So the saga continuous…
Naruto woke up to pain in his head. He wondered if he overdid it with the alcohol again. It used to be difficult to get drunk, due to Kyuubi's chakra circulating in his system, but not even the Fox could deal with the natural decay of his body, sped up by constant poisons. Granted, he would have died several times over if it weren't for the evil furball in his belly, but that was neither here nor there. His last memories were of angry Uchiha eyes glaring at him. Which meant the last Uchiha, that bratty girl Mushima, must have finally nailed his old hide after twenty years of brooding, or was it twelve? Meh, he couldn't be bothered to keep track of all their revenge fits.
Well, nearly nail his hide at any rate. He was still alive, apparently. A lot hurt and had trouble moving, but not quite door nail level yet. Or, thought Naruto grimly as he tried the strength of the band strapping him down, Muruko had developed the taste of torturing hapless prisoners as her hobby. He wouldn't put anything past a crazy Uchiha. As he wriggled under the confines of the straps, Naruto busied himself taking in the details of his new prison. The light was a fluorescent yellow, throwing everything into shadows. Here and there he caught sight of seals written on walls. Huh, looks like Mukimu-chan really didn't want him to escape. Just his luck.
He should be anxious, he supposed. But it was a little difficult to feel much then, everything was a just a touch hazy and fuzzy to his blunted senses. He did, however, notice the sound of doors opening. It stabbed into his skull, alerting him to another person's presence. In the vague haze of pain, Naruto wondered how best to annoy this latest Uchiha. She'd probably try something really boring and diabolical. Perhaps using the Sharingan, they're always using the Sharingan for something.
Footsteps approached his bed; the tread was light, ninja-like, and non-female. Who would appear? He wondered. A crazy scientist dude? A megalomaniac with dreams of immortality? Another generation of Uchiha out to torment him? Well, Naruto mused, the last one was not quite out of the realm of possibility, Mariko could have gotten bored and procreated or something and popped out an Uchiha baby or two just to annoy him.
The footsteps stopped somewhere to his right. Naruto tried to turn his head to see the person when a sharp blade of pain stopped him. Wincing in pain, he contemplated the possibility of having been bashed repeatedly on the head by some vengeful Uchiha. It's an entirely possible scenario.
"You shouldn't move too much,"
Naruto agreed.
"You've suffered terrible trauma to the head, fortunately, your neck was not broken, th-the Kyuubi was able to fix most things, though you shouldn't be so careless with your life,"
Naruto wondered at the stutter. The voice was kind, raspy, old-ish, perhaps a scientist dude working for a crazy megalomaniac? He carefully cracked open an eye. When his brain did not dribble out of his ears, he tried focusing from that lone eye. The other one had been glued shut by something. Although when the image came into focus, he had to blink and gave himself another serious headache when he tried to shake the confusion out of his head.
"Hush," the Sandaime's hand hovered near his face, "You shouldn't move,"
Having the dead Sandaime talking to him created a rather odd sensation in his stomach. It was not unpleasant, though, but not very welcome either. Is this how Momoko going to play it? Torment him with dead people from his past? Well, he'll just have to play along a bit; maybe he could even piss her off by not giving her the satisfaction of losing his mind over this.
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Sarutobi watched with worried eyes at the silent girl. Her jaw was wrapped up tightly in bandages, half the face swath in white cloth drawing an eerie parallel with Danzo. None of her yellow hair peeked out of the bandages; not that she had any left. All of it had been burnt off by the caustic demon chakra. Her arms and legs her tightly bound to keep her from moving, sutras and seals written to keep her demonic prisoner in and to stop her from escaping. The hokage had gone to the dungeon-turn-hospital room against the advices of his… advisors. But, he felt he owed it to Noriko to see her, and to find out if any remnants of his successor's daughter's mind still remained.
So far, the child had only stared solemnly at him. Not uttering a word. Not a twinge of chakra is felt beyond that of pain and discomfort. The sutras had been designed to read her chakra level even as others kept her in place.
"Can you hear me?"
The eye blinked.
"Is that a yes?"
The eye blinked again.
"Do you know what happened?"
No movement.
"Do you know who I am?"
Blink. That was… unexpected. Unexpected but good, it had to be good. At least Noriko still had some recognition. Sarutobi smiled at the bound girl, "It will be alright, there had been a terrible accident, but you are alive," his hand hovered near her face, the blue eye tracked it, he didn't move it out of her sight, "Sleep now, dear, it would be fine,"
Blue eyes blinked, but did not shut as it tracked the hokage's movements. It remained in the direction of where he had gone for a long time before shutting, letting its host sleep.
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The next time Sarutobi visited, it was three weeks later. The blonde had not been moved from her bindings for security reasons, but she could now talk. One of the more dour and serious physician had checked up on her and thought nothing of touching her throat and putting his gloved fingers past fanged teeth to prod her tongue. Minami-sensei became an instant celebrity upon exiting the sealed dungeon alive and fingers intact. Most had bet that he would lose his fingers at least during that particular routine check.
Sandaime was ashamed to say that he was similarly surprised. Minami had always been more of a scientist then a doctor, a man in his own little world of facts and figures.
"I hope you know you will be billed for this," was Minami's first comment to Sandaime after looking at Noriko, "I have many important experiments to look after, not an intern with time in his hands to go about doing routine checks."
Sandaime, who had opened his mouth to reprimand the man, took a closer look at the scowling genius. There was irritation there, yes, but it is the typical genius-against-the-normal world type of unhappiness. Kakashi and Minato had displayed signs of it in their youth. Having been cooped up in his own laboratory among beakers and Bunsen burners, Minami, age 35, had never lost it. The hokage thought for a moment.
"You will be compensated of course, thank you for your assistance,"
Minami's grunt told Sarutobi where he could shove his thanks. The bill came the day after; it was a regularly priced bill for a regular check up. One that doctors often wrote for their patients. Sarutobi thought better of the grumpy scientist for it.
Right now he was standing inside the door of the cell turn hospital room. Noriko was humming to herself. She didn't stop as he approached her. Her left eye was still under bandages, a fresh one. The ones on her arms, legs and torso looked old. Minami couldn't remove it due to the straps keeping her down. The humming had stopped. One blue eye stared steadily at him, it was vertically cut with an orange slit, he hadn't notice it in his first visit, but her eyes were not fully open then.
"Whatcha 'doin here?"
Sarutobi smiled reflexively, "Ah, I'm here to check on you, are you feeling better?"
The blue eye turned inward, "I guess, my head don't hurt, and I can't feel anything downwards,"
"I see," he paused to contemplate her words, the straps and sutras had numbed her body for better restraint and to keep her from being in pain, "You were singing just now," it was not a question
"It's boring here," the small mouth huffed into a pout, "Can I go out soon?"
"Perhaps," his hand hovered near her bandaged cheek, "You've been badly injured,"
"Oh," she contemplate the ceiling, "I like Minami-sensei,"
"Oh?" Now that was a surprise, "was he nice?"
"Naw, he's totally awful," the mouth grinned, revealing a gap in front, "Minami-sensei totally chewed off the Anbu for bein' fussy and is mad at me for making him walk all those stairs," she nodded sagely to herself, "he has warm hands,"
"I… see," he didn't really, "Well, we'll get Minami-sensei to check on you again, and if you're well enough, we'll see about getting those bandages off,"
The blue eye curved, "Thanks, Old Man!"
"Well," he was a bit overwhelmed by her cheerfulness, "I'll see you soon then,"
"Bye!" she chirped.
Feeling strangely ill at ease, Sarutobi slipped out of the room.
Once in his office, he issued an order to strengthen the Sutras surrounding the room, and to take off the sealed straps keeping Noriko bed ridden. Cat and Dog will be sent to keep watch, Cat for the demon repellent wood technique and Dog for his amazing speed and connection to the Container's father. Sarutobi had seen how the boy would rather die than kill Noriko several times over in the fight at the foot of the cliff.
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Kakashi watch the girl covertly. She was alone in the room; a spy seal had been grafted into one of the corners of the cell and connected to a small mirror for surveillance purposes. As he watched, Noriko wriggle her toes and fingers as commanded by the now famous Minami-sensei. The doctor wrote some things into his writing pad and barked out another order which Noriko complied cheerfully.
It had been several weeks since The Incident, which would always be capitalized in Kakashi's mind. He'd never paid close attention to sensei's daughter before, always aware of her peripherically, of course, but never knew much about her. It was too painful to see that fluffy blonde hair, those blue, blue eyes on another person's face. Now, he regretted not being closer to her, perhaps he could have prevented-
He sighed behind the mask. So many what-if.
Noriko laughed, and he looked up to see the little girl trying to balance herself on one good leg. The left eye is kept behind a black patch, and the bandages on her face had been stripped off to reveal thick whisker marks. If she were ever to go out in public, the mark of the kitsune is even stronger now, his fingers clenched as images of what could happen to her whipped through his mind. He had to do something about this. He is still a Head of a clan, a clan of one person perhaps, but a Clan Head nevertheless. Surely the Hatake name still means something…
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Naruto found out a few things during his time strapped to the bed. Mitsushi had really poor imagination. There were long bouts of nothingness in between visits from the mean doctor and the Sandaime. Seriously, did she really think that she could actually break him with boredom? Perhaps it would have happened when he was still in his teen years or even in his twenties, but Naruto had not lived past his thirtieth year without learning patience.
Oh, he knew about the Mangekyo being able to compress three days into one second. He'd counted the days the best he could. Approximately thirty days have passed, maybe, which meant in the first ten seconds, she had not thought beyond terrible injuries, resurrection of a certain Old Man and some random mean civilian.
Clearly the Uchiha need to work on their imagination. It was a thought he grew to regret. The Uchiha's diabolical imagination was finally revealed after Minami-sensei, the meanly unprejudiced bastard, bullied the Anbu into release the bindings on his body. Trying to walk on half healed broken legs sucked, but nothing on walking with wooden prosthetics so he managed. As Naruto went through the regular motions of moving under Minami-sensei's begrudging eyes, other types of bodily functions made itself known to his previously numbed down body.
He really, really had to pee.
His reasonable and polite request to use the bathroom was rewarded by the production of a potty in a corner. "I assumed you are housebroken?" Minami-sensei had sneered, 'you bothersome spawn of the devil' was implied. Naruto was convinced the man was somehow related to the Nara and the Yamanaka, both at the same time! That was a classic Ino sneer on a Nara attitude.
"Er, sure," So he had to pee in a potty, well he'd done worse. Upon reaching the pot, after a bout of unsteady amble, Naruto lowered his trousers. A motion as old as time itself was made in half automation. Only, there was nothing to grasp. Naruto blinked once in confusion, glanced down in dread and proceeded to shriek in sheer horror.
"What is it now?" Minami-sensei demanded.
"aa… abbrr… aa…" Naruto blubbered. The bottom of his pants became wet with pee. Only, it turns out he was no longer a he. So, this is Marimo's diabolical plan, he felt rather light headed, where his dick had been, a hairless empty space remained.
Dickless…
Sai's voice teased his mind. Somewhere, he heard muffled curses and scuffling noises. He couldn't bring himself to care. His dick is gone.
As in, disappeared.
As in, not there anymore.
The world blacked out sympathetically.
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Kakashi didn't know what happened, at first, Noriko seemed abnormally cheerful for someone who had apparently committed suicide, kept bedridden for two months and suffered severe muscular atrophy from numerous chakra numbing jutsu. Then she had screamed, and Kakashi's reaction had been instinctive. Tearing through the two dividing doors that separated the observation room with the cell, he took in the scene with one glance. Noriko, with her pants down and screaming. The doctor stood at one side with an annoyed look on his face. Kakashi grabbed the man by the collar.
"What the hell did you do to her?" He snarled.
"I- what- put me down at once!"
There was a thud behind him. Kakashi turned just a bit to see what was going on behind him. The man in his hand is a civilian and thus posts no immediate threat, though he is curious how the man could remain sane under the amount of killing intent Kakashi was leaking. Noriko had fallen on her face, her bare buttocks exposed to the world. Anxious and very close to panicking, Kakashi dropped the civilian and rushed over to her side. There were no immediate injury apparent, no sign of blood or cuts. He gently turned her onto her back, nose wrinkling at the stench of urine, and removed the wet garment from her. There were no signs of injuries to her front beyond what had been inflicted on her person from before.
Perhaps the injury was internal?
Swallowing, Kakashi picked up the small body, Noriko felt very small in his arms. He had not touched her before, not even during the fight. That had been a battle of jutsu and demonic chakra. There, he had not been able to get within three feet of her before without the material of his mask crackling from the heat.
"Here, put her here," the snooty voice of the bad tempered doctor ordered. Kakashi was tempted to disobey, but there was no reasonable excuse for him to do so. That Minami character is the hokage appointed doctor for Noriko after all. Gently, Kakashi eased the small body onto the clean sheets.
As Kakashi watched, Dr. Minami's hands moved quickly and efficiently to check the small body for abnormalities and reasons for her fainting fit. He flashed a light into her exposed eye, listened to her heart beat, took her pulse and finally looked at Kakashi.
"There's nothing wrong with her,"
Wordless with anger, Kakashi waved a shaky hand over Noriko's badly damage, heavily bandaged body. The doctor had the gall to actually roll his eyes at him. "I was referring to the blackout, nothing immediately explains the scream or the faint,"
Kakashi radiates indigence. Minami merely snorts and actually made shooing motions at him. Really, who tries to 'shoo' away an Anbu? Kakashi crossed his arms, this time projecting stubbornness. Minami clicked his tongue, "Fine, have it your way, go stand guard over that corner,"
Kakashi seriously contemplates how much trouble he'd get into for slitting the man's throat when the person in question actually turned his back on a deadly Anbu and showed his backside by bending over to rummage in his doctor's bag. Kakashi could feel his jaw dropped open at the sheer gall of this- this civilian. Unwilling to obey, but not wishing to get in the way; Kakashi compromised by moving to the other side of Noriko's bed. A thin blanket covered her from waist down. Which reminds him, Noriko would need fresh clothes soon, the rags on her person could no longer be considered proper clothing.
The Seal Masters had not bothered to remove her clothes before sealing her into the binding straps. The priority had been the security of the village, not the comfort or safety of the Container. Some of the more grimy cloth had dried yellow puss on them, indicating a low grade infection at least.
Minami straightened from his crouched position, smelling salts in hand. After three passes under her nose, Noriko flinched and blinked her eye. Blue slitted eye focussed on him. Despite his concern for her health, Kakashi flexed his fingers near his thigh where the most accessible weapons lay. He is a shinobi first and foremost after all.
The eye blinked once, "Hello,"
Mindful of his Anbu persona, Kakashi nodded back solemnly.
"Am I in trouble?"
Kakashi hesitated, now how to answer that?
"You screamed and urinated on your pants," a dry no-nonsense voice interjected. A hospital gown flew over and nearly smacked Kakashi in the face, it was cut at the waist and sleeves so it was child size. "Go change into that,"
Noriko made a face but gamely obeyed, "Unn," she sat up carefully, wincing when her weight shifted at certain places. Kakashi held her by her good elbow and plumped the pillows behind her so that her seat was secure. "Thanks, Anbu-san!" she chirped, and proceeded to wriggle out of her raggedy shirt, unmindful of the two male adults in the room.
Kakashi stared, not a sick perverted Lolita induced stare thank you very much, but a what-the-feck is going on stare. He had gathered from the Sandaime himself, that Noriko may have well been raped or at the very least, molested by some bastard-who-is-going-to-die-a-painful-death that had finally pushed her over the edge to suicide. As he watch Noriko unabashedly sniffed her armpits and gagged, Kakashi wondered if they should drop that line of investigation. Or, had the memory been so deeply buried in denial that she was able to function despite of it?
No matter, hurt or not, damaged or not. Kakashi had made his decision. By this time next week, Hatake Kakashi, age 21 will approach the hokage and surrender his mask as full time Anbu and claim adoption rights for one Uzumaki Noriko.
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It would be nice to have reviews, of course, but I write these stories to test my powers of writing. So, if there's no reviews, that says something about my ability to write, ne?