A Wick is Sparked

Ino screamed as she woke in the darkness of her cell. She scrambled on the floor over to a corner trying to get her bearings. As she made attempts to calm herself down she noticed she was naked and shrieked like the girl she is and covered herself with her arms and moving her hair away from her face.

"Trust me, it's a little too late to hide that lovely frame of yours." Ino screamed again and looked around for the source of the voice. "Now, now, don't be scared. Fear doesn't suit your lovely face. And before you think or say it, no you are not losing your mind."

"W-who are you?" She cried out. "Calm down and I'll tell you. And I can tell when you have. Now take a deep breath." Ino was in a panic, she didn't know where she was or who was talking to her, but she knew she should calm down and get a better understanding of her situation.

She got her breathing under control, she could feel her heartbeat slow and the anxiety left her body. Her eyes looked around in the darkness with a strong intensity. "Now that's much better isn't it? If you don't mind, I'm going to give this room a little light." A small fireball popped into existence in a pair of hands that looked more like claws to her. She screamed and scrambled farther into the corner and a little up the wall. It appears that the boy's little event has had some side-effects on her after all.

Enra dimmed the light a bit by closing his hands around the flame. "Scared of a little fire are we? It's quite alright. I'm just going to use this to rekindle a lamp. Is that alright?" He asked. Ino stopped whipping her arms around and after a few moments of hesitation she nodded not trusting her voice.

Enra palmed the fire in one hand and pulled out the lamp and quickly igniting the wick inside. After controlling the light and setting it aside Ino took the time to get a better look around and at her captor. Everywhere she looked there was nothing but darkness, save the two shadows cast by firelight. This person was new to her and frightened her; the figure had a malevolent appearance, eerie from the long white hair and claws. But to Enra, he saw a frightened young woman. But if she showed any sign of shock at his form she hid it well.

"My name is Enra. Do you know where you are? Where you've been?" He asked. Ino looked around again with the light, but all she could make out was a pair of chains and some broken wall fragments. She looked back at him with cautious eyes. "I'm still in the prison?"

"Beauty and brains. Now I'm going to ask you a very serious question. I need you to answer as best as you can." Enra watched her carefully with his coal-black eyes. "Tell me, what do you remember?"

Events flashed before her eyes with one of them sticking out. She glared at him with such anger Enra almost believed she could have broken the blood vessels in her eyes. "You killed Shikamaru!" She attacked him in all her naked glory and was quickly restrained with Enra's shadows around her limbs and she found his hand around her throat. Enra slammed her against the wall and carefully increased the heat in his palm.

"Calm down and think child! Think very hard about where you are, about what happened. What I did was wake you from a tormented illusion made to target your mind. So I did what I thought was best to break you out of it. I invaded your mind and nearly destroyed your mental state trying to wake you."

The heat from Enra's hand grew very uncomfortable on Ino's skin but he didn't let up. "What you saw was nothing more than a mirage of death that I created to snap you out of it. And you were lucky I was the one that found you."

"Then tell me!" She screamed past the choke hold. "Why should I trust anything you tell me?"

"Oh enough of this!" He grabbed her head with his other hand and pulled her consciousness into his. The next second they found both themselves in Naruto's head. Ino was fully clothed and Enra was in his original body.

Ino's reaction was immediate and she ranted on. "Where am I now? Is this another dungeon for you to torture me in? What else has been done to me?" Enra tried to step in but Ino was on a roll. "What about the others? Where are they?" She paused and her eyes widened as vivid ideas ran through her mind. "Oh god did you torture them as well? Who else did you kill in front of them huh? Tell me!"

Enra's patience was reaching its end and he moved to silence the blond chatterbox. Before he got the chance the water they stood in went for Ino, encasing her in a small sphere and the sound of her was cut off.

"Shut up."

The words were spoken slowly and calmly, but filled with anger. Ino's hands went to her throat and she made a show of holding her breath while she looked around for the source. "Quit your flailing around. You aren't suffocating; I've just put the water around you in a thick enough amount that I can hear myself think."

Naruto walked out of the empty cage in his normal body, much to Ino's surprise. She glanced down at her neck and removed her hands and slowly breathed in, sighing with relief when she found she could breath. "You can talk but we won't be able to hear you. Once you've calmed down enough, I'll drop the barrier."

Despite everything that just happened, she was glad to see a familiar face again. After she watched him walk out of the cage in this unknown place the joy began to die and was replaced by confusion; Naruto's expression was exceedingly grim. Naruto saw this and said, "I understand you are a little messed up right now but I need you to pay attention. I need you to remember anything and everything that happened to you here."

After taking yet another check around the area, she silently agreed and Naruto lowered her to the ground and dropped the sphere. Ino shivered as the cold water splashed over her. "Where are we?" She asked through her shaking.

Naruto spread his arms wide, presenting the dark and damp to her. "We are in my head right now. It's simply how I show my state of mind, considering what used to be inside this place." He nodded back towards the cage.

Ino shivered more, and this time it wasn't only from the cold. "S-so we are in the place where that nine-tailed monster was being kept?"

"That's right. And now it's gone. One problem at a time." Naruto said. "Answer my questions and we can move on." His face gave no argument.

Ino racked her head for anything she could find but the same thing continued to plague her memory. The image of her friend dying before her eyes. She felt her eyes water and tears were brimming on the edge. "I'm sorry, but I'm just having a hard time getting around what just happened." She said through her tears.

"I know. Shikamaru dying will do that to you." Ino looked at him puzzled. "How do you know what happened?" Naruto groaned and slapped his face with his hand. "Okay, for sake of time, I'm going to be blunt."

"Naruto!" Enra pressed on. "NO!" Naruto screamed back at him. "After everything I've gone through I am beginning to lose whatever patience I've had. I can tell right now that my questions aren't going to be answered first so I'm going to cut to the chase."

Naruto walked up to Ino and knelt down close to her so they were less than a foot apart. "The man that you saw back out there in the real world is me. I entered your mind to see what possible damage was done to you on a hunch."

Ino was even more confused at his statement. "I don't understand; how is that possible? What happened to you? What's happening to me?" She tried through her tears.

Naruto held her face in his hands and she felt images pass through her mind; Naruto had selected certain memories: his body slowly changing as the side-effect of an unusual justu, the attempts of escape from his chains, the dark chakra he had eating away at everything. She felt his confusion, his rage, his fear.

While she was experiencing the memories and emotions Naruto was passing onto her, she was also watching his face and it transitioned into the face she saw in the real world; teeth elongating into fangs, her skin tingling where his nails stretched out into claws, the deep cerulean eyes tainted a dark amethyst that brought a twinge of fear down her back. Most notably to her was the hair as it turned from the bright yellow spiky state that it was and it grew out and was bleached.

She knew this figure from her memory: standing in a field of blazing flowers, his hand pierced through Shikamaru's chest. "But I saw you! Him, that, whichever! I saw Shikamaru die!" She protested.

"You saw what I needed you to see to break you out of your state. It was only an illusion." This snapped her out of the memory rush. "So if you didn't kill him, that means he's still alive right?"

It was the question. It was THE question, the one that he was tormenting himself about almost hoping that she wouldn't have asked. He grimaced in agony as he relived the memory. With Ino still connected to him mentally, she experienced it along with him. The two looked at each other; one with grief and regret, the other with sadness.

"You have your answer." It was all he could say. He didn't need to say anything more; she saw everything she needed from the memory. She just sat there in the cold water crying. Naruto let go of her and let her be. "Was it necessary to do that to her?" Enra thought to him.

"She was going to find out sooner or later and it would be better if it came from someone she knew." Though saying it didn't make it any better. He hated himself for doing this to her; she didn't deserve any of this pain he was giving her. "I wish I could have done more to save him, but in the end he had me stop. Right before he died he told me something wasn't right about this place."

He rose over her, face contorted by rage and his fists clenched and set aflame. "So for him, I'm going to tear this place apart and have the waters claim it. So I need you to get your shit together, and try and remember everything that happened to you. And I mean it. Everything."

"Alright, I can't promise anything. After we were all knocked unconscious there are a lot of gaps in my memory. It was a long time." Naruto stared down at her. "You can either try, or Enra can take the memories he needs."

To Naruto's surprise Ino's appearance brightened "He can do that?" Enra was expressionless. "I can do a lot of things. What are you thinking girl?" He asked.

Ino nearly jumped to her feet. "If you can jump into people's minds and tamper with their memories then maybe you could hop into my head and help clear things up." She was almost bouncing in place with newfound energy.

Enra looked to Naruto. Naruto shrugged. "Worth a shot if you think you're up to it." Enra grunted humorously. "Who do you think you're talking to?" He replied letting his ego show just a bit for the case at hand.

Naruto feigned awe and bowed in a flourished manner. "Of course, how could I have completely forgotten? You are Enra, master of fire, smoke and shadow. You are as old as the earth is young, and your knowledge has no bounds." Naruto glanced an eye up at Enra and a smile.

"So is your sense of modesty it would seem." Enra snapped his fingers and the water burst outwards in a single wave and left behind a dense fog. It exploded and carried far in the cage, expanding throughout the deep dark. Naruto and Ino were cringing from the sudden exposure of the fog. "What's with the flashy show?" Ino screamed.

Enra's voice boomed in the fog, "We are in a blank mental state at the moment. This fog represents that state in never-ending change, no certain destination that has been set. Either one of you, picture a time and place you can remember. It can be good or bad, as long as you can imagine it perfectly."

Ino closed her eyes and tried to think, to imagine a memory. Ino slowed her breathing and tried to keep herself calm. "Try and think of something pleasant, a warm place that fills you with joy." Enra continued. Ino went with his suggestion. Warm. Peaceful. Quiet. A time when she was younger, helping her family run the flower shop. The fog parted as sensations filled the void, a fling of blonde hair, the smell of flowers filling the room…

Ino opened her eyes and found herself in her family's shop. She watched a younger version of herself wrapping a batch of freshly cut flowers. Naruto stood beside her and watched as she went about her job. "What are we looking at?" He asked.

"This was a time when I first started out working with my parents as a child. They've been teaching me everything I know about my family's techniques and ever since then I've been on the road I am today." Ino felt warmth from her breast as she watched the memory she cherished. The fog came and snuffed out the memory. "Good to know you can do that much."

Enra walked in through the fog like an apparition in moonlight and startling Ino. "Could you please not do that? I feel like my heart is going to break out of my chest." She said.

Enra gave an evil smirk, "Well I must admit it isn't the first time I've had a young lady proclaim her love for me but I don't think now is the best time."

Ino's face changed hues and she resisted the great urge to slap the demon. She closed her eyes and "Don't joke around like that and take this seriously!" She opened them and Enra was standing inches away from her. "I am, for I must. We need you to remember the darker stuff that happened during your imprisonment. I can only help you safely if you try."

"Okay, okay." Ino let her mind wander in the thick fog. Her mind was left blank to the whims of whatever fancy that came out of the darkness. From the edges of her hearing Enra instructed her deeper, "Now from here I need you to remember any negative feelings, pain, anger, misery etc. The more intense the feelings are, the easier it will be to find the right one."

She listened to his advice and relinquished herself to Enra. As he pushed his consciousness into her mind she felt his presence looming over her. It felt like someone was pressing down into the back of her skull from the inside. She groaned at the increased pressure. "Is this what it feels like when he's inside you?" She asked.

"You get used to it. First time I was possessed it felt like my head was going to explode. You'll be fine with him, he'll be…gentler than my first." Naruto winced as the puns were not lost on Enra and he mentally flicked him. "That's enough of that boy. I need to concentrate."

Ino felt Enra's consciousness swell and grow with his influence, engulfing her like a great wave as it dove into the depths. From Enra's point of view he found himself inside a maze made entirely of flowers of varying species. How pretty. But what else can I expect from a young lady? He thought.

He graced his hand against one such flower sticking out farther than the rest and relived one of Ino's memories. It was brief, but clear. This one showed Ino in a woodland opening, training alone. It faded as fast as it was brought on when he let go. Each flower must represent a memory he surmised. So based on what he knew, he went looking for a very specific flower.

If joy and passion were to show in a beautifully bloomed rose, then one raised by and from pain and suffering would look something tortured and fouled. So he went on to others, taking care not to touch any other flowers out of respect for her privacy. You never know what memories you might uncover.

He maneuvered through the maze as best as he could, moved past the multitude of colors displayed around him with every step going deeper inside. He saw a few dulled petals but nothing that screamed "vicious torment", when he rounded a corner and nearly walked into it. A rather large decayed black rose, wilted and thorny and grotesque suck out like it shouldn't.

The sight made him think about what he see. But to know more about what is going on he would have to. Enra gingerly touched it prepared for what might come of it. He touched it and his vision faded to black. He waited in darkness for the memory to start. And waited. And waited.

After living for many years Enra had discovered the value patience provides, but it wasn't long before he rediscovered the line between being patient and being oblivious. He wasn't waiting for the memory, he was already living the memory. The girl had been visually impaired for an amount of time; this was one of those times. Something had happened here, now I just have to wait and witness.

He meditated in the vision and breathed. Repressed memories can be very intense to quite a few people, he was concerned about the stability of this young flower he was warding. Try to see and possibly fix whatever damage had been done. Being in this situation reminded him of a different time, one of his previous masters had a mental affliction that caused a form of schizophrenia, making them fearful and paranoid of everything. They also had one of the most brilliant minds, if decaying and suspicious, he had ever seen.

It was a sad thing to kill them.

A bright light blinded Enra. He blinked away the spots floating around his eyes and paid careful attention to detail once he could see anything. His gaze found the inside of the cell. He looked down at himself, wrong herself as he was watching through Ino's eyes. She was naked, pulse high with confusion and anxiety at the sudden light now dimmed from the bulb on the ceiling. "Who's there?" She rasped and coughed. I can see some reasoning behind the nudity, young woman in a cell, not knowing how long she's been there. Add this and you have a recipe for a very uncomfortable setting. Perfect for an interrogation.

She shivered, and not just from the cold. Anticipation had its hold on her and she was fighting it, and losing. Her skin was chaffing from the irons rubbing against it for so long. Above all she really, really needed to relieve herself.

Something knocked against the wall outside. She froze. The door was still closed and most likely locked. Another knock, louder this time. Someone was coming. Part of her was both relieved and annoyed that it took so long. A loud clang on the door startled her. Another one followed, strong enough to make a dent in the metal door. Once more, whatever it was slammed hard enough to leave a handprint.

"If you're trying to scare me you should know I won't give you anything." She tried convincing herself she wasn't afraid. Even she didn't believe it. An electric-blue blade jutting through the distorted metal made her jump, as much as one could jump while being restricted with chains. Three quick strokes and the door became a sheet falling to the floor.

A human shadow with a sparking sword stood at the entrance of her cell. After the initial shock her training kicked back in and she stared at the shade trying to pick out details. It was there, but always shifting so she couldn't get anything distinctive. She stared for a long time, she had to blink. She did and it was gone.

She started to panic not knowing what this thing was, where it was going, what it was doing. What it might do to her. From the corner of her left eye she saw the shadow's hand creep around and close in on her face. "Say you won't give me anything. Say you are right. But you will give me everything." A voice like a quiet whisper in darkness provides the incentive of her fear spiking.

Before she could respond it sunk its fingers into her face. Her eyes widened and she sucked in air to scream. The flat of the blade was slapped to her throat and she coughed. The edge nicked her when she exhaled and she felt something other than the cut. Quite, she couldn't feel anything at all.

She couldn't move, couldn't scream. Her entire body was numb, but even that couldn't stifle the fear exploding from within her. Let me go. I don't understand what's happening. Please! Release me! She screamed and screamed in her mind. Desperately wishing she was anywhere else than here. Then it all stopped. The numbing. The alien sensation of shadowy fingers in her mind. All gone.

Enra blinked. Was there something with the memory, maybe some tampering? He could expect it from the enemy. No, there was something else at play here. Ino however didn't seem to see it. She was even more confused, the fear creeping back. He could feel her heartbeat start to rise. The cold links jangled loudly as she freaked out. Before she had a moment of peace to herself another loud thump came from outside of the now replaced door.

This feels very familiar. Enra remembered something about every cell specifically made to hold its captive. Enra knew little about this young girl. Thump. A small panicked squeal leapt from her lips. And….a large dent with a handprint in the middle of it rocked the door just like before. Followed by an electric-blue blade stabbing through the metal.

Enra watched as the sword sliced the door and it fall. Watched as the shadow from earlier blinked out of the light and threaten Ino again, though this time the sword tickled her backside slowly so every vertebra could feel the sparks. "Say you won't give me anything. Say you are right." It said again. "But you will give me everything."

Her chest jerked forward. She looked down with disbelieving eyes at the sword protruding from between her breasts, the blood giving the blue glow a disturbing calm for her. The numbing feeling returned, but not before a white hot feeling of pain erupted from her chest. She screamed out but couldn't get any sound to come out.

Just like that the pain disappeared again. She looked back down at her chest, once again no exit wound, no blood even. No pain. Nothing. Enra could feel fear and confusion warring within her. She struggled against her bonds again to no avail. Through her eyes Enra watched for the third time when the banging started on the door again. The blade piercing the metal door. The torture. The cutting. The stabbing. The slashing. The pain and ultimately, death. Always repeating the same thing. Again. And again. And again.

What Naruto had done to her was terrible, but calling this torture was an understatement: with every use of a blade on a human body she had been treated to the mental format of it. Enra witnessed a master put a tool of the trade to use on a child. After the last one Ino was trembling and panting from literally mental exhaustion. Enra had lost count.

Another replay of the scenario had gotten to the point where the sword had punched through the metal and it paused. Ino took notice and watched the still blade glowing in the darkness. "Take solace in what peace you can get. I will return." Then Ino's vision went dark.

Enra pulled himself out of the memory finding himself back in the maze. "Your friend has been through quite the turmoil. In the time she spent here she was tortured relentlessly, every day." Amazed and horrified, Naruto fought back his rage. On top of this he had damaged her mental state even more with his half-baked attempt to free her.

Enra sighed. "We don't have any more information on this than we started with her. Unless this shadow I saw means anything to you." Naruto went through the memories Enra shared during his time in Ino's head. Stepping into the memory with Ino and her torturer he froze everything, pausing it like walking through a still life painting so he could better see the events happening. Her torturer he noticed was literally covered in shadow; he felt if he could stick his hand through it. This figure showed no discerning physical characteristics, features too murky. His eyes were drawn to the blade it held, long, single-edged and glowing blue.

He stopped, leaning closer to examine it. Even without the need to look it over he knew what it was, and who it belonged to. And he said nothing. Did nothing but snap his fingers and everyone found themselves back in reality. Ino, Mata and Enra all found themselves sitting around Naruto in Ino's cell, confused at what just happened.

All eyes were on Naruto, but Naruto only had eyes for Ino. "Tell me, you still have a thing for Sasuke don't you? That was his technique, a personal weapon of choice." Ino snapped out of her confusion and realizing where she was again she covered herself. "What does it matter? He crosses my mind every now and then."

A loud crack shot out. Ino's face shot to the side a red mark on her cheek. "You are an absolute idiot. Above everyone in our group you should have known better." Naruto's harshness combined with the slap brought out Ino's temper. "And what makes you say that? Compared to the rest of you what can I do here in this Hell?" She grumbled.

"I expect you, a member of the Yamanaka clan, and masters of their own minds, to know when she's been taken captive in her own territory!" He shouted. She flinched but he didn't stop. "In this place where almost every cell has had our people under a type of mental control, including yours, and you tell me that you couldn't break free of someone else's parlor trick? You're better than that."

Naruto glared such daggers at Ino that her rage quickly and quietly died. "Ino." He growled this single word and Ino's face shot up to meet his. "From here on I expect you to do better, your best and more. Sakura and Hinata are still in chains and you're going to help get them out before something like what happened to Shikamaru happens to them."

His glare didn't waver as Ino cowered before him. Naruto got up and stretched out and walked out of the cell; the rest of the group was waiting patiently. "Is she still viable?" Garasu asked. "Get her some proper clothes and keep her away from the walls. I want her well taken care of otherwise. Cora," He went through the bag and took out a scroll tossing it to Kakashi. "You'll find what she needs in there."

Kakashi opened it up and went through it seal by seal. Then opened it more and more eyes widening with each passing ink marker. "Naruto is this what I think this is?" Naruto looked back at him, "After I broke out me and Enra raided the armory. I took everything in there that I could and Enra took the rest. Her clothes should be in there I think."

Kakashi caught himself and moved on looking for them. All of these here in one place. There's even more here than back in the village just by quantity alone. With his numbers he's virtually become a walking arsenal!

"Kakashi!" Enra's voice came out instead and he was irritated. "Use Cora to cloth her so we can get a move on. We still have a few more to pick up before we can start."

Kisame, Garasu and Kakashi all looked at him all of them with the same question in their eyes. "Before what can start?" Kakashi voiced their question.

Smoke bellowed from Naruto's body, rising up from the floor and solidifying, making clones. Many clones. Sparks started jumping from his fingertips, slowly moving up along his body congregating on his forehead in a third eye made of lightning. His figure turned more bestial, letting his rage and hate for this place flow through his body. After seeing a friend of his be tortured over and over again for days on end he was reaching his limit.

"I've just about had enough of playing fair, playing by the rules. So now I'm gonna do what I've always done. I'm gonna cause chaos everywhere." His face was a mixture of anger and sadness before he addressed the clones. "Go, spread out and find Hinata and Sakura if they're on this floor. We're getting close to the top so there's a higher chance of running into greater numbers of guards. Anyone you find that's not on our side or you don't know, kill. One of you take Garasu with you to the upper floors and have him explain what's happening."

Kakashi decided to step in. "Naruto I get that you're mad but killing people, possible innocents, is taking it a little too far." "They've held our people for days, weeks, for torture or worse in Shikamaru's case! Personally I'm not taking it far enough. We're getting our friends out of here and I will personally turn this whole place to rubble. Remember," Naruto held up a hand practically dripping with demonic chakra. "I'm the only one who isn't affected by the draining effects of this place so I'm the only one that can accomplish this.

"One way or another this all ends with us safely out and Goturo dead at my hands." With that they all rushed out in different directions with one remaining beside Garasu. "Take me to the top. To the others." Garasu grabbed the clone from behind and flexed his back, unfurling his wings. "Brace yourself boy." A few flaps took them both to the air and towards the lift shaft.