Vie
It's kinda funny. I went to look at the comments on Vie, and I realized that it's been a freaking month since my last update! So last night I sat down, turned on my playlist and wrote like hell. The problem is that... last week or so, I sat down and wrote about 1000 words of what I thought was going to be Chapter 4, but then I thought about the timeline and realized that it had to go into Chapter 5. So, obviously, that one won't take very long... but Chapter 5 is going to be a very long chapter.
Sorry it took so long to update, you guys! I love you all, and I appreciate all of your comments! Keep them coming!
Chapter 4: The Garden
Naruto was beginning to learn what every other prisoner had ever felt in jail or captured in war. However, compared to many of them, he himself had been thrown into a dark cold room alone without anyone to keep him company. Instead, he had nothing to deal with but his thoughts. He spent an entire evening thinking of how hungry he was and what he could possibly do in his position. It was almost as if he kept forgetting he had already gone too far and couldn't possibly go back. He had gone that far for Sasuke, it was pointless to go back without him.
"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Kabuto welcomed him to conciousness the next morning after he had fallen asleep hungry. The traitor welcomed him warmly, but Naruto discovered he held no forgiveness for him as he sat up on his cot, cracking his neck and stretching in place, all the while glaring at the gray-haired man on the other side of his prison. "I hope you aren't too mad at me. We'll be spending a lot of time together from now on, after all," he said as he fiddled pointlessly with the lock on the bars.
"Don't talk to me like I'm your friend!" Naruto growled viciously as if it made a difference while his hand moved to press against the bruise on his neck," ...because I'm not! I didn't come here to-"
"I know," Kabuto inturrupted quietly, the gray light hitting his glasses at a certain angle and illuminating the glass, hiding his eyes. Holding onto the lock after hesitating a moment, he looked back up at Naruto. "Would you come here, please?"
"No!" The blonde barked his reply, shuffling down to the farther end of the cot. "What are you doing?"
"Opening the door," Kabuto said. "But I'll need you to come over here, first, before I let you out."
"Why?" Naruto scoffed, averting his eyes, his hands remaining on his curse seal. "Are you gonna chain me up or something?"
Kabuto remained silent for a moment. "Safety precautions are necessary," he said simply. In other words, yes.
Naruto sat in silence for a long time, staring down at the floor. It seemed as if everything that he had gone through after discovering he held the Kyuubi had been leading up to something like this. In Konoha, he was sure that there were more than just a few residents who desired nothing more than to throw him away somewhere dark and cold where they could lock him up and keep him from being a threat to anyone. In that way, he would be alone, unable to talk to anyone or bother anyone. It was a thought he had nightmares over, but refused to let himself think about. Now he wondered if there were people in Konoha that were happy he was gone.
"Naruto-kun," Kabuto broke the silence suddenly as he spoke from the other side of the bars. "I would like to remind you that you cannot blame us for your prescence here. You followed Sasuke of your own free will."
"I know that!" Naruto snapped, looking over his shoulder to shoot another glare at Kabuto, but from the medical-ninja's point of view, the intended wicked look appeared to be no more than a defeated pout. "...but I never asked for this!"
Kabuto realized immediately that he was talking about the curse seal. "That itself is another safety precaution, as well as a gift from Orochimaru-sama himself. However, I am aware you aren't here to help us, you are still here on his behalf, and he is here on ours. One begets the other, and you will end up exacting Orochimaru-sama's will." He glanced down at his hand, clutching the lock. "It would just make things less difficult for everyone if you could just follow our orders willingly."
Naruto couldn't see Sasuke taking orders from anyone, especially not Orochimaru. He took instruction from Kakashi and the Hokage because they were his teachers and had his respect. Orochimaru...
Naruto glared skeptically at the floor for a very long time. He had ran away from his home, all the way here for the sake of making Orochimaru his teacher after all. What would be the point of going to Orochimaru if he wasn't planning on following his orders? Naruto sighed mentally, narrowing his eyes. It seemed that everything Sasuke had done in the recent past had been things Naruto never would have believed his companion would have done, but here they were. He had proved Naruto wrong several times already.
Maybe he really didn't understand Sasuke, after all.
Naruto didn't realize he had left his guard down until he actually felt Kabuto grab his wrist with one hand, throwing the boy off-balance as he pushed him forward and made him tumble off of the cot and onto his feet. The medical-ninja then reached out and stabbed at a pressure point on Naruto's shoulder with a pair of fingers, therefore cutting off his chakra flow completely.
Barking a yelp more out of alarm than pain, Naruto swung on his poor balance to throw a punch at Kabuto only to miss completely before gravity dragged him to the floor, but with the traitor hanging onto his wrist, the blonde couldn't fall and instead hung, slipping in an unbalanced position. "Damn it!" He swore. Kabuto couldn't help but smirk at the scene as Naruto climbed, growling, back to his feet. "What's so funny?" The blonde snapped.
"You haven't changed at all, Naruto-kun," Kabuto replied simply, doing as little as possible to help the genin, reaching to take Naruto's left hand as well.
"Stay away from me!" The blonde shouted, throwing his left hand away from Kabuto's grasp while twisting his right wrist viciously. To make matters worse, he darted back and started pulling as hard as he could towards the back wall.
Kabuto decided instead to focus on keeping Naruto's wrist in his hand, and the medical-ninja reached for something in his pocket, quickly clasping one end on a set of handcuffs around the hand he already held. The blonde growled a noise of protest as the metal cut into his skin when he pulled against it.
"I am well aware of your healing abilities. I familiarized myself with them when you first came here," Kabuto said, his hold now firm on Naruto's write hand as the genin continued to struggle anyway. "That doesn't mean the cuts you're causing yourself aren't going to hurt, not to mention that right now, I have cut off your chakra flow completely. There is no way for you to heal yourself. You're only hurting yourself right now, Naruto-kun. I would prefer you be in good shape for us to go see Orochimaru-sama."
"What would that snake-freak want with me, anyway!" Trying a different approach, Naruto kicked at Kabuto only to have the other ninja grab his foot and leave the blonde hopping clumsily on one foot.
"You will have to find that out when you get there," Kabuto said. He wasn't strained over the struggle that was ensuing, but he released a sigh of irritation at Naruto's complete lack of cooperation. Instead, he just made sure that Naruto was paying attention to him and made a gesture suggesting he could just as easily lock his ankle to his wrist with the handcuffs. "I could take you to him this way, if you like."
"Let go of me!" The blonde shouted, kicking up at him with his remaining foot.
Kabuto leaned back and used Naruto's momentum to his advantage, tossing the food he had been holding up into the air, causing Naruto to go back into an unexpected flip. He yelped in surprise, but managed to land, teetering, on his feet. Having been left with his guard down again, Kabuto snatched Naruto's left hand out of the air before he could use it to balance himself, and locked it firmly into the other cuff.
"Good," Kabuto murmured, choosing rather than to bother hiding his relief. Naruto let out a furious shriek as he pulled the cuffs away from each other, attempting to break the chain. "Don't bother, Naruto-kun. The chain is infused with chakra. There is no way you will be able to break it using force alone."
Naruto glared daggers at the traitor as Kabuto took the chain in hand, leading the blonde from his prison. "I'll never forgive this..." the boy hissed.
Kabuto nodded. "I know."
"Do you hate me, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked, stating the question as if he was asking about the weather as he drank the last of the tea in his cup and stared into it's depths afterwards, studying the leaves.
"After all of this?" Naruto scoffed as rudely as possible as he watched the Sannin closely. "How couldn't I?" This man was more than just his captor. He was Sasuke's new master and the Pervert-Hermit's old friend... but Naruto wasn't usually very good at seeing the multiple layers of a person's personality. Sasuke left the village for the sake of growing stronger with the help of this man. This man who had once been his teacher's friend, hurting him and leaving Jiraiya behind. This man started the war between the Sound and the Leaf because of a grudge, and he had killed the Hokage and dared to sit confidently in front of Naruto without bearing a scratch. He must be evil.
Orochimaru just chuckled softly at Naruto's reply, holding out his cup and watching as Kabuto refilled it for him again. "I can't honestly say I'm surprised. I'm sure I would hate me too, if I were in your position... but that gives you no reason to deny my hospitality. You've been unconcious for several days. I'm sure you're very hungry."
Naruto just glared at him, eyes burning and teeth clenched. He couldn't allow himself to look down at the food that sat in front of him. It smelled delicious... it wasn't ramen, but his hands were free and he was starving, but...
"I'll be very upset if you accuse me of trying to poison you," Orochimaru inturrupted his thoughts. "Try to understand for a moment that I would have no reason to do such a thing, or to even desire your death whatsoever. You, my boy, are my trump card. You hold the Kyuubi. By not eating, you are only forcing yourself to become weaker, which is not my intent. I want my... servants... to be strong and happy." He blew gently against his steaming tea and took a small sip. Naruto shuddered in disgust at how easily he could be so human... after killing so many people and proving himself a monster. "Tell me, Naruto-kun... what is there I could do to make you happy?"
Naruto growled quietly for a very long time. He tried to consider the thought as he seethed in the Sannin's prescence. After everything that had happened, what could he do to actually make a difference and change things? Was it too late already? What could Naruto himself do to bring things back to normal? "You could... let Sasuke go home..." he dared to suggest.
Orochimaru smiled his sick little smile, chuckling from the back of his throat as he narrowed his eyes at the boy, their gazes locking. "You and I are both perfectly aware that he came to be here, in my Garden, and learn under me. This was his decision, Naruto-kun. I knew it was going to end this way. He can never go back to the village now." Naruto opened his mouth to interject with something that had yet to reach his mind when Orochimaru continued. "If he wishes to leave, he may go. My servants must be loyal. If he managed to slip through my fingers, I would be sincerely impressed... but I would continue to hunt him down until the day I died, which is not likely to be soon." He smiled wryly into his tea, leaving Naruto to consider for a moment Orochimaru's method of immortality. "I will have his body, just as he desires my power. And you, my boy, will do my will as his servant."
Servant. Naruto could only cough on the word. Just because he tried to bring Sasuke home, that made him his servant?
Orochimaru didn't speak for a long moment, giving him a chance to slowly lower his cup down to the small table that sat between them. The room appeared to be Orochimaru's main chamber, decorated with wide space and high ceilings. Everything everywhere had been dark, save for several torches that burned nearby, situated around the area of the room that was currently being used. Although Naruto's hands were not bound at the moment, he was held in place by a chain attached to his ankle, and his chakra remained sealed. Watching Orochimaru's hands hover at the table, Naruto's eyes chose to fall to the food that had been growing cold in front of him, and he stared long and hard at it.
"There is one thing, Naruto-kun, that you must always remember while you arehere," Orochimaru spoke again, causing Naruto's challenging eyes to shoot back to the man's face. "This situation was all you. Sasuke-kun told me everything that happened, and I know that you followed him here. You cannot blame him or me or Kabuto for where you are. This was you. I want you to always remember that. There is no one for you to blame."
"I know," Naruto grumbled bitterly, quickly brushing off the reminded guilt he was already having to suffer from. "Where is Sasuke?"
Orochimaru made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh in the back of his throat, but the snide smile that crossed his lips told Naruto that it hadn't been an amusing experience. "Sasuke-kun is currently getting to know my Garden, as well as myself and the few other residents that live here. He chose rather than to dine with me this morning."
"So you dragged me up here?" Naruto hissed, quirking an eyebrow. That was just... the blonde couldn't retain his wicked glee at the concept. "You were snubbed by Sasuke!"
Kabuto was too busy staring a hole through Naruto to see the undecipherable look that Orochimaru gave him.
"After all of that loyalty crap, your own student won't even sit down to eat with you?" Naruto placed one hand on each knee as he learned toward Orochimaru, over the table while his eyes narrowed into playful slits. "You must be a pretty shitty bad-guy if you can't even beat your followers into line! So instead you chain me to the floor and make me listen to you? That's pretty sad, you know, if you can't keep someone here of their own free will. What about this guy?" Naruto pointed up at Kabuto. "Are you too busy having him wait on you hand-and-foot to actually let him sit down and eat with you?"
Kabuto wasn't one to get angry often, but Naruto was crossing the line, and he stepped forward threateningly. "Don't speak that way in front of Orochimaru-sama!"
...but the two of them turned to discover Orochimaru simply laughing, slimy slugs of sound oozing from his throat, and Naruto was half expecting something to come sliding out of his open mouth. "You've got such spirit, Naruto-kun," he chided with amusement when he was done. "I'll enjoy seeing how long you can hold onto it."
I just don't know what to expect about anything here, Naruto thought silently as he was led by Kabuto holding on to the chain binding his wrists again. Not a word between them had been spoken since they left Orochimaru's main chamber, but Kabuto didn't seem particularly pleased with the way Naruto had spoken to his master. He'd better get used to it, the blonde sneered.
There wasn't much to Orochimaru's 'Garden', he realized now that he had been given an opprotunity to see the rest of it. His eyes wandered as Kabuto steered him along to an unknown destination, but all he could see were blank stone walls and long dark hallways. The width of the halls occassionally changed, forcing them to creep along sideways at some points. Naruto took note that it had probably been built this way to make things difficult for any unwanted ninja. There weren't any obvious traps, but he took note when Kabuto pulled him along one side of a particularly wide hallway. He knew they probably existed.
Eventually, they reached a tight and narrow spiral staircase that Kabuto suddenly decided to speed up in. It was hard enough for the blonde walk with his hands restricting his hands regardless, but with the short stairs and the frantic pace, he slipped several times, expecting to roll backwards along the stairs only to be led along again by Kabuto's grasp.
When they reached the top, Narutp discovered himself closing his eyes against the almost painful daylight. When he was finally able to open them again, blinking welcomingly to the outdoors, he realized how much he had missed it. He welcomed the false sense of freedom as he took a deep breath to savour the air.
"Do you recognize where you are?" Kabuto asked.
Surveying the area, Naruto could only see hills of trees and mountains close by. There was nothing but that deep green and blue sky for miles... but it was unfamiliar. The trees weren't the same ones that he knew. They were definately nowhere near Konoha. The air was colder than it would be in Konoha. "No," he answered honestly, turning to see that the stairway they had just emerged from was perfectly disguised as a small hole in a cliff. Orochimaru's entire Garden was situated underground, where everyone would think it would be but no one would know where to begin looking.
"Good," Kabuto said, moving on. "Are you ready for your mission?"
"No," Naruto scoffed bitterly. "I have no reason to do what you tell me to."
"You will," Kabuto responded mysteriously, failing to meet the genin's eyes. "While you and Orochimaru were dining, four of our prisoners escaped."
"What?" Naruto inquired sharply, tilting his head. "How would you know! You were there the whole time!"
Kabuto chose to ignore the logic and, instead, turned back to the boy and sharply jabbed a new spot on his neck. The blonde flinched visibly. "Your mission is to go out there, hunt them all down and kill them, using whatever means necessary." Kabuto paused to unlock Naruto's handcuffs, leaving the Leaf-nin free, but cautiously staring up at him while rubbing sorely at his wrists. He could sense that Kabuto had released the lock on his chakra as well. He could feel the power of it rippling warmly back through him.
"I could kill you right now and go," Naruto growled lowly.
"You could," Kabuto admitted. "But let me inform you, Naruto-kun, that you now have a curse seal, which will go out of control and take over your body should you use enough chakra, and the point I just pressed not only unlocked the block I placed on your chakra - I left it open. Your chakra will continue spilling out until you kill those men and come back with me. Now, if you went ahead and killed me, there would be nowhere to go with anyone as skilled in the healing arts to fix you. You would run out of chakra, and running out is also as good as dying, and dying is the first step to accepting Orochimaru-sama into your body. Do you understand?
Naruto nodded slowly. Kabuto could see it on his face - an expression of fury mixed with shock as he clenched his teeth and his hand around his wrist. Now Naruto really knew what Sasuke had brought him into. He wasn't good with ultamadems.
"I... I don't want to kill people!" He shouted. "They didn't do anything to me!"
"Judging by your chakra release and taking into account the bonus allowed by the Kyuubi, I would give you about 3-5 hours before depletion," Kabuto stated, taking note as Naruto shivvered in the sunlight. "They have been gone for almost an hour now, at most. They were all rather skilled ninja, and they might be several miles from here already, and depending on whether or not they chose to split up, it could take a very long time to find them all."
"I know that!" Naruto snapped, remaining where he stood, but trembling with anger and fear.
"You can't hesitate, Naruto."
It took several long moments before Naruto really realized that there was nothing he could do to free himself from the situation. He had no idea where he was... and he knew roughly which direction Konoha might be, but... That wasn't good enough. What if he didn't make it? It would be a strain anyway, and not only would he end up dead, he would have left Sasuke behind.
...I refuse to leave without Sasuke!
Taking a deep breath and balling his courage, Naruto's eyes shot up and the boy bounded over to Kabuto in time to deliver the older man a swift and powerful punch in the face before running as fast as his legs would carry him off into the forest.
He had spent several days exploring aimlessly the place that Orochimaru had called 'The Garden'. It was an interesting simile, considering that it was made up of dark, empty stone corridors and less empty roms. No matter where Sasuke went, everything was just as cold as it was anywhere else in the Garden. His grandmother used to keep a garden when she had been alive... but it became a very different place when Itachi was through with the family, after he ripped the old woman wide open in her bed. Sasuke didn't have the heart to take care of it himself, so he watched the garden die. It was just a tiny regret in the sea. He hadn't really thought about it before.
Turning a corner, Sasuke gazed down the long, dark hallway and took a sharp breath before slipping back into the shadows and out of sight.
Sasuke had seen Naruto once since they arrived, when Sasuke found his way to the dungeons and looked inside to see a familiar orange jacket laying on the floor and a lonely head of blonde hair sleeping on a cot. Since then, Sasuke chose not to go back there. But now, Naruto was up and concious, and the traitor watched in absolute silence as his old friend stumbled by, led by a pair of handcuffs. Although he was dirty and quite obviously exhausted, the blonde walked as straight as he could to keep up his pride and deny Orochimaru the opprotunity to get to him. With blood covering his hands and splatters of it over his chest and face, he stared a hole through Kabuto's shhoulder as he continued to pry uselessly at the cuffs that bound him. His eyes were still bright and wide, his brow was furrowed in what Sasuke had come to recognize as the angry face Naruto made when he was trying to drown out some other emotion he didn't want. And, as suddenly as he had come, the boy vanished behind the next wall.
Sasuke released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. The one thing that Orochimaru had asked of him that day was to release four of his prisoners, and Sasuke had done so at random, in silence while the released men tried to talk to him, ask him if he was giving them mercy... but Sasuke couldn't lie, and simply walked away. He finally realized that he had been ordered to set them free just so Naruto could kill them all.
You total moron. Sasuke sighed, shaking his head. This is your punishment for following me.