Six Years Too Long

Chapter 13

Third person pov

Naruto isn't sure if it's a dream or nightmare. It doesn't seem like either, actually. It's dark, and wet, but he's not particularly scared per se. That's not to say he wants to be here or anything. The only thing he knows for sure is that he definitely remembers falling asleep, and that this place reeks. Naruto definitely wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a place to dream in. Or nightmare in? Again, he's not super sure where the line is between the two or if he's crossed it yet.

Naruto looked down at his feet. He was submerged in water up to his ankles, which was just a little nasty. Who knew what was in this stuff. It was murky enough to tell him it was nothing good. He glanced around, rooted in his spot. The whole area was all just an endless stretch of black that seemed to go on forever. The gross water did too, stagnantly flat and just as never-ending as the rest of this rancid little venue was. If Naruto could ask for one thing and one thing only, it would be a one way ticket out of here. Or maybe a coupon that would get him free ramen for life from Ichiraku's. Hard decision. 

There was a clang somewhere behind him, and his heart jumped, his body moving before his mind could catch up to what was happening. He whirled around with wide eyes that only stretched wider when he saw the hulking structure before him. Steel bars taller than any tree's he'd ever seen dwarfed him with their sheer size, thicker than the trunk of even the biggest tree and sturdier than Pakkun during a staring contest. It was by far the most massive thing he'd ever seen in his short six years of life. His jaw dropped at the sight of the metal box. He registered, vaguely, that this was undoubtedly a cage. He was looking at a very large cage.

A very large cage with something just as large inside.

"Oh my god." Naruto breathed, watching as a pair of red eyes flew open from within the darkness, seeming almost to glow as they zeroed in on him. The blonde's shoulders hitched up, and he thrust a finger at the thing accusingly. "You're the reason the water is so nasty!" 

"What the hell?" The thing grumbled back with clear irritation. The voice was so deep and so loud that it shook the water, sending ripples that splashed lightly against Naruto's legs and made him shiver. Gross, gross, gross! So this was all just toilet water?! That cage didn't look big enough to have an adjoining bathroom! Not one big enough for whoever was in there, anyway. 

Those eyes were totally massive, so it had to be some like-- really big dog or something. Yeah! Yeah, yeah, no, this made total sense! It was a giant ninken, since ninken could talk and were animals! Though he'd never seen a dog with red eyes before. That was kind of cool. But why was he trapped? And why was he so big to begin with? Wait, he'd read a book about this once. About that one red dog that grew until it was bigger than a house. He hadn't realized that was based on a true story, but he's also six, so there's a lot he doesn't know.

"I mean, there's no bathroom in there, right? So you've just had to go!" Naruto explained, voice raising a bit as he gestured at the water. "That's why it smells so bad! Man, this really sucks!"

"You brat, I don't need to-- wait, how're you even in here?" The thing leaned closer and holy shit, it was orange. Was it the red dog's descendant? Because if you dulled down red it turned orange. That was Naruto's favorite color! "You're my foolish little vessel. You're far too puny to be in here."

"Vessel?" Naruto squinted. He frowned at the dog. This was a really confusing dream. He wondered if it meant something. Sakura-chan said that seeing things in your dreams symbolized stuff sometimes. Like how pickles can signify anxiety or something. What do big orange dogs in cages mean? "Are you calling me a pirate ship?"