The door to the cell creaked open and five boys were flung inside. A few of the prisoners (Those who were new to the dungeon) raised their' heads to look at the boys. The rest didn't even stir. They were accustomed to the horrors of the place in which they were forced to live.

Bleeding and in pain, the five boys dragged them' selves to the corner of the cell. The whip marks and jagged scars that crisscrossed their' backs and torsos were cruel reminders of the tortures they had gone through and the agonies they had suffered.

The eldest of the boys was a tall, well-built boy of seventeen. He had unusual, whitish eyes and long, black hair tied in the back; a bandage obscured his forehead. He was known as Neji.

The second eldest was a tall boy of seventeen, with dark hair tied up into a high ponytail and dark, tired looking eyes. He was called Shikamaru.

The third eldest was a boy with bright red hair named Gaara. Dark rings surrounded his' icy, blue eyes as though he were an insomniac or something. He had the kanji for the word love inscribed on his' forehead and was sixteen.

The fourth of the group was a well-built boy with spiky, bluish-black hair and intense, onyx eyes. His' name was Sasuke and he was sixteen.

The youngest the five, was a blond boy with bright, cerulean eyes. He fidgeted restlessly and appeared to be the most energetic of the five boys. His' name was Naruto and he was also sixteen.

The five boys, dressed in ragged tunics and shorts, crouched miserably in the far corner of the cell. Their' skins were littered with welts and bruises and fresh brand marks had been burnt into their' shoulders. Blood streamed from the lash marks that zigzagged their' backs, and both Naruto and Sasuke sported black eyes.

Sasuke gingerly touched his' eye and winced. He sighed and leaned back against the rough, stonewall, ignoring the pain in his' back.

It was one o'clock in the morning and the boys had just returned from a six-hour, torture session. These sessions generally involved whippings, getting beat up by the guards, brandings and other such torments.

They had exactly three hours before they had to get up and go to working the mines where they were forced to labor all day long, every day.

Neji, Shika, Gaara, Sasuke, Naruto, and all the other prisoners of the dungeon were slaves.

Neji, Gaara and Naruto had been slaves almost their' entire lives. Sasuke had become a slave at the age of five when his' older brother, Itachi had sold him. And Shikamaru had become a slave at the age of seven. He was the most knowledgeable of the five as he had been given three years of education before becoming a slave. He was also very smart by nature.

Despite the fact that the prisoners tended to keep to themselves, the five boys had eventually formed close bonds and thought of one another as brothers.

Shikamaru lay down saying, "Let's go to sleep. We've got to get up soon enough as it is."

The others quickly followed suit, lying down and shutting their' eyes, in and attempt to get a couple hours of rest before they were forced to arise and face the harsh cruelties of reality once again.

Tenten pounded on the door of her' sister's room. "Come on Ino! We've got to leave in two minutes, seventeen seconds flat!"

"I'll be out in a minute!" A shrill voice from within called.

Tenten rolled her' eyes and turned her' the three sisters who stood in the hallway next to her.

Hinata, a slender, petite girl with chin length, raven colored hair and lavender, giggled shyly. Sakura, a slim girl with strange pink hair and jade green eyes sighed in annoyance. And Azami, a slender, graceful girl with emerald eyes and sleek, glossy, golden locks, rolled her' eyes.

Tenten was a tall brunette with dark eyes and a good figure. Her' long hair was drawn up into twin buns.

Suddenly the door swung open and out rushed a breathless, girl with ash blond hair, pulled back into a long, flowing ponytail, sapphire blue eyes, and a trim figure. She was called Ino.

"Okay! I'm ready to go!" She gasped.

"Well it's about time sis!" Azami told her. "What the heck do you do in there that takes you so long?"

Ino rolled her eyes at her' sister's teasing. "Oh, cut it out Azami!" She snapped.

The other four just laughed and shook their' heads. "Come on, Father will be waiting for us." Tenten said.

The girls' father was Lord Nakamura Kaemon. He was the ruler of the castle and it's surrounding villages, and was a very powerful man.

As his' daughters, Tenten, Azami, Sakura, Ino and Hinata were princesses of extremely high rank.

The sisters were accompanying their' father on a visit to a neighboring village to see the magistrate who also happened to be a friend to Lord Kaemon.

The girls rushed down the stairs and out the doors to the waiting carriage.

The carriage rolled to a stop in front of a large mansion. It was not as large as the castle, but it was an impressive structure none-the-less.

The sisters piled out of the carriage and ascended the steps to the mansion's entrance.

After having lunch with the magistrate, Lord Kaemon told the girls that he had some confidential business to discuss with the magistrate and the girls left them to their' business.

"So what should we do now?" Sakura asked.

"Lets go explore!" Ino suggested.

Tenten and Azami grinned at one another. "Yeah! Let's go!"

The five girls made their' way down the village's main strip. At first everything was neat and orderly. The houses freshly painted and the gardens well kept. Children played games in the streets and villagers stood about chatting amiably.

The girls all purchased meat pies from a vendor. Hinata, Sakura and Ino ate theirs' immediately, while Tenten and Azami chose to save theirs' for later.

After a while the scenery began to change. The streets became narrow and filthy. The houses were in a state of disrepair. No women or children were seen in the streets, and life forms of any sort were scarce.

Here and there they would see a couple of men standing around. The sisters would smile politely and nod their' heads only to receive cold glares, and angry scowls in return.

"Such a friendly place!" Azami commented after one such episode.

After a while, they came to a tall, barbed wire fence. Without hesitation, Tenten began to climb the fence.

"Tenten! What are you doing?!" Ino exclaimed.

"She's obviously climbing the fence Ino." Azami informed her' sister. She stepped forward and began to scale the fence her' self.

"Come on Ino, Sakura, Hinata, hurry up!" Tenten urged her' sisters, as she dropped to the ground on the other side of the fence.

"But we'll tear our' clothes." Ino protested.

Azami dropped down next to Tenten. "We didn't tear ours."

"You two are wearing pants." Sakura reminded her. "The three of us are in dresses."

Tenten rolled her' eyes. "So what? Just climb over and be careful that you don't snag the hem of your' skirt on anything."

Hinata stepped forward and began to carefully climb the fence. "Come on girls." She said softly. "The sooner we do it, the sooner we'll be finished." (Hinata doesn't stutter around her' sisters.)

After several objections from Ino and a few grumbled complaints from Sakura, All five girls stood on the opposite side of the fence.

A large grove of trees was just ahead of them. They could hear noises coming from beyond them. They made their' way through the trees, toward where the noises originated.

Upon leaving the trees, the sisters found that they were standing at the edge of what appeared to be some sort of mining sight. But what surprised them was not the mine, but the sight of hundreds of men all chained together and being driven by men with clubs and whips!

Tenten, Azami, Sakura, Ino, Sakura and Hinata stared in dismay as they saw the slaves, young and old being forced to haul load after load of rocks from the mine. Ino and Hinata moved around watching the men who were hauled the boulders, while Tenten and Azami wandered over two a couple of large, stone buildings.

Hinata meandered about watching the slaves work; Sakura walked along not far behind. Her' gaze landed on a blond boy who was using a mallet to pound spikes into part of the mine. He was humming some random tune and missing the mark more often than he hit it.

Suddenly, much to Hinata's horror, a large man hit the boy over the head with a club, knocking him to the ground. The boy attempted to rise, but the man hit him again and again.

A boy with spiky, black hair dropped his' mallet and tried to shield the first boy from the torrent of blows, only to have the man land a blow on the side of his' head that sent him sprawling.

Hinata and Sakura gasped as the man beat them again and again.

Now Hinata was known for being sweet, shy, and quiet. But when she became angry her' bold side would come out. Well, seeing this man mercilessly beating the boys for no apparent reason made her angry- no, scratch that. It made her furious!

"STOP!!" She and shouted; Sakura echoed her.

The man wheeled about and took in the two enraged girls. By the clothing they wore he could tell that they were obviously of some wealth and importance.

"Yes Himes?" He inquired in a syrupy voice.

"How DARE you!!" Hinata thundered. (See? I told you that she could be bold.) "Why are you hitting those boys?"

The man was taken aback by her' anger.

"Well?! What is your' excuse for beating these boys?" Sakura fairly shouted.

"Uuuuh…well, your' highnesses, I am a slave driver and it is my' job to see that these ragamuffins don't slack off." He shook the dark haired boy whom he was holding by back of the neck.

"Let him and the other boy go immediately!" Hinata growled in a threatening voice.

The man frowned but released the two boys who slowly and painfully got to their' feet. The blond boy had several bruises, and the dark haired boy had blood streaming down the side of his' face from the blow to his' head.

"That is the most outrageous excuse I have ever heard. Your' actions were nothing better than cruel mistreatment, abuse, and exploitation of your' authority!" Sakura snapped.

"Get out of hear! I intend to see to it that you receive proper punishment for your' actions." Hinata declared.

"Oh? And how exactly do you intend on going about that?" The slave driver sneered.

Sakura smirked. "Easy." She stated. "We will just take the problem to the magistrate!"

The man's jaw dropped, and his' eyes grew wide. "Y-you know the magistrate?!" He asked incredulously.

The girls nodded.

"My' apologies Himes! I-I did not know-"

"I'm sure you didn't." Hinata said coldly. "Now get out of here!"

The man bowed nervously and rushed away.

Hinata and Sakura watched him leave then turned back to the two young men who stood looking confused and uncertain as to what to do.

Hinata introduced her' self. "Hello, I'm Hinata."

"And I'm Sakura."

The young men bowed then stood stalk still, eyeing the girls warily.

Sakura noticed that the dark haired boy's head was still bleeding. "Oh, are you okay, that looks like it hurts." She took a step toward the boy.

The boy stepped back and regarded her' coldly.

Sakura halted in surprise. Hinata stepped up beside her and smiled at the apprehensive boys. "What is your' name?" She asked the blond boy.

"I'm Naruto." The boy told her. "This is Sasuke." He motioned to the dark haired boy.

"It's nice to meet you Naruto, Sasuke." Sakura and Hinata nodded politely to each of them.

"Um… how is your' head, Sasuke-san?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke watched her tensely. "It's fine." He replied tersely.

Sakura eyed the wound doubtfully. She had some experience with head wounds and this one didn't look so good. "I don't know…I think you should have that taken care of." She said.

"Right, by whom?" Naruto scoffed.

"You could use some medical care your' self." Hinata told him.

"Come on, we'll get you two fixed up." Sakura said.

The two boys looked at her as if she had gone insane. "We aren't allowed to leave our work." Naruto told her.

Hinata shook her' head. "Just common!"

The sisters turned and, not knowing what else to do, the two boys followed them.

At the gates the guards stopped them. "Hold it! Where do you four think you're going?" One of them asked.

"We are going to meet our' father in town, and to get Sasuke and Naruto some medical attention." Sakura replied calmly.

"Who are you? What makes you think you can just take these boys out of here?" The guard inquired.

"I am Hime Nakamura Hurano Sakura, and this is my' sister, Hime Nakamura Hyuga Hinata. We are two of the five daughters of Lord Nakamura Kaemon, ruler of the village of the Sun. We are here on a visit to the Magistrate of your' fine village." Sakura told him.

The guard looked nodded. "Well, you may leave, but I'm afraid that the slaves must remain here unless you have the permission of the slave master."

"What's going on here?" A deep voice from behind asked.

Everyone turned to see a tall, middle-aged man with curly black hair and a thick mustache. "My' name is Hidaka Jiro, I'm the supervisor here. What seems to be the problem?"

Hinata and Sakura explained that they wanted to get Medical attention for Naruto and Sasuke.

"I'm afraid that as long as they are the property of my' employer, they must remain here." Jiro told them.

Hinata and Sakura exchanged glances. "Very well then, I guess there's only one thing we can do." Hinata said.

Jiro nodded. "I'm terribly sorry Himes."

"Oh that's alright." Sakura told him. "How much?"

Jiro was confused. "How much what?" He asked.

"How much for Naurto and Sasuke?" Sakura asked innocently.

Sasuke's eyes widened and Naruto's jaw dropped.

Jiro stared at the girls in shock for a moment before saying, "wait, are you saying that you want to buy them?"

Sakura nodded and Hinata said. "Of course."

Jiro scratched his' head. "Well, They are worth 214040 yen each." (That's two thousand US dollars each.)

Hinata and Sakura nodded and pulled the said amounts from their' handbags.

Jiro's eyes almost popped out of his' head. "You carry that kind of money with you?" He asked incredulously.

Hinata and Sakura just smiled and left the mining sight with a stunned Naruto and Sasuke in tow.

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So what did you think?

I just sort of wrote this one on a whim.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. (No flames please.)

Yaruhi