He was at his limit, but not done yet.
Susano'o's hand smashed through the melted wall, Sasuke gasping for breath as the acid mist dissipated— the remains of Zetsu fell off him, as he clawed his way out of the deathtrap the Mizukage had set for him--
"I can't believe a kid like you killed Deidara," said an unfamiliar, squeaky voice. Sasuke looked up, agonizing pain shooting through his pounding head, to see an old man seemingly floating in air. The Tsuchikage. "I have nothing against you, but the ninja world wants you dead... see you."
The small white cube he was holding in his hands expanded quite suddenly.
Sasuke remembered nothing more.
…
There was a woman.
Sasuke saw her as he looked through the glass (glass?). She had long thick black hair, which she twined lazily between two fingers. She saw him looking at her, and her eyes widened.
"Who--" Sasuke began, only to realize his lungs were full of water. The last thing he remembered before all went black was her face, and her eyes, dark and wide and staring.
She reminded him of his mother. Or was it Itachi?
…
"Chouno!"
Sasuke heard a voice as if it was far away. Far was good. Far meant that he didn't have to get up, didn't have to move. Far meant he didn't have to fight just right now.
"Chouno! I broke the code! I—never mind." The voice was coming closer, as well as an odd sort of clicking sound he didn't immediately recognize.
"Keep trying," came a voice, seemingly even closer. Closing in on my position, thought Sasuke. Damn. He was going to have to move soon, activate the Sharingan, and prepare to fight. "I think the data on this one is going to be very important."
"I know! Hush so I can try something else!" The annoyance was clear in the farther voice. True to form, the closer one said nothing more – but Sasuke could feel his presence now, getting closer. A ninja.
The ninja leaned over Sasuke, breathing softly. The whoosh of air barely brushed Sasuke's skin. Two feet, three inches. Well within arm's length. Sasuke could reach up and take his head off. Surprisingly careless, too. All the better.
"He really is just like him." The ninja spoke as if in awe. "Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke opened his eyes, and exploded into action.
He missed.
The first thing he saw, crystal clear as day, was a plump face surrounded by brown hair--Akimichi Chouji?--surprised expression at sharp nails grazing past his jugular. Then the world went blurry with indescribable pain.
"It's alive!!" he heard the screech from the other ninja as every single muscle in his body screamed as if needles had been jammed through them, and he screamed with them.
"AAAAAUUUGGH!" The world spun, Chouji had sprung back with surprising speed, and Sasuke managed to get one thought through the spasms of his body as he slumped back down to the floor: The ninja of Leaf have come to get me. Naruto can't be far--
"Stay calm, Shika!" shouted Chouji. "Get ready to run for help--"
Fuck Naruto. Sasuke slammed one of his hands onto the ground, enduring the pain, enduring even the crunch of glass beneath his palm. I'll never submit to the Elders! Danzo will die at my hands, today--
MANGEKYO SHARINGAN!
Everything turned a roaring, howling white.
…
This time when he woke, the first thing Sasuke felt was the pain.
It came on gradually, not unlike pins and needles in one's feet after a long period of seiza, but it got worse and worse and worse. Sasuke had to bite his lip, to keep from any undignified sounds escaping, as the pain wrenched up and down every limb.
At least it let him know that they were all still there.
The next thing he felt was cold, seeping into him from the cold, hard floor he was lying on. He was on his left side with both arms stretched above his head. Tied. Shit.
"He's awake," a voice came from above him. Well out of reach this time. "What does the file say, Shika?"
"Hold on..."
Where's Karin? thought Sasuke. He could still hear her screaming his name, the last sound before he'd blacked out. Then again, if they had him in custody, she was either hiding or captured too. Suigetsu, Juugo – he had left them, back at the samurai battle. Who knew if they were even still alive?
Once again, he was alone.
But it was allright. He was Uchiha Sasuke, after all.
Sasuke tried to turn his head towards Chouji, pain making his movements jerky. "Akimichi," he said, voice breaking and skipping unintentionally. He coughed, spat what might have been blood, and opened his eyes. The sitting figure of a man with long brown hair came slowly into view, Sasuke's left eye focusing before his right. His face wore a surprised expression, mouth slightly open as if he had intended to speak and been interrupted.
"No name. Patient number 16." A boy with spiky hair pulled back in an upright ponytail – Nara Shikamaru? - was sitting behind him, hunched over a computer terminal. He turned around to reveal swirly glasses on his face – glasses? "Oh, it woke up. Should I go run for help now?"
Sasuke forced what may very well might have been killing intent into his vocal cords until they felt like steel. "Untie me. Now. Or you will regret it." That sounded much better.
"How did you know my--" Chouji stopped, shook his head. "No, Shika. Keep reading the report."
"Don't you fucking ignore me," snarled Sasuke, rage beginning to overtake even the pain. He tugged at the bonds holding his hands – tight as only a ninja could make them. "I won't go back to Konoha so easily."
"Blood type AB, weight 51.4 kilograms, height 165 centimeters," Shikamaru read off in the background in a voice Sasuke was sure hadn't been quite that annoying in the Academy. "Entered the facility on July 16th last year." He looked over his shoulder again. "Is he talking? Is he supposed to be talking?"
"Keep reading, Shika," said Chouji with a tone of steel in his voice, and Sasuke's mind was distracted for just a second. Was this the way their relationship used to be? Three years really did change everything. He snorted to himself.
"You may have gotten slightly more impressive, Akimichi, but you're no match for me." Especially not now that he had the Mangekyo. He wondered if he should just use Amaterasu now. "If you value your life, and the continuation of your family line, you'll release me immediately."
Chouji's eyes were on him, calculating – calculating? He hadn't known the fat boy had it in him – and in the background Shikamaru kept talking. "It's all technical now. You said not to read the technical stuff out loud, right?"
"Summarize," said Chouji in a tone Sasuke was sure that he had never heard from Akimichi Chouji before. "Now." Shikamaru actually flinched, leaning over the terminal.
"You will regret this," said Sasuke calmly, looking straight into the other man's eyes. He could play hardball, too. "You'll never get to eat yakiniku again."
"Head surgery on August 8, again on Sept. 16, eye implantation on 18, facial reconstruction on 27---"
Chouji met his gaze with gray eyes nearly as cold. "I hate yakiniku."
Sasuke blinked, head moving backwards in surprise. Then he whirled it – so fast that the room spun-- and looked around him, really looked.
Below him was a gray concrete floor, with equally depressing concrete walls and ceiling. Wires ran across them, draping down to something behind him that he couldn't quite see but had been in Orochimaru's labs long enough to know.
Tanks.
The cold feeling began in the pit of his stomach.
"They did something else in October," came Shikamaru's whiny voice – not Shikamaru's – over the rushing sound growing in his ears. "I dunno, the entry doesn't refer to anything in specific. I can't summarize it, honest."
There were tanks behind him. There had been glass – yes, glass – on the ground below him. And as he focused on his hands, tied above him, his eyes came to rest on a... mole.
Sasuke had never had a mole on either of his arms before.
The mole seemed to expand, the single dark spot that was not a bug, not a wound, not a tattoo, until it was the only thing he could see--could it be--no, it couldn't--this was genjutsu, a nightmare--
"I have a feeling you are going to be the one to regret this experience," said Chouji—not Chouji—in a voice that somehow managed to express both cold anger and almost-sadness. "Uchiha Sasuke."
Uchiha Sasuke, lab subject # 16, tied down in the underground laboratory where his own body had been changed without his consent, could not find any words in reply.