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Naruto sat huddled in the corner, his knees drawn up tightly against his chest.
Within this dank and gloomy dungeon, Naruto had no idea how long he had been confined. Pitch darkness surrounded him on all sides. Only the torches burning in the corridor outside cast a faint, feeble glimmer of light through the small window set into the door—and even that sliver of illumination could barely penetrate the oppressive blackness of the cell.
His arms were bound tightly by heavy chains, and his legs were secured to the wall by additional shackles, restricting his movement to a painfully limited radius. Freedom, in any meaningful sense, was utterly nonexistent.
A guard stationed outside the door peered through the barred window, inspecting the interior of the dungeon.
"Is the prisoner dead yet?" the guard asked gruffly.
Naruto made no sound. He merely shifted his body slightly.
Whenever the guards saw him move, confirming he was still alive, they would simply walk away.
No one cared about the attitude or well-being of a mere brat, so long as he remained breathing. This occasion proved to be no different.
The moment the guard's footsteps faded into silence, Naruto immediately scrambled to one side of the wall. He pried loose a single brick—a secret only he knew, for he alone was aware of what lay on the other side of that wall.
After carefully removing the brick, Naruto pressed himself flat against the cold stone and aligned his eye with the dark opening.
Pitch black.
Just like the dungeon cell he occupied.
Even the faint light seeping in through the window of his own cell was not sufficient to reveal anything on the other side of that hole.
Yet Naruto knew for a fact that the adjacent dungeon was occupied, because he could hear the sound of labored breathing drifting through. However, until now, no one had ever spoken.
"Is... is anyone there?"
Naruto whispered softly.
He did not truly expect to receive an answer. It was simply that he had been locked away in this place for far too long.
He yearned desperately for someone, anyone, to speak with him.
However, based on all his previous "experience," the likelihood was that no one would respond.
Naruto was prepared for the silence. After all, that was how it had always been. It would come as no surprise if no one answered this time either.
Just as he was about to replace the brick and seal the hole once more, a sudden sound of movement emanated from the adjacent cell. It sounded like something scraping against the stone floor. Immediately afterward, he heard hurried, gasping breaths drawing near.
Naruto's heart began to pound fiercely. He stared fixedly at the hole in the wall, and it wasn't long before a voice drifted through from the other side.
It was weak, hoarse, and distinctly female.
"Who's there?"
"Who are you?" Naruto immediately asked in return.
"A child?"
The person on the other side was momentarily taken aback. She clearly had not expected that the one "living" in the neighboring cell would be a mere kid.
"Yeah... My name is Fu. I'm a kunoichi from the Hidden Waterfall Village," the female shinobi said.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I'm a... a trainee ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village," Naruto replied.
"The Hidden Leaf? A trainee ninja?" Fu was stunned. "I never imagined I'd be locked up next to a trainee."
"You sound like you're badly hurt."
"Of course I am. If they hadn't injured me, I would've slaughtered every last one of them." Fu paused, considering her own words, and then added with a touch of rueful honesty, "Even if I couldn't kill them all, I could at least have escaped."
"Why are they targeting you?"
"Because I'm a jinchuriki... They want to seize the power of the tailed beast sealed within me," Fu explained.
"A tailed beast?" Naruto clenched his fists. The term sounded vaguely familiar, as if Iruka had mentioned it once before.
"But why would a kid like you be in here?" Fu asked casually.
"I..."
"Wait, don't tell me... you're the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki?" Fu questioned.
"I..." Naruto was about to ask what exactly a "jinchuriki" was when the mention of the "Nine-Tails" suddenly clicked in his mind. His emotions immediately plummeted into despondency.
"Listen to me. If we don't figure something out, both of us are going to die," Fu stated grimly.
"Do you know something about what's going on?" Naruto asked urgently.
"Heh. Those guards probably figured I was on death's doorstep, so they started talking recklessly around me. I managed to pick up some information. If this had been before, I would never have just sat around waiting to die. But now... cough... cough..." Fu broke into a fit of violent coughing, struggling to draw two ragged breaths before she finally felt marginally better.
"What's wrong with you?" Naruto's heart clenched with anxiety.
Although he and Fu had never met face to face, they were both trapped in this same dungeon, both imprisoned because of the tailed beasts sealed within them. To say they were companions in shared misery would be an understatement.
When Fu's physical condition suddenly worsened, Naruto couldn't help but tense up with worry.
"It's nothing..." Fu gasped, fighting for air. "They placed a jutsu on me, a curse seal that restricts my chakra. It prevents me from using any ninjutsu. If it weren't for this damn thing, I would have escaped long ago. But now... now I have no choice but to take a risk. If I don't get out of here soon, I'm truly going to die. And kid, the same goes for you."
A chill ran down Naruto's spine. He cast panicked glances around his surroundings.
This place was built like an underground fortress. There was simply no way to break free.
"Here... how is it even possible to escape?" Naruto asked, bewildered.
"Can you still use ninjutsu?" Fu asked.
"Yes. But these chains restrict me," Naruto said, lifting his hands.
The shackles around his wrists were incredibly heavy, to say nothing of the ones binding his legs. They confined him to an extremely limited area of movement.
"Kid, if you cooperate with me... I wouldn't mind taking you along," Fu said, a hint of a smile in her strained voice.
Originally, Fu's escape plan had not included a second person. But now, unable to utilize her own chakra, the only one here who could possibly share her goal was Naruto.
The one flaw in the plan was that Naruto was simply far too weak—he probably couldn't even defeat a single average shinobi.
On the other hand, it was precisely because he was so pathetically weak that he hadn't been subjected to the Fire Release: Heavenly Prison seal. Otherwise, their chances of breaking out would not have been even a fraction of a percent.
Though, even now, their odds were not significantly better.
"Come closer. I'm going to tell you how to use your ninjutsu. Whether or not we can escape this place will depend entirely on your performance," Fu whispered through the hole in the wall, her voice barely audible.
...
"So this is the Hidden Rain Village?"
Tsunade stood at the outskirts of the Hidden Rain Village, surveying the settlement before her.
Compared to what it had been over a decade ago, the Hidden Rain Village had expanded considerably, looking almost as if it had been entirely renovated and rebuilt.
Only the rain remained the same as it had been back then—torrential, and showing absolutely no sign of letting up.
"That's correct," Jiraiya nodded. "Do you remember what I told you before? The moment you enter this village and a single raindrop touches you, Pain will be able to sense the presence of intruders through the chakra infused within the rain."
Tsunade nodded gravely.
The Leaf Village had already made contact with the other shinobi villages, and their combined forces had been assembled.
She and her team were here as an advance reconnaissance unit, tasked with gathering intelligence.
This included mapping out the layout of the Hidden Rain Village, locating Pain's residence, and addressing a series of other crucial issues. Among them, the single most important objective was to determine whether Naruto was indeed being held within the Hidden Rain Village.
"We can't let any of that water touch us. So how exactly do we get inside?" Tsunade asked, perplexed.
"I will enter through the sewer system. The rest of you are to remain on standby out here for the time being," Jiraiya stated.
"No. That's far too dangerous," Tsunade objected, shaking her head.
"There's simply no other way. If too many of us enter, we'll be detected immediately. And none of you are familiar with the terrain here. If we're discovered, we'll all be killed."
"And what about you?" Tsunade asked, her voice thick with unease.
"I'm just going to sneak in, find a single shinobi, and interrogate them about whether Naruto is being held here, as well as the location of Pain's hideout. The moment I acquire that intelligence, no matter what happens, I will retreat immediately," Jiraiya explained.
Tsunade stared intently at Jiraiya, then gave a slight nod. She added solemnly, "The moment we detect anything out of the ordinary, we'll charge in, no matter the cost."
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade, and then his gaze shifted to Kurotsuchi and Mangetsu Hozuki, who had accompanied them. He said nothing in response.