Hello everyone. First I would like to thank all of you for reading to this point. It is nice to see so many people reading something that I am creating. Secondly it is actually surprising to see that I actually had more people read my first story than my second so far this month. Apparently I either have new people looking at it or people rereading. Either way it's nice to see for a beginner writer. Anyways on with the story.

Oh and by the way just because I think I forgot to actually say it being the air head I am at times just picture Orochimarus base to be the huge underground thing seeing as having just a simple building in the middle of a forest would be so damn obvious.

P.S. Just because I haven't done it in a while. I don't own Naruto

Chapter 45

"Damn that bastard" Naruto growled out and quickly threw wrapped a few seals onto kunai that he then launched around the room. Said seals then began to glow giving the room a small amount of light letting the group refocus on the new….thing. For soon after Orochimaru left the door behind him opened up to show a sickly looking figure before the darkness started to swallow the ninja. Now with the light back though they were able to get a clear view of the creature in front of them.

A creature that for the most part looks human though it clearly had some tests run on it seeing as it had scales upon its arms and clawed fingers. In fact at this point they weren't sure that they would be able to call the man in front of them human after all the mutations. Thought the one thing that made it worse was the lifeless look the man was giving them. It was the eyes of a man that long since died inside and was simply a shell of what he once was. Thus making him more of a creature than human seeing as his human side seemed to be dormant at best. Course before they could focus anymore on the man in front of them a noise behind the man made them look past him and see that there was about a dozen more that were all in various stages of mutation. Though sadly each one of them had the same lifeless eyes as the first one.

"Okay team let's take these…people out." Yamato ordered the three ninja getting small nod in course. Soon after he said this, they had only seconds worth of time before the group was closing in ono them. Thankfully though this group of mutations seemed to be relatively slow.

"What the fuck is that bastard doing to people?" Naruto mumbled out as he prepared to face their newest enemy. A statement that all but one of them was thinking as well.

"Huh, it seems that Orochimaru has been creating soldiers that by the look of things don't have much free will. I wonder how he manages his training regimen?" Sai thinks mentally noting that Lord Danzo would like to have information on these new kind of soldiers. Still he pushed that thought aside when they closed in on them and quickly began to draw a few lions to fight with. Meanwhile he noticed that Sakura was seemingly getting ready to use her super strength when they got close while he couldn't get a read on Yamato. Though of course Naruto was the one who had enough of waiting for them and rushed one of the many that were attacking.

Said blond rushed at the first man with a kunai in hand and easily dodged the slow punch that the man gave him. He quickly took advantage of the opening and slit the man's throat ending the threat. Course this only added to their disgust.

"What the hell? Why do they have black blood?" Naruto asked looking both at his blade and the puddle forming close to him. "These guys have this tar like substance as blood." Naruto informs everyone who were of course noticing the same thing. Course now that they knew this they also couldn't help but notice the black veins that could clearly be seen on the men.

"Worry about the experiments Orchimaru's done later. For now just eliminate the threat." Yamato ordered the blond who quickly refocused and help disposed of the rest of the people coming from the depths of the base. Course their group quickly noticed one thing that felt strange to them. The enemy that they were facing were truly not up to ninja caliber. In fact from what they saw even a group of normally trained swordsman could take care of this group easily…they wouldn't even need samurai training. In fact it truly made their fight become more of a ninja vs. civilian battle which made them feel even worse for having to kill what probably were just that before Orochimaru caught them. Course right when they began realizing just how easy of a fight they were having a few of the men began to have smoke coming off of them right when they got close. A fact that made all their eyes widen slightly as they quickly jumped far away from the few 'burning' men who soon after exploded sending black blood and chunks of body everywhere. Though thankfully they were all able to avoid the blast.

"Che, damn those bastards didn't kill you with that." A voice from the dark chamber the test subjects were coming from rung out to them. They then saw a rather small man that currently had a lab coat on and large circular glasses. "Come on you damn beasts Lord Orochimaru wants these bastards dead…you are ruining your first trial run. Pick up the pace and kill these ninja!" The man ordered the test subjects that began moving at a slightly faster pace at the Konoha group only to quickly meet their end like all the others. "Oh come on you useless cannon fodder." The man growled out kicking the head of one of the dead ones that laid next to him. *sigh* "I guess if you want something done you have to do it yourself!" The man told them looking over at the ninja with insanity clear in his eyes. Still they could do nothing but watch as the man took a small syringe and injected it into his own neck with an insane smile. "Prepare yourselves ninja! I am about to become stronger than you could ever imagine!" He yelled at them and began laughing hysterically. That was until he felt a jolt of pain and couldn't help but stop laughing and place a hand on his chest trying to ease the pain. "RAAA!" he screamed out as he felt true pain as the transformation began.

The man first seemed to have his skin turn red and then he clearly began to get more noticeable muscles that were seen to all as he ripped off his own closes to try and scratch at what was clearly causing him immense pain. Still his transformation continued until he ended up looking like a body builder that had a bad case of sunburn on his entire body. Course at this point he was now on his knees panting. Meanwhile the ninja could do nothing but watch the change as the test subjects held them back through sheer numbers due to not wanting to waste chakra on killing off the weak horde. Still they were beginning to get annoyed seeing as the number of men around them that laid dead was already at least in the hundreds with apparently no end to them.

"Haa….Haa" they heard as they continued to fight and looked over at the insane man who now was beginning to stand up while breathing heavy. "Haa…that hurt like a bitch." The man mumbled out. But then looked down at his hands. "But that is a small price to pay for this power I feel!" He yelled out insanely before laughing as he felt energy flowing through his body. He then punched a nearby wall and watched happily as the wall gained several cracks on it. "Yes I am invincible now!" He called out with a wide smile on his face. He then looked over at the ninja who saw that the whites of his eye turned a sickening yellow color and his pupils were extremely small. "Prepare for your death's bastards." He yelled at them and quickly grabbed a katana that one of the earlier test subjects had brought to fight with.

A blade that he swung at Yamato as soon as he was in range but paid no mind to the fact that with said swing he cut into one of his own men and cut another in half. Still said swing didn't stop and Yamato had to quickly block the blow with his kunai and began a power struggle as the insane man tried to push past his kunai. "Beginning to feel fear from my power?" the man asked Yamato with a large smile on his face. "I bet you are beginning to feel your arm shake as you try and hold back my immense power...but it is only a matter of time before I get you!" He told Yamato with his grin growing and began to swing randomly at the man.

"Hmm this man while trying to act like he has godly power really only seems to be at chunin strength at best…not to mention that due to his clear lack of training he is more likely to be classify as a gennin threat level. He must not realize that Orochimaru thinks of him as little more than cannon fodder." Yamato thought neutrally as he almost felt bad for the delusional man. Still he looked out the corner of his eye and saw that his team all were preparing to help him in some way.

"No, do not use any jutsu here! We don't know what was used on these test subjects or if we can be infected by anything they have on them if it is aerosolized by a seemingly harmless jutsu." Yamato told them already imagining Naruto using a wind justu that sprayed the black substance into the air while Sakura used a chakra enhanced punch to crush a few bodies and accidentally launch some of the substance that was already on the ground through a shock wave. As for Sai well he really didn't know the boys jutsu besides his ink creatures which actually were still out and fighting. Still the man shuddered at the thought of having to have more of the unknown substance on him. He would rather have a smaller amount get on him and his team from using weapons against the army than being coated thanks to a jutsu any day. "Don't worry this man won't be enough to take me out." Yamato explained to his group which nodded in acceptance. He then heard a growl next to him and noticed the scientist clearly was enraged by his comment.

"Weak am I!? I will show you!" He screamed at Yamato but said man wasn't in anbu for no reason. So he simply watched the man's attack come in at a slow pace compared to what he normally faced. He then quickly blocked said attack and took out another kunai that he thrusted forward intending to hit the insane man in the heart. Course he apparently took his approach too slow as the man tried to jump back to avoid the attack only to end up letting himself be hit in the side in what even he knew would be a fatal blow. "What? H-how were you able to beat me?" the man asked shocked as he looked at Yamato who was now a small distance away from him. He also noticed that most of the army of test subjects were basically dealt with as well. He then remembered that Orochimaru tended to kill those that had no use to him anymore. "No, no that couldn't be true…I mean I am one of the scientist that did all this early work on the formula. I couldn't just be thrown away." The man thought as he felt his own life give away while Yamato came closer to seemingly end his slower death as a final act of mercy. He then had the memory of everyone packing up the supplies as he was ordered to stay here by the head scientist for a 'test run.' Finally the truth that he was truly tossed away dawned on him. "No…damn it…I didn't want my life to go this way. I was supposed to become a god among men with the help of Orochimaru!" he thought sad. He then looked at the man who was now getting ready to end him. "…If I have to go I will at least show those bastards that I wasn't useless by completing this mission!" He thought and quickly pulled on the small amount of chakra he was able to mold.

He then quickly took a seal out of his pocket and slammed it down on the floor while pushing said chakra into the seal. "Ha ha ha ha! If I have to die I am at least taking you bastards with me thanks to the self-destruct key I found! Ha ha ha." He told them laughing with is eyes closed as Yamato's kunai pierced through his heart. Course the damage was already done seeing as they now could see seals all over the base begin to glow.

"damn it!" Yamato growled out as he ran closer to the group knowing they had no chance to leave the base. So, instead he ran at the rest of his team with an idea at a desperate attempt to save their lives. An idea that Naruto seemed to share as he grabbed Sakura and pulled her close to him as Yamato did the same to Sai leaving them closely huddled up. He then ran through hand signs as fast as he could

"Wood style:-" He began to call out as he saw a bubble of chakra begin to form around the group and then everything around them exploded.

~Outside; a ways away~

Orochimaru was standing on a hill looking at where his base use to be simply smiling at the explosion while Kabuto did the same. Kabuto then simply pushed his glasses up on his nose and looked at his teacher.

"Well at least we got some information from that test run and I don't even need to make sure they didn't get any valuable information." Kabuto told him.

"Hehehe Kabuto-kun always so cold even when thinking about poor scientist-kun's death…but at least he let us play a bit more with Naruto-boy." Orochimaru told his student. "Now let's go." He told the man and they both disappeared from the hill.

~Dome~

"Ugh, is everyone ok?" Naruto asked as he got up from the ground and looked around using the slight glow his chakra gave the small bubble they were in. For thankfully they just had enough time for his barrier to build around them but also for Yamato's wood shield to completely cover them as well.

"..somehow" Sakura mumbles as she sat up herself and watched as the other two got up as well seemingly unhurt as well. "Now how do we get free?" she asked the group figuring that they were now basically stuck in a small pocket underneath who knows how much dirt and stone. In fact she was now beginning to fear the idea of being suffocated to death even after they managed to survive ground zero of the blast.

"Heh, well I actually think I have an idea for that but I am gonna need you guys to help as well." Naruto told them getting them all to listen to him.

+few seconds later+

"I can't believe I have to do this." Sakura muttered a bit annoyed as she currently carried her teammate on her back as they slowly began walking. For Naruto's idea was simple but yet surprising for the team. For he currently was using his chakra molding as a sort of large drill in front of them that was making a tunnel up. He also had a shield that made it so that the dirt and stone he cut through was being pushed to either side of the where the small group was. Now she had to carry him due to the fact that this level of chakra molding forced him to be in an almost meditative focus so that it would work properly thus making it so that he was unable to move. She had to be the one to do so though because Yamato was helping out by putting wooden support beams up every now and then to try and keep the tunnel around them as steady as possible even though several sections that they already went through had filled back up with the loose dirt and stone the explosion caused…and well she understood why he completely refused to let Sai carry him. So, they just continued on without much talking due to their oxygen decreasing with every second that passed.

Thankfully though they eventually pierced through to see actual sun much too all their relief.

"Ah if I ever have to go into a cave every again it will be too soon." Naruto says happily as he flops onto the ground actually a bit tired after using who knows how much chakra to dig; not to mention the fact that due to him being moved and not completely focused he also was wasting a bit of chakra as well.

"For once I actually agree with you Naruto." Sakura tell him as she sits in the grass next to him. "I just wish that I could have gotten a sample to study of whatever Orochimaru did to those people." She complains a bit before seeing an ink bottle in front of her face. She then looks up and sees Sai with his fake smile looking down at her and she takes the bottle from him. "Umm why are you giving me ink?" She asks the man confused.

"It's not ink it is a sample. While my ink creatures were fighting I decided to collect a bit of a sample seeing as our mission was to look into what Orochimaru was doing. I used an ink bottle because well that's all I had." Sai told her really only giving her half the truth. "The village needs to know of the blood so if Lord Danzo decides to use it then it wouldn't put up as much of an alert." Sai thought as he gave it to her. For in actuality he had a few test tubes that Danzo gave him just in case he needed to collect something. Those were now sitting safely in his bag while Sakura/the village would get the larger sample that was contaminated by the ink residue in the bottle simply to make it more believable.

"Ah, smart move Sai. We hopefully will be able to learn about this stuff." Sakura told him truly thankful seeing as she was already planning some of her own medical research to do with the blood.

"Anyways we clearly aren't going to be getting anything else from this base so we should go complete our mission." Yamato tells them getting everyone to focus on him as he turns to Naruto. "Do you need some time to recover before we move?"

"Nope I should be good." Naruto told him honestly while jumping back onto his feet.

"Okay then let's get back to the village…and be cautious Orochimaru could try and stop us from getting the information back to the village at any point." Yamato tells the group before they all sped off towards the village as fast as they could.

And that is where I am gonna end this chapter. Now I could have gone farther but if I did it would have been romance/humor in the village which just didn't feel right to add to this darker chapter. Hope you all understand that and agree that it would be a bit of a strange transition. Now for some notes:

The test subjects were meant to seem zombie LIKE. They weren't dead. You can imagine them as being brain washed/controlled

Yes the black blood idea did come from Soul Eater but it will NOT be the same. In fact it will be a design that is more of my own…hopefully others haven't done something like it before. Really the only thing that it has of Soul Eater is the color (haven't seen Soul Eater)

Before people say something about Naruto not having enough control of his chakra to do the drill thing. I had his training be more of an actual training thing instead of whatever he did in the actual anime

Anyways hope you all enjoyed and will look forward to the next chapter. Though for now Ja Ne.