Caterpillar

Tartarus 2

"Goddamnit, they keep following us." Naruto cussed when saw the thousands of demons still in hot pursuit after them.

His hands formed a simple Bird seal but the technique he cast was not trivial. A vortex of pressurised air was shot from his mouth, one that kept increasing in size the longer it travelled through the air until a full-fledged tornado came into existence. Then, his hands made a Tiger seal and a serpentine dragon of fire was cast at the tornado. The cataclysmic explosion that followed engulfed thousands of demons in an instant. The aftershocks carried so much heat that the ground and even rocks started to melt for half a mile around the now flaming tornado.

Wonder Woman maintained her flying speed, heading towards a particular spot in the distance where she could see a myriad of chains covering the sky. The wails and shrieks coming from that place let her know that the souls of the dead were being tortured over there. She was aiming to find an intelligent being and interrogate it with her lasso.

"How is your chakra?" she asked a bit worried.

"It's not like I suddenly became an invalid." he answered with a laugh. "Even as a kid, my chakra reserves were huge, let alone now. I can probably cast another 50 or more techniques of widespread destruction like the one from before. But I have to be cautious because I don't know how powerful Hades is. He is a god after all and we don't know what other servants and creatures he has around him either. It would be really stupid if I gassed myself out and then tried to fight against a god with an empty tank."

"What's stopping your chakra regeneration anyway?" Kyuubi asked from his seat on his shoulder.

"You know that chakra is the result of physical energy combined with spiritual energy. We've entered the realm of the dead, we are in hell. My spirit is affected by the energy of death in this place because I'm feeling the beginning of a kind of mental tiredness. It's not bad enough to affect my concentration but I guess it's just enough to hinder my chakra regeneration. Thank the Void it doesn't drain me or anything like that."

It did not take long for them to reach their destination. But when they finally arrived, even Naruto and Kyuubi who had seen all kinds of horrors during their many adventures, had yet to see something as terrible as the sight in front of their eyes.

"Great Athena..." Wonder Woman whispered, her face pale.

As far as their eyes could see, countless people were hanging in mid-air. Chains that seemed to sprout from the very sky and from the ground below were tying their hands, legs, and neck, forcing them with their limbs spread wide. There were so many that they could not be counted. However, an even greater number of demonic eagles were flying around them, their sharp talons and their curved beaks tearing into the flesh of the captives. Screams of pain and despair came from the souls as their eyes were being gouged out or as entire chunks of their body were being ripped off by the eternally hungry demons. They were being eaten 'alive', devoured.

The souls that still had eyes to see noticed the three newcomers' arrival.

"Save me!"

"Help!"

"No more torture! Please, save us!"

Thousands of people were pleading, crying, screaming. It was despair like the three of them had never witnessed in their lives before. Her eyes wet with unshed tears, Diana unsheathed her sword and lunged at the captives, snapping the chains hanging them in the air. Dissatisfied and angry caws came from the demonic birds but none of them dared to attack her. The Amazon had already rescued about 5 of them when Naruto caught her from her arm and stopped her.

"Diana! Come back to your senses!"

"Can't you see their torment?" she said and tried to break free from his grasp but he embraced her forcefully to his chest.