Author's Note: I am so so so SORRY this is late. Please don't hate me! I wanted to upload this on time, but my internet wasn't working and Liberty isn't going to send a technitian to check it out until August 6 maybe later! The only reason this chapter is up is because I drove to my uncle's house in order to upload it. So unfortunately I won't be able to get Chapter 10 up until at least August 15 and that's only assuming that Liberty will send a technitian that will solve the problem on the same day. So I hope you will find mercy in your hearts and be patient. I promise to try my very best to get as much as I can done, but in order to send the Chapter to my beta I need internet so I'll need a couple of days after I get my internet back before being able to upload chapter 10. Please subscribe to story alert or check on August 15 to see if Chapter 10 is up (Because I'll try to have it up by then). Thank you for understanding and please enjoy Chapter 9.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. This was made purely for entertainment and I am gaining no monetary profit from it.
Chapter 9: Too Dangerous
I woke up from one of the best nights of sleep I've ever had, even though I went to bed late and awoke early.
'That's because dreaming of Sakura can make anyone feel refreshed'
I mean, I guess I'm just excited to go to school.
'Yeah real believable'
I felt slightly disappointed when Sakura failed to at arrive at both school and SATF, but I dismissed it as nothing. That is, until I arrived home…
"Son, come here for a second. Jiraiya and I have some questions we'd like to ask you," my father called from the dining room.
I sat at the table, opposite Jiraiya and my father, "What's up?"
"When was the last time you saw Sakura?" Jiraiya asked in a serious voice.
"Last night. After the festival, I offered to walk her home since it was late and I left her on her street just a few houses away from her home because she didn't want to be walked to the door. Why? Did something happen to her?" I asked, my voice filled with worry.
My father spoke this time, "Son, she…she never returned home last night and she won't pick up her cell phone…" He sighed, "We don't know for sure, though. She might have run away, or she could have been kidnapped. We won't know until we look into it more. Do you know anyone that would have any reason to want her gone?"
"No, I uh…" I shook my head, my eyes wide. I thought back to everything: Orochimaru, Sarutobi, the black van… "That's it!" I said aloud as I looked at them. It all makes sense now! Last night, I had a bad feeling so I turned back to check on Sakura and there was no one around. But, I did see a van driving away, and I could have sworn that I saw something pink in it. It must have been her! That Snake, he took her; he kidnapped her! We have to get her back before it's too late!"
"Snake? What are you talking about? Calm down and tell us what exactly you think is going on! So you said you saw a van drive away and you saw something pink?" my father repeated my previous statement, waiting for me to share further information.
"Yes. You see, we accidentally came across Orochimaru's hideout—or whatever—and we told Sarutobi, but he took it lightly. So, we took the matter into our own hands, but then Orochimaru saw us and he looked at Sakura all weird and stuff. I just know he's the one who took her!" I tried to explain in the calmest way possible due to the current situation.
My father raised a brow, "Are you saying you were snooping around Orochimaru's place?"
I rubbed the back of my neck the way I always do when I'm nervous, "Well, uh, I um...well yeah, but…but that's no excuse for him to hurt either one of us!"
"Hm...we're going to talk about this later. I'll try to get a search warrant, so we'll just have to keep looking for more evidence in the meantime."
I slammed my fist on the table, "That's not enough! You don't get it! This guy isn't normal!" I stood up, "This research of his, it's not normal! He's killing people, I just know it! I heard the screams; I saw him covered in blood."
They looked at each other with expressions that I couldn't quite make out. Worry? Anger? Fear? It only lasted a second before they both put on their poker faces.
My father spoke with finality in his voice, "We have no solid proof. I'll be sure to look into it, though. You're still in trouble for what you did, Naruto. Invasion of property is illegal. You're lucky this guy is a possible felon. Your room. NOW."
I couldn't argue with my dad when he spoke to me with that voice, "Yes sir." I lowered my head and walked up to my room.
I was awoken abruptly when a bucket of ice cold water was thrown on me. I lifted my head from where I was laying in the corner of the van, the spot where they had left me the night before. The two men grabbed ahold of me and pressed another one of those strange buttons. We where automatically transported to the eerily dim room where Naruto and I had encountered Orochimaru before…
The men opened the door from which Orochimaru always exited and deposited me on top of what looked to be an autopsy table. My eyes widened in fear as I struggled to break free. The two men left and Orochimaru himself came in.
He spoke with a sickening voice, "My, my! If it isn't the curious mouse I stumbled upon the other day after I told her not to return unless she desired to become part of my research." He began to walk around me, "Well, you were snooping around here two days ago, so I take it you want to participate in my experiment."
"Mffmrrgh!" I continued to struggle.
"If you keep that up, you'll fall off the table. Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything to you…yet," he said as he placed a hand on my arm. The feel of his skin on mine caused me to shiver in horror.
"Now listen carefully. I'm going to untie you and I'm going to lock you in this room," he told me while pointing at a map on the wall, "You're here, right now. Once you're in the other room, I'm going to let 15 snakes free in that room. But, they aren't normal snakes. They are my own special mutated snakes. There are two types, and they both look identical to the human eye. Out of all those snakes 14 will be harmless and one will be venomous."
He put his hand on my cheek and began to rub it. "Both the harmless and venomous snakes' bites are extremely painful, and both will give you the same side effects. If you make an antidote from the venomous one, it can get rid you of the effects of the harmless ones."
Saying I was terrified was an understatement! In fact, I wasn't feeling like this just because of the horrifying things that were coming out of his mouth, but also because of his actions. Was he going to have his way with me before letting the snakes torture me? I just wished that he'd stop touching me! Even if he's only rubbing my cheek, it was like acid on my skin.
"If you don't get rid of the venom in your system, the effects will stay for four days; after those four days, they'll go away on their own. Also, in the case of the venomous one: if you don't get the antidote in four days, you'll die. Thank you for being my test subject, my pretty."
Sakura has been missing for three days. I haven't even been able to look for her because my dad has Jiraiya-sensei walk me to and from school every day. I can't take it anymore; I have to look for Sakura. As soon as the gym teacher let us out, I ran and locked myself in a bathroom stall and teleported to the fabric section at Wal-Mart.
And there was Jiraya, my dad, and some ANBU—which was our version of, I don't know, SWAT, I guess…
"We thought you would come here to try to help your teammate. So, tell us, Uzumaki-san, how did you get to where Orochimaru was running his experiments?" my father asked as he kept up the charade I had asked him to keep. We were not father and son. Right now, we were Hokage and some random kid mixed up in all of this.
"Well, the trigger is somewhere in this barrel of buttons," I explained, pointing at the barrel with the white buttons.
The few ANBU moved the barrel, and underneath was a hole. They nodded their heads and leaped into the hole single file, followed by my father, Jiraiya and me. We landed in the familiar room and I ran toward the door Orochimaru/the Snake would always exit. The others quickly followed, warning me to be more careful. I swung the door open and was met with a large metal table. To the left was a flat screen, which suddenly turned on. By now, everyone was inside as the message began to play on the television.
The Snake's face showed up on the screen, "If you're seeing this, then I'm long gone by now. And yes, everything you suspected is true; under this television is a compartment with a file on some the crimes I've committed. Go ahead, take it, you'll never catch me anyways."
The screen went black, before suddenly turning back on, "Oh, and about that pink-haired girl, this was recorded the morning after her kidnapping. I have locked her in a room with 15 mutated snakes."
He smirked, "Out of those 15, 14 are harmless and one is lethal. They all look alike. If the lethal one bites her, she'll have four days to live before the poison kills her…unless you create an antidote from the lethal snake's venom. Also set to activate after this message is a timer, you'll have seven minutes to find her before I release a toxic poison into the air of the room she's in, killing her within a matter of seconds. She can give you all the details. That is, if you can find her in time. Here, enjoy this live feed I've set up."
His image was replaced with that of Sakura's—covered in sweat as she trembled and screamed in pain while the snakes bit her. My eyes widened in horror. How could he do this to her? I quickly began to search through the tubes, looking for other doors. All the while I could hear her screams and see the timer ticking away on each and every wall…
6:04
6:03
6:02
I continued to search through the doors.
6:00
5:59
5:58
Empty.
5:56
Empty.
5:54
Empty…Darn it! Where is she?
5:51
5:50
5:49
Huh? Wait! There was someone behind the last door I opened.
"Hey! ANBU guys, Lord Hokage! I found someone here!" I called out.
There before me, arms and legs tied, was the woman with the purple hair. The ANBU quickly showed up, followed by Pervy-sensei and my dad.
One of the ANBU spoke up, "Her name is Anko Mitarashi, age 27. There's evidence that she committed various crimes and aided in committing others. What should we do Hokage-sama?"
My father stepped forward and as soon as the woman saw him her eyes watered. My dad crouched down and was now at the same level as the woman. He began to talk, "Now? We let her go. I know her and I know she wouldn't do this without a reason. Isn't that right, Anko?"
She nodded, her voice cracking a few times as she spoke, "Mhm. Yes, Minato-sensei. He forced me…"
"But, Hokage-sama, we can't just let her go like—" an ANBU began, but was interrupted by my father.
"I didn't mean let her go in that sense. I meant let's untie her."
The ANBU muttered a low 'Oh…' and they proceeded to untie her. Once untied, she stood up, wiping the wet moisture from her eyes. The only sound that could be heard was Sakura's screaming. I looked at the wall: 2:34!
"We're wasting too much time!" I said aloud, voicing my thoughts.
My father spoke once more, "He's right. Anko, do you know where we could find Sakura Haruno? She has pink hair and green eyes."
"Yes I do, but," she sighed looking at her feet, "It's far from here even if we run it'll take us too long. I'm not entirely sure if we can make it in time. We could still try, though."
And with that, we began following her while she ran in the direction of the room where Sakura was being held hostage. The walls brought more and more desperation every time I dared take a peek:
2:03
…
1:40
…
1:16
…
0:59
Darn it! Just how far is this room?
0:55
…
0:32
Can we really trust her? What if she's just making us waste our time?
0:30
…
…
…
…
0:17
How much longer?
As if answering my silent question, the woman spoke up, "It's the last door at the end of this hall, on the right wall."
As soon as she finished her sentence, I dashed ahead of the others. My only goal at the moment was to reach the last door on the right.
0:14
…
0:11
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I swung the door open and ran over to Sakura, lifting her into my arms. I ran out, slamming the door behind me. I sped all the way back up the hallway and didn't stop until I passed the turn just as the clock reached 0:00.
"Ahg!" I cried in agony as a snake bit me. Its teeth had punctured Sakura's flesh when I took her from the infested room, and I had been in too much of a rush to care. A few others will still wriggling on her. Thankfully, an ANBU quickly came over and rid us of the snakes.
"Are you OK?" my dad asked, his eyes filled with worry as he looked at the bite.
"I'm fine," I turned to Sakura, "Are you OK, Sakura-chan?"
She began to speak in between gasps, "Unhn, th-the s-sna-a-kes are..." She didn't even finish the sentence, instead, losing consciousness.
I opened my eyes…
All I could see was white and I felt a sense of relief. After all those days of agonizing, it felt so good to be pain-free once more. Hmm, an IV drip, a white wall, a door, Naruto, a window…
Wait! Back up. Naruto? I suddenly remembered the earlier events in Orochimaru's hideout.
I lifted myself into a sitting position and Naruto's face lit up as he ran to my side, "Sakura-chan! You're awake!"
"Naruto-kun!" I said in the spur of the moment, but quickly rephrased my words, "I mean, um…thank you for saving me, Naruto. I knew you would find me!"
"Heh, it was no big deal," he said sheepishly, rubbing his neck. I noticed he does this often, must be a habit or something…
'A really cute habit, though'
Argh. No! I have to focus! I gasped, "Naruto, you were bitten! Are you OK?
"Yes, I'm fine. Neither one of us was bitten by the poisonous one. Besides, the woman with the purple hair said that it takes multiple bites from the harmless one in order to get the symptoms you had, so I'm good," he smiled and gave me a thumbs up.
The door opened and in came Jiraiya-sensei. He came up to me and spoke, "Ah, I see you're awake Sakura. I'm glad you're OK, but there's something I need to tell you."
I raised a brow, "What is it?"
"What happened with Orochimaru is just the beginning…until your powers emerge, it's not safe for you to be involved with us. So, we're eliminating you from the classes until further notice. You can no longer be in the SATF as it's too dangerous. Good bye, Sakura."
And, with that, he put his hand on my head and the world went black…
Author's Note: I hope to see you all as soon as possible! Fingers crossed I get my internet back soon!
It's been gone for 3 days SO frustrating! :'(
Oh! And review please! It means a lot to me and when I finally get steady internet again and can check my e-mail I'll be sure to read them =] (Also I'm planning on visiting my friend's house on either Friday or Saturday so I may be able to read them rather sooner than later. Hoo ray for friends with wireless =] ) Reviews mean a lot to me. Especially to know if you liked it and what you liked best, what you disliked in the chapter. To know how can improve it to make it better.
