I open my eyes and im no longer at my camp, im at the mouth of a cave, the cold damp air fills my lungs as i suck in a deep breath. I stand groggily to my feet and look all around me for any indication of where i am, nothing. My choices right now are venturing into the cave or trying to find my way back to camp, but for some inexplicable reason i choose the former, the dark cave seems to draw me in. I begin to walk into the pitch black abyss and as soon as i fully step inside the cave i feel a chill run down my spine and the hairs on my arms stand on end, my blood runs cold and something catches in my throat preventing me from saying a word, i turn around to leave this place frantically but the entrance is gone.
"Where the hell am i?"
I look around panicked for any means of escape but my fear just grows and i continue to dive deeper into a state of panic. Maybe i can stay put and someone will find me. A useless thought. I know that no one will come for me here, im in the outskirts of an enemy village and no one knows im here, or at least i think im still near the mist village. The uncertainty of my location prompts me to move, just where am i?
I wander aimlessly through the dark labyrinth of the cave for what feels like hours, although i suspect it was only a few minutes. The absence of life in this place scares me more than being trapped, i tried using censory jutsu to detect if there was anything, even a bug or a small plant, but to no avail, i am alone, completely and hopelessly alone. I doubt this is a dream, dreams arent vivid like this, if this was a dream then i would've woken up by now after realizing i was dreaming, right? Or maybe not, maybe i am dreaming and ill wake up sooner or later. The thought does little to calm me.
The air which had up to this point remained damp suddenly changes to a suffocating dry and i feel my lungs screaming for fresh air. What could have caused this sudden change? And then i feel it, the presence of another living being, something tells me this isn't an ordinary entity, this is something sinister, something full of malice and an unquenchable thirst for blood. I instinctively draw ibukis old sword i have hanging at my waist, the blade may be snapped in half but i can still use it to defend myself. My eyes haven't adjusted even slightly to the darkness in all this time which is something that i become painfully aware of as i spin around trying to sense the creature. I could try a fire style jutsu to light up my surroundings but the thick air that fills my lungs tells me thats probably a bad idea, if the air is flammable even a little bit then my fire style jutsu will burn the air around me and make me breathe fire itself, not exactly a pleasant way to go.
Then in an instant the cave is illuminated, and i see standing in front of me a few feet away a man, his hollow cheekbones and skeletal figure make him look like a long dead corpse, his fingernails are sharpened into points and it looks like those are the only thing that hes given any attention to at all, those razor sharp nails look like they could cut the air itself. The mans, or creature would be more fitting a term, stares at me with sunken dead eyes, then like a sprinter it pushes off of the ground and towards me in a speed that shouldnt be possible with its build, those legs that look prone to snapping with the lightest touch are moving at a speed i cant even comprehend, i raise my sword, preparing to fight.
I hear a sharp noise, like fingers snapping or maybe a clap, and then the creature is on the ground, sliced to pieces. It happened in an instant, no, faster than that, and standing in front of me is a young man who looks only a few years older than myself,
"What are you waiting for lets go" he says in a cheery voice, and i follow him, seeming drawn to him, this man who killed that creature in a speed unfathomable to me is helping me.
We walk through the cave and i sense that this man knows where he's going.
"What is this place?" I ask not fully expecting a reply.
"This is where lost souls wander" he says in an uninspired voice, "well not the souls exactly"
"What do you mean?"
"Im sure youve felt the air change a few times since being in here" I have, "well thats some kind of unbreakable jutsu or curse or something that separates the soul from the body, once theyre separated the soul kinda just disappears into nothingness and the body wanders through the cave for all eternity unable to truly die"
"Did that one you cut up die?"
"No" his stride never falters as he walks with purpose through this maze, "those things cant really die, but it also wont feel the pain to our understanding and will just rot slowly"
Our? Are there others like him in this cave?
"Are we able to leave this cave?" I decide to ask whats been on my mind since entering this place.
"Nope" he chuckles slightly and i stop in my tracks.
"Then where are you going" i feel anger and despair sweep over me in a wave.
"Im not sure yet" he stops and turns around to face me, grinning widely, "im just joking, we can leave here but it isnt easy, the cave will kinda just spit us out somewhere at some point, with my speed its not really an issue where i end up though" thats another thing i was thinking of, his unfathomable speed.
"Just how fast are you"
"Well" he starts, he looks me up and down a few times before continuing, "you look trustworthy enough"
"You can tell by just a glance huh"
"Not really but you have how do i put it, a certain aura surrounding you that tells me even though youve killed people you want to do the right thing and protect others, is that correct?"
"H-how did you know that"
"Lucky guess to be honest, while i was looking you up and down i was contemplating what to say in that moment that had the highest success rate, and i guessed correctly"
High success rate huh. Guess im either easy to read or i just have a predictable character...
"So about my speed" he continues, "when you snap your fingers the time between when your finger strikes your hand and the time when you hear the sound appears to be instant correct, well its actually a ten thousandth of a second, and in that incredibly small time frame im able to move at roughly a hundred thousand times the speed of light, or around 1.1 trillion miles per second"
He says this so nonchalantly i cant do anything but believe it, even though that speed is something i cant possibly comprehend i dont question it.
"Well now you see why getting back to where i need to be after being spit out of the cave isnt a big deal for me"
"Yeah guess not"
"Alright no more questions just follow me, we should be close to getting out of here" he turns back around and continues walking, i follow after a moment, my mind racing.
"Oh and one last thing, rōgan uzumaki, you can call me Y"