Scrying with Blood

Hidden in Blood

Last Time:

"I-I heard that it was your birthday so I wanted to tell you Happy Birthday!" She smiled ... she wanted so much to cry or run away. but she knew that she couldn't ... she has to play along until she found a place where she would be safe ...

XXXXXXXXXX

"I think I'm in the right place." pondered Naruko as she came to a building. "This is where I saw kids playing before so this might be the school. Of course, Jiji- ... the hokage didn't tell me." She corrected herself sadly. It was still hard to believe everything that happened the night before, but some things started making sense to her like how Hiruzen always may have dried her off with a towel, but never gave her new clothes or how help would always arrive after a mob has beaten her even though she was clearly always at risk. Also, they never cared enough to even give her a bodyguard ...

"Well I know now so I just need to be careful ... that's the classroom. I'm glad I came early." Naruko smiled as she took a seat in the far back next to a window in the empty classroom. She watched each person as they entered the room with a skeptical eye ... who can she trust? Naruko decided to play along with everyone and not trust until she tried to get in contact with their blood.

Every kid was clueless that she was even there as they all took their seats. They all just chatted happily to each other as Naruko zoned off while looking out the window ...

Two people came into the room and one tried speaking to all the students, "My name is Irika-" A tick mark appeared on Iruka's temple as all the students continued ignoring him "ALL YOU BRATS BE QUIET!" yelled Iruka with a massive head demon appearance to his head. When all the students fell silent with fear his head changed back to normal.

The man next to Iruka chuckled, "You have to teach me that." Naruko was also startled out of her daydreams and quickly turned to the front of the class, but the sight of the two men scared her. The two teachers were the ones who abandoned her in the forest the night before!

Iuka shrugged, "Sure, but now that I have everyone's attention let's start class. As I was saying I am Iruka and my friend here is Mizuki. We will be the teachers for your class, but first let's do role call ... Sakura Haruno," Iruka saw a pink haired girl raise her hand and checked the name off the list in his hand. "Sasuke Uchiha," a black haired kid raised his hand. "Hinata Hyuga," a blue haired girl with opal eyes raised her hand. "Nar... Naruko Uzumaki."

"H-here." Naruko raised her hand as she tried to smile and play along, but she could feel the anger Iruka was trying to hide through the tone in his voice. If she wasn't aware of what people were trying to do then she knew she would've missed the little things.

The pissed off glance Mizuki and Iruka shared ... the subtle glances between the other students as they found their target. It scared the little blonde.

"Great ..." Iruka visibly clenched his teeth, but then continued the roll call. Naruko smiled hoping she would learn some things that would be helpful, but then she saw a paper airplane float through the air out of nowhere and hit Iruka on the head. The instructors looked right at Naruko.

Mizuki glared, "I saw that de-Naruko, get out of this class at once! Go now!" Naruko didn't even bother arguing as she sadly left the room with all the other kids snickering at her. She wanted to just stand in the hallway, but with the other teachers and staff glaring at her she decided it wasn't safe and went outside ...

"Filthy Demon!" Someone yelled at her before she even got out of the school and she fell as something collided with her head. The sight of a blood coated rock and the sound of the adults laughing made the eight year old break into a run. After running blindly for a few minutes she finally stopped and looked at where she was. Naruko somehow found herself in front of a small mostly hidden cave in the middle of a forest. She was about to turn back when she heard the voices of the villages coming.

"Where did the demon go?" screamed a woman.

"Yeah, I want to make it scream again. She has to be close, the teachers said she ran this way!" The screams came closer.

The bloodthirsty cries forced Naruko to hide in the only place available ... a cave. The slippery moss made in difficult for her to climb up the few rocks that lead to the cave, but she managed to make to the small opening of the cave. The creepy darkness in the cave made the girl pause, but the voices coming closer were far more frightening than what may or may not be hidden in the darkness ...

It took a little wiggling, but she squeezed through the narrow opening and popped into the cave where she huddled against the cave wall. The villagers were right outside, crushing the dirt beneath their feet and shouting angrily as they looked for their victim of choice. Naruko bit her lip to stop herself from making any sound as someone brushed passed the very spot she was hidden.

After what seemed like forever, but she finally heard the voices die down. When she was sure that they were gone she peeked outside and to her horror they were still there just staying hidden and quiet. She couldn't leave, but she couldn't stay at the edge of the cave either. Moving farther into the cave was her only option so she slowly backed away from the entrance ...

(Yay! I can see that the tunnel gets wider up ahead.) Naruko thought happily as she pushed forward. She got a little wedged in the last part of the tunnel, but one good push got her unstuck and sent her sprawling to the ground. She got to her feet and stared in awe at the sight before her eyes ...

There was a huge cavern with hundreds of sharp spikes hanging from the ceiling that was made of the same warm tan stone that made up the rest of the cave. In the middle of the cavern was a natural stone column that had a butterscotch color to it. Naruko saw steam coming from another tunnel and went to see what it was. She stuck her head in the other room and saw a smaller room with a pool of steaming water.

It was a hot spring! Naruko excitedly ran to the edge while tossing off her ragged shoes and dipped her sore bistered feet in the hot water. A content sigh escaped her lips as she let her body rest, but what should she do now?

"How can I get stronger if they won't teach me?" She pondered quietly, but then frantically clapped her hands over her mouth and waited to see if anyone heard her ... no voices or villagers could be heard rampaging through the caves and now that she thought about it they probably couldn't get through the narrow tunnel so she was safe.

Naruko sighed in relief and laid back on the cave floor with her feet still soaking in the hot water. "How do I learn what I need?" She felt something dribble down her temple and touched it. The red smeared on her hands made her eyes widen. "Of course! My power can help- ... no it can't ... I can't go around asking for blood or poking people with sharp things. It was only luck I got blood from the hokage ... I can't just wait for each person to get a cut ... I need help."

Tears streamed down her face as she realized she can't do this by herself, but she had no one to help. The tears hit the floor of the cave and mixed with the droplets of her blood. She gasped as she saw the cave light up in an eerie red color from a glow under her where she saw the red glowing circle again. It was just spinning under her until red vapors started floating up into the air. The droplets of her blood were being dissolved in crimson smoke.

Naruko saw the red circle vanish, but the vapors did not ...

The red tendrils of smoke split into three groups and took the vague ghostly image of a skull and two skeletal hands. The skull and hands weren't only bones. There was the appearance of flesh still clinging to the bones so it was closer to the ghostly red image of a mostly rotted head and hands of a corpse than a clean skeleton.

Most people would be terrified, but Naruko simply stared into the empty sockets of the red wraith, "Help me."

The crimson wraith nodded ... first it quickly found a different exit out of the caves and then to the blood of the people of Konoha. After all, there is so much their blood needs to reveal ...