A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back! Thank you for the comments thus far. I truly appreciate them. Rated: "M" gore / adult situations / torture / violence

Welcome to Chapter 11 of "The Collector" -- Truth

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"Now where are we?" Sakura asked, popping her head inside yet another room. Barely taking more than a step, she felt a cold chill crawl up her spine causing the pink hairs to stand up on the back of her neck. "Perhaps we should keep moving," she said apprehensively. Sasori merely pushed past the wary girl, driven by a deep curiosity.

The warmth of the room washed over Sasori, bringing relief from the cold, dank corridors he and Sakura had been running through. His black sandaled feet sunk into the lush, red carpeting as his fingers trailed lightly on golden rails. Against the walls and throughout the room were various sized cases, each covered with pristine glass lined with deep mahogany wood. Soft lights shone from inside the cases, highlighting what was within. Sasori's amber eyes roamed over each case, his expression growing grim.

"What is all this?" Sakura whispered, skirting up next to Sasori.

"Humanity in all its wonder," Sasori replied cynically. Sakura shuttered, burying her face into the redhead's back and closing her eyes. Tears began to fall as she thought about the human samples in each case and about the people they had come from. Everything from the human body, from the hair on the head to the tips of the toes was on exhibit. Organs, both inside and out were put on display like trophies.

"Who would do something like this?" Sakura choked out.

"I don't know," Sasori ran a hand through his shaggy hair. Pulling away from Sakura, he turned to look back at the trembling girl. "We should have a look around, see if we can pick up any clues."

"Right," Sakura nodded, wiping away the excess tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'll head back this way and see what I can find." Sasori nodded in agreement, then set off himself to head further into the room.

Sasori was disturbed by the whole idea of this 'human' collection. Surveying the displays with a critical eye, he saw nothing wrong with why the limbs or organs were removed in the first place, which meant the participants had been anything but willing. Alongside each specimen was an information card with a few statistics such as age, gender, and when 'donated.' He noted that same of the dates were rather old whereas others were startlingly current. The samples themselves were never repeated, featuring only one of each organ. It was as if whoever was in charge only sought out unique and special pieces, settling for nothing but the best. His heart sank; this must be where others in his village had ended up. But this collection was vast, and the Village of the Trees was small. "Whoever did this is accountable for murder in more villages than my own," he growled.

Rounding a corner, Sasori was drawn to a small cylinder glass case that sat atop an elaborately carved pillar. He approached it tentatively. Lights from underneath the sample shown upwards revealing two small, tanned hands, severed at mid-forearm. They were poised facing outwards, exposing the tiny hand mouths that were on each palm. He'd never seen anything like it. "Fascinating," he thought morbidly. Sasori brought his hands up to the glass, pressing them against those that were beyond the barrier. His eyes slid to the information card that was set nearby. It read, "Male, age 14, and was dated ten years ago. He felt bile rise into his throat, and his eyes widened. "Deidara," he whispered in shock. "This is what happened to your original hands. They were taken to be part of this….this…collection," he hissed the last word. Although Sasori was an expert physician, there was nothing even he could do to reattach these limbs. Time had passed, Deidara had grown, but these hands were forever trapped in their youth. Leaning in closer, Sasori was surprised at the excellent shape they were in, being so well manicured and smooth. "There's no way a child could keep his hands like that unless….," Sasori muttered, seeing a small pair of gloves and an array of oils and creams propped nearby. Growing angry with himself for making Deidara remember all this in first place, he slammed a fist against the wall, rocking the display that seemed to mock him. He swore he'd find a way to avenge his friend and make it up to him as well.

"Sasori?" Sakura called, coming into view, concern etched on her face. "I heard a noise and I..," she cut herself off quickly, seeing Sasori rub heatedly at his red, swollen knuckles.

"Do you feel it?" Sasori said suddenly, changing the topic away from himself.

"It?" Sakura stood confused, but only for a moment. "You mean the chakra?" Sasori grunted. "Well, there seems to be a high concentration of it nearby."

"We need to find its source," Sasori said hastily, striding past Sakura and heading for the door. Regrettably, Sasori left the severed limbs in his wake, never feeling so helpless. But for now, he needed to be focused on solving the rest of this mystery and finding Deidara. "I've seen enough," Sasori uttered. "Time to go."

The two had left the room and were now headed towards the chakra source. Sakura was worried about Sasori. She was about to ask him about it when they approached a heavy door. "This seems to be where the pull is the strongest," Sakura said, stepping up to the door, only to be dismayed at finding a giant padlock hanging off the handle. Sasori pushed her aside as he withdrew a tiny box from his coat pocket.

"This should do the trick," the redhead said, snapping open the case, revealing a tiny scalpel. He knelt on one knee, inserted the tool into the lock, and began to jiggle it.

"What do they teach you in medical school?" Sakura was shocked. Sasori paused, his voice soft and low.

"In my village, we were ordered to stay within the protective gates at all times. As a child, it was hard to obey those rules, and so, my sensei, Pein, taught me a few tricks to getting around that problem." Smiling slightly, he heard the soft 'click' as the padlock opened and swung freely from the door handle. "This would be one of them." Rising back onto his feet, Sasori slid the lock off silently, laying it on the floor beside the door. He pushed open the door slightly and glanced inside. Giving Sakura the 'okay' they both went in.

Above them, chakra swirled in a variety of colors and patterns before flowing like a river further back into the room. No lights were on, but the brightness of the chakra made visibility decent. "Do you remember that chakra shield from before?" Sasori asked Sakura.

"The one Sai used Deidara to open? Yes, I do."

"I'm guessing that whatever is in here is the source of that. We need to see what it is and destroy it. That way, this place will be made visible to everyone. It's a good first step to shutting this place down. Come on." The two followed the chakra that led them to a back room. Before them stood a giant case, hidden with a thick, beige tarp, held down by steel ropes and metal hooks. Atop the case was a steel rod, the place where the chakra had gathered and was now being fed into. Next to it was an oak desk, littered with papers, most of which were crumpled up and tossed aside.

"I will investigate this," Sasori said, motioning to the case before them. "You go check out the desk." Sakura nodded, then headed over to the piece of furniture to see what she could learn.

Sasori began circling the display, or as he searched closer, the cage, as it now seemed. Carefully lifting one end of the tarp, he was able to see thin metal links that crisscrossed along the confinement. He was caught off guard to see a human hand, wires attached to each finger and a thick cord tied around the wrist. It was immersed in a murky white liquid. Sasori drew closer as he tried to see further inside, only to be shocked when the hand twitched. He stumbled backwards, but instead of falling to the floor, he fell into an inky black darkness.

Sasori looked around in confusion. Gone was the drab room with the strange giant cage and flowing chakra. It was now nothing but an empty void. "Hello?" he called out, hearing his voice fade into nothingness. Taking a step forward, he hissed as sharp stabs of pain shot through his hands and up his arms. "What the?" He uttered in irritation as he brought his hands up near his face. His eyes grew wide, the pupils dilating to mere specks of gold. The pale flesh had begun to darken, cracks appearing across his skin's delicate surface. Blood began seeping through, slicking his hands up with the crimson sticky mess. Once the skin broke away, he could see his muscles deteriorating, shriveling up and blackening. It wasn't long before the white ivory of his bones began to poke through the mass of dying tissue, and they too began to crack and crumble into dust.

Sheer panic raced through Sasori and he looked frantically around for help. Hope pulsed through his eyes as they came to rest on Deidara, who stood nearby. He wasn't sure how his friend had gotten there, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Dei, you have to help me," he pleaded. The dusty blond only stared with hate burning within his icy blue orbs. "Dei?" Sasori asked again, dropping to knees. "Please."

"You're on your own," Deidara responded coldly. Turning his back, he strode off, disappearing into the blackness.

"Wait!" Sasori reached out with his rapidly disintegrating limbs. "Don't leave me. I'm sorry!"

As quick as it all begin, the illusion was broken. Sasori staggered backwards, his body quivering and covered in sweat. He stared at his hands as if seeing them for the first time, and continuously flexed them, rotating them palms in, palms out, palms in, palms out. His mind was racing as he tried to make sense of what happened to him. He backed up against a wall, then sank to the floor.

His eyes glanced about the room searching for Sakura, only to have them land on an unknown woman who now stood before the covered cage. She held a metal controller of some kind in one hand while her slender fingers on the other swiftly pressed an array of buttons. Inside the cage, the water bubbled and boiled as volts of electricity were sent pulsing up the wires. A savage animalistic howl ripped through the room. The woman smiled sadistically.

The room grew deathly quiet. Pocketing the device, the woman turned slowly towards Sasori, pushing her glasses up onto her nose for a better view. She brushed her unusually cut magenta hair behind her shoulders and strode over to the shocked redhead. She loomed over the doctor, then knelt so that her eyes met with Sasori's. Slowly, she slid her fingers down along the redhead's jawbone. He was about to say something when she hushed him with her fingers pressing up to his lips.

"Now, I don't know who I should be more angry with. My experiment for drawing attention to itself, or you, for trespassing into my domain. Either way, you'll both be punished," she snarled. Sasori could only remember the prick of a needle into his neck before he slipped into unconsciousness. The woman laughed to herself, rising back onto her feet, dusting herself off. "I'll have Juugo come and pick this man up. Time to have a little Q & A with him and find out what he knows. As for you," she said turning towards the cage, "be patient, your time is drawing near."

Sakura held her breath as she waited silently beneath the desk. She was lucky to have dodged out of sight when the woman came dashing into the room. Her vantage point offered little more than a view of two pairs of sandaled feet. She heard a muffled gasp, and saw one pair go limp. She gulped nervously and prayed the other wouldn't come anywhere near her.

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Sasuke and Ino moved hastily down the pile of frozen corpses. The carved up cadavers seemed to groan and cry out as the living passed over them. Ino bit her lip to keep from screaming, choosing instead to say focused on getting her and Sasuke to solid ground. She gripped the raven's hand, giving it a re-assuring squeeze, both for his sake as well as her own. They soon reached the bottom, both clearly relieved to be off of the pile of death. Both were shivering from the cold, though Sasuke looked paler than normal.

"We have to get moving," Sasuke said, his breath coming out as little white puffs. "What do you see?"

"Looks like an access tunnel ahead. Come on, I'd rather be anywhere then here right now," the girl said, taking Sasuke's hand and heading off down the tunnel. They were cold, tired, and weary from the night's ordeal, but things were about to take a turn for the worst.

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"Take this man to the interrogation room. Have my equipment standing by as well," Karin ordered the large, orange-haired man.

"Of course," Juugo replied, draping Sasori's unconscious body over his heavily muscled shoulder. He turned, motioning to leave, when Karin spoke up again.

"Before you go, have you seen Suigetsu? I haven't been able to get a hold of the little letch since I got back about an hour ago."

"Can't say I have," the big man shook his head slowly.

"Hmm…" Karin tapped at her chin, "well, I suppose I'll go and harvest those beautiful Sharingan myself then," she clasped her hands together eagerly.

"Sharingan?" Sakura let out a small gasp from her hiding spot under the desk. "It has to be Sasuke. He's here!" she whispered under her breath.

Juugo's body stiffened at the mention of the Sharingan. He'd been surprised that the kid escaped, but he had enjoying toying with the boy. That is, until he saw both the Uchiha and the girl plunge over the ledge, disappearing into the darkness into what was considered the garbage disposal. Waiting around for nearly two hours after the fact, he'd come to the conclusion that they'd either been crushed by the impact or became rat food. Juugo gulped nervously. He'd better find out what happened and hope the pieces Karin wanted were still salvageable.

"Something on your mind?" Karin cut in, interrupting Juugo's thoughts. She narrowed her eyes, seeing tiny beads of perspiration shimmer along the big man's brow.

"Nothing," Juugo answered quickly, shifting Sasori to his other shoulder. "Might I suggest though, a check up on the blond? I was headed there myself when I heard you call for me. He will need another coat of the solution applied to his skin before it sets properly and we can remove it."

"Oh, all right," Karin placed her hands on her hips. "I'll go and take care of it. Naruto's fun to torment anyways."

Sakura felt both relieved and terrified that her two teammates were here. She had to find them, and fast. But what about Sasori? And what was in that horrible steel cage? She'd shuddered when it screamed, hearing the cries for death in its mournful howl. Holding her breath, she watched as both sets of sandals left room, before she slid from safety, and planned out her next move.

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Karin made her way down the corridor, anxious to attend to Naruto then get back to her main priority, Sasuke. His lean, well-toned, muscled body delighted her, filling her with a savage lust. Visions of the raven naked, smothering her body with his touch and lips, filled her mind and made her smile. "It's a shame I have to carve him up for my true purpose," she sighed regretfully. "But a girl can dream, can't she?" she giggled. So engrossed was she in her fantasies, she didn't even realize that she entered into Naruto's room without opening the door. Once inside, she found the broken, twisted door lying in the middle of the room and grew furious.
"What the hell happened in here?" Glancing around, she found the room to be in shambles. Her precious skins were charred and torn, looking like nothing more than dirty old rags that hung in tattered strips from the walls. The bed where Naruto was tied was nothing more than a junk pile of springs, metal, and ripped cloth. Even the walls were dented and cracked. The silver bucket with her specific tanning solution lay crumbled on its side, the waxy liquid oozing across the floor. "Is this what Juugo was hiding?" she fumed. "What I'm going to do to him after he drops off that meddling redhead!" She stalked from the room, furious that yet again, someone managed to escape her grasp. It was then, a very pungent odor entered into her nostrils.

"Now what?" Karin grumbled. Following the bitter odor, she found herself headed down an older portion of her underground labyrinth, which left her even more confused. Not even she'd been down here after Deidara escaped. She clenched her fists, the nerve of Obito helping the brat get away. Obito had so much potential, why he'd have to throw it all away by freeing one of her subjects and threatening to go to the Council in the Village of the Trees and expose her? She'd had no choice but to prevent him from leaving ever again. Sighing, she ran a hand through her dark pink locks. She'd fallen for her dark haired intern and actually thought they'd have a future together. "So much for happy endings," she muttered bitterly. As for Deidara, as young as he was, he'd been special. That boy could take anything she could dish at him, and it always amused her to watch him fight back. He had spirit, that is, until she took his exquisite hands from him. Those were the days, she thought wistfully to herself.

She followed along a long corridor and arrived at Room 43. "Odd," she thought to herself. The door hung ajar, and she slowly pushed it open. "Suigetsu?" she called as she entered. Her jaw dropped, seeing her minion lying face down, naked on the floor, his ankles chained to the holding stone. Regaining her composure, she walked over to the body, rolling it onto its back. She scrunched her nose as the overpowering stench of death greeted her. She saw his neck, sliced open; blood and gore covered the man's throat and chest. Suigetsu's skin was turning blue, his body stiffening as rigamortis set in. Bending down to further inspect the fatal wound, she slid her fingers along the gash. She then brought her blood soaked digits to her mouth and licked. It was still warm. "Hm," she thought to herself, rising to her full height again. She carefully stepped over the body, using one of the few dry spots on the bed to wipe her fingers clean. That too was still warm. She scowled, "Suigetsu, you were too damn horny for your own good. Just what and who were you doing in this long abandoned room?" She stood thoughtfully, "perhaps our redheaded friend brought some friends with him." Smiling wickedly she added, "It will be fun to make them suffer."

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"Great," Ino spoke flatly, "it's a dead end."

Sasuke was startled. It couldn't be. "Are you sure? There's no other passageways?" the raven pressed.

"Would I lie about something like this?" Ino snapped back. "Let me see, there's a giant stone wall in front of us, plain as day, you think I'm blind and would miss it?" She gasped realizing what she'd said. Sasuke dropped her hand immediately, his eyes narrowing, his mouth set into a grim line. "Oh my..I'm so sorry, Sasuke, I didn't mean to.." Ino tried to apologize but was cut off by the sounds of multiple sandals racing down the hall.

"What is that?" Sasuke asked quickly, his body instinctively shifting to defense mode.
Ino turned wide eyes back toward the sound, and she trembled, seeing an army of the same corpses they'd left roughly an hour ago. "What?" Sasuke barked, "Tell me!" Ino sucked in her breath, terror and bile rising inside her.

"Ha ha ha!" came a familiar deep voice, "Good to see you both again," Juugo smiled mockingly. He was relieved to see the young Uchiha still alive. Though most importantly, he had to get the kid back to his room before Karin found out he was even gone in the first place. After putting the redhead into the proper room and readying Karin's devices, he'd rushed to follow where the two escapees had run. Granted, he was impressed they'd gotten this far, but it was time to put the reins back on. He brought his army of the undead to a halt not far from his prey. Chakra gave them life, and he used it to control them. "You're coming with me, brat," he commanded, pointing at Sasuke. The shuffle of hundreds of sandals grew louder in the raven's ear as the zombies advanced.

"We're trapped!" Ino said in alarm.

Sasuke could hear the anguish in her voice and grew angry at his helplessness. He couldn't see a thing, and although his other senses were heightened to make up the difference, being visually impaired put him at a great disadvantage. There had to be something he could do. "Think!" he thought. Even though his normal chakra has been suppressed, there was still his 'other' power. But would it work? His body was pretty messed up from the drugs and still hadn't recovered fully, but he had to try. The moans of the undead and Juugo's smug laughter pushed him to the edge and he tapped into the forbidden power. He felt his body burn as various black curvy marks snaked their way across his flesh, covering him from head to foot.

"Sasuke?" Ino turned to glance at the raven, startled by the intense golden eyes, surrounded by the darkest black, she saw staring back at her. She was intimidated by the marks that covered his body and there a power she'd not felt from him before. "Sasuke." The raven faltered briefly, and reached out to steady himself on Ino. The girl was surprised that Sasuke's hand landed close to her shoulder. "Sasuke, can you see with your eyes like that?" she dared to hope.

"Enough to get the general idea," came the gruff reply, as he squinted at their attackers. "Damn, how it burns though," he thought irritably to himself.

"Well, another interesting trick with your eyes, Uchiha. Karin will be most pleased. Now, bring the boy to me and kill the girl," Juugo ordered his army.

Ino screamed as one of the bodies reached out a rotting hand and latched onto her ankle. She kicked violently, crushing the fragile bones. "Well, this isn't so bad," she thought ironically. To her horror, the body re-assembled itself and continued its attack.

"Duck!" Sasuke called out, and Ino did as instructed, barely dodging out of the way as a wave of fire passed over her. It hit the creature with a direct hit and this time, it stayed dead, smelling of burnt flesh. Ino inched her way over and ducked behind Sasuke. Forming more hand signs, the raven sent fireballs sailing down the corridor, changing whatever it hit to dust. The fire attack was working though with a terrible drawback. There was no ventilation, and the smoke hung in the air like a suffocating blanket.

"We have to come up with something else," Ino said through a fit of coughing.

Sasuke grit his teeth. It was time to push it to the next level. He grabbed Ino, pulling her close to him. The raven shut his eyes, bracing for the pain that was to come next. Ino's eyes widened in shock as she saw Sasuke's flesh begin to ripple and pulse near his shoulders. His skin ripped apart, shattering flesh and tearing off what little of his anbu vest was left. Two giant, ash-colored hands emerged from Sasuke's shoulders, splattering blood against the wall behind them. Ino could feel the raven's rapidly beating heart and trembling body. Sweat dripped from Sasuke making his body glow against the dying flames.

Sasuke struggled to remain in control, feeling the large hand wings flex their sharp fingers, the webbing between them drying out quickly. Calling one to wrap around them protectively, the other he had towards their attackers, the hand smacking them away like pesky flies.

"Persistent, aren't you? But let's see how long you can hold out. You can't tell me it's not a struggle maintaining that screwed up body of yours," Juugo sneered.

Ino was worried that the evil man was right. She could see that Sasuke was weakening, his breathing becoming labored, and his eyes had begun to bleed. His vision had reverted to complete darkness again, his gold eyes turning back to their usual ebony color.

"Do these guys ever give up?" Sasuke snarled, slapping away more undead. "They seem endless." Ino felt useless, she had no powers against such foes. If anything she was a hindrance. "Ino, tell me where they hell they are!" Sasuke snapped, flapping his wing wildly.

"R..Right!" she straightened up. Of course, she was Sasuke's eyes, at least, until they healed. And she hoped they could. If anything she was sure that Sasori could help him, after all, he was the best when it came to medicine. She directed Sasuke's attacks, but could only watch as more enemies kept coming.

The two soon found themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of the undead army. They swarmed in, some prying Sasuke's protective wing from the escapees while others jumped onto his other wing, pinning it to the ground. Ino was pulled from Sasuke, screaming and kicking madly.

"Ino!" Sasuke called out to her, though he too was overcome by the soldiers. They wrapped their arms around his neck, cutting off his breath, clinging to his arms and legs. He struggled against the rotting mob, managing to send a few flying off of him, only to be replaced by more of the undead. Sasuke panicked, remembering his dream about how he had been carved up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey, then dumped into a cold, frozen hole in the ground. He'd been no better than these helpless victims of the insane Karin. Was that to be his fate? He felt himself losing consciousness from lack of air, his thoughts skimming over himself and focusing instead on his best friend.

As if he sensed himself being called out to, Naruto rushed the other side of the wall, his body barreling into it, causing it to crumble and shatter against the impact. "Sasuke!" he roared, a voice sounding more animalistic than human. A large clawed hand of red chakra swept through the room, leaving nothing but shambles in its wake. The undead army was destroyed instantly, and Juugo had been sent tumbling backwards, his head crashing into the rocky wall. Blood mixed with his orange hair and he slumped forward.

Hungry red eyes searched the room aggressively, settling on Sasuke's semi-cursed form. Bounding up to the raven, Naruto bent his head to the raven's chest, searching for signs of life. His tailed flicked happily as he heard the shallow, yet steady, beat of his friend's heart. Sasuke was only unconscious. Naruto shifted his body and moved to nuzzle his head into the raven's neck, his spiky hair tickling Sasuke's pale skin. He was so happy to see Sasuke again that he seemed to purr in delight.

"Get away, you beast," Ino shouted, tossing a rock at Naruto and hitting him square on the head. Naruto looked up to see a rather ragged girl, covered in dust and rot, and she was very angry. He felt hurt and confused. After all, he'd just saved them. So why is this girl threatening him? Annoyed, Naruto growled back at her, moving protectively over Sasuke, his sharp eyes never breaking contact. He bared his fangs while his body lowered into an attack position.

"This is how it starts, Naruto," the kyuubi whispered in the blonde's mind. "Shall she be the first to die for insulting you," he sneered.

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End of Chapter 11

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