Hey-O everyone! ShibaOokami with some more SCORCH chapters. I'm giving you the inside life of what a typical mission for Kiba usually is. It's important to see more of his perspective because of him being one of the three main characters. Also, I love writing in his view because he is one of my absolute favorites in the show despite how he's barely in it. I'm not mad though...

Chapter 15

"Fetch!"

My dog Akamaru launched himself into the middle of the lake we were camping by to retrieve my shirt that I knotted into a toy for him. He happily doggy paddled his way back over to me as he lay my shirt at my bare feet. "Good boy!"

Akamaru barked in agreement, "I know! So throw it again!"

I laughed before releasing my shirt back into the water as I sat on the bank. Shikamaru was laying down next to me and for a moment I swore I heard him start to snore. In the distance, I could hear my mother and Koharu trying to think of our next path to take that would be less problematic. We were unfortunately at the last leg of our journey which meant we had to go on foot from this point on so as not to leave obvious tracks. It was the twins' idea to rest here since they saw the map earlier and realized that the next water source wasn't for miles and would leave us vulnerable. I was glad for the little break but Ma wanted to keep going despite everyone else's opinions; including mine. Since she was outvoted, she tried a new tactic and demanded she plan out the rest of the route with help from Koharu. No one had a problem with that.

"Oh my gosh! Just look at him!"

Oh boy...here they go again.

I took a quick glance behind me and saw the twins staring at me from behind a large oak tree. They had been doing this for the past hour and at this point, it was starting to get on my nerves. "Geez, a guy can't be shirtless anymore without someone ogling him?"

Shikamaru made a noise as if this topic alone was the most annoying thing in the world. "With young teenage girls nearby, of course."

Finally, Kurenai came over to them and directed them away from the lake to help set up our campsite. The healers were mostly extra assurance that we would stay healthy this trip but so far most of the work had been done by the fighters of the group. We had to help clear things out and gain intel for the best way to get through certain treacherous roadways. While we did all the footwork, the twins had mostly gone sightseeing as if this wasn't an important mission they had been staked on. Koharu wasn't too bad but he did have to keep an eye on the girls so he was mostly sightseeing with them. Right now is probably the only time I've seen him away from the twins for so long.

"I'm surprised you have a problem with those girls looking at you," Shikamaru spoke to me but his posture looked like he couldn't care less about what he just said.

"Don't even go there. For one, they're too young; and two, I'm not lookin' at other women right now."

Shikamaru opened his eyes at that. "So who is the lucky lady then?"

"What?"

"You said you weren't looking at other women right now, which means you have your eye on someone currently."

Damn him and his observation skills. "You probably already know."

Shikamaru shrugged, "I do, but I would rather hear it from you."

"It's...Hinata."

Shikamaru sat up and stretched his arms over his head. "She's brand new, we know next to nothing about her, and she probably isn't interested but somehow you've still gotten a crush on her?"

"It's not my fault okay?! It's just..."

"Calm down, I was just surprised when I first figured it out. She isn't your typical type."

I chuckled as I undid the knot in my shirt, indicating to Akamaru that playtime was over. "I know but she's not your typical girl anyways and that's what makes her so amazing. She's completely unique in her healing powers but still modest enough to not let it get to her head. The women I'm used to are all so brazen and tough, especially with this organization; but not her. She's just different and I like it."

"Hmmm...her powers are strange that's for sure."

"Strange? Her powers are healing but maybe just that much more powerful?"

"I suppose."

I stood up after wringing out the water in my shirt and helped the lazy genius stand as well. "Well, what were you thinking then?"

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck and groaned. "What a drag. It doesn't matter what I think unless I can confirm some things first."

I was about to refute that but Ma had called everyone over to her. We all gathered around her as she lay a map out over a fallen log. I looked at the multiple squiggle marks and noticed quite a few red marks and very few blue ones. I tilted my head in curiosity. "So what's the plan exactly?"

"The red here is off limits," she pointed to the general red area and then moved her pointer finger towards the blue lines, "but the blue is our best bet to get to the location for Orochimaru's base without too much trouble."

Miko groaned and grabbed her orange hair like she wanted to pull it out. "Why do we have to go in such a roundabout way? I thought Orochimaru abandoned this base!"

"It may be abandoned but he used to do his experiments there which means his traps are still around just waiting to be set off."

Mika grabbed her sister's shoulder to calm her down. "Okay, but I thought we sent out a team to disarm the traps before we were to go in."

Ma looked about ready to strangle the twins with how much they were going against her. Brave of them to try but very stupid. "Just because they were sent before us doesn't mean they got all the traps. We can never be too careful," I advised them with a stern tone.

That seemed to placate them enough that we all went separately to do our menial tasks for the day. My task was preparing food and getting supplies for a fire tonight. It wasn't hard since all I had to do was get Akamaru to gather sticks for the fire while I chopped up some veggies and chicken. As I did so with practiced precision, I thought of pale eyes and long dark hair. She was in my thoughts a lot lately, but what else was I supposed to think of? During the trek of our journey I messaged her to make sure things were going well for her and Ino. I also wanted to check up on Gaara considering everything that was going on. He may not realize it but I know for a fact that he was starting to develop feelings for Hinata. It made me worry what that meant for our partnership but so far he couldn't even tell that he had developed a crush on the new girl. He never was good at emotions but mostly because he was never taught well. It was practically too late to get him properly socialized at the age of ten, the same time when he first met with Naruto. I didn't know what I was going to do if he ever found out but I knew at the very least I wanted both of them in my life.

"Man, what a pain," I growled as I stirred my ingredients into the big pot of soup I had going over a fire. My mother noticed my obvious irritated stirring and walked over with her companion Kuromaru.

"My, my, what did our dinner do to you?" She smirked with a hand on her hip.

"Nothing. I was just thinking."

She put on a mock face of concern. "Uh-oh, is your head starting to hurt?"

"Hilarious Ma."

She leaned over the pot and took in a big whiff of the food. "So, this thinking of yours, does it have anything to do with Hinata?"

I rubbed my neck sheepishly, "If it does?"

"I would say you're getting pretty pathetic for an Inuzuka then."

"Thanks, that helps." I focused back to my stirring, which went double the speed than earlier.

"Listen, she's a good girl, probably even too good for you, but we're Inuzukas. We don't hesitate and we sure as hell don't let ourselves get into our own way. Have you talked with her recently?"

That question made me stop stirring altogether. "Now that I think of it, I messaged her yesterday and she said she wasn't feeling too hot so she would message today but..." I took out my phone and looked at my messages, thinking maybe I just didn't hear it. Not one thing. A weird feeling crawled into my gut and spread like wildfire throughout my chest. Hinata always kept to her word unless something was wrong. I was about to press the call button but my mom's rough hand snatched my phone away.

"You can't call her."

"Why the hell not?!"

She sighed before pocketing my device away. "We have protocols. We are too close to our destination and we can't risk our signals getting caught by any enemies. You know this."

"I know that but come on, we can bend this rule for a little bit. What if she's hurt or worse?"

She glared at me. "I did not raise you to jeopardize missions. I may be leading right now but that doesn't give you any special privileges, do you understand?"

Did I like being scolded like a newborn pup? No, not at all. "You're just mad that I have someone to worry about."

My mother's eyes went dark but her voice was even darker. "Don't start with me. I'll be keeping your phone until the end of the mission." She turned and stalked off before I could get in another word.

I knew the second I said it, I didn't mean it. At least, not fully. When I was younger, I blamed her for having my father leave us. I truly believed she helped to push him to the breaking point. Hana and I were so young when our father decided he couldn't handle the life of SCORCH anymore and wanted to divorce our mother. I had no idea what that truly meant for helpers like us. I was only seven when I found Hana crying in her room, holding a stuffed bear that father had snagged when he was above ground for some light clean up work. He was, for lack of a better word, normal. He didn't have any powers like us and mother had met him almost similarly to how I met Hinata. He had witnessed a fight between mother and some powered bandits and he could easily see her using her claws and sharp teeth to attack her opponents. After her fight, her instincts were still activated and noticed him watching. When she had called to get his memory blocked, she made him sit and wait for everyone to arrive. While they waited, they just started talking and laughing. Him explaining that he was alone and that losing any of these memories wouldn't affect him, and her talking about what her powers were like and showing him how it worked. For a normal human, he took it pretty well and Ma really liked males like him. Just like she said earlier, when Inuzukas find what they like they go for it. So that's exactly what she did. She decided then and there that she was going to marry this man and have him join SCORCH. When everyone arrived to help clean the scene and block his memory, Ma had told them never mind and went to talk with Hiruzen, who at the time was the leader for Konoha. She had always been brash and bold but for her to meet some guy that day and decide he was the one, even baffled Hiruzen. In the end, they allowed this newcomer to stay and help. My parents grew closer and within months they had married and had a child soon after; my sister, Hana. Over the years though, father had been more worn down from all the fighting and bloodshed. Since he didn't have any powers, he was only allowed to take simple jobs like being part of the cooking crew and running one of the shops in the Hive. He chose clean up duty because he could be close to his wife and still be allowed up top with more normal people like him. When he couldn't take it anymore and snapped from the fear of losing his wife and children, he declared he wanted a divorce right at the dinner table. Ma just told us children to go check on the nursery and proceeded to curse out our father when Hana and I went outside. A week later was when Hana had been sobbing in her room.

"Hana?"

Hana's twelve year old face quickly looked up to my ignorant one. "K-Kiba! What are you doing? Get out!"

I was only seven but even I knew my sister needed comforting; I just didn't know from what. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me like I completely lost my mind. "What's wrong? Mom and Dad, that's what! How have you not noticed?"

"I...I know they've been fighting but that doesn't mean we can't be together."

She sighed and moved to hide her bear under her bed. She hid a lot of her precious treasures there. "They're getting divorced. Don't you know what that means?"

"Uh, not really. It doesn't sound good though." Hana patted the spot next to her on the bed. I followed her directions and sat next to her as she put an arm around my shoulder.

"It means that mom and dad won't be married anymore. They won't be a couple. Do you understand?"

"Oh." I could see why Hana was upset but I didn't really know why it was worth crying about. Our parents fought each other so much that it was hard to have any peace at home. "But they're still ma and dad so it's okay right? We'll still see them."

Hana gripped onto me tighter. "You really weren't told anything, were you?"

"What do you mean?" When I looked at her face again, it was full of sadness but also with a hint of turmoil. "Just tell me already!"

What came out of her mouth next made me want to curl up and never leave the house again. How was this okay?! Before Hana could stop me I stood up and made a dash for the Hokage's office. Hana screamed after me but I didn't care. I didn't want to believe that the home I was in would break apart a family. Not like this. I ran so quickly, I'm sure all the people I pushed by wondered if someone came home injured and I was the unfortunate one to be notified. I wished it was like that. I wished with all my being that my leader and my mother wouldn't go behind my back and do something so sinister that I didn't know if I could forgive them afterwards. When I finally made it to the top of the elevator, I rushed in the office; not caring about people trying to stop me. It didn't matter though. The deed was done.

"Dad!!"

Ma turned to me with anger in her eyes. "Kiba! What are you doing? You can't just barge in here!"

I ignored her and ran for the slumped over figure of my father. His face was so pale which just made his dark brown hair that more striking. His eyes were closed but for some reason there was a smile on his tear stained face. I shook him, trying to wake him up and make sure he was okay. I was secretly hoping that maybe the process didn't work. That they couldn't succeed in erasing my father's memory of his family. "Dad, please! Wake up! Come home!"

My mother stepped in and grabbed me by the shoulders so I would have no choice but to face her. "Kiba, it's already done. There's nothing you can do now."

"This...this isn't fair!! Why does he need his memory erased?! He can still live here!"

The Hokage stepped forward and cleared his throat. "I'm sorry to say this but your mother is right. After all, it was your father who-."

My mother growled at Hiruzen before he could finish that sentence. "It doesn't matter. The past is the past. Now, go home and don't even think about coming with the group to return your father back up top." She nudged me to the door as if my dad wasn't just laying on the ground unconscious. I wanted to retaliate, but what could I do when I was so young, and everyone was taking my mother's side? I took one last look at the man who lived with me for all my life and then went out the door and towards home; like I was told.

Since then, whenever I brought up anything that could be about my father, my mother and I would get into a fight. I knew she was just trying to do her best as leader but there were times I wondered if she was out to get me like my dad. I growled before turning back to my soup and to my surprise it hadn't been burnt despite the exchange. It wasn't long before it was ready and everyone came to get their food except my mother who stubbornly ignored my calls and proceeded to look at the map she had seen ten times already. I knew I had to get my stubbornness from somewhere.

Anko whistled at the obvious tension. "Having some problems there Inuzukas?"

Most of the journey Anko had been silent and seemed to contemplate about the possibility of meeting her mentor after so long. It was only during meal times when she went back to her loud and overbearing ways. "It's fine. She'll eat when she's ready."

No complaints were made about the meal but I did have some complaints about Miko making innuendos towards me and how she loved when men could cook. At this point the twins weren't even trying to hide it and their mentor Koharu just sat and let them be. Mika was the quieter of the two but whenever she would catch my eye she would wink and wiggle her eyebrows at me. After the second time she licked her lips I decided to call it a night and wait for morning when we could hopefully arrive at our next stopping point without any issues.

Somehow, it seemed our team had a stream of good luck and we made it to the underground base with little to no problems. My mother went off to find the leader that was in charge of the team to disarm the traps. We needed an updated report before we could start our job of trying to find any scent or marking about our target. Gaara had sent out a message to us about his theory of the giant fox ROTH being Naruto. It made sense and I was honestly surprised I didn't think of it myself. Once Ma had the new report, we went over it as a group and noticed many traps were focused in certain areas.

"Until we see what's down there ourselves we won't know what could be the reason for the concentrated areas. There could still be traps hidden so we need to stay vigilant. I suggest teams of two." My mother pointed at each team as she spoke out, "Shikamaru, you're with Miko and I want you in the North quadrant. Kurenai, you and I will take the South since it has the most heavily concentrated traps and we can sense them better than the others. Koharu and Anko will take East while Kiba and Mika take the West."

Koharu nodded and spoke in his deep voice, "If we find or notice anything, do you want us to investigate?"

"No, for now we need to make sure we all get out of this together with little to no injury. If you notice anything that pertains to Naruto contact the rest of us and wait." Ma went into her pocket and pulled out my phone that she took earlier. In a high pressure situation, I suppose my mother forgot that she said she would keep my phone until after the mission was over but I wasn't going to say anything.

I took a quick glance and noticed a message from Hinata. I was itching to find out what had happened and why she was silent for awhile, but my mission came first so I would have to check it later. My mother dismissed us all and we headed off into our quadrants. Mika followed my lead as we ended up in a long hallway with multiple rooms on either side. The rooms almost looked like cells but instead of bars it was just a door with blacked out windows. We would need to check each one for any signs of Naruto or maybe even another ROTH we could rescue. I sent Mika to check the right side while I did the left but none of the rooms held any clues.

"This is so dumb," Mika huffed at me.

"Why?"

"I am one of the best healers in the whole Konoha branch but I'm here on some useless mission all because your partner thought you couldn't handle it."

I growled in her direction. "What are you talking about?"

Mika and I ended up in a lab and she was rummaging through the cabinets. "What, you don't know?" Apparently my oblivious face was enough of an answer. "Your partner thinks you need multiple kinds of protection and made sure that if he couldn't come then we needed a bigger group than normal to send with you."

"How do you even know that?"

Mika rolled her eyes. "Tsunade was grumbling about it before we left."

I stopped my search through the filing cabinet I broke open and stared at Mika for awhile. I could usually tell when someone was lying to me but it definitely felt like she was telling the truth. I don't know why but I assumed we had a bigger group than normal because we were dealing with Orochimaru but not because Gaara thought I needed babysitters! After all that time we trained and he still thought I was nothing more than a newborn fawn just learning to walk. I needed to remind myself to have a chat with him when we got back. "Whatever, let's just focus on getting this done. Be careful with the next room. The searchers looked all over for traps but this area was still iffy on whether they found them all."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Mika, I'm serious, Orochimaru is not to be handled lightly. He's not a genius for nothing and I need to know you can handle it."

Mika sighed, rather loudly for my taste, and waved away my concern.

Akamaru huffed after Mika walked out to search for more clues. "She's completely useless. Can't we just leave her."

"Unfortunately, no; but we'll make do buddy."

I could faintly hear Mika's high tone from the hallway of cells. "If you're done talking to your dog, I need your help with something!"

If Akamaru wasn't going to snap first, I would. I walked out with Akamaru tailing behind me and found Mika in what I originally thought was a cell like the others. What I didn't expect was a false flooring under our feet. Mika had grabbed a corner of it and was having trouble lifting it all the way. I went to the other corner and we both lifted a square floorboard that had hidden a hatch. "How did you even notice this?"

Mika smugly lifted her chin up. "Anyone woman worth her salt would notice how the floor didn't even match the walls."

I took a good look around and did notice the walls were concrete like the others but the floor was a gray paneling instead. Honestly, at first glance it looked just like concrete. "Don't let my mother hear you say that. I doubt she would notice such a thing. Good work Mika." I knew how to give credit where it was due and with Mika finding this hidden hatch, we had a better chance at gaining information about Naruto. "Akamaru, I need you to inform the rest of the teams about the hatch."

Mika rolled her eyes. "Hello? We have our phones here to message them. That's what your mother said."

"She also said to be careful about sending signals out unless needed. Look, my Ma and I talk through our dogs all the time. Besides, I doubt our phones have good reception around here." As if to prove my point I grabbed my phone to check and sure enough the reception was really spotty. I didn't want to find a signal so sending Akamaru to fetch the rest of the teams seemed reliable. After sending my partner off I opened the hatch to see a ladder going further down into darkness. I was glad our phones had some of the strongest flashlights around and pointed my phone light to see a sewer-like tunnel. I started to ready myself to climb down when Mika stopped me.

"Uh, hello? Are you nuts? We can't go down there without backup."

"This place is abandoned and if it wasn't they would've shown themselves by now. Look, I'll go ahead. You stay here and wait for the others."

Mika groaned. "I don't like this. You better hurry up."

I nodded before making my descent. The sewer tunnel was one way and there wasn't much to it. The good news was that nothing would easily sneak up on me; the bad news was that it looked more decrepit then the rest of the facility. I kept following the walkway until I came upon a steel door. It was open just an inch so I carefully activated my animal instincts and sense of smell. I could detect all kinds of chemicals along with cleaner fluid and just a hint of blood. The blood kicked me into overdrive and made me want to run in there and see if one of my pack was hurt. My thoughts were starting to get jumbled worrying whether Naruto was here in this room or not. My animal instincts were useful but sometimes they would mess with my more human thought process and it took amazing amounts of willpower to control it. I was always considered brash and forward but that was always because of my animalistic side that never simmered down. My mother says I use it too much and because of that, my human and animal side were mixing together in real time rather than when I would activate my powers.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and opened the door further in. The sight was ghastly to say the least, let alone the smell of it all. Examination tables were strewn about but there were two away from the others and just eerily in the middle of the room. Dried blood was caked on the top and syringes lay abandoned on the trays next to them. I looked to my left and saw a fridge that had some dark liquid flowing out the bottom. I didn't even want to guess what could be there. I was trying my best to breathe through my mouth, I scoured the room for anything clue worthy about Naruto. There was some paperwork that indicated a patient called subject F. Reading the old reports, I saw they were dated about three years back and a lot of the information matched the description of Naruto at that time. More than likely, they were talking about him and this was just proof what we originally thought anyways. Orochimaru didn't transform Naruto into a ROTH until very recently. We still don't know why and I couldn't get anything from this either. It was possible he wanted to wait so Naruto was easier to move around so we couldn't retrieve him but then why wait so long? I grabbed any papers that said patient F and stuffed them in my pockets. At least this was better than nothing. I was going to head back up before Mika could complain when another paper caught my eye. I don't know what it was, maybe I saw the age and was just too curious to leave. This particular report was about patient B who was kidnapped at the young age of six and experimented on. A young girl who they injected with various projects but it seems only one truly worked. Whatever formula worked wasn't in the paperwork but my stomach churned at the thought of them messing with young children. The report was dated from eleven years back and if the girl survived she would be about my age.

My attention was drawn away from multiple barks echoing down the tunnel. I guess Akamaru found my mother and they were trying to call me back. I took whatever I could find about patient B as well and ran out towards the ladder. After climbing back up I saw the rest of the teams gathered around me. "Hey guys, did you find anything?"

"What an absolute pain. We didn't find anything and certain people wouldn't stop talking as we searched," Shikamaru pointedly glanced at his partner Miko before rubbing his neck to release some of the tension.

"Hey! I did my fair share of looking! Just because I didn't want to touch some things doesn't make me useless," Miko griped.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I didn't say you were useless but it doesn't help when you won't even look in the kitchen."

"For crying out loud, we're looking for anything on Naruto, why would I look in the kitchen?"

"If you knew him that would be the first place to look." Shikamaru would've said more if not for my mother coming between them.

"Enough you two! I'm sure there wasn't much in your section anyway. After all, Kurenai and I found nothing as well. No other traps, no info, and certainly not Naruto."

Koharu stepped forward while Anko stayed back, her arms crossed angrily. "Unfortunately, we received much of the same result."

Everyone turned their eyes towards me and I guess that was my cue to talk. "Mika found a hatch that led to an underground tunnel."

Miko sighed. "We know that already."

"I'm not done yet." I really couldn't wait for this mission to be over and I could see Hinata to make sure she was okay. "In the tunnel was a room that looked like they were doing their experiments in it. I found old paperwork and I'm pretty sure they were talking about Naruto as patient F. It's not much, it only confirms that Naruto was transformed recently." I grabbed the crumpled papers from my pockets and handed them to my mother.

She scanned over the papers quickly. "Okay, it looks like they moved Naruto months ago into another one of Orochimaru's facilities. At least with this we're closer to getting him and whoever else he may have turned." She read over some more before stopping midway. "Kiba, who is patient B?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. I just grabbed them in case they could tell us anything else. It's all I could stuff in my pockets."

"If there's more then we need to get them."

"Oh I'll get it! No problem," exclaimed Miko.

"Wait don't-!"

While Miko was so excited to head down she tried to move around everyone in the room which in turn made her accidentally step onto a hidden pressure plate. How no one else stepped on it before was lost on me but the more important thing was that explosions could be heard in the distance. The cell we were in started to shake and Ma yelled at everyone to run to the entrance. We all sprinted as fast as possible but our luck from earlier must have run out as I heard cracking coming from the ceiling in front of us. It took every ounce I could manage to leap through as the ceiling caved in. Smoke and dust arose as we all lay on the ground trying to get our bearings back.

"Is everyone okay?!" My mother coughed a few times before anyone could answer.

"I'm alright and so are the dogs," yelled Kurenai.

I could faintly see Shikamaru to my right but he was able to answer as well. It wasn't until we heard the scream of Miko that we realized someone was hurt. We all had to look back at the rubble that was once the ceiling and saw Miko hovering over a lump mass. I finally saw the green hair and it clicked what had happened. "Shikamaru, come with me."

I waited for a groan or phrase of displeasure but I should've known better. In situations like this, he was all serious and did everything he could to help others. Both of us crouched by Miko and gently pushed her aside. I checked the wrist for any pulse and was elated to fell a fairly strong one respond back to me. She was mostly away from the concrete but her left leg wasn't so lucky. "Okay, Shikamaru, see if there is anything we can use as a leverage stick to help get some of this weight off." We checked our immediate surroundings and I almost growled in frustration when nothing turned up as helpful. While Shikamaru looked further outward, Miko was on her knees holding her sister's hand and sobbing. I went to comfort her but was interrupted by multiple explosions going off in the distance. The underground lair shook once again and it didn't stop for quite some time. Even more debris were collapsing around us and I knew we didn't have much time. "Miko, go with the group and get out."

Miko stared at me blankly, not fully registering what I just said. "W-What?"

"Go with my mother and get out. I promise you I will help your sister. You're too in shock to help and I need everyone to get out of this alive and together." I gestured for Koharu and Ma to help grab Miko by her arms and practically having to drag her out.

"No wait! I need to help her! I can help!" Miko struggled against the grip of the combined force that was holding her tight. She didn't get far and my mother looked at me with what I could only assume was agony.

"Kiba, do what you can but I need you home. Remember that." She turned and made quick work to get out. Everyone else followed along except for one.

"Shikamaru, go ahead. We'll catch up."

"Not without me you won't. There's nothing we can use to help leverage the rubble anyways."

I looked around myself just to make sure but he was right as usual. We needed to hurry if we didn't want to get further buried under the cavern. I had used a lot of my instinct today which already exhausted a lot of my power however with how pressing things were I didn't hesitate to transform. My nails elongated into claws and I felt my body muscle extend to create more animalistic features. A lot of different animals had better strength than a regular human and it was the best idea I could come up with. I dug my newly formed claws into the granite that was crushing Mika. I lifted with extensive effort and saw Shikamaru quickly grab the crushed medic when the rubble was high enough off of her. It was a good thing he was quick because my body was starting to weaken as a sign that my powers were draining from so much exertion. I dropped the pile gracelessly and hurried over to the duo. "How does she look?"

Shikamaru was checking her over quickly and shook his head. "Lots of injuries but she's still unconscious which I guess is best for right now. I'm pretty sure there are at least two cracked ribs and internal injuries as well."

I growled from low in my throat and Shikamaru even raised an eyebrow at such a response. I shook my head clear and stood. "We need to go. I'll carry her." I grabbed Mika bridal style and rushed as quick as my exhausted body would allow. Shikamaru was ahead of me, scouting to make sure nothing was in our way or could get in our path. It wasn't long until I could see the entrance with light like a beacon calling to us. I saw my mother yelling at me to hurry with Miko close behind her checking for her sister. Once we reached the ladder, I urged Shikamaru first so he could help me get Mika up there. She was light and small so it wasn't too hard for Shikamaru to hoist her up high enough that my mother could reach her and dragged her out the exit. Shikamaru was close behind while I was still at the bottom of the ladder. Everything around me seemed to go on mute as my hearing picked up one of the most devious laughs. It was him, I could tell. I could hear him but I couldn't see him. I searched all around but still couldn't see his snake eyes glowing like they normally would.

"Kiba so help me don't make me drag you out by your ears!" Ma wasn't a patient woman especially when her child was in a collapsing cave, but I knew he was there. I could hear his slight hiss and his laugh that was overly dark.

"Ma, I'll be fine! Just stay away!" I knew I didn't have much time but I had to check just once. I ran back in and used my instincts to isolate the sounds of my mother begging and threatening me at the same time; a skill only she could possess. He was close and he was watching us scramble. I'm not surprised but why us? What made it so important to watch us like we were experimental lab rats? What more could he take from us? More bombs went off and they were placed behind me by the only exit I knew of. I was too close to them and was launched backwards and hit my head rather harshly on the cavern wall. My sight started to go dark but not before I saw my mother trying to come down into the cave as the entrance collapsed. It was dark. So dark I couldn't see my feet as I lay there bleeding from my head. That's when I saw two snake eyes glaring down at me. They came closer as my body went limp.

I woke up in the very same experiment room I discovered the paperwork in. My arms and legs were strapped tightly to the table that had dried blood still stained on it and it made my nose scrunch up in disgust. Two pairs of feet stalked towards me and I recognized Orochimaru with his long dark hair and abnormal eyes. Next to him was someone the SCORCH organization hadn't seen in years. His hair was short and his glasses gleamed in the bright overhead lights almost covering his own snake eyes with the glare. We figured he ran to Orochimaru long ago but no one could confirm it, until now.

"So nice to see you're still a traitor Kabuto," I couldn't help the sneer that came out in my voice.

He only smirked and walked around where I couldn't see him behind me. Orochimaru stepped over to me and poked at my arms and legs as if assessing my quality. "He's not much but he'll be enough to get what we need."

His S's slurred just like the hiss of a snake and I almost blanched at the thought of him possibly having a snake mouth to go with the eyes. He came into my view after his poking and smiled. "You'll be better than before. If anything you all should be thanking me for doing this."

"Not a chance," I growled.

"So be it. Kabuto, if you'll please help get him adjusted."

Kabuto came out from hiding and was rolling an I.V. towards me with the bag holding a purple liquid with neon green streaking through it. This was his poison for creating ROTHs. Kabuto grabbed a tourniquet and was working on my left arm to get it ready for the injection.

I wasn't scared, I just knew this would happen one day and I had accepted it long ago. "What's your plan then? Turn everyone into your own mindless animals?"

Orochimaru laughed. "Is this the part where I'm supposed to lay out my entire plan to you?"

"I don't see why not."

"Maybe because you'll get to see it firsthand by going after those you love."

I felt the prick of the I.V. and the liquid went slow into the tubing and worked its way into my vein as though it were alive. No more than two minutes passed before I felt myself convulse. My skin was turning into a darker shade and I heard myself scream.

Orochimaru smirked as he and Kabuto opened a hidden doorway and were getting ready to leave. "By the way, we normally inject a small syringe worth but you get the whole bag. How lucky for you." They turned out the lights and left me screaming in the experiment room as my body grew bigger with patches of purple dotting around my skin. My veins turned bright green and the straps couldn't hold me anymore as they broke off due to my mass growing too quickly. I dropped to the ground and my body kept growing and growing. I had claws and weird fur spots along my body as my clothes tore. My mind was changing. I wanted to destroy, to search for something but not knowing what I needed, and I was ready to destroy anything that got in my way.

Holy guacamole, that took me way too long but I got stuck towards the end and I had to recreate it to fit what I needed and it was a whole thing. Plus I have a life outside of my hobbies so yeah... Well hope you guys enjoyed and let's hope the next one will come easier to me.