Tender Sea

Chapter 1

October 10th - 5th anniversary of Kyuubi no Yoko's defeat... Naruto aged 5.

"Is it really ok for me to have this?" A young girl with two blonde pigtails asked. In her hands was a candied apple which shone a sparkling red in the festival lights. She held ittentatively in front of her, eyeing it warily yet hungrily.

"Of course!" The giver responded. He was just an average villager whose stall she had come across. The blonde had been caught staring at his wares so of course he offered asweet treat to the small child. "Go ahead, I promise you it's delicious." He smiled but she felt something wrong. Naru quickly shook her head, shaking out the suspicious thoughts.

He's was kind enough to give it to me so I shouldn't be rude.She thought to herself, plus this looks really delicious! She sniffed the apple, smelling nothing but the saccharide,sugary sweetness that covered it, and took a bite. The candy melted in her mouth and the apple within was still fresh and crunchy. Still, she couldn't understand why it felt sowrong.

"It's delicious." She complimented making the man smile.

"Good, why don't you eat more? If you finish it I'll give you another." The girl wolfed down the first apple, not noticing as the festival goers seemed to stop what they were doingto watch. "Here." The vendor handed her another apple which finished just as fast.

"Thanks Ojisan!" Naru chirped, "But why are you giving me all of these?" She asked as he handed her a third apple.

"Honestly? I just wanted to see how many you could eat..." His response confused her as much as the sneer afterwards unsettled her. All of a sudden the young girl was veryaware of the gazes staring her down as a strange buzzing filled her head. She dropped the half-eaten candied apple in her hands as she felt the energy leave her body, forcing herto kneel as her limbs soon became too weak to hold her up. From the corner of her vision she saw a black blur dash out but it was hard to distinguish who it was as her eyesrefused to focus.

"What did you do to her?" A dog masked Anbu growled out, choking the man as he roughly grabbed his neck and held him up in the air.

"I-I didn't do shit!" The vendor managed to spit out, "The demon brat ate it of its own free will!" The Anbu cursed under his breath and flung the man to the side, sending himthrough the weak, wooden walls of his own stall.

"Tenzo, escort him to Ibiki and the alert Hokage-sama, I'll take Naru to the hospital." A second Anbu jumped down from the roof and threw the now unconscious perpetrator overhis shoulder. Tenzo gave a small nod of acknowledgment to his leader before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The remaining Anbu scanned the area with disgust, concealed bythe Konoha standardized mask. "What the hell are you all looking at?" He barked at the watching crowd, "Disperse." The civilians were quick to follows his order, scrambling to get away before they also garnered a session with the famed torturer.

"Inu?" Naru asked weakly as the Anbu came to crouch beside her.

"Don't you remember what Hokage-sama always tells you? You should never take candy from a stranger, you silly child." He hid his worry under exasperation.

"Sorry...I for-got." Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and it was hard to talk. Her senses dulled and she could no longer see anything but a haze nor hear anything except for a strange buzz. The only thing she didn't expect was the excruciating pain that came after the frightening numbing.

"Naru...Naru!" She stopped responding and her eyes glazed over before she let out an agonizing scream.

Mindscape

...drip...drip...drip

"Urhg?" The girl groaned and waited for her senses to return. The air smelt of stagnant water, and she was lying in some sort of cool liquid. A constant dripping echoed around the area and as her blue eyes began to refocus she was greeted with darkness. "...Where am I?" She pushed herself up and out of what she hoped was water before pressing forward in the direction of a red glow. The closer she got the more the red light bathed her surroundings, revealing the sides of the tunnel she seemed to be in. Her eyes fixed onto an opening in front of her and her pace quickened slightly only to falter as she reached a dead end marked by large jail-like bars. There were big enough for her to easily fit through the gap but whatever was behind it gave off a foreboding feeling. She turned her body back the way she came only to see her only exit sealed off by a wall, as if it had never existed. "No way," She dashed back to feel for any cracks or openings, "But it was just there! I don't like it here! Let me out dammit!" the girl pounded her small fist against the wall futilely.