{Rant: This is the second of a series of prequels to Beginnings so it won't make much sense unless you've read Beginnings first (wait a second, but it's a prequel so disregard that last bit)! Also I do not own Naruto; however, I do own my great big list of characters on my page, the plot and minor characters in this story. This story takes place two years before Beginnings (So it takes place two years before the point where the 'Naruto' series starts.)}
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Permafrost
~ Chapter seven: Reflect ~
Pure terror gripped Yumiko's five year old mind as the two Anbu operatives led squad four down one of the sterile white tiled hallways of the Ninja Detention Facility. All children had fears, the bluenette knew this, but hers was far more dark and terrorizing than an imaginary creature that stalked you from the shadows or a particularly hard exam.
The Anbu stopped before a cold steel door labeled: 'Room 666: Solitary Confinement'.
Kaii stared at his five year old teammate.
Why was she shaking like that? Why were her eyes glassy as if she was seeing something else than the tiled hall, something terrorizing? Yumiko was a prodigy. She was never unsure or scared…So why had her ever present smile cracked? What was she trying to hide from her own teammates?
But Kaii didn't have time to ponder these questions because it was at this moment that the trio was shoved into the room before them.
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The three Genin surveyed the room around them. The handle-less door blended seamlessly with grey concrete walls that surrounded them on all four sides. There were no windows only a gigantic rusting vent that lay exposed on the ceiling and reeked of a sharp acidic smell.
It was as soon as Yumiko saw the metallic vent it was is if she had shattered into a thousand pieces like glass. Her pupils dilated then glazed over giving the pale azure haired child a haunting look that didn't fit a girl of only five years. The child's breathing and heart rate instantly quickened and her small hands flew to her throat as if she was having trouble taking in air. Her small form seemed to tremor with panic before she collapsed to one of the cement walls.
Although he detested her, Kaii hastily dropped to her teammate's side to check whether or not the five year old was still conscious while Kimiko began forming every genjutsu release hand sign she could remember.
"Hey squirt what's wrong?" the red haired swordsman asked Yumiko, slightly worried.
But his only reply was a barely audible murmur of "…Please make the gas leave, I can't breathe…"
"What gas? What are you talking about?!"
The bluenette didn't reply, for at this moment she lost all perception of the cell around her as a nightmarish memory replayed itself before her eyes.
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Yellow-green gas poured from the vent in the ceiling choking the three year old Yumiko of air. As she struggled to breathe voices came in over the intercom wired near the vent.
"Experimental introduction of minimal quantity of nerve gas 123.43B to subject successful; proceed to increase intake valves now."
The child let out a strangled scream. The young girl was being exposed to small amounts of the military's new biological weapons; enough to observe her torment from the experimental chemical, but not suffocate her.
Yumiko cried out for the doctors to stop one final time before she collapsed to the cement floor and her heart rate began to plunge.
Seconds later Anbu operatives clad in protective suits and sterile breathing apparatuses entered the testing chamber and raced the tiny subject to the building's emergency room, if she died the whole experiment would be a waste…
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{Sorry this chapter came utterly late, but I'm trying to decide whether or not to do a rewrite of this story. (It seems to me that the story line is moving a bit too fast.) But if I do a rewrite the plot will stay essentially the same, just with some alterations to the writing perspective and a few other things. Please review with your opinion on whether or not I should rewrite 'Permafrost'!}
