRIER - DO NOT TOUCH - THIS MEANS YOU" in large unfriendly letters, so they concentrated on the other areas.
Half a dozen coughing fits later they'd found a mostly legible map of the castle, the set of seals that controlled the exterior barrier, and a rather newer one nearby that was labeled "Travel Station Alert." A bit of chakra channeled into that sent the signal for Shuko to come with her transport, some more into the outside barrier control seal to shut it off for a while, and it was all over but the loading and riding and unloading back at Konoha, just in time for the beginning of the festival.
Watching the fireworks that evening, the three of them sat on top of the Hokage monument with a tray of the mochi they'd worked so hard to bring Konoha. Hinata snagged one and held it between her lips, pulling the other two closer to share a-
(Posted Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:41)
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