Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it again?

Kabuto and Karin walked into Naruto's glorified prison, and immediately noticed that something was off. Naruto sat at the table, absolutely silent. No smiles, no greeting, just a blank stare. Karin and Kabuto exchanged a worried glance as they took seat on the table, to the opposite of Naruto. Naruto looked at them, then he finally spoke.

"You are experimenting on me." It wasn't a question. "Why, and why me?"

Kabuto looked surprised, then he sighed. "I knew you'd eventually realize it, although I didn't think it would be so soon. Yes, there are experiments on your body, and I'm afraid there will be a few more. Orochimaru tries to artificially implant bloodlines and similar traits to others, so that he may become immortal. We chose you, after many failures, because everyone else we tried died."

Karin stared at him for revealing so much, but then she shrugged. It didn't matter anyways. Naruto simply nodded.

"And why don't I die?"

Karin shrugged sadly. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Because there is something inside of you that won't allow you to die. Kabuto can explain what." She added quickly when she saw Naruto's mouth, his main-mouth, open for another question.

Kabuto glared at Karin for pushing the dirty jobs to him, but he complied. "You probably heard the story about how the Yondaime killed the Kyuubi, right?" Naruto nodded. "Well it's bullshit. Nothing can kill a bijuu, killing normal demons is nearly impossible as Orochimaru-sama will attest, so the Yondaime did the next-best thing. He sealed it in you. You are the vessel for the Kyuubi, it's prison, you are a jinchuuriki."

Naruto was beyond shocked. "I'm... what?"

Karin shrugged. "You are the Kyuubi's host, and you are what keeps him locked away."

Now it all made sense to Naruto. The beatings, the torture, the hatred and the cold glares, everything made sense. They hated him because of what Kyuubi had done, and since they couldn't hurt the Kyuubi, they hurt Naruto. He looked at them. "Thank you for telling me. Now I'd like to be alone."

Karin and Kabuto nodded and left. But Kabuto turned around one last time. "Before I forget, when you wake up after the next operation, you won't be learning puppetry. You can practice it, but you will have to act yourself."

Naruto nodded, and Kabuto left, knowing that the most complicated operation was ahead of them.

Merging Samehada's shard with Naruto proved to be difficult. Even though it was actually alive, there was no non-chakra-using way to gain a serum, and the shard simply absorbed all chakra. The operation had been nerve-wrecking, complicated and time-consuming, but in the end, they had managed. All they could do now is wait for what happened.

An hour later, Naruto had grown scales. Not like a lizard, but similar to the real Samehada's looks, although they could seemingly shrink, leaving him looking like he was wearing chain-mail. The only problem had been that they were now unable to touch Naruto, as everyone who tried lost skin, if they were unlucky flesh, and a shitload of chakra.

In the following days and weeks, Naruto had learned how to control his new natural armor. It had taken two weeks, but he was now able to make it sink into his skin, making him look normal, while it could be brought back out instantly. Another curious thing was that when Naruto grew scales on his palms, the mouths, or to be more precise their teeth, changed. Whenever the mouth was surrounded by scales, it grew sharp teeth, and seemed to be able to feed on chakra now as well.

But even while learning control of his natural armor, Naruto's skills bloomed. A boy named Kimimaro had been called and instructed him on how to make his bones weapons and certain parts of unarmed and armed combat, although he was mostly strengthening his body and learning how to dodge and block, and Naruto took to it like a fish to water. He also trained turning into paper, a little bit of explosives-training, he learned how to actually use paper and utilize and turn into thread, and the secret behind the black threads. He had learned to use his eyes, unlocking some sort of powers that he hadn't known before. For the rippled eyes, Naruto had received plenty information out of Hanzo's head, but the other abilities of his eyes were astounding. He could make an inescapable illusion in which he controlled even time, summon black fire, and something else that he never really tried, but felt was powerful. Also, ever since Naruto had grown scales, he never felt exhausted after using jutsu.

A few weeks after Naruto's latest achievements, which he downgraded to keep everyone underestimating him, Orochimaru decided to field-test his armoring. There had been a few people rebelling against him, and they had been caught in a bar, together with a few unsuspecting guests, namely Kin Tsuchi. So Orochimaru thought of something special. He had gathered the entire lot in an arena, threw Naruto in as well, and clearly stated that whoever killed the boy, or at least lived when he died, would be set free. Of course, everything had been thrown at the boy, from ninjutsu over genjutsu to taijutsu and projectiles, and Orochimaru was pleased to see that everything failed when Naruto's natural armor sprang to life, covering his body seemingly automatically. Orochimaru was about to have the conspirators executed and the innocent Kin set free, when Naruto snapped.

Naruto had enough. He was sick of being attacked for no reason, he was sick of being shunned, he was sick of being humiliated. With a primal roar, he jumped forward, into the bulk of his attackers. He had no real strategy, but he didn't need one either. He flung his limbs around, and anyone who came in contact lost flesh. Anyone unfortunate enough to come in contact with his palms immediately died of chakra-exhaustion as every single drop was drained out of him, then some more. The entire onslaught didn't last three minutes, then Naruto was the only one standing in a field of corpses, soaked in blood. The only other living being in the arena was Kin, who had backed away to the far wall and collapsed, her legs unable to carry her any longer. Naruto walked to her, still armored and raised his left hand, the sharp-toothed maw snapping the air as it neared the girl. Kin cried.

"No, stay away from me!" Her feet were pushing into the ground, as she tried to crawl backwards even though the wall blocked her. "No, please! I don't want to die! Monster! STAY AWAY!"

Naruto froze. Then he looked into her eyes. And what he saw woke him from his trance. He saw fear, no, what he saw in Kin's eyes was absolute terror. He saw hopelessness, and incredible horror of what would happen. She was scared of him. She was afraid of his mere presence. Naruto had become like the people in Konoha, terrorizing someone helpless. No, to Kin, he was worse. He was not a human, he was the incarnation of death and slaughter. Naruto looked at her, then he turned around. He walked towards the wall and used his scales to carve himself footholds and support for his hands to climb up. He looked at Kabuto as his scales receded into his skin, tears running down his face.

"It's enough. I'm done."

Kabuto, who had been watching, nodded. "You understand that I can't just let you walk around here, right?" He asked.

Naruto raised a brow. "Could you stop me?"

Kabuto shrugged. "Probably not, but I'd have to try. So please save yourself the trouble and me the pain, and just come quietly."

Naruto shrugged and followed. He had left his scroll with his puppets in the cell, and he would never leave without it. It was high time he sealed that scroll in one of the tattoos as well.

In Oto, a new rumor had started to go around. It spoke of a creature that Orochimaru had under his control. They said that it resembled a human or large primate, but that it was covered in gray scales. They said it was invincible, its scales harder than steel and absolutely immune to any type of chakra-attack. And while the tales of its strength seemed exaggerated, the arena where it was rumored to have slaughtered almost thirty men did show some fresh repairs on a wall that could indeed have been the hand- and footholds the creature was supposed to have made with its bare limbs. Some said it had Sharingan-eyes, others claimed they were rippled, white like the Hyuuga or different in some other way, but one thing they all agreed in was that the eyes were absolutely emotionless, like a machine.

Tayuya wasn't one to listen to rumors, most were exaggerated anyways. But all legends have a true core, and in the world of shinobi, an unknown was a very worrying since dangerous variable. In one of Oto's dining-halls, she met one of her best friends, Kin. She smiled.

"Yo Kin, heard you got yourself in quite a fucking mess. Can't leave you out of my sight for a single fucking second, can I?"

Kin smiled weakly. "I still can't believe it myself. One minute I'm sitting in this small bistro you told me about, minding my own business, next the place is swarmed and everybody gets arrested. I still don't know how I got out of there in one piece."

Tayuya shrugged. "You were innocent, that's how. The fucking tyrant wouldn't kill a loyal servant, why the hell should he?"

Kin smiled. "You're right. So, have you found any boys that got your attention?" She teased, knowing that Tayuya hated most of Oto's male population. They were vile, filthy, arrogant, stupid and sexists. One had once said all women were good for was housework and the bedroom. He had later found himself in the medical-facility with broken bones.

Tayuya frowned. "Very funny. I'd rather date dogs than the fucking pigs that run around here. Most don't even know what washing means, and you're hard-pressed to find a fucktard who can actually do more than slobber all over the girls in this shit-hole. If you want to talk to them about something other then screwing you, you draw blanks. I'm sick of them all!"

Kin smiled brighter. She still knew how to press her friends buttons to get amusing results. "Sorry for bringing it up. I see your vocabulary is still as colorful as always, so what else is new?"

Tayuya smiled and picked up the conversation. Things were going normal until Tayuya brought up the newest rumor.

"Have you heard? They say that the old snake has some new creature at his command. Rumors say it has gray scales and strange eyes."

Kin's glass shattered on the floor. All blood had left her face, leaving her pale as a ghost. She grimaced. Tayuya took a second to realize it was supposed to be a smile.

"Kin, what's wrong? You're white as a sheet, and you're shivering like crazy. Talk to me, what's troubling you? Is it because of that rumor?"

Kin clutched her shoulders and shivered. She whispered something that sounded like humor.

Tayuya looked at her. "You have to speak louder, I can't understand what you're telling me."

Kin whimpered, then she looked her friend in the eye. "It's not a rumor." she whispered.

Tayuya's eyes widened. "You saw it?"

Kin nodded.

Tayuya's jaw dropped. "When? Where?"

Kin gulped. "When I was caught together with those rebels. We were herded into a large arena, then Orochimaru-sama threw what looked like a boy into the arena and said whoever was alive when the boy was dead would be spared. Of course, the rebels fired everything they had, but when the smoke cleared, the scaled creature was sitting there, completely unharmed. They then threw weapons at it, but everything bounced off. Then it roared and attacked. It was horrible. Everyone that touched the skin lost flesh until the bones were visible, but that wasn't the worst part. Everyone it touched with its hands dropped dead to the floor, and one man was grabbed by the throat, and he turned into a dried-up mummy in seconds. In less than three minutes, everyone was dead. Then it walked to me." She was obviously traumatized.

Tayuya gently patted her back. "It's okay. You made it out alive, that's all that matters. If it doesn't hurt too much, how did you escape?"

Kin sobbed. "I didn't. It came towards me, extending its scaled hand to my face. Tayuya, there was a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth on his palm, and they were gnashing and grinding and seemed really eager to bite me. I was so scared, I just screamed something, I can't remember what. It looked me in the eye, then after a few seconds, it turned around and left. It walked to the walls and carved holds into the rock with his bare hands and feet."

Tayuya didn't know what to think. This sounded even crazier than some of the shit she'd heard, yet if she wasn't calling Kin a liar, something the girl definitely wasn't, it had to be true. This was big, really big. She gave Kin another pat on the back. "Relax, you made it out. If it wanted to hurt you, it would have. You're fine, and you'll probably never see it again. You said it yourself, it only killed traitors."

Kin nodded weakly. "I'm going to do anything to ensure that I will never have to face it again."

Tayuya smiled. "There you go girl, that's the way." She helped Kin up and turned to leave, before stopping for a second. "If you tell anyone that I was all sobby and gentle, I'm gonna beat the fucking shit out of you, are we clear?"

Kin chuckled. "I'll make sure that no harm is done to your bad reputation."

Tayuya smirked. "That's my girl."

Kabuto looked at his master. "Orochimaru-sama, forgive my insolence, but why are you allowing rumors about Naruto Uzumaki to spread? Would it not be better if nobody knew of him?"

"I would like to second that question." Karin added.

Orochimaru shook his head. "There is a simple reason. The rumors describe him as a invincible monster, and my shinobi have started to double and triple their effort in my service as to not face the beast that I hide in my cellar. Did you know that Naruto has already gained a nickname amongst my troops?"

Karin sighed. "Yes, they call him the Chimera."

Kabuto shrugged. "Well, that's exactly what we're making him. He's a mixture of different people, all with different skills, so I have to say, the name fits."

Orochimaru smirked. "Yes it does. Nobody dares betray me now that I have such a monster at my beck and call. And once they learn that I am, or rather will soon be the Chimera, they will all crawl at my feet. I can't wait to see the look in sensei's eyes when I kill him wearing that face. On that matter, I have decided that he will receive the last two injections at the same time."

Kabuto frowned. "Lord Orochimaru, not to criticize you, but are you sure that's wise? Naruto is probably ready for another shot, and there are only two more, but to give him both at the same time?"

Orochimaru glared at him. "I am running out of time. In little more than a year, I have planned an invasion on Konoha to destroy it once and for all, and I want to be in my perfect host by that time. If we wait months before the final injection, then the time we need to train that power afterwords and the time to properly unseal Kyuubi without it going berserk on us will be lost and I may not be able to fully control the new body by the time the invasion is scheduled. He will receive both solutions today, and you two will train him on how to reflect damage to opponents. Once he's proficient with that, we will unseal the Kyuubi with a special sealing-array that is nearly complete, although the concept still needs last improvements. Afterwords I will take over his body."

Karin bowed, so that nobody could see her biting her lip. "Yes, Orochimaru-sama." She replied.

Kabuto was also feeling strangely uncomfortable, but he shrugged it off for now. They had to do some reading on Jashinism, and prepare the solutions and Naruto for the final injection.

Naruto was floating in his tank. Getting the injection-needle into him had been a pain, as his scales seemed to be a automatic defense as well. In the end, they had managed, after waking Naruto up and begging him to allow them to put it in. they had promised and given him a load of ramen, and swore that it would be the last time, and Naruto had reluctantly agreed. While the other solutions had optically not changed him much, this last one had. The only change that Hidan's immortal body had given him was two marks of Jashin on the soles of Naruto's feet, which Kabuto concluded was necessary to quickly conjure the circle needed for the ceremonies. But Zetsu had left clear changes on Naruto. Thankfully, he hadn't grown a Venus-flytrap around his head, but that was where the good news ended. While not exactly split between black and white, Naruto's skin was now uniquely colored. The left side of his body was pale as a ghost, not as white as Orochimaru but still very pale, while the right half was extremely tanned. Also, the left eye had returned to the cerulean blue it was before, while the right eye had mutated. It seemed to be a little bigger, although that could be an optical illusion since it was always opened wide, lacking an eyelid to close it. There was an eyebrow, but the eye was always uncovered, and moved around even though Naruto was unconscious. It was still rippled, and a number of new tomoe had appeared (It looks like the Juubi's eye). Kabuto had a feeling Naruto wouldn't take this new change as well as he had taken the other ones, as he and Karin had noticed that Naruto had always tried to keep a normal appearance as far as it was possible. But now, he no longer had that option.

Naruto groaned and grabbed his head. That last operation was a pain. He opened his eyes, and noticed that his hand was very pale. He shrugged. So he lost a bit of color in the last procedure, no big deal, he could live with that. Then he noticed something about his vision. He now saw like he did before he was kidnapped with his left eye, while the right eye still had the vision he had become used to. Also, was he imagining things or did his eyes now move independent from each other? He tried to look in two directions a the same time, and he succeeded. This was weird. Then he noticed that his right eye was staring at his right hand. Was that a hallucination? He held his left hand next to his right hand, and clearly saw the difference. He'd have to be blind not to. He nearly ripped his shirt when he raised it to look at his chest. The color-shift between pale and tanned was obvious, and it was not slowly merging into each other, but right in the center of his body, it suddenly shifted, as if someone had cut two people in half, then swapped the halves and stitched them together, only that the stitches were not visible.

Kabuto and Karin waled in, and froze when they saw Naruto staring at himself. Karin cringed as she saw the shock in the boy's left eye, which could finally show emotion once more. Kabuto looked very uncomfortable and was actually willing to trade lives with anyone if it meant he wouldn't have to be here. This could get ugly. Karin walked to him and patted his back, the natural armor allowing it. Then both of Naruto's eyes focused on Kabuto.

"Kabuto, get me a mirror."

Kabuto started to sweat. "Naruto, I really don't think that's a good..."

"Kabuto." Naruto interrupted him.

"Yes?"

Naruto looked at him. "Get. Me. A. Mirror." His voice leaving no room to argue.

Kabuto sighed. "Give me a minute, I don't have one with me." He left, and against better knowledge, he returned with a hand-mirror.

Naruto grabbed it and saw his face, turned his head to see the right eye, then he set it aside and buried his face in his hands, sobbing. It seemed that his final crutch had broken, as he looked up and asked one question.

"What am I?"

Karin blinked. "A human." She answered.

Naruto looked at her, then he started to giggle, which turned into an insane laughter even as tears ran down his face, interrupted by the occasional sob. "GWAHAHAHAHAHA! A human? How? HAHA-SOB-HA. What part of me is human? My bones?" He raised his arms and let bone-spikes shoot out of them, then he made one drop while the other ones receded back into his arm. "My flesh?" He grabbed the fallen spike and sliced open his arm. The gray flesh merged back together as soon as the slice was made, the black thread and paper hiding all traces of it ever happening. "My hands?" The mouths opened, the tongues rolling around. "My skin?" The scales shot out of his body, Karin jumping back just in time to escape without a cut. "My eyes?" He grabbed his right eye, then he looked at them. "How am I human? Tell me, what part of me is human?"

Only now Karin and Kabuto fully realized how much of a crutch Naruto's skin had been to him. It had looked like a normal human's, and it was the only thing that was really the same as any human's. Now that Naruto had a coloring that would be nearly impossible to gain naturally, the final connection to humanity had broken. Naruto had been called a monster so many times that a part of him had started to believe it, being overruled by the thought that when Naruto looked into a mirror, he was no different from others. And now he was, and he couldn't take it. His entire existence was suddenly thrown into question, and Naruto was mentally breaking apart.

Karin hugged Naruto as soon as the scales had receded into the skin. She looked at him. "Naruto. In your heart, you are still a human. Your soul is human."

Kabuto nodded. "And as for your body, you are what humans dream to be. You are strong, smart, immune to disease, starting to get a resistance to poisons, and you are immortal. The arrogant say that you're less than a human, I say you're more, far more than a normal human."

Naruto slowly nodded. It was clear that he didn't fully believe it, but it was enough to hold him strait. He took a deep breath. "So, what do you want me to do now?"

Kabuto calmed himself. "We are supposed to try something." He pulled out a vial with a crimson liquid. "Can you drink a bit of this with the mouth on your palm?"

Naruto shrugged and extended his hand, Kabuto dropping a bit of blood in the mouth. Naruto grimaced. "I feel kinda sick, is that supposed to happen?"

Karin frowned. "No, it's not. I guess that mouth isn't made for it. Can you drink a gulp of it?"

Naruto looked at the liquid, eye now filled with distrust. Kabuto sighed. "It's not poisonous Naruto, I can drink a small bit myself if it makes you feel better." He took a zip, opened his mouth so that Naruto could see he had indeed drank some of it, then he swallowed.

Naruto nodded, grabbed the vial and emptied it. He spat out the last drops. "Was that blood?"

Karin nodded. "Yes it was. And Naruto, what's going to happen in a few seconds is normal, so please don't freak out."

Naruto tilted his head, but then he had a weird feeling. He stretched his legs, although it was more accurate to say that they stretched themselves, the marks at his feet oozing a liquid while he drew a triangle in a circle with his feet and the liquid, which Kabuto would later analyze and see that it was a mixture of Naruto's and the victims blood. Then a pattern started to emerge on Naruto's skin. On his pale left side, it was pitch-black, while his tanned right showed a snow-white pattern. The pattern made his face look like a blank mask with no identifying features, the only oddity was a spot on the forehead, while the rest of the pattern seemed to trace his limbs in simple white lines, making it look as if someone had traced his basic bone-structure with a few brush-strokes, only that everything was connected and no clear ends were seen, other than the ones where his limbs ended. Naruto looked at himself. This was supposed to happen?

"I won't stay like this, will I?" he asked, unsure.

Karin shook her head. "The change will revert the moment you step out of the circle, and restart once you reenter it. It just signifies that the ceremony is in effect."

Naruto looked at her. "Ceremony?"

Kabuto nodded. "Yes, I'll tell you what it does in a minute, but first, could you take that bone-spike you're still holding and ram it in your heart? I know how this sounds, but you're practically immortal, and now immune to physical harm."

Naruto looked at him with raised brows, but he didn't really cling to life that much anymore, as if with his humanity, he had lost part of his will to live. So he raised the spike and slammed it into him. It stinged, but there was no overbearing pain. Suddenly, he felt as if a cold shudder had gone through him. Then it was over, and Naruto's skin reverted to what he would have to call normal. "What was that?"

Kabuto twitched. "The ceremony for the honor of the god Jashin is simple. It works by drinking the victim's blood, a single drop is enough. Then a circle is drawn, the Jashinist staying in it. As long as he remains in the circle, all damage done to the Jashinist will be reflected onto the victim, meaning they get the same damage, although if the victim is hurt, it doesn't happen to the Jashinist as well. The ceremony can be interrupted when the Jashinist leaves the circle, but as soon as he reenters it, the effect starts again. There are only two ways the ceremony can end. Either the circle is destroyed, in which case the Jashinist needs another drink of blood to make a new one... or the victim dies."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You mean... someone died because of what I did?"

Karin and Kabuto nodded their heads. Naruto dropped to the floor.

Orochimaru looked at a monitor showing Naruto's room, a habit he had started to develop, looking at his new body-to-be. The boy was certainly surprising, both positively and negatively. He learned quicker than anything Orochimaru had ever seen, although he suspected the Sharingan might have a positive effect on the boy's learning-curve, and built strong but not bulky muscle in mere hours, something he accredited to the combination of Kyuubi and Juugo. The not-so-good part was that Naruto had made it impossible to extract any sperm. He blatantly refused to impregnate a woman, and Orochimaru had shown him pictures of any woman he had. Hell, he had even mixed in pictures of people he didn't have, like Tsunade, and while the boy obviously liked their looks, he still refused to do the deed. Worse yet, thanks to Juugo's mutation-abilities, he had retracted and effectively dissolved his reproductive organs, making any attempt of sperm-extraction a waste of time.

Orochimaru looked closer into the screen. He frowned. The boy was messing around with a scalpel, but there was nothing to use it on. Except...

"NO!" Orochimaru howled with rage when he saw Naruto thrust the blade into his right eye. He jumped up and ran towards the room where the boy was held, intending to save the irreplaceable eye.

In front of Naruto's room, Kabuto and Karin were playing poker, ignoring the tragedy that was happening. They looked at Orochimaru, bowed and returned to their game. "What are you two doing?" Orochimaru asked irritated.

"We are playing a card-game, Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto stated dryly, before adding to Karin "Raise two-hundred."

Orochimaru's eye gained a dangerous twitch. "While you two are playing games, my precious host is mutilating himself."

Karin didn't look up. "He's been doing that for the last three days. Call, raise five-hundred."

"And you aren't stopping him?" Orochimaru asked in disbelief.

Kabuto shrugged. "We tried, he raised his scales, we lost flesh. It hurt. Eventually, we just gave up. Call."

Orochimaru glared at them. "He's goring his right eye."

Karin frowned. "Again? That makes what, twenty-six times? Raise five-hundred."

"Twenty-seven. Orochimaru-sama, what you don't know is that Naruto heals everything. In the last three days, he has also cut himself to shreds, broke his own bones, used the scales on his arms to shave his face to the bone and self-amputated something nine times, including two decapitations. The only thing his body really didn't like was the amputations, where it grew threads to reconnect, although I believe he could just regenerate the limbs. His body simply chooses what takes less energy. In fact, his pain-tolerance is baffling, I've never seen anything like it. Call. Show your hand."

Karin laid down her cards. "Four of a kind, Aces."

Kabuto whistled. "Not bad." he showed his hand. "Strait Flush, clubs, Four to Eight."

"Son of a bitch!" Karin cursed.

Orochimaru calmed down and retreated. What he had just heard was even better than he'd hoped. With Naruto as a host, he'd be invincible. Who cared if the boy hurt himself, if it didn't leave any marks? Certainly not he. Whistling a happy tune, Orochimaru retreated to his domain. He had decided that he'd take over Naruto in four days, two days after the Kyuubi would be extracted.

Kabuto and Karin returned to Naruto's cell. Naruto looked at them.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked.

Kabuto sighed. "Orochimaru-sama has developed a jutsu with which he can permanently take over other bodies in his quest for immortality. While he was a member of a group of ninja equal and superior to himself, he found that two of them combined would offer eternal life. But he got greedy and desired a perfect host with the abilities of all the members of said group. With time and patience, he gathered genetic samples. But that was when the problems started. As I told you before, nobody but you survived. Now you have all the samples, and you have reached a decent level of skill with them, so Orochimaru-sama has decided that tomorrow, the Kyuubi will be extracted from you, as it would destroy him if he were to take you over with it still in you, then, after two days of recovery, he will take over your body."

Naruto looked at him. "So this is how it ends, huh? Just like that."

Kabuto shrugged. "I'm afraid so. I'll miss you, you were fascinating." He had purposefully chosen such a vague way of expressing himself, as the next step would be really risky and very well cost him his head.

Karin hugged him. Then she looked at him. "I guess this is farewell."

Naruto nodded. "Goodbye you two. I guess, I grew attached to you. It feels nice to have a proper goodbye."

Kabuto smiled. "By the way, you didn't get it that bad with your skin. Zetsu, the man who the sample is from has a pitch-black and a snow-white side, and a giant Venus-flytrap around his head. But then again, if you can sink through solid matter and travel the greatest distances in seconds, looks aren't that worrying. Goodbye Naruto."

Naruto looked at them. "Goodbye."

Once Karin and Kabuto left the cell, they started a small conversation. "A shame, isn't it? He had such talent, perhaps we could have given him some more before we parted ways forever." Kabuto said. It was a code between him and Karin, meaning Did he get it?

Karin answered. "Yeah, but what can you do? His fates are decided, and all we can do is wait and study Orochimaru once he's in control." The only important word in that speech was the first one, as it answered the unspoken question. Naruto was far too special to end like that.

Naruto pondered over the last goodbye. Karin had slid a scroll in his shirt, which he had immediately sealed in one of the tattoos, and slipped a bit of clay into his hand. The resident mouth had swallowed it immediately, keeping it in until it was needed. Kabuto's words had also struck a cord. He had indirectly told him how to escape. The walls were filled with seals and therefore not an option, but did the same count for the floor as well? He leaned back, making sure his body was covering his hand, and tried to make it merge with the stone to let him pass. When he noticed a rejection, he tried looking with his right eye. Yep, the floor was lined with chakra, so no pass. He could try to tamper with the seals, but that might trigger an alarm. Instead he went for the operation-table where he made human-puppets. As he had expected, it only had a few minor seals, probably to keep it clean. Naruto traced over the seal with his fingers, letting small scales grow on the tips, and watched with fascination as the chakra was practically sucked out of the seal until it was nothing more than a few scratches and ink. He laid his body on the table, something he had started to do a few weeks ago, so it wouldn't be suspicious, and tried to make his fingers sink into the table. It took two hours, but he made it. Now he had to extend the feeling, letting his entire body sink into the ground.

But just when Naruto though he had it, he heard a sharp hiss, and the world turned blurry. This was obviously new stuff, as Naruto grew resistant if not immune to anything he had been subjugated to at least once, even if the ingredients were dosed differently. He knew that all he had were seconds before he was lost, and focused all his mental strength into sinking into the table. He managed, and had to make a split-second decision where he wanted to be. The choice he made was easy, obvious, and a fair distance away from Orochimaru.

Sarutobi was enjoying a good pipe, for the moment free of any paperwork that needed looking through. His thoughts wandered to the boy who had vanished over three years ago, Naruto Uzumaki. When Kushina had appeared before him after getting his letter, pissed would not do her mood justice. She had been downright furious. He still had a scar on his shoulder from that argument, although beat-down would be more precise. He had never seen her that angry. Hell may have no wrath like a woman scorned, but Earth was more resourceful. Earth had pissed mothers.

Shaking himself from those unpleasant thoughts, he wondered if he would ever see the boy again. Just as he finished his pipe the secretary showed up and placed a giant stack of paper in front of him. Sarutobi sighed and grabbed for his stamp, when something that nearly gave him a heart-attack happened. Something big dropped from the ceiling, landing right on the stacks. His first thought was 'What a shame, now all the paperwork is damaged, therefore invalid. Pity.', directly followed by 'Where the hell did this come from?! And what is this?'

The ANBU that always watched him jumped into action and surrounded the downed object. The leader looked around. "Uma, you were closest, where did that come from and why didn't we notice it sooner?"

The horse-masked man shrugged. "I don't know. It wasn't there, then I noticed something sink out of the ceiling, then it dropped."

Sarutobi decided to take a look at what they were dealing with. He approached the table, prepared to jump back and form a jutsu should he have to, but there was no attack. On the table before him was a boy. He only saw a very pale hand and a mop of blond hair, although a closer look showed a few red, brown, black, green, blue and silver streaks. For some reason, the boy seemed familiar. Then the boy turned his head slightly, and Sarutobi looked into a cerulean-blue eye that stood out of the pale face like a blue moon in a white sky. Sarutobi gasped.

The boy's lip twitched, it was probably supposed to be a smile. Then he spoke. "I'm sorry jiji, I didn't know where...else...to..." Then the eye closed, and the boy lost consciousness.

Chapter 4 is done. Took a while, but I hope it's still good, since it is a longer chapter.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! I hope you like your presents, both the ones you get and mine, these updates. I'll tell you this much, I was really pressured to get them all done, and I fear that some parts may have suffered under that strain, though I hope the results are still readable. Enjoy these chapters I updated, for I'm afraid they'll be the last for the next few years. I have been given a difficult and dangerous task that will take me to places I didn't know existed, far away from any internet-access or any other comfort of civilization. Wish me luck, there is a chance that I don't return, for I have been ordered to clean my room.

All jokes aside, I haven't cleaned the place in like a year, and there's no internet for me until it's done, so don't expect anything else from me this year. If you don't hear from me in the next few months, I have probably passed away, buried by an avalanche of stuff I had forgotten existed. So to all my readers I give you this now: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

I know, I know, the escape was beyond anti-climatic, but let's use common sense (I have no idea why they call it that, where I live, over 90% don't have it), while powerful and immensely talented, and soon to be ridiculously powerful, at that point, Naruto's only combat-experience were a few spars and one time where he went berserk and slaughtered people who were too shocked to really do anything. Not to mention that Naruto doesn't know how to properly use all of his abilities yet, and Orochimaru is not a amateur. He would have caught Naruto somehow had I not chosen that way of escape. And to get back to the topic of common sense, why make a loud, flashy jailbreak that is likely to end in failure when you can just go through the fucking wall and pop up wherever you want to? And when I wrote Naruto kept his real skills secret, I mean really secret. Orochimaru thinks that Naruto's current maximal size of Amaterasu he can create is the size of a candle-flame, while the Tsukiyomi-world Orochimaru knows is only three seconds. And he has no idea about the Rinnegan's abilities, or he would have sealed up that eye long ago. Naruto also generally downgraded his skills, to not reveal too much while in enemy-territory.

As you've doubtlessly noticed, I decided that I didn't like Naruto under Orochimaru's control, I prefer a more independent lifestyle for him. And before you ask, yes, Naruto will join Konoha as a shinobi, but he won't care much for the village as a whole, just for a limited number of people he cherishes. He didn't return to Konoha out of loyalty, he just didn't know where else to go, as he literally only knew Konoha and Orochimaru's labs, which kinda narrowed it down. He will travel a lot, thanks to Zetsu's ability he can easily do that while keeping up all his duties as a shinobi. He will also not be interested in the title of Hokage, as his problems will be a lot more existential, the main question having already been asked this chapter.

Oh, and those who want to know more about demons, fiends, devils and the different realms that I intend to have as background, please read my other story, Guardians of the Seal.

And since a few people asked, Naruto will not get the Cursed Seal, he has Juugo's undiluted power of free mutation, what could the seal give him?

One more thing, I wish to thank Gelionlegends, mabscottville, Lord of Random Destruction and Santaniel of Zodiac for reporting that my story has been copied, but it's cool. He asked for permission, I gave it to him, although I was a little disappointed at first, since I had expected a complete rewrite. But he already told me that his next chapters will be his work, so I have no problems with it. As long as I'm asked before and given credit, I don't really mind if people use my ideas.

By the way, the part with the last update for this year because of banishment was not a joke, so I'll skip to the reviews.

To Gallantmon of the Hazard: Orochimaru had planned to remove the Kyuubi, as thanks to Hidan's genes, Naruto wouldn't die from the extraction, and until that point was reached, the Kyuubi would keep Naruto alive, so it was actually the reason Orochimaru chose Naruto.

To dracohalo117: To answer your questions, no, Naruto will not get a second personality, it's more like a automatic defense-system than a actual personality. No conscious thought, no voices, just a few actions, like raising the scales in response to a danger Naruto might not be consciously aware of, moving out of potential danger-zones and a combat-autopilot for situations where Naruto's mind retreats while he's under attack. Although he will be able to instantly change his entire attitude, going from happy-go-lucky to dead-serious and back in seconds. As you've read, Naruto will be able to use the ritual, although his shape is a little different. I'll go into detail on what's special about Hidan and therefore Naruto in a different chapter. Finally, Kushina is alive and kicking, she'll make a reappearance next chapter, if I survive the clean(s)ing. Keep up the good work on your stories, I read all, loved all and impatiently wait for the next chapters, especially Naruto of the Four Dojutsu and Wrath to Come. And since I read the story that came before WtC, I was wondering, how many chapters do you think it'll take until Naruto becomes the new Juubi? Keep up the good work.

To HolyKnight5: Sorry to disappoint, but as fun as it would be, Orochimaru may not even try to lift the seal, as it might kill him and I need him alive so he can die later. Okay, that sounded just wrong, but you get the idea. And there will be some gods sticking their noses into Naruto's life, I might actually have some looks into the realm of the gods to organize.

To evilfrog01: I'm not sure on both points yet, but Sasuke will probably start off a asshole, being worshiped for no good reason will do that to people, but he may come over to the good side yet. And I have made no definite decision about the pairings yet, just a few thoughts.

To xyzinc: You have your answer for Samehada, and theoretically yes to the threads.

To the DragonBard: First of all, I'm not the first to make puppets out of corpses. And secondly, did you read through what Sasori explained about the procedure? Skinning, removing the internals, I think it's safe to assume that they will die at that point, so he will have to work with a corpse anyways, since he throws out almost everything and replaced it with wood or whatever the hell his puppets are made of. I am willing to guarantee that the victim will die long before they actually become a puppet, so I see no reason it shouldn't work. In my opinion, it's more important that those few practically irreplaceable parts that aren't thrown out are in good condition, and that the body has not rotted too much.

To Perfect Lionheart: I'm honored you grace me with your review, as I always find it nice to find that those with great stories read and like yours. And I can guarantee that under no circumstances will Naruto become a emo. He may have a weak moment or two, but he will always pull out of it before it get's too bad. And I agree, Orochimaru would have loads of bodies, but unlike Sasori, the number of puppets he could wield is limited, so it wouldn't do him much good to make every body he can steal out of a graveyard into a puppet, as he'll actually want somewhat good quality-puppets and not just cannon-fodder. And in my story, there is something very crucial that is needed to make a chakra-using human-puppet, and that's not the skeleton. I actually hadn't planned on saying it this early, but I'll give an obvious hint. The most important part of a human-puppet, the only part that can't be replaced if damaged, is the same part that kept Sasori alive as a human-puppet and allowed him to still produce chakra to form it into strings. And while martial arts would make thing easier, I don't think they're really needed. Take the puppets that have never been human, like Crow or Salamander. They are built with additional limbs, or on completely nonhuman concepts, yet there is no problem in using them effectively, even if the puppeteer has two arms and the puppet six or a tail, things the puppeteer can't really relate to his own body, not to mention the puppet can fly and the puppeteer can't. And a puppet can do many things impossible for a human body, yet possible for a puppeteer to make the puppet do. In my opinion, puppetry is a art that relies on both getting used to puppets and good old try and error. Also, Orochimaru takes the skills of his former bodies with him, so all he has to do is properly adjust to his new body to be able to fight as good as before, if the body is fast and flexible enough, which Naruto is, thanks to his training with Kimimaro. Orochimaru also takes accuracy with him, so after adjusting to his new body, he will be just as good a sniper as he was before, and if he assimilates the host's knowledge of how to move puppets with his own combat-skills, it would likely only take a few weeks to get the puppets to fight on whole-new levels, so there's not much need for Orochimaru to do more than make sure the boy is strong, fast and flexible enough for his needs. And your idea about the transforming biomass is good, but it wouldn't work. He could turn the bone into thread or paper, but those will always know they were bone before, and therefore turn back into bone. The mutating flesh is possible, but in order to make the organism able of actual life, he'd have to produce a lot in little time, which even he can't do if he can't absorb additional biomass, which Naruto currently has scruples of doing, as it would set him even further away from humanity.

To c im a dragon: He knows how to do the techniques, but he would still have to actually practice them to be able to use them.

To Darksnider05: The funny part is, when I got the idea, it was supposed to be little more than something that allows him to use his puppets to be used more effectively, I didn't even realize what I was getting myself into until afterwords, but I've always been the type to say "If you screw up, work with what you have. If you try to fix things, they usually only get worse", so I'll work with Naruto's increased mental potential, although in Naruto's mindscape, the majority of that knowledge will be sealed away into what will essentially be a mental library, as nobody can live so many other lives and remain sane. He will be able to draw on whatever he wants, but it won't constantly flood his mind all the time. And thanks for the good luck, I have a feeling that I might need it.

To Burn Note: Don't worry, I'm working on antagonists, both major and minor, canon and OC, which is harder than it may sound at first.

For this year, that's it. So my dear readers,

Please Review