Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

"Shhh, you'll wake up your friend" Orochimaru said quietly.

I looked to my side and found Kakashi restrained just as I was, his head resting on one of his upstretched arms.

I looked back to Orochimaru, "What do you want with us?" I demanded.

"Me? Why Ko, I'm just under orders. Though I'm wounded that you would suspect me." He said

Under orders? From who? It didn't matter, I knew at least one way out of this, I started pulling on my manacles but though they audibly strained at the leverage placed on them they remained firm.

"Kukukuku impressive." Orochimaru whispered as he walked away from my cell.

I scowled at his condescension and started to channel some chakra to my arm to increase my strength when I realised I had no access to my chakra. I was trapped.

Some time later Kakashi awoke. He didn't panic at finding himself trapped in manacles but looked around and saw me.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"I headed home after the mission, had some dinner and went to sleep." He replied

I nodded, "Same here, I don't know what's going on but the only person I've seen was -"

I got no further for a senbon flew out of the darkness hitting a pressure point and forcing me unconscious.

I woke up sometime later with a headache.

"Awake huh, Minato came to visit whilst you were out." Kakashi drawled

I did a double take, "Minato? But it's Orochimaru who's keeping us here"

He shook his head but didn't say anymore, he seemed to be arguing inwardly with himself. Eventually he said, "They're going to move us soon."

"Move us? Where?"

He shrugged.

"We can't just stay here we need to escape, do you have any way of escaping your manacles?"

"No and my chakra is cut off. And besides…" He seemed to be about to say something else but he merely trailed off.

Strange. Now that I looked at Kakashi i realised he has never looked so troubled. There was a fierce debate raging inside him and he wouldn't tell me what it was.

What had happened whilst I was knocked out?

Shinobi in white masks came to move us not long afterwards, I tried to escape but my minder seemed to be ready and had bound me in another set of manacles cutting off my chakra after a brief struggle.

Kakashi for his part didn't resist at all but looked on, still conflicted.

They split us up from there, I was placed in a small cell with a table and chair, Kakashi was lead elsewhere, the door was closed behind me as I was still examining the room.

Unfortunately the room presented no means for escape. Four blank walls with the only feature being the sturdy door. The ceiling appeared to be smooth stone giving me the impression I was underground. The table qnd chair were made of steel and sturdily bolted to the ground offering no chance of an improvised weapon. I learnt against a wall and waited.

I don't know how long has passed. It felt like days but it could have been less than 24 hours. I had sank so that I was sat leaning against the wall now, I think I may have slept earlier but with no change in the room it was hard to tell. It couldn't have been days though, whilst I felt hungry they couldn't have just left me to starve. Traditionally you take someone captive because you want something from them, I'd be less than useless dead.

I'd meditate to pass the time but the chakra blocking seals on my manacles caused a constant agitation in my chakra that prevented me from finding any kind of mental peace. I had tried to inspect the seal on my manacles but I could not see them whether I was attempting to channel chakra or not which offered little clue as the how they operated and whether there was any loophole that would allow me to escape them. I tried dashing them against the walls a few times but all I accomplished was bruising my wrists.

Thirst was beginning to become a larger pain to me than hunger. I had been forced to use one corner of the room as a bathroom, I had banged and shouted against the door but had received no response. With no way to measure time I had begun scratching a tally against the wall every time I fell asleep, this count though still could not be accurate due to the difficulty of telling when I dozed off. The count was currently at 3. I hoped i wasn't left too much longer, the smell was beginning to become unbearable.

At this point I had come to two conclusions either this was part of the torture or they had truly left me to die. I took small relief in ruling out the latter, if my captor wanted me dead they would have done it quickly, I was not yet old enough to had engendered a grudge in someone so great that they would kill me in such a way.

It was torture then.

I came back to consciousness as my body was disturbed. The last tally I had marked made it five.

I was being dragged from the room, if I had the energy I would have been thankful my trousers were made of such coarse cheap material protecting me from much of the discomfort of being moved in such a way. Thinking however was almost beyond me.

I tried to croak a question to the white masked warden but it came out as a whisper and he either didn't hear it or payed no attention. I passed out again not long after.

I awoke in a chair, one of the white masked shinobi were prodding me to alertness, I looked up in tired frustration until I saw he was holding a ladle of water, proffering it to me. My pride almost didn't allow it but eventually I submitted to having the water fed into my mouth. I choked at the first mouthful, my dry throat unused to anything passing that wasn't air. My second attempt was more successful and my third, after that though the shinobi stepped away and the door opened.

A man in shinobi garb with a konoha headband entered, though he presented as being a konoha ninja I could not remember seeing him since I had come to the village. He was dressed ready for battle with his flack jacket on and a long sword on his back, he was however seemingly injured, bandages were wrapped around a great part of his face and his chin had an x shaped scar though this appeared to be an injury long since healed.

He approached the table and sat down staring at me, despite my present frailty I stared back, I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of thinking I was scared of him.

He finally looked down and placed a file on the table and opened it, finally coughing into a fist he spoke, "What were your intentions coming to this village?"

"Huh" I responded intelligently, I had assumed my captors were not Konoha ninja and seeing this man's headband had been the first evidence to the contrary though even now I did not truly believe this man was a Konoha ninja, more likely it was a ploy to keep me off balance.

"What," he began again, "were your intentions coming to this village?"

"I was under the impression I was in Konoha? I came here because I wanted to learn how to be a shinobi and well, at the time, there was little other - aaargggh!" I finished with an exclamation of pain, it seemed these manacles were designed for more than blocking your chakra, on some unseen signal they could also shock you.

"What were your intentions coming to this village?" He said again implacably.

"Am I not in Konoha?" I asked "What is all this about?"

Again I was shocked and again he repeated the question though in place of village he did specify it was Konoha. I didn't believe it. I knew the Hokage well enough to know he didn't snaction this kind of treatment except on those that deserved it. I decided to stay silent. A mistake.

The man across from me raised an eyebrow at my silence and again I was shocked, the worst one yet and it lasted almost ten seconds, when it finished I let my head hang where I sat as smoke drifted up from my singed trousers.

"Do you think we are unaware of your true allegiances? The Hokage himself gave me permission to perform this… interrogation when the evidence was presented to him. So tell us, why are you here?"

I looked up, I would have spat at him were it not a waste of the little sustenance I had. I knew a lie when I heard it and I didn't care what he said, the Hokage would not betray me like this. After last time he would at least know well enough to see me himself to clear up any misunderstandings.

My mysterious interrogator must have seen the steel in my eyes for his eyes hardened too.

"What were your intentions coming to this village?"

And so it continued until I could not. Seeing my state my interrogator left and I, too weary to even move slept where I sat.

All too quickly I was woken up again, I looked to the masked shinobi prodding me expecting, perhaps hoping for, more water but he just stepped away. I looked back in front of me and saw the Hokage.

"How gullible you must think me." he said darkly.

"Hokage I -"

"I won't hear anything more from you Ko. I've seen the evidence." His eyes were cold, gone was his kindly façade, "This is the end of the road for the life you lived. I came here merely as a formality. To let you know that all that lies ahead of you is torture and then execution, your record will be wiped from our files, no one will know you ever lived."

Every word he said was like another turn on a vice, squeezing me, I felt trapped but at the same time I felt that there was something off about the Hokage.

"If you can tell us what your true purpose in my village was I can make it easy, I can just have you executed. An easy death. Simpler." His eyes softened a little "Please Ko. I do not want to torture you regardless of what your intentions were."

I shook my head, something was off but the Hokage seemed to take it as a refusal and he stood up. "Well Ko, this is the last time we will see each other." He turned to leave.

"Wait," I said and he paused, "what did you say to me when I was in the hospital?"

"I do not need to answer your questions." The Hokage dismissed and left the room.

I privately celebrated though. This was not the Hokage. Regardless of whether he answered my question or not twice during our conversation he had said my name and both times he had used 'Ko'. This could not be the Hokage - he said he would call me Keiko. Why would he call me by a nickname now?

It did not help too much though. I was back to square one. Looking for a way to escape.

The masked shinobi approached me now with a ladle of water which I graciously accepted, this time I got 5 ladles before he stepped away again. The door opened again but this time it was the same interrogator from before. I grimaced.

He took a similar position to before, opening my file on the table, perusing it for a few moments before he finally looked up at me.

"I assume you understand your position." He said. It wasn't a question. I just stared back at him and eventually he shrugged. "Well no point drawing things out. Are you prepared to divulge what your intentions were coming to this village?"

"The answer might be shocking." I joked

His eyes narrowed moments before electricity coursed through me again. This session was as drawn out and exhausting as the second and by the end my screams had become gurgles, at some point I had torn my vocal cords causing blood to run thick in the back of my throat.

After some indeterminable amount of time the man eventually got up and held me by my hair, I had become too tired already to raise my head. He hissed into my ear, "This is just the beginning boy, we have not yet even begun to truly test you. Tell me what you can and perhaps I will let you avoid harsher measures."

I had no energy to speak but I tried my best to laugh. He seemed to understand the intent of my rasps for he let go of my head in disgust.

"Transport him." He said shortly to the masked shinobi before leaving the room

I awoke being dragged again, my view of my legs dragging behind me revealed that the edges of my trousers were now burnt charcoal black. I tried to keep my eyes open for possible escape whilst I was being moved but there was nothing but featureless smooth stone. It seemed like this facility was a catacomb of underground tunnels. Not promising, even if I could slip by my captors finding a way out could easily be a harder feat.

Eventually I fell asleep again, still being dragged.

I resurfaced laying on a steel table, my limbs strapped to it. My small field of view from the table did not give rise to any optimism. The walls were adorned with metallic instruments, glittering in the light. At first glance you could mistake these for surgical tools but closer inspection revealed their more malevolent nature.

Looking to my left the ever present white masked shinobi stood, he stepped forward with water but this time as he helped funnel water into my mouth he whispered to me, "I can help you escape" I did a double take, almost choking on my water, at my quizzical look he repeated in hushed tones, "You don't need to do this, betray the village come with me."

I did not believe I would be truly betraying the village, if this place was part of Konoha it was operating beyond the Hokage's knowledge. His offer was tempting. But I couldn't leave Kakashi Here. I couldn't leave the village - if it came to that - and leave behind the life and friends I had made. I slowly shook my head and suddenly he was stepping back again as the door opened.

The man with the scar on his chin entered looking grim but resigned, he examined the tools for a time before taking one done, inspecting it.

"The difficulty with torture is causing commensurate pain without causing long lasting debilitating injury or disability," he began dispassionately, "When you have caused more damage than the subject believes themself to be capable of recovering from, their resolve hardens, crystallises. In their eyes their life is already over so what worth is giving up the information." He looked to me, "This tool is designed to slowly but quite safely and effectively remove the smaller bones in the hands and feet. Did you know you have nerves in your bones?" I stayed silent, "No? Well you'll find out. You can live without these bones so don't despair too much. Perhaps not the one to start with however," He turned back to the wall.

There was a dull thud, that echoed through the room, dust shook from the ceiling and I nearly sneezed. The man with the scar scowled and briskly left the room.

Suddenly the white masked shinobi was back at the table lifting his mask somewhat to show somewhat pasty skin beneath, "Hurry, come with me, betraying the village is better than execution isn't it? More than worth the price of being marked a missing nin."

There was no worse thing he could have said to convince me. At his mention of missing nin my mind thought back to the missing nin who had almost killed me. "I would rather die." I managed to choke out through my atrophying throat.

I saw a yellow eye widen in surprise before he was back against the wall and the torturer returned still scowling, he looked to the white masked shinobi and said, "It seems we may need to delay this until -"

He was cut off by the door which flew off its hinges and almost struck him, only his agility saved him. At the door, white hair billowing around him was Jiraiya with Ma and Pa on either shoulder, behind him I could see Sakumo and with him Kakashi.

"Danzo," He spät at the bandaged man, "You're lucky I don't kill you here you stand," danzo looked surprisingly unruffled by the threat, Jiraiya turned to me again and for the first time seemed to see my condition for his eyes widened in shock, "we're getting you out of here kiddo." he said, striding over and with apparent ease breaking the metal holding my limbs in place. He placed me on his back where I made the best effort I could to hold on, "The Hokage will be hearing of what you have done here Danzo, I don't care what leeway he has given you in the past it ends here." he said as he left the room.

Pa toad turned to look at me from jiraiya's shoulder, "We may need to stop Jiraiya-boy, Ko looks like he needs medical treatment now."

I opened my mouth to protest but nothing came out, Jiraiya laid me down before I could do anything else and Kakashi stepped forward running green glowing hands over me, his expression darkened as it did, "I can't heal this, he's been starved. Starved for so long he may react badly to food, cells in some parts of his body are dying from lack of energy, I can only suggest he saves his strength until we get to Tsunade."

Jiraiya seemed to deliberate for a moment before saying, "Can you put him to sleep"

Kakashi nodded and I tried to say something to protest but nothing came out and then it went black.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat back in his chair, he had completed a large amount of his paperwork for that day, truth be told he might have been throwing himself into it to distract from the meeting he had arranged that was now imminent, it had been a few days since Jiraiya had returned with a malnourished Keiko and a confused Kakashi. He thought back to the Danzo he had known back when they were just Genin under Tobirama Sensei and shook his head, his friend from back then seemed almost incompatible with the person he had become. How had a person who harboured the same love for the village he did stray so far from the tenets the previous Hokage set down. Just remembering the state that Keiko was in when he saw him in the hospital invited a white hot anger to descend upon him.

A polite knock on the door let him know his time to reflect was over, he placed his pipe in his drawer and drew himself up in his chair. He would need the pipe later but right now he needed to be the Hokage.

"Enter" He commanded.

The door swung open and Danzo entered, not wearing chains - Hiruzen still trusted him enough for that - but then the most powerful thing that bound Danzo at any time was his ties to the village. He would not betray it. Hiruzen did not doubt he still strived to improve the village but his methods whilst overlookable during wartime were not acceptable in peace and his actions in the last few weeks would not have been acceptable even in war. Not to trusted Konoha shinobi.

"Danzo," Hiruzen acknowledged, "I expect you know why you are here?"

Danzo didn't scowl but Hiruzen knew him well enough to see his face twitch in a way that implied he wanted to, "Have my actions towards the betterment of this village not been acceptable."

The room's temperature fell a few degrees and as Hiruzen activated the privacy seals Danzo had an idea in the back of his mind that he had perhaps gone too far. He was not worried though, Hiruzen was easy enough to talk around, he had known him for so long. There was no doubt he was a good leader but behind the cutting edge of his leadership the iron was soft, malleable.

Hiruzen might as well have shouted so cutting were his words, "How does the act of bettering our village leave one of our most promising shinobi in the hospital? Tsnuade says he could be permanently handicapped from the events that occurred under your eye with your Root. How does the act of bettering our village leave another doubting the friendship he has had with another child for over a year? Can you explain this to my satisfaction Danzo?"

Danzo glanced away very briefly, Hiruzen was serious. He would need to be careful. The truth was the best policy here, or at least as much of the truth as Hiruzen could stand.

"You planned to send them to the chunin exams in Kumo." He stated, Hiruzen nodded confirming the fact but not seeing how this related to his actions, "It was too soon, these are promising assets Hiruzen, we -"

"Hokage. You will address me as Hokage in this room." Hiruzen interrupted.

Danzo nodded his head, "These are promising assets Hokage and as of recently they have classified information regarding one of this village's strongest weapons."

The Hokage's eyes narrowed, "So you tortured one and turned the other against his teammate?"

"It was not truly torture, you know what T&I are capable of, it would not be fair to equate the small hardship I pressed upon the boy to torture and besides his discomfort was a means to an end."

"Which was?"

"He is relatively new to this village, I've seen his records before you attempted to expunge the suspicion of his being a spy. I still do not think the evidence he presented was enough. I sought to see whether he could be trusted not to give away the information he had been given and to see if he was easily swayed away from the village. I had an operative offer him a way out, to abandon Konoha."

Danzo knew immediately he had said too much, he could see it in the rage behind the Hokage's eyes, flames of anger were consuming him. He decided to move on to the other ninja.

"As for the other he is five, young even by shinobi standards and unused to working with a team, he would have been targeted during the exams and easily turned against his teammates, even more easily against the new member you matched them up with. It took less than 24 hours to cause suspicion against his team mate requiring only a henge of his sensei telling him that Keiko had been captured for crimes against the village."

Hiruzen sat staring at Danzo and eventually pulled a document from his drawer.

"As I understand it your place on the council was afforded to you by the Shimura clan, none of whom are now shinobi with the exception of you. It is a little late to do it now but since you do not represent the interests of any number of shinobi you are stripped of your seat on the council." Hiruzen began, stamping the document.

Danzo flinched and was about to protest but Hiruzen held up a hand as he pulled another document from his drawer.

"This is a medical report regarding your health from Tsunade herself, it seems your injury during the last war has lasted much longer than expected and the issue with your eye has affected your depth perception, the recommendation is that you are placed on long term leave." Hiruzen stamped the form. "As of now you are to take no missions and undertake no shinobi business, you are still afforded the role of diplomat for the leaf village but you are not to leave the village until further notice. Due to your injuries of course."

Danzo was scowling now, "Really Hiruzen this is going too far." He protested.

"I have told you to call me Hokage in this room, another infraction and I will have you incarcerated." He pulled another document from his drawer, "This is the wartime act that made permissible the creation of your Root, I can see here that it was never marked as void when the war ended."

"Hokage you know we need that force, you are too soft to-"

"Soft?" Hiruzen seethed, "You think I am soft? Perhaps I have been. But no more." He picked up another stamp and marked the paper. "As of today Root is disbanded, it's members are to be reintroduced back to society via the anbu organisation so that they can acclimatise to living among civilians again."

"You cannot-" Danzo caught himself at a look from the Hokage, "You must not do this, you need someone such as I to keep watch in the shadows, to support the tree that is Konoha."

The Hokage sat considering, "Perhaps I did, perhaps I still do. But you are not that person anymore Danzo. Keep in mind that to disobey any of these orders is to commit treason. Anbu please escort Shimura back to his home, according to these medical recommendations he should be spending evening and nights at home."

An anbu appeared and placed its hand on Danzo's shoulder when Danzo didn't immediately move but remained staring at the Hokage. At length Danzo shrugged away from the hand, turned and left, an uncharacteristic snarl on his face.

"I trust you to keep an eye on him Saku." Hiruzen muttered lowly for the ears of the anbu who nodded before following Danzo out.

Hiruzen retrieved his pipe from his desk, tapped it against his desk, filled it with tobacco and lit it, finally sighing out the smoke as he turned to look at his village. He smiled despite the meeting, he felt that he had a weight taken from his shoulders.

I was beginning to tire of waking up in hospitals, this time though I did not appear to be bandaged from head to toe, instead it seemed I had a drip connected to my arm. I glanced to my left and saw Kakashi was sat there looking strangely guilty, he was so distracted it wasn't until I moved that he realised I was awake.

"Ko!" He exclaimed, "Don't try to move too much, Tsunade says you'll still be feeling a little weak," at my frown he explained, "You've been asleep for almost five days now, according to Dad we were missing for a full week and it wasn't until Jiraiya heard that you were missing that they found us, apparently Jiraiya has an ability to sense all chakra signatures in the village when he has his summons."

I opened my mouth to say "Slow down" it was the fastest I had ever heard Kakashi speak but when I spoke it came out as a whisper, Kakashi grimaced.

"Tsunade mentioned you might have trouble talking, she wasn't sure if she was able to fix your vocal chords, it looks like they had been put through some punishment. Jiraiya and my Dad are here too they just went to get lunch."

"What happened?" I whispered again.

"We're not sure yet, it's been kept pretty quiet but my Dad said the person behind it - I think Jiraiya said his name was Danzo when we got you - was going to be in a lot of trouble with the Hokage."

I nodded, I was mostly relieved. I hoped I was going to be able to speak to the Hokage to get the full story but I doubted I'd get the whole of it.

Kakashi seemed to notice me looking pensive and nudged me "Hey, when you get out of here how would you like it if I came around early morning when you usually train alone and we do some more team training?"

I looked at Kakashi, his eyes looked so hopeful I couldn't say no but what had brought this on? I nodded and Kakashi smiled.

"I'll go get Tsunade, she'll be able to tell you how long you're going to be in here for - and I'll let Dad and Jiraiya know you're awake." He said, getting up and leaving the room.

AN: These chapters get harder and harder. The plot took a twist you probably weren't expecting haha but it's a few years too early for Orochimaru's experiments to be discovered I think. On the upside though, Root has been disbanded, the Hokage has become a stronger, firmer leader and Danzo, at least for now, has been taken out of the picture which might have some significant effects for the future. Poor Kakashi, he probably feels awful for not trusting Keiko now, maybe he'll realise how important teams are. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you in the next one.