In the dark corners of the Interrogation and torture foundation was a man, silent as the midnight light that reflected against the walls and shone upon his sweaty and cut forehead.
The cell they had thrown him in had little to no light, he struggled to keep track of the days he'd been kept in the wet cement cell.
The bars were specially made to retract chakra to the level of death if attempted usage. They even went so far as to cover the walls in it.
Ikoro felt scared, for the first time in a long time, he felt terrified.
They had taken his clothes as it was becoming a hassle by being in the way when they tortured him. He lay naked in his cell, cradling his knees in an attempt for warmth but no matter what he tried, nothing had helped with the hyperthermia he was experiencing especially in his fingers. His nails had started chipping at first, then one after the other had simply..fallen off.
Ikoro's mind was too far into his insanity to see a reason for his actions as he tried replacing his nails back onto his fingers.
The man laughed, a truly hysterical cackle.
Ibiki Morino stood on the other side of Ikoro's cell, watching him with cold and calculating eyes.
Death was said to be this man's best friend, civilians and shinobi alike feared the special jounin for his skills and intelligence. The scars marking his face didn't help much either.
As he stared into the dark pits of cell 203, he wondered why this man would hold his tongue after he experienced so many inhuman acts.
The male had little to no chakra in general yet his skin was as hard as a rock. He knew about the Uchiha massacre and Itachi Uchiha along with the hatred held for the jinjuuriki boy.
Just where did he obtain this information?
Ibiki grumbled under his breath, clearly annoyed by the strong willpower of the man before him, who was crawling back and forth by the rear wall, watching Ibiki with sharp crazed eyes.
"Hm. If you won't talk, then I'll cut out your tongue" ibiki sadistically threatened, halting the man in his pace for a second before the man sprang to the bars, attempting to grab the higher up who just took a step back as Anbu restricted him.
Ibiki smirked as dark thoughts filled his mind.
Meanwhile.
"Ahhhh! That hit the spot!" Naruto bellowed as he finished off his ninth bowl of miso ramen.
"You know this is probably why you haven't had a growth spurt To" came from his right. The blonde peered over at his pink haired teammate in confusion, scratching his head.
"Eh? Spurt? What's that?" He questioned dumbly, causing Sakura to facepalm herself.
"She means, it's why you're shorter than the two of us, dobe" came from his left.
Naruto swirled around to glare at his raven-haired teammate.
"I'm not shorter than you, Teme!" Naruto growled at Sasuke who just smirked in response.
Naruto grew irritated since he knew Sasuke knew he knew that he was right.
"Whatever..." The blonde grumbled and turned back to pay for his ramen, smiling at the owner and saying his thanks before walking out.
Sasuke and Sakura followed the boy, wondering what had him so worked up.
"Hn, spit it out already." Sasuke said, shoving his hands into his white pant pockets and looking at the clouds.
Naruto glanced at him and frowned before looking back to his feet as they walked.
Sakura, who had been paying attention to her book finally closed it to pay attention to Naruto.
"What's wrong Baka?" She asked in a calm friendly tone. No longer did she only call him Baka in anger but also in kindness, which confused Naruto a fair amount.
The boy in question sighed and rubbed the back of his unbrushed hair.
"It's just... It's been a week since that incident with Ikoro-"
"Why do you care what happens to him? We've been over this before. He deserves whatever comes to him" Sasuke muttered harshly, glaring with cold eyes at Naruto. The boy was far too compassionate for his liking.
Naruto furrowed his brows at the ground, choosing to stay silent at the harsh comment.
Sakura sighed and ran her fingers through her long pink hair 'I really need to cut this sometime' she thought to herself.
"To. The man knew about the Uchiha, something a person without a village shouldn't know, besides his skin was as hard as a rock. How did he attain that kind of power?" Sakura tried to explain from a logical sense, even though she didn't understand it all that well either.
'Sure he knew about the Uchiha and the hatred toward me but who doesn't. People gossip. We didn't really give him a chance to explain himself'' The blonde thought grimly.
Sakura sighed in defeat as the blonde continued his pondering silence.
"Hn" Sasuke glared one last second before turning his head back to the clouds whilst Sakura grabbed her book and began again where she left off.
The two decided to leave the boy to his thoughts and when he wants to talk about it, he will and they will be there.
The team had walked to the outskirts of the village, the goal for today was to find a new training ground, someplace no one else would go. It seemed they hadn't had much luck.
Naruto grew frustrated, wanting to find a perfect training spot yet nothing seemed to go right for him lately.
He chucked a kunai through the thorny green bushes to his right and stopped mid step.
The kunai had opened a way to an old hardly used path, which seemed to lead to a dirty rundown shack just a few yards away.
"Oi! Ke, Ra! Come look at this" Naruto called and waved them over.
The two crouched instantly next to Naruto as soon as spotting the broken place.
"Come on!" Naruto whisper yelled and ran forward, careful to tread lightly and silently.
His teammates had tried desperately catching him but to no avail. They decided to cover him instead.
The blonde ran his hand down the side of the barely hanging door.
The place seemed to have been abandoned for quite some time. Moss and spider webs littered the place, the wood was more moss than actual wood.
Rats and insects could be heard, seen and felt. Sakura gave a small yelp and flicked off the cockroach climbing on her forearm.
Naruto snickered before receiving a firm smack on the head.
Rubbing his head and glaring at Sakura, Sasuke took it upon himself to activate his Sharingan.
He looked around and found slight after masses of chakra filling the air. Quite strange as it looked like no one had been here for more than a decade.
"Hn. To, Ra." He waved over. Sensing a hatch of some kind below a dirt-filled carpet.
The trio glanced to one another and with the help of all their strength, lifted the heavy rug away.
A hatch made of steel was what welcomed them.
Naruto placed a hand on it and pulled.
"Tch!" He grunted and fell backward with an oomph'.
Sasuke rolled his eyes and gestured for all of them to try.
The three pulled as hard as they could before the thing burst open.
They all fell on their backsides and groaned.
Sakura crawled to the entrance and looked down, a long steel ladder welcomed her into the pits of darkness. She gulped.
"Don't worry Ra, we've got each other's back" Naruto confidently stated
The trio climbed down the ladder with Naruto going first.
Three dark concrete corridors awaited them at the bottom.
"Hehe... So about having each other's back..." Naruto sheepishly said.
Sakura looked at him, confused at first before she half glared at the boy and sighed.
"Fine. I'll take the left" she grudgingly announced.
"I'll take the right" Sasuke professionally said with a guarded tone.
Naruto smirked "that leaves the middle for me, be careful guys and meet back here in ten minutes" He ordered cheerfully before slipping down the possible path of doom.
Sasuke and Sakura sighed with defeat at the boy's energy before giving a nod to each other and separating.
The blonde had come to a standstill as he looked down the long hallway with multiple doors on each side.
"Eenie Meenie Miney mo which door contains a mummy foe" he sang before opening a random door to his left.
He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him.
A cell stood before him, though more orientated as a cage.
Inside was none other than Ikoro. Naruto hardly recognized the man as it seemed he'd been beaten so badly.
Ikoro stared up at Naruto from his crouched position, hugging his knees to his chest for some type of comfort and security.
Naruto moved closer to the man. His eyes watered at the smell of the place. The blonde could see fecal matter on the other side.
He grimaced at the place, the Hokage had lied to him, he was told by Jiji himself that Ikoro would be questioned and let go.
He was clearly not let go.
"Ikoro.." Naruto muttered as he dropped to his knees In front of the heavy breathing man.
"N-Nar..uto?" He stuttered back, his voice cracking with a simple word.
"Why are you still here? I thought they let you go..." The blonde angrily stated as he glared into the darkness.
Ikoro huffed out a chuckle "y-you're... a good..kid, Naru..to" he replied, his voice low and rough as he leaned back into his cage.
The blonde was about to speak when he heard a noise come from down the hall.
He looked at Ikoro with apologetic eyes, said man simply waved him off and gave a toothless smile.
The boy ran out as silently as possible and made his way back to the starting point only to run head-on into Sasuke and Sakura.
"We have to go! I heard footsteps" Naruto hastily said before climbing up the ladder.
Sasuke and Sakura swiftly followed the boy and as soon as the three were at the top, they closed the hatch and ran.
Soon after arriving at training ground 43, puffing and heaving, Sasuke looked at Naruto.
"That place...It's a prison so to speak. Where the Anbu take people for interrogation. I found some documents." He explained, furrowing his brow.
Sakura remained silent. Her teammate's eyes turned to her when she didn't say anything when she'd usually give her opinion.
"I-I... I found a sort of room... Full of..equipment... So to speak" she fumbled, her face flustered and her eyebrows furrowed in deep sad concentration. As if what she saw truly disturbed her.
"I think... I found a torture room" she bit out, anger lacing her voice.
"Well, that is normal for an interrogation and torture foundation" Sasuke grumbled with a silent but heated sigh.
Sakura glared at the boy before noticing an uncomfortable silence.
She turned to the source "Naruto?"
After a few seconds of more silence, the boy shook his head at the ground.
"I....I found Ikoro" Naruto mumbled as he slid down to his knees.
"What?!" Sakura yelled.
Sasuke and Sakura were bug-eyed as they waited for Naruto to say something.
"Tch. The Hokage lied. They've kept him locked up in some cage...like an animal!... He was beaten so bad... And for what? Information that everyone already knew!" Naruto roared, his fists clenching against the ground, he punched the dirt once before small drops of tears started falling from his eyes.
Sakura watched in silence, too shocked for words as she knelt next to Naruto. Sasuke closed his eyes before walking over to his teammate and placing a firm hand on his shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.
Naruto sniffed and nodded his head indicating he's okay.
"Come on... We gotta get going, Kakashi-sensei is probably waiting for us" Naruto mumbled and cleaned his face before standing up tall and taking the lead, Sasuke and Sakura following the blonde.
After a painfully long silence, the team arrived at the Hokage's office.
The old man himself sat behind a long dome-shaped wooden desk, enough space for Iruka Sensei and a few helpers as they sorted through the missions for today.
Kakashi was already in the room, waiting for his team as he read his uncovered icha icha. Unlike Sakura, he felt no need to hide it anymore as everyone knew what a pervert he was.
Sakura glowered at her sensei, an angry vein throbbing against her forehead.
He noticed the sharp atmosphere around her and gave the girl his famous Hatake smile.
This didn't seem to help his situation but he pocketed his book, either way, easing the tension slightly.
"Well it seems team 7 has been doing excellent lately" the old man Hokage said warmly with a smile on his face.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man, wanting nothing more than to go off at him. Sasuke noticed his tense posture and jabbed him in the stomach with his elbow.
Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other, having a silent conversation through their eyes.
"I've decided to give you a C rank mission" the Hokage announced.
This caught the attention of all three genin, as Sakura was reading her book.
"So you're trusting us again?" Sasuke questioned, his eyes holding suspicion.
"You were never not trusted. You'll be escorting a bridge builder to the land of waves" he said, smoking on his pipe.
Just as the news was announced, the door behind team 7 slid open, revealing a tall sturdy looking man. His glasses slope-sided and his eyes almost crisscrossed. His clothing were second hand and tattered. In his rough-skinned hand was a bottle of sake.
The genin cringed slightly at the smell of alcohol.
"I am Tazuna, the Bridge Builder" the man stated in an awkwardly straight posture.