AN: Thank you for theencouragement.
Day was just breaking over head as Naruto arrived at Hidden Leaf Village. With his new puppet body, Naruto did not need rest, food, or water, so despite being a quite a ways from Konoha, it only took him two days to reach the place. Although it was a relatively hot day, the temperature did not bother the living puppet. These advantages were enormous for a ninja, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto acknowledged that. They made no substitute for his flesh and blood, however, and his determination to regain it grew none the weaker. It just felt… entirely wrong to be like this. Although the thought did occur to him many times during the trip that perhaps it was a matter of habit, he dismissed it quickly. He didn't want to be a puppet. He wanted to be human.
The village was, unsurprisingly, just the way he remembered it from the outside: large, old walls surrounded by trees. At the gate stood the two chuunin that normally manned the entrance. For the life of him, Naruto couldn't remember their names. As the genin approached, one of the guards quickly disappeared into the gates and the other drew a kunai. Too late, Naruto realized that he probably at least should have thrown up a Henge as he approached. His appearance, wooden and twisted as it was, was rather threatening- especially with the lack of a Konoha headband.
Of course, Naruto's appearance was easily recognizable throughout the village, and as Naruto stopped some distance away from the gate and raised up his hands to indicate that he meant no harm, the chuunin spoke with a surprised and disgusted voice:
"...Naruto? Is that you?"
Naruto nodded and replied:
"Yes, it's me. It's… a long story. Can I see Granny?"
The chuunin wavered uncertainly.
"Just wait for Izumo to come back. And stay where you are."
Naruto patiently waited outside of the gates for the return of Izumo. He did not have to wait long; it only took another fifteen seconds for Izumo to reappear with two ANBU members in tow. The ANBU members had their weapons drawn. One of them spoke up in a commanding female voice:
"You are now under the investigation of Konohagakure. Do not resist or violent force will be utilized."
Naruto would have grimaced if that were possible for him. His voice tone adequately revealed his feelings, however.
"Please, it's just me… Naruto. Can I see the Hokage? I'm not a threat, I can explain everything..."
The ANBU member shook her head.
"Orders are to investigate and interrogate you. You will come with us; I suggest you do it peacefully."
Bowing his head, Naruto acceded to the demand. The two ANBU members Body Flickered in front of Naruto and quickly applied a chakra suppression seal to his forehead. That was followed by handcuffs, and Naruto was silently led through the village gates. He did not look at the chuunin as he passed them.
Naruto tried to keep his head clear of thoughts as he saw his familiar village for the second time after coming back from his training trip with Jiraiya. It proved to be a futile task, as he could not help but feel that the buildings and people were hostile to him somehow. The people around him were human. He did not belong here anymore; he was not human. He felt, of course, that it was his home on some level; but on another, he felt like a complete stranger. It was an awful feeling, and the handcuffs did not help to alleviate the feeling of alienation. It was the way that people looked at him that truly got to him, though. Surprise, disgust, and fear were the emotions that openly flashed on the faces of civilians; on the way, he walked past his favorite ramen stand. Teuchi and Ayame just looked at him with scared eyes as he walked past. Whether that was from pity for him or from fear, he could not tell. It crushed his heart regardless, because he couldn't shake the feeling that he would not be accepted back there anymore. It wasn't as if he would even have an excuse to visit the ramen stand anymore.
Other than those two, Naruto did not encounter anybody else that he knew as he passed through the village. He was thankful for that; he could not bear another pair of eyes like those of Teuchi and Ayame from anybody else he knew right now. He realized where he was being taken only when the building was already in sight; it was the Torture and Interrogation Department. Naruto spoke again to his captors:
"I'm not an enemy to the village, please, I don't need to be here…"
The ANBU ignored him entirely as he was walked inside. Naruto had never been inside this particular building before; he examined his surroundings with a mixture of curiousity and fear. The walls were a solid grey, and there were many doors that were probably to various offices, but all of them were closed. The lighting fixtures were naked lightbulbs sporadically placed, giving off a harsh light. Soon, they descended down a flight of stairs and were brought to a cell. Naruto went inside after a prod from an ANBU member. The cell was locked and the ANBU members left.
For several minutes, Naruto was left to his thoughts. He still had a strong desire to protect the village and be acknowledged by its inhabitants, but a part of him felt like it was not his home anymore. That thought scared him- if Konoha was not his home, he did not have a home anywhere. He did not have a purpose, besides serving his village and friends. Right now, in captivity, deprived of his humanity and with the blood of Konoha ninja on his hands, all of that was cast into serious doubt. Naruto's personality had always been suited to dealing with hardship; he had evolved a thick skin and a "never-say-die" attitude. But now, with his very purpose thrown into question, it was difficult to say for certain that he would be able to endure. He stood on the brink of utter despair.
A medical ninja came and went out of the cell; he treated Naruto with absolute disgust and only went through the absolutely minimum motions in order to confirm his vitals. The medical ninja left as quickly as he came in. Naruto did not try to talk to him at all, one glance at the face of the doctor being enough to confirm that he would not get any helpful conversation out of him. He got some grim vindication out of the surprise on his face when he presumable realized Naruto was actually a puppet.
Then, a few minutes later, into the room came Inoichi. His face was completely emotionless as he opened the cell and signaled Naruto to follow him. Reluctantly, Naruto got up and followed the interrogator to a plain room. In the middle of it stood a table and two chairs. The table had a piece of paper and a pencil, and one chair had restraints on it, along with chakra suppression seals, while the other was normal. It wasn't hard to guess which one Naruto would be sitting in. Inoichi wordlessly gestured for Naruto to take a seat, and the prisoner complied. After fastening the restraints on the chair, Ibiki took a seat of his own and began the interrogation.
"I don't know who you are. You say you are Naruto, and from what I've been told, you act like him as well. But I'm sure you realize that you will not be taken at your word; not only has the last mission report said that Naruto was captured and presumed dead, your entire body is a puppet. You had said that you have an explanation. I want to hear it before we continue."
Naruto explained with some detail all of the events that had happened to him since he stayed to fight Sasori with Chiyo. He was reluctant to describe his deal with Jashin, but he did it nonetheless- he wanted to put the whole truth on the table for his village. It was no use lying when the information would come out anyway; regardless, he did not have an adequate excuse for his resurrection besides. Inoichi wrote down quickly all that Naruto said, often asking him to slow down and repeat certain parts.
"Very well," Inoichi said after Naruto had finished. "Frankly, while that is as likely explanation as any other as to why you are literally a living puppet. Inoichi will be with you shortly. But I have orders to scour your mind, as well. Do not resist, or it will be assumed you are lying as to your entire story."
Naruto tried his hardest to relax as Inoichi entered his mind. They arrived together in the wooden sewer.
"Now, you said you still had the Kyuubi sealed up. Can you show me where it is?"
Naruto nodded and silently led the way to the Kyuubi's cage. The beast, seeing Inoichi, growled.
"HUMAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY VESSEL'S MIND?"
Inoichi stumbled back a bit despite himself, but did not reply to the Nine-Tails. Instead, he turned to Naruto, and said:
"I will now confirm your memories. Your mind might do some strange things while I perform this task; be warned."
With that, Inoichi turned around and left in a different direction in the sewer. Naruto made as if to follow him, but was stopped by the Kyuubi's voice.
"I DO NOT APPRECIATE YOU TAKING VISITORS IN TO SEE ME AS IF I AM SOME SORT OF CIRCUS ATTRACTION. DO THIS LITTLE TRICK AGAIN AND I WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER."
Naruto turned around.
"I'm sorry, Kyuubi, but I had no choice…"
Suddenly, Naruto was not in his mind next the Kyuubi's cage, but again on the table in which he first awoke after being… reborn. This time, however, he was lying with his head on its side, and he could see the rest of the room on the right, albeit blurrily.
It was a large room. It was just like the interior of the Torture and Interrogation Department, actually, especially the room he was currently in in the real world. The crucial difference was the large amount of various puppet building materials strewn about the room- saws, various contraptions, seals, wood, and the like. Sasori stood at the center of the room, and three puppets laid in various positions on the ground. A corpse was currently on a small table where Sasori was working, removing the organs.
As the image came into focus, Naruto realized that the three puppets on the ground were Shino, Kiba, and Kurenai. He tried to gasp in surprise and horror by reflex- but of course, nothing came out and his mouth did not move. On the table where Sasori was operating lay the grisly, bloody corpse of Hinata. Naruto felt an immense wave of guilt wash over him, and he could only stare in paralyzed horror at the former Konoha nin. Suddenly, Kurenai's head turned over to face him, and began speaking in her old voice. The macabre way her lips moved in her puppet form made Naruto sick.
"You traitor. You murderer. You killed all of us. Why didn't you stop yourself? Why couldn't you stop yourself? You're just as bad as the Kyuubi. You're a monster."
Soon, Kiba's head turned over as well.
"I thought you were my friend Naruto. We competed and we fought and we were friendly. I was just beginning to accept you. Why did you do this to me? Why did you kill me? I had a life ahead of me. I have family and friends that grieve for me. Why are you such a monster?"
Shino's puppet body followed suit.
"You'll never be more than what you are, Naruto: A failure and a monster, a traitor and a murderer. You deserved to die."
Finally, Hinata's head turned over even as Sasori extracted another fleshy, pulpy organ from her body. Her face was deathly pale and she had no eyes.
"I was willing to die for you, Naruto. And you… you just went and killed me. I didn't want to die. I was just setting the Hyuuga clan on the right track; I had a bright and hopeful future. You stole all of that away from me. I don't ask why you betrayed us. I know why you did, and I knew you were a monster all along. You should have stayed dead."
Naruto screamed, a wordless, motionless scream that turned into a piercing mental scream as he was back in the Kyuubi's cage to the sound of the Tailed Beast's laughter. Then it was a real scream, as he was back in the interrogation chair, with Inoichi just lifting his head. He ignored Naruto's scream as he said:
"I have what I needed to know. The Hokage will be receiving my report momentarily; I expect she will want to meet with you."
Naruto wasn't listening. He was definitely conscious, but his entire body went limp and his mind went blank.
It was several hours before Naruto came out of his trance-like state. His tortured memories did not come back to him immediately; instead, he recalled all of them painfully, one by one. His mind was in a state of utter disrepair; he had little recognition of what he was doing and thinking, though he was somewhat aware of being in his apartment on his bed. He really and truly did not want to think about what pseudo-memory he had just lived through in his mind. That was probably the worst experience of his life thus far- worse than dying, worse than being forced to kill his teammates against his will. Only a few words were spoken to him, yet they rang constantly in his head. It was mental torture of the worst kind.
It was only when the doorbell rang that Naruto actually got out of bed. He uncaringly threw himself out of bed and opened the door to find an ANBU member- the same one that had escorted him through the village and spoke to him. She spoke emotionlessly:
"The Lady Hokage requests your presence at the Hokage Tower immediately."
Then the ninja Body Flickered out, and Naruto was left staring out of an open door. He stumbled out of his apartment, not bothering to lock or even close the door in his current state. He went outside, and paid little attention to the looks he was given, so absorbed he was in his own thoughts. Soon he arrived at the Hokage Tower and passed through security.
He paused outside of the door to the Hokage's office, his hand almost at the handle. What was Tsunade going to say? What was she going to think? What… what was going to happen to him? In what seemed like an eternity ago, Naruto would have had faith in Tsunade's faith in him. But now, he was no longer sure of anything. His innocence, the innocence he had somehow managed to preserve in a world of death and murder, was itself dead. It died alongside his humanity, the thought occurred to him.
With these thoughts, Naruto entered the Hokage's office, but did not even look at Tsunade as she began to speak.
"Naruto, I was given the full report by Inoichi. I'm… sorry, for what it's worth. You are still a ninja of Konoha, do you understand? You are not responsible for Sasori's killings. Look at me, Naruto."
Naruto reluctantly raised his head.
"You are somewhere between alive and dead, somewhere between puppet and human. I don't know how others will treat you, but as long as I'm here, know that there's one person who knows that you're the same person that's just more scarred. Now, given a report we found on you about Sasori meeting a spy at the Tenchi Bridge, you will be sent out immediately with Team Kakashi to investigate the meeting. It is my hope that spending more field hours with your teammates will have a therapeutic effect on you. Be at the gates at 6 AM tomorrow morning, and head over to the training ground you first met Team 7 on now to meet your new team. Here's a headband. Dismissed."
Although Tsunade's words were kind, Naruto could not help but feel as he left that she was being as brief with him as possible, that she did not really want to talk to him. That suspicion, at first, did not bother him much. However, it grew in size and certainty as he exited the Hokage tower in search of the training grounds, and eventually he grew convinced that she was not sincere in her words. That did not help his growing doubts about his very purpose of existence, now.
The people around him were definitely afraid of him now. People avoided him, people looked at him with scared glances- it was worse than even in his childhood, when people merely avoided his presence. The feeling that he did not belong only grew. Soon, though, he saw Team Asuma in the distance, and felt a rush of relief despite himself. He rushed to them, waving his hand.
However, Team Asuma did not take his arrival very well. Choji stopped eating and stared in open-mouthed shock, Ino recoiled in horror, Shikamaru looked like he saw a ghost, and Asuma merely stopped along with everyone else, not showing his surprise.
"Hey guys, it's me, Naruto… how've you guys been?"
Ino was the first to speak.
"What the hell, Naruto? You aren't even human anymore! What's wrong with you?!"
Naruto was rather taken aback at that response, although after a momentary reflection he realized that he should have expected it. What really gave him pause was that no one stood up for him; rather, by the faces of Ino's teammates, it almost seemed like they agreed with her. Shikamaru spoke up.
"Naruto… I think it is best if you get wherever you are going."
With that, he began walking, and the rest of Team Asuma soon followed suit. Naruto followed them with his eyes until they turned the corner, getting out of his view. Feeling betrayed and even more melancholy now, he walked until he reached the training ground. There stood the rest of his team, apparently waiting for him. There were three of them; Sakura, a pale boy he did not recognize, and a brown-haired, stony-faced adult he did not recognize. The adult stepped forward.
"Welcome, Naruto, to Team Kakashi. I will be your team leader until Kakashi is admitted out of the hospital and judged to be combat-worthy again. For now, I would like to introduce our team and perform a team exercise in lieu of the mission tomorrow. I'll begin. My name is Yamato; I am a user of Wood Release. I was transferred here from ANBU specifically for this assignment as a fill in for Kakashi. Who wants to go next?"
Sakura could not tear her eyes off of Naruto, so the pale boy spoke up.
"My name is Sai. I like to draw, and use my drawings in combat."
There was a momentary pause where everyone expected him to say more but, Sai was silent. Sakura reluctantly raised her voice.
"My name is Sakura, and I'm training to become a medic-nin under Lady Hokage. I like… flowers, and training, and getting stronger. I also like healing people, and saving lives instead of ending them. I have a temper, so don't get on my bad side."
With the last sentence, she sent an angry glance at Sai, who seemed to completely ignore it. Naruto, seeing that he was the last one who hadn't spoken, said:
"My name is Naruto… I like training, and I want to become Hokage. I primarily use the Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Rasengan in combat. I… I used to like ramen, and I want to become human again."
That last part was said hurriedly, in a choke voice. Sakura's eyes seemed to soften for a moment before reverting to their previous ambivalent state, but Naruto caught the change and allowed himself to bask in it for a moment. Yamato then said:
"Alright, let's begin the team training exercise. I don't want to exhaust you too much before the trip, but it will be some time before we get there, so I will ask you to use some chakra. I want you all to come up with a plan to subdue me non lethally, and then we will test it out. This exercise will give you guys a handle on each other's abilities as well as decision-making processes. Ideally, your experience here will assist you on the mission we are about to undertake."
With that, Yamato gave a time limit of a couple minutes and disappeared from view. Sakura was the first to speak.
"So… I guess we have to catch him, don't we? Does anyone have any ideas?"
Sai spoke up next.
"I think that Ugly here should engage him in direct combat, while Wood-face supports her with Shadow Clones. We can set it up so Wood-face's clones come from a certain direction, making our leader come to fight him there. I will set up a trap at the location."
For his use of the nickname, Sakura smacked Sai upside the head, sending him to the ground.
"I told you not to call me that!"
Naruto then spoke up quietly, which made Sakura stare at him in surprise.
"Please, Sai, just… call me Naruto."
Sai cocked his head to the side and made a terribly fake smile.
"But you're Wood-face."
Naruto was silent to that, and Sakura looked at him worriedly but did not say anything. After a few more minutes of discussion and elaboration on their plan and its alternatives, the trio was ready to go. Yamato Body Flickered to the center of the training ground, and signaled for his team to come and get him. True to the plan, Sakura charged him outright to engage him in taijutsu.
Yamato had other plans, however, and put his hand to the ground to send a wave of wood at Sakura. Sakura jumped over it, but Yamato sent out a long piece of wood from his hand, hitting her in midair where she did not have maneuverability to dodge. Naruto's clones came shortly after, attempting to engage the jounin in taijutsu as well. Yamato easily disposed of the first three with two more sharp blocks of wood from his palms. Naruto dared not use the poisoned tools in his inventory, because he knew that if he hit he would likely send his team leader to the hospital the day before the mission. He had the antidote handy, but it would still weaken any victims of it. He stuck to simply taijutsu, instead.
Sakura, recovering from the blow, took a moment to heal herself before charging back into combat. Yamato sent another wave of wood at her, but she managed to dodge to the side instead, enabling her to dodge the following block of wood from Yamato's palm. She closed the distance, and Yamato made a barrier of wood- which Sakura promptly smashed. But when she did, the Wood Style user was no longer behind it. She quickly jumped as hands came out from under her to pull her into the Underground Decapitation technique. Another Yamato took advantage of her midair position to send another block of wood from his palm, and hit. As she landed, Yamato was interrupted in his handseals for the Wood Prison technique by Naruto's clones. They opened a slot in their stomachs for flamethrowers, so Yamato had to create another wooden barrier instead to buy him some time for escape.
Sakura detected him this time as he escaped, and seeing an opportunity, slammed the ground with her fist. She sent a shockwave toward where Yamato was hiding, forcing the jounin to dodge in the direction of the trap. A pair of snakes that looked like they were drawn suddenly grabbed him by the ankles, forcing Yamato to destroy them with wood from his palms. As he did this, though, a similarly drawn lion tackled him to the ground, taking advantage of his lack of ability to dodge. Although the lion dissolved into ink when Yamato took a kunai to it, several more snakes bound his wrists and ankles to the ground. The jounin barked out an order, and the snakes released. He stood up and said:
"That's about as much as I was expecting, I doubt any of you have techniques to bind me any better than that on the spot. Let's leave it at that. Now, to review: Naruto, you did an acceptable job of distracting me with your clones, although you did little more than that. I know you have the Rasengan, though, and refrained from using that on a target you needed to capture. Good work."
Naruto nodded, and said:
"I also have poisoned weaponry that I refrained from using."
"Excellent. Now, Sakura, I'm sure you know that the jump to dodge my wave of wood was clumsy, as you seemed to learn from it the second time. Just remember that you need to think of that the first time- when you jump, you are committing yourself to having little ability to dodge until you land. Don't use it as a first resort. Good work corralling me to Sai's trap."
Sakura replied:
"Thank you, sensei. I will be sure to remember that."
"As for you, Sai, good job subduing me- but when you had the moment of distraction that your snakes provide, it was a good idea to disable my hands outright so I could not make handseals."
"Yes, sir."
"Alright. I expect everyone at 6 AM tommorrow at the gates."
Sakura, Sai, and Yamato began to walk away, but Naruto chased after Sakura. She walked a little faster in order to outpace him but seemed to resign to his wish to talk to her after a moment.
"Hey, Sakura… I'm not dead. Isn't that great?"
He almost immediately regretted the words as they came out of his mouth, but he could not take them back. It was a very… awkward and expectant greeting, but Naruto couldn't help it. He felt awkward and expectant.
"Yes, Naruto, that's… that's really great."
Naruto fully caught up to her and began walking alongside his teammate.
"We're still friends, right Sakura?"
"Yes, Naruto, of course we are. I have to get home and do some chores, though. I'll see you tomorrow."
Her voice was hurried as she said this, and after finishing she sped up her pace and disappeared past a building even as Naruto tried to call out after her with his familiar offer of a date. He stopped, regret and doubt clouding his mind. Even she, it seemed, was averse to him now. The girl he fell in love with, the girl he promised to bring Sasuke back for… she didn't see him as human. He wasn't human. His mind spun, and he went to his apartment slowly, trying to ignore the looks that he was given on the way.
The next day, Naruto was at the gate several hours early. With the complete impossibility of sleep, he had decided to research his scrolls. Tired of doing so inside his apartment and figuring there would be less people to stare at him early in the morning, Naruto headed out very early. There, he continued his exercise until Sakura arrived, fifteen minutes early. Naruto made some attempted to initiate conversation with her at first, but her brisque responses successfully dissuaded these efforts. So they stood there in silence, Naruto continuously pouring over the scrolls and Sakura staring quietly off into the distance, only occasionally glancing in Naruto's direction. Naruto thought that he must have seemed even more unfamiliar to her then, working on scrolls wit. until Sai and Yamato arrived precisely at 6 o'clock mark.
"Alright, team, let's get a move on."
The four moved out with little fanfare, going at a brisk pace even for a ninja in the direction of Tenchi Bridge. It was a long day, and it turned to night with almost no conversation between the traveling ninja. Yamato signaled for his taciturn team to stop, then wordlessly created a large manor out of wood for them to sleep in for the night. Sakura gasped, but everyone ignored her.
"Alright, I'll take first watch, Sakura can take the next, Naruto the third, and Sai the last. Understood?"
Naruto spoke up.
"I don't need to sleep, sensei. I can keep watch all night."
Yamato almost looked surprised for a moment before he collected himself. Obviously, he had not taken into account that Naruto was a puppet.
"Very well, Naruto. The rest of us can catch some sleep, then."
Turning to the other two, he said:
"Don't get used to this, you won't always have the luxury of having a… an insomniac on your team. For now, though, everyone go to bed. We arrive at Tenchi Bridge only an hour before the expected meeting tomorrow. I will wake you up when we need to leave."
With a nod, Sai and Sakura headed inside. Yamato paused to get a word in to Naruto.
"Naruto… what are you working on with those scrolls?"
The genin in question looked up from unsealing his table and scrolls.
"I'm trying to find a way… I'm trying to find a way to become human again, sensei."
His voice was sad, poorly disguising the heartbreak that hid behind it. Yamato nodded and went inside the manor. Naruto didn't know why he expected sympathy from the man. Perhaps because he had been one of the only people that seemed to almost not notice Naruto's condition. But like the rest, he offered no pity or support.
Naruto busied himself in his scrolls as night fell. He poured over the information contained intensively; he had also… appropriated some library scrolls to study by sheer intimidation factor. Apparently, civilians now held more fear than spite for him, because he was able to merely walk in and request the scrolls he needed. The library scrolls contained a lot of information about sealing. One scroll he had taken described the battle tactics of Suna ninja; since this included puppeteering, Naruto gleaned a lot of information about the art and its basics. That was incredibly helpful in deciphering some of Sasori's notes, because the man did not stop to explain the intermediary steps between knowing nothing and the level he was operating on.
It would have been unthinkable for Naruto's premortem attention span for him to actually spend so much time pouring over text. But the events he had lived through after his death had begun to warp him significantly, and he was able to concentrate on the scrolls. Of course, it was only so because of a desperate need to become human again that his mind allowed him this single-minded luxury; but Naruto failed to recognize his own desperation. All he knew was that he needed his humanity back. It and regaining his precious interpersonal relationships were the only thoughts that occupied his mind anymore.
Naruto had started his own scroll of notes, and it was predictably disorganized and nonsensical- to anyone else who read it. To him it made perfect sense. What was contained in it thus far were important tidbits from Sasori's notes, as well prototypes of simple seals from the library scrolls that he was making to practice the art. He was not going to understand the complex interactions of sealing and puppeteering overnight; he was alternating the practice of both in order to reach a level on which he would. So far, he was capable of creating low capacity storage seals and understood the simple premise of puppeteering. It was not easy to learn; Naruto was clever but he was not traditionally intelligent. But he persevered.
And persevere he did throughout his entire "shift." At the end of the night, he had made marked progress- his inability to be exhausted allowed him to focus his undivided attention on it. His storage seal was of significantly greater capacity, and he was able to create a seal that applied a temporary Henge to an object when activated. He no longer had nerves, so it was no problem to remain precise when making seals. He felt that his progress would only skyrocket, and that almost made him feel giddy despite his immense feeling of depression.
In the morning, Yamato walked out with Sakura and Sai. The four exchanged few pleasantries before the jounin dismantled his manor and the team left in the direction of Tenchi Bridge. The trip was as uncomfortable as it was the day before- the team remained in unbroken silence throughout the entire day. It was only a few hours before they arrived to an area close to Tenchi Bridge, where Yamato stopped them.
The bridge was surrounded by trees on both sides. It was a fairly standard looking bridge, painted red and made of wood. Below it was a steep drop into a ravine. The day was chilly and thick with anticipation.
"I will disguise myself as Sasori, and engage the spy in conversation. I want you three to wait for my signal, then attack. We are to capture him alive- so don't use any techniques that might kill him."
There was a general nod of understanding among the underlings before Yamato created a wooden construct that looked exactly like Sasori's old puppet shell. Naruto never did catch its name. Yamato moved out onto the bridge, and about twenty minutes later out came the spy- Sakura nearly gasped, which would have revealed her position. Naruto showed no reaction, mostly because he couldn't. Had Kabuto betrayed Orochimaru?
Yamato cautiously approached Kabuto in his wooden shell. Kabuto began to speak.
"Well, Master Sasori, you seem to be quite early."
In an imitation of Sasori's voice from inside the puppet, Yamato spoke. Naruto shuddered internally, the voice and appearance bringing back bad memories.
"You kept me waiting."
"I apologize, Master Sasori. Here, I have a report for you detailed here."
With that, Kabuto pushed up his glasses and waved a piece of paper. Yamato got close enough to pick up the paper with his tail before Kabuto suddenly smashed the wooden shell with a chakra scalpel. Shrapnel went flying, and Yamato jumped back reflexively.
"I have found a new master, one that broke your genjutsu for me… Heh. So that's what you look like inside your shell."
Yamato signaled for his team to attack just as Orochimaru Body Flickered into view, apparently having hid behind some trees. The two parties did not attack immediately. Weapons drawn, they faced each other for several moments. Orochimaru was the first to speak.
"It seems that my old friend Sasori is dead. Truly… what a loss. Wait… Naruto?"
Ororchimaru looked almost perplexed for a moment, but quickly collected himself.
"My my, seems you had a run-in with Sasori, didn't you? Why, you've aroused my curiousity. How are you still… alive? Autonomous? Why don't you come with me, Naruto?"
Naruto was taken aback for a moment, then spat out:
"The day I come with you is the day you take me to Sasuke so he can come back."
Orochimaru smiled unpleasantly.
"Still haven't changed, have you Naruto? Still haven't outgrown that foolish dream. But you know, Sasuke has grown a lot. In fact, I think he's definitely stronger than you."
Naruto paused for a moment and Sakura glanced at him nervously, while Yamato prepared his sealing technique. Red chakra began spilling out of his body, and he went down to all fours as three tails sprouted from behind him. Yamato rushed to seal the jinchuuriki, but it was too late, as Naruto made a dash towards Orochimaru. Orochimaru smiled and created an Earth clone that engaged Naruto in taijutsu. The sannin's clone, however, was quickly destroyed with its diminished reflexes. Orochimaru blew a gust of wind from his mouth, which Naruto dodged; it was followed by a spear of rock that snagged Naruto mid-dodge. Pushed back but unfazed, Naruto kept running at his opponent. Orochimaru summoned a large snake and summoned Kusanagi from his mouth. As Naruto attempted to make a side swipe at the snake, Kusanagi nearly took his head off. He rolled away from both, and attempted to engage Orochimaru directly. He dodged around Kusanagi a couple of times before the snake bit his chakra cloak, piercing through it with its powerful fangs. Naruto howled in rage and jumped back. Kusanagi followed him, and so did Orochimaru's words.
"Show me the power of the Kyuubi, Naruto… surely you are stronger than this. Sasuke would easily defeat you."
Naruto roared and smashed into Orochimaru at a greater speed, but it turned out to be another Earth clone and Naruto smashed his way past the bridge into several trees. Another tail began to sprout behind him and his already thick chakra cloak began to condense into a demon-like appearance. Meanwhile, Yamato had disappeared from the battlefield, as had Sai; Sakura had noticed their absence but not their actual disappearance. She decided to engage Kabuto while the latter was turned watching the battle, and paid for it with a chakra scalpel to the shoulder. She jumped back and began to heal it up with her other arm as Kabuto smirked.
"You know, it's rather rude of you to attack while I'm spectating such an interesting fight."
Sakura barked back:
"Screw you, Kabuto! I won't let you do this!"
Kabuto smirk widened.
"Oh, what's that? Protect your "friend?" I can see in your eyes you are unsure of him. You know, he's not even human anymore. Perfect for Lord Orochimaru's experiments."
"Shut up!" Sakura cried out as she launched into another assault on Kabuto. Their taijutsu match was intense; it was a battle of precision against brute force. Sakura's punches were dodged easily, though, and it was much harder for her to deflect Kabuto's fast and precise strikes. Eventually, Kabuto nicked an artery, but was punched in the gut for his trouble. He landed in a heap a few feet away, and as he slowly picked himself up, he saw Sakura on a knee from blood loss as she desperately tried to heal the damage her adversary had done. Kabuto saw his opportunity leapt at her with lethal intent.
Naruto had seen portions of this battle even as he battled with Orochimaru, and only when he was already in his four-tailed form did he notice Kabuto's rush toward his only present teammate. Not conscious enough to distinguish friend from foe accurately, he launched a Tailed Beast Ball at the bridge. It cost him Orochimaru's Kusanagi launching him deeper into the forest, so he was not allowed to see what his Tailed Beast Ball had done.
As luck would have had it, Kabuto was too close to dodge- he was at the dead center of the trajectory and even though he jumped back the instant it was launched, he was practically dissolved in the blast. Sakura, on the other hand, jumped back- but was still partially hit by the blast, brutally dismembering her right arm and sending her flying into the ravine. She hit one wall of it and tumbled down. The bridge was completely destroyed.
Orochimaru followed Naruto through the woods, nearly meeting another Tailed Beast Ball head on. He managed to summon the Demon Gates in time, however, and he survived. The area around was cratered. Orochimaru noted with silent surprise that two of the Demon Gates were pierced and the entire area was covered with a red-green mist that seemed to be highly acidic. The sannin cleared the area with a wind jutsu before his wall was entirely dissolved, and canceled his technique. In the middle of the crater that became visible was Naruto on all fours.
Naruto looked at him with rage in his entirely white, inhuman eye slits. Unable to make any broad motions, Naruto launched yet another Tailed Beast Ball at Orochimaru, who used a Substitution jutsu to avoid its blast radius. He used Kusanagi again, stabbing Naruto but not piercing his chakra cloak. He went through handseals and buried the immobile Naruto under a wave of earth. Soon, though, the earth exploded and the crater deepened as it seemed Naruto had used the same technique.
It took a few more rounds of back and forth, with Naruto sending out Tailed Beast Ball after Tailed Beast Ball and Orochimaru trying various techniques to pierce his chakra cloak, before Orochimaru felt himself running low on chakra from the various expensive techniques he was using. Sensing Yamato nearby, Orochimaru intentionally disappeared from view and gave him the opportunity to appear and suddenly apply a seal to Naruto's transformation. As soon as this happened and Naruto's transformation faded, Orochimaru appeared suddenly and swiped up Naruto's body, easily breaking the pillar of wood that appeared to stop him.
"So you were one of my experiments back in Konoha… interesting that you survived. Why don't you come with me?"
Yamato showed no emotion but sent out a block of wood from his hand at the sannin. Orochimaru easily twisted his body to dodge and brought out Kusanagi from his mouth. Yamato attempted to dodge, but was snagged by the blade as it changed direction mid-trajectory. Falling to the ground from the poison, the last thing he saw was Orochimaru approaching to collect his body.
Naruto awoke to the feeling of heavy chakra suppressing seals. As he slowly regained his vision, he realized he was in a room not unlike the one that Sasori had kept him in. For a brief moment he had a flashback to his traumatic pseudo-memory of Team Eight talking to him as puppets, and he thrashed against his bindings. After it passed, though, he realized he was captured by somebody else because Sasori was dead- he had watched Sasori die. He had just fought against Orochimaru, though. Thoughts flooded his mind.
In all likelihood, he was captured by Orochimaru. This was… he was closer to Sasuke, now, but that only mattered if he could break free. He tried calling upon the chakra of the Kyuubi but found that something had cut his contact with the Tailed Beast. He struggled against his bindings for a few minutes, too, then stopped and gave up as they did not budge. He needed to break out. He couldn't… he didn't want to be captured again. He couldn't be in captivity again. He just… couldn't. It would break him.
He turned his head- this was better than his previous captivity if nothing else but that he could do that- and looked around the room. It was a large room, and while the color and ceiling WAS initially reminiscent of Sasori's "operating room," it was something much more than that. For inside were lots of cages and other restraining devices that held… human bodies. None of them seemed conscious except for Naruto. It was extremely unsettling to be alone among so many bodies.
He had no way of knowing how long he had been out, or how long he had spent in captivity. After all, the chakra suppressing seals seemed extremely strong, and if he had been kept in a state of low enough chakra to not fully awaken, there was no telling how long he had spent captured. If that was the case, though, why had he awakened now? It made little sense for them to randomly weaken, but then… maybe they degraded from exposure to Kyuubi's chakra? One thing that Naruto had noticed in his own studies was that seals tended to react badly to continuous exposure to his Tailed Beast's chakra. But, it was mostly suppressed… it could have been years since he'd been out. Years. That thought disturbed Naruto greatly. What sorts of experiments could have been performed on him in that time?
Over the next few hours, Naruto felt the chakra seals weaken. Now that some of the Kyuubi's chakra had escaped, it seemed that it was eating away at his restraints rather quickly. As soon as he had enough strength, he broke off the bindings and sat up. He examined the seal on his stomach, and noticing a half-broken Five Elements Seal on his stomach, removed it with his new sealing knowledge. He was entirely free of any bindings, both chakra-based and physical, within a matter of minutes. Naruto performed a cursory examination of his body, and it seemed to be undamaged- if there was any damage, it was little, for the Kyuubi's chakra already healed it up.
He headed over to a nearby desk, attracted by the presence of notes on top of it. He examined them as closely as his understanding of seals would allow; apparently, Orochimaru had picked up where Sasori left off with research into living puppets and had a small degree of success with it. Also present were studies of the seal of Jashin on Naruto's forehead, and apparently Orochimaru had devised some sort of method of communicating with the god- for what purpose, Naruto had no idea. Grabbing the scrolls, he put them in his storage seals and tried to open the door leading out of the room. Strangely, it did not open. He pushed on it harder, using the considerable strength he had gained from being turned into a puppet. The door budged a little bit, and through the crack that opened up sand began pouring in. Naruto managed to collect himself in time to slam the door shut.
What… this couldn't be happening. He was trapped underground. The lab he had been in had been buried, for some reason. Upon further reflection, it was probably because it had been found and Orochimaru had to retreat, or because someone had found it and buried it. If it was the former, it could have been because of a mission to save him… that would be extremely ironic. How was he going to get out of the lab, though? He couldn't move the sand, he had no jutsu on a large enough scale to actually break through the door and move the dirt entrapping. The Rasengan was too focused of a blast to actually make a sizable dent in the sand- and whatever dent it did make would be filled up fairly quickly. He could try using Shadow Clones, but that was unlikely as well. If only he knew the jutsu that would let him dig through the dirt…
He supposed that was a moot point. He could try breaking the ceiling, but since it was undiscovered, the laboratory was likely completely underground, and he at least had freedom of movement in this room. Being buried in dirt would deny him even that luxury. He began searching the lab for anything that could be used to break out. He started with scrounging the desks; unfortunately, it seemed that while they did contain many more scrolls for him to pocket, they did not have any actual tools besides a scalpel or two. There were so many notes, though. He figured he would read them later, either after breaking out or after he gave up looking for a method of doing so.
Every desk in the room just contained notes, so Naruto, out of a morbid curiousity and a need to exhaust his options, approached the cages. Unsurprisingly, every single one of the cages' occupants was dead- he was the only one of them that did not require sustenance, after all. With a heavy heart, Naruto moved over to the one structure in the large room that did not have a duplicate- a giant tube of water. He paused for a moment before deciding not to break the glass, since he had the notes on what it contained on him already- he just needed to read them.
Sitting down, Naruto began an intensive study of the scrolls that he had collected. There was a LOT of information contained on them, and using it, Naruto figured he could do a lot. After all, he had all the time in the world.