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'Thoughts'

"Talking"

Chapter One

As long as I could remember it had always been me alone in the darkness, sometime I would hear watery voices and feel sharp stabs of pain, but other than that nothing except for a few times when a man would release me and attempt to get me to talk or do things. He would attach me to machines when I didn't respond like he wished. Sometimes there were others but they would stare blankly not even moving from where they had fallen to the floor. I would stand and he focused his attention on me leaving the others to die on the floor unbreathing. He taught me to talk and learn among other things, but I always seemed a disappointment to him. The times I would be removed stretched until I was not removed at all. So when I felt the pressure that was all around me go away I fell to the floor gasping, blinking open my eyes for the first time in a long time.

There was a tank behind me that still had some liquid dripping out of it so I would assume I had been in it. I don't recall being put in there but then again I never had.

There was a movement to my left and when I turned I saw a masked figure with some sort of animal mask and a purple haired woman.

"I didn't think any of that bastards experiments were still alive or that they even had consciousness. It looks like it is confused. What do you think we should do with it?" the purple haired woman asked. Of course I was confused. I had no idea what is going on. I had never seen anyone but the others and the man. I looked to the man to hear the answer as well. What were they going to do with me?

"We take it to the Hokage to see what he decides," he said, his tone brokering no argument. He abruptly moved forward startling me into scrambling away. He seemed surprised. I took a deep breath and spoke, "What is a hokage and why is the man not here?" The woman's eyes widened and she moved forward. "Did the man have long, black hair and yellow eyes?" At my nod she moved closer. I felt safe with her, so I let her get close.

"What did he do to you?" she asked. I thought back to my interactions with the man and all that he said. "He created me from samples he had collected. He was attempting to create a host from the random recombination of the DNA from various couple from Konoha. He wanted to see what would come of the unions. He taught me to talk and walk among other things as I was the only viable test subject that survived the creation and testing phases. I believe he began to get bored with the experiment and abandoned me in the lab," I finished talking and began to pay attention to the woman's reaction.

She looked enraged before she managed to get ahold of herself. "Do you know how old you are or whose DNA he used to create you?" I got comfortable on the floor as did she though the man behind her looked impatient. I ignored him and nodded. "I'm physically and mentally ten though I don't know how long the tank halted my aging. That's what the tank does. It preserves specimens and halts their decomposition. I'm not sure who my parents are exactly, but when I became more aware and he was irritated with me or something not being what he wished he said something about 'The pretty boy's spawn just had to be the one to survive. He is irritating me even when he is not here.'

That got a fun look too. The disbelief on her face and that I could sense from the masked man was hilarious. "Do you know who he was talking about?" That shook them out of their stupor and into action. "The Hokage is the leader of the village to answer one of your earlier questions and the man was Orochimaru. He is a traitor to the village and his whereabouts are unknown currently. Now we must get you to the Hokage. He needs to know about this." I nodded again and the woman scooped me up making us disappear in a puff of smoke.

Point of View Change

The Third Hokage was sitting at his desk fighting the continuing battle against his paperwork and though no one could see it he was worried. Another of Orochimaru's labs was discovered in a farmer's field by a genin team. He had sent Anko and an ANBU team to explore it and there was no telling what they would find. He simply hoped that it would not be as horrific as that last one.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched his tired arms. It was times like these he truly wished Minato was still here. A puff of smoke appeared in the center of his office and Tiger and Anko appeared before him, but they were not alone.

"This place is much prettier and brighter than the laboratory. I like it," a child's voice said. A little girl with spikey red hair and a familiar pair of blue eyes was being held in Anko's arms. 'She appeared to be in good health, but considering her comment it sounded like she had been living in Orochimaru's lab her whole life.' The Third sighed. "Who is this?"

The little girl turned to the Third and answered with a smile. "I'm experiment 573910. I don't have a name of my own. What's your name?" The Third blinked at the unorthodox answer, before chuckling. 'She certainly was a cheerful child considering,' the Third thought. "My name is Hiruzen Sarutobi and I am the Third Hokage of Konoha." She tilted her head to the side in a manner that seemed very familiar. "It's nice to meet you. Apparently you are to decide what to do with me," the little girl said with a furrowed brow.

The Third looked to Anko and Tiger. "What happened?"

Anko stepped forward. "We made it into the lab then split into groups of two to explore each of the three corridors. Tiger and I took the farthest to the left. There was no traps that we could see and we reached a door at the end. Upon opening it we found a room filled with tall tubes lining one wall and a dissection table and other experiment related materials on the other. When we stepped into the room one of the tubes lit up and slid open, draining in the process. A little girl fell out. At first there was no reaction to our presence until Tiger took a step forward, then the child turned to look at us, noting our presence for the first time. Confusion and uncertainty were emotions that the child displayed. I made a comment to Tiger about what we should do turning to look at him and the child looked to him too. This showed the child had some intelligence and either mimicked me or knew what I had said and was waiting for an answer as well. Tiger answered that by saying that we should take the child to you and moved to grab her. She immediately scrambled backwards and asked us who or rather what a hokage was and then where the man was. I described Orochimaru and asked if that was the man, which she confirmed. She relaxed in my presence when I approached. I asked what he did and she answered that he had created her using DNA of various citizens of Konoha. I then asked more questions. She is ten and her father, as described by Orochimaru, is a pretty boy," said Anko, finishing her oral report. The little girl nodded. "They looked funny when I said that and then ignored me when I asked if they knew who he was," the girl added, pouting.

The Third Hokage glanced at Anko and saw her give a nod. The Third then sighed again. This was going to give him even more paperwork to wade through.

"Do you have a name in mind that you would like?" the Third asked, pulling out forms to fill out. The little girl thought for a bit then said, "Natsumi." He then filled out the rest and wrote a note for Shikaku to come to his office tomorrow. "Your name shall be Uzumaki Natsumi. How do you feel about having a little brother?"

TBC…

If you think Natsumi seems too smart and then seems different when the point of view changes it's because that's the way she sees herself as opposed to how she seems to the adults. Kids always think that they are smarter than they are.