Disclaimer: I don't own naruto. If I did, that complete moron sasuke would be dead.
Naruto and gaara both could feel nothing yet could tell the razor sharp scalpels were slicing thin lines into their flesh. It was a sensation neither enjoyed.
Naruto's wounds healed very quickly, forcing Orochimaru and Kabuto to work faster than they would normally. As a result, they were less than gentle while handling his body and nights in his cell were less than comfortable for the nine-tailed jinchuriki.
Gaara healed much more slowly but still at an advanced rate, allowing Kabuto and Orochimaru to study him more thoroughly.
Weeks passed in this fashion, then blurred into months which transformed into a year. A year of almost ceaseless examinations.
Tsunade clearly wanted naruto back in the village for she kept sending nin to rescue him. And during these rescue attempts they were always captured and naruto was forced to indebt himself to Orochimaru even further.
After the most recent attempt, which involved Kakashi, Naruto decided to send a message back.
"Tell Tsunade that I'm fine, Master Kakashi. Every time the rescue team gets caught, I have to promise more time to Orochimaru to free them. I don't know that he'll accept it anymore since I'm promised to him for the next 5 years." This last statement was said bitterly, and Kakashi knew Naruto was concerned for Sasuke.
"I'll tell her. But, Naruto-," Kakashi hesitated.
"What?"
"We'll be back in another 6 or 7 months for Sasuke and you, so either save him before then, or help us when we arrive." Kakashi clapped him on the shoulder in a reassuring sort of way and Naruto gave him a small smile. "See you then, okay?"
Naruto nodded and Kakashi shun shined away. He turned, sighing heavily as he heard footsteps behind him.
"Naruto, c'mon. There's something new we'd like to test." Kabuto beckoned from the hidden door.
It's going to be a long couple of months…
"Well. If it isn't the screw-up." Sasuke said coolly, sitting up from his position on the bed.
"Sasuke…"
"I wonder who the stronger of us is," sasuke mused, suddenly appearing beside Naruto in the doorway.
"So you still want power."
"Of course," said Sasuke in an irritated voice.
"Why? You had friends in Konoha, comrades, people who cared about you." Naruto spoke quietly, as if afraid to scare his best friend away.
"I have to kill my brother, that's all that matters." The chilly tone in Sasuke's voice could have frozen the desert.
Naruto said nothing, perhaps hoping sasuke would continue.
"I don't think I like you in here. Get out."
"When Orochimaru takes your body, what do you suppose happens to your soul? Is it absorbed as well? Will you remember the reason you wanted power in the first place? I don't think so. Fight for the better things in life, Sasuke." Naruto turned to leave as a shout rang out.
"Naruto! The lair is under attack!" Naoki was sprinting his hardest toward his friend, closely followed by leaf nin.
"Protect sasuke, I have to find Gaara!"
"I'm here, Naruto." Came Gaara's calm voice.
"Naruto!"
"Sakura?"
"I'm behind y-"
Naruto whirled around, filled with dread.
"Sorry, Sakura." Kabuto drawled, withdrawing his hand from the kunoichi's back. It was covered with pieces of what Naruto knew was Sakura's heart and lungs.
"Sakura!" Naruto yelled; shun shining over to his friend, knowing with just a look that she was already dead.
"She's dead already, Naruto." Kabuto told the jinchuriki. "We're going now. Orochimaru wishes to make the transmigration in two weeks."
"Ah, Kabuto. I see you found them. Excellent. Now, Sasuke, it is time to leave." Orochimaru's cold voice preceded him as he appeared by his apprentice and the jinchuriki.
Sasuke blinked, the sharingan activating itself momentarily to reveal not his normal three-tomoed sharingan but the mangekyou sharingan. "Fine."
Orochimaru appeared not to have noticed, nor Kabuto, but Naruto had seen it and knew why it had shown itself. He wished deeply that Sasuke had not seen the brutal killing of their old teammate.
Gaara made a motion with his hand and sand rushed up to block Kabuto and Orochimaru's way. Sasuke shot Gaara a death glare, but it wasn't nearly as threatening as it normally was. It was softer.
"We're taking Sasuke with us." Said Gaara firmly.
Orochimaru merely grinned, his fingers forming hand signs too quickly for any of the boys to see.
Waves of pain washed through both jinchuriki's bodies and Naoki's as well. The pain of being subjected to Orochimaru's twisted experiments didn't even begin to compare to this.
Hell's fire has nothing on this. Nothing.
Then, as quickly as it had come, it subsided, leaving the three boys gaping like fish on the floor.
"What. Was. That?" Naruto gasped, unable to speak in whole sentences.
"An experimental jutsu Kabuto developed. Directly over the length of your spines we tattooed certain symbols. When either Kabuto or I form the series of hand signs that activate the curse, those tattoos will send pain signals through your spines and into your bodies." Orochimaru smiled his usual snakelike grin, the one that sent shudders down Naruto's spine.
"Bast…ard." Naoki choked.
Gaara's wall of sand had fallen and the loose grains of soil gave the floor a rough texture.
"How rude. And after all we've done for them." Orochimaru grabbed sasuke's arm and gently began tugging him away. "Kabuto, see to it that they are punished for their impertinence." He shun shined away with Sasuke as Kabuto turned to the three boys.
"Now, you've made both him and me cross." He stated. "Come along and it won't be as hard on you as it could be."
Naruto cast his eyes down the floor, acknowledging defeat, and noticed Gaara's sand had etched the words 'Two weeks. Northern lair.' into the floor and had moved Sakura's lifeless body near them. He blinked back tears at the sight of her broken body. In life, she had greatly resembled a porcelain doll. Now she was one that had been smashed in a fit of anger. A pale imitation of her original state.
"I'm sorry, Sakura." Naruto whispered as they headed north, following Kabuto closely. His tears blurred his normally clear vision and he brought the collar of his shirt up to wipe them away.
Days later, even the site of Karin greeting them at the northern lair's entrance failed to rouse any emotion. Not since Sakura's death had he felt anything. No pain. No anger. No loneliness.
Nothing.
Is this how Haku felt? No. surely not. If he had, he never would have died for Zabuza.
"Naruto?" it was Karin. "Sasuke is going into isolation with Orochimaru until the transmigration. Wanna say goodbye?"
"No."
The next time he saw Sasuke, it would not be his Sasuke, only a shell. A husk of his former self. Who wants that? He punched the nearest wall as hard as he could and felt it give way beneath his fist. Blood oozed lazily from his knuckles and he studied it as it slipped down his hand. The wound healed, courtesy of Kyuubi's chakra.
"Naruto, your room is this way."
Kabuto.
How dearly he would love to kill the medic nin as slowly as he could.
Kabuto led him even further into the lair: down several winding staircases, through several hidden panels in walls, then up a flight of stairs to a solid steel door which, as Naruto could see when he opened it, was nearly two feet thick.
Kabuto noticed his suspicious face and chuckled.
"In case you throw a temper tantrum." He explained.
That won't hold against me.
"Where are Gaara and Naoki?" Naruto ventured, curious as to whether he was being singled out.
"You've all three been spread out in the building and are to be confined until after the transmigration." Kabuto shoved Naruto so roughly he stumbled and fell onto the unforgiving stone floor of his room. Naruto sprang to his feet, ready for a fight, but the door had already been shut and locked.
Well?
Well what?! Naruto snapped sitting on the cot and pulling his knees up to his chin. He rested his arms and then his face on his knees, feeling utterly useless. He couldn't save Sakura, and now Sasuke was about to lose himself.
Are you just gonna mope? Or do I get to be in control and rescue the traitor?
Shut up, fox. Leave him be. It's his fault Gaara, Naoki, and I are locked up and Sakura's dead. Naruto felt a lump rise in his throat and willed it down, but tears had already begun to leak out.
"Sasuke, please quit pacing. It's tiresome and it's boring me."
The teen ignored the man who had promised him power and continued to pace the length of the room.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Turn.
One, two, three, four, five- he walked into the sannin. The strange look on his face made sasuke backpedal quickly, fearful that he'd finally angered him.
"What?" he demanded, hiding his fear behind an irritated tone.
'I'm so in love with you that I can't even stand it! Sasuke! Stay with me and I'll never let you regret it! We'll have fun everyday and... And you'll be happy! I'll be sure of it! I'll do anything for you, sasuke! Just, please…Please don't go!'
Sakura…
'When I'm with you…I wonder if it's like being with a brother.'
Naruto…
'If you want to kill me, settle for hating me. Hate me and live like the coward you are! Clinging to life without honor!
Itachi-nii…
Why?
"-now."
"What?" the Uchiha had only caught the end of Orochimaru's sentence.
"Let's make the transmigration now!" Orochimaru lunged at sasuke, the snake in him beginning to show.
Shit.
A/N:loooong chapter, but worth the wait( I hope). If this keeps up, I may be able to get the next chapter up soon. Reviews plz. If you have any suggestions I'll be glad to take them though I've already started on the next chapter.