Hey everyone, thank you to everyone for reviewing and following my new story. I didn't explain too much of the plot in the prologue. Sorry, I took so long to update, I've been busy writing other projects as well. I hope you all enjoy the beginning of my new fanfic. This story will get quite emotional.
Here's a more detailed summary: During a Kabuto and Sasuke stumble across more than they bargained for, this once in a lifetime discover soon leads Sasuke Uchiha on an unexpected journey.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
The Encounter
Sasuke lay in his bed, trying to sleep. After a long training session, the raven longed for a good night sleep. Instead of thinking about this day, Sasuke used this brief case on insomnia to critique his progress. "My accuracy has improved since I started using new targets, but it's still not perfect." He told himself. In his mind, the Uchiha was already planning tomorrow's schedule. "Tomorow I'll have a sparing session, I haven't been keeping up with my sword practice lately," he told himself. With his day planned, Sasuke went back to trying to sleep. Just as his eye lids finnally closed Kabuto burst into his room. "Get up, we need to leave now." The medical ninja ordered running back out the door before he could ask any questions.
Without losing his temper, Sasuke dragged himself out of bed and followed Kabuto towards the exit. As he walked through the base his need to sleep increased. "This better be good." The Uchiha thought to himself.
Despite the medic's eagerness to leave, Kabuto still checked for danger before he stepped out of the hideout. Without any artificial lights from street lamps, the ninja often relied on the moon and stars to guide them, but to tonight was a new moon. Usually, the medic wouldn't travel during the start of the lunar cycle, but on this occasion Kabuto needed it to be as dark as possible, first rays of sunlight were still hours away. "If we don't leave now we'll miss our chance," the medic explained. Building a secret base in a dry and rocky terrain gave them privacy and seclusion, but the harsh heat made travelling during the day impossible.
After wandering through the barren land for a few hours Sasuke began to suspect they were lost. "
Kabuto snorted at Sasuke's claim, continued to follow his map's directions. They came to a large thorn bush. Kabuto tested the soil and found it if the darkness, Kabuto found the spotted a path worn into the ground. "Sasuke would you be a dear and cut out a path for me?" Kabuto asked sweetly.
For the next few minutes, the two shinobi carefully followed the path until they stumbled across the entrance to the cave.
"Looks like it goes straight down," Kabuto noted., two ninjas cautiously walked down the staircase.
Once inside Kabuto removed his hood. "Now watch your step, Sasuke-Kun. I wouldn't want you to sleep walk into anything." The taller man mocked. Just as he said that the last step crumbled under the medic's weight sending the missing-nin face first into the ground.
A second figure followed at much more graceful landing than his mentor's assistant, Sasuke responded to Kabuto's earlier warning with his trademark, "Hn." Before calmly stepping over the embarrassed man.
With his dignity in tatters, Kabuto bit his tongue, nothing more would please the medic more than to wipe the smug look off Sasuke's face, but he had t restrain himself. Touching his master's future body was off limits. "Damn Uchiha's," he cursed to himself.
While Kabuto recovered from his fall, Sasuke observed his surroundings. torches hadn't been lit for a few days, leftover food still remained on plates. "No one's lived here for a few days." The Sharingan user noted.
The uninhabited lair was of little interest to Sasuke. "He woke me up just to show me this," Sasuke hadn't been in a good mood ever since he'd been rudely awoken at the crack of dawn by Kabuto. In his haste to leave, the sleepy raven hadn't even had a chance to question where they were going. "Why did you drag me to anther cave?" Sasuke asked, unimpressed he'd wasted his day for no reason.
Before the inquisitive raven could step into the first room, Kabuto roughly grabbed his arm, preventing him from moving any further. "I'd watch where you step if I were you," the spy warned. "I think we can both agree our master wouldn't appreciate it if his new body was blown to pieces." The medic never missed a chance to mock the arrogant teen whenever he could.
When Sasuke glanced at the floor, the sharp-eyed ninja spotted the unmistakable glint of a trip wire in between the door frame. As his onyx eyes followed the wires path, he saw it branched off to numerous paper bombs. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he scrutinized the intricate booby trap. "This type of trap is far too sophisticated for a bandit hideout," he deduced. The bombs alone made it clear to the sharp teen they weren't about to enter just any cave.
Kabuto quietly watched as his young charge scanned the rest of the room. "Seems like he's finally noticed," he thought. Taking advantage of the raven's bewilderment,
Taking advantage of the raven's bewilderment, Kabuto stepped over the trip wire and into the room. "One of our master's many informants gave me some interesting information," he began. "Three days ago an entire team of ANBU was ambushed and killed by the hidden mist," The man carefully used his torch to light his path before explaining any further. "Myself and Lord Orochimaru believe this could potently be their base." The medic explained. "I'm just so grateful that my master gave me permission to search it," As Kabuto feared, Sasuke inevitably became the Sannin's new favourite, over the two years the missing-ninja took pleasure in gloating no matter how small the victory.
Getting one over on Sasuke, wasn't the main reason for requesting the small mission, raiding these abandoned posts provided wanted criminals with a rare opportunity to collect weapons, scrolls, and intel. For Kabuto, it gave the medical ninja, a chance to restock his medical depleted medical supplies. Being a wanted criminal meant he couldn't just stroll into any herbal store and ask. This inconvenience left Kabuto with just two options; turning to the black market or hunting the herbs himself. Locating and finding herbs was both time consuming and dangerous and using by from meaning the very expensive.
After about an hour of searching, the two shinobi found the medical supplies. Kabuto's face lit up when he saw all the shelves full of herbs and other medical supplies. "Looks like we're the first ones here." The medic noted. Not wasting time, Kabuto pulled out two large scrolls and started grabbing various bottles and jars carefully laying the objects on the paper. Storing the items inside the made it far easier to collect the items without having to make a return trip.
Even when whilst Kabuto sorted through the various plants, the sound-ninja reminded himself to remain vigilant, it wouldn't take long before other showed up. "I think it's time I put Sasuke to work." He when he spotted standing around. Along with gloating, Kabuto also loved giving Sasuke mundane tasks. "Well don't just stand there, go and stand guard outside, there's no telling how much time we have," Kabuto instructed, when he watched Sasuke, the medical ninja swore he saw the slight flicker of iteration in the raven's eye.
Saying nothing, Sasuke left Kabuto to play with his plants. Once he was a safe distance, the gifted ninja summoned a small snake to his side. "Go and stand guard outside, if any ninja approach lets me know," he ordered.
The young serpent gave a low hiss of acknowledgement, before slivering towards the entrance. "Now that's taken care of, let's see what else those ANBU have hidden here." As Sasuke ventured deeper into ANBU base he Plants and weapons didn't interest the young Uchiha. Whenever the raven always went to find ninja scrolls. Weather they were about ninjutsu or movements on the Akatsuki. No matter how much Sasuke trained he could never quench his thirst for power. "Soon I'll be strong enough to fight my brother," he promised.
After a few twists and turns, the inquisitive raven eventually stumbled across a much larger chamber. Learning from his previous mistake, Sasuke checked the room before he stepped foot inside. Using the torch light he saw long chains dangling from the ceiling, scattered kunai knives on the ground hinted towards the rooms purpose. "A training room perhaps?" Sasuke wondered. Just as the boy went to leave, he noticed odd markings on walls, at first Sasuke, assumed the scratches were caused by a blade from a sword or a kunai. But a closer look revealed that they were, in fact, claw marks.
A number of questions came to mind. "Why would highly train ANBU to build a training room?" He asked himself. Something else bothered the teenager. "ANBU only yet this seems more like a permanent
Found a room stacked to the ceiling with books and scrolls. "These ANBU certainly loved their collections," he noted. With so many scrolls all sorted into an organised system, it wouldn't be difficult to find the information he craved for. As Sasuke carefully sifted through the mountain of documents, he soon became absorbed in his task. In no time at all the avenger soon forgot about the training room and the strange claw marks.
Back in the medical room, Kabuto just about finished dividing the herbs and equipment between the two scrolls. Once all the items were carefully arranged inside the pair of scrolls, the medic sealed them inside. "There all done," he said to himself, proud of his work. Before leaving Kabuto decided to look at the books.
Out of all the bookcases, this one hadn't been untouched. When the medic studied the bookcase more closely he saw scuff marks on the floor. It wasn't uncommon for to build hidden rooms in bases. "A secrete door perhaps." After checking for traps, the medic tried moving it himself didn't budge an inch.
Sasuke stepped back into the herb room to find Kabuto struggling with a bookcase. As amusing as this was to see, the raven wanted to return home and read the scrolls he'd found. "Kabuto, we should start heading out before anymore ninja shows up." The raven advised.
"Never mind that Sasuke, come and help me move this." He ordered.
Even with both the two shinobi pushing it still didn't move. The pair removed all the books wasn't long before the heavy case moved. As the wooden case opened a crack the pair were hit by the overpowering odour of urine and faeces. Both shinobi recoiled at the foul stench and began coughing to rid the burning fumes from their lungs. On their third attempt, Sasuke and Kabuto used their cloaks as makeshift masks in the attempt to ease the smell. Once they'd pushed the door open enough, the pair stepped inside the secret room.
Unlike the other rooms, this room had no access to light. But in contrast to the rest of the base, there wasn't a single torch hanging on the wall, no furniture just a large metal cage in the centre of the room. As Kabuto and Sasuke cautiously approached the cage the burning smell increased making both the shinobi gag.
The overpowering smell proved too much for Sasuke and the avenger decided to hang back.
While Sasuke tired to compose himself, Kabuto pressed on slightly amused to see Sasuke struggling to deal with the smell. "Seems like Sasuke still doesn't know his limits," he smirked. Unlike his unwilling assistant, bad odours barely bothered the experienced medic anymore. During his long years of serving under Orochimaru part of the medical ninja's job often involved disposing of decomposing bodies.
Once Kabuto got close enough, the former sound-ninja peeked through the bars, they saw a medium sized creature with a long tail and pointed ears, curled into the foetal position. Apart from the tail and ears, the beast was almost hairless. mattered fur that probably hadn't been groomed for weeks. The animal's coat and lack of body fat indicated a long period of neglect.
Now accustomed to the odour Kabuto felt confident enough to kneel down for a closer inspection. "I guess the ANBU forgot to tell someone to feed their little pet while they were away." Kabuto guessed checking the body over.
With Kabuto's torch light enabled Sasuke to see more clearly. Even from where he stood the teenager could clearly see the claw marks on the stone floor. The memory of the training room came flooding back to him. "I wonder if that creature made those marks in the training room." He thought. Continuing his own investigation he spotted something that made even his cold heartache. "It even tried to bite its way out of that cage." He spotted. The chewed up bowls inside the animal's cage showed its desperation for water. "It must have run out of water." He said out loud, feeling a wave of sympathy for the dead animal.
For once Kabuto didn't disagree with his charge. "Yes, it would seem that way." Yet everything from the elaborate hiding place and room suggested this room wasn't supposed to be found. Apart from keeping an animal, Kabuto couldn't see why the ANBU went to such lengths to keep this room hidden. Keeping pets wasn't exactly common practice in such a secretive organisation. "Strange, ANBU never keeps anything in these places unless it was valuable to their mission." To stratify his growing curiosity, Kabuto gently moved the tail to get a better look at the face.
Kabuto took in a sharp intake of breath. Because of the skeletal body hid most of the recognisable features. "That's incredible." The man noted. He couldn't see any of tell-tell signs of decomposition. Filled with hope, Kabuto pressed his fingers against the bodies neck. After an anxious wait, the medical ninja finally detected a weak pulse. "Help me get it back to my lab, we don't have much time." He ordered using a hair pin to pick the cage lock.
Somehow in the rush to leave Sasuke ended up carrying the lifeless body. Throughout the journey, the raven could feel the creatures bones digging into his back and shoulders.
No sooner did they step into the Northern-hide out both the shinobi heard. The Sannin's pained voice echoed the building. "Kabuto!" The man's voice bounced off the walls.
Kabuto cursed under his breath. "Oh shit," Thanks to the extra load, the medic had missed administering Orochimaru's medicine. On a strict schedule to manage the sannin's pain and slow the deterioration of his body. "If I go in and see Lord Orochimaru in his current condition, there's a strong chance I won't come out alive," he thought. To avoid a potently grizzly death, Kabuto roughly took the half-dead boy from Sasuke's shoulders. "Tell Orochimaru-Sama I'm just organising my herb collection." He ordered, approaching his master in a pain fuelled rage wasn't safe, but if he sent Sasuke the boy was more likely to return than himself.
Caught a rare glimpse of emotion crossed Sasuke's usually stoic expression. For once the teenager failed to hide his displeasure. The raven didn't the medic a cold look but he didn't protest.
With time of the essence, Kabuto rushed to his lab. Once inside Kabuto began administering the mystery teen with life-saving fluids. Became so focused on his task he failed to notice Sasuke enter the room.
After returning from a rather ill-tempered Orochimaru, While the young Uchiha quietly watched as Kabuto frantically tried to save the deformed creature's life. While Sasuke couldn't deny he wasn't a little curious, but the black-haired teen didn't understand the medic's excitement at all. "Why did you make me carry that dead animal back anyway?" He asked coolly.
Kabuto didn't pause to answer the question. "Because it's neither dead or an animal." Now that he had the teenager's full attention, the medic before revealing how he'd the bodies true species. "If you look closely, you'll see the legs are too long. That and the shape of the spine tells me, this body is designed to stand upright, it may have long canines but the jaw. It's easy to overlook because of these claws, but animals do not have thumbs."
All these physical traits pointed towards a surprising conclusion. "So It's human." Sasuke deduced.
After listening to that brief biology lesson Sasuke, went back to quietly observing Kabuto did his work. "Why am I even hanging around her anyway?" Despite repeatedly telling himself to just walk away, but his desire to learn more urged the boy to ask more questions, the tail, and ears. "What's wrong with it anyway?" Sasuke questioned. "And what's with the tail and ears?"
Surprised by the extra questions, Kabuto paused and studied his master's apprentice closely. "Sasuke's never shown any interest in my work unless he needs healing," he remembered. "At the moment dehydration is the main cause. But I'm willing to guess that malnutrition and infection haven't helped his condition." The medic listed. "Not to mention he's covered in fleas and ticks." He added.
Sasuke's head snapped up at this. Sure enough, when the raven studied the body more closely his sharp eyes spotted the blood sucking insects crawling in the tail and ears. After learning this new information, the disgusted Uchiha stepped even further away from the table. The raven's porcelain skin started to crawl and itch at the thought of the tiny insects biting his sensitive skin. "He already knew that and still forced me to carry that thing," Sasuke glared at the former spy, furious that he'd been forced to carry the infested body back.
Before the idea of trapping Kabuto in a genjutsu became too tempting, Sasuke quickly shook the thought from his head and decided to make a quick exit. "I need to go, Orochimaru wants me to fetch him another scroll," He explained. Before he left the raven need to pack a few essentials and more importantly-burn his clothes.
Looked up from his work, "First he starts asking me questions about my work, and now he's putting his precious training on hold," the adult noted. Under his master's guidance, Sasuke had become powerful shinobi, but the raven never lost his cold personality. "This isn't the first time, Sasuke has volunteered to go on a long mission," he noted. For the first two years, Kabuto dismissed this pattern as a coincidence. Now for the third year in a row, the sound-ninja suspected Sasuke had an ulterior motive for leaving. "It's been almost three years now, hasn't it?" Kabuto wanted to see if the reacted to the question.
To Kabuto's dismay, Sasuke didn't freeze or gave away any hint that it bothered him. The cool raven didn't even stop as he answered the question.
"There's nothing special about today, It's just a normal day like any other," Sasuke replied coldly.
Sasuke calmly returned to his room and began preparing for his mission. Slowly became a regular routine. Every few months Orochimaru needed a new Jutsu to slow his body down. Ever since he'd joined Orochimaru, there wasn't a day that passed where Sasuke didn't see a wanted poster or pursued by hordes of bounty hunters. His Mangkeyó Sharingan failed to activate. When Sasuke wasn't putting himself through a gruelling training session the boy spent hours wondering why his new eyes hadn't awakened. Until Sasuke eventually came to the conclusion that his bond with Naruto hadn't been strong in the first place. And yet whenever the anniversary of his team-mates death approached, the raven felt a growing urge to leave the compound and be on his own.
"It won't be long now, soon I'll leave this place and hunt Itachi down and restore my clan's honour." The avenger vowed.
Finally, alone with his treasure, Kabuto began the long task of cleaning and healing the boy. "Now that Sasuke's gone, I can work with be distracted from my work." He stared down at the skeletal body and wondered where to begin. It was seeing the fleas again that made up his mind. "I better do something about these first," he told himself.
With Orochimaru already weakened, the medical ninja couldn't risk the blood-sucking parasites spreading diseases and potentially infecting his master's wounds. Each blood filled parasite was carefully removed and placed in a tray of water. Once all the ticks were removed and promptly killed, Kabuto dealt with the fleas next. At first, he tried to comb the insects out but after a few strokes with the comb, he realised there were just too many. "This infestation is so bad and fur's so matted and dirty." Giving up on his initial plan, Kabuto decided to shave the head and tail instead.
The medic spent the next hour carefully removing clumps of fur and into a bin and burning it. Wasn't the only part that was dirty. "I should really clean him, but its so thin, washing it now could do more harm than good." Kabuto reasoned. Promised to wash off the dirt off the boy's skin if he recovered enough. As Kabuto gently turned the body onto it's back the medic saw even more injuries. On his back covered in cuts and scars, the fresher injuries were still open. The medical ninja tutted with disapproval. "Tsk Tsk Tsk, you've certainly been in the wars haven't you?" Kabuto remarked, while his skilled eyes inspected every wound. "Looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me. Just try not to die before I get a chance to research you." He ordered.
The last thing Kabuto did was cut the mangled collar off his neck, it was then Kabuto noticed a small name tag. "Akuma," he read, "Quite a fitting name." He thought.
Three days had passed since finding the strange boy in the ANBU camp. Demanded most of his time and attention. While guest slowly recovered Kabuto juggled Orochimaru's care with looking after his own experiment.
Even when Bed-ridden and ill-tempered, the legendary Sannin wasn't to be kept waiting. "I'll need to replace this body soon," the sage mentioned to his loyal subordinate. Even with a gifted medical ninja like Kabuto by his side, it wasn't enough to stop his body from decaying. On days like this, picturing himself taking Sasuke's body was the only thing that helped the shinobi through the pain. "Thanks to my training Sasuke's body will be more than strong enough when I take it." The Sanin bit through his pain while he waited for his assistant to come and give him his medicine. For the third time in a row, Kabuto had been late.
Right on cue, Kabuto suddenly dashed into the room carrying a tray full of medicines. "I'm sorry for the wait my lord," he apologised handing his master his pills. As always the sly man already had a plausible excuse for his lateness. "It's taking me some time to arrange those herbs I found," Kabuto apologised hoping this half-truth would be enough to quell the older shinobi's anger.
Lying bedridden, with nothing but the pain to keep the Sannin company, only increased the volatile shinobi's desire to spill blood. The sages golden eyes never once left the face. "You seem to be busy a lot lately, Kabuto." He spat. Ever since the day, he'd come back from Orochimaru noticed a change in the usual punctual medic. "Never forget you're replaceable," he said, even though the sanin knew finding another medic as gifted as Kabuto would be nearly impossible, didn't hurt to remind Kabuto from time to time.
Sensing Kabuto bowed his head apologetically. "Sorry my lord, things will return to normal as soon as my work is done." The medic promised. Could still feel his master's killer intent increased. To change the subject before Orochimaru tried to kill him. "Sasuke's body should be ready soon."
He wasn't entirely convinced by the story. "That might well be the case, but that doesn't excuse you from your duties," the Sannin spat.
His master's words still cut deeply. Kabuto bowed one last time and walked out of the room.
To keep his gift a surprise, Kabuto made the dangerous decision to keep their new guest a secret until his master had recovered enough. With his duty completed, the slippery spy returned to his lab. After such a cold reception from his mentor, Kabuto welcomed the distraction.
Unsurprisingly Kabuto found the hybrid still unconscious when he entered the recovery room. "Sorry about that, I shouldn't have left you so long but our master always comes first." He told the boy. The first night had been touch and go. Kabuto thought he was going to die with each breath he took. During that long night, Kabuto counted the seconds, telling himself that each ticked by increased the boy's chances of survival.
Even though the mysterious boy was still recovering, that didn't stop Kabuto from studying his pet project. Each new day brought him new surprises. X ray's and scans showed just how intricate vertebrate, "Amazing, it's as if he were born with the tail and ears." "I don't think even Lord Orochimaru could perform a miracle like this," he speculated.
Apart from the name tag, the collar didn't yield any information.
Simply studying the specimen wasn't enough for Kabuto. Fascinated by his find the medic desperately wanted to see the body in action, learn where he'd come from and possibly uncover his creator's secrets. "Once he regains consciousness I'll have even more to learn." Eager to begin, Kabuto could feel himself, getting impatient with the wait. "It's only been three days; I can't expect too much," he reminded himself.
Despite only a few days passing, nearly all of the creatures injuries were already showing signs of healing. "As much as I love to stare at it, I better start cleaning his wounds again." Once he collected his equipment Kabuto began to long task of changing the bandages. To prevent infection from setting in, Kabuto started dabbing cotton wool with liquid antiseptic and gently wiping it over the gashes. As became absorbed in cleaned the wound. Out-of-the-corner the short-sighted man swore he saw the tail move. Kabuto started at the tail a few more moments before going back to his task. As he wiped the cut again the tail twitching from side-to-side. "Could it be."
Deep in the depths of his subconscious, a small fox lay curled into a ball with his tail warped around himself.
Ever since he found himself in this dark place, the young kitsune kept asked himself the same question. "Where am I?" This wasn't how he'd pictured death, there wasn't a tunnel, bright light or flashbacks only darkness and loneliness. The young fox sighed in defeat. "I should have known better, there's no way heaven would welcome a monster like me." He thought sadly, pulling his tail over his eyes.
"Hmph, so you've finally woken up then," the deep voice teased.
Now fully of energy, the smaller fox jumped up, surprised to see the much larger fox behind bars. "You shouldn't be here, with me why…what's going on?" He questioned.
The larger fox looked down sadly at his kit, "Just open your eyes and see for yourself." The voice ordered.
Fear started knawing at the frightened boy. "What if I'm not dead, they've come back." He panicked. The fox ran to his protector and nuzzled his coat. "No, I don't want to. Please let me stay here." He begged.
As much as it pained him, the fox nudged him away from the cage.
The very second the young fox opened his eyes, he wanted to return to the darkness. Everything in the room overload his senses all at once; the bright light above his head burnt his eyes, he could hear his own heartbeat pounding away in his chest, the scents coming from too many herbs set his nose of fire. "Make it stop," He silently begged. In his weakened state the boy could only manage to thrash his tail a little and let out series of small cries.
Instead of trying to soothe his overwhelmed patient, Kabuto grabbed a camera and notepad to record this moment. As he observed the poor creature as it struggled to make sense of its environment. "He's only just woken up and I've already discovered something new about it." He couldn't take his eyes off the moving tail. "So It can move its tail," Kabuto noted.
Kabuto continued to take notes and observe, until the former spy spotted a far more important detail that made the medic drop the camera. "No, surely not that's impossible," he told himself. Every time the eyes briefly opened he caught a fleeting glimpse of the pair azure eyes. Now the whisker-markings and hair colour now made complete sense. A smile grew wider. "Well look who's back from the dead," Kabuto stated.
Ok leaving it there for now, I l Loved writing this chapter. AN/ Akuma means demon. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. if you enjoyed this chapter please review.
