Woop another chapter!

Ok I told a lie but I really wanted to get this chapter up. With regards to my story I Want To Be a Father, the last chapter of that should be up by the beginning of next week =D

Hope you enjoy!

Shattered Dreams and Mending Bonds

Chapter 2

Sasuke checked every room he ran past.

Sharingan activated as he scanned the dark rooms and the barely lit hallways. He conveyed no emotion on his pale face. He wouldn't let it show, he didn't want it to show. Because he knew that if he showed even one small glimpse of his feelings they would all come flooding out.

Pausing at the end of the hallway he waited for the rest of his team to catch up. Sakura and the two new additions to team 7. Yamato and Sai.

Sakura had become more tolerable over the years. She gave up on her fan-girl crush, which Sasuke thanked the gods for. She was a loyal comrade, and kind of a friend. He could trust her, that much he was sure of.

Sai was worse for emotions than he was. There was something about him Sasuke didn't like. The raven could swear there was something fishy going on, Sai had hidden motives Sasuke was sure of it.

Yamato was an odd one. Sasuke didn't have much of an opinion on him; he was just a stand in until Kakashi could return.

Sasuke didn't like either of them but being that this mission was important to him, he decided to co-operate with them.

Their mission was none other then to retrieve Uzumaki Naruto. His friend, quite frankly Naruto was his only friend. Everyone else was just associates who he says a friendly hello to when he was in a talkative mood.

None of them compared to the bond him and the blonde had.

'Where are you?! Dobe come on! You have to be here!' Sasuke frantically thought as he scanned the yet another room, noting it to be empty.

"Where is he? He has to be here… he has to be damnit. I'm not going back without him." Sakura cursed slightly.

"I don't know…" Sasuke stated calmly, looking around he noted there to be light coming from one of the rooms ahead of them. "There."

"The light looks like it's coming from monitors or something of that sort." Sai noted, earning a nod from nearly everyone but Sasuke.

Sai had learned from Sakura that Sasuke didn't show many emotions and that was just how he had always been, but from what he could gather from her it got worse when Naruto was taken. As far as he knew, Naruto was the only one able to break through the Uchiha's emotional barriers and defenses.

It still didn't stop Sai from trying though, but his attempts were in vain. Sasuke shot down every attempt thus far. Sakura told him, that it was just how Sasuke was and try not to take it too personal.

He told her, that he didn't because he had little to no emotions left in him.

"Sasuke, you head first followed by Sai. Sakura and I will bring up the rear." Yamato stated, earning a stern nod from Sasuke who did as he was told. There was no time for him to dispute Yamato's words.

As soon as they got there the only thing other then the sound of machines was heard was Sakura gasping and the mutter of a single name.

"Naruto…"

-::-::-

Naruto stopped counting the days that someone would rescue him a long time ago. It seemed too long to him anyway. How long exactly had he been here? He couldn't remember, all he knew was that it must have been years.

For the first year he was here, it was either isolation or torture. By the end of that year Naruto found himself begging Orochimaru to stop, that he would do anything to make him stop.

That did the trick.

But it didn't stop the pain that he now lived with. Orochimaru trained him, once he was broken that was. He was stronger now, then he was before, but he didn't fight unless he was forced to.

There were a lot of forced fights.

A lot of killing.

Naruto no longer knew which experiments were done on him, or how many times. He didn't care anymore, why care when no one was going to come and get him.

The blonde was contained in a bed like structure. Needles were attached in specific areas of his body - wrists, inner elbow and above his hips for some reason. There was also another machine that kept track of brainwave and heart rate.

All of this just so they could perform experiments, because they knew he would live. He would live because of what he was. A demon holder, a jinchuuriki. Something he never had control over.

The needles all were attached to some sort of tubes that held liquid in them of all colors - Blue, red, green, purple, orange. He didn't know what one did what, not that he cared.

The ones on his wrists and inner elbow kept his body numb and from him fighting off the pain that circled his body.

The needles that were stuck into him above the hips were attached to bigger tubes of some sorts. A lot of attention was always paid to this one for some reason.

Kabuto hung around the whole time these certain experiments were done. And supposedly this time was the last.

But that's what they always said. It was never true.

His hair was still short, and unmanageable. But his eyes were dull; there was nothing left in those once bright orbs. He never smiled anymore either.

Why should he?

There was no reason to smile here, unless you're Orochimaru.

He heard the door open, but didn't look. He no longer cared who was at the door; he gave up the hope that he would be rescued. He gave that up the day they broke him.

"Naruto…"

It was the first time anyone used his name in a while. Whenever someone uttered his name, it was always Orochimaru who spoke it. And those were always unpleasant times. Not that he really cared anymore.

He knew that soft voice however, it wasn't Orochimaru. This was a female's voice, the voice that belonged to certain pink haired kunoichi that lived in Konohagakure.

'Sakura?' His mind stated in more shock then surprise.

He couldn't stop himself from at least looking out of the corner of his eye, wanting to see if it was true or just whatever drugs that were being put into him fooling with his mind again.

It was true, it was her and others. Two of them he didn't recognize at all.

'Sasuke!' His mind screamed this time; he remembered that he fought with Sasuke to make him stay, to keep him away from the darkness. He succeeded but the cost was to lose himself to that darkness.

Was it worth it?

He could tell they were coming closer; Sakura was already examining him and what was attached to him. Noting what the machines said and started to remove the needles from his skin.

'Is that a good idea? I could attack you.' Naruto asked in his mind as he just looked up at the ceiling.

"It'll be okay… Naruto." she said, gripping Naruto's hand tightly and in a comforting manner.

Sakura just wanted to cry. She couldn't believe how broken he looked, what had these creeps done to him.

Sasuke couldn't voice anything; he never expected to see Naruto so withdrawn, so damaged, where were all the emotions he used to display. Of course he wasn't expecting Naruto to be all happy, he was taken by Orochimaru, and the name said it all. He had hoped that he would at least show anger or something, after all that could be a good sign.

Couldn't it?

"Trying to free my little lab rat?" a sinister voice rang out from the door.

Yamato cursed, while Sai and Sasuke immediately got into defensive stances in front of the blonde. They had just found Naruto and they weren't going to loose him now. Not now, they had come too far to loose him again.

"You will only have one chance to back off… Orochimaru." Sasuke stated coldly, he could feel his curse mark throb but he had considerable control over it.

After all, if you can control your darkness then you can control the curse mark. He had learned over the years to control his darkness, his hatred, with the help of one very skilled medic nin.

"Really? What if I told you that if I ordered my little lab rat to attack and kill you. He would." Orochimaru mocked coldly, grinning all the while.

The snake sannin watched for any reaction, happy that he was getting reactions out of them.

Some more then others.

"Why did you do this to him?! He didn't deserve this! What are you talking about attacking us, we're his friends!" Sakura snarled angrily.

'Friends? Didn't deserve this?' Naruto's mind mulled over what Sakura had said.

He watched Sakura's facial emotions play clearly for him. He recognized the anger, pain and sorrow. And even saw hatred there as well, he wondered faintly if that was directed towards Orochimaru.

After all, she dubbed him as a friend right?

"Oh, are you sure now. What if I told him to slit your throat where you stand? What will your last thoughts be as you lay bleeding on the ground?" Orochimaru mocked cruelly.

'Slit her throat?' Naruto's mind repeated the almost order, it was almost as if he was now waiting for it be verified.

Truthfully, he probably would slit her throat if he was ordered to do it, but it would come at a cost for what was left of his mind. He was broken he knew that, but now that they were here there was a small part of his mind that wasn't quite as broken as he thought.

"He wouldn't do that! You don't know him like we do! You underestimate his will!" Sakura challenged.

She had complete faith in Naruto, even to the point where it could easily be considered blind faith to most people. And plus, she trained all this time to bring him home. And she was determined to not leave empty handed.

"Oh, are you so sure about that?" Orochimaru challenged back.

Too busy having fun arguing with the medic kunoichi. Orochimaru didn't even realize that Yamato was pushing wood into the ground without anyone noticing or hearing the slight cracks that his action was causing.

"Yes." Sakura stated, even Sasuke silently agreed with her. He knew Naruto had a strong will. Sasuke did however prepare himself to restrain Naruto if it was absolutely necessary.

Naruto didn't react to anyone, how could he? So he just laid there waiting for either an order to be given or for Sakura and Sasuke to make their moves.

Whatever came first, because to be honest he couldn't careless either way.

"Mokuton: Moku Joheki!"

Without warning to anyone wood shot up from the ground encasing Yamato and his team along with Naruto in a wood dome. Even that didn't gain a reaction from Naruto. The top of the doom shot up more and more, breaking the ground as it went.

"I really get nervous when you do this taichou… It's weird hearing the ground move and break above you…" Sakura hummed, though she kept an eye on Naruto.

"Don't worry, the wood won't break. But as soon as the top of it opens up I want one of you to grab Naruto and bring him with us." Yamato stated as he stood his ground.

Sai had his empty scroll ready in case some sort of fight will break out or if he has to use his abilities to restrain Naruto. After all he was the only one who could restrain Naruto without using his own body.

Soon enough sun shown as the top of the wood dome opened up revealing a practically cloudless blue sky.

Sasuke was the one who picked Naruto up. The blonde instantly stiffened up, but other then that didn't react to being picked up.

-::-::-

Orochimaru merely watched the dome made of wood break the room apart as it headed upwards and out of the base.

Kabuto stood behind Orochimaru, a puzzled look on his face again. This caused the dark haired man to laugh.

"I want them to take Naruto-kun. After all, if our little experiments were successful I could use that to my advantage. Especially if he 'hooks up' with the right person. Though I didn't have time to bend his will on whom it would be with." Orochimaru stated calmly.

"I see, so you're hoping that he hooks up with a male? Then we could see if the experiment was successful and takes to Naruto-kun's body." Kabuto mused as he followed Orochimaru as Orochimaru walked away from the room to a part of the base that isn't falling apart thanks to the wood.

"It would be better if whoever it is, is strong… even better if by some miracle it was Sasuke. Not that I care…" Orochimaru stated, after all Naruto was only a pawn in his game. He was curious to see if it could be done.

All he had to do now is sit back and watch.

-::-::-

They were several miles away from the base now; they were only stopping briefly before they would set off again. They were in a small clearing they found in the forest.

So far their mission was a success, what they found curious was that Orochimaru didn't really try to stop them. If anything he just mocked them and watched them leave.

Sai immediately voiced that out loud and nearly got attacked by Sakura, especially when he suggested that it might be some plan of Orochimaru's that they escaped with Naruto.

Sasuke agreed with Sai but still didn't like it.

Naruto merely sat against a tree, obviously not caring about the whole conversation they were having, even if it was about him.

"Sakura, check Naruto over to see if he's injured at all." Yamato stated, though he didn't have to order her.

She was already doing it, all the while whispering comforting words. Sasuke was right by her side, watching everything she and the blonde were doing. Not that Naruto was doing much apart from sit there.

All though Yamato had only heard about Naruto from Tsunade and Sakura. He could tell the bond between, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura was strong. It ran deep. Deeper than the bonds of most teams, these three had obviously been through a lot of pain and were close when they were together.

"We have to get back to Konoha." Sasuke stated as he turned away from Sakura and Naruto, earning a nod of agreement from Yamato.

"Agreed." Yamato nodded then turned to look at Sakura. "Can he walk?"

Sakura turned to Naruto "Naruto? Can you walk?"

Naruto only looked at her slightly before giving a small nod and standing up along with her. He kept an eye on everyone as he did though, not sure if he should trust them or if this was all some trick.

"Would he be able to keep up with us if we by some chance had to run?" Sai asked calmly, it was something that was required as knowledge, because if they were attacked they would need to get the blonde out of the way.

"Naruto… would you be able to run with us if we ran? We'll be going at a quick speed as it is now, but not really running yet." Sakura asked, earning another nod from Naruto who was still weary with them and would be for a while yet.

"Then we have to go. Once we hit the outskirts of fire country we'll stop for a quick break before heading the rest of the way to Konoha." Yamato stated.

Silently he signaled that Sasuke was to stay on one side of Naruto while Sakura on the other. Sai will bring up the rear and Yamato will lead.

With that they took off into the trees.

'He must not have much of a will of his own anymore… what did they do to you Naruto?' Sasuke thought as he watched Naruto in the corner of his eye. He could tell Sakura was doing the same, and most likely thinking something along the line of what he was thinking.

'I'll pound that snake's face in! Over and over again until he's no longer recognizable!' Sakura thought to herself, barely able to keep herself from making fists.

Chapter 2 sorted ^^

Hope you enjoyed this =D

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IceDragonHime