Naruto: The Seraph Project

Chapter 40: A Race Against Time

After marking with a brush the place that Naruto had pointed with his fingertip, Shikamaru—without saying a single word—had harshly grabbed the map which he had then roughly rolled. He had hurriedly put on his sandals before starting his mad dash through the village, jumping from roof to roof; he was in such a hurry that he had not greeted his guests when he left. The pace of his bruised heart accompanied the unleashed one of his steps.

Since the tragedy, he finally had a real lead to find answers to this mystery at first sight impossible to solve. Although Shikamaru was certain that he would unearth something one day, with this lack of clues as tenacious as his desire to get carried away by the wandering clouds free from all social shackles, it was difficult for him to keep hope.

At last, he had an answer, and like the Copy Ninja, he was convinced that this was where Naruto had been sequestered after his abduction, during that disastrous night when he himself had almost suffered the same fate. His blood boiled in his veins to see his brother in arms amnesiac and completely unrecognizable. Naruto was in the grip of perpetual suffering, pouring torrents of tears from which he chased away by self-harm. Not to mention the catastrophic damage to his brain which made him feral to the point of considering himself like an animal, even a mere beast...

Those people, whoever they were, had destroyed a happy young man. A boy who had overcome his childhood pains caused by exclusion, loneliness and an absent family and now, he had to get out of new and more devastating nightmares than those of yesteryear. The traumas would probably mark his soul forever; an indelible scar that would haunt him until the end of time.

The Naruto that Shikamaru was secretly jealous of was engulfed in darkness engendered by unimaginable evils. To face this hell so as not to sink into madness and mental distress, Naruto was embracing his amnesia with his arms wide open. Thus, he fiercely protected himself from what Shikamaru forbade himself to conceive. If the blond had known nothing but despair and pain between these torture-creating walls of all kinds, in this place of diabolical machinery, it was only logical that he would cling so fiercely to the first source of comfort, as if his life depended on it. Kakashi was hiding things, but for his broken friend's sake, he didn't insist on knowing nor would he seek to. To protect Naruto, Shikamaru agreed to keep to himself his doubts about the secretiveness of the man with heterochromic irises.

In no time, Shikamaru finally arrived at the Hokage's residence and without further ado, he rushed through the halls to reach Tsunade's office. Panting, the latter did not knock and violently opened the door.

"Lord Hokage!" Shikamaru shouted between two breaths.

The brutal entry of the teenager pulled Godaime from her work; at this, Tonton, who was sleeping peacefully on her lap, jumped. Immediately, seeing the distraught state of the young shinobi, Tsunade frowned and put on her usual stern look.

"What's the matter?" she asked, clasping her hands.

Shikamaru needed a few seconds to regain control of his breath unsettled by his abrupt effort and the shaking discovery that Naruto had sown when he had revealed the location of this non-existent place.

"We know where Naruto was held captive," he announced with conviction.

Tsunade's eyes widened at these unlikely words; a cold sweat beaded on her forehead as she felt her heart pinch in her chest. She was fully aware of the non-existent progress of the case leading to nothing but frustrating dead ends. According to reports the day ago, there was no harbinger of such news. This put her in shock. So much so that her brain refused to believe it, she silently froze in place for a breath.

"H-How?!" stammered Godaime.

Shikamaru spread the map in front of the Hokage's eyes and heavily placed a finger on the fresh mark, causing a thud. He was so shaken by this discovery that his hands had not stopped shaking.