A Subtle Shift

13| Mystery Man

They definitely underestimated how strong their chains were, and Naruto only realized this after finding out that breaking free was virtually impossible. And as if to confirm that thought, Sasuke gave up on his tug-of-war with his binds. Isamu didn't even bother with the struggle, and instead started thinking up a more logical way out. They were all still stuck in that cave, and not a single soul had come to check up on them, which meant one of two things: they were confident Naruto and the others wouldn't actually put up much of a fight, or they were just idiots.

Naruto kicked at the anchor chaining him down. No word about the twins, his mind buzzed. It always found a way to circle back to them, and then circle back to how it was Naruto's fault. He was building up quite the self-resentment for himself. His arms and legs still felt numb, and his head felt dizzy from being deprived of his own chakra.

"You should rest," Kurama advised with a low grumble of the throat.

"Rest, huh?" Naruto voiced out loud with a laugh that had no humor in it. Both Sasuke and Isamu lifted their heads at his seemingly out-of-the-blue remark. "Like we have the time for that, Kurama." And then they understood and went back to thinking with a hard look.

"Maybe not, but working your ass off in a state of weakness won't do any good at all. Better to use your time trying to get your strength back."

He was right, and Naruto wasn't dumb enough to ignore Kurama. He collapsed to the floor with a frustrated grunt and let his shackles clash against the rocky cave floor. The torch shoved into the nook of the wall still flickered and licked hungrily at the air, but it was clearly going to die out soon. Its food source was running low.

Finally, Isamu spoke, opening his eyes after deep contemplation. "Naruto, I'm not entirely sure how your relationship works with Kurama," he began uneasily. Naruto perked his ears at the mention. "But... without any chakra, could you swap with him?" Sasuke scoffed at this, as if he found the idea foolish, but Naruto had thought about it already.

"Even if I did, Kurama's true form would destroy this entire cave," he said, flicking a pebble with his index figure. "And who knows how many other people are down here? Maybe the twins are. Maybe Yuto is."

Sasuke added, "And we'd get crushed."

Isamu shook his head. "Not if Naruto shields us from falling debris."

"You have a lot of faith in a guy you just met."

"He's family. What can I say?"

"My brother was family when he decided to wipe out my clan." Isamu pursed his lips and looked away. And that stopped that conversation. Naruto looked off to the side.

"I don't doubt Kurama can protect you two," he mumbled. "In fact, I'm certain he can, but we need some confirmation we're the only ones down here."

Isamu shrugged. "We haven't been visited in a day," he pointed out even though that wasn't solid proof. "So there's that."

And then Naruto began thinking harder. Slowly, he asked, "Kurama... what are the odds that we can swap... but you only go to your fourth form, so I'd still be in control and we wouldn't risk getting caved in?"

"You can do that?" Isamu asked, eyes widening.

Naruto shrugged. "Let's see." After a moment of silence (long enough that Naruto thought he simply didn't hear him), Kurama finally lazily replied.

"Probably, but the sedative used on you suppressed some of my chakra, too."

Which is good because then there's no way you can accidentally transform into true form.