Chapter 8: Orichimaru finishes experimenting on naruto and naruto escapes!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
The further training had gone extremely well, Naruto mastering making the puppet use elemental and non-elemental jutsu quicker than Kabuto would have thought of.
Of course he didn't know that was mainly due to the fact that Naruto had seen how to create and use elemental-chakra and jutsu, although he never showed any jutsu, since he knew he was being watched.
They had given him orders to make more puppets, until he had ten, two of each element. His second Lightning-puppet was a woman who could have been Kira's sister, although they weren't related. Her body had begun to change, puberty finally taking hold on her when her life had ended, giving her a curvier body. Naruto had been embarrassed to look at her naked body, but it was not like she could mind. The girl, whose name happened to be Akira, had been stronger than Kira, though not by much.
His Earth-puppets were both male. One was a redhead in his late thirties named Heiji while the other one, Domon, looked to be at least eighty, with gray hair and a long beard. The old one was actually a former hunter-nin from Iwa that had retired and left the village, so he was particularly strong.
His Fire-puppets, a man and a woman, both in their late twenties, were from an unknown village that was equal to the Uchiha when it came to Katon and known for the green hair of its inhabitants. Since they were both nuke-nin, there was little risk that someone would look for Kaira and Homura.
Kazemaru and Fuuka, his Wind-puppets, had been twins, and the only way to tell them apart if you didn't see their figures would be that the brown hair on Fuuka's head was longer than Kazemaru's.
His first water-puppet, roughly a twenty-four year old woman with long blue hair, was nothing special, a ordinary chunin from Kiri, although she was as strong as a low-ranking jonin. Her name had been Suiumi. But the second one was out of the ordinary. It was the second bloodline-puppet Naruto had made. It was also one of the hardest things he had ever done, since the boy was even younger than him, only seven.
Suiyou had been born with the Futton-kekkei genkai, also known as Boil-release. As a result, he had been born by parents who had fled from the bloodline-purges and went into hiding. Eventually, the father and his innocent, bloodlineless wife had been found and beaten to death, giving their last gesture of love by not saying a word of Suiyou's hiding-place. A pale man that had called himself Orochimaru had approached the boy, asking him to join, but Suiyou had refused. The man, obviously angered, had poisoned him and tried to force him to join. Suiyou had refused to the end and died of the poisoning.
For the first time, Naruto saw who was holding him captive. This pale man with the creepy laugh and very short patience. He had never believed that he was just being trained for charity's sake, but now he started to imagine what these people had planned for him. He was also starting to doubt that his shifts in vision and other irregularities he had noticed were of a natural cause. But for now, he could only play along.
And play along he did. He had managed to retain Suiyou's kekkei genkai, and had been 'forced' to learn how to operate multiple puppets at the same time. At first, he had to control two puppets, one with each hand. Traps were set to train his control over the puppets, making Naruto split his attention on multiple things. Then he had been ordered to control the puppet with less strings, and with time, he had been made to operate ten puppets independently from each other, and all at the same time. It had taken a week until he had somewhat mastered that, and then they increased the difficulty. Now he not only had to control ten puppets, which was no longer possible through the wall, leading to him standing in a chakra-construct hanging from the ceiling, but he also had to make sure that he stayed okay. Spikes and rocks shot out of the ceiling at random intervals, weapons shot at his puppets were actually aimed at him, pointy objects targeted him from his blind-spots... it was hell.
The short breaks were better, Karin gave him a scroll in which he could seal all ten puppets, while Kabuto had tattooed a number of blank seals on his arms and chest, saying he would probably soon need them. However? Kabuto had not noticed his personal seal on his right arm.
And indeed, not even a week later, there was another set of instructions. These simply stated that sealed inside of seven scrolls were corpses he was supposed to turn into puppets, and that he should make them his masterpieces.
Naruto noticed that the materials he was given were of a very high quality, and decided to see who was worth all the effort. He unsealed the first scroll, revealing an unknown corpse of a man wearing a gas-mask of sorts. Naruto touched the man's forehead, something that had become a ritual of sorts, and nearly screamed in surprise as the images made their way into Naruto' head.
He received a flood of information. He saw a country, hidden beneath a near-permanent rain. He saw strategies, jutsu, and lizard-like creatures that were called by a few handsigns and a small offering in blood. He saw three people, one of them a younger Orochimaru, fighting him and getting beaten badly. He saw a man with is right eye bandaged, and how they shook hands. The man was wearing a Konoha-insigna, and another one Naruto had noticed on some of the masks of people tailing him. Then there were images of looking down on a small group, but three people seemed in focus. One of them, a woman named Konan, was captured, and if one of the two boys didn't die, the girl would. The spiky-headed one, Yahiku jumped at his friend Nagato and was killed, just as the he had planned. Then the other one tried to attack, but explosive-tags rose from the ground, stuck to his legs and detonated. Those legs would be useless. Just as the troops were about to finish the boy off, something strange happened. A snake-like chakra-construct with a dragon's head shot out and killed the troops. The bandaged man and the man with the gas-mask retreated, and the last image received from that scene were the boy's eyes. They were of a metallic gray, and had many ripples. A few unimportant scenes flashed by, then he saw the boy that had been killed, together with five others. All had those rippled eyes, and they fought as one. Each one had special abilities, and eventually they overwhelmed the man. The woman that had once been a prisoner watched from above, with angel-wings made of what looked like paper. The girl seemed to be made of paper. Nagato then placed the man with the gas mask under a strong multilayered genjutsu,while in the genjutsu, Nagato proudly explained the abilities of the Rinnegan, how he used six paths jutsu and the special chakra receivers that was the on black rod he was holding on to, was could only be created by his own charkra, to enable six corpses to be able to move about. He also confidently declared himself to be God,as he was able to bring people back to life. With that said, Nagato ended the genjutsu. Then there was a black skewer, a sharp pain, then nothing. Only one sentence still echoed before the man in the gas mask died.
"Hanzo, you have suffered the fate of all mortals. Pein, the god of Ame has judged you and found you unworthy of redemption. Take this pain to your next life, so that you may grow from it."
Naruto looked at the body. This man had been a amazing shinobi, and he had had some pretty big enemies as well. He wondered how Orochimaru had gotten the body, as the man, Hanzo, was obviously stronger than him. Then again, he wouldn't get an answer, but he would go hungry and be punished. Punishment was a system that had recently been added. Essentially, when he tried to break out, or just destroy stuff so that he couldn't do it, he was hit by lightning, which usually left him on the floor, twitching in agony for ten minutes before he managed to get up, or other nasty ways of inflicting pain on him. However, Naruto decided not to turn Hanzo into a puppet, then discreetly using the corpse to unseal a scroll that had been hidden in the man's skin, only to seal it into one of the seals Kabuto had put on him. Hanzo's corpse was then resealed into his original scroll, and Naruto turned to the second scroll and unsealed it.
He jumped back, tripped and landed on his back when he saw who was laying on the table. Either the Shodaime had a lookalike, or he was laying on Naruto's table. Naruto was hyperventilating. Naruto was seriously shocked by this revelation. Why the hell was the Shodaime laying on the table?! Naruto resealed him and grabbed the last scroll, just to see if his suspicion was correct. It was. In front of him laid the Nidaime. Naruto resealed him and collapsed in shock. Why him? Why did they do this to him? Hadn't he done enough already?
He grabbed a clean scalpel and played around with it, then cut his wrist. To his shock, instead of blood, he saw brownish gray flesh, that suddenly grew black strings and mended his skin together. As soon as the skin was reconnected, a section of Naruto's arm turned into a sheet of paper, covered the stitch and returned to normal skin. Not a trace of the cut had remained, and Naruto was sure that he had seen the brown flesh mend together by itself. He stared at his arm, then at the still-clean scalpel. That was when he noticed another irregularity.
He was holding the small blade so that its wide side was facing him, and he saw his reflection. The face was still the same, although a bit thinner with slightly colder features. But what shocked him were his eyes. They were rippled, just like Nagato's and later Yahiko's. Did that mean they were related? His skin had turned to paper, just like that woman's, so perhaps those people were his parents? But then, why did he have mouths on his hands, as they were in Ame, while the people who had mouths like him lived in Iwa, according to Kabuto. Well, the nations were bordering on each other, so it wasn't impossible for a crossbreed to exist, but none of the people he saw had anything unusual on his hands. So they weren't his parents. Then Naruto noticed that his eyes were different from Nagato's. There were three very faint tomoes around his pupil, something that neither Nagato nor Yahiko, had possessed. It reminded him of what the people in that walled section of Konoha had, when their eyes turned red.
He knew because he had once landed there by accident, and was brutally beaten, then left to die while anyone who passed him would give him another kick. He probably would have died there, if not for one woman and her two children, a boy and a girl, who had smuggled him out of the compound. He had never learned his saviors' names.
What was going on? Naruto's mind finally provided him the answer. He was an experiment. He had been one before, when a group of people had kidnapped him and operated on him, giving him shots and forcing him to eat things that were clearly not good for him, so he was no stranger to the feeling of being experimented on. The mouths, the eyes, the strings and the paper, none of that was his. It was something they had done to him. And now that Naruto realized it, he suddenly ghost-pain of maddening intensity. He was physically remembering what his body had went through, and it was hell.
They had probably given him something from a genius in chakra control as well, but Naruto could still call it his achievement, since those skills were earned, not inherited. Everything he had believed, all his hopes of having a family somewhere, it was all crushed. And as pathetic as it was, he couldn't even end his misery. He slowly rose up. If he wanted to talk to Kabuto and Karin, he had to finish the given task.
Next day
Kabuto and Karin walked into Naruto's prison, and immediately noticed that something was off. Naruto sat at the table, absolutely silent. No smiles, no greeting, just a blank stare. Karin and Kabuto exchanged a worried glance as they took seat on the table, opposite of Naruto. Naruto looked at them, then he finally spoke.
"You are experimenting on me." It wasn't a question. "Why, and why me?"
Kabuto looked surprised, then he sighed. "I knew you'd eventually realize it, although I didn't think it would be so soon. Yes, there are experiments on your body, and I'm afraid there will be a few more. Orochimaru tries to artificially implant bloodlines and similar traits to others, so that he may become immortal. We chose you, after many failures, because everyone else we tried died."
Karin stared at Kabuto for revealing so much, but then she shrugged. It didn't matter anyway. Naruto simply nodded.
"And why I don't die?"
Karin shrugged sadly. "Because there is something inside of you that won't allow you to die. Kabuto can explain what." She added quickly when she saw Naruto's mouth, his main-mouth, open for another question.
Kabuto glared at Karin for pushing the dirty jobs to him, but he complied. "You probably heard the story about how the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi, right?" Naruto nodded. "Well it's bullshit. Nothing can kill a bijuu, killing normal demons is nearly impossible as Orochimaru-sama will attest, so the Yondaime did the next-best thing. He sealed it in you. You are the vessel for the Kyuubi, it's prison, you are a jinchuuriki."
Naruto acted shocked at this news. "I'm what?! " stammered Naruto.
Karin shrugged. "You are the Kyuubi's host, and you are what keeps him locked away."
Now it all made extra sense to Naruto even though Sasori had explained to him before. The beatings, the torture, the hatred and the cold glares, everything made sense. They hated him because of what Kyuubi had done, and since they couldn't hurt the Kyuubi, they hurt Naruto. He looked at them. "Thank you for telling me. Now I'd like to be alone."
Karin and Kabuto nodded and left. But Kabuto turned around one last time. "Before I forget, when you wake up after the next operation, you won't be learning puppetry. You can practice it, but you will have to do it by yourself."
Naruto nodded, and Kabuto left, knowing that the most complicated operation was ahead of them.
Merging Samehada's shard with Naruto proved to be difficult. Even though it was actually alive, there was no non-chakra-using way to gain a serum, and the shard simply absorbed all chakra. The operation had been nerve-wrecking, complicated and time-consuming, but in the end, they had managed to do it. All they could do now is wait for what happened.
An hour later, Naruto had grown scales. Not like a lizard, but similar to the real Samehada's looks, although they could seemingly shrink, leaving him looking like he was wearing chain-mail. The only problem had been that they were now unable to touch Naruto, as everyone who tried lost skin, if they were unlucky, and a shitload of chakra.
In the following weeks, Naruto had learned how to control his new natural armor. It had taken two weeks, but he was now able to make it sink into his skin, making him look normal, while it could be brought back out instantly. Another curious thing was that when Naruto grew scales on his palms, the mouths, or to be more precise their teeth, changed. Whenever the mouth was surrounded by scales, it grew sharp teeth, and seemed to be able to feed on chakra now as well.
But even while learning control of his natural armor, Naruto's skills bloomed. A boy named Kimimaro had been called and instructed him on how to make his bones weapons and certain parts of unarmed and armed combat, although he was mostly strengthening his body and learning how to dodge and block, and Naruto took to it like a fish to water. He also trained turning into paper, a little bit of explosives-training, he learned how to actually use paper and to also turn into thread, and the secret behind the black threads. He had learned to use his eyes, unlocking some sort of powers that he hadn't known before. For the rippled eyes, Naruto had received plenty information out of Hanzo's head, but the other abilities of his eyes were astounding. He could make an inescapable illusion in which he controlled even time, summon black fire, and something else that he never really tried, but felt was also powerful. Also, ever since Naruto had grown scales, he never felt exhausted after using jutsu.
A few weeks after Naruto's latest achievements, which he downgraded to keep everyone underestimating him, Orochimaru decided to field-test his armoring. There had been a few people rebelling against him, and they had been caught in a bar, together with a few unsuspecting guests, namely Kin Tsuchi. So Orochimaru thought of something special. He had gathered the entire lot in an arena, threw Naruto in as well, and clearly stated that whoever killed the boy, or at least lived when he died, would be set free. Of course, everything had been thrown at the boy, from ninjutsu over genjutsu to taijutsu and projectiles, and Orochimaru was pleased to see that everything failed when Naruto's natural armor sprang to life, covering his body seemingly automatically. Orochimaru was about to have the conspirators executed and the innocent Kin set free, when Naruto snapped, even after being trained by Sasori.
Naruto had enough. He was sick of being attacked for no reason, he was sick of being shunned, he was sick of being humiliated. With a primal roar, he jumped forward, into the bulk of his attackers. He had no real strategy, but he didn't need one either. He flung his limbs around, and anyone who came in contact lost flesh. Anyone unfortunate enough to come in contact with his palms immediately died of chakra-exhaustion as every single drop was drained out of him, then some more. The entire onslaught didn't last three minutes, then Naruto was the only one standing in a field of corpses, soaked in blood. The only other living being in the arena was Kin, who had backed away to the far wall and collapsed, her legs unable to carry her any longer. Naruto walked to her, still armored and raised his left hand, the sharp-toothed maw snapping the air as it neared the girl. Kin cried.
"No, stay away from me!" Her feet were pushing into the ground, as she tried to crawl backwards even though the wall blocked her. "No, please! I don't want to die! Monster! STAY AWAY!"
Naruto froze. Then he looked into her eyes. And what he saw woke him from his trance. He saw fear, no, what he saw in Kin's eyes was absolute terror. He saw hopelessness, and incredible horror of what would happen. She was scared of him. She was afraid of his mere presence. Naruto had become like the people in Konoha, terrorizing someone helpless. No, to Kin, he was worse. He was not a human, he was the incarnation of death and slaughter. Naruto looked at her, then he turned around. He walked towards the wall and used his scales to carve himself footholds and support for his hands to climb up. He looked at Kabuto as his scales receded into his skin, tears running down his face.
"It's enough. I'm done."
Kabuto, who had been watching, nodded. "You understand that I can't just let you walk around here, right?" He asked.
Naruto raised a brow. "Could you stop me?"
Kabuto shrugged. "Probably not, but I'd have to try. So please save yourself the trouble and me the pain, and just come quietly."
Naruto shrugged and followed. He had left the scroll with his self-made human puppets in the cell,and in a separate scroll containing the corpses, and he would never leave without them. It was high time he sealed those scrolls in one of the tattoos as well.
In Oto, a new rumor had started to go around. It spoke of a person that Orochimaru had under his control. They said that it resembled a beast, but that it was covered in scales. They said it was invincible, its scales harder than steel and absolutely immune to any type of chakra-attack. And while the tales of his strength seemed exaggerated, the arena where it was rumored to have slaughtered almost thirty men did show some fresh repairs on a wall that could indeed have been the hand and footholds the person was supposed to have made with his bare limbs. Some said it had rippled-eyes, others claimed they were white like the Hyuuga or different in some other way, but one thing they all agreed in was that the eyes were absolutely emotionless, like a machine.
Tayuya wasn't one to listen to rumors, most were exaggerated anyways. But all legends have a true core, and in the world of shinobi, an unknown was a very worrying since its a dangerous variable. In one of Oto's dining-halls, she met one of her best friends, Kin. She smiled.
"Yo Kin, heard you got yourself in quite a fucking mess. Can't leave you out of my sight for a single fucking second, can I?"
Kin smiled weakly. "I still can't believe it myself. One minute I'm sitting in this small bistro you told me about, minding my own business, next the place is swarmed and everybody gets arrested. I still don't know how I got out of there in one piece."
Tayuya shrugged. "You were innocent, that's how. The fucking tyrant wouldn't kill a loyal servant, why the hell should he?"
Kin smiled. "You're right. So, have you found any boys that got your attention?" She teased, knowing that Tayuya hated most of Oto's male population. They were vile, filthy, arrogant, stupid and sexists. One had once said all women were good for was housework and the bedroom. He had later found himself in the medical-facility with broken bones.
Tayuya frowned. "Very funny. I'd rather date dogs than the fucking pigs that run around here. Most don't even know what washing means, and you're hard-pressed to find a fucktard who can actually do more than slobber all over the girls in this shit-hole. If you want to talk to them about something other then screwing you, you draw blanks. I'm sick of them all!"
Kin smiled brighter. She still knew how to press her friend's buttons to get amusing results. "Sorry for bringing it up. I see your vocabulary is still as colorful as always, so what else is new?"
Tayuya smiled and picked up the conversation. Things were going normal until Tayuya brought up the newest rumor.
"Have you heard? They say that the old snake has a new object at his command. Rumors say it has scales and strange eyes."
Kin's glass shattered on the floor. All blood had left her face, leaving her pale as a ghost. She grimaced. Tayuya took a second to realize it was supposed to be a smile.
"Kin, what's wrong? You're white as a sheet, and you're shivering like crazy. Talk to me, what's troubling you? Is it because of that rumor?"
Kin clutched her shoulders and shivered. She whispered something that sounded like humor.
Tayuya looked at her. "You have to speak louder, I can't understand what you're telling me."
Kin whimpered, then she looked her friend in the eye. "It's not a rumor." she whispered.
Tayuya's eyes widened. "You saw it?"
Kin nodded.
Tayuya's jaw dropped. "When? Where?"
Kin gulped. "When I was caught together with those rebels. We were herded into a large arena, then Orochimaru-sama threw what looked like a boy into the arena and said whoever was alive when the boy was dead would be spared. Of course, the rebels fired everything they had, but when the smoke cleared, the scaled boy was sitting there, completely unharmed. They then threw weapons at it, but everything bounced off. Then he roared and attacked. It was horrible. Everyone that touched his skin lost flesh until the bones were visible, but that wasn't the worst part. Everyone it touched with its hands dropped dead to the floor, and one man was grabbed by the throat, and he turned into a dried-up mummy in seconds. In less than three minutes, everyone was dead. Then it walked to me." She was obviously and seriously traumatized.
Tayuya gently patted her back. "It's okay. You made it out alive, that's all that matters. If it doesn't hurt too much, how did you escape?"
Kin sobbed. "I didn't. He came towards me, extending his scaled hand to my face. Tayuya, there was a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth on his palm, and they were gnashing and grinding and seemed really eager to bite me. I was so scared, I just screamed something, I can't remember what. It looked me in the eye, then after a few seconds, it turned around and left. It walked to the walls and carved holes into the rock with his bare hands and feet."
Tayuya didn't know what to think. This sounded even crazier than some of the shit she'd heard, yet if she wasn't calling Kin a liar, something the girl said definitely wasn't, it had to be true. This was big, really big. She gave Kin another pat on the back. "Relax, you made it out. If he wanted to hurt you, he would have. You're fine, and you'll probably never see him again. You said it yourself, he only killed traitors."
Kin nodded weakly. "I'm going to do anything to ensure that I will never have to face him again."
Tayuya smiled. "There you go girl, that's the way." She helped Kin up and turned to leave, before stopping for a second. "If you tell anyone that I was all sobby and gentle, I'm gonna beat the fucking shit out of you, are we clear?"
Kin chuckled. "I'll make sure that no harm is done to your reputation."
Tayuya smirked. "That's my girl."
Kabuto looked at his master. "Orochimaru-sama, forgive my insolence, but why are you allowing rumors about Naruto Uzumaki to spread? Would it not be better if nobody knew of him?"
"I would like to second that question." Karin added.
Orochimaru shook his head. "There is a simple reason. The rumors describe him as a invincible monster, and my shinobi have started to double and triple their effort in my service as to not face the beast that I hide in my cellar. Did you know that Naruto has already gained a nickname amongst my troops?"
Karin sighed. "Yes, they call him the Chimera."
Kabuto shrugged. "Well, that's exactly what we're making him. He's a mixture of different people, all with different skills, so I have to say, the name fits."
Orochimaru smirked. "Yes it does. Nobody dares betray me now that I have such a monster at my beck and call. And once they learn that I am, or rather will soon be the Chimera, they will all crawl at my feet. I can't wait to see the look in sensei's eyes when I kill him wearing that face. On that matter, I have decided that he will receive the last three injections at the same time."
Kabuto frowned. "Lord Orochimaru, not to criticize you, but are you sure that's wise? Naruto is probably ready for another shot, and there are only three more, but to give him all three at the same time?"
Orochimaru glared at him. "I am running out of time. In little more than a year, I have planned an invasion on Konoha to destroy it once and for all, and I want to be in my perfect host by that time. If we wait months before the final injection, then the time we need to train that power afterwords and the time to properly unseal Kyuubi without it going berserk on us will be lost and I may not be able to fully control the new body by the time the invasion is scheduled. He will receive all three solutions today, and you two will train him on how to reflect damage to opponents. Once he's proficient with that, we will unseal the Kyuubi with a special sealing-array that is nearly complete, although the concept still needs last improvements. Afterwords I will take over his body."
Karin bowed, so that nobody could see her biting her lip. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama." She replied.
Kabuto was also feeling strangely uncomfortable, but he shrugged it off for now. They had to do some reading on Jashinism, and prepare the solutions and Naruto for the final injection.
Naruto was floating in his tank. Getting the injection-needle into him had been a pain, as his scales seemed to be a automatic defense as well. In the end, they had managed, after waking Naruto up and begging him to allow them to put it in. They had promised and given him a load of ramen, and swore that it would be the last time, and Naruto had reluctantly agreed. While the other solutions had optically not changed him much, this last one had. The only change that Hidan's immortal body had given him was two marks of Jashin on the soles of Naruto's feet, which Kabuto concluded was necessary to quickly conjure the circle needed for the ceremonies. But Zetsu had left very slight changes on Naruto.
Thankfully, he hadn't grown a Venus-flytrap around his head, Naruto now had developed a sac of some sorts on both sides of his thighs, however,these sacs were like pockets,and could be opened at will, the sacs were not protruding out of his legs like a normal pocket would though, they appeared to have grown out from inside Naruto's bodies. His body did not appear to take a liking to the sacs being open, and had sealed the openings shut with the black threads within Naruto's body. Also, both of his eyes had returned to the cerulean blue they were before. The eyes was still rippled, and a number of new tomoes had appeared (It looks like the Juubi's eye). Kabuto had a feeling Naruto would take this new change even better than when he had taken to the other ones. Kabuto had surmised that Naruto now could activate and deactivate his dojutsu at will, pretty much like the Uchiha and the Hyuuga from Konoha.
Naruto had also been injected with Tobimaru's Cells, as Orichimaru believed that it will make Naruto's with water style jutsus will be on par with the Nidaime hokage, if not better.
Naruto groaned and grabbed his head. That last operation was a pain. Kabuto and Karin then walked in, and froze when they saw Naruto staring at himself. .
"Kabuto, get me a mirror."
Kabuto started to sweat. "Naruto, I really don't think that's a good..."
"Kabuto." Naruto interrupted him.
"Yes?"
Naruto looked at him. "Get. Me. A. Mirror." His voice leaving no room to argue.
Kabuto sighed. "Give me a minute, I don't have one with me." He left, and against better knowledge, he returned with a hand-mirror.
Naruto grabbed it and saw his face, turned his head to see the right eye, then at the left eye, then he set it aside and buried his face in his hands, sobbing in joy. He looked up and asked one question.
"What am I?"
Karin blinked. "A normal human." She answered.
Naruto looked at her, then he started to giggle, which turned into an insane laughter even as tears ran down his face, interrupted by the occasional sob. "GWAHAHAHAHAHA! A human? HAHA-HA. Which part of me is human? My bones?" He raised his arms and let bone-spikes shoot out of them, then he made one drop while the other ones receded back into his arm. "My flesh?" He grabbed the fallen spike and sliced open his arm. The gray flesh merged back together as soon as the slice was made, the black thread and paper hiding all traces of it ever happening. "My hands?" The mouths opened, the tongues rolling around. "My skin?" The scales shot out of his body, Karin jumping back just in time to escape without a cut. "My eyes?" He grabbed his eyes and subconsciously activated them, then he looked at them. "How am I human? Tell me, what part of me is human?"
Only now Karin and Kabuto fully realized how much of a pain Naruto's skin had been to him. It had looked like a normal human's, and it was the only thing that was really the same as any human's.. Naruto had been called a monster so many times that a part of him had started to believe it, being overruled by the thought that when Naruto looked into a mirror, he was no different from others. And now he was, and he couldn't take it. His entire existence was suddenly thrown into question, and Naruto was mentally breaking apart.
Karin hugged Naruto as soon as the scales had receded into the skin. She looked at him. "Naruto. In your heart, you are still a human. Your soul is human."
Kabuto nodded. "And as for your body, you are what humans dream to be. You are strong, smart, immune to disease, starting to get a resistance to poisons, and you are immortal. "
Naruto slowly nodded. It was clear that he didn't fully believe it, but it was enough to hold him straight. He took a deep breath. "So, what do you want me to do now?"
Kabuto calmed himself. "We are supposed to try something." He pulled out a vial with a crimson liquid. "Can you drink a bit of this with the mouth on your palm?"
Naruto shrugged and extended his hand, Kabuto dropping a bit of blood in the mouth. Naruto grimaced. "I feel kinda sick, is that supposed to happen?"
Karin frowned. "No, it's not. I guess that mouth isn't made for it. Can you drink a gulp of it?"
Naruto looked at the liquid, eye now filled with distrust. Kabuto sighed. "It's not poisonous Naruto, I can drink a small bit myself if it makes you feel better." He took a sip, opened his mouth so that Naruto could see he had indeed drank some of it, then he swallowed.
Naruto nodded, grabbed the vial and emptied it. He spat out the last drops. "Was that blood?"
Karin nodded. "Yes it was. And Naruto, what's going to happen in a few seconds is normal, so please don't freak out."
Naruto tilted his head, but then he had a weird feeling. He stretched his legs, although it was more accurate to say that they stretched themselves, the marks at his feet oozing a liquid while he drew a triangle in a circle with his feet and the liquid, which Kabuto would later analyze and see that it was a mixture of Naruto's and the victims blood. Then a pattern started to emerge on Naruto's skin. it was pitch-black, with a snow-white pattern, altogether making him look like a skeleton. The pattern made his face look like a blank mask with no identifying features, the only oddity was a spot on the forehead, while the rest of the pattern seemed to trace his limbs in simple white lines, making it look as if someone had traced his basic bone-structure with a few brush-strokes, only that everything was connected and no clear ends were seen, other than the ones where his limbs ended. Naruto looked at himself. This was supposed to happen?
"I won't stay like this, will I?" he asked, unsure.
Karin shook her head. "The change will revert the moment you step out of the circle, and restart once you reenter it. It just signifies that the ceremony is in effect."
Naruto looked at her. "Ceremony?"
Kabuto nodded. "Yes, I'll tell you what it does in a minute, but first, could you take that bone-spike you're still holding and ram it in your heart? I know how this sounds, but you're practically immortal, and now immune to physical harm."
Naruto looked at him with raised brows. He raised the spike and slammed it into him. It stinged, but there was no overbearing pain. Suddenly, he felt as if a cold shudder had gone through him. Then it was over, and Naruto's skin reverted to what he would have to call normal. "What was that?"
Kabuto twitched. "The ceremony for the honor of the god Jashin is simple. It works by drinking the victim's blood, a single drop is enough. Then a circle is drawn, the Jashinist staying in it. As long as he remains in the circle, all damage done to the Jashinist will be reflected onto the victim, meaning they get the same damage, although if the victim is hurt, it doesn't happen to the Jashinist as well. The ceremony can be interrupted when the Jashinist leaves the circle, but as soon as he reenters it, the effect starts again. There are only two ways the ceremony can end. Either the circle is destroyed, in which case the Jashinist needs another drink of blood to make a new one... or the victim dies."
Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean... someone died because of what I did?"
Karin and Kabuto nodded their heads. Naruto dropped to the floor.
Orochimaru looked at a monitor showing Naruto's room, a habit he had started to develop, looking at his new body-to-be. The boy was certainly surprising, both positively and negatively. He learned quicker than anything Orochimaru had ever seen, although he suspected the Sharingan might have a positive effect on the boy's learning-curve, and built strong but not bulky muscle in mere hours, something he accredited to the combination of Kyuubi and Juugo. The not-so-good part was that Naruto had made it impossible to extract any sperm. He blatantly refused to impregnate a woman, and Orochimaru had shown him pictures of any woman he had. Hell, he had even mixed in pictures of people he didn't have, like Tsunade, and while the boy obviously liked their looks, he still refused to do the deed. Worse yet, thanks to Juugo's mutation-abilities, he had retracted and effectively dissolved his reproductive organs, making any attempt of sperm-extraction a waste of time.
Orochimaru looked closer into the screen. He frowned. The boy was messing around with a scalpel, but there was nothing to use it on. Except...
"NO!" Orochimaru howled with rage when he saw Naruto thrust the blade into his right eye. He jumped up and ran towards the room where the boy was held, intending to save the irreplaceable eye.
In front of Naruto's room, Kabuto and Karin were playing poker, ignoring the tragedy that was happening. They looked at Orochimaru, bowed and returned to their game. "What are you two doing?" Orochimaru asked irritated.
"We are playing a card-game, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto stated dryly, before adding to Karin "Raise two-hundred."
Orochimaru's eye gained a dangerous twitch. "While you two are playing games, my precious host is mutilating himself."
Karin didn't look up. "He's been doing that for the last three days. Call, raise five-hundred."
"And you aren't stopping him?" Orochimaru asked in disbelief.
Kabuto shrugged. "We tried, he raised his scales, we lost flesh. It hurt. Eventually, we just gave up. Call."
Orochimaru glared at them. "He's goring his right eye."
Karin frowned. "Again? That makes what, twenty-six times? Raise five-hundred."
"Twenty-seven. Orochimaru-sama, what you don't know is that Naruto heals everything. In the last three days, he has also cut himself to shreds, broke his own bones, used the scales on his arms to shave his face to the bone and self-amputated something nine times, including two decapitations. The only thing his body really didn't like was the amputations, where it grew threads to reconnect, although I believe he could just regenerate the limbs. His body simply chooses what takes less energy. In fact, his pain-tolerance is baffling, I've never seen anything like it. Call. Show your hand."
Karin laid down her cards. "Four of a kind, Aces."
Kabuto whistled. "Not bad." he showed his hand. "Strait Flush, clubs, Four to Eight."
"Son of a bitch!" Karin cursed.
Orochimaru calmed down and retreated. What he had just heard was even better than he'd hoped. With Naruto as a host, he'd be invincible. Who cared if the boy hurt himself, if it didn't leave any marks? Certainly not he. Whistling a happy tune, Orochimaru retreated to his domain.
Orichimaru had decided that he'd take over Naruto in a month, two weeks after the Kyuubi would be extracted. He had to take this time to teach Naruto as much things as possible, reason being : he needed his new body to know all these things, if he did not do this, he would have to start relearning things all over again, which was just plain troublesome.
Kabuto and Karin returned to Naruto's cell. Naruto looked at them.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked.
Kabuto sighed. "Orochimaru-sama has developed a jutsu with which he can permanently take over other bodies in his quest for immortality. While he was a member of a group of ninja equal and superior to himself, he found that two of them combined would offer eternal life. But he got greedy and desired a perfect host with the abilities of all the members of said group. With time and patience, he gathered genetic samples. But that was when the problems started. As I told you before, nobody but you survived. Now you have all the samples, and you have reached a decent level of skill with them, so Orochimaru-sama has decided that a month from now, the Kyuubi will be extracted from you, as it would destroy him if he were to take you over with it still in you, then, after two weeks of recovery, he will take over your body."
Naruto looked at him. "So this is how it ends, huh? Just like that."
Kabuto shrugged. "I'm afraid so. I'll miss you, you were fascinating." He had purposefully chosen such a vague way of expressing himself, as the next step would be really risky and very well cost him his head.
Karin hugged him. Then she looked at him. "I guess this is farewell."
Naruto nodded. "Goodbye you two. I guess, I grew attached to you. It feels nice to have a proper goodbye."
Kabuto added: "You know, Zetsu, the guy u got your 'Sacs' from, he was able to travel underground and cover great distances within a short period of time, if you can sink through solid matter and travel the greatest distances in seconds. An extra bit of information though, Orichimaru is going to train you in his jutsus from tomorrow onwards, and we wont be seeing you anymore. Goodbye Naruto."
Naruto looked at them. "Goodbye."
Once Karin and Kabuto left the cell, they started a small conversation. "A shame, isn't it? He had such talent, perhaps we could have given him some more before we parted ways forever." Kabuto said. It was a code between him and Karin, meaning Did he get it?
Karin answered. "Yeah, but what can you do? His fate is decided, and all we can do is wait and study Orochimaru once he's in control." The only important word in that speech was the first one, as it answered the unspoken question. Naruto was far too special to end like that.
Next morning
Orichimaru had awakened Naruto from his slumber, he had then proceeded to bring Naruto to his private training ground, which was similar to the cave Naruto had trained in a few months back. He had personally constructed this training site. The only difference however, was that for 1 year inside this training ground, only two weeks would pass outside of the training ground.
Kukuku, Naruto-kun, I have a secret to tell you come closer over here will ya. Naruto leaned in closer to listen to what Orichimaru had to say to him. After hearing what Orichimaru had said to him, Naruto was gob-smacked and was staring at Orichimaru with eyes the size of dinner plates.
After getting over his initial shock, Naruto grabbed Orichimaru and gave him a bone-crushing hug. Whispering : "I have a family, I have a family." And "This is the same thing happening again, its like the time i spent training with Sasori sensei." Over and over again.
This was what Orichimaru had said to Naruto: "Naruto-kun, I am actually your god-uncle, last night, I had a heated discussion with my evil alter personality. (EAP for short, too long to type out XD) My EAP had agreed to stay dormant in my mind until two weeks later, in the real world, as you see.. (Here, our friend Orichi explains how the time works while in the training ground) so I'm going to teach you the Kage-Bunshin, Edo-Tensei, all that i know fuinjutsu and ninjutsu. And i'm going to help you with mastering the use of the Chi no Juin and the Ten no Juin that my EAP placed on you. I actually have no intention of taking over your body. All of this was my EAP's doing actually." Orichimaru admitted. "Also, I'm going to teach you a jutsu that will completely wipe out my EAP's memories of you, you can also use this on other people too, when my EAP is going to take over your body after a year if training here, I want you to counter absorb him, but I only want you to absorb only me instead. When my EAP tries to take over you, you will appear in my mindscape, you can absorb me into your body when that happens. I will become a part of you, as I will be in prisoner like the Kyuubi, in a way, but I will be residing inside the cursed seals however. After you are done absorbing me, I also want you to wipe all memories of those people you have interacted with during your time in Oto." With that, Orichimaru started explaining the good benefits of the Kage bunshin jutsu, how knowledge is transferred to the original user and the remaining clones when one of the clones are dispelled. And he also started explains the rest of what he was going to teach to Naruto. Orichimaru had ignored Naruto's comment about Sasori, as he would have the time to talk to Naruto about it, after Naruto had absorbed him.
A year later in the training grounds , and two weeks had passed in the outside world
EAP Orichimaru had been right in his beliefs, now Naruto's proficiency with suiton jutsus were as good as the nidaime's control of water, during his prime. And his skill with the Edo Tensei had long since surpassed his own, Naruto now could control the reanimated people without a seal being placed on them.
Naruto was remembering what had happened two weeks ago. Naruto pondered over the last goodbye. Karin had slid a scroll in his shirt, which he had immediately sealed in one of the tattoos, and slipped a bit of clay into his hand. The resident mouth had swallowed it immediately, keeping it in until it was needed. Kabuto's words had also struck a cord. He had indirectly told him how to escape. The walls were filled with seals and therefore not an option, but did the same count for the floor as well? He leaned back, making sure his body was covering his hand, and tried to make it merge with the stone to let him pass. When he noticed a rejection, he tried looking after activating his eyes. Yep, the floor was lined with chakra, so no pass. He could try to tamper with the seals, but that might trigger an alarm. Instead he went for the operation-table where he made human-puppets. As he had expected, it only had a few minor seals, probably to keep it clean. Naruto traced over the seal with his fingers, letting small scales grow on the tips, and watched with fascination as the chakra was practically sucked out of the seal until it was nothing more than a few scratches and ink. He laid his body on the table, something he had started to do a few weeks ago, so it wouldn't be suspicious, and tried to make his fingers sink into the table. It took two hours, but he made it. Now he had to extend the feeling, letting his entire body sink into the ground.
But just when Naruto though he had it, he heard a sharp hiss, and the world turned blurry. This was obviously new stuff, as Naruto grew resistant if not immune to anything he had been subjugated to at least once, even if the ingredients were dosed differently. He knew that all he had were seconds before he was paralysed, and focused all his mental strength into the mind wiping jutsu.
It was just in time, as Orichimaru's EAP, who had taken back control, appeared beside Naruto. Orichimaru had gathered all the people that Naruto had interacted with before, just outside the room he was currently in. EAP Orichimaru could not wait to take over Naruto's body, despite the Kyuubi being in his body, consequences be dammed, he couldn't wait anymore. This was a good thing, as Naruto was getting ready to release his mind wiping jutsu.
EAP Orichimaru wasted no time, and immediately activated his body transfer jutsu. Both he and Naruto appeared in his mindscape, with the original Orichimaru (the good one) bound up behind Naruto. Naruto had sensed another person in the mindscape, and immediately knew it was his god-uncle, but he did not know which Orichimaru it was. So he asked a single question outloud. "So, I heard that someone likes to read Yoai porn, I wonder which one of you it is,hmm.." This was a secret that EAP Orichimaru did not like people knowing, so he immediately rushed forward to cover Naruto's mouth while blushing in embarrassment at the same time.
Naruto immediately knew the Orichimaru who was rushing forward, was the EAP, so he quickly rushed to the other Orichimaru who was behind him and was bound up, grabbed him and quickly ran out of Orichimaru's mindscape, by running past the exit, which were two large doors that was in front of him.
Outside world
"Why you little bastard!" Shouted EAP Orichimaru, now that there was no other personality restricting him, he had full control of his body now.
"What happened Orichimaru-sama?!" Was the collective question asked by all the people who were entering the room at the same time.
"The little bastard managed to resist the jutsu and take my alter ego with him while he was at it!" Huffed EAP Orichimaru, who was tired after the failed body transfer.
Naruto grinned widely, "thanks EAP-teme, now! Mind-wiping jutsu activate!"
All the people in the room paled considerably, including Orichimaru, even though it was a wonder he could go any paler. They all knew about the jutsu and the jutsu's effects. All of the had a single collective thought: "ohh, fuck!"
After Naruto finished the jutsu,he looked around, and saw all the people in the room fast asleep, some even snoring away. A large sweatdrop formed on Naruto head as he looked on at the funny scene.
Well, time to go, as god-uncle had instructed me to. Now...lets try that sinking into the ground jutsu again. Naruto internally thought.
With that, Naruto slowly sank into the ground using zetsu's ability. Now, better head to Konoha, before I collapse from the effects of the gas the teme used on me...with that, Naruto mentally set Konoha as his destination and his body started moving towards Konoha on its own. Naruto was barely conscious by now.
Konoha
Sarutobi was enjoying a good pipe, for the moment free of any paperwork that needed looking through. His thoughts wandered to the boy who had vanished over three years ago, Naruto Uzumaki. When Kushina had appeared before him after getting his letter, pissed would not do her mood justice. She had been downright furious. He still had a scar on his shoulder from that argument, although beat-down would be more precise. He had never seen her that angry. Hell may have no wrath like a woman scorned, but Earth was more resourceful. Earth had pissed mothers.
Shaking himself from those unpleasant thoughts, he wondered if he would ever see the boy again. Just as he finished his pipe the secretary showed up and placed a giant stack of paper in front of him. Sarutobi sighed and grabbed for his stamp, when something that nearly gave him a heart-attack happened. Something big dropped from the ceiling, landing right on the stacks. His first thought was 'What a shame, now all the paperwork is damaged, therefore invalid. Pity.', directly followed by 'Where the hell did this come from?! And what is this?'
The ANBU that always watched him jumped into action and surrounded the downed object. The leader looked around. "Uma, you were closest, where did that come from and why didn't we notice it sooner?"
The horse-masked man shrugged. "I don't know. It wasn't there, then I noticed something sink out of the ceiling, then it dropped."
Sarutobi decided to take a look at what they were dealing with. He approached the table, prepared to jump back and form a jutsu should he have to, but there was no attack. On the table before him was a boy. He only saw a hand and a mop of blond hair. The boy seemed familiar. Then the boy turned his head slightly, and Sarutobi looked into a cerulean-blue eyes that stood out of the face like a blue moon in a white sky. Sarutobi gasped.
The boy's lip twitched, it was probably supposed to be a smile. Then he spoke. "I'm sorry jiji, I didn't know where...else...to..." Then the eyes closed, and the boy lost consciousness.
In case any of you readers are observing what is gonna happen to the Kage bodies, it's a secret you all will find out in a few more chapters :D
