Chapter 34: Webs Of Sorrow

'Damn it, Nia...' Iruka thought as he layed to the ground unable to move, 'That genjutsu is one annoying attack! How long am I gonna be stuck this way? It's been passed three minutes.'

The jounin thought of what happened just minutes before.

~FLASHBACK~

"I see..." The man finally replied, "But why? Besides me, why is Naruto the only one you care about from our village?"

"If you wanna get technical: You, Naruto, and Jiraiya-sensei are the only ones I care about who are from the Hidden Leaf." Nia corrected, "But I know what you mean so, here's my answer-"

Iruka waited for an answer as they stood on the same tree branch.

Nia gazed at the horizon and answered, "He sorta just... accepted me I guess...,"

"Accepted?" Iruka repeated.

Nia ignored that question, instead she said, "He's one of the kindest boys, no, kindest people I've ever met so far. He's even saved me a few times. Whether it was physically or even just emotionally. I feel... a bit more relaxed when he's by me at times."

Iruka raised an eyebrow.

Nia smiled then said, "He told me that I can do anything if I can just stop being so cynical and that he'll be there for me when I need him like he is with his other friends."

She then quickly hopped to the branch ahead of the two and turned to her cousin, "So..."

Next the girl jumped slightly up and threw her leg down and sliced the branch Iruka stood on. Because he was completely caught off guard, he fell to the ground and next thing he knew, Nia had used her genjutsu to freeze him up.

The kunoichi landed to the ground as Iruka struggled to look up at her.

"I'm going to follow where Naruto went instead of where that guy who threatened my life and that other stranger you wanted me to follow so badly went." The girl finished her sentence.

"Nia..." Iruka managed to get out, "W-What happened while you were at the Cloud? Y-You're not the same girl I said goodbye to the day you left the Leaf anymore. S-Something happened to you while y-you were there, huh? Something more than what you told me..."

Finally Iruka managed to look the girl in the eyes though he struggled greatly to do so as the genjutsu was quite more affective than he remembered it being.

'Those eyes...' He examined the glare from his younger relative, 'T-They're... They look so bitter.'

Turning her back to him, Nia then ran off in the direction Naruto went once more as Iruka could do nothing but watch.

~FLASHBACK~

'Something's happened to her since she departured all those years ago.' Iruka thought as he suddenly began to realize the genjutsu was wearing off.

Once it did, he stood up and stretched then stared ahead of him.

Nia, you used to be so full of life as a child. You never had eyes that looked so bitter. Why are you really so angry?

"Iruka, what a surprise."

Iruka looked behind him to see Guy walking toward him.

"Guy? What're you doing here? I thought you left with Lee and Tenten?"

"That was something I couldn't do. No way was I gonna turn my back on the one student who is risking his life to get back Sakura when I know the others will be safe at the Leaf." Guy answered as he looked around, "Say, why you all by yourself, Iruka? I thought you were with Kakashi."

Iruka sighed, "Well I planned to go in their direction until Nia went off in Naruto's direction."

Guy slapped Iruka on the back and pushed him forward a bit, "That girl has to be falling, Iruka. Why else would she be so into following the boy around?"

"She thinks he's the only one of the teens who'll treat her somewhat kindly or something like that. I guess she hasn't really changed her attitude towards him even after leaving Konoha that first time."

Guy gave a look, "What?"

"It's true." Iruka said as he remembered the scenario, "They were young and back then, Nia was an outgoing child. Carefree and not so bitter as she is now..."

A few miles ahead, the person Iruka was thinking of was pacing to where Naruto's clone said that the h and his friends would be.

"Where is he?" Nia thought aloud as she could see nothing from the area where the clone said he'd be as she approached it.

Upon landing where Neji, Kakashi, and Naruto last stood, She picked up two items from off the ground.

One was a string that had two bells attached to the end of it. The other was-

"Naruto's necklace..." The girl held it a little higher above her head.

She looked around but saw nothing.

"Naruto?" She called as she walked around a bit, "Hellooo?!"

Nothing could be heard for miles around. Suddenly, the ground began to crack not too far from her. The webs entangled her but when she jumped, it torn away. Something the other three men couldn't hope to possibly happen to them.

However, since the girl didn't possess the byakugan, she had no way of knowing the danger she was in. Now settling on a tree branch, she watched as the ground opened up even wider.

'That's weird.' She thought as she observed the hole, 'Why did the ground just crack open like that?'

A web shot out of it. One stronger than the one before. This time it entangled her wrist without her knowing then it yanked her off the branch and down through the opening of the earth.

"Ahhhhhh!" She screamed as she was brought down lower and lower.

Finally, after what seemed like jumping off the tallest mountain, the girl crashed into a pile of debris. Slowly, she sat up and coughed to get the dust out of her system. The impact had left her with a bloody nose and a few scratches near her left eye, left bottom corner of her lip, and on her right cheek.

She placed her hand over her nose then spotted her glasses that had slipped off during the landing. They were very dirty but still in good condition.

That hurt like hell... How the heck did I slip off that branch?

She wiped her lens with the clean spot of her blue sweater then tied it around her waist. She wore a grey tee. Nia never did like following the Hidden Cloud's dress code after all.

Once her nose stopped bleeding, the girl checked her surroundings. There was a bit of light for her to walk around a bit but every direction just felt like she was going in a circle. Repeatedly she called for Naruto and at times, Kakashi and Neji.

"Of course they can't hear me," She says to herself, "Where are theeey?!"

A rat the size of a puppy then ran across the girl's foot. She screamed and went blue in the face.

'No, this reminds me of being in that cave a while ago...' Nia trembled as the rat went somewhere in s dark corner, 'I sorta just wanna go back now but... I can't and that's just being cowardly too, isn't it?'

She then thought of the way Naruto had made jokes about her 'stupid' fear back then and slightly frowned upon remembering it.

At least I'm scared of something real and not fake... Ghosts aren't real.

She then bumped into something and freaked out for a second before realizing what it was that she had bumped into. It was a very tall green pillar. When she looked closer, she saw Kakashi tied to it with thick spiderwebs.

To his right was Neji and to his left was Naruto and to Naruto's left was Sakura, who had been missing for a while. All three were strapped to their pillar in the same fashion as Kakashi was. However, since the girl was very emotionally numb to the jonin and Sakura, she immediately went to Naruto.

"Naruto!" She called as she tried to get him to wake up out of the sleep he seemed to be in.

He didn't seem to hear her at all. When the kunoichi observed Sakura, she noticed that the girl had tears of blood running down her closed eyes.

"What the hell?" She watched as the blood streamed down her face.

"My webs haven't gotten you yet I see..." A voice appeared from behind.

Nia turned to see a tall, medium-built man with long, wavy black hair and purple eyes. He wore a soft smile that also seemed to be sinister-like also.

"Who are you?!" She quickly responded to his appearance.

"Hanshin." He answered, "That is my name."

Nia frowned, "Oh wait, now that you're telling me who you are, I actually don't really care at all. Just-"

"My webs tell me that you're heartless to the core... it seems to me that you're only willing to save the blonde." The man interrupted.

"...Yeah...?" She replied as she got into a stance.

"Woah now, don't be so feisty. I was merely reading into your heart."

"You don't know anything about my heart! Just give Naruto back already!"

The man had his webs wrap around Nia as she couldn't see them like he could. She noticed her body straightening out and tried to rip out of the webs but to no avail.

A spider hanged from off the ceiling and floated next to Hanshin's face.

"Yes, yes... you've been in quite an extraordinary amount of pain in these last few years, haven't you?"

Nia didn't say anything.

"You poor poor thing," The purple-eyed fellow gave his sympathy, "It must've hurt to have been ridiculed for something out of your control, huh?"

"Shut up!" The girl responded quickly, "Stop acting like you know me!"

Stepping closer, the man said, "This world is cruel, isn't it? We all get judged by our appearances and talent. If one lacks these qualities, they're considered as a waste to the world. Everyone despises them and calls them out on their flaws. No one offers a hand to them and instead beats them every day to the ground emotionally. You know this all... too... well."

The girl gritted her teeth, "I told you to stop acting like you know what I've been through already! You have no idea, you ass!"

"Oh but I do," The guy responded, "And it's very sad. You see, these webs feeds off the emotional pain of others. In return, I grow stronger because of your sorrow and misfortune. I can see exactly what is bothering you."

It was silent for a moment before Hanshin broke it, "Your pain is caused by the insult of others and their cruelty. They made you suffer through solitude, rejection, and even despair. Your heart is very bitter because of it and you've even wished death upon your village, haven't you?"

Nia looked down.

"Ah, so it is true... How cruel... You really don't have a heart then."

"..."

The wavy-haired male smirked then spoked, "I know your thoughts... and you can just forget about it. The boy only offered you friendship because he felt bad for you, not because he really wanted to be your friend."

This comment seemed to take affect on the kunoichi as she listened to the stranger.

"He may have encouraged you and may have been a nice guy but, my webs knows what he's really feeling inside. He sees you just like every other person on this planet does: hideous! Don't you ever wonder why he takes such a huge liking to the girl behind you? It's because she's beautiful. She's more thinner and in shape and has a much prettier face! That alone is enough to make him like her. Nothing you do could ever change that. You're not beautiful physically so he can never care for you ever."

"I don't care if he doesn't think I'm beautiful in any way! I never liked him to begin with!" Nia snapped, her heart was growing more cold, "I knew he was fake since the day I met him! I always knew he was judgmental and cruel like everyone else on this damn planet, all right?!"

Her increased anger was giving Hanshin slightly more power. He could feel her grow with more negative chakra. In response to wanting to make her feel even more negativity, the man summoned what appeared to be a mirror and held it to the girl's face.

"Look into this mirror and watch the agony the people I've captured are going through. They've each suffered as bad as you. You think you're the only one hurting but they are too! Just take a look... you've been a reason why one was hurting so much if you pay attention closely. And yes... I'll even show you your own pain as well."

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A/N- Yikes, its time to write some pretty sad chapters again :( but that's what makes this book so interesting from what I've been told. Nia's getting a bit difficult cause she's such a tragic character in a way. Her heart is pretty much in the darkness and I find it pretty sad. So yep, that's all for this chappie anyway! Please comment and vote and have a fabulous day everyone :)