Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters. I simply own the story itself. Naruto belongs to Sasuk…. I mean Kishimoto.

Just in case: I do realize that I am not the characters however I write my stories in first person perspective. If you do not like first person stories, then feel free to leave if you are not willing to give it a shot. I can understand people's preferences towards stories. Third person is more centered on description, whereas First person is more centered on feelings/emotions.

No Criticism, Flamers or any of that. Don't like, don't read. That is why they invented the "X" at the top of your browser and the back key in the address bar. Do not leave the story via the review section, seeing as that keeps you within the story that you possibly didn't give a chance.

Warning: I speak more Japanese than I do English; therefore you will find some translation errors or possibly a few grammar or spelling errors floating around. I don't have a beta reader and, honestly, I do not want one. The last time I tried to have a Beta Reader; they tried to change everything that would happen in my story. It takes me a while, but I do go back to older chapters and rewrite them or check them for errors.

Hello all my new readers and some of my old readers. I held a poll for what you guys wanted me to publish on here next. For the longest time, 3 stories held the highest votes in the poll. Someone finally broke the poll vote and voted for 'Caged'. When I noticed this, I decided to take the poll down before I had to wait longer for there to only be one story in first place again.

Unlike my other stories, Caged will have a minimal word count of 2.9k, though I have managed to break 3k each chapter so far. Since this story hasn't been fully typed out yet, the chapter it ends on is still unknown, so if this is a shorter chaptered story than my other stories, it is unknown for now.

I hope that people enjoy this story… I am a history geek, so someone should have known that at one point I would have done something semi-related to history. A heads up, this story isn't any specific historical event in history, it is just a 'reality' story where there is no ninjas, no magic, none of that. There is only prisoners and unsolved events! Mwahahaha! Oh right… go enjoy the story…

†

A war had started many years ago, starting out in silence without anyone knowing about it. When people started to go missing, that was when the world realized we were at war. The missing people were tossed into a huge cage, which was an electrical fence that covered even the top of the containment area. They didn't want to lose the prisoners, so you were separated by tags, in which the separation was by the color of the tag. The tags had different colors though for more than just the gender, it was also for race. If you had a clan you were a part of… depending on what clan it was, you would have a living hell to work with.

As a secondary precaution, everyone was injected with a chip. Escape wasn't an option, since no matter what; you would end up getting caught. No one tried to escape, though there was maybe one person once in a while that would try. You never would see those people ever again, telling us that they were taken into the 'chamber' as we call it. The chamber is where you get killed, after spending hours being tormented for whatever crime you committed.

Some may wonder 'how did we end up like this'… well, this all started when a man who called himself 'Tobi' came into this world. Everyone knew his name wasn't really Tobi, but he wouldn't let anyone know who he was. There were many beliefs on who he could possibly be, causing many rumors to go around for years. One of the beliefs was that he was the man named 'Uchiha Madara' that believed he got betrayed by everyone in his clan and village, and wanted revenge against his own people and village. Most of the people were, in fact, from his old village which is why this was more believable than anything else.

Tobi created an army in order to start this war, in which he used someone that was desperately working towards peace. They called themselves the 'Akatsuki'. This group would go around the world checking out the people who weren't prisoners and 'putting people in their place'. In other words, you were either killed or sent here and tossed into the chambers. But that wasn't always the case for when people came here. You see, some people would come into the cage and purchase people to be their slave. Though, this also depended on your name and clan.

There was a problem with our encampment though. We had two people from a very high and powerful clan that shouldn't have been left here years ago. They were Hyuuga Neji and Hyuuga Hinata; who were cousins that had came here one day with Hinata's father to check on the prisoners. Hinata's father had gone to talk business with one of the people and ended up getting enraged and leaving in anger, and completely forgetting to get Hinata and Neji. The guards know about this, and how they didn't belong here so those two were always treated differently from the others that were kept here. They were to leave when people came by to buy prisoners, but that hasn't happened in a while due to the outburst in the war.

For me, I was treated the worst out of everyone that has ever been here. The reason for this was, when I was a baby, I was found right outside the gate, crying, with an obscure tag hanging loosely on my arm. The tag didn't have any markings for race or even for a clan and the gender stamp color? It was only a blue line rather than a circle. Men got a blue circle stamp, and women got a purple circle stamp, so you could see how this would confuse the guards.

To many, the blue line meant absolutely nothing, they thought it was just that the blue circle didn't get the full color, but to the elders that have been here for a longer period of time, knew something about the tag and even me. They wouldn't tell me anything though; all they told me was 'stick with the men' and 'bathe with the women'. You see, the elders weren't too fond of me, and they would rather see me dead more than anything else. However, they know that because of my oddly marked tag, that there was no way the Akatsuki would think of killing me. That was all I knew about the importance of my odd tag and myself.

"Pst… 013…" My head shot up at hearing someone call me. I looked around, trying to figure out who called me, only to see a familiar set of pale lavender eyes waving me over. Neji looked around as I did the same to see if it was clear. I quickly bolted over to Neji, hiding in the dark in case a guard walked by. Neji pulled on the cloth he had in his hand, untying it. Inside the cloth were loaves of bread. "Take them." Neji said, holding it out to me. I grabbed the two loaves of bread then glanced over when I heard noise to see Hinata running over to us. "H-here…" She whispered as she held out a box that had these triangular shaped rice balls. Hinata had told me about these things a year ago and told me it was called Onigiri.

"These are what were left over from our dinner." Neji stated as he put the cloth into his pocket and looked around for guards. This may confuse people, but truth is, Hinata and Neji found out about a girl called '013' that was the same age as them. They chose to watch over me when they found out that I happened to be the most neglected person in this whole hell hole. They would hide food that they didn't eat, and they come by later to bring me the food.

The fact is, because of that blue stripe on my tag, it was uncertain on what to do with me and where I even belonged. Due to this, I am not worthy of food, no matter how much work I do during the day. Before Neji and Hinata got here, I had to resort to stealing bread for me to eat just so I could live to see the next day. I wasn't always greedy though when I stole the bread… I would share it with the children that were stuck here too.

"I hear that the bidders will be coming by in the morning." Neji said, leaning against the wooden coop that the prisoners stayed in. I looked up at him as I munched on a part of a loaf of bread. "This time though, I hear they are having all the sectors being looked at rather than just the west sector." I cringed. Whenever the bidders came, it was always the toughest of times. People were sold fast, but it would leave some work that wasn't finished, to those that were left. You had to do double time for the people that were now gone. The problem was, because it was all the sectors this time, it meant that most of the work would be pushed right onto me.

I lived in the south sector with Hinata and Neji. The South sector held all the elders who could barely move plus the questionable children and even babies. Because most of the people in this sector couldn't do anything, all the work was forced onto me. I would work from before sunrise to deep into the night. It was the worst thing to go through when I wasn't allowed to have food. To make it worse, since the bidders were coming tomorrow to even our sector, it meant that Neji and Hinata were able to go home, leaving me with the only option of getting food, was to steal again. Neji and Hinata knew that was the case, which was why they had brought all these leftovers for me.

"Eat your fill, but not too much, so you aren't that weak tomorrow." Neji said, pushing himself off the wall. I nodded to him as he grabbed Hinata's hand and led her back to their hut. I ate a bit more before deciding to save the rest for tomorrow's dinner. I looked around the area to see if it was safe, then bolted over to the hut for the men. I crawled under the hut, tapping around for the loose board. I pulled on it, then crawled up into the hut. I slept in a small out cove that someone had created a long time ago, before they were killed. It was better than sleeping inside the room on the floor like I originally was, before one of the elders told me about the small out cove in the wall that opened from inside and outside.

I was small enough for the little hiding spot, which was why the elder told me about it. This elder was the only one who watched over me and made sure that the guards wouldn't hurt me. If I ever slept in too late, he would tap the wall of the out cove, while telling the guard that I was getting water to wash the walls. He always came up with an excuse for me; and because I wasn't in the room itself, the guards were led to believe the elder's words.

I hid the food then pulled off my over shirt before laying it over me as a blanket while I used my hands as the pillow. I never knew what the luxury was of a bed, seeing as I had been in this encampment since the day I was born. The elders always told me stories about what a house was, and what a bed was plus types of food. I was always fascinated by their stories of this wonderful world outside the cage, but it was a world I was never able to see. I was classified as one of those prisoners that could never be sold to someone, being claimed that I was just a troublemaker and nothing more.

†Break†

I got up earlier than normal, wanting to get most of the work done before the bidders came. Why did I want to do this? So I had less work to do when we lost more people in our sector. I cleaned all the huts out and washed them down before the start of sunrise. That was my cue to start the land work, which was only nice to do when there was light in the area. I watered down the crops then went on to get tools to work on the farm and put in more seeds.

I walked over to the tools that I brought out from the storage hut and looked over them, pulling out what I would need for the next few hours. In the distance I could hear the guards changing shifts and calling out for the prisoners to wake up. This was when they were given bread to eat for the whole day. For me, this was where the guards would come looking for me to see if I was working. As if on cue, a guard came around the corner, spotting me as I pulled out another tool from the barrel and walked over to the farm, with seeds in hand. He watched me the entire time I worked on the farm to make sure I didn't steal any food. I finished quickly, grabbing the tools and putting them back into the barrel before lifting it up to go to my next area of work. When I left the farm plot, the guard went back to his duty to check on the other prisoners.

I placed the tools on the ground as I sat down, trying to think of how I could do the heavy lifting of rocks. I had to move them from this area, and take them to the melting chamber where they would use the rocks to create several things out of them. "013." I looked up to see Neji and Hinata standing behind the barrel, looking down at me. I stood up, facing them. "The bidders are here… meaning it is time for us to go." I nodded, walking up to them. "Sadly… our father doesn't see fit to purchase you in order to get you out…" Neji said, causing Hinata to look away as a tear fell from her eyes. "It's fine guys! I'm used to this kind of living…" I stared at the broken look in their eyes.

"Try and end the war on the outside… I will try my best to live until this war is over, so I can be free." I said, smiling at them. I was surprised to feel Neji's arms around me, as he hugged me. Hinata gave me a huge hug too before they went to the gate to board the bus. I sat back down, deciding I had to figure out a way to get the rocks moved, rather than sit here thinking about how I would miss Neji and Hinata.

I had thought of using the wheel barrel to move the rocks from here to the melting chamber, but then my mind wondered if that would get me into trouble. I knew I should have asked the original person that did the rock transferring how they would do it… I don't believe the elders would know what to do, would they? I mean, they worked on the simple stuff in the camp which was testing the boots to see their durability and then picking the food from the farm.

"Hn…?" I jumped at hearing a voice from behind me, causing fear to fill my body. If a guard had just caught me doing nothing, I was going to get 100 lashes! I turned around only to see a boy that was roughly around my age. He had deep onyx eyes that would stare right into your soul. His hair matched his eyes, though his hair was a duller tint than his eyes. His hair was spiked up like one of the animals that ran around this area; I think they called it a duck… which would make this guys hair appear like a duck's butt.

I stared at his outfit. The fact that he wasn't clad in the worn out clothes like the prisoners, and wasn't wearing a uniform like the guards, told me that he was one of the bidders. He seemed to be eyeing me with curiosity, making me feel very uncomfortable about the situation. "Are you supposed to be over here?" He asked as he began walking closer to me. Out of fear, I backed away, nearly tripping over the working tools that I had pulled out. I caught myself then noticed that he had stopped walking, but only stared right at me.

"Uchiha Sasuke." He said. I stared at him, unsure of what was going on. He probably realized this since I wasn't hiding the confusion that was plastered all over my face. "I am Uchiha Sasuke, what is your name?" He asked. I glanced up and down on him, checking to see if he had any weapons. "013." I responded, unsure if I was being tested or something about my responses or my manners or something.

The raven stared at me in silence then sighed, glancing around the area as if looking for something. His gaze landed back on me before he reached into his jacket and pulled something out. I stumbled back in fear that it was one of those guns the guards used on disobedient prisoners. "Do you know what this is?" He asked, holding out something that was wrapped in something silver. I instantly shook my head, which caused him to frown.

"They call this 'chocolate'." He said, peeling the silver back to reveal this brown colored thing. "It's a sweet, or candy. Here, take one." He broke a piece off and held it out to me. I quickly shook my head. "I-I can't…" I whispered, backing away. Against my better luck, a guard happened to come around the corner. The situation looked as though I was begging the man for food and neglected my work. "013!" The guard shouted, pulling out his gun as he held it towards me. "Why aren't you working and why the hell are you forcing food out of the bidders? You little…" I gulped as I felt the barrel of the gun. I was scared to death.

"Sasuke! What happened?" I heard a worried voice from beyond Sasuke. "This little brat tried to bribe food out of your son, ma`am." The guard said as he cocked the gun. I closed my eyes as I waited for the pain to come.

"I want 013."

-AN-

I hate having to build up a story before it gets to the good part… but, alas, it must be done.

I know people will wonder why I chose '013' as the number… well… there is a few reasons for this actually… two reasons you actually learn IN the story. I am willing to at least state this: 13 is considered an 'unlucky number'… it's also my favorite number, but that wasn't why I chose it haha! I should let you guys amuse me with trying to guess why the number '013' was given to FemNaru. If you can guess one of the… finger counting here… 3 or 4 reasons why Naruto's number is 013, I will reward you with… I don't know, a drawing… a story? I shrug to this since I am not sure what people would want. This is only if people want to give guessing a shot for my humor. (I love to interact with my readers and give them options.)

A heads up to my new readers: you might see the same information from the above author note and this note (this bold that will be under the normal font) on each chapter. Why? You see, I have experienced many people who can't seem to read disclaimers in the first chapter. I feel bad for those that do pay attention, because they are stuck going through my AN before reaching my story because of those people who don't read. To me, it is annoying pasting the same stuff every chapter before editing it to be up-to-date.

Warning: If a story contains 'bashing' of characters, it is naturally a short term incident. A character isn't friends with everyone right away, they have to befriend the people on their own, and in some cases, this never happens. [Characters you might see being 'bashed' are naturally Sakura or Karin. If you like these characters, please know that the character's attitudes do change, but not instantly. Just like life, you have to earn one's trust.]

I hope people will enjoy this story since many have wanted it for a while now. THIS STORY WILL BE ABBREVIATED TO 'C'.

I have created accounts on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook for you guys to follow me so that there isn't as much confusion on when chapters will be posted or information like that. You do not have to ask for permission to add me, as long as you aren't a troll or something like that.

My username for Tumblr and Twitter are also DaemonDeDevil but for ease, I have the links to my accounts for those sites in my profile at the top.

That is all.

-Ja ne