AN: Lol, soo yea! Hey again.~ I am so excited about where this story is going. Haha! It's gonna' get like, amazing. ;3 And, this chapter is also mainly gonna' be focussed around Sas-kun. Sorry Naru-kun fans.~ Long chapter, BTW.
I don't own Naruto.
Chapter Seven
The team continued their walking till night came. The mission so far had been filled with discussion surrounding Sasuke and where he might be. Naruto lie on his back, head resting on his bag. They were covering good distance, but he still was looking for any trace of Orochimaru. Kakashi had agreed to help Sakura and him. It surprised him, in a way. Naruto knew he could get in serious trouble for disobeying the Hokage's orders, and even more for bringing back a missing nin. But, he also knew that Kakashi missed Sasuke, and wanted him back badly. To the blond, this was his family. His dysfunctional, awkward, and goofy family. Kakashi was a father figure, Sakura a sister, and Sasuke a brother. A close brother. Since the boy had left, his family had sunken into depression, pushing him even more in his attempt to bring him back. Naruto flinched as he heard Kakashi shuffle around. He looked at him and noticed he was awake.
"Naruto? You need to rest. We need to deliver this message as fast as possible so we can get to our own little mission. You want to be awake when we're searching, don't you?"
"Of course I do, sensei." The boy whispered and grinned, rolling onto his side and closing his eyes. Kakashi smiled as he heard his student's breathing even itself out. He sighed and folded his hands behind his back. He himself still couldn't sleep. He'd tried occupying himself with his book, but even that hadn't helped ease his worried mind. The man growled and closed his eye quickly, trying to will himself to sleep. Flashes of Tsunade came to him. She would be furious if they did not get Sasuke back. She would be furious if they did, but it'd be worse if they returned injured and empty handed. Why had he agreed to do this? Putting his students in danger, it was against his most important rule. Kakashi sat up after all of this passed over him. He surely wasn't getting any rest tonight.
Sasuke woke to sharp knocking, as he did everyday. The boy lifted himself off the hard mattress and looked towards the door. He had thought long and hard for a week, now. The conclusion had been very hard to come to, and he'd racked his brain for hours to finally come up with one. The Uchiha slid off and pulled his uniform on, taking a deep breath and stepping outside. Orochimaru was not going to be happy about this in the slightest. Kabuto walked up to him and ordered him to follow. They went the opposite direction, which perplexed the boy for a second. He remembered how they were moving to another session today. Sasuke knew nothing yet, but the sannin had seemed very anxious about it. They turned a corner and began making their way down a flight of stairs. Sasuke cocked an eyebrow as they past by numerous lab rooms. He shivered slightly at the prisoners strapped to medical tables. One had apparently woken up and was begging Sasuke to help him. The boy watched quietly as Kabuto sighed and made his way towards him. The Uchiha flinched as the medic knocked the man out, continuing down the hallway.
"Orochimaru-sama is waiting inside. Do what he says and this will be easy." Sasuke glared at him for a moment, not quite understanding him. He entered the room and tensed as he saw the medical table, his sensei standing next to it.
"Come, Sasuke-kun." He chuckled. The Uchiha did so, and was ordered to strip down to only his pants. Sasuke hesitated a while, glaring silently at the snake until he finally obeyed. The older man kicked the clothes away and motioned Sasuke to get onto the table, but Sasuke shook his head.
"Tell me what's going on, Orochimaru." He growled and took a step back. Surely he was not going to be a lab rat. He'd witnessed the horrific experiments Kabuto had put the prisoners through. He hadn't had any sleep those nights. It made him frustrated, that he still couldn't stomach his teacher's cruel ways. It meant he was still weak inside, and it aggravated him to no end.
"Sasuke-kun, please take it easy," he rubbed the child's face gently, "Don't be frightened. I'm not going to let that big, bad Kabu-san hurt you." He snickered and pulled the boy towards him suddenly. Sasuke struggled wildly, flushing a little. How had he known what he was worried about? Was he that obvious?
"I'm not scared of that bitch," he snapped and finally pulled away from his teacher, getting himself on the table and shuddering at it's cold touch on his back. Orochimaru laughed and leaned over him, black hair tickling Sasuke's skin as it fell around his face.
"Don't be frightened." He repeated. The boy was about to punch the snake, but felt straps wrap around his wrists. He tensed and fought them a little, position being realized. He kicked his legs uselessly, but they were forced down and strapped in too.
"O-Orochimaru, you bastard. What are you doing?" He barked at his sensei, who rubbed his chest a little.
"I need that curse mark of yours to start reacting more. It seems like you can still control it. We don't want that, now do we?" Orochimaru whispered in the boy's ear, then walked out. Sasuke shivered on the table. He thought his room had been cold. The fact that he was half naked didn't help much either. The Uchiha pulled at the straps encircling his wrists, fighting to escape. He tugged on it for an eternity, giving up and panting slightly. It was useless, but he wouldn't let himself be carved up like a prisoner. He was so confused. Didn't Orochimaru still need him? A thought passed over him. He was really after his eyes, the envied sharingan he had been gifted with through his ancient bloodline. Was he going to take them? No, this was about his curse mark. Something about taking control of it. His panicking mind couldn't remember clearly and his instincts kicked in, telling him to get off of this medical table. Suddenly, gloved hands grabbed his head, lifting it so that he faced Kabuto. The boy flinched. He hadn't even heard or sensed the man. He must really be losing it.
"It's the first time I've been able to watch an Uchiha have a panic attack. Your trembling is the best part." The silver haired man taunted, throwing the child's head back down on the metal table.
"What are you going to do to me..." He ordered, bearing his teeth angrily. The man shrugged.
"A little cutting and sewing, that's all. It won't hurt too much," the medic paused after saying this, pulling out a few scalpels and setting them onto a tray, "I'm happy I get to use these again. Chakra is so boring during experiments." He smiled and pulled Sasuke's head to the side, exposing his seal. Yes, he would have to undo this heavens seal first. What a pain. He traced his fingers over it. The boy whimpered, mark throbbing at the contact. It had grown extra sensitive with all the abuse it had gone through. His teacher had made sure of that. He watched as Kabuto left, muttering to himself as he went. The boy looked at the tray warily, twitching at the multiple medical tools. He had never been too keen on hospital equipment. It embarrassed him slightly to know he feared it, ever since he was a kid. When his team had travelled to wave country and fought Zabuza and Haku, he had been forced to dig out a senbon needle from his side. Kakashi had offered to do it for him, seeing the child's reluctance. The Uchiha had, humiliatingly, admitted to him that he didn't want to use a kunai knife and instead wanted to try and get it out another way. His sensei had encouraged him that it would be fine, and the two ended up using the knife instead of Sasuke's hand. The boy felt embarrassment flood to his face. What sort of ninja feared knives? Pathetic. The door opening up brought him back to reality. He forced his head up so that he could see. A man was accompanying Kabuto, wearing rags almost. The medic turned to him, right hand resting on his hip, and moved his head towards Sasuke. The man whimpered fearfully and scrambled over. He grabbed Sasuke's hair with shaky hands and exposed his neck. The boy grimaced as he felt fingers trail over his skin, shaking a little.
"Break that seal, and I promise you Orochimaru will let you go." Kabuto chuckled from his place in front of the door. The Uchiha flinched, realizing they ment Kakashi's seal. He began to struggle, trying to get the greasy man's hands off of him. He shook and eyed Kabuto, who nodded. The prisoner lowered his head, pretending to take a closer look at the child's mark and getting a tighter grip on the boy's hair.
"I-I'm sorry." He murmured to Sasuke, who eyed him warningly. He straightened himself up and nodded slowly.
"I can break it, b-but it will hurt him badly... He's just a boy-"
"Do you want to go back to your home or not? Stop talking and do as Orochimaru-sama has asked." The frail man nodded and bit his shaking hand, forming some hand seals and rubbing blood onto the boy's curse mark. The pain was instant and severe, and Sasuke let out a deafening scream. Tears escaped his eyes as the blood seeped into the seal, breaking it down. The agony was terrible, and soon Sasuke simply passed out from the pain.
He opened his eyes and let out a long moan. A bright light hung over his face, luckily pointed towards his shoulder and not directly at his eyes. He blinked sluggishly, hearing muffled grumbling. His body felt numb, almost like he was dead. The boy whined as hands forced his head around roughly.
"You're finally waking up, I see." The familiar, annoying voice sounded to his right. Sasuke groaned again, too weak to speak. He tried to, but just couldn't. His head fell to the side as Kabuto gently moved it for the hundreth time.
"You're a lot more easy to take care of like this, Sasuke-kun." The man snickered and cut more into the boy's shoulder, fixing the chakra veins. Sasuke blinked quietly, wondering what was going on. He rolled his eyes to look up at the medic, silently asking the question.
"I'm fixing your curse mark. That useless prisoner pretty much fucked your chakra system up. Now I'm having to go through a fix it all." Yes, the man had accidentally made a mistake with his jutsu, tearing into Sasuke shoulder painfully. He'd successfully undid Kakashi's seal, but cut off the curse mark's connection to Sasuke's chakra veins, making it useless. Luckily, it was confined to his shoulder. The boy grunted as he began to regain control of his body. He took a shaky breath as heavy pressure fell onto his neck, making him fight the restraints once again.
"Oh, cut that out..." The older ninja said, but continued working. He wanted to finish this up soon. Of course, this procedure would last all week. But, that was Orochimaru's job. Hours passed by, and the man finished up the boy's shoulder. He took a step back, looking over his work with relieved eyes. Sasuke turned to look at him with lidded ones, then looked down at his mark.
"What... did you do to it?" Kabuto ignored the question. He'd been asking that the entire time, and it was starting to get on his nerves. The drugs were very heavy. They almost had to be, or Sasuke's screams would've be heard throughout the entire base a whole seven hours. No one wanted that, especially Orochimaru. Even if the man loved testing his student's limits, he was not going to listen to it that long. He pulled his gloves off and threw them in the trash after cleaning the boy's skin off. He left without a word. Sasuke stared at the door for who knows how long, mind foggy. He was still confused as to what he was doing on this table. The Uchiha's ears picked up footsteps approaching him once again.
"You're looking well, Sasuke-kun" His teacher's silky voice washed over him, making him tremble weakly. What was wrong with him? He guessed it was medicine of some sort. That would explain the lack of pain coming from his sewn up mark. Orochimaru admired his student for a moment, then let his golden eyes fall to the boy's seal. He made a sign with his left hand, activating it with his dark chakra. The boy made no noise. To him it was just immense pressure, almost a deep, tickling feeling, running up his spine and making him jumpy to any touch. His sensei's hand dropped to touch ther black seal, and it lit up brilliantly and slowly started to creep across the child's body. Their speed was agonizingly slow, but he knew it was doing more than just cover Sasuke. It was tainting him, reconstructing his chakra as it inched its' way over the boy's skin. He knew the drugs Sasuke had been injected with woud, soon enough, wear off. He dreaded the thought. He'd tried this on so many victims before the Uchiha, all of them had killed themeselves from the pain. That, of course, was impossible for Sasuke, who was strapped down securely to the table. The man looked over the boy once more, knowing he would not see him again for a while, and when he did, he would not be the same.
A few days had passed since Kakashi had agreed to help get Sasuke back. The team now exited the Mizukage's village anxiously, having completed the Hokage's mission in record time. Now, it was the fun part. Kakashi had devised some sort of map for his students and himself, which showed the area Sasuke was thought to be at. He trusted this information, as it had come from the neighboring villages themselves. Citizens had started growing thin around the area, fearful of the sannin. After talking through it a few times, making sure to explain how careful they needed to be, they set off. Kakashi ordered that they stick together. This was not their land, and if caught they needed a jounin to explain their reasons for searching. So they searched, and searched, and searched, until Sakura's legs finally gave out on her. Naruto urged her to continue, offering to carry her on his back if he needed to, but Kakashi intervened and declared that they had done enough for the first day. The sun was setting anyways, he pointed out. Naruto, in the end, complied to the will of his sensei, and settled in with his two teammates. No, he was not tired at all. Not in the slightest. Temptation crept into his mind, telling him he could go off and look around a little himself. The blond's blue orbs looked towards where his sensei slept. He was, indeed, asleep. If Naruto was careful he could pull this off. The boy easily stood up without making a single sound, creeping towards the tree line and getting a good distance away. Either his sensei just let him go, or he was dead tired. It didn't mater to the blond. His sense of direction had become very good, and he could find his way back easily when he was done.
Leaping into the trees with a soft thumping noise, he set out on his own. Seeing in the dark had never been an issue for him. He wondered, deep in the back of his head, if the Kyuubi was to be thanked for his night eyes. After thirty minutes had passed, the boy stopped on a particularly high branch and stood himself up. Crickets sang on the forest floor and his sensitive ears tuned it out quickly, for the moment. He quite enjoyed the songs they made. He didn't actually know what he was listening for, but he did it anyways to be safe. Nothing sounded that was out of the ordinary, and he started off to the next set of tall branches. He thought of something quickly, flipping himself to the lowest limbs he could find and perching himself in quickly. Orochimaru was a clever bastard. He wouldn't build a mansion that could be seen from miles away. What had he been thinking? It would be something discrete, hard to find and blended in perfectly with the surroundings. He looked around for a while, scanning everything he could. He moved on after realizing nothing was around. The hours passed him by, and still nothing had shown up. That is, until he caught a bat flying past his head with his hand.
His fingers caged the small animal's body gently, in a harmless, yet forceful manner. The creature let out small squeals and nibbled at his fingertips. Naruto pet it a little, enjoying its' warmth. It was a baby, probably, heading back to its' home to sleep. The sun was going to be rising soon. He sighed and let the bat go, knowing he himself needed to start getting back. He watched the animal swoop down to the ground and vanish, confusing him greatly. Was it eating a bug it found? No, even he knew bats could eat and fly at the same time. Otherwise they'd be pretty defenseless creatures when filling their bellies.
He jumped down to examine further, gasping as he almost lost his footing and fell a few feet down. There was a cave of some sorts in the earth, facing outwards towards the trees. Walking down the slope to his left carefully, he peered inside. Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. Two stone doors were carved into the cave's back wall and a cluster of bats clung to the roof. This had to be it. Orochimaru's base. Or one of them, at least. His heart felt like it had frozen in time, and the blond looked around himself in joyous excitement. What was he to do now? His adrenaline pumped brain came up with the answer after some heavy thinking.
'Kakashi-sensei! And Sakura-chan! They need to see this!' The boy turned and ran back to where the two slept, which took a few minutes. Perhaps ten. He had searched quite distance during the night. Once he saw the smoke rising out of the trees from last night's fire he jumped back to the ground, doing a few flips and catching himself before he planted his face into Sakura's back.
"Naruto! Where the hell did you-"
"Sensei! Sakura-chan! Follow me! Come on!" He said in a hushed voice, as if he were trying to tell them a secret that no one else could know. With that said, he turned and flung himself back into the trees, waving them to follow dramatically. The two looked him over with odd glances, got their things, then followed him quickly. The boy stopped a couple of times and listened for something they did not know, soon finding themselves on the ground again.
"Naruto, what is it you want to show us so badly?" Sakura asked quietly, being motioned to keep her voice down by her blond companion. The boy hurried towards where the cave was and pointed it out. The two other ninja gaped slightly, surprised that Naruto had found it by himself.
"This is it, hopefully." Kakashi whispered, feeling energy pump through his once tired limbs. He was wide awake now, and prepared to storm through this base in a heartbeat. Of course, that would be extremely foolish. They had to think this through, step by step, move by move, and minute by minute. Even then, they'd have a high chance of getting themselves killed. Kakashi sighed and turned to his students.
"You're prepared to risk your life to do this?" He murmured, knowing his answer was a yes, but wanting to hear his student's thoughts. Sakura nodded quickly, wanting terribly to just get in and get out. This place gave her the creeps. Her emerald eyes were locked onto the stone doors, as if seeing past them and into the darkness they sealed inside. Naruto almost bursted at his sensei's question.
"I'd give my life twice to get Sasuke back." He snarled and glared seriously at Kakashi. The man should have known this answer was coming, and he smiled under his mask. The three creeped forward, preparing to enter the snake's domain.
AN: Ohhh, a cliffy! Ok, I had a fantastic time writing this chapter. It's probably my favorite so far. Anyways, yea, I'll get done with chapter eight. A new part in the story is coming up, and this part is coming to an end. 8D Yaaay, save Sas-kun time.~
Reviews are loved and wanted.
Nat
