The Hideout

The room is quite dark with only a single lit candle as a source of light. The air is heavy with smell of chemicals in it. Numerous bottles, test tubes, beakers filled with various coloured chemicals were stacked on the shelves. In front of the candle, was a book almost halfway open.

"200 grams of sulfur, 26 ml of water and….. "

KNOCK.

"….36 grams of iron, 28 grams of calcium fluoride….."

KNOCK, KNOCK.

"2mg of gold, 40 ml of Potassium thiocynide……"

"Kabuto, open the door", came a calm and composed voice from behind Kabuto, who was busy in his research facility.

"……..and my final ingredient, 70 mg of Cesium. There. All the ingredients are added. Now, all I need to do is wait. A long wait of 3 hours."

And then, behind him, the door came crashing down with Sasuke standing behind it equipped with a Chidori in his left hand.

Still focused on the beaker full of chemicals from the recent experiment, Kabuto replied, "Hmm, Sasuke. Long time no see…." He let the words hang in the air. "………So, what brings you here?"

Sasuke turned off the Chidori and walked towards him.

"I need information."

Kabuto took out the stirrer from the beaker. "Straight to the point. As usual." Next he placed the stirrer in the rack. "So Sasuke, tell me what do you want to know about?"

"About Fugaku Uchiha. Specifically, as to how he got his name The Wicked Eye Fugaku".

Moving his eyes away from the apparatus rack, he turned, facing Sasuke now. "Well, well. Now, this question was least expected." He turned towards the book, closed it and then picked it up.

"How about we go to somewhere else and discuss this, Sasuke?"

"Suites me fine", came the reply.

"Follow me then" and with that Kabuto walked towards the door with Sasuke trailing him. The door led to a vast passageway, with numerous rooms in either side. The passageway was illuminated by numerous candles hanging from the ceiling, each within an interval of 1 meter.

Kabuto walked towards a room and then reached for the key in his pocket. He inserted the key and turned it. Then with a creaking sound, the door opened.

The room is a library. It was well lit with multiple candle lamps attached to all four walls, each at an interval pf 1.2 meters, this room had a gravity of its own. Smell of books hung in the air.

Kabuto strode towards the shelf from where he took the book and then replaced the empty slot with the book. At the far end of the library, there was another door leading to the study. Kabuto walked towards it with Sasuke following him. The door was unlocked. Kabuto opened it.

"Make yourself comfortable, Sasuke"

The room was engulfed in total darkness. Kabuto went inside and instinctively turned right for the shelves. He took up a candle, matchstick and a candle lamp stand and placed it on the table in front of them. The candle lamp lit up some moments later and the darkness surrounding them got partially engulfed. With sofas on both side, and the table in the middle, Sasuke and Kabuto, each occupied a seat so as they were facing each other.

"Where's Orochimaru?'

"Now, now Sasuke, don't be impatient. So many questions……"

A sharp look from Sasuke prevented Kabuto from going on. Kabuto, then adjusted his spectacles.

"Hmm…. So you want to know about Fugaku Uchiha, isn't it Sasuke? You're quite fortunate in that case. Lord Orochimaru found an encoded written record as to what Fugaku's contribution in the 3rd shinobi war were. Currently, I don't have that record with me, but it took both of us quite a lot of time to decode it. Although, I do have that stored in my mind."

"Go on. I'm all ears."

"So the story begins like this………."