Tayuya looked down, "It's not that I don't trust him, he's the entire reason I'm not in a tiny cell or even dead right now. Honestly, I trust him a hell of a lot more now than I probably will ever trust you." She looked up at Kakashi, "No offense."
Kakashi gave her a true eye-smile, "None taken."
Tayuya ran her hand through her hair, "And I know he's strong. If he could beat Kimimaro then that's saying something, but I'm saying that he can't trust us? Why can't he trust us? You were his jounin sensei when he was a genin weren't you? That lazy bum over there was his classmate in your ninja academy wasn't he? And me, we're friends. I'm his friend… aren't I? I live next door to him and I see him pretty much every day."
'Oh hell… emotional female distress. I should have known even a girl like her still qualifies as a girl. Let's see, I need a way out here.' Kakashi thought to himself as he feigned interest as he subtly looked around the room, 'Damn you Shikamaru, you have an easy out. I know your ass isn't asleep. That lazy-bones stigma saved you today.'
"-those times he saw me when I was in solitary confinement. I mean, why would he just go and do something like that, spend time with me when he didn't have to, and then just up and leave like this without a single word? He trusted me enough to give me my weapon back inside of his own home and not now? Is it something I did Kakashi?"
Kakashi sighed to himself and resigned himself to his fate, "No Tayuya I don't think it was anything that you did. He's just a secretive kid these days."
"But why now, and why to me?" She asked, "It's not like I would have even tagged along, I just want to know what he's doing." "*Sigh*"
XxX
(With Naruto and Sai)
Naruto and Sai both spent the longest time staring at the girl. Naruto wiped some fog from the clear barrier keeping the girl suspended. Her eyes were closed as she had a very serene look on her face, her heart shaped face. She had long white hair that went down her back with sharp claw-hammer bangs in front of her face. From her body type, Naruto and Sai figured that she was somewhere within their age range. How were they able to do this you ask? Well she was naked, that's how.
After a long time of the two boys just staring, Sai pointed at her, "So are you going to get her out of there Naruto-senpai?"
Naruto kept his eyes on the girl because… well come on. How often in life are you going to get a 100% valid reason to look at a girl you don't know naked and not feel somewhat like a deviant in the process? "How the fuck do you figure I'm going to go about pulling off that miracle Sai? I don't know any katon ninjutsu and this shit doesn't even look like ice anyway."
Sai gave him a dry look, "You opened and activated everything else we've come across so far. I don't see how you couldn't come up with a way to get this girl free as well."
Naruto shrugged, "Maybe, but do you think she'll be able to walk when we get her out? It's kind of dangerous to be around us right now if you haven't noticed." Naruto rubbed his chin in thought, "Actually, more importantly; do you think she'll be able to chase us? Because if I woke up butt naked like her and found out that two guys had been staring at me for the better part of an hour I would run to the nearest living thing and kill it." Sai frowned, "Who knows? But aren't you curious right now? You said you wanted to come for everything in Uzu. Well she's in Uzu, she's right here in front of you and I think you can get her out. Will you just leave her here until the end of time?"
Naruto looked down shamefully, "That would be pretty messed up huh? But Sai-kouhai, what in the blue hell am I going to do with her? I mean, she doesn't even look like she's related to me. Her face is too different. Her eye structure isn't as big as mine, her nose is more, I don't know, regal I guess. Seriously, who the hell is this girl?"
"There's only one way to find out senpai." Sai said as he gestured to the frozen girl.
Naruto rolled his eyes and cut his hand once more before sticking it to the stuff encasing the girl. It rapidly started to melt onto the ground. Naruto looked at his hand in surprise, "Man I've got some good blood. Did you see that? Like it was molten lava or something." The girl almost collapsed onto the ground before Naruto and Sai caught her. The two stared at each other in confusion as neither had the slightest clue as to what to do in this situation. Slowly her eyes fluttered open to reveal amber eyes.
Naruto watched in interest as the girl looked into his eyes and blinked in confusion before finally speaking in a sweet voice, "Um, hello."
Naruto's face was unchanging as he answered her right back, "Hi there."
She looked around blankly, "Um, who are you and what am I doing here?"
Naruto shrugged, "In order asked; my name is Naruto, this is Sai, and we have no clue, we thought we could get that part from you."
She seemed to accept this as a reasonable answer, "I see… Okay… One more question."
Naruto nodded, "Shoot."
"Why am I naked?"
Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto turned back to her and answered, "We don't know that either." Naruto gave her body a good once over look, "Good on you though. Bravo."
The girl simply looked up at him from her back, not a single indication of discomfort towards her current situation. She crinkled her nose in a cute manner, "I hate to trouble you, but would either of you happen to have any clothes on you that I could wear. My own seem to be missing at the moment and this floor is cold."
Naruto and Sai looked at each other before Naruto pulled a sealing scroll from his pocket and unsealed a change of clothes. The two boys gave her some privacy as they vacated the vault to allow her to change. Sai took this time to whisper to Naruto, "What are we going to do now senpai?"
Naruto glared at Sai, "I don't know! We definitely can't leave her here, that's for damn sure. Can you take her back to Konoha with you?"
Sai frowned, "And keep her where? I have only enough space in my lodgings for myself and Danzo-sama isn't accepting anyone else in Root either, he wouldn't take her regardless. She's too old to be trained by him properly now."
Naruto started pacing, "This is all turning into one massive clusterfuck, I swear… I came here looking for scrolls, maybe a family tree, you know, the usual stuff. I found Akatsuki a statue with a grievance and a hot naked girl sealed in a vault. What is it with my luck?"
"So who are you two again?" Naruto and Sai turned around to see the girl with her white hair tied in twin ponytails going down her back. She had on a black pair of Naruto's shinobi pants rolled up to her knees with a black pair of sandals. She had on one of Naruto's black muscle shirt, and the sight of the girl adjusting it on her chest was actually quite appealing to Naruto, but it was business time, "Kami, I'm so stiff after being stuck in that place."
"Me too." Naruto said before he slapped himself, "Uh, what I meant was; shouldn't you give your own name before asking for someone else's?"
The girl's mouth opened in realization and she quickly bowed, "I'm so sorry. My name is Hamako Kiyomizu. Level 9 seal master apprentice of Uzushiogakure."
Naruto stared at her in shock, "You're a seal master? No way, you're so young, how can you be level 9? My sensei isn't even level 9, he says he's level 8."
She put her hands on her hips, "Well I just said I'm a seal master apprentice. I'm not a fully accredited seal master yet until sensei promotes me to level 10." She blinked in thought, "Wait, there's a battle going on right now!" She looked around rapidly, "W-Where's sensei? Where is anyone?" She then noticed the hitae-ate on the heads of the two boys. She broke out in a huge smile, "Konoha is here! Sensei said they would come! You must have beaten all of those jerks up top."
She looked at Sai and Naruto fondly, "So I'm sorry, I'm such an airhead sometimes, what were your names again?"
Naruto answered, "Well he doesn't really have a name. I just call him Sai, it seems to fit him." Sai nodded in acknowledgement, "And me, like I said I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."
Hamako's eyes widened upon hearing his surname, "Uzumaki-sama! From Konoha? You must be related to Mito-sama somehow." Naruto looked at her in confusion, "Mito-sama? Who is Mito? And –sama? Why am I –sama?"
Hamako latched onto Naruto's arm, "To be saved by a member of Mito-sama's family in Konoha… This is truly a blessing. Have you and your partner seen sensei yet. Others will probably call him village leader or something."
Naruto looked somewhat hesitant to accept her thanks, "Um, Hamako, I don't know how to tell you this so I'll let this guy do it. Tell her Sai."
Sai nodded, "Uzushiogakure fell while you were in that chamber. You've been asleep for the better part of nearly twenty years Hamako Kiyomizu."
Hamako just stared at them for a moment before a grin broke out on her face, "You guys need to stop fooling around. If Konoha is here that means that we won, you shouldn't fib like that. What if I had taken that seriously?" She finished with a small giggle.
Naruto looked down sadly and Sai simply kept emotionless eyes on her. Hamako stopped smiling, "You guys? Right? Tell me I'm right. Tell me that you're just messing with me, that Uzu is still okay." She asked in an increasingly desperate manner.
THUD
THUD
THUD
Naruto and Sai both turned towards the nearest wall and spoke at the same time, "Shit."
With that the wall crashed down as the sentinel came through, its eyes set firmly on Naruto and Sai. The two prepared to grab Hamako and run until the girl stepped towards the statue, "Stop being a nuisance Komainu-kun!" She spoke with utter authority. The statue stopped moving at the girl's behest, shocking Naruto into a stupor, "How the hell did you do that? Do you have any idea the hell that thing put us through for the past two days?"
Hamako turned to Naruto, "What do you mean, 'how did I do that?' I was the one that made the seal that animated him, why wouldn't I have control over him? Now tell me…" She said I an increasingly dark tone, "What. Happened. To Uzu?" She was starting to shake as she spoke.
Naruto moved quickly and wrapped Hamako in a hug, "I'm so sorry Hamako, but Sai wasn't lying. This is real. Uzushiogakure was sacked a long time ago, you're the only person we found here alive and that's because you were in that odd hibernation chamber."
Hamako stood silently, leaning on Naruto's shoulder until she finally broke down and began to cry on him. Naruto simply held her and let her get it all out. He moved them over towards an unruined wall and let her weep for her lost land on him, it was the very least he could do for her for now.
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