The Weapon

Shikamaru headed inside the cave with the rest of the Hidden Sound Shinobi. It was dark and damp. You could hear insects and rodents scurrying around. A few Hidden Sound ninja began to complain about how dark it was, which prompted a few others to use their fire-style jutsus to light some torches. The wheels on the carriage carrying the large mystery object creaked and grinded against the dirt, echoing throughout the cave system. Fortunately, now that there was light, Shikamaru's shadow paralysis jutsu could work again. The group continued the trek for a few minutes until they reached a large metal door, which the leader proceeded to open with his keycard. The opening of the metal door revealed a large lab cluttered with vials and beakers, electrical appliances, and surgical tools.

"Ah you finally made it," said a voice in the darkness. The source of the voice walked out slowly.

"Orochimaru?!" Shikamaru thought to himself. "So he is behind this whole thing…but what exactly is under that tarp?"

"We have brought the weapon, Lord Orochimaru," said the leader of the group.

"Good. You have done well," said Orochimaru as he lifted his arm up to the man's head.

Suddenly, Orochimaru's arm morphed into a snake, which lunged at the man and bit him on the forehead. The snake's teeth sunk in. Blood trickled down the man's forehead as well as a yellow liquid that was obviously venom. Orochimaru reverted his hand back to normal, and the once-leader of the group dropped to the floor, no longer breathing. The rest of the Hidden Sound Shinobi stepped back in horror at the unexpected death of their leader. However, rather than feeling hatred or vengeance, one could smell the pure fear within the laboratory.

"Report to your stations now," said Orochimaru with the evilest grin imaginable, as he licked his lips.

He walked over to the tarp and removed it. It was some sort of weapon. It looked like a cannon, but no ordinary cannon. A third of the group split off and spread out around the lab. The rest of them stayed in place and lined up behind the cannon. Shikamaru tried to go with the first group, but he was stopped by one of them who reprimanded them for trying to escape, which confused Shikamaru and made him feel anxious.

"Well, any day now," said Orochimaru a little irritated.

The first in line yelped and scurried onto the platform connected to the weapon. Orochimaru walked over to his station, punched in a few keys on his keyboard and pulled the lever on the side. Instantly, beams of lightning made contact with the Shinobi on the platform. He yelled in pain as his body began to become wrinklier. It was almost like his life force was being sucked out of him. Eventually, the lightning disappeared, and all that was left was a wrinkled, disgusting looking corpse on the platform.

"Hmm…that one didn't have much chakra. It only charged a couple percent," said Orochimaru. "Oh well…next!"

The rest of the people in line stepped back in pure terror. They were unaware they would be used as human batteries for this weapon. What's worse was that Shikamaru was in the middle of the line. If he attempted an escape, he would be found out for sure. On the other hand, if he continues down this line, his chakra would be sucked out of him until he perished like the first guy. The others were similarly reluctant to step onto the platform, which annoyed Orochimaru. Orochimaru lifted his hand and shot several snakes towards the ground, all of which surrounded the line.

"Either die by Lord Orochimaru's hand or die for a magnificent cause," said a man with gray hair and glasses as he walked up next to Orochimaru. "Just know that if you choose the former, it will be painful and torturous," he continued with a sly grin.

Shikamaru instantly recognized the talking man as Kabuto, the so-called Hidden Leaf Shinobi that worked as Orochimaru's spy for years and played a huge role in the attack on the Leaf during the Chunin exams. Since Orochimaru and Kabuto were both there, it was only natural that Sasuke would be too, considering he joined Orochimaru to be his next vessel. Shikamaru looked around but couldn't see anyone who even remotely looked like Sasuke. It was likely that he was being kept safe in another hideout. However, that wasn't the main issue at hand. Right now, Shikamaru had to figure out how to escape this terrible situation.

Meanwhile, Shivaroku was still outside the cave, trying to figure out how to get in without raising any alarms. While perched on top of a tree, he closed his eyes and tried to sense all the chakra he could. However, because the two guardsmen standing outside resealed the cliff, no chakra could escape, making it impossible for him to sense any lifeforms at all. The guards didn't look all that powerful, so it would've been easy for him to take them down. Problem was that if he takes them down, he would have no way of entering the cave. Then he wouldn't able to help Shikamaru at all. It was too late to send a message back for reinforcements too, because it would take too long for them to get here. Besides, involving more Leaf Shinobi would escalate the situation. Meanwhile, back in the cave, shinobi continued to enter the platform as Orochimaru proceeded to siphon their chakra from them into the cannon. One by one, shinobi entered the platform, had their chakra taken, and fell dead to the floor. Every time, a couple of bulkier ninja carried the corpse and tossed them onto an ever-growing pile.

The line got shorter and shorter, until Shikamaru was next. He had no choice but to enter the platform, having faith that Shivaroku would somehow step in and save the day. But after a few seconds, he realized something like that would be impossible, so he finally accepted his fate. He was going to die for the Leaf. It's not like he never came close to death before. Just like during the Chunin Exams, where he was surrounded by those Hidden Sand shinobi. Or during the mission to retrieve Sasuke, where he stayed behind to fight one of Orochimaru's lackeys so that Naruto could proceed further and find Sasuke. In both situations, someone saved his rear by stepping in at the last possible moment—Asuma the first time, Temari the second. Shikamaru closed his eyes and clenched his fist, ready for Orochimaru to pull the lever.

"You…You seem different from the rest of them," said Orochimaru.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and looked at Orochimaru. "D-Does he know that I'm not one of them? How?! Somehow this could be even worse," he thought to himself. He then spoke up, "W-what do you mean Lord Orochimaru?"

"Every single person who has walked up to that platform did so out of fear, including you. But the difference between you and them was that while they were still afraid before they died, you accepted fate. I could use someone like you," said Orochimaru as he licked his lips.

Shikamaru was still in shock at the fact that he wasn't dead yet. "T-Thank you, sir!"

Kabuto then stepped forward, "You should count yourself lucky. Not many people are deemed worth by Lord Orochimaru."

"Worthy? No, he's not worthy to be one of mine. He is very lucky, however. The weapon is fully charged," said Orochimaru.

Kabuto looked at Orochimaru, understanding that he was just toying with the man. "Ah, I see. Well, you live to fight another day…Shikamaru of the Hidden Leaf."

"What?! How did you-?!" exclaimed Shikamaru.

Orochimaru smiled and said, "It was obvious. These other idiots in line may be too thick to see through a simple transformation jutsu, but you forget that I have years of experience with stealing identities."

"Besides," Kabuto added, "We know how many people were supposed to be in the group. There was one too many…or should I say, two too many."

Shikamaru stepped back, realizing that Kabuto was talking about Shivaroku as well. "Well then if you knew from the beginning, why didn't you just kill me?"

"I wanted to see just how far you would go for the Leaf, and I was not disappointed," responded Orochimaru, who then gave a look to Kabuto.

"Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to leave now that you have seen all of this. I promise you though, you think you know what we're plotting, but you can't even begin to comprehend it." Kabuto's voice turned coarse as he made a villainous smile and unsheathed his surgical knives.

A couple of the other Hidden Sound shinobi behind Shikamaru grabbed him so that he couldn't escape. Shikamaru then said, "Well it's obvious I can't escape. My friend out there has no way of even getting in here without breaking the seal. Before you kill me, at least tell me. What do you plan to do with that?"

"Oh this here? It's only a prototype, but obviously death and destruction will be involved. I don't think you really need to know more than that since you're a dead man," replied Kabuto as he cocked his arm back, ready to throw his knives at Shikamaru.

"I guess you're right…man this turned out to be such a drag," said Shikamaru with a sigh. He smiled once more and closed his eyes, ready for death.

"Always a shame when the smart ones have to die…" said Orochimaru.