Summary: I constantly remind myself, that is not my memory, that is not part of me. Yet every time I see them, I doubt myself, every time I hear them, I wonder...just who was I?
Pairing: Naruto x Mei Terumi
Author: DeExil
Subject #31 – Chapter 1: Rebirth
"He seems to be responding well to the dosage…" a man stated as two more appeared near him and looked down at a figure, studying it carefully.
"…most interesting…" another one said as he took a clipboard in his hand and started flipping the pages, reading whatever was written on them.
The figure on the table watched tiredly wondering what was going on. He tried to turn his head and look around but he realized that it was impossible; it was like his head was secured by something. From what he could see he deducted he was in some kind of hospital, or at least that is what he believed.
The dim light above him however made him wonder if this was not a morgue, but that would be impossible, he wasn't dead. He knew that, he was breathing, he was thinking. His gaze moved to the strange men around him, they looked like doctors, or scientists? He didn't know anymore, his head hurt when he thought about something, when he tried to think about anything.
He didn't know how he got here or how long he had been here, in fact, he didn't remember anything apart from his name. Looking around he spotted some kind of syringe in the man's hand, it was full of black liquid. His eyes slightly widened as he realized that the man was going to inject that into his body. He tried to retaliate, but to no avail, he felt the sting and then a burning sensation he was all too familiar with.
He screamed and trashed, his eyes became unfocused as he felt his bones shattering and then reforming. He roared to the heavens, in his mind, pleading whatever deity would hear his screams would actually put an end to his misery. But no matter how much he screamed, how much he struggled, the end he desired did not come.
All he could do was endure the pain as memories flashed in front of his eyes, like his mind was trying to make him remember something important yet at the same time forgetting what it was supposed to show him. He screamed as he felt his head burning, a pain that he had never felt in years – or more precisely, ever in his life – traversed through his body.
"His heartbeat is off the charts!" one of the men shouted frantically as they all started treating the man on the table, trying to sustain him, to keep him alive.
He hated that, why wouldn't they just let him go? Why were they keeping him and torturing him? Did he do something in the past? Did he anger someone to deserver such cruel punishment? Questions such as those flooded his mind, yet none of them were answered, he did not know how to answer them and even if he tried to scream them, to ask them, they would most likely not answer him.
"Dose him again." One of the men suddenly said making the man's eyes widen in fright. He saw the syringe, the same black substance inside of it again. He shook violently as he tried to break free from his bindings.
Again, he felt the sting, he opened his mouth to scream yet no sound was heard. The ceiling above him started to vanish, he slowly closed his mind as he felt his entire body go numb, his mind going blank. His eyes slowly closed as his body fell limp on the table once more. The men around him nodded in satisfaction, he was stabilized.
Blood red eyes watched as the pipes before him turned from blue to black in a matter of seconds, the creature grunted as it took a step back not liking what was happening. It studied it surroundings as it tried to figure out a way to either stop the changes that were happening around it or try and break free.
It looked in front of it, a boy was sitting in a pool, his face was blank, his eyes were hollow, it was like he was dead. The boy had been broken by whatever the freak was doing on the outside, his mind was confused now, it was trying to figure out what was going on, it was trying to remember important aspects to keep him functional.
It was strange to say at least, even his spirit seemed to have given up, it was no longer present, or if it was it was slowly drifting away into the cold embrace of the death god himself. The creature smirked, maybe, just maybe that would prove a good opening for him, he use that to his advantage.
But the main problem still remained, what to do about the gates that kept him secure? What to do about that damn seal that made it impossible for him to take any actions that he so desired. Without the boy to call out on his power he could not directly influence his body and chakra more then healing any outside damage.
It frowned as it slumped down on the ground, it thought of many things, the most important thought was however how to escape, it could care less what happened to the boy, its freedom was more important then anything else.
As one of the walls crumbled and water leaked into the room, starting to flood it, the creature began to ponder if it will also die if the boy died. It saw the water swallowing the boy and sighed, with one of its tails it dug in the water and pulled the shell out of the water. Luckily, he was still breathing, though it seemed like he took no notice of the fact that he was going to die any second now.
It would have been bad if the boy died now, it still didn't know how to escape. It had to bypass the seal, then it had to bypass the fail-safe system. It growled in annoyance, this was not what it expected. It was so much easier if it could manipulate the boy to take down the seal.
The creature looked at the pipes one more time and it smirked, a thought passed through its mind. It was risky but worth it. Without a second thought the creature wrapped its remaining tails around the pipes and channeled its power through them, mixing the dark substance that was flowing through the pipes with his own.
For a second, it could feel it, it could almost taste freedom. The seal was vanishing, the bars were disappearing. It stood up and triumphally roared shaking the room as it poured more of its energy in the pipes, it watched with a grin as the pipes absorbed its infinite power, the bars were gone, the seal fell to the ground and got washed away by the water.
There was a flash of light, the fail-safe had activated yet as soon as it did the creature dropped the boy in the water and wrapped its tail around the light laughing manically. It prevented whatever was trying to come out from appearing. The creature gripped on the figure and crushed it with its tail, the light vanishing.
"Freedom! I'm free! Finally, I'm free!" it shouted in glee as it turned towards the pipes and its eyes widened in horror. "Impossible." It mumbled as it saw the black substance not only reappearing but wrapping around its tails and moving towards its body.
"No! This cannot be!" the creature shouted as it tried to detach its tails from the pipes, yet the strange substance stopped it from doing that. It struggled, trying to pry itself free from the strong grasp that the substance had on it.
Its eyes widened even further as it felt its power being drained, absorbed…mutated. It howled in rage, to think that the strongest of the nine would be defeated by a mere poison, to think that it would be defeated by a mere human. It growled as it resorted to the next best thing, survival was key and it had to survive. The beast turned around and started biting off its own tails, trying to rip them.
It roared in pain as it tried to break itself free, but no matter how hard it tried, it proved futile. As it realized that it stopped all its struggled and watched as the black substance covered its tails, then moved to the rest of its body. The creature looked down at the spot where the boy should be and wondered what would happen now. It was not ready to die, it never thought that it would die like this.
The creature glared, it would not die, not today and not like this! There was no way that it would be defeated by weaklings such as humans. No one could defeat it and no one would ever be able to kill it.
In its rage the creature failed to realize that the more it struggled and the more power it poured into the pipes the faster it was going to die. Before it realized, it was already too late, the substance had devoured it, it had consumed the creature turning its power into its own.
With a howl the creature vanished, absorbed by a mere parasite. Its howl echoed in the boy's mindscape, a howl that the boy would forever remember. The great demon fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune had been defeated, killed by a parasite and only its jailor would – vaguely – remember how it happened.
"I see Subject #31 has reacted pleasantly to my mutagen." A man said with a creepy voice, somewhat reminding the person on the table of a snake. He shuddered for a second as he thought he felt the man's gaze upon him, something told him that this man was not one he should anger.
"Yes my lord…" one of the scientists – doctors? – answered in a humble tone, the figure could not see the interaction between the two; he was still strapped to the table. It felt like he had been there for months, maybe years. He was tired, he was hungry and everything hurt, his entire body hurt like hell.
"Most fascinating…" he heard the first one comment as he flipped through some papers, or at least that is what he deduced from the sounds echoing in the room – or chamber?
"We were a bit surprised he survived." The scientist said as he walked up next to the table, he could now see the scientist looking down at him. A man in his late thirties it seemed, with brown hair. "Kabuto was about throw him in the pit."
"Yes, he told me…" the man said as he also appeared near the table, in the figures range of sight. A pale man with green slitted eyes, a strange aura present around him that made him shake in fear. The man seemed powerful, clearly someone he should not piss. "Does he remember anything?" he asked as the scientist studied the person on the table for a few minutes.
"Honestly, we don't know." He answered as the pale man turned towards the person on the table.
"What is your name?" he asked as the figure stood silently and watched the pale man. He thought about the question, who was he? The only thing that could pass his name was…
"…Naruto…" he replied weakly as the pale man seemed slightly displeased with the answer and the scientist began to scribble on the clipboard.
"And who do you work for?" he asked as the blond thought about the question, nothing came to mind.
"I don't know…" the answered seemed to please the pale man as his features lightened up a bit.
"What are you?" he asked as the boy once more thought in silence, he thought for some time making the two men look at each other quizzically wondering what the boy was thinking.
"Human." The boy replied as a grin appeared on the pale man's face.
"And what do you remember?" he asked as the boy immediately replied.
"I…I don't remember…it hurts when I think…" he replied closing his eyes and gritting his teeth in pain, his head hurt once more, he didn't understand why his head was hurting when he was thinking about an answer. "…all I know is … my name …" he replied as the pale man started laughing.
"This is perfect!" he shouted in his mind as his eyes started glowing, the boy could not understand what was going on, but it seemed like the pale man was very pleased with the answer he received. Most strange, even the pain in his head receded slightly; the man looked down at the boy with a smirk.
"Naruto…you are one of my loyal soldiers." He said making the boy look at the man quizzically before nodding, He wasn't sure if he should trust the pale man, but it seemed like the only option he had and it also seemed, or so he thought, that the pale man knew more about him.
"You were injured in one of your missions and we had to patch you up, the medicine we gave you…seemed to have had some drawbacks however…" he said with a grin as the blond understood little by little.
"So…I don't remember because of the medicine?" he asked as the pale man nodded.
"You've always been here my boy…" the pale man stated as the boy's eyes widened slightly "…you were raised by me, my son…" he said with a weak smile as the blond's breath stopped in his throat at the revelation.
"Will you help me one more time my boy?" he asked as the boy looked at the pale man in the eyes trying to find answers, yet all he could see was what the pale man wanted him to see. Slowly he nodded as the man grinned.
"I will … help you … father." He answered awkwardly as the pale man grinned and unstrapped the boy. Things were going the way he planned, far from that, they were going better then he had hoped for. Not only did he have the Sharingan now but he had the ultimate weapon, the Kyuubi's host.
Naruto walked down the dim lit hallway, following the pale man who had identified himself as Orochimaru, the Otokage and his ... father. The blond was quizzical about that, he couldn't place it but the word didn't sound right, it wasn't that he doubted the man's words but, there was a certain lack of proof.
He looked up at the man, warily, the power radiating from him sent a shiver down his spine. There was one thing he was certain about, he didn't want to get on this man's bad side, father or not.
As they kept walking the blond realized that the hallways became more and more lighted; now he could see around him a little better. He was rather unimpressed with the place, all tunnels with a few doors here and there leading to a room or whatever they were leading to. It wasn't interesting to say at least, he hoped that they wouldn't stay under the ground all the time.
They finally came to a halt as they entered a large room; it looked like it was used for training purposes. Training dummies on the left side, weapon racks on the right side and the middle, filled with holes and discarded weapons. Surely someone had been training here intensively.
"Orochimaru…" someone said in a stoic voice as both the man in question and the blond turned around. The one that called the pale man's name widened his eyes as he stared at the blond, the boy in question stared emotionlessly at the strange eyes with three tomoe.
"The fuck?" asked the same person as he took a step back, his face turning from shock to anger as his hand started glowing and his whole body was encompassed in some strange purple tendrils.
"Now, now Sasuke-kun…" Orochimaru started with a grin "…you wouldn't kill one of my subordinates, now would you?" he asked as the boy suddenly stopped and looked at the pale man with a questioning gaze.
"What does that mean?" he asked, but instead of Orochimaru answering, it was the blond himself that did.
Naruto bowed slightly to the boy in front of him, which shocked him – though he did no show it. "My name is Naruto…" he said as he paused, as if thinking what his full name was, however, after a second of thinking the blond continued his introduction. "…I am a loyal subject of Lord Orochimaru, I've been downed in battle by Konoha nin's and just recently recovered." He stated as the raven haired boy took a step back in shock and turned towards the pale man with a shocked face.
The man grinned even further as he said. "Naruto here is on our side, you have nothing to worry Sasuke-kun…" he said with a dark chuckle "…we will discuss this later, for now, go and talk with Kabuto."
The boy looked towards the blond one more time before the strange tendrils disappeared for good. He scoffed and turned around, leaving the room. Naruto raise an eyebrow at the boy's attitude and wondered where he had seen him before. That name, Sasuke, it rang a bell in his head. Did he meet him before?
He shook his head as the headache reappeared, he would ponder on it another time, right now he wanted to know what he was going to do here. Why he had been brought here to begin with.
"Now Naruto, for the course of the next few … months …" the pale man said while thinking "I will train you, re-train you…" he said as if the blond had forgotten how to fight, in truth, he wasn't sure if he knew how to fight.
"Was I … an able fighter?" he asked as Orochimaru grinned.
"The best of the best boy." He said with a smirk as the blond tilted his head to the side quizzically.
"I do not…remember…" he said as Orochimaru assumed that the blond didn't remember how to fight.
"Do you know what chakra is?" the sannin asked as the blond stood in silence for several minutes, thinking over the question. He finally nodded making the sannin smirk; this might not be as hard as he thought. "Try harnessing it, walk up on the ceiling." He ordered as the blond nodded and turned around.
Naruto walked to a nearby wall and placed his right foot on it, he stood there for a few seconds before he started climbing and then walking on the ceiling. Orochimaru was most pleased with this, and judging by how the blond was walking on the ceiling it was clear that he knew how to harness his chakra to a … optimum efficiency. He would only have to perfect it a little.
The blond seeing as the man was satisfied with his performance stopped channeling chakra and dropped down on the ground. He looked at the pale waiting to see what else he had to say.
"You impress me Naruto." Orochimaru said as the blond bowed slightly to show his respect for the man's words "Now, for the next few months, like I said, I will train you. Until then you are not allowed to leave this place." He said sternly as the blond nodded and bowed.
"Is this where we will train?" he asked as the man nodded.
"I will let you do what you desire here, your room is just down the hall." He said as he walked out of the training room and closed the door behind him.
The blond was now alone, he looked around wondering what to do. He could start training, or he could sit and meditate.
Orochimaru monitored the boy as he trained in the room through one of his cameras. He was very pleased, things have developed far better then he would have ever expected. He looked over the documents the scientists had given him and slightly frowned, apparently they couldn't trace anything related to the demon fox inside the blond anymore. It was like he ceased to exist. There was no trace of its chakra or presence, even the seal had vanished.
The man was sure the seal was no longer present, he himself verified that piece of information. He then looked at the information on the mutagen that was injected in the blond, code-name BLACKLIGHT, it was a virus that Orochimaru had discovered in some old ruins, it was the only thing he could salvage from the ruins, everything else had been destroyed.
There was very little information the virus, the few fragments that were left on the paper and that were readable said that the mutagen was supposed to create super-soldiers, obedient ones. They were right on the obedient part, but he had yet to see any reasons why Naruto would be a super-soldier.
"What the…" he heard the blond as he looked through the camera, his eyes widened at what he saw. The blond was staring at the wall in front of him, the wall he had been punching for the last several minutes, for what reason the man didn't know but it didn't matter right now. The wall itself was completely shattered; a large hole was present in the wall now.
Now that wasn't who know what, considering Naruto was a ninja to begin with, but the walls…they were made to withstand at least ten explosive tags and the blond managed to punch a hole through it with just his fists. The blond looked at his hands, they were not bleeding, he could feel no pain. He then looked at the wall; with just one punch he destroyed it.
Orochimaru grinned, so the mutagen was showing its effects, super strength was one of the benefits. If he trained the blond right he could go against Tsunade with no problem at all, he grinned, oh the possibilities! He could turn the blond into a powerful weapon that would obey him no matter what.
He laughed, his laughter echoing throughout the entire hideout, the ninja world was in for a nasty surprise.
His gaze then turned to another monitor; he watched as Sasuke trained with Kabuto and grinned. Looking back at the blond who started his training again he began to think, Sasuke was going to be his new body in three years, that was sure, but the power that the blond possessed now, it was too much to pass it up.
He would use him for his own needs and then he would take the power for himself. He never thought that one of his experiments would one day become this useful, not even that Mokuton brat would be able to withstand Subject #31, aka Naruto Uzumaki.
A/N: Introduction chapter, can't think of anything else to add here. It might be short, unlike the strange course of action I took with other stories (9-10k words each chapter), but I want to experiment with this…