Shizuka's Pov.

Where was this kid now?

»Akito?«

He had withdrawn from us for weeks. He became more and more aggressive towards Sasuke and me and, in my opinion, spent a little too much time with Kabuto.

I had turned down all missions in the past weeks so that I could concentrate on my training. Under Itachi's supervision, I actually managed to awaken the Amaterasu.

I had neglected Akito, which I felt sorry for in retrospect. Had I been here more often, I would probably have noticed his change in behavior sooner and could have taken countermeasures.

Since I couldn't find him anywhere, I went to Orochimaru's laboratory. Without knocking, I threw the door open and saw that Kabuto was injecting something into the boy.

»Shizuka, what can I do for you?« Orochimaru asked with the usual indifference in his voice.

I pushed Kabuto aside and grabbed the Kurama's wrist before pulling him after me.

»Shizuka, who do you think you are?« Kabuto hissed

»The one who burns everything down right here if you want to prevent me from doing anything,« I replied threateningly, activated my Mangekyo and glared at him.

I felt Akito, who was standing by my side, flinch. Orochimaru noticed when he saw my different looking eyes. He knew I had the Eternal Sharingan, but he had no idea that I had Shisui's eye.

»Very interesting,« he muttered.

With a grim expression on my face, I turned to him threateningly, »Don't even think about it.«

»At least that explains what exactly you want from Danzo,« he answered steadfastly.

I looked at him in surprise. How did he know ...?

»Nothing remains hidden from me, but you should know that by now. Of course I know how your brother found death. I didn't realize you knew, though. That changes a lot, of course.«

»It changes nothing,« I replied.

»If only you knew, my dear. I know some of Danzo's abilities you wouldn't even suspect. Your Mangekyo will be useful in when you fight against him, but he has a much stronger ability,« he said, his grin widening.

»You said you would give me your information once the experiment is over. So I don't see what you should be so excited about,« I replied.

»Shizuka, you should know me by now. I still have an ace up my sleeve for getting what I want,« the Sannin chuckled.

»That would be?« I growled menacingly. I was getting fed up with it.

»You'll find out soon enough,« he said and turned back to his notes.

»We're leaving,« I turned to Akito and pulled him out of the lab.

»What's going on? What does Orochimaru want from you?« asked the young Kurama.

»Nothing for small children,« I said, pulling him through the corridors when he stopped short.

I turned around and looked at him questioningly.

»I'm not a little kid anymore, so don't treat me like one,« he said, moving away from my grasp.

»Then don't act like one either. What's the matter with you anyway?« I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder, which made him wince.

»Akito?« I asked.

He took a few steps back.

»What did they do to you?« I asked him to know.

»Nothing,« he replied.

»Don't lie to me. Come here,« I demanded, but he shook his head.

Now I was slowly getting fed up with his bucking. I took his arm and pulled him over to check his back. I discovered a curse mark on his deltoid muscle, that looked like mine and Sasuke's, but seemed completely different at the same time.

That would explain his behavior lately.

»How do you get that?« I asked, nodding my head, pointing to the curse mark.

»Orochimaru said I would get stronger if I had,« he defended himself.

My eyebrows drew together. »Are you forsaken by all good spirits? Do you howthis can affect you?« I jarred him.

I was furious. Not just at the 10-year-old male, who kept hiding from me that he had the cursed mark, but also at Orochimaru. Akito was a child! Wasn't it enough for the Sannin that he was already experimenting with him? But I was most angry with myself. I should have looked after Akito better. I should have prevented that.

»You and Sasuke have come back injured from your missions so often and I always worry when you're gone. I don't want anything bad to happen to you and then I'll be here all alone. I want to go on missions with you and help you,« the black-haired boy suddenly mumbled and got me out of my thoughts.

My anger instantly faded and I thought I wasn't hearing properly.

»Baka,« I sighed then, leaned down and flicked his forehead.

He looked at me in surprise. He probably thought I would react differently.

»Shizuka,« I was interrupted before I could speak again.

I turned to Sasuke.

The raven said, »One of the failed experiments in the northern hideout irritated Jūgo.«

»How stupid are they?« I swore, straightened up again and pulled Akito after me.

»Where do we go?« the Kurama asked a little overwhelmed.

»I'll show you what the cursed mark can do to a person,« I replied.

Sasuke looked briefly between the child and me until he seemed to understand. »Do you think it's a good idea to take him with us?« he asked while walking next to me.

»You will look after him,« I said with a piercing look.

He nodded and was silent as we, with Akito in tow, left the hideout.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Orochimaru's Pov.

The genetic manipulation was successful. The boy's genes and those of the two Uchiha had successfully mixed together. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

Since Shizuka had the skills of her brother and thus the Kotoamatsukami, she would be even more useful to me than I thought. Should Akito awaken his abilities over time and get out of hand, the Uchiha girl could tame him.

Everything was going according to plan and soon it would be seen whether the boy would be able to awake it. If it worked, I would soon have a whole army that I could use to destroy Konoha.

Keeping Shizuka engaged wasn't going to get any easier with time. Maybe I should give her the first information about Danzo that she wanted.