Chapter 10

It was dark and cold just like it always was. The pain in his body was radiating its way all throughout. He didn't know if it was day or night or even what day it was, but he knew that it would be a long time before he ever found out. He was going to die in this place; he accepted that a long time ago. He would die in this cold dark place, where everyone would think he was an exile and traitor. He didn't sleep, it wasn't safe to sleep. If he wasn't in this room he was in his master's chambers on the floor. Sleep was never allowed. There were rules and rules were important. If he was a good boy and followed the rules then he wouldn't be punished. He had to behave and do as master asked. He tried to be a good boy, but sometimes his master asked him to do things that he just couldn't do yet. When they were training master always pushed him really hard and he couldn't always handle it. His body was exhausted and weak from all the training and everything else. He couldn't do certain things when he was told to. That always made master really angry and punish him.

The door to the room creaked opened and master walked in. He didn't look happy, but he never did look happy when he saw him. He knew that there would be pain to come his way. He must have done something wrong. Master walked over to him and didn't even give him a chance to say anything. He was grabbed by the hair and dragged over to the metal table in the room. Master strapped him down to it after stripping him of his clothes. He hated when his master would do this to him. He knew that he must have done something wrong, but he just didn't know what. Now he was going to be tortured for it and he had no idea why. His body was already in unbearable pain he wasn't going to be able to handle anymore. He saw master picking up a scalpel and started to cut his already damaged body. The torture went on for hours and hours and just when he thought he couldn't handle anymore; his master started a whole new level of torture. At first he thought that being raped would get easier as time went on, but he was wrong so horribly wrong. Each time it felt like the first, the pain was horrific and it always made him scream out.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi yelled trying to get the young injured teenager to wake up. At his name being yelled Sasuke's eyes snapped open to see Kakashi sitting on the bed beside him.

"Hey it's okay. You were having a bad dream."

Sasuke looked around the room to realise that he was not in that room. He could see the sunlight coming into the room through the window and he felt more at ease. There was never sunlight in that room or anywhere in the Sound. He looked over at Kakashi and could see the concern on his face. Sasuke sat up and leaned his back against the pillows behind him.

"What's on your mind Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked down trying to get the courage to speak freely. He knew Kakashi said he could, but he couldn't help that voice in the back of his head.

"Sasuke look at me please."

Sasuke put his head back up so he could look at Kakashi. He had to get used to be able to do this again.

"I can see there's something you want to talk about. It's okay to speak freely Sasuke. You can say whatever is on your mind."

"I'm confused."

"Confused about what?"

Kakashi kept his voice soft and gentle. He didn't want to sound demanding or intimidating.

"Part of my mind knows that what happened was wrong. That the rules he had were a means to control, but there's this other part of my mind that tells me the opposite. It's like my brain is at war with itself all the time and I don't know what half to go with. There's a voice in my mind that keeps telling me the same things he used to tell me. I don't know how to make it stop. Everything just feels weird and confusing."

"That's understandable. You've spent six months in the Sound Sasuke. Orochimaru would have said some horrible things to you. He would have made you do things you didn't want to do. You got used to living that way and in order to survive your mind allowed you to believe what was happening was normal. Now that you are back in Konoha; your mind is reminding you that what happened in the Sound wasn't normal. That's why you're conflicted. It's going to take some time for that half of your mind to realise that what happened was wrong. You just need to remember that what he did to you was wrong and not your fault. You were a victim Sasuke. You didn't deserve anything he did to you or made you do."

"He had rules and I did my best to follow them, but when I didn't he would punish me. I always knew why he was angry except this one time. He came into the room and he was so angry. He didn't talk and I had no idea what I had done to make him so mad. He tortured me for hours and then raped me for hours more. I don't know what I did wrong and he never told me."

"Sasuke listen to me. You did nothing wrong. Orochimaru is a monster. He wants the Sharigan and he did all of this just to get it. There was nothing that you did wrong. You could have followed every single rule perfectly and he still would have hurt you for no reason. I know it's hard to move on and get passed what happened. It's going to take some time, but you can do this. Sasuke you survived six months in that place, you survived. You can survive this. You're confused right now, but in a week things will make more sense and a week from then it'll make even more sense. You just need to take it one day at a time."

"He'll come back for me."

"I'm not going to lie to you Sasuke. Orochimaru will come back for you and he will do whatever he can to get you back. Konoha won't allow it though Sasuke. I will protect you from him. We will figure something out to kill Orochimaru and keep you safe. What you need to focus on is healing and getting better. I'll focus and worry about everything else."

"I can't survive going through that again."

"You won't have to. I will figure this out Sasuke. You can't stress out about this; stress will only prolong your healing. You need to get better. Now lie down and get some sleep. I'll be here to wake you up if you have another nightmare."

Sasuke just gave a nod. He was tired and sleeping in a bed again after so long really was like heaven. He laid back down and closed his eyes. He felt better knowing Kakashi was there to keep him safe.

Tsunade was sitting down at her desk in the Hokage Tower. She had just gotten back from seeing Danzou in one of the cells in the basement. He claimed that he was innocent and didn't do anything wrong. She had no doubt that he did in fact sell Sasuke to Orochimaru, but the problem was she needed more proof then what Orochimaru said. It was clear that Danzou wasn't going to confess to what he had done. If he didn't confess and they found no evidence to prove what Orochimaru had said then it was just someone's word against his. Even if they were able to get Sasuke to talk it wouldn't be enough proof. They needed paperwork or something that she can use to justify an execution. Gai and Asuma were tearing apart Danzou's office and home to see if they could find anything. She could only keep him in jail for so long before she would have to release him. He would never be on the council again, but that wasn't enough for what he had done to Sasuke. If Tsunade had it her way she would remove all of the council members and find new ones. The three she had seemed to be very old fashioned and judgemental. She needed ones she could trust and had the best interest of not just the village, but the people in it. She could understand sacrificing one to save a whole, but that one in this situation was a thirteen year old boy.

Tsunade was hoping that Kakashi would have been able to get Sasuke to talk about what happened. Right now Sasuke was her main concern. There is no telling just how deep the mental abuse went. He was just a kid; he didn't deserve any of this. The door to her office opened and Asuma and Gai walked through.

"Tell me you found something."

"There was nothing in his office." Gai said

"There was however, some paperwork in his home." Asuma said as he handed over the papers he found.

Tsunade flipped through them as she read what they held. Sure enough there was a contract between Danzou and Orochimaru. This was what she needed to make sure Danzou couldn't hurt anyone ever again. She looked up to see Asuma and Gai's faces.

"Danzou will be executed. This will cause problems within Konoha. Danzou is in charge of the ANBU and Root. Some will be understanding and accept what Danzou has done and some will not. Until we are able to not only kill Orochimaru, but find out which ninja can be trusted I want you to keep a close eye on Sasuke and Kakashi. There are a lot of ninja in the village that fear and respect Kakashi. I'm not worried about those ninja I'm worried about the ones stupid enough to try something against him."

"We escorted Sasuke and Kakashi home earlier. We'll keep an eye out and make sure they are safe." Gai said

"How was Sasuke?"

"He's not good. He has Stockholm, how deep it goes we aren't sure yet. Kakashi is trying to work it out. When we left Sasuke was asleep." Asuma said

"It'll take some time. He spent six months in the Sound at Orochimaru's mercy. There really is no telling what things he did to him. All we can do is offer our support and protection. Kakashi will be able to get Sasuke back on track I'm sure of it. This will just take some time."

"I can't believe we just left him there. We should have done something from the start." Gai said

"We didn't even know where the Sound was. Once we found it I sent Kakashi and a team to get Sasuke out. We had no idea Danzou had anything to do with this. For all we knew Sasuke left willingly." Tsunade said

"That doesn't make what happened any better. Nor does it make any of us feel better." Asuma said

"I know, but we can't change the past. All we can do is try and fix the present and change the future. We need to come up with a plan for Orochimaru. He needs to be killed. I want you to get a squad together and come up with a plan. When you have, let me know and if I think it will work I'll clear it. Let's help Sasuke the best way we know how. Leave the healing to Kakashi."

"Yes Hokage-Sama." Both Gai and Asuma said.

They left the office to try and come up with a squad for this mission. They had to be smart, but they also had to be fast. Orochimaru wouldn't lay low for very long. He wanted Sasuke and he wasn't going to stop until he got him. They had to move fast before a war broke out.

A/N: Okay I know it's short, but I just figured out what I am going to do with this story. I'm trying to not make this like Nightmare. The story idea is close to the same and I don't want to always use Itachi as a means to kill Orochimaru. So I'm trying to come up with a different route to take this. I think I have it figured out so just be patient with me while I work out the kinks.