A Box of Wishes
I'm looked up to by the rest of the prisoners, though I don't know the reason why I am. They praise me for standing up against Mui, but I see nothing to be praised about. I tried to pull a man, that's loyally following authority, in a petty fight to release the seal off of me and Sasuke. I see nothing to be happy over. I didn't win nor did I land any hits. But if that's what excites them, I'll milk the attention a little bit. I have nothing against being popular for once anyway.
"Critical thinking is needed to escape these restrained walls." Sasuke stabs his fork repeatedly in his food, looking uninterested in eating it. I can't blame him. The only good thing prison has to offer is ramen and that says a lot since the ramen isn't as good as Ichiraku. "Too bad you're the opposite."
"Huh?!"
"You've been mumbling ways to escape this prison last night. Don't pretend you're not still hooked on the idea to keep trying."
"I just hate being confined in one place for too long, okay? Is that so bad?"
"It's not so bad when you get used to it."
"I also just have a bad feeling, dattebayo," I mutter, looking down at my food.
"You mentioned it before, but what kind of bad feeling?"
Usually, on a regular occasion, I try to act mature and very serious. In Konoha, I'm known to have a sharp wit, carefully thinking before acting, and I am able to see the underlying nature of the situation at hand. But with Sasuke, I feel like I act carefree and childish and cheerful in peace. Though, I do tend to act before I think on multiple occasions when I went on missions alone ― I'm a jonin ― and seeing how poised Sasuke is right now compared to me, makes me wonder how long it took him to adapt to this prison.
Even so, I can't sit around and think when my gut is telling me something will happen in Konoha. Maybe, it won't be drastic, but it might be enough to raise the hairs on the back of my neck and arms.
"The kind of bad feeling you get when..." I slightly lean closer to Sasuke, not looking obvious that I'm whispering to him. "You know... when something will result in an imbalance of the nations or something."
"How can you be so sure? What if you're just paranoid since this is your first time being away from the village? I'm not doubting your intellect of the possible situation, but to say something like that about Konoha ― a place where it's rare for any destruction to occur ― that means you're betting your uneasy feeling to be right or wrong. I can't say how far off that uneasy feeling might be but if you can't shake the feeling then there's no helping it. You'll just have to be careful and look around for an escape. Don't try to escape but see if there is one and we'll figure out the plan to leave the prison."
"If there's an escape, then we should try to leave as soon as possible―"
"Obviously, yes, that would be the decision we should try to do, but rationally, we have these seals on us, and if we stray too far, we're done for."
"Okay, so find a way to escape, think of a plan, and we can leave once we execute it."
"If you try not to be impatient before then, yes, we should be able to leave if we think of our plan with possible outcomes that might occur. We have to be prepared for anything."
"Got it."
"But other than that," Sasuke stabs at his food again, slowly bringing it to his mouth, "let's just stay composed to prevent anyone else from knowing our plan to escape, alright?"
"Okay."
The conversation trails off to silence as we finish our meals. The entire time I eat, I can't but sneak glimpses at Sasuke. He has black eyes and long, spiky black hair with a blue tint that made him look handsome to others in the village, but to me, it makes him look personable. I might just be used to his features since I've looked at his face almost the entirety of my childhood, but I can't deny that he changed nicely since he left years ago.
He's more poised, smiles less, and distances himself from others in the prison. Then there's me; I'm somewhat distant and show little respect when talking to others, even to Lady Tsunade. I try to help when others need me but I barely had any emotional bonds to anyone besides Sasuke. His absence drove me to a corner and I hate that I turned into an emotionless shinobi that behaved like that. I do. But after Sasuke left, it took a toll on me and my mom had to help me recover every time I returned from a mission.
And now that I returned to Sasuke's side, after we escape this prison, what will Konoha think of him? As the reason behind my detachment? Just another rogue ninja? A criminal? A murderer? A liar?
No... What will my mother think?
***
Two nights later, in a subsequent attempt to escape, I knock out one of the guards and steal his clothes when my shadow clone fools everyone, except Sasuke who watched me make one in front of him. He tells me he'll make it look as real as he can so I can look around without getting caught.
As I'm able to get to the edge of the island, trying to gather the courage to jump off the cliff to find an escape in the water, a fair-skinned prisoner with waist-length white hair, that is covered by a green bandana that has a long curved white stripe, named Ryūzetsu tells me to stop.
"Why should I stop?" I ask.
"You'll die if you jump off this cliff. Don't you see those whirlpools down there?" He asks, pointing to the whirlpools beneath us.
"If there's a chance of escaping, I'll risk those odds of dying to bring him back home," I mutter, taking off the guard uniform, abandoning the garments next to me, leaving on my black and orange slim outfit. I slip on my black fingerless gloves, prepared for anything that I could be waiting for me down there in the unknown water.
"Wait―!"
I refuse to listen and reluctantly jump into the whirlpool with my eyes closed.
I try to fight against the currents but I can't. The water is too strong to swim in.
I'm thrown against the rocky wall behind me and the air I was desperately holding in gets knocked out of me. I involuntarily breathe in the water as I try to swim up to the surface. My arms can't guide me out of the whirlpool and all I can do is drown and sink.
Eventually, my vision fades to black, and before my eyes shut ― I think I see a girl swimming toward me.
When I wake up after I nearly drown, I find out that Ryūzetsu saved me in a nick of time.
With his back facing me, I thought he was a boy, but when he slowly faces me after wringing out his green bandana, I quickly realize that he is a she.
I blink in shock and ask what is she doing on this side of the prison. She admits, after a long moment of silence, that it is her mission to kill Mui and stop the Box of Ultimate Bliss. She reveals that Mui even sacrificed his son, Muku, to the box and also that Mui tried to set me up.
She asks for my help to destroy the box and after thinking for a while, I agreed on the condition that she lets Sasuke help too. She agrees to let Sasuke help, asking if he's from the Land of Fire as well. I nod and she hums, adding to her question with: "Why do you want him to help?"
"Because he's my comrade."
***
"Itachi sent a message to me this morning," Sasuke says. "His crow made it past the guards undetected and flown into our cell to inform me that the Akatsuki members, Kakuzu and Hidan, are still within the group."
My heart races and my eyes look at him in disbelief. "What?"
"It seems like the Kakuzu and Hidan you have in Konoha, the ones that Kakashi apprehended, are shadow clones."
I swallow thickly, processing the news that Sasuke just told me nonchalantly. He looks calm, unfazed, but I know he's just as upset as I am. Now that he knows who was responsible for the village's strict security, he appears ready to add to his record in order to save his home. "What do we do now?"
"I'll follow your lead." Sasuke rests his head against the cell wall. "You know the village better than I do at the moment, so tell me what do you think we should do?"
"As you said before," I sigh, running a hand through my blonde shaggy hair, "we move precisely and carefully. If they know that we're onto them then we'll be at a disadvantage since we're in here. I tried to find an escape but it seems like we have to defeat Mui, convince him to undo the seal, and leave before they commence anything onto Konoha."
"How much time do you think we have?"
"I don't know, Sasuke." I clench my hand into a tight fist. "Maybe only a few days."
"Shit," he looks up at the ceiling, "I hope Danzo isn't a part of this scheme or else, we'll really be fucked."
"You had to kill your clan to satisfy Danzo, who says he won't use the Akatsuki to kill the Land of Fire to be even more satisfied?"
"If only we can use the box to wish for peace..."
"If we don't work for peace, then we're just like any other Akatsuki. Using a shortcut or forbidden jutsu to get what we want effortlessly."
"I never knew the Naruto Uzumaki could be so reliable like this." Sasuke quips.
"There's a lot you don't know about me." I smile complacently at him.
"And there's a lot I do know about you."
"Like what?"
"How you feel toward me is one of them."
I scoff but don't respond since he's right.
Yet, there's still so much I don't know about Sasuke so the moment we defeat Kakuzu and Hidan, we'll sit down and talk about everything. And hopefully, figure out ourselves as well.
***
Three days later, I enter the courtyard and challenge Mui in another fight but instantly get defeated again and get dragged back to solitary confinement.
While I'm confined, Sasuke tells me play-by-play from the outside of what's going on; Ryūzetsu attempts to stab Mui only to reveal that she attacked Maroi. Maroi forms an alliance with her, saying he is not really on Mui's side, and that he's just on the side that benefits him the most.
When I am asked to leave the punishment room, I leave behind a clone to gather some natural energy because I intend on using Sage Mode during a fight later on.
Once I get outside, Ryūzetsu and I pretend to fight, purposely causing the entire courtyard to be engulfed in the fight, causing some to be in fright, while Maroi forces prisoners inside to fight as well, creating more chaos. During the chaos, Maroi performs a technique in the sky, while Sasuke and I try to find the box. And just before we are able to destroy the box, I'm captured by Mui while Sasuke quickly hides out of sight. Mui extracts some of my chakra, allowing the box to revive.
And while Mui is distracted, I am able to escape with Sasuke who lays down traps to slow down Mui.
We make it to the surface to see the Box Of Paradise rising to the surface, causing the ground to shake from the amount of intensity it holds inside. Sasuke and I knew whatever is inside of it, claiming to be "wishes" won't come out in an expected state. We approach the box, ignoring the prisoners to stay away from it and try to destroy it with punches and kicks. Nothing leaves a dent.
Mui runs toward us and tosses us far from the Paradise Box. He puts his gloved hands up and wishes for the box to allow him to see Mui again.
The box grants his wish, opening up, allowing a tall, extremely pale man to emerge from it. Immediately assuming it to be Muku, I remember the framed picture on Mui's desk that I came across to find the box earlier. It seems his hair grew longer and had dulled in color. He's wearing the same clothes he allegedly worn when the box was open, which has since been in tatters.
The man's grey eyes are cold to the world in front of him, not caring about the person that's in front of him.
Ryūzetsu is speechless to see Muku alive again. Her eyes are unable to look away from the unbelievable sight in front of her.
Mui tries to talk to his son, thinking the box truly brought him back from the dead, but then Muku, looking apathetic, impales Mui with his own hand and knocked out Kazan. Ryūzetsu gasps and covers her mouth with her trembling hand, muttering, "No... Muku wouldn't do that..."
"What the hell did you do?!" I shout while Sasuke extends his arm in front of me to hold me back.
"That's not the Muku I know!" Ryūzetsu shouts, removing the green bandana from her head, revealing her long hair.
The moment Muku realizes it's Ryūzetsu, his eyes gapes, turning fully black.
Muku then transformed into Satori, a beast that is frighteningly large, similar in size to Gamabunta and the Eight-Tails, with large wings. It is headless, with bones protruding from the mouth on its chest, and is covered in black feathers. It also has a long thin tail, and its hands and feet are clawed and sickly thin to the point where it looks almost bone-like with skin attached.
When all chaos breaks out, I enter Sage Mode and then tried to use the Big Ball Rasengan on the Box of Ultimate Bliss to destroy it but fail.
"It's useless." Muku says, standing on top of the box.
I ignore him and try to engage in combat with Satori but fail because I'm unable to touch him. So I summon Gamabunta to help me combat Satori, but we can't attack him, due to our moves being predicted beforehand. Eventually, I run out of senjutsu, allowing the Satori to attack me. This forced Gamabunta to defend me, causing Gamabunta to be defeated. Satori then attacks me again but is saved by Sasuke who gathered most of his chakra to punch Satori, sending him across the courtyard.
Sasuke groans from the seal burning his skin but reassures me that he's fine.
Wait, is Mui still alive?
"Naruto, what do you want me to do?" Sasuke asks, helping me stand to my feet.
"If you can," I attain Sage Mode once more, "distract Muku."
Sasuke nods. "Got it."