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Here's an interesting fact about me; I have no memories before the age of three.

Here's another interesting fact; today, I found out my father is a crazy good, but still insane, evil, mass murdering scientist.

You see, it was just another day at the hideout. Before I found out The Truth, I'd always thought it was perfectly normal to grow up in an underground lair. There were always people in white coats hurrying about, and I'd thought that was perfectly normal, too. And I thought it was funny when they always made time to bow to me as they passed, like I was someone special. Of course, I knew it was because of my father that I was offered such deference, even at the tender age of 5.

In saying that, when I started reading stories at four and a half, I began to pick up on things. Ethics was one of them, something that was interspersed throughout novels. Hidden between the lines. Heroes wouldn't kill because only evil people kill, heroes always protect their friends, people get to see these things called 'trees' and 'markets' and the 'sky'. I had never seen these things, yet these were all normalised in texts.

Strange.

That was when I realised that maybe, just maybe my situation was a little bit weird. I got curious. Curiosity is a dangerous thing. I got curious why there were some places I wasn't allowed to go, doors and hallways I couldn't enter with seemingly no explanation. Scientists would hurriedly throw out excuses and steer me away before I could enter. When I asked Papa why so many doors were locked, he smiled that slightly scary smile of his and told me not to worry about it.

Of course, I could not abide by this. Heroes always poke their noses into such things so they could have adventures and save people…

And thus, I made my decision. When Papa and Uncle Kabuto had disappeared into one of the restricted areas (they normally spent hours in those places) I made my move.

With all the stealth I could muster, I snuck down one of the corridors my Papa had told me never to go down. And I'll admit I was nervous but also excited. I had never done anything so directly against my father before and it was exhilarating.

It wasn't much different to any of the other halls; the difference being that rather than lit by candles, it had artificial white lighting.

Thankfully, since it was really early, there weren't many of Papa's employees walking around yet. I arrived at the first door I could find, a heavy metal thing. I glanced about guiltily but steeled myself, taking a deep breath. Thus fortified, I reached up for the handle and pulled.

It was locked. But my name is Chimon, and if I can't pick a lock I may as well be nobody.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Isas, my snake companion admitted from my sleeve. I silently agreed but didn't voice my thoughts.

Removing a wire hidden under my hair, I closed my eyes and slipped it into the lock. Channelling a bit of chakra into it, I felt out the mechanism of the lock. It only took me a few moments to twist my wire just right and a moment later the door clicked open. Stashing away the wire, I swallowed back my misgivings and swung the door open.

And I-

Clapped a hand over my mouth just before the scream escaped my lips.

There were men… men hanging from the walls, stripped bare aside from tattered shorts, their bodies gaunt and pale. The only sound in the room was their ragged breathing, and none of them even looked up if they noticed me.

And in the middle of the room was a metal table with shackles.

Isas was silent, his tiny length curling around my wrist so he could get a better view. He seemed as confused as me.

If I was meant to be a hero, should I be saving these men? But I felt my heart fill with dread. I closed the door silently after me, pale as a ghost. I could barely believe it. If I wasn't such an avid reader, I might not have realised how wrong that situation was.

I took off at a jog down the hallway, my mind strangely blank. Were the books wrong, and this kind of thing was normal? Was it normal to use other people like this?

The further down the twisting hallways I got, the louder a strange sound was becoming. It sounded like many people, muttering, breathing harshly. But every now and then it was interspersed by a high pitch sound that sounded oddly like…

And I took a turn and I was faced with rows upon rows of prison cells. Men on the left, women on the right. It smelled putrid, and I swear that person lying on the ground wasn't breathing.

That sound…

It was screaming. There was screaming.

"Why are there so many humans?" Isas hissed, taking in the rows of cells. "This is strange, isn't it?"

Faint. I felt… faint. I stumbled back around the turn so I was out of view and my back hit the wall. I slid to my feet; my breathing strangely erratic.

I gulped in air, but it tasted vile, so I was on my feet sprinting back the way I had come. I gasped for fresh air the moment I returned back to the unrestricted corridors.

I didn't get it. Did this make Papa a villain? Did this make him evil? And every other scientist in these walls?

I needed more information.

.

.

.

"Wh-where are you going?" I mumbled, yawning. It was only a few days since my great revelation, and I'd decided to lay low until I could inform myself more. After all, Papa had never done anything weird to me… that I knew of.

My father smirked at me and smoothed a hand through my hair as he pulled the blankets off himself and swept his legs over the side of the bed. I felt a moment of intense grief that my source of warmth had left me, and I had nothing to cuddle.

"Nowhere that concerns you, little one. Go back to sleep."

I frowned but let my head drop back onto the pillow. A few moments later I heard the shower start running. I waited as he prepared for whatever it was he was going to do, dressing into his ninja gear and gathering his supplies of kunai and shuriken. Then, a moment of after the door had clicked shut, I was on my feet.

"What are you doing?" Isas hissed from my onesie sleeve, annoyed at being woken.

"Papa is doing something evil again," I whispered, turning towards my destination.

"Or maybe he is just having a meeting?"

"At three am?" I retorted. "That's not normal. But in any case, this is the perfect opportunity to look into that room."

'That room' being the one right in front of me, adjoined to Papa's room. I occasionally tended to sleep with him anyway, so it was basically our room now. Especially over these last few days because my adventure with Isas had given me nightmares (and Isas too, not that he would admit it).

The Door was one that Papa had never told me not to enter, but it was one of those things that you just know. Like, I could sense the ominous feeling radiating from the door and so I had never dared venture near it. But now…

"Are you sure you want to do this? You don't know what you might find," Isas mumbled.

"Are you scared?" I mocked, despite the fact I was feeling just as uneasy. I didn't want to see more horrible things my father apparently endorsed, but… if there was anywhere that would tell me The Truth, it would be in this room.

I stepped towards the plain wooden door, decorated only by etchings of two snakes hissing at each other on both sides.

I realised another thing. There was no door handle. I frowned and pushed at the door, but it didn't budge. I leant my ear against it, but heard nothing-

Wait, no. There it was. The tiniest of thrumming, like the door was vibrating. I closed my eyes and clumsily channelled it to my hands and started moving my hands across the etched wood.

Yep, I could feel the inconsistencies of chakra inside. Just a trickle of it.

"Fuuinjutsu?" I mumbled, wondering what could be stopping the door from opening. I had read a little about fuuinjutsu, and unless this was some sort of trick door that was the only explanation I could think of. Maybe you needed a seal to enter, or a certain chakra signature.

"It could be trapped," Isas put in.

"The only ones who can enter Papa's room to reach this door are Papa, Kabuto and I. Unless Papa doesn't trust Kabuto or me, it seems unlikely."

Then again… I was betraying his trust. Even if it hadn't been explicitly stated that I couldn't enter. I withdrew guiltily.

"Let's get some breakfast while I think about it," I mumbled, so off to the kitchens we went.

The answer didn't come to me immediately. I got distracted playing tag with Isas and some of the scientists invited me to show me how to use a scalpel. I think they did it in the hopes that I'd report back to Papa with stories of their good deeds. Which I do, sometimes, if I particularly like one of the scientists.

In any case, it was afternoon by the time I returned to Papa's room. And it was as I was opening the door that opened upon recognising my chakra signature that the thought hit me.

Perhaps I was looking at it all wrong. After all, there were no visible ink symbols denoting fuuinjutsu, yet I could feel the chakra in the door. Perhaps… perhaps there was something else causing that chakra flow.

Could it be a ninjutsu of some kind? That seemed the most likely but trying to reverse-engineer the door to come up with an answer could take weeks. If that was the case, I was screwed as hell. And I couldn't just bash down the door because the chakra might be some kind of trigger.

I sat down and crossed my legs in front of the door, thinking. My eyes were closed and I attempted to take on a meditative position like the diagrams I had seen in the books I used to use to try and access my chakra.

On the off chance it wasn't a ninjutsu, and if it wasn't fuuinjutsu, were there any other possibilities?

Hm… the main three were ninjutsu, taijutsu and-

Genjutsu!

I jumped to my feet with excitement causing Isas to tighten his thin body around my arm. But I wasn't paying attention to him. I carefully formed the tiger seal with both hands and I closed my eyes.

"Kai!" I yelled, my chakra releasing in a sudden burst. I opened my eyes slowly and for a moment I thought it hadn't worked.

Until I touched the door and the hum of chakra had disappeared. But… it seemed as if releasing the genjutsu had done nothing.

I frowned when I noted that I wouldn't be able to reset the genjutsu, which meant that when Papa returned he would probably notice. But still…

"Look!" Isas hissed suddenly, and I followed his head which was pointed towards a very, very faint patch of wood which was slightly lighter than the rest, as if the wood had been slightly worn away from being touched a lot.

I frowned and put my hand there. Nothing happened. It was clear this spot was used for something however, but just what would trigger it to open?

With a bolt of realisation I resisted the urge to grin. Of course. What is the one thing that can be used as a key when there is no keyhole?

I channelled chakra to my palm, and I heard a click. I briefly wondered if the door knew how to recognise signatures because if so I had probably just set off a trap.

And a moment later the floor dropped out from under me and I couldn't quite reign in a shriek as I tumbled into pitch blackness and landed hard on a solid ground. The trapdoor I had fallen through closed over above me, leaving me in pitch blackness.

"What have you done!" Isas hissed, sounding as hysterical as was possible for him. "Mother and Orochimaru-sama are going to kill us!"

It was pitch black, and the room was as silent as death. It felt like we were in a strange void and if it weren't for the solidity the floor provided, I would have freaked. Trembling, I called on my chakra, closing my eyes (which didn't really do anything considering it was black already) and focussed on converting my chakra to the fire nature. I carefully channelled it to my fingertip and focussed hard to expel it from my skin. It worked for a second, until I realised my finger was burning and I cursed and let it die out. I tried again, trying to split my chakra into both fire and water elements in my chakra coils.

Unfortunately, while theoretically possible, splitting my chakra into both natures was proving to be near impossible, and after half an hour sitting in darkness and listening to Isas complain, I changed tack.

Technically, water was the direct opposite to fire. It should be easier to convert to earth to create a coating on my finger so it doesn't get damaged. With this in mind, I tried once more.

Again, another frustrating half hour passed before I gave up. It had to be possible somehow!

Perhaps I should return to basics. Even my neutral chakra might work as a barrier for my skin against the fire. That meant, all I had to do was convert some of my chakra to fire nature and be careful to have a stable supply of chakra on my fingertip.

I envisioned what I wanted, practicing in my head a few times before bringing my (slightly burnt) finger back up and attempting it.

It worked! It took a few attempts, but soon enough I had a small flame on my fingertip, and I grinned giddily at the sight.

With my hand held out before me, I slowly rose to my feet and walked a few paces towards where there was a large outline. It turned out to be a bookcase.

I read a couple of the titles. Some of them I didn't understand because they were big words, but it seemed this place was some kind of archive of results of experiments. Pulling out a random dossier, I began to peruse the contents, having to sit on the ground so I could turn the pages with my spare hand.

I briefly looked over the summary at the front, but I couldn't really understand it. The language was too technical, so I didn't even bother.

"Oh…" I breathed, and I shoved it back into the shelf before I could look any harder.

There had been pictures… of infants. Dead infants, some of the seemed to have been speared with parts of trees, wood sticking out of their lifeless bodies.

Feeling decidedly sick, I decided to try another dossier. This one was easier to understand because there were diagrams attached, and the process of adapting the fuuinjutsu was quite clear.

"The curse mark," I mumbled. I refrained from looking at the pictures of both the successful and the unsuccessful attempts at the curse mark for fear of what I would see, but it was interesting to trace the fuuinjutsu patterns Papa had started with, and how he edited the original to improve his success rate. Though as far as it seemed, only 10% of those marked survived it.

"Senjutsu?" I mumbled, staring at the word. I had never heard of that before, but it must really be something if it gave such massive powerups. Well, even if I couldn't understand most of this, there was one thing I knew for certain; my father was really smart.

I flipped through the rest of the pages and was just about to put the dossier back when I noticed a little piece of paper- a note slip from the last page.

I picked it up.

'Cross-referenced in A20-6 for application and usefulness in combination with body acquisition.'

I put the file back and quickly moved along the shelves until I found the file it had mentioned.

I opened it and scanned through it.

I paled. I could pick up enough to realise that my Papa had been stealing people's bodies. And it was soon clear that the curse mark left a little bit of himself in every person he marked. It meant that so long as there were people with curse marks alive, there was always the chance he could be revived. But it would seem that was hardly necessary considering the amount of back-up plans upon back-up plans he had for immortality. Turning his own innards into snakes in case he ever got cut in half so he could pull his body back together as if nothing had happened? Check. High regeneration of cells in case of fatal injury or blood loss? Check. A bolstered immune system to cure sickness? Check.

"Isas…" I whispered faintly. "Did your mother ever mention anything about Papa being immortal?"

Isas hissed and waved his head to imply a negative.

Immortality? That was something I hadn't even considered possible, at least not for a few hundred years, maybe even thousands without the aid of bloodlines, and yet my father was so far ahead of medical jutsu and technology and biology that he had made himself immortal. Only gods could achieve such things. It was… It was…

"Impossible?"

I screamed, dropping the file to the floor, causing papers to scatter. My already tenuous hold on my flame technique dissipated with my loss of focus and I was plunged into darkness once more.

But there was a click and suddenly light flooded the room.

As I focussed in on my father, who was facing me with an amused smile. How long had he been there? When had he arrived?

But more importantly, my mind was working rapidly, making connections.

As in, how did I fit into the scheme of things? There had been mention of problems with incompatibility with the hosts for the body transfer jutsu, and there had been a brief annotation on the side in my father's pretty, loping handwriting that mentioned that a possibility was that closer genetics could increase compatibility, and therefore cause the host body to decay at a far slower rate.

My heartbeat quickened and I felt my mouth dry up like a desert.

"My, I will admit I didn't expect you to come exploring this soon. You are far too curious, though you are my child. I should have known you would find a way past the barriers I put up."

"You!" My voice was hoarse as I spoke, thrusting a finger at him. "You're the villain of my story! I can't believe I didn't see it until now! You- I- you-"

"Child, what are you prattling about?" Papa asked silkily, stepping towards me. "It sounds like those fantasy novels I have been buying you are going to your head."

"Don't come any closer!" I shrieked. Masami-sama's head popped up from the neckline of Papa's beige tunic. Masami was Isas's mother, a beautiful snake with blue scales and a beige underbelly, much like Isas. Only she was more than ten times his length, and thickness. Isas was barely thicker than a pencil and only about three times as long as one.

Papa smirked but he stopped advancing. I was panting, feeling slightly dizzy as it all came together.

"You're going to kill me! You're going to take my body, aren't you? This is why you have me. This must be why I have no memories, because you probably made me in a test tube or something so our DNA would be really similar and- and-"

I grabbed a thick book from the shelf, an encyclopedia of some kind that was heavy enough to make me stumble, and I clumsily charged towards him with a war cry. There was little chance I would win this fight, but if I tried it at least raised my chances of surviving slightly.

With difficulty, I raised the encyclopedia above my head and rushed him. When I was in range, I brought my arms down to hit him with it but-

He extended his arm and poked me in the forehead. I stumbled back and dropped the encyclopedia so I could catch myself as I fell. I landed on my butt with a cry.

It was then, looking up at him from an even lower angle than usual, that I noticed how tired he looked. I glimpsed up his sleeves and noticed that his arms were wrapped in bandages.

Just where had he been all day, since 3am? It was almost 9pm now, and he looked more tired than I had ever seen before. His eyes had bags under them, though it wasn't noticeable at first glance, because his makeup covered most of it.

"That's quite the conclusion you have jumped to," he smiled crookedly, his yellow eyes glinting. "But quite a logical, perceptive one. There is, however, one thing you seem to have disregarded."

I yelped as he bent down and lifted me into his arms. Deftly shifting me onto one arm, he wrapped his long, bandaged fingers around my throat. Isas shifted uneasily in my sleeve, but he offered no support as my father's fingers tightened and breathing became difficult. I gripped his wrist in a blind panic, trying to pull it away, but it wouldn't budge.

"So what are you going to do then, little one?" he purred, smiling as he watched me struggle for breath, my eyes filling with tears.

What could I do? Nothing. I couldn't even conjure up a little flame to burn him because my mind was clouded with panic. In a logical state, I might have gone for his eyes or torn at his hair, but it was quite difficult to think when my supply of oxygen was being threatened.

And… Papa had never been this mean before. Sure, it didn't escape my notice that he found amusement in things that shouldn't be normal, but this? Was he truly threatening me, admitting that he was going to take my life one day, or was this just another one of his games?

"Pa-pa," I managed to gasp out, the word coming out as more of a mewl. My vision was going dark. Tears spilled onto my cheeks.

And then his fingers loosened, and I gulped air into my lungs. Distantly I felt his hand cup the back of my head and he pressed me to his chest, stroking my hair. I was still trembling from the shock, the realisation that I wasn't safe with my Papa, despite the way he hushed and soothed me as I shook in his arms.

He walked towards the original spot I had landed in this room, and I clutched at his tunic, silent.

Then he jumped, and the trapdoor opened as he flew upwards, and a moment later he touched down lightly in his room with me in his arms. The trapdoor closed behind us.

He carried me over to the bed with a sigh. It only ingrained the fact that something had definitely happened to Papa while he'd been away, because he normally never displayed his fatigue or debilitating emotions.

Though he might be intending to kill me someday, he had always been the one solid thing in my life that I had trusted and relied on for almost everything, and he had never done anything to hurt me. Why would he change now? Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe he hadn't really just admitted he might take my body one day.

He couldn't really be the villain in my story, right? And with the tiny possibility that he might be, well I still had a few years to prepare, because it was unlikely he would take my body until I was older.

Still, I remained silent as he shed his tunic, undershirt and purple sash. It was strange. He didn't even bother to shower or change into his night yukata as he dropped into bed beside me. And his arms… I couldn't see an inch of them. They were entirely bandaged.

I wanted to ask what happened, but I… I couldn't. I was too scared.

With ease his bandaged arms wrapped around me and nestled me against his bare chest.

I didn't get it. He was still so gentle as he stroked my back and held me close like things were as per usual. I hiccupped.

My world had been turned upside-down. How was it that my seemingly caring, amazing father was an evil murderer who one day might take my body? Was it an act? To keep me close?

But if it was, why had he revealed the truth so easily? This had to be another of his mind games.

In any case, there was no point in dwelling on it now. I needed to find out more.

And who better to start with than Kabuto, my Papa's most trusted confidante? He was surely likely to know something.

Of course, seeing as he was my Papa's right-hand man, word might get back to Papa of my searching. Or perhaps not. Kabuto was quite unpredictable, and while Papa trusted him with information, I had a feeling he didn't entirely trust him.

Which made no sense really, but I'd never bothered to look more into it. Until now. I was going to find out all of Papa's secrets.

Yay for making it through the first chapter! Pls review if you've got a spare moment etc luv you all thanks.

Also yeh, Chimon is insanely smart for his age. I'm pretty sure when I was five I was still learning how to add one plus one, not reading whole novels and debating deep things like ethics and morality. But then, the entire ninja verse is full of child geniuses so what's one more?

Posted: 01/07/19