AN: Author Note – Alltariss – This chapter is the beginning of many plots and conspiracies, as well as the thorned path both Naruto and Alto have to walk.

Chapter 14

I am the Prison. Not the Jailed.

The past year had been a whirlwind of unending questions for Kyōko. She had spent many hours at the library sweeping through the old archives in search of answers whenever the opportunity came by.

Naruto had started speaking a month before he was a year old, surprisingly early since most pick up the ability between their first and second year. Now at the age of two he was already capable of speaking at a level expected of children a few years older. If it were any other child Kyōko would have praised him as some sort of genius, but Naruto was no ordinary child. She had discovered that several high-ranking ninja seemed to already know about the boy. What exactly they knew about him was a mystery to her.

Alto could speak, but very rarely did so. It was to such an extent that Kyōko had thought the boy to be a mute. When he did speak it was at a similar level to Naruto's, at least, that was her assumption based on the small snippets of conversations she overheard between the two boys. Another element of strangeness was that despite wearing the blindfold since infancy, Alto never once seemed blind. He was able to navigate around the orphanage and even participate in the games that the children would usually play. Hide-and-Seek was the game that Alto was best at, for whenever he was the seeker he would find everyone without fail.

Naruto had consistently displayed his ability to manipulate emotions, but besides Kyōko no one suspected anything out of the ordinary. As far as they were concerned the child was simply a good peacemaker. Kyōko was the only one who could sense the slight usage of Chakra whenever Naruto stepped in to break up a fight between some of the older boys who tended to argue frequently. Just as he did during his infancy, their anger would quickly subside leaving them quite passive for a while.

Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Akimichi Chōza. They all know about Naruto, Inoichi would have definitely told them about the child's illegitimate status. They're thick as thieves. They may know something about Alto, but I've never been able to confirm it as I have with Naruto.

Kyōko slowly made her way through the streets towards the bank. The Daimyō's government deposited an allowance in an account to cover the costs of maintaining the orphanage as well as to care for each of the children they housed. It was based on the number of children they currently had and would cover for their food, clothing, and also enabled them to get a basic civilian education. Any money they could save was used for small luxuries such as toys or equipment for the children.

He obviously told them about Naruto, if only because they would help him hide the connection to his clan. But why are there so many others that seem to know about this secret? The Inuzuka clan definitely know about him. Even their dogs seem to know the boy. The Aburame clan knows as well, not sure about their insects though. Are insects even capable of that level of thinking? The Hyūga know about it, I've seen some of their members discretely use their Byakugan soon after they notice him.

Soon she reached the bank and noticed not many people were inside. She met with a teller and made the necessary payments and withdrawals. After all the financial work was done she made her way back home.

"I wasn't sure of it at first, but now I'm almost certain of her intentions."

The room was populated by a number of different people, each cloaked and masked. With the small space barely lit by a single candle, it made identifying any one person an impossible task for a ninja. Unfortunately for them, Ishikawa was no ordinary ninja.

Thank Kami there's only one candle. Any more would make this job harder than it already is. It's been five minutes and I'm already breaking a sweat.

The ceiling was supported by a single wooden beam from which he was clinging to. Spiked gloves and shoes enabled him to lay flat against it. It was fortunate that he chose to forgo wearing his flak-jacket leaving him only in black standard fatigues. The extra weight would only have hindered him.

"Care to explain?"

"The matron of the orphanage has been combing through the archives at the central library trying to find information regarding the Jinchūriki."

"Has she discovered the truth?"

"No, she's pursuing the wrong leads and getting nowhere. She has been looking for references to the Yamanaka clan. She believes, based on the appearance of one of the Jinchūriki that he may be an illegitimate child belonging to that clan."

"I don't blame her. With the way the boy looks anyone would think he was a part of that clan. There aren't that many people with that hair or eye colour."

"What of the other child? I hear he wears a blindfold at all times."

"She believes that the other child has a Dōjutsu(Eye Techniques) that is related to the Byakugan. Based on the reports I've received she could be right. The child has no problems whatsoever finding his way around the orphanage despite wearing a blindfold."

There were a few moments of silence in which each member of the cabal considered the information they were now informed of.

Ishikawa had carefully taken note of all that was spoken. As carefully as he could, he slowly allowed a small portion of his Chakra to activate the gifts his predecessors had given him. His perception of the room became much clearer and so were the identities of each member of the secret meeting. He recognised them all as members of various groups and factions. Some were from the civilian council, others from the merchant guilds, but the member that interested him the most was the one that wore the Yakuza clan symbol.

Most people involved with the Yakuza clan aren't truly members related by blood or marriage, but simply employees. Each one under the command of the higher ranked members who cater to the desires of the Yakuza Nine.

No doubt he's grunt for the Master of Death. Katsumi prefers a less obvious approach to manipulation.

"I have taken the liberty to lead her in the right direction."

"Is that wise?"

"Jinchūriki are by nature an abomination. We'd be better off without them."

"But how are we to fend off those belonging to our enemies?"

"Kumo is the only one that poses a problem. They treat their Jinchūriki as if their actually human."

The Yakuza member laughed darkly.

"They're nothing but rabid beasts in human skin. The sooner they're dead the sooner we can actually make this nation pure again."

"Pure again," each member of the cabal intoned in unison.

Ishikawa watched as each member slowly left the room, his thoughts swirling around far too many topics.

I know they've infiltrated the Emperor's Court, the Shōgun's Circle, the National Government, and the Regional Government. It would have been so easy for them. Rig the votes, veiled threats here and there, subtle propaganda where it's needed. A bloodless takeover. A pity that that their machinations will be recorded. If I fail at least my successor will finish what I've started.

Kyōko didn't know what to make of the message that she had received from the unknown informant. She had noticed the note that had been left on her desk.

What you seek lies not in wars past, but in the annals of myth. The history of those who once walked among us as behemoths of despair and destruction.

At first she had no idea what the message had meant, but after she had spent some time alone in her room to ponder she knew instantly where to look.

Behemoths who brought despair and destruction. That could only mean the Bijū. The Kyūbi was destroyed as far as we were informed.

Suddenly everything made sense. The reason why everyone seemed to know about the boys and why they were wary of them. The Hyūga, Uchiha, Inuzuka, Aburame, Nara, Akimichi, and the Yamanaka.

No wonder they wanted to cover up the whole incident! What clan would want the shame of housing the demon that brought so much death and destruction to our village? And it's clear that there's no guarantee that they can successfully contain the demon. Probably why they split the demon in two. A creature as powerful as the Kyūbi couldn't possibly exist within a single child.

Though her thoughts were running haphazardly through her mind, she had a good idea of what the boys were. Jinchūriki were horrors that were spoken of during the wars. She had heard of some situations where they had participated in battle. Butchers that bathed in the blood and flesh of her comrades, creatures pretending to be human. Deep within them, under the skin, beneath the flesh, and beyond the bone, laid an abomination that contained the unbridled fury that brought her village to its knees.

It was at this point that Kyōko knew she had to act. She could not in good conscience house those two boys along with all the other children.

It would be only a matter of time before something sets them off and they slaughter us all.

Attached to the orphanage was a small shack that was used as a storage room. Within lay a variety of supplies that were used by the carers to maintain the area. Unbeknownst to all but her, was that there was a safe room hidden underneath the floor. Originally designed specifically for when the village was under attack and normal evacuation procedures couldn't be followed. The entrance of the safe room required only an insignificant pulse of Chakra, something that only Kyōko could pull off.

She was the only carer that had Chakra-based training. While the Corruption had indeed eaten away at her Keirakukei, it had not robbed her of the control of Chakra. The veins and coils had eroded to the point where majority of her Chakra bled into her body and into the environment. To a Chakra Sensor, Kyōko was a shining light amongst most energy signatures.

It would be a long sleepless night as she planned events that would forever change the course of history.

Ishikawa returned to his office and immediately deactivated the array of seals that covered his body. Within a single heartbeat all the Chakra that had been restrained burst forth and flooded his Keirakukei. It was like taking a fresh breath after being held underwater. He stumbled and gripped the edge of his desk, the sudden shift of internal energy was disorienting.

"So, how was it?"

Sitting on his couch was none other than Jiraiya, calmly drinking saké. The spymaster didn't even bother to look at him.

"Fucking awful," Ishikawa answered. "It took the better part of an hour simply adjust to the feeling. Moving as I do without Chakra, it was like learning to walk all over again."

Jiraiya placed the saucer of saké down before moving towards his friend. Ishikawa turned around to show the seal on his back.

"I'm surprised you didn't die considering the multitude of shit that could have gone wrong with this idea," Jiraiya stated, inspecting the seal for damage. "Any seal that's applied directly onto organic material is subject to a myriad of catastrophic failures. You're lucky that my sensei came up with this idea to get around such obstacles. It might only work for a few things, but it's certainly better than nothing."

When the complexity of the Intended Object of Application exceeds a certain threshold it becomes prone to failures that can be sometimes violent.

"It worked perfectly as required," Ishikawa countered.

"Only because I made the entire design extremely open for interpretation, which is an extremely stupid thing to do. Yet another thing that could have caused catastrophic failure."

"So what did you find out in today's small meeting," asked Jiraiya.

"Besides the fact that we have people on several different levels that are part of the cabal, I really don't know where to begin."

Ishikawa sat on the couch and took a swig of saké straight from the bottle.

"That bad, huh?"

"They're aware of the boys being Jinchūriki, and to make matters worse they've gone ahead and informed the matron of the orphanage of this fact. That damn woman was already curious about them and it was our luck that she was searching in all the wrong places. Now, she knows exactly where to look."

Jiraiya sat beside him and poured himself another round of saké.

"I'm supposed to be their godfather you know?" he began. "I was supposed to take care of them and everything, but the things we've heard and the shit we've seen. We both know a storm's coming and that the only way we can survive is if we turn them into war deterrents."

Ishikawa nodded resentfully. "We knew long before they were born that we were gonna end up in hell for all the shit we did in the name of our village, our country, for whatever ideals we were fighting for at the time."

He took a swig of alcohol before continuing. "Now here we are, discussing about how we're gonna turn two innocent boys into weapons of mass destruction. Has anything really changed so far? Aren't we just doing the same bullshit over and over hoping for different results?"

Neither man spoke after that, each wanting to drink their sins away throughout the night.

Kyōko had searched the library up and down for all the records regarding the Bijū. The topic was one that was deemed classified even to regular ninja, but she had found a single record that had been miss-filed. The short journal-like paper had described that it was common practice to seal the Bijū into human form in order to try and turn them into weapons. Yet, such practice resulted in failure as the new form would succumb to the will of the beast within. Thus, it was later hypothesised that killing the humanoid beast didn't release the Bijū, but would instead kill them. Even though such has never been done as it would remove the opportunity of gaining a powerful weapon.

Armed with this knowledge Kyōko knew exactly what she needed to do. She would lock the both of them within the hidden bunker and would exact vengeance upon them for all they had done during the attack.

I'll make them suffer, make them bleed. For my friends, for all those who lost everything because of those monsters. And when I'm done I'll burn them to ashes so that they'll never hurt anyone again.

It would be a month later when she had gathered all that she required to prepare the bunker into what was now a holding cell designed to torture its captives. She had planned the event that would see the boys go missing without getting any suspicion placed on her.

She had created a hole in the fence that was hidden behind some foliage and was only big enough for a child the same size as the Jinchūriki. When the boys are declared missing one of the employees would no doubt find the hole and assume that the boys had escaped from there. The military-police and even the regular ninja forces would all search the entire Pleasure District and would find no signs of either boys. Kyōko knew they would search until it became an exercise in futility.

Naruto and Alto had slept soundly for what would be the last time in the orphanage.

When the two boys awoke they had no idea where they were. Their current location had four walls of concrete. A single door made of solid steel at their back marked the only entrance in and out of the area. Two pairs of chains with cuffs adorned the far wall, the ends of them higher than either child could reach alone. Both sides of the room comprised of shelving filled with all sorts of tools and supplies.

The door slammed open and then quickly shut. Kyōko appeared before them with a look of cold stoicism.

"What's happening?" Naruto asked.

Without even answering she roughly picked up Alto by the collar of his shirt and dragged him away. She ignored the sudden shouts of surprise and shock. She cuffed Alto to the wall with his legs dangling a good three feet off the ground. His face pressed against the wall so as to leave his back exposed. Naruto ran and grabbed Kyōko's trousers in a futile attempt to stop her. The young boy soon found himself strung up in cuffs when she was finished with Alto.

"Why are you doing this?!" Alto screamed. "We didn't do anything?!"

Kyōko huffed in annoyance. "You can stop pretending to be human. I'm sure it's all fun and games for you isn't it? Thinking nobody would notice, nobody would punish you for your crimes against us."

Her face warped into one of gleeful madness. "You thought your little mental ability could stop me? I can feel you using it and it's worthless. My Keirakukei is broken beyond belief and I have you to thank for that. But, while you've reduced me to less than a civilian, you've granted me immunity from your ability."

Naruto had streaks of tears pouring down his face. He couldn't comprehend the horror of what their caretaker was doing to them. Soon enough he would face even greater horrors at her hands.

"The both of you are going to have so much fun! I'm going to write all about it. And when it's all over I'll be a hero whose fame will stand alongside the Hokage's!"

2246, October

I have decided to write a journal regarding my efforts to take vengeance on and eventually destroy the demon that had so violently attacked our peaceful village. There are so many truths that have been hidden from us. The Bijū, Kyūbi, was not defeated as we have been told; it still lives on in a different form. There is so much to tell, so let me start from the beginning.

The Kyūbi is no ordinary demon. It is classified as one of the nine greatest demons to roam our lands. These nine demons are collectively called Bijū. They have been a part of our world since the beginning and have terrorised us for no reason other than to destroy us all. It was some time during the formation of our village that we decided to seal the beasts into human form.

This is what created the Jinchūriki. We created them to become weapons at our beck and call. While using the demons in human form enabled us to control them, we have forgotten the true reason we sealed the beasts. Or perhaps we simply decided that having them as pets was more useful. Unfortunately, they are a constant threat. If the seal weakens then the demon resumes its true form and will attack us.

The Kyūbi was sealed into a human form and the seal failed since the demon was able to unlock it. After it restored itself to its original form, it viciously attacked us hoping to wipe us out. This is what led to so many of our families, friends, and comrades having to suffer beneath its wrath. Now the beast is once again sealed, but this time into two separate human forms.

The true purpose that we sealed the beasts into human form was that we could easily kill them. Since the beasts are unaccustomed to our form they are extremely weak, thus they are at our mercy.

I have found the Kyūbi's human forms and have trapped them within my hidden chambers. Soon I will begin taking vengeance on them for all of our fallen.

End of Log

2246, October

The filthy beasts insist on pretending to be human. They've been chained to the wall for a few days now. Already covered in their own filth, so afraid of what I have in store for them.

Jinchūriki are known to heal at a far faster rate than most. Any wound, big or small will be healed as fast and as accurately as possible to ensure that the beast's human form is in good enough shape to eventually break the seal and return to their human form.

Tomorrow, I will begin conducting the first experiments.

End of Log

2246, October

The experiment was a resounding success. The half of the beast that calls himself Naruto heals at an amazing pace. I performed multiple incisions into his arms and the very flesh that I had severed seemed to almost have a mind of its own. The severed flesh reached towards each other and attached with perfection. No medic save Tsunade could possibly heal someone to such a degree.

The other half of the beast that calls himself Alto seems to heal very differently. The flesh slowly knits itself together, but it isn't perfect. It seems crude and leaves a lot of scarring. At this point it appears obvious that Naruto inherited the better deal when it comes to healing. His flesh autonomously repairs itself even after the beast fell unconscious from shock.

Alto on the other hand autonomously repairs his body, but suffers from the same limitations as we humans do. Imperfect connections between nerves, muscle fibres, and tissue in general. Thus, he also scars as we do. This is perfect, absolutely perfect. Naruto will feel the same pain as his other half, but only Alto will truly have to live with the scars until I kill them.

I'll leave them to rot for a while before I continue with my experiments.

End of Log.

Naruto looked towards his brother as Kyōko began to prepare her tools for the next torturous session. Alto who once could have been described as a cute child was now reduced to a horrifically scarred wretch. His pale flesh was now covered in multiple marks and scars that overlapped each other. There were few places that were yet to be touched and it was tonight that Kyōko would be working on the yet unscarred flesh.

Naruto had figured out early on to block out the pain, a remarkable strength of will that most couldn't achieve. No matter how much he was forced to suffer, he no longer allowed himself to pass out. He made sure that he was awake so that he could see what Kyōko would then inflict on his brother. So far she had only been using all manner of cutting tools. Knives, blades, surgical equipment like scalpels and medical scissors, all in the pursuit of inflicting pain.

Alto could no longer see. Kyōko had unshackled him and being far too weak and wounded, he showed little resistance to being strapped down to a portable operating table. She had figured that his eyes would retain their powers even after being severed from him. She believed them to function in a method that was similar to the Sharingan and Byakugan. She thought to sell the eyes to whatever clan would pay the most for them. Or that the village itself would pay for them in order to replicate for multiple implantations.

Each brother remembered the entire process vividly, one a little more permanently than the other. Every cut, every scream, shout, and struggle. Naruto watched as Kyōko placed several attachments to hold Alto's head into a vice. The tortured boy couldn't move his head at all, not even a fraction of an inch. Alongside him were tables that held preservation fluids for a purpose that he would soon know.

Kyōko wore a thick medical mask that helped prevent any foreign particles from entering her lungs. A precaution that was necessary since she never cleaned up the messes that the boys would make. Whenever they needed to relieve themselves they were forced to do so whilst chained and freely hanging a few feet off the ground. There were sections of the wall that were stained stale yellow from urination and the floor beneath them was dark brown bordering black from the dried faeces. They had little choice but to defecate in such a shameful manner and Kyōko enjoyed watching them wallow in their own filth.

Kyōko stretched the skin around Alto's right eye and positioned her scalpel for the first incision. He tried to close his eyes in a futile effort, but her grip was strong. She started from the tear ducts and worked her way along the soft tissue of his socket before stopping at the cheekbone. Alto screamed he writhed as much as his body would allow. He wanted to run, wanted to weep, and wanted so much for the pain to end. She made a curved cut from the cheekbone till the corner of his eyebrow. Working around the black hair, she continued until she finally came full circle back through the valley between brows and to the first cut.

Ignoring the copious amounts of blood that flowed forth, she lifted the flesh up as the scalpel cut away more and more. After a minute she pulled the severed flesh off the boy's face and tossed it away into the pile of excrement beneath Naruto. The Jinchūriki didn't shout or scream, shocked into paralysing silence. Through the blood she could clearly see the muscle and sinew around the eye socket.

Alto convulsed like a freshly caught fish desperately trying to free itself. He wailed in agony at the loss of flesh and the now exposed eyeball rotated in crazed directions as blood clouded its vision. Kyōko then put the scalpel away and took a strange tool in her hand. The handle was that of a scissor, but instead of two cutting blades it was four curved prongs. She tested the strange tool and Naruto watched as the prongs opened and closed almost like the petals of a flower. She positioned the tips around Alto's eye and slowly enclosed the device. She pulled the eyeball out until she could clearly see the thin rope of flesh that kept the organ functional as well as housing the optical nerve. Grabbing a pair of scissors with her other hand, she swiftly cut the flesh away before placing it in the jar she prepared beforehand.

Kyōko marvelled at the sight of the organ as it floated around in the preservation fluid. The entirety of the eye that was usually white with thin red veins was coloured black. The only part not of that shade was the iris and pupil that remained a bright white and even though it was now severed from the body, it seemed to still retain a slight glow.

"A demon you may be, but at least you'll serve a greater purpose."

She chuckled slightly as she lifted the jar and placed it carefully on the storage shelf.

"Your sacrifice will be for the good of the village."

She picked up the scalpel once more and started the process all over again.

It is said that when one is deprived of a single form of sense, then the rest become more effective. In most cases this is a falsity. It is merely that the individual is simply more acutely aware of their remaining senses and thus consciously focuses them to make up for the loss off the sense.

When Alto's eyes were forcefully removed, he awoke the next day with a crippling sense of fear. Humans rely on sight for the majority of their functional life. To perceive the world around them, to communicate in subtle nuances, to work in tandem with the other senses in order to get capture moments and memories instead of just static images. The blindfold he wore served to cloak the abnormal colouration of his eyes as well as blinding him. Though it was made of material impossible for normal eyes to see through, Alto was still able to see the world, just not the same as most do.

The world consisted of a variety of colours that were in various shapes, but also had some fluidity. The colours would stay within certain shapes or structures, but some would leak out and merge with others before shifting into entirely different colours. He couldn't comprehend what each one meant and hence relied on both touch and sound to make his way around the orphanage. It was later that he managed to make sense of some the colours that made up the world around him.

It was energy; each colour was energy of a different kind. The Sharingan and Byakugan could only see Chakra in its complete form, but Alto could perceive the components that Chakra was created from. He would spend hours watching the other children play and watch as the energies would dance and fuse together in a myriad of wispy tendrils and twisted coils. Every single person was unique and Kyōko was the strangest one of all. Her body radiated energy; it was akin to a light-bulb. It bled out into the environment leaving clear trails wherever she travelled.

Tonight, Alto would surpass his limits. His mind in disarray from extended torture, his body repairing itself haphazardly, soon it would bear fruit. He could feel a strange sensation within himself, a sense of vertigo assailed him as his remaining senses recalibrated themselves. A wave of nausea hit him and he expelled what little food that he had been fed leaving an acidic burn along his throat.

He acclimatised to the foreign sensation after an hour and the world was no longer empty. It was still dark, but not devoid of existence. He just knew exactly where the shelves were and where all the tools on them were placed. He just knew where Naruto was and his exact state and condition. He just knew how far the walls were from him, and the exact dimensions of the passageway beyond the steel door. The whole world was open to him in a way that his eyes used to show, but still so very different.

He tilted his head upwards and could feel precisely where Kyōko was.

"I can see you."

AN: Author Note – Alltariss – Another chapter done! Sorry for taking so long but real life is very demanding. (T-T)