Chapter Ten: Kabuto's Intent

Disclaimer: Who thinks I own Naruto? I'll kill them!!!!!!!! All the honor goes to Mashashi Kishimoto.

Sasuke never saw the hypodermic needle coming and it wasn't until he felt the pain of the jab that he realized he and Sakura weren't alone.

The mixture took effect too quickly for him to do anything other than watch as Kabuto bore down on him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura lunged at her enemy but he was faster, pushing her aside with enough force to knock her unconscious.

"Hold still, Sasuke..." He sneered as he very carefully lowered a seperate needle into the Uchiha's eye.

He couldn't move...he was paralyzed...but the pain was very real.

Kabuto withdrew in a moment, carrying with him the vial of fluid he had drawn. Then he knelt beside Sakura and took a sample of her chakra, sealing in a tag he could use in his experiments.

Kabuto took the sample he had and returned to his lab. He had a lot of work to do.

Taking the souless body from the life support tanks he had designed for Orochimaru, he began to operate on the glossy, lifeless eyes.

With all the ease and accuracy experience brought him, he removed the orbs and very carefully injected each with Sasuke's orbal fluid.

Then he took a smaller sample of Sakura's chakra and combined it with his own to rid the eyes of their original DNA. Finally, he integrated Sasuke's and watched as the eyes flashed crimson for a brief moment.

Sakura rubbed the base of her skull as she sat up.

"Sasuke!" She cried, remembering the paralytic he had been injected with. Kneeling beside him she spun an orb of chakra and forced it into his system.

'Flush the cellular fluid free of the toxin and withdraw it...' She thought as she preformed a variant of the Toxin Removal Jutsu.

Sasuke winced as he felt something tear free.

"Sorry..." Sakura replied as she helped him sit up with her free arm, "Give me a moment and I'll heal you."

He watched as the dark liquid flowing through her chakra was broken down into what he could only assume was water and oxygen. Then she brought the same orb around to the tear in his side and within ten seconds it was completely gone.

"Now, for your eye."

He had forgotten about that...

"Hold still and please suppress your chakra so it doesn't interfere with mine."

He did as he was asked.

"This might feel weird, but don't move."

She was right about that: It felt like water was working its way into his eye in warm tendrils. It wasn't unpleasant...just unaccoustmed.

"There." She smiled as she pulled back.

"What about you?" He asked, motioning to a line of blood running from her forehead.

"Oh, this?" She said, "It's just a scalp wound. It's worse than it looks."

"What?"

"Err...looks worse than it is." Sakura said, "My bad."

Sasuke huffed, turning away in frustration. Was there anything that got her down?

"You don't heal the way Kabuto or Tsunade does." He commented.

"Hmm..." Sakura thought for a moment, "I don't know why that would be."

"I do."

Sasuke shifted his weight, kneeling in front of Sakura protectively.

"I heal by regenerating my own cells. But when I heal someone else, I'm forced to simply mend the two edge of the wound and bring them together. You, Sakura, you heal by mending individual cells and meshing those together using the clean edges as the framework."

"What the hell do you want?" Sasuke demanded.

"I'm getting to it." Kabuto assured him. "You, Sakura, I'm sure are aware of the potential of stem cells."

Sakura ground her teeth together. Of course she did...and she knew the evil they could be used for.

"I've discovered a process that allows me to remove the DNA in a particular cell and inject it with a new set...Using your chakra."

"How!?" Sakura yelled.

"Like I said, you heal by mending individual cells, you don't do it consciously, it is a mixture of your own unique chakra signature and your brand of control. But I've found a way to replicate that. I simply dissect all of the cells, cutting them apart and destroying the DNA code, then, using your chakra, I heal them and inject them with a new DNA encodement. In this case, the encryption for the Sharigan."

"You bastard!" Sakura spat.

Sasuke had gathered little from the exchange but understood that Kabuto was manufacturing the sharigan.

'If he can do that with the sharigan, then he can replicate the anything! The byakugan...even Shino's ability to house, harvest, and control insects.' Sakura thought. 'I can't let that happen.'

Shoving Sasuke aside, she charged the medic, her fist drawn back.

"Did you honestly think I'd make it that easy?" He asked with a smirk, knowing the bars would hold even against her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"What the...!" Kabuto leapt away from the manifesting chakra.

Wiping blood from a laceration in his cheek, he glared at the pink-haired kunoichi.

'Not only did she create a blade long enough to reach me, but she maintained it long enough to do damage. If I hadn't moved, she would have cut my jugular.'

Sakura smiled. A smile that spoke quite clearly: Don't fuck with me, Yakushi, and don't underestimate me.

"I'll have to watch out for you." He muttered quietly.

"Yeah," Sakura spoke as she crossed her arms, having heard him, "You do."

TBC