Chapter 11

It was almost surprising how quickly time passed for Naruto within the Arena. Days, weeks, months; they hardly mattered. He couldn't keep track of any of them. Everything just passed in a blur, it seemed like one day bleed into the next without him even noticing. Naruto couldn't remember the last time he had been allowed to see the sky. He couldn't even muster up the energy to miss it anymore.

The fights continued, every time Naruto was finally healed from his wounds, and more than once while he was still recovering. Those, at least, had a predictability to them. It seemed Orochimaru had found a formula that he liked. Naruto would be forced to fight an opponent with a kekkei genkai, he would go through surgery afterwards, and then he would be forced back into the ring to fight more. Whatever the details of what Orochimaru was doing to him were, he was gaining kekkei genkais at an alarming rate. It made him sick to his stomach, disgusted with himself.

He had killed these people. They were innocent, even if they weren't particularly good. They were every bit the victim that he was. Now he used their abilities to kill more victims and heard their voices in his head like a constant buzz. He was never alone, the headache constant. In his weaker moments, he hoped that the pain in his skull was a sign that there was a major problem. Maybe it would kill him and he'd be free of this place. It was only thoughts of Itachi and getting free that kept him from just letting himself be killed in the ring.

Shiki helped keep his darker thoughts at bay, too. The creature was extremely loyal and never far from Naruto's side. He made Naruto feel almost human again. He clung to Shiki in the nights, when he had the strength. Kyuubi, too, provided a level of comfort. The other voices in his head had apparently opened the floodgate so that Naruto could hear the demon fox all the time now. One more voice to add to the collection and there were so many voices.

Haku and Zabuza had noticed the change in Naruto's behavior as the voices had grown in number as well as volume. He now had a tendency to need things repeated, because he couldn't hear them the first time around and it was so hard to concentrate. He would stare at things that weren't there, just zone out into blank air as all of his attention was turned inward. He hadn't told anyone about the voices, but it was clear that there was something going on.

Orochimaru didn't seem overly concerned by Naruto's mental state being somewhat compromised, but he did apparently find it endlessly irritating how Naruto stuck to his moral code. It was always a struggle to kill his opponents, even when Naruto was clearly much more skilled. Shiki was almost always the one to do the actual killing, which Naruto found himself feeling endlessing guilty over.

When he was allowed to mingle, mostly only in the cafeteria, Naruto mostly kept to himself. Shiki wasn't allowed to accompany him since the Hound had attacked another of the inmates. It's been a girl a few years Naruto's senior who'd thought it was a good plan to try and take him out before he even got to an actual fight. A few more had tries the same tactic once Shiki was no longer with him, but it hadn't worked.

He'd made a couple friends at first, too, or alliances at least. Orochimaru hadn't liked that much. Those were the teams he'd faced off with first. The message was clear. Don't get attached. So Naruto stuck to his self-imposed isolation. Shiki was his only real source of companionship. Haku and Zabuza had little moments, here and there, but they were still clearly his guards. There wasn't much any of them could do. They were trapped. Trapped in this damn Hell hole with no way to get out.

At least people didn't mess with Naruto outside of the Arena fights anymore. They'd all learned just how dangerous he could be. If someone managed to sneak up on him, it wasn't even guaranteed that Naruto would be the one to react. One of the others in his head might just throw an overwhelming impulse at him and the next thing Naruto knew, he was standing over a mutilated body. Orochimaru really seemed to enjoy hearing about those incidents.

Naruto was rising in the rankings. He and Shiki were ranked the highest of all of the Teams but, for some reason, Orochimaru didn't seem to want to promote them just yet. Naruto had a sick suspicion that the snake just wanted to make sure Naruto got every kekkei genkai possible before they moved on. Naruto wished he could go into the Arena with Orochimaru as his opponent. The blond would actually enjoy that fight.

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"What did you learn?"

Itachi was wary of Sasori, knowing just how intelligent the other was. It was always harder to fool the ones who were smart. It was a good thing that Itachi's skills were so up to par. The puppeteer shifted a bit in his wooden shell.

"Orochimaru has always been one to play his cards close to the vest, as you well know. Considering his knowledge of our particular interest in this matter, he was even less in a sharing mood than usual. He's definitely hiding something, though. I believe you can rest assured he has the Kyuubi host."

Itachi fought to keep his irritation off of his face.

"I cannot say it particularly assures me to know that my assignment is in the keeping of that man, no. Do you know where he is being kept? Which facility?"

"No. And I am not your errand boy. I have my own host to collect and I have to craft those prosthetics you so helpfully volunteered me for. Unless my next orders come from our leader, you are on your own in this. I'd recommend just waiting until the Chunnin Exams. Orochimaru is planning something big to happen then. Chances are good that your host will be involved."

Itachi gave a sharp nod before vanishing and heading back to Konoha. The exams were only a month away, and Konoha would be hosting. It would be a great opportunity to get ahead of Orochimaru, to make preparations so that they could handle whatever was thrown their way. The thought of leaving Naruto in Orochimaru's clutches for any longer made his skill crawl, though. Naruto had already been missing for months. There was no telling what Orochimaru had already done to him, what he still could do.

Itachi should have just taken Naruto and run. He should have followed him on that mission. He knew how dangerous that Land of Waves could be. It wouldn't have been much hardship to tag along and remain undetected, even with a ninja of Kakashi's skill as a member of the party. Itachi would have been able to watch his brother just a bit more before they left. It would have been a great opportunity. But he had waited instead, waited for Naruto to come back to him. Only Naruto didn't come back.

Itachi replaced his hinge before approaching the village and snuck in without being seen. Sarutobi's taskforce for attempting to find Naruto had been set up in a building on the Uchiha compound and Itachi headed straight there. Apparently Sasuke had volunteered the space. His attachment to the blond was obvious and, if Itachi were being completely honest, a bit disconcerting.

In all of the times Naruto and Itachi had talked, the younger had never described himself and Sasuke as being particularly close. Naruto cared about Sasuke, to be sure, but Naruto cared about pretty much every living being he interacted with. The relationship between the two had always sounded a bit more antagonistic than anything else. Even with Naruto jumping in front of the glass shards to save Sasuke, which was an awful story for Itachi to hear, the newfound attachment on Sasuke's end seemed a bit odd. For the time being, Itachi wasn't focused on that, though. He would puzzle out Sasuke's emotional state once Naruto was safely back in his arms. He could not afford the distraction.

He slid open the door to the taskforce's headquarters and slipped inside. There was supposed to be a meeting that Itachi had skipped out on in favor of meeting with Sasori. It worked out well that they would now all be gathered in one place. He found them gathered in front of the charts and maps that tracked their investigation. Itachi gave a short bow as he entered the room.

"I apologize for my lateness. I was following up a lead."

"And did you find anything?"

Sasuke had not been particularly friendly to either of the 'brothers' who had been added to the taskforce. He seemed to be of the opinion that they did not belong and was even more sour when it came out that 'Michio' was Naruto's lover that no one on the team knew about. It was only Jaraiya and, surprisingly, Kakashi's assurances that Michio really was Naruto's lover that kept Sasuke from accusing him of being a spy. At least it kept him from doing it out loud.

"I did." Itachi did not acknowledge the doubt in his brother's tone. "I have a contact who has been infiltrating Orochimaru's network and I asked him for help. He's confirmed our suspicions. Naruto is there."

Sakura and Sasuke were the only ones in the group green enough to jump out of their seats at the news.

"We have to go after him, then! If we know where he is then we can get him out," Sakura exclaimed.

"It's not that simple."

"We'll make it that simple,"Sasuke growled.

"Enough." Kakashi settled a hand on each of this students. "Sit down. We don't even know the details yet." He nodded to Itachi. "Please, tell us everything."

That was another odd thing, how politely Kakashi had been treating him since his arrival. Itachi wasn't quite sure what to do with it and he was glad to have his persona of Michio to hide behind.

"My contact was able to find out that Orochimaru has Naruto, but not exactly where he is. Without that information, we're no better off than we were before. But there is hope. Apparently Orochimaru is planning something big very soon. At the Chunnin Exams, in fact. My contact believes that Naruto will be involved."

Sai's eyes narrowed.

"Your contact seems to have an awful lot of information."

Jaraiya scoffed.

"There's a reason Michio is one of my contacts and I brought him in for this investigation. He can get information no one else can."

"And you're just a traveling merchant, huh?" Sai sounded skeptical.

"I meet a lot of interesting people that way," was all Itachi said in response. "Now, I do believe we have a lot of planning to get done. We don't have long."