Boruto was feeling his way along the wall.
Suddenly, a voice came from the darkest corner, heavy with a despair that had nearly gone numb:
"It's no use. Accept it. We're not getting out of here."
Boruto stiffened and whipped toward the voice.
A girl in worn, dark clothes sat in the corner with her knees drawn to her chest, almost indistinguishable from the shadows.
He hadn't noticed her at all.
"Who are you?" Boruto took two steps closer, suppressing his alarm. "I'm Boruto Uzumaki. Where exactly are we?"
The girl slowly raised her head.
When Boruto saw her face clearly, he froze. His pupils contracted sharply.
Beneath her disheveled black hair was a face he could never mistake. She looked exactly like the mysterious girl he had risked his life to rescue from the desert ruins.
"My name is Nameless." Her voice was soft, like a wisp of smoke about to break apart. "This is the prison beneath the deepest part of the Uchiha compound."
"Nameless?" Boruto nearly blurted out, "Who gives someone a name like that? It sounds like..." Like she had neither a place she came from nor a place she belonged.
He swallowed the rest. Questions crowded his mind, but getting out mattered more right now.
"Whatever the case, I'm Boruto Uzumaki. Don't worry. I'll get us out of here!"
Before he had finished speaking, he turned and pressed both hands against the heavy iron cell door.
The instant he channeled Chakra to break the lock, the faded dark-red markings on the door sprang to life, blazing with a blinding crimson light!
Scorching flames burst from the Talismans and raced back along his Chakra, biting into both his arms!
"Agh!" The searing pain of burning flesh darkened Boruto's vision. But he gritted his teeth and, rather