Chapter IX

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.


Kabuto observed Naruto. He was clutching his mother for all he was worth. He was almost certainly crying. Kushina was dead. Kabuto turned away, trying hard not to betray the wincing, horrified pity he felt. No, not pity. Sympathy.

He glanced at Orochimaru, who was staring, impassive. Only Kami knew what he was thinking. Kabuto broke the silence. "Genjutsu?"

Orochimaru flicked a look his way. "Indeed. To make Uzumaki-sama believe her son was dead, and that she was able to break free and seek me out."

"So," Kabuto said slowly, dredging up the words as if each weighed a great deal, "All of those things she said were meant for you?"

"Precisely." Orochimaru looked at Kabuto properly. The latter hastily arranged his face into a look of indifference. "Did you note the boy's progress?"

"He used an ability of the Rinnegan," Kabuto intoned faithfully.

"Not only that," Orochimaru said. The ends of a sneering smile were making themselves seen, twisting his thin face into white creases. "But he has unlocked the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"What?" Kabuto gasped. Curse Orochimaru for never giving him enough information. This would prove an actual threat and he did not even know what had triggered it. If Orochimaru-sama was telling the truth. If the snaky bastard ever told the truth.

Orochimaru's smile took on a patronizing edge. He recited, as if to someone who should certainly be expected to know this, "A Mangekyou is typically unlocked by the act of killing a person with a close personal attachment to you. I believe Uchihas have been exploiting this for generations, killing those closest to them in order to unlock this ability."

Kabuto frowned. Something was very clearly being left out from that explanation. Likely, it was not the killing of the person closest that activated the ability, it was the emotional experience of losing someone closest to you. If the death did not cause an emotional reaction, most likely no change would occur. Ah, to be born an Uchiha. That particular road to power would seem to be a tailor-fit to the life I have led.

"In any case," Orochimaru said, not appearing to pay the slightest mind to Kabuto's state of morbid introspection, "You'll have your work cut out for you now."

As if the last almost-two-years were a cakewalk! "How so, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked, trusting himself only to speak from within a mask of frigid politeness and careful submission. Orochimaru must have detected some discrepancy, however, as he gave Kabuto a swift, searching look, as if wondering why Kabuto was speaking as if it was his first day on the job.

"Well, because, while concealing from the boy his powers, old and new, with exception of those you have introduced him to, I want you to have him take the body of dear, thoughtful, Uzumaki-sama and create a puppet. Human puppets are not the most versatile I have encountered, but the bond of blood between master and weapon will prove most elegant, wouldn't you say?"

"Naruto will never do such a thing, no matter what is promised to him, no matter how you threaten him," Kabuto said flatly.

"It is not a question of threatening, or even of promising. Perhaps he would be more amenable to suggestion if you were to plant in his mind the idea that Uzumaki-sama's last wish, and last gift to him is what physical protection, strength, and companionship she offers as a puppet. That it would be an insult to her to waste the sacrifice she has made."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Now, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Yes, Kabuto. With the utmost rapidity. That will be all."

"Thank you." Kabuto left, the door clapping shut behind him. He composed himself, standing outside of the room in which Naruto no doubt still crouched, grieved, gathering in any outlying emotion, save the ones he chose to display.

' Plant in his mind.' If he had to admit it to himself, he was disgusted. Not with Orochimaru. He expected nothing less from the snake Sanin. He was disgusted at himself. 'An insult to her.' Here he was, enforcing traumatic circumstances the type of which had led up to his being here in the first place. It was in that moment, as Kabuto's mind spun with lies, betrayal, circumstance, and particularly memory, that something seeped into his mind. He recognized the feeling, it was the same one he got when Orochimaru began speaking of his ex Akatsuki partner, Sasori of the Red Sand. Generally, he dismissed these creeping tendrils of doubt, but now, now when all he wanted was to think differently, like someone, anyone else, even for a few hours, he embraced the feeling, those cold trickles of strangle incongruous memory.

And he remembered why he had been sent.


Naruto didn't look around when he heard Kabuto enter the room. He didn't want to face him, didn't want to face anyone who might be associated with the man Kushina had been talking about. The one who must have been Kabuto's master, the one he hadn't talked about in ages.

He should probably attack Kabuto. Force him to talk, to tell Naruto about who was responsible for this. Naruto closed his eyes against the blurry halo affect his tears were creating. He felt the salty, tear-tracked skin of his face stretch uncomfortably as his breath hitched. He felt Kabuto's hand on his shoulder, his urgent, surprised, shocked voice, making words, calling his name, trying to get through. Naruto couldn't even summon the energy to shrug him off. He was drained, hurt, aching in ways a beating had never made him feel, not even on his birthday.

And then there was the fact that he had killed her. The cold certainty of that fact pierced Naruto like a spike of searing diamond-hard clarity. He had been fighting her, fighting back against an onslaught she had not meant for him, and then she had died. And it was his fault. He wasn't clear how, but all of that blood- Well. He had always wanted to be an assassin. He was unsurprised that his goals hadn't changed. What a monster. His mother dead and all he wanted was to grow up to be the shinobi she had been. Maybe even better. Make her proud, in some strange, nonsensical way. Avenge her, if he could.

His mother. Was she really that? Was she the biological answer he had been pining for, longing after his whole life? What did it matter? Even if he was not the son from her story, she was as good a mother as he had ever known. Better. And he had killed her.

He was aware of Kabuto pulling him up, away from the spectacle. The first words Naruto heard himself say, rang oddly, blunt and strange, his voice thick and slow as his thoughts. "What will you do with her?"

Kabuto didn't reply. After a few moments, Naruto twisted in his grip, stopping in the hallway- When had Kabuto led him out of that room? – And staring at Kabuto, who met his eyes with an awful, horrifying degree of sympathy. "What are you going to do with her?" Naruto asked, desperately.

"Autopsy," Kabuto said quietly. "Unless…." Kabuto trailed off, eyes flickering back and forth between Naruto's as if thinking, or deciding.

"Unless what?"

"Unless you think she would want to be of use to you. To protect you, even in death. After all, you were as close as mother and son. She would have sacrificed herself to save you, and she would never want you to forget that."

"Are you suggesting," Naruto asked slowly, torn between astonishment and horror, "That I make her body into a puppet?"

"Of course, it was only a suggestion, you don't have-" but Kabuto was silenced by Naruto's expression, wonder hardening into the worst kind of resolve, the kind which sets events on inevitable courses and that precedes the type of determination known to topple the best-made plans.

"No, that sounds right, somehow. We will fight side-by-side, and when I meet the man responsible for that genjutsu, we'll kill him together."

Kabuto walked away, and Naruto followed. He led the boy back to his room, locking him in and leaving before he would have to say another word. When he returned to the room where it had happened, the body had been removed, the blood hastily cleaned. Orochimaru-sama was nowhere to be found.

Kabuto retired to the library to think about his master, his two masters, and to plot his next move. Now that he had remembered the truth, his position was a tricky one indeed.


Orochimaru itched with excitement. At least, it was probably not the excitement that was making his flesh crawl and itch. It was more likely the need for a new skin. This one had long outlived its usefulness, and in two months or so, he was be exchanging it for that of his pet experiment, the Uzumaki boy.

Oh, there were plenty of preparations to arrange at this point, but one that Orochimaru did not deem necessary was one that, confusingly, Kabuto seemed to believe integral. Securing he boy's continued cooperation.

Why did that matter? Orochimaru's immediate instinct was to look with suspicion at Kabuto's motives. But that was ridiculous, Kabuto was completely loyal.

Or was he? Was Orochimaru being complacent in believing he had Kabuto's continued loyalty after all this time, all he's exposed him to, given him, told him, let him see, put him through?

Was he being paranoid?

Was he being paranoid?

The correct answer was yes, better paranoid than dead, but it still bothered Orochimaru. Had his old sensei and his old teammates been right to call him unstable? But how could he be? Wasn't the very fact that he was successfully running a powerful shinobi village practically singlehandedly a sure sign of his mental balance and prowess? A shinobi village with no fixed population estimate because of all of the rape, murder, violence, suicide missions, new arrivals...

Orochimaru shook off these thoughts impatiently. None of that mattered. None of it.

Kabuto's loyalty was no consequence. He had nowhere else to go, no one else to turn to. He was Orochimaru's man, through-and-through, or so he pretended. And so long as his level of devoted service remained the same, Orochimaru would not trifle with such notions again. He couldn't. It was too dangerous.

In any case, there were preparations to be seen to, and although it was a nuisance, he supposed going to the trouble of gaining the Uzumaki boy's trust would be worth it in the end. He had to prepare the final infusion, he had to supply the proper materials for the new project he had granted the boy, and it was high time he began planning his return to his home village, this time with a brand-new face and a smile just for his old sensei. And, of course, when the last infusion was completed, it was time to turn his attention to the tiny matter of the Kyuubi and how to pry it loose from his new skin.


Naruto had not intended to sleep. He wanted to stay up, to pace, to scream or sit quietly and plan. But clearly he had been too drained to pursue any of these things, for here he was, in what couldn't possibly be anything but a dream.

Cold water swirled around his sandaled feet, drenching the cuffs of his pants so they clung to him, gritty and uncomfortable. He looked down and couldn't even see his own feet through the murky water. Clearly this was not his destination, a place where he was expected to stay. He had to move on. He turned his face this way and that, determining which direction to move in. Finally, he decided that if this was a dream, his destination would be wherever he went, regardless of which direction he actually walked in.

So he splashed forward, into the dimness of the tunnel.

It was quite some time later, a time he would only remember later on as a confused impression of freezing toes, difficult movement, and grungy tile walls, that he arrived in a sort of huge boiler room. Naruto had never seen a boiler room in his life, but this was clearly what the huge chamber was. The floor was warm and dry and there was a faint radiance of warmth from the other side of the cathedral-sized room.

Oh, cathedral-sized? Only in breadth. In height it was more like two or three cathedrals stacked. Huge brass bars or columns stretched from the floor on one side of the room and stretched upward, disappearing near the ceiling above. On Naruto's side of the bars, there was a large, bulky-looking object, taller by far than Naruto, covered by a white sheet and left, almost forgotten-looking by the wall.

Naruto heard whispers as he surveyed the chamber, turning to see a group of people huddled as far as they could get from the bars of brass. At least, they looked like people. They were long and whitish, tortured and somehow bound, suppressed, although there were no signs of physical confinement. They were staring at him in horror and whispering to each other, high and hissing and somehow on a level of communication he couldn't understand. He turned away, slightly sick, and caught the eyes of whatever was behind the bars, instead.

No, not behind the bars. In the cage. The eyes were enormous, orange-red and brilliant, and in the gloom that pervaded the cage, Naruto could pick out the warmly glowing contours of what had to be the largest fox he had ever seen. Nine fury tails, each as thick as the roots of a single tree in the Forest of Death, lay lazily on the stone-flagged floor, or else waved slowly, in the dark, dusty air.

"Hello, Uzumaki. I've been trying to reach you for some time. Please, sit down." The voice was neither as deep, nor as loud as Naruto had been expecting. He had watched the great fox's mouth move as it spoke, but he got the impression that if this had not been a dream, he would not have understood that sounds it was making.

He sat, well, sprawled, really, on the floor. "Are you the Kyuubi?" he asked conversationally. It just seemed to be true. He knew it the way one knows things in dreams, instinctually and without question.

"Yes, I am. What are you here to ask me?"

Naruto blinked. That was a strange sensation, like this was real instead of a dream. How was he going to get home from wherever this was… "Didn't you summon me here?"

"You are my host, we can speak at any time now that you know of the possibility. I want to answer your questions. And get to know you." He looked Naruto over critically. "You don't look much like my last host, although I guest I'm not one to talk. Not like I resemble any of my family."

"Who was your last host?" Naruto asked, curiously.

"Why, your mother. Kushina."

If Naruto had not been sitting, his knees would have buckled. "So she really is my-"

"I'm afraid so."

"But she didn't-"

"Tell you about me? Probably she was under instruction not to. But like she said, she never wanted this life for you, didn't want you to go through what she did. You and I share a day of celebration, of mob demonstrations and violence and drinking. She didn't have to go through that, exactly, but she was pushed around pretty badly until she moved to Konoha. She didn't want that for you."

Naruto lowered his head, felt tears stinging his eyes. "I killed her. I'm a monster. I deserve whatever the villagers do to me after I get home."

"Hey, now," Kyuubi said sharply. "Don't ever say that. Having power, and using it to defend yourself and your loved ones makes you strong. Makes you better than the snake Sannin."

"Who's that?"

"The one who's been financing and facilitating these genetic experiments on you."

"What genetic experiments?" Naruto was floored, appalled. Is this where the gaps in his memory had come from?

"Ah," the Kyuubi looked sorry, as much as a giant glowing fox could portray emotion as human as sorrow. "I thought you knew."

"I'm going to kill him." It was a promise, a statement of resolution.

"If you want my assistance, I'm offering," The Kyuubi said, seriously.

Naruto nodded, blindly. "How long has this been going on?" He gritted out.

"Since you were ten and first arrived in this place." The Kyuubi answered.

"And why?"

"That I can only guess at. However, I can give you one lead. When you first arrived, he sent in nine skilled genjutsu experts to try and reason with me or take me from your body." The Kyuubi nodded at the shapes of people huddled in the corner, still whispering. "Eight minds have sat trapped there for well over a year. One I sent back as a warning. He lived just long enough to tell the snake that I would rather kill you than allow him to take me from you. The messenger, I'm sure, died of Youki poisoning shortly thereafter."

"Youki?"

"My own brand of chakra. I am composed of it, I control it, and it can be highly dangerous to humans. Including you. As my host, your seal should negate the effects, but something is a bit wrong with yours. I suggest you work on that at your earliest convenience."

"What seal, where is it?"

"On the bars of my cage you will see part of it. The other part appears when you channel chakra, as black lines against your skin."

Naruto shook his head, trying to understand, to take in everything. He got the distinct feeling his was being given information in the wrong order, with lots of important things missing, but he kept being distracted from this as the Kyuubi kept offering new, incomplete pieces of information.

"Why should I trust you?" Naruto asked.

"Because if you die, I die, and wherever you are, I must be. Your interest is my own self-interest. And anyway, despite what the snake has done to your body, he did your mind a world of good, and I actually quite like you." The Kyuubi paused, thinking. "And that Kabuto boy, too," He said finally.

"Kabuto?" Naruto said, half surprised, half scornful.

"Yes. He has depth, and a sense of decency that he hadn't had to exercise until you came along. I think he's rooting for you, secretly, and that could make all of the difference when we escape."

"And how will we do that?"

"I can help you. I, being on the inside, have been keeping tabs on what has been done to you. I know what you will be able to do when the slightest opportunity arises to escape. I will signal you, and until then, we will keep in contact."

"Is it time for me to leave?" Naruto asked, noticing the shift in the Kyuubi's tone of voice.

"I believe so. You have questions, I know, but you must think first about what you have learned. Come to some conclusions. And wait for my signal."

Naruto nodded, and rose to leave. As he turned, he caught sight of the huge object under the sheet. "What is that?" He asked, poised to leave the chamber.

The Kyuubi gave a great sigh. "I do not know what it will become, only that it is a product of what the snake Sanin has done to you. When it fully forms, I assume you will have to face it."

"I see," Naruto said. He stepped out of the chamber, down into the water, but the water was missing, and so was the floor, he was falling, falling, and landed with a jolt and a bounce of bedsprings, his heart pounding and his hands shaking.


For the next few weeks, Naruto was planning. Planning how to escape, planning how to exploit Kabuto, planning what he would say to Sarutobi when he returned-

But most importantly, he was planning his new puppet. He measured and sketched, chose and rejected materials and ideas, begged input and reference books from Kabuto.

Kabuto was there, a strange constant. He seemed more on edge than ever before, but Naruto took no notice, or seemed to.

After a week or two or preserving and cleaning, he was ready to begin real work on his masterpiece. His first thought was this: wooden or metal frame. Wood could be splintered or rotten and required constant upkeep. But it was lighter than metal and did not conduct heat. Metal was more durable, and rusting wouldn't be an issue if he used the right type, or even the right jutsu. But it was fairly heavy. Naruto gritted his teeth. He would become strong enough that the metal puppet was no trouble at all.

Next he turned to structural shape, allowing room for weapons, for seals, for compartments and for changes to be made later. He worked for hours at a time, stopping to stretch or train. He couldn't let his skills atrophy if he was planning to escape soon.

Some nights he spoke to the Kyuubi, either as a voice in his head, or in his dreams, in the great chamber. He asked question after question, and the Kyuubi patiently answered each one, but still Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that he could not be trusted. The Kyuubi seemed to know how he felt, giving curt answers and lashing his tails. Naruto could tell he was frustrated by the lack of trust, feeling he had done nothing to deserve Naruto's suspicion. They hadn't discussed that yet, not really, but Naruto could see that conversation just waiting to happen, brewing like a storm on the horizon.


"Tell me, Kabuto, how is the boy's little project coming along?"

Kabuto pushed up his glasses calmly. He knew for a fact that Naruto had finished the puppet just yesterday, or, as Naruto had put it, completed this first edit of it. Kabuto had requested that Naruto seal it in a scroll and then let Naruto observe him lock it in a cabinet in the operation room. Naruto was very protective of this, his best work. And it was, although Kabuto wouldn't admit it to Orochimaru, a true masterpiece. Elegantly designed, and deadly efficient. "It is nearly finished, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto said smoothly, covering the lie with ease.

"Excellent. As you know, we have a little over two months left, and I'm eager to hurry things along. Now, will you give Naruto the final infusion?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. But what of the Kyuubi? Need I remind you of the experts you sent in over a year ago?"

"No, you need not," Orochimaru said sharply. "That will be dealt with after you give the boy Zetsu's DNA. See to it, Kabuto." Was Orochimaru being foolish to trust this operation to someone who he suspected of disloyalty? But Kabuto had never double-crossed him before, had he? Orochimaru resolved to observe this operation personally. "I will be monitoring this last infusion from the adjoining observation room."

"Very good, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto left, smirking. So if Naruto happened to escape, Orochimaru would be watching and Kabuto would ensure that he could not be held responsible. On the other hand, it would be damn-near impossible for Naruto to escape at all without help, and even if he did, it would be wise for Kabuto to make himself scarce. It's not like he had nowhere to go.


"Naruto, I have one final vitamin sample for you," Kabuto said, sticking his head around the edge of the door."

One more genetic experiment, you mean, you freak, Naruto thought viciously. Kyuubi?

Go with him. If he is giving you power you would be a fool not to accept, and, anyway, it would be suspicious. Naruto swung his legs off his bed and followed Kabuto, trying not to clench his fists.

Is it almost time for me to get out of this place?

I believe so. Let's just see where he takes us.

To Naruto's surprise, Kabuto led him to the same operation room where he had been working on his puppet. He knew the scroll it was sealed in was stored in one of these cabinets because he had seen Kabuto lock it up.

Alright, here's the plan, the Kyuubi said hurriedly, he's about to sedate you so listen closely….


Kabuto handed Naruto the glass of his usual knockout mixture. As Naruto took it, he seemed to be concentrating on something very intently. It gave Kabuto simultaneously hope that the boy had some plan and a dread of what part of his own physical safety was accounted for in this plan. As soon as Naruto was out cold, Kabuto strapped him down, working quickly to give an appearance of competency and efficiency, and carefully not looking at the darkened two-way mirror set into the wall.

He administered the shot without incident and then sat down with his usual folder of shorthand notes to wait. A few minutes later he heard a sound. Confused, he looked up to see Naruto's bright blue eyes peering into his intently. Before he could so much as speak, Naruto had melted down through the table. Almost instantly a shadow fell across Kabuto and he received a punishing blow to the head, knocking him out cold. He didn't even struggle before succumbing to unconsciousness.

Naruto turned around, ripped off the door to the cabinet where his scroll lay, knowing he had only moments. As he turned back, scroll in hand, He spotted Kabuto's folder of shorthand notes. Ignoring the Kyuubi's yells to Get out! Get out now! Naruto scooped up the folder just as the door banged open.

Naruto didn't so much as stand from his crouch. As pale fingers reached for him, he melted with the ground below him and was gone.


Sarutobi slid open his office door, carefully stepping around the drifts of paper piled right beside it. He was negotiating a path back to his desk when he heard a voice that stopped him cold. A voice he hadn't heard in nearly two years. His heart did strange things and he wondered if he was going into cardiac arrest.

"Hey, Sarutobi, why don't you just use this jutsu? I bet these shadow clones could do your paperwork, and then we could see your floor and desk again." It was Naruto, sitting in Sarutobi's chair. He had a huge scroll Sarutobi absently recognized as a Forbidden Scroll propped open in his lap, as casual as anything, with his feet stretched up to rest on a pile of papers that Sarutobi jokingly like to refer to as 'The Second Hokage Monument.'

"Naruto, where's Kushina? I haven't seen either of you in years, now." His voice was weak and he really just wanted to sit down. Naruto looked so different.

"Huh, I guess we'll have to compare stories. Or how about this," Naruto leaned forward, putting down his legs and the scroll. "You go first and tell me all of the things you never thought to mention before. Start with the snake Sannin, the Kyuubi, and my real parents. Go."


A/N: Okay, I'm back after two months of camp! School is starting soon, and NYComicCon is soon after that, so I'll be busy for a while. (By the way, if you're going to NYCC, look out for a GodTier John Egbert on Friday, a 90's era Superboy on Saturday, and a Loki on Sunday. Say hi to me!) If you got an email earlier is was because I reuploaded Chapter six after changing a little timeline mistake I made. Well... Here's the Chapter nine summary:

1) Kabuto remembers he is NOT Orochimaru-sama's man, but Sasori's. Oops. In addition, Orochimaru instructs Kabuto to get Naruto to make Kushina's body into a puppet. And Naruto got the Mangekeyou.
2) Naruto agrees to make Kushina into a puppet for the sake of her memory. He and Sasori are going to have some very heartwarming bonding times.
3) Orochimaru's paranoia spirals out of control, as usual.
4) Naruto has a trippy dream sequence in which he meets the Kyuubi, the minds of those Orochimaru sent to extract the Kyuubi, a mystery items that will become symbolic later, learns that Kushina really was his mother and the last Kyuubi host, and that they've been doing genetic experiments on him.
5) Naruto and the Kyuubi plot their escape and Naruto builds up Kushina into a fighting puppet.
6) Kabuto lies to Orochimaru (Yay!) and Orochimaru gives him Zetsu's DNA to give to Naruto.
7) Naruto and the Kyuubi prepare for escape.
8) Naruto uses his new Zetsu transportation powers to escape, taking with him Kabuto's notes and Kushina's puppet.
9) Naruto casually learns the Kage Bunshin jutsu, tells Sarutobi the secret to paperwork, and demands some answers.

Well, that's all for now. As I said, it may be a while until the next update, so stay tuned! Of course, here is usual plea for reviews, so do that, please review, and I'll talk to y'all later. Bye! Pax.