AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.

Proofread by: Author

As a way to celebrate the official chapter 100, which happens to coincide with some major canon derailment, enjoy this long chapter.

Warning, this chapter contains some of the things I warn about in the summary of this story. Please be advised that there are some rather unpleasant scenes in this chapter. This is probably where this chapter will earn most of its M-rating.

I apologize for the delay in uploading this, but I hadn't expected this chapter to become quite as long as it became in the end. In addition to this, I had to edit it a fair few times before I was happy with it, and to think I so graciously allotted myself three times as much time as I usually spend on writing a chapter…

I had intended to also upload another Omake chapter today as an additional bonus, but I don't think I'll have the time or energy for that now. I think this chapter is a fair trade-off, for something you weren't expecting anyways.

Chapter 100: Stolen and broken, yet whole and alive


Such a small, innocent little thing, could apparently change so much in a person. The Genjutsu behind it hadn't even lasted for more than a few seconds, and in of itself, was perfectly harmless. Unfortunately, the underlying trait, shared by all Genjutsu, was that it was a form of mental manipulation. The methods for achieving the desired effect differed from Genjutsu to Genjutsu. Some relied completely on external stimulus, others on internal ones. One could target the nerves between the brain and sensory organs, the sensory organs themselves, or if you knew what you were doing, the actual brain of the target.

The flaw of all Genjutsu was the way one could dispel it. Rarely did Genjutsu require all that much power in terms of chakra, meaning there was little resistance when attempting to dispel it. The tricky part about Genjutsu, or the mind in general, was that there were no simple on or off switches.

An experience was not something one could simply choose to forget. Similarly, once a Genjutsu had been cast, in whatever way it affected the target, wasn't as simple as it being undone from the moment the Genjutsu dispelled. Certainly, the Genjutsu and whatever effect it had on the target would disappear, but the reactions to it would remain in memory at the very least.

A person was the result of their mind. Their thoughts, experiences, and emotions blended together from however they experience the world, all of it accumulating and resulting in an individual. The terrifying implications of Genjutsu, how if used correctly, could influence a person beyond the duration of the Genjutsu itself was not something clearly discussed or understood. The fact that few ever bothered with Genjutsu spoke volumes about how people viewed the art, and it's potential. Take Sakura for example. Slated to be a Genjutsu specialist out of the academy, and since her assignment in Team Seven, such a title had become all but obsolete.

Kakashi hadn't bothered to teach her any Genjutsu. If it was because he saw it as a waste of time to teach her, or considered it a waste of time to even learn any himself to teach, that was up for debate. Either way, it was clear that Genjutsu in general wasn't well understood or wide-spread. The education surrounding Genjutsu was lacking, and the few lessons offered on the subject in the Academy had been simple, short and covered only the basics.

However, now Sakura could track her memories back to those lessons. While it wasn't particularly anyone's fault, Sakura couldn't help but feel anger at the fact that the carelessness and neglect of the teachers and the system in general when it came to the topic of Genjutsu. It was that kind of neglect, as well as some unfortunate circumstances and her own apparent talent at Genjutsu which had led her to such a disastrous result. Because quite frankly, that was what it was. A disaster.

On that day, the class had been subjugated to several, mild Genjutsu, one after another. Allowing them to understand what Genjutsu was, and eventually, how to dispel it. The lessons concerning Genjutsu had looked like this for years, and it was widely considered an acceptable and relatively simple way to harmlessly introduce the future Shinobi and civilians alike to the art. Sakura, despite being new to it, had managed to easily dispel the Genjutsu cast upon her, but as a child, didn't even realize she had succeeded. She had never seen what the other kids did from the benign illusions that the teacher had created for them, and had come to the erroneous conclusion that she had done something wrong.

Believing she was having difficulties, Sakura had naturally asked her best friend Ino for help, and what Ino had told her wasn't what the teacher had intended for them to figure out, but what Ino was attempting herself.

As a result, when Ino told Sakura that she was using her crush on Sasuke as a focus to try and keep her attention off of the illusions, Sakura considered it a reasonable way to try and combat the illusions. However, the problem was that unlike Ino, she didn't have a crush on Sasuke.

Left to figure out the dilemma on her own, Sakura continued to subconsciously counter the Genjutsu whenever it was reapplied for those students who had already broken through it. Their teacher, simply smiling at the little prodigy that hadn't even realized she was continuously succeeding, and as a result, never realized what she had done right, or wrong, as she pondered how to solve her problem.

As it so happened, their teacher had explained to them how they Genjutsu worked before casting it, and so, Sakura had eventually come to a conclusion. If chakra was being used on her, then surely, chakra would also be the answer? The earlier explanation just had to be a clue, didn't it? The fact that they hadn't actually begun using chakra in their lessons yet was easily forgotten by the girl who had read ahead and knew the steps for channeling chakra for purposes other than dispelling Genjutsu.

Following all the steps, while keeping Sasuke in mind as a focus, Sakura did what she intended in all the wrong ways. An amateur, not knowing what they wanted, or how to do it while successfully casting a Genjutsu following the earlier steps, Sakura cast the Genjutsu on herself, only to be dismayed by the lack of results.

By the end of the lesson, the teacher had explained how to properly dispel the Genjutsu, walking every child through it until they all could demonstrate it, except for Naruto, and Sakura forgot all about the little failure of an experiment she had gone through. Unaware that she had managed, for a moment, to trick herself into a childish little crush, one that hadn't gone away with the Genjutsu she had cast. Confusion for being praised for her amazing talent spurred her pride and competitive spirit. It was a few days later that young Sakura realized that she had, like Ino and many other girls, developed a crush on Sasuke Uchiha. It was the norm amongst girls her age, and with her previous mishap forgotten and misunderstood, Sakura never thought twice about the occurrence, until Heikō had managed to dig the memory up from the depths of their childhood, following a vague feeling as the illusion they had woven for themselves shattered.

Sakura was understandably shocked, and when she lied to her team that she was fine, none of them believed her.


"Now, Sakura. You wound us. We're your team, you don't have to lie to us. What's wrong?" Kakashi asked, attempting to prompt her to open up. He could tell that whatever it had been, it had shaken her quite thoroughly and that leaving it alone would likely just come back to bite them all later, possibly at a much worse time.

"Yeah, we're here to help you after all! Just like we're going to help the jerk." Naruto reminded them, gesturing towards Sasuke with a thumb, which earned him a glare from him. Sasuke managed to resist responding in kind, as it would likely start another argument. Instead, he looked back at Sakura, expressing his worry through his eyes and with a small nod of agreement. They had decided to be a team, and after they had shared secrets and shown their support of each other, nothing would stop them from helping each other.

Sakura sagged as she realized that she would have to share. However, it was something immensely private to her. She felt ashamed to have been so stupid, yet understood that it wasn't entirely her fault, and was now caught in an existential crisis where she wondered if she had ruined herself trying to chase after Sasuke. She dreaded what she would discover if she continued looking through her memories, and saw how her mistake had affected her reasoning. A clear first example would be the rivalry she had started with Ino by breaking off their friendship. However, the most embarrassing part was that after crushing on Sasuke for so long, she no longer felt it. The connection she had strived for before, groomed and considered almost her everything had now gone cold. What remained was her bond of friendship with him, but it wasn't the same, and somehow, she didn't feel like she even deserved it.

"It's… Um… I don't know how to say this, but I'm kind of having an existential crisis." Sakura admitted, deciding to be honest, without giving away too much, still hesitant about sharing, wondering how much she was willing to confide in them.

"A what?" Naruto asked while Sasuke frowned and Kakashi narrowed his one visible eyebrow at her before some kind of realization seemed to strike him, and he relaxed, seemingly relieved about his realization.

"I see. I can't say I didn't expect this would happen eventually. I just hoped it wouldn't happen at all. Naruto, Sasuke, if you would please wait outside again? I'm afraid this might turn into a very personal conversation that I better nip in the bud as soon as possible." Kakashi told them, glad to see them both nod in understanding before leaving, although neither of them seemed too pleased with the idea of leaving Sakura if the sad looks they threw her just before the door closed were anything to go by.

"Now then, I would suggest talking about it. What led you to this crisis?" He asked her, although he had made it seem like he already knew what the issue might be.

"I…" Sakura began, hesitating while she gathered her thoughts for a moment, feeling incredibly vulnerable until Heikō decided to give her a push. Kakashi was trying to help, and honestly, they needed it. "I think just broke myself out of some unintentional conditioning I put on myself in the academy using Genjutsu," Sakura explained quickly, shyly observing Kakashi's reaction, feeling incredibly exposed and ashamed, painting her cheeks pink as they flushed in embarrassment by the look of disbelief and shock on Kakashi's wide-eyed expression.

She couldn't explain it, but letting someone know that she had apparently messed herself up, it was… it felt bad. It felt as if it was something to be judged for and something that she should have been able to control and never have allowed it to happen. She knew it wasn't logical, but when were feelings ever truly in line with logic? She couldn't help but feel dirty, like an impostor who had been dishonest and was now burdening Kakashi with something so big for her, yet something so inconsequential to him.

When Kakashi didn't give an immediate response, she began fidgeting under his gaze, which eventually snapped him out of his shock. After composing himself, Kakashi looked at her intently before furrowing his one visible brow in concentration and then sighed as he relaxed while shaking his head lightly. "That's what I get for making assumptions I suppose." He told her, putting his head in his hands, dragging them down his face before looking up at her again.

"So, that's quite the confession from you. I have very little to go on, so please, elaborate, explain." He told her, looking at her with slight worry, listening intently as she nodded shyly and began explaining.

"I'm not entirely sure what happened, but from what Heikō and I can puzzle together, a combination of factors led to me accidentally conditioning myself into crushing on Sasuke using a Genjutsu. It's the only explanation we can really think of. I only realized it just now, when I managed to snap out of the conditioning and realized that… I don't love Sasuke anymore." Sakura admitted, frowning as she felt bad for admitting it. Not because she didn't love Sasuke anymore, but because she felt no remorse in saying it, almost as if betraying herself from just a few minutes ago, the one she had been for years, with those words.

Kakashi was looking at her with a calculating look, obviously perplexed and worried concerning what she had told him. "That's… quite unbelievable, but hearing it from you out of all people… Can you explain how you think it happened?" He asked her, and she nodded before doing just that.

"Like I said, not entirely sure what happened, but frown what we can figure out from our memories, it happened during the Academy lesson when we were introduced to Genjutsu and were taught to break it. I managed it immediately, much as I did with three-walking." Sakura began, seeing Kakashi nod, telling her to go ahead as she had his attention, Sakura continued. "However, since I had never done it before, or experienced a Genjutsu before then, I felt no different. I hadn't even really put any effort into it, and everyone else was struggling." Sakura explained, frowning as she felt the memory replaying in her head.

"I concluded that I must be doing something wrong, as I was standing out. There were no clear results or signs that I had succeeded, so naturally, I had to be failing. At the time, my only real friend was Ino. So, I asked her for help, and she told me what she did to try and break the Genjutsu. Like the stupid child I was, I didn't question it. I didn't consider the fact that her method didn't seem to be working for her, and so I tried to imitate her. She was trying to focus on reality, focusing on Sasuke." Sakura explained, and Kakashi seemed to realize where she was going with this, as she had already mentioned the end result.

"My problem was that unlike Ino, I couldn't focus on Sasuke as she did. I didn't have a crush on Sasuke. It was frustrating, but I tried anyway. When nothing changed, I tried again to no avail, and so, I began experimenting, trying new, different things, while remaining completely oblivious to how I continuously shattered the repeated attempts by the teacher to put a Genjutsu on me through instinctive reactions to it in my chakra. In hindsight, when I look back at the memory, it is obvious, but to the little girl that I was back then, it was anything but. It was my first time encountering Genjutsu, and I was- am a civilian born, so I had nothing to compare to. No one had prepared me for it." Sakura hissed out, surprised by the amount of venom in her own voice as she did so and paused to compose herself again, shaking her head before she continued. Kakashi listened on, feeling slightly uncomfortable as stray thoughts of how much worse things could have gone for Sakura, and how easily it could have been avoided if things were done differently in the academy.

"And so, I took it a step further. We had been taught how to sense and channel our chakra the lesson before and were now supposed to use it to dispel a weak Genjutsu. However, for the first portion of the lesson, we were given a taste of the Genjutsu and not told how to release it, only that we should try to." Sakura recounted, sighing for a moment before continuing. "I suspect that it was some kind of test, but I can't be certain. Either way, I think it was handled poorly, considering what I ended up doing, without anyone noticing." Sakura added, suddenly feeling drained as she realized she had lost some of her respect and hope for the teachers and students respectively at the academy.

"And so, I remembered that when the Genjutsu had first been cast, the teacher had carefully explained exactly what she was doing. She was using her chakra to influence us. She had even explained where she was putting her chakra and what it was going to do. I decided that the explanation must have been an extra set of instructions, or a clue. They hadn't warned us about the dangers of Genjutsu yet, and so, I tried to follow what I considered additional instructions." Sakura explained with a pained grimace as she recalled the result, something she could now identify when looking back at the memory with perfect clarity.

"I cast a genjutsu on myself, without any real direction or intention besides trying to get rid of an existing Genjutsu that wasn't even there. Of course, I also had in mind Ino's crush on Sasuke, and how I didn't have a crush on anyone myself. I believe my intentions somehow mashed together with my thoughts and affected the execution of my Genjutsu. I have no idea exactly what I did, but unlike the teacher's Genjutsu, it stuck until later in the lesson when we were taught how to really dispel the Genjutsu. It wasn't any stronger than the teacher's Genjutsu, but it was cast using my own chakra, so I didn't dispel it on instinct as I did the teacher's." Sakura clarified, sighing once again, feeling miserable, considering how different things might have been, had she ended up dispelling her own Genjutsu as well.

"It slipped my mind when the teacher began praising me for having broken the Genjutsu immediately. I was confused, then proud, and happy. I forgot all about the struggles and what I had done, even if I didn't realize just what I had managed, and then, a few days later, I realized I had developed a crush on Sasuke as well. I didn't think it was strange, nearly every other girl in our class had a crush on him after all, so I was happy about the change, it made me feel more normal." Sakura explained, smiling a bit, only for her expression to fall again while she looked to Kakashi for some support as she continued to tell her story.

"But now that I realize what happened… Now that I know that I managed to trick myself into those feelings…" Sakura trailed off, shaking and hugging herself while she tried to consider just what it meant. How shallow of a person she had become, how much of her personality and actions had been bound by the simple idea that she loved Sasuke? It made her question herself and her place in the world because she didn't know where Sakura ended, and where her crush on Sasuke began. "Who am I? Am I still the Sakura I accidentally created? How much of her is truly me, and how much of her is now lost that I realized and broke through that stupid mistake?" She asked out loud, not sure if she was asking Heikō, Kakashi, or herself.

After a moment of terrible silence, Kakashi decided to answer her. "You're still you Sakura. Regardless of how much of your identity was derived from your attraction to Sasuke, real or not, it was still you. As you said, it was normal for the girls your age to become attracted to Sasuke. Your behavior was not too far from the norm if what I know about Ino is accurate, and it is not outside the realm of probability that you would have developed a crush on Sasuke anyways. Love can fade. I think you should be happy instead. You've realized that something was wrong, and you've corrected it. Instead of worrying about what happened, you should look forward and focus on what you can improve now and what you can do in the future. If you wish, do look back and try to see how you would have done things differently, but don't get stuck on it. The past is in the past, and the future is in the future. Begin by focusing on what you're going to do here and now." Kakashi advised her, before walking over and sitting down on the side of her hospital bed.

"You're a bright little Shinobi, but you're also a kid. I was worried I would have to speak to you concerning your kills, but you seem to be handling those better than anyone else. I don't think such mental fortitude is something that came from your crush on Sasuke. Perhaps it is Heikō's influence, but she is also part of you, and I think that counts for a lot more than a silly worry that you messed yourself up with a little Genjutsu. Perhaps you did, perhaps you didn't. What's important now, is that it is over. You will recover, and from here on out, regardless of who you were, you will become the real you." Kakashi told Sakura, putting a hand on her head and before ruffling her hair.

"So, I'm just supposed to ignore what happened?" Sakura demanded, raising her voice bristling in anger at the insinuation while her hands gripped the covers to the point that her knuckles turned white.

"No, that's not what I meant. Remember it, but don't let those memories rule you. I'm certain that now that you have a new perspective on things, your relationship with Sasuke will be a different one. Take some time, decide what it is you want out of it. You might come to love Sasuke again. After all, you did once, and you still have the memories of that affection left in your head, but this time, you have a clearer head to go with it, and you can build your relationship one a more solid foundation, using what you've learned from this experience. Begin with a friendship, and see what happens from there. Don't push him away, he's your teammate, and recently, he's opened up to the idea far more than he had previously. I do not wish for your team to fall apart over this, yet I consider this an improvement, for many reasons. Don't shy away from this change, don't second guess yourself, and instead take charge and forge something new that you can say for certain is what you want. Make a decision, and act on it." Kakashi advised Sakura, leaving her breathless for a moment. Kakashi had spoken with conviction, and very nearly convinced her that he had experience with the subject. At least, that's what it sounded like as if he was speaking from experience. However, everything she knew about Kakashi seemed to suggest otherwise, and it didn't quite add up. It confused Sakura, and while she was caught up in her thoughts, Kakashi got up and opened the door, letting Naruto and Sasuke back in.

"It is up to Sakura if she wishes to share with the two of you as well, so don't pester her about it." He told them, before leaving. Sakura wondered if he had decided to go and take his own advice. Heikō decided they would, and began working on reorganizing their memories, while Naruto and Sasuke began telling her in more detail what had been going on while she had been in the hospital.


Sakura startled awake, realizing that she had been drifting asleep, yet couldn't remember being awake, to begin with. Looking around, she was confused for a few moments, before registering that she wasn't lying down in a comfortable hospital bed in a white room smelling like a sterile environment. Instead, she was sitting up in an uncomfortable wooden chair, unable to feel even a scrap of textile left on her body, while bound, gagged, and blindfolded.

Attempting to reach for her chakra, Sakura could tell it was still sealed, but considering she no longer felt any bandages, it wasn't the same seal as before that limited her chakra. Struggling, she found that she couldn't move an inch, and her body already felt sore from being constrained to the chair, suggesting she had been there for a while. At the very least, the room temperature wasn't all that unpleasant against her exposed skin.

"Heikō?" Sakura tried, unnerved by the silence in her head, only to feel a sense of relief wash over her as Heikō responded.

"Oh thank the gods, Sakura. I was getting a bit worried there." Heikō admitted, making Sakura frown.

"What the hell did I miss, and how?" She demanded to know, confused by the revulsion she felt coming from Heikō, although it was thankfully not aimed at her.

"We got kidnapped, that's what. The stupid chakra seal made it all the easier for us to be taken as well!" Heikō complained, and Sakura had to agree. She had already considered herself in great shape and confident enough that she'd be able to handle her chakra once it was unsealed, but the doctors wanted to be sure and had left it on for another day or two.

"So you were awake for it then? What do you know about our kidnappers?" Sakura asked, and felt Heikō's revulsion and hate spike.

"Orochimaru and Kabuto," Heikō revealed to Sakura with a hateful hiss as she uttered their names. Sakura felt her veins turn to ice as Heikō provided memories that she didn't think made all that much sense. It was true that she heard Orochimaru's and Kabuto's voices, but she had been certain they had both died. How was this possible? For a moment, Sakura considered it all to be a horrible nightmare, only for Heikō to sadly correct her, and explain that this was their current reality.

In her memories, Heikō had pointed out that she had killed Kabuto herself, and that Orochimaru had died at the hands of the third Hokage and ANBU. Kabuto had merely snickered and told her that was what everyone assumed, before taunting her with the knowledge that with the two of them presumed dead, and Sakura missing without a trace, there would be no rescue attempts, and that he would be taking immense pleasure in their company, considering the pain she had caused him previously.

Sakura shuddered at the memory. Kabuto's voice had promised pain, and she knew he spoke the truth. She was now trapped not in a nightmare, but a reality, far worse than anything her brain could even try and conceive.

"What do we do?" Sakura asked, hoping Heikō had already come up with a plan.

"Escape." Was Heikō's simple response, although her tone of voice betrayed the fact that she hadn't yet come up with a plan for how they would do that.

Sakura could feel tears beginning to make their way down her face, only to be absorbed into the fabric, bound around her eyes. According to Heikō's memories, Kabuto had yet to spend a lot of time with them doing much of anything. He had only been around to occasionally feed them, and to gloat about their situation, but otherwise seemed busy. He hadn't tortured them yet, but Sakura and Heikō both knew it was coming, although, in what form, they didn't know. In a way, it was already a kind of mental torture to leave them in almost complete sensory deprivation, unable to move and alone.

Sakura dreaded the moment she would find that she needed to relieve herself, but until then, she was carefully trying to find a way to free herself from the uncomfortable wooden chair. Her nails had been cut, keeping her from slowly grinding away at the ropes. Pulling at them and trying to loosen them seemed impossible and only drained her energy. Had she has access to her chakra, she could likely have escaped quickly, perhaps even by using the rope escape technique, but it was fruitless to try and speculate.

"If only we could use chakra! What use is Natural energy if we can't even use it to escape?" Sakura demanded, finding her control over the wild energy to be the only thing intact and unrestrained, just like it had been in the hospital. Her first impulse would have been to try and attack Kabuto with it next time he made himself known, but Heikō had convinced her otherwise, as she had considered doing the same. If Kabuto died, chances were, they would end up dead from starvation, bound and gagged as they were. Orochimaru hadn't made an appearance since Heikō first woke up to him and Kabuto taunting them, and chances were he might not even be anywhere nearby anymore, so killing Kabuto was out. Not to mention, because he had somehow survived their last encounter, it was more likely that he'd retaliate, and they needed themselves as intact as possible to figure out how to escape.

"All we have is Natural energy, and we can't do shit with it…" Sakura stated, hanging her head in defeat as she began to cry, feeling hopeless and as good as dead already.


"It really is sad how useless Natural energy is on its own. The same goes for Mental and Physical energy as well. We have all three, but trying to make it into chakra within our body is impossible with that stupid seal, or without the ability to even sense our physical and mental energies." Heikō complained, going over their situation for what felt like the hundredth time. It had been days since they'd first woken up after their kidnapping, or at least, as far as Sakura could tell. Kabuto only fed them once a day, and the lack of food had already begun to sap their stamina by a noticeable amount, off-set only by the fact that Sakura wasn't allowed to move much.

Simply being left to her own devices was torture on its own, but the conditions she was subjected to, as well as the torture Kabut had begun subjecting them to, was oddly enough what kept them sane, yet on the verge of losing their sanity all the same.

Sakura was being kept on a liquid diet. On one hand, Sakura felt thankful for being able to avoid the awkward position of shitting herself, but the same could not be said for her bladder. Rather than allow her to get up and relieve herself, it seemed Kabuto was taking no chances and had left her to soil herself when she eventually couldn't hold it for any longer. She had developed rashes where the urine had spilled, clung, and evaporated against her skin. The room now stank horribly, yet it was the least of Sakura's concerns. She knew that Kabuto would eventually clean her up, he had done so twice already "for good behavior" but he was deliberate in ignoring it for now. He was obviously a sadist.

Kabuto was also a very effective torturer, Sakura would give him that. The lack of fingernails had taken some- who was she kidding, a lot of getting used to. Her fingers still itched from the scabs that had formed where her nails used to be. It would heal, but until then, it was another torture in of itself, and it wasn't even the worst part of Kabuto's sessions with her.

Sakura had learned a terrifying amount of things about her own body that she wished to unlearn. She knew how the inside of her own bones felt. Sakura knew every single muscle in her body now by heart, having felt all of them scream in pain as they were cut, torn and flayed, over and over again. She knew her och chakra system like the back of her hand, despite being unable to feel the chakra within, as Kabuto had taken extreme pleasure in finding it, unwinding it from the tangled mess it made around her sells, and painfully pulling it out, while reinforcing it with chakra, keeping it intact. It had felt as if he was pulling steel wool out of her body, her own chakra network cutting through her muscles, blood vessels, and bones as it was kept intact, merely to torture her with the pain. Her nerves hadn't been spared either, and even though they were healed, Sakura knew them all inside out. She knew how it felt to have her nerve cells torn, twisted, and cut, and she could predict how it would differ, depending on what parts Kabuto planned to torture by now. If Heikō hadn't muted their conscious reaction to pain, Sakura had no doubts that she would have gone insane and told Kabuto everything she knew about her Kekkei Genkai already. Fortunately, she endured and felt more pain.

And Kabuto always made sure to take pleasure in operating on them, hearing their screams of pain while he tried to figure out their body, combining his surgical precision, healing chakra, and inquisitive mind to carefully carve them up, torturing them, while wringing information out of their very body instead of out of their throat. He explored their body in detail, taking his time to document and investigate it Iín ways no one else dared to even consider back in Konohagakure, to figure out her Kekkei Genkai.

The only solace Sakura could find in the horrible, day-to-day torture was during the night, where she could emerge from her half slumbering retreat with Heikō, review the horrific memories of the day without much of the pain, and then begin to work on their plan of escape.

Kabuto had a nasty little habit they had begun to exploit. Namely, he took immense pleasure in talking to them as he worked. While nothing he said could actually be heard over their own screaming, and sobbing, the memories included not just their sense of smell, touch, and hearing, but also their ability to sense Natural energy. They could still read his lips.

For the twisted methods Kabuto used, he was certainly getting results. It had been a bit startling at first to realize just how much information he could get out of seemingly unrelated inspection and torture of their body. Kabuto had been incredibly interested in their ability to control Natural energy and had erroneously assumed that it had been sealed with their chakra, having assumed that they required chakra to use it. They had chosen not to correct him. Next, he had taken note of their secondary chakra network. He had a lot of speculations concerning it, but it was something that had eventually begun to worry Sakura and Heikō more than their worry that they might never escape. Kabuto would eventually find his answers, meaning they had a limited amount of time before he would discover the secrets they were currently banking on.

Fortunately, the information Kabuto uncovered, was just as useful to them, if not more so, than it was to Kabuto, and the last session had finally given them some kind of idea for how they would be able to escape.


As Kabuto left, Sakura and Heikō emerged from their mindscape, taking back control from their more mindless automatic responses. It was tiring, and also mentally draining to keep themselves sane in such a manner, but it worked and gave them a lot more to work with, in the end. Taking stock of their body, they imagined it to be an angry red all over, sore from the impressive healing Kabuto managed to apply after every session. Sakura imagined them being covered in scars by this point, but surprisingly, Kabuto seemed to prefer leaving their skin unmarred each time. Although, Sakura couldn't muster up enough energy to really care if it was because he preferred cutting through softer, smoother skin, or enjoyed looking at her body. Even if she could see her naked body as it was now, it held little interest to her anymore. Being tortured multiple times a day left one with little energy to care or even consider the embarrassment of being seen naken, over and over again. It was a luxury they had lost quickly.

Instead, Sakura carefully went through the motions of clenching and unclenching every one of her muscles in order, ignoring the pain and protests she felt from them, as they couldn't even compare to the muted pain she felt together with Heikō while they hid in their mindscape. It had been a surprise to find that pain was an excellent way to map out their own body. They had found triggers and could manually use andy and all muscles in their body by now, even their heart could be controlled, allowing them to stop it at will, although controlling their heart rate was still beyond them. Finding all their muscles and bones seemingly in perfect health, if sore and worn, they moved on to their more delicate organs.

There wasn't much to find, but it was unnerving to realize that you were missing parts of your organs, before being left to regrow them. Sakura was not happy to have only half a liver, even if it remained fully functioning and healing. Still, finding everything in order, she finally moved onto the surface, blood vessels, and chakra network.

Like always, her skin almost seemed untouched, if dry and dirty. Her lips, similarly dry and cracked, let her know that she was dehydrated again. No surprise, considering how much her body ended up sweating and pissing itself from the pain she could mentally escape from, at least partially. Blood vessels, nerves, and chakra networks were perhaps the parts of her body that Kaburo took the best care of, as she could never find an injury left from his treatment, with the exception of burst capillaries. While she finished her physical checkup, Heikō had received their memories.

"Not much new discovered in this session. He thinks the traces of tumors are a cumulative drawback of our Kekkei Genkai's ability to control Natural energy. Our value as a potential asset dropped and our value as an experiment increased." Heikō assessed Kabuto's assessment of his findings of the day with a sneer, feeling a bit of pride from how well they had managed to fool him so far.

"True, but now that he's gone, we have about four hours to practice our theory." Sakura reminded Heikō, almost giddy with excitement. Without another word, they began to focus.

Unlike their chakra, they could still feel Natural energy. And with a lot of effort, they had managed to find their Mental energy as well, by tracking it back to its source, their mind. In their memories, they had managed to finally find a fluctuation in their physical energy as a result of Kabuto's meddling, giving them all they needed to form chakra. Well, in theory at least.

It took them two hours to eventually give up. Even with their success in locating their energies again, despite the chakra blocking seal, they still couldn't utilize their chakra. They realized that they could mold it, but any chakra they created was useless and out of their control as soon as it was made. It was horrible. They had speculated that enough chakra might break the seal with an abundance of chakra, but their pools were abysmal compared to other people, and they even didn't know what specific kind of chakra seal was placed on them so it felt like a lost cause.

"If only there was some way around the stupid seal." Sakura thought, hanging her head, and feeling her greasy, frayed hair, brush against her back, neck, and bare sides, wherever it could reach. She had never considered that she would ever come to hate her own hair, but then, it was just another part of their torture.

Heikō sighed in agreement. "If only we could manipulate the chakra inside of us like we can manipulate the Natural energy outside of us." Heikō lamented before a sudden epiphany struck them both.

"Is it possible?" Sakura questioned, eager to give their new idea a try.

"It's worth trying!" Heikō insisted, and together, they carefully began something they had never even considered the possibility of before. Molding chakra outside of their own body.

Carefully, they took command of their Physical and Mental energy, each of them handling one each for better control, and guided the energies out of their body, much like the Natural energy they produced had done once upon a time. Their reach and ability to feel their respective energies as they left their body sadly vaned rapidly, but it wasn't a complete loss.

At the very edge of their sense, they carefully began attempting to mold chakra together outside of their body, just above their skin. A small pricking sensation could be felt, disrupting their concentration, but even though they now had to start over, the two of them finally felt hope return in force. They had made chakra, for a moment, they had felt their own chakra again, not inside of their bodies, but outside of it. It was possible to mold chakra outside of their own body, they could use this to escape!


The realization that they could once again use chakra had brought them hope. Unfortunately, it had turned out that the amount of chakra they could produce outside of their body was incredibly sparse. It took a tremendous amount of effort to do so, and the chakra would dissipate as soon as they let go of it. They couldn't store it outside of their body, meaning they couldn't accumulate any, and it took them just two hours to produce enough chakra to actually move it away from their body a single inch before the chakra used itself up.

Fortunately, they didn't really need to move their chakra all that much. The ropes were bound tightly and dug into their skin as if trying to fuse with it. The problem was, the chakra they could produce also wasn't enough for them to burn through the ropes in less than six hours, time they definitely didn't have. If they began burning through the ropes over time, they ran the risk of being discovered once Kabuto came back, and if they were, it was likely that their ropes would be exchanged for chains.

What was worse, was that the time they could safely practice their new skill was far more limited now. Kabuto had moved on from inspecting the rest of their body to the main attraction. Their head. Sakura felt sick at the mere thought of the sensations Kabuto had exposed them to, and she was glad they had barely been able to feel it, but the memory of their body thrashing wildly, without control while Kabuto played around with their brain, it was nightmare material. Something even Heikō couldn't keep at bay anymore. Sakura didn't even know when they had last risked a night of sleep.

Being puppeteered however wasn't the worst of it. Kabuto had cut, healed, and played with their brain. Thankfully, he never broke what he wasn't confident he could fix, but it did not excuse him from the number one spot on Sakura's shit list. Heikō had done all in her power to ensure they wouldn't end up losing anything or begin spilling any secrets, but they were getting close to their limit. Fortunately, despite the time they could practice safely having been reduced, their proficiency with molding and controlling chakra outside of their body had improved, and they had had another idea that if it worked, would bring them the freedom they desired.

Sakura grinned as she felt Kabuto leave their range of perception, and began building chakra at the ropes holding her right hand, carefully focusing together with Heikō to add Natural energy to the mix. Their control of the other two energies suffered, but in the end, their chakra molding held, and the creation of more potent Senjutsu chakra in larger amounts was a success. Slowly, they burned through the ropes. It took them hours, but as soon as the rope burst apart under the tight strain, Sakura felt some of their strength returning as some of the blood flow returned to her right hand. She was glad that their muscles hadn't atrophied yet. The amount of twitching they did during torture and Kabuto's generous healing had allowed their body to remain in surprisingly good condition.

With one hand free, Sakura quickly tore off her blindfold and blinked away the sharp pain that stung her eyes as she found herself looking into the light of a lantern.

She didn't let the blinding light, or the tears spilling from her eyes stop her for long, as she looked down at herself, and began undoing the rest of her bindings. They had less than an hour until Kabuto's likely return, and it was too late to back out now.

Once she was completely free, Sakura patted her body down, trying to find the seal keeping her chakra suppressed and found it in the form of ink carefully painted at the base of her neck. Smudging the ink, which must have been protected from her sweat somehow, she soon felt her chakra network come to life again, making her feel invincible.

Sakura couldn't help but laugh out loud, while Heikō joined her in the mindscape. Within moments, their body once again took on the form of a complete Human-sage-mode, leaving them feeling alive once more. And now that they were free, nothing was stopping them from using their Natural energy against Kabuto anymore.


AN: Now, isn't this exciting? I'll be honest, I was really nervous when it came to writing this chapter. I had many ideas for where I wanted the story to go, but in the end, this is where it leads. Major canon derailment, gore, torture… Honestly, what Sakura experienced is, all things considered, very mild torture. Things could have been far worse.

Surprise! Both Orochimaru and Kabuto are fine. Slippery little assholes. I'm sure you, my smart little readers can figure out how come that's the case.

Now, the idea that Sakura has been deeply affected by a Genjutsu is not an original one of mine. It overall has very little bearing on this story, but it is something I wished to include, to address Sakura's understanding of herself, and her infatuation with Sasuke. Right now, Sakura holds no love for Sasuke. This will be brought up again later, but for now, that's the conclusion in this chapter. Also, a disclaimer, neither Kakashi nor I am actually qualified to give the full support that Sakura needs, so if Kakashi seems to be floundering and failing, that's why.

Sakura's and Heikō's mental resilience comes mainly from their ability to distance themselves from their physical body in their mind. They're not actually escaping all the pain, and neither does it come without consequences. Now, some of you might wonder why Kabuto would go through such lengths to torture Sakura, and that is something that comes from several different decisions made by Kabuto. First, Kabuto holds a grudge. While Kabuto didn't die to Sakura's attack of Natural energy back during the Konoha Crush, he did have to deal with that attack, meaning he resents Sakura for it. In addition to this, from Kabuto's perspective, Sakura refuses to yield, and so he has upped his torture to the extreme, going so far as to keep her conscious and alive while operating on her, as well as completely tearing her body apart, before putting her back together. He is getting a lot of medical practice out of his living test subject. Naturally, Orochimaru has also given Kabuto creative freedom with how to handle Sakura while he deals with more important matters, as Sakura might have an interesting Kekkei Genkai, but otherwise doesn't particularly interest Orochimaru.