Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto, but this fanfic and the ideas and original characters within it are mine.
Summary: We've all seen the stories where someone is transported to the Naruto world, so what if things are switched. How is our world going to handle Naruto? Non-crack
Note: This start of this story is set pre-Sasuke betrayal, post-Godaime. It's about the time that Sasuke is released from the hospital, but before Sound gets him.
--
Humane Studies
Chapter 3: Scratching the Surface
6:52 pm, Day 0, America, Area 51, Complex D7, Subject Room of A8
Ino was quite annoyed with the turn of events up to this point in time. First her Sasuke-kun's perverted teacher (or at least that's what Sakura always called him) had taken them to a strange world in the middle of an examination because someone had attacked them. Ino didn't remember the details very clearly, but she did remember black cloaks with red puffs that resembled simple clouds, the kind she used to draw in pictures as a child. Oh, and she remembered the man standing just within the forest edge. His blond hair was gorgeous.
After the unexpected shift in worlds, that lazy bum Shikamaru had been allowed to order them all around just because he was a chunin. Ino still couldn't fathom why he, of all people, had been promoted. Surely her Sasuke-kun had deserved the title much more! After all, he had battled that crazy sand-nin who had absolutely destroyed that eyebrow-kid in the prelims. If anyone had the guts to go up against such a freaky opponent, then they definitely earned the title of chunin in her opinion! Those old bats on the council didn't know a thing. Yeah, that was it.
Anyway, back to her mental rant. After that they had been cornered by the color-flashing, roaring monsters that had eaten people (and Ino didn't care what that prick Neji said; those things were monsters whether they were alive or not!). Sasuke-kun had…Ino pushed the thoughts of what Sasuke had done and said to Naruto out of her mind, ignoring them. He had just been scared, that was it. If only he wasn't so brave, he could have come to her and allowed her to comfort him properly! But one day he would admit his undying affection for her and she could cuddle him all she wanted. Take that, forehead girl!
Ahem, moving on. The group had threatened them with more monsters and people with fast boomerang-like weapons (though they didn't need to throw them), and the next thing Ino remembered was waking up in an uncomfortably vertical position, a bed at her back and metal straps holding her against it. A blank white wall was in front of her, and nothing had changed since then.
Oh, and they had taken her clothes! She was in this white body suit which, she admitted, wasn't that bad, but probably didn't go well with her hair at all. She was too light skinned to pull off light clothes well. Maybe if she got a tan like that moron, Naruto…if there was one thing she grudgingly envied about the brat, it was his skin tone. He made it look so easy to get a perfect golden tan.
But at least with pale skin, she and Sasuke's future babies would all be beautiful and ivory-skinned. The boys would look just like their father, and the girls would take after her grandmother, who had the loveliest shade of blonde hair Ino had ever seen. Ino didn't like her own hair color—it was much too close to white to appreciate. Ino's eyes were also pale blue, whereas her grandmother's had been a deeper, truer blue, like the twilight sky.
Ino was so lost in her thoughts of mini-Sasukes running around a perfect house and an adult Sasuke coming home to tell her that he loved her every day (even though he was busy as an ANBU commander) that she didn't at first notice the way the whole room felt as though it was suddenly shifting along a track very steadily. She also failed to notice that shortly after the movement had stopped, the right side of the wall in front of her opened quietly. She did, however, hear the click of the door closing, and she glanced over to see a tall man with curly brown hair and a white lab coat watching her curiously. She glanced briefly at the box under his arm, long enough to note that it didn't appear to be a weapon, and then locked eyes with him again.
Ah, her chance to escape! She quickly focused on her family's renowned mind-transfer, and then tried to mold chakra to perform it.
Nothing happened. She couldn't even feel the chakra moving through her coils. It was as if she was…empty. She tried again, thin brows furrowing in irritation, but again, nothing happened.
The man was watching her with a slightly sheepish smile now.
"Hello," he said, and Ino was somewhat relieved that this man spoke her native language instead of the babble that the boomerang people spouted. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he moved behind her.
"I'd feel a lot better if I knew where the hell I was," she replied snidely, straining against her bindings to bring the man back into her line of vision.
A chuckle sounded behind her, making her blood boil with indignation. He was laughing at her!
"You're safely under government watch for the moment, so don't fret," the brunet man said as he came back to stand in front of her, holding a weird helmet looking thing with tons of wires coming out the top.
Ino looked at the device warily. "What's that?" she asked, trying (and failing) to skitter backwards when he adjusted her head restraints and placed it snugly on her head.
"Just relax, I'm running some tests on your health," the man answered. Health? Ino thought as the tall man disappeared from sight again. He must be a doctor. Well, great. Maybe he would kill her quickly since he knew all the fatal points in the body.
But, wait. If he was testing her health…well, hell, what did that mean? That he wasn't there to harm her? If he wasn't an enemy then he shouldn't be keeping her locked up. Maybe they were a neutral party? And then Ino suddenly remembered that this wasn't even the same world, and that these people didn't have chakra (according to the freaky eyed Hyuuga boy and equally weird bug boy). What did that change?
It doesn't change anything, Ino thought agitatedly. I'm a ninja! I have to escape from here and then find Sasuke-kun!
And so with that resolution firmly in mind, the girl again focused on performing her family's mind switch technique once the man came back. But to her disappointment and worry, she once again couldn't feel a thing moving within her. Maybe it was because she couldn't use her special hand seal to mold the chakra? Yeah, yeah, that must be it. Well, hand seals were only a physical way to help move chakra. She had heard about people who could mold it without seals, and she remembered what her father had told her (half in jest) years ago: "A Yamanaka can do anything if they put their mind to it." So she continued trying to perform the mind-switch, doubling her efforts when the man came around in front of her.
She had been trying and failing to do this for several minutes before the man moved away and then came back and took the helmet off her, a strange wide-eyed yet scrunched expression on his face. Ino was starting to get a headache, which naturally made her more irritable.
"What did you do to me?" Ino asked, automatically looking for someone else to blame for her lack of ability.
"Just a test on your brain," he answered vaguely as he again walked behind her bed.
Ino froze. He was testing her brain? Ahah, he was trying to steal her family's secret, find out how the Yamanaka clan could do the mind swap! So he was an enemy ninja!
"You'll have to kill me first!" Ino said valiantly, feeling very proud of her bravery in the face of torture. Of course, if she had been in the face of real shinobi torture practices, she probably wouldn't have had so much spunk, but the pretty young blonde was oblivious to this fact.
The man had been heading to the invisible door, once again holding the box, when she said this. He paused after he opened it, leaning back around the door to give her a confused look. "Why in the world would I do that?" he asked.
Now they were both staring at each other in confusion. When the man received no answer, he smiled hesitantly. "It was nice to meet you," he said pleasantly, and then left Ino alone again.
Ino was suddenly reminded of what had happened after her father, Inoichi, had said "A Yamanaka can do anything if they put their mind to it."
Shikamaru's heavily scarred father had laughed boomingly and asked "What mind? You all lose your minds every day!"
Ino screeched in frustration. I haven't lost my mind, dammit!
As if in opposition to her thought, a strange feeling of movement fell on her, as though she were being carried on a very steady cart.
Ino gulped nervously, glancing around for the source of the movement and finding nothing.
Okay, she conceded to herself, maybe just a little.
--
7:10 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, on the way to the Medical Experimentation Area
Shia, the main leader of the youngest scientific group in Japan, was not having a good day. It had gone downhill since the annoyance of that blond male subject, and seemed to be getting progressively worse. There was too much information and thought building in her head; she needed time to sit down and process everything. But noooo. Just when she'd found a nice empty break room and a comfy couch, that damn Call had turned on.
As she silently stormed toward the green light, originating in the Medical Experimentation Area (EA), one clear thought passed through the tumult in her head. This had better be good.
When she arrived, the Main Medic Ukire promptly caught her attention and turned the Call off. She joined him on the outside of the single Subject Room (SR), where the body of subject A12 continued depleting. Ukire was standing in front of a computer that was built into the wall above the control panel, yellow sunglasses hiding his eyes.
"I finally figured out what's wrong," he told her without preamble, voice rushed as he began bringing schematics up on the touch screen. A scanned image of the outline of the male subject's body came onto the screen. "Before we did initial scans of the boy's body, we cleaned out his system so that there wouldn't be any interference. The scans then revealed that his fat stores were rapidly disappearing—" The outline of the body on the screen filled with simple visuals of organs and systems within the body, then showed the pink-colored lipids quickly disappearing. "—the question was: how? More in depth scans of the cells themselves and the changes happening in the body over time revealed that the deterioration is the same kind as seen when a person is working off fat through exercise. The fat molecules were being broken down and sent throughout the body, and we've found trace amounts in every cell." A molecule appeared on the screen and then broke apart into individual atoms. Green lighted pathways began circulating throughout the body.
"Unfortunately," Ukire continued, "we lose track of the molecules here. Instead of being used in the process of cellular respiration to make ATP, as they normally would, they basically…disappear. The farthest we can track them with the scanners is into the mitochondria; from there, I have no idea what happens to them." The green pathways in the body on the screen slowly faded into nothing. "If I knew why this was happening, I could stop it," Ukire muttered resignedly. "At this rate, whatever process is occurring will continue to deplete his fat reserves and then move on to other body tissue in a few short hours."
Shia watched and listened to all of this, and then pulled a pad of post-its and a mechanical pencil out of her breast pocket, mind racing with solutions to this puzzle. She wrote down several key words, which Ukire looked over her shoulder to see: ATP was connected to Energy, which had small print under it saying "chakra." Ukire's raised his eyebrows at the unfamiliar word, but he watched as she wrote the word Process and then made a connecting line between Process and Chakra with the words "to make."
"Process to make Chakra"? This, of course, made absolutely no sense to him, so Ukire simply waited while Shia stared at the paper in thought.
Shortly after, her eyes snapped onto him and she began speaking quickly—quickly for her, which, unfortunately for Ukire, was practically babble, as her normal speech was rather speedy. "I talked with one of the subjects and he said that the energy the berserk boy displayed was called 'chakra.'" As he worked out what she had said, the twisted puzzle began to slowly unwind in Ukire's mind, and the light of comprehension showed through the slow relaxing of his facial muscles. Shia's, however, stayed hard. "If the fat is breaking down and going through all the same processes of cellular respiration until it hits the mitochondria, where it then disappears from our scanners, then the only explanation I can come up with is that the fat is being made into this 'chakra' instead of ATP. Now the only question is why is it only happening to this subject and not any of the others?" Shia stared off into space as she tried to come up with the answer to this confusing question. "Perhaps we were wrong to assume…" she trailed off.
Ukire paused to take this all in, turning to look through the glass into the SR to see the boy whose body was basically performing miracles never recorded in history. This boy, unlike the rest of the subjects, was resting horizontally on the bed with doctors and nurses bustling about him. The fat on his face was mostly gone, revealing a smooth, strong jaw and high cheekbones. Twin swirling tattoos marked his cheeks and his hair stood wild atop his head. His expression was subtly pinched with pain and his fists clenched and unclenched spasmodically. Damn it, if only they had more information.
A research assistant came bustling up at that moment. "Minamo-sama," she addressed Ukire formally. Most of the assistants were not part of their original group, and so did not know the experts as personally as they knew each other. However, Shia was careful in who she picked to trust, so the necessary extra aids were never adverse to keeping quiet when it came to the government they supposedly answered to. "Kamara-sama would like a word; he says there's something you need to see."
Ukire and Shia exchanged glances before quickly following the woman away from the SR and over to a lab table where Kamara Jiru, one of the expert medics under Ukire, was waiting. He pointed at the microscope he was looking through and spoke gravely while they examined its contents. Normally he was of a kind and joking disposition, but he when to be serious.
"Ukire-sama, you told me to examine the contents of the boy's stomach for any kind of abnormalities. What I did find were trace amounts of RBP4," he said.
Ukire looked confused at this news. Shia glanced up from her examination of the microscopic contents on the slide. "Retinol Binding Protein 4? Isn't that the counteraction to…?"
Ukire nodded quickly, long hair trailing the movements of his head. "Insulin: the protein that stimulates the synthesis of fat. But trace amounts shouldn't be doing anything…Jiru-san, what else did you find?"
He shrugged. "The stomach itself was mostly empty; all I found was the Retinol 4 and a few mostly digested food particles. The small intestine was also mostly empty, and there was very, very little fecal matter. Based on this, I'd say the boy hasn't eaten in a while—perhaps a day or longer."
"It's completely possible," Shia spoke up, "considering that we have no idea where they're from, how long they've been here, or what they've been doing—aside from running around the streets of San Fran. Do we know what the conditions of the other subjects are?"
"With respect to food?" Ukire asked as he started going through the database on a nearby computer. "Well, Kerisu's scans are showing average eating habits in all of the others—sort of. A7 isn't eating quite as much starch as he could. But all the same, the other subjects are still receiving dietary supplement."
Shia frowned as she gazed at the SR several dozen feet away. Why would this subject be different from the rest? Perhaps food supplies were limited as of late, and the bulky boy had been deemed the least needy? It was a strange, but logical, conclusion. Shia mentally marked it as a possibility and had just started moving on to others when the third and last Medical expert, Derubi Akane, came over.
"Hey guys," Akane greeted them with a wink. He was a joker at heart. "I found something odd in several different cells of the boy's body; here, take a look." He slipped a slide under an empty microscope and adjusted the lens before moving out of the way for Ukire to see.
"…more RBP4?"
Akane nodded. "And it's affecting the cells strongly," he confirmed. "I've found large amounts in every cell in the body; blood tests confirm that this kid's had more than enough for two fully-grown men." He grinned. "Talk about fast weight loss."
"Does he have type 2 diabetes?" Jiru asked, but Ukire shot this idea down almost immediately.
"We found traces of the protein in his stomach—that means he ingested RBP4 on his own. In other words…"
"…Steroids?" Akane finished. He glanced at the SR window then back to his co-workers, noting their grave expressions and dropping his smile briefly. "Why would the kid take steroids?"
Shia merely shook her head wearily and sat on a spare stool, crossing her arms on the table to pillow her head.
Ukire looked up from the microscope to Jiru and Akane. "Go pump some insulin into the kid—we'll try to cancel the effects. Still," he continued to Shia as his two under-experts left, "I don't understand how RBP4—no matter how high the levels—could be affecting anyone this badly. It's as if he's slowly melting."
Shia shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, not raising her head. "If the purpose of the Retinol 4 protein is to make chakra, then we can't say for sure exactly what is going to happen. We don't—"
An alarming beeping noise went off from inside the SR. Shia and Ukire whipped around to see the life support systems going haywire from inside the room—the heart monitor was jumping around erratically and medics were darting around it, trying to figure out what was wrong. The two quickly joined in the mayhem, pushing their way through the door and to the bed with the boy atop it. The subject was shaking and twitching randomly, fists and teeth clenched. He was still tied down, so most of his movements were prohibited, but anyone could see that he was in pain. His now visible muscles were straining against the metal bindings and broken whimpers escaped his chapped lips.
"What is going on?" Shia hissed angrily.
A nurse she barely knew answered from her left. "His body is under attack somehow—the cells are being destroyed rapidly."
Shia turned an accusing glare on Ukire. "I thought you said it would be hours before the deterioration moved to his body tissue?"
"I don't think it's the Retinol 4 that's doing this," he answered back, glancing over the readings that were handed to him on a clipboard. "The cells aren't being broken down for use, they're simply dying."
Shia looked frantically down at the convulsing boy. "Isn't there anything you can do??" she demanded.
"I don't know what to do!" Ukire said, angry and exasperated and confused.
Shia made up her mind in an instant and then was racing out of the room and up the closest metal stairwell, dodging around startled personnel without touching them. This was her last resort, her only option.
--
7:17 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, Subject Room of A5
Shikamaru was secretly amazed at the efficiency of this team, or whoever had subdued them. Not only had they managed to successfully capture and contain 13 qualified (highly or otherwise) ninja, for he entertained no thoughts that someone might have escaped, but they had also found a way to affect said ninjas' chakra.
Shikamaru had been lazily going over the details of the interaction with that troublesome woman when he had decided to do a mental check on his current chakra capacity. If he could somehow manipulate the small bits of outgoing chakra from his body without hand seals, then maybe he could get his hands free and then get serious. So he delved down into the depths of what some referred to as the "Abyss," so named because it was just that—an indefinitely deep container where chakra was stored, and that measured chakra capacity. It was only indefinite in the sense that it could get larger if one worked on their capacity through exercises, ways to increase physical and/or spiritual energy and therefore increase the amount of chakra one could make and contain. But as Shikamaru mentally prodded at this container to see how full it was and if he could process some chakra out to circulate through his coils, he realized that the chakra was sitting unnaturally dormant and docile. Usually, the chakra roiled and curled within the abyss, but right now…it was as still as water in a glass. It almost seemed to be weighed down, suppressed by an outside force.
Shikamaru puzzled over this for some time, but could find no explanation for the strange behavior of his chakra except that the people who had captured them had done…something to him. He didn't just not know—he couldn't figure it out at all, and it was annoying.
The wall in front of him suddenly started to clear, and he could only vaguely see the woman from earlier on the other side before she shouted, "Shikamaru!" Once the milky white had fully cleared, Shikamaru took in the woman's bedraggled appearance with confusion. She looked as though she'd just taken a run around Konoha. "There's something wrong," she gasped, "with one of your friends—the overweight one."
Shikamaru's eyes widened and an involuntary name came to his lips. "Chouji!?"
"He took a drug of some kind—it's making his body fat break down—and now his body is starting to be destroyed," she said. "Do you know what's wrong with him?"
Shikamaru's mind jumped rapidly from topic to idea to theory. If his best friend was in danger, he was going to make sure he survived. Chouji's body fat was depleting because of a drug—it could only be one of his family pills. The ingredients and reactions were top secret, so Shikamaru only knew a little about them, his father being best friends with the head of the Akimichi clan and he being best friends with the heir. What he did know was that there were several different kinds, even aside from the main three. The only problem was that most were fast acting, near instantaneous, and Shikamaru didn't think they were allowing Chouji any more leeway than they were giving him. There was no way he could have taken the pills recently; it must have been earlier, before they were caught. So then why were the bad effects of the pill affecting Chouji now?
Brushing this aside for the moment, he concentrated on what he could do to save his friend. Akimichi pills didn't destroy the body unless there wasn't enough fat for the reaction to time out, and Shikamaru knew that Chouji had the necessary fat—Akimichis weighed themselves every day to make sure they had enough bulk to use their pills if the occasion ever called for it. So why were the pills causing his body to deteriorate…? He couldn't have taken them all, could he?
….Wait…An idea suddenly struck Shikamaru. "Are you suppressing his chakra like you're doing to mine?"
It was the only thing that made sense—these people somehow knew how to suppress chakra. That was the reason his chakra was so still, and if the same thing was happening to Chouji while he took the pills, which increased his chakra output exponentially…
The woman nodded, confirming his beliefs.
"You have to release his chakra or it'll kill him," Shikamaru informed her. When she didn't move his annoyance rose. "What's wrong?" he demanded. Chouji might be dying and she was just standing there! Troublesome doctor…
"If I save your friend…will you cooperate with my questioning?" she asked slowly, gazing slightly sideways at him.
An internal battle ripped at Shikamaru's insides. On the one hand, his best friend and comrade was possibly looking death in the eyes, and Shikamaru could save him with the knowledge he had. On the other hand, that knowledge was possibly valuable to their escape as a group. So the question was who was he willing to sacrifice: the individual or the group?
It was no question at all.
"Yes."
The glass turned milky again. "Thank you," was all he heard before the wall solidified and the room was eerily silent again. Shikamaru waited for several long minutes, straining to hear anything that might indicate Chouji's safety, perhaps hoping for the woman to come back and tell him that his friend was out of danger.
And suddenly the room shook ever so subtly, but it was enough. Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief. Chouji would be okay. If anyone was in the same room with him, however…
Shikamaru put it from his mind. The odds of another team member being kept with Chouji were infinitesimal; they wouldn't want to risk cooperative escape. But now that he was thinking of his team, he thought of how he had just betrayed them, and guilt started to eat at him. However…if the knowledge of chakra would help keep his teammates safe from themselves, then he was willing to hand it over. These people, whoever they were, had not yet tried to harm him. They had only suppressed his chakra and bound him, which was understandable. As he had thought and said already, he and the other shinobi were the outsiders, the strange beings in the wrong world.
And of course, he was a ninja. He knew how to be deceitful with information he didn't want others to know.
--
7:23 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, Medical Experimentation Area
Shia ran back into the SR of—Chouji, was it?—with the knowledge of how to save him and the promise of more information from Shikamaru. She had taken the chance to obtain a sworn oath, even if she didn't know how reliable it was. But she'd think about it later; for now…
"Clear the room!" she shouted, and ignored the shocked looks she received as she started throwing people out bodily. "I said, clear the room," she yelled again, and this time the medics obeyed, jumping out the door to obey (read: to escape the wrath of her throwing arm).
When Ukire, Head Medic, passed her, Shia stopped him briefly. "You have mechanical arms in this room, don't you?" As he nodded, she let her breath out quietly in relief and followed him out of the room before sealing the door closed.
"Shia, what are you doing?" Ukire asked as Shia started fiddling with the mechanical arm to get the hang of it.
She moved the arm down to hover over the belt. "Saving a life," she claimed, and then pressed the last few buttons to remove the belt.
What happened next was unlike anything she had ever seen, save on one other occasion. The first Atom Splitter built by Shia and her team had been large and enclosed in glass. When it had been activated, energy had burst into flowing pathways and ribbons within the glass enclosure. This was the exact same thing that happened. Blue tendrils of energy, of chakra, began rising and whipping around the unconscious boy, exploding outward from him like a bomb. Shia actually felt the physical aftershock in a short earthquake. The sound and most of the explosion were kept solely within the SR, as the walls were strongly reinforced. But Shia could see the dark marks appearing on the walls, long scores that began painting the blue-filled room black. The machines that hadn't been attached to the walls were blown back and medical utensils embedded themselves in the walls like knives.
This lasted for not two seconds before the release of energy ceased and the blue disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Shia and all the medics present stared at the ruined mess in the room, adrenaline pumping through their hearts. One nurse actually collapsed from the shock.
The tense silence that filled the entire complex—for the other EAs could easily feel that shock-wave—was broken when slow footsteps resounded from Shia's shoes. She moved to look through the bombarded glass and then pulled a walkie-talkie from her pocket, setting it to frequency 4.
"Raifu, did you make any extra belts?"
When the response came, it was in a knowing tone. "I made five."
"Good," Shia replied, "'cause we're gonna need them."
--
8:33 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, Bikenu Shia's office
"…We've moved subject A12 into a new SR and are now keeping him unconscious without the belt until the RBP4 has been properly countered by the insulin injections. After the counter effect is successful, we'll hook up a feeding tube and check that his body is functioning properly."
It was the end of this very long and tiring day and the Heads were all in Shia's office in the center of the complex, currently engaged in a routine end-of-the-day meeting. Ukire was just finishing summing up his actions for the day, which amounted to explaining what the shock-wave was to the other Heads.
"Have the clothes he was found in searched for any items that may give us a hint to what kind of steroids he used, exactly," Shia ordered after Ukire was done. "If you find any more, break them down for composition and record it in his profile. Once the effects of the steroid have been properly nullified, continue watching him for 24 hours before sending his SR back with the others. Also, allow him to wake up while observing him to be certain that his systems do not change with his state of consciousness."
Ukire nodded. "That is all," he said before sitting down.
Before moving on to the next Head, Shia said, "I might add that I find it disconcerting that the subject's own chakra was able to injure him so drastically. We're still not sure exactly what happened, but I will be talking to Shi—subject A5 about it." Her slip was almost unnoticeable. Almost.
When she saw no answer would be given her, Shia turned to Raifu. "Technology," she addressed him by the subject he oversaw, "how is the new machine coming, the one that will judge chakra levels and what atoms are being split?"
"Oh, the Chakra Reader?"
"How original," she commented sarcastically, but he ignored it.
"Ah, it should be done by sometime tomorrow or the next day; it's not as if I have anything else to do around here."
"Don't worry; I'll make sure you never have time to get bored." His face fell a little at that. "After it's done, I want you to scan samples from the old SR of A12 and compare them to the scans of A7's energy."
"Wondering why one of the energies was red and the other blue?" Raifu asked through a suppressed smirk.
Shia smiled slightly as answer and then looked to Kire next. "Psychology, have you finished the cerebral scan of subject A8?"
"Yes," he said, leaning over to fish something out of his bag. He pulled out several pieces of paper and passed them around the table. They were copies of the scans of the female subject's brain.
"As you can see," Kire began, holding up his paper to point at, "there are some differences in the structure of her brain. This blue compartment right here, next to the cerebellum, is a completely new structure in comparison with the normal human brain. As far as I can tell, it is inactive at this time."
Shia raised an eyebrow at this but allowed him to continue without interruption.
"The nerves in this area connect directly to the spinal cord and also network through the brain, almost as if it were a smaller nervous system independent of the CNS (central nervous system)." Kire looked around at the faces of his colleagues for a moment. "I don't know what this compartment is for, but it has access to every part of the body."
Shia tilted her head thoughtfully. "This scan…it allows you to see masses through other ones, correct?"
At Kire's affirmative answer, she continued almost off-handedly. "This new compartment looks like it's fairly well hidden by the spinal cord and cerebellum. The first scans you did aren't as detailed as this one, right?"
Kerisu, Head of Physiology, was staring at her. "Do you think it's possible that the others may have the same thing?" he asked curiously before addressing Kire. "Is it likely? I thought you did a more in depth analysis of this subject's brain because it showed up weird in the first scans."
Kire was suddenly nodding in earnest. "Yes, actually—what I just showed you was not what our first scans picked up. What the first machines picked up, and what the last detailed, was the pattern and frequency of brain waves. The subject had…well, very strange results. In case anyone's forgotten," his eyes flickered to Raifu, who yawned disrespectfully, "there are four main patterns of brainwaves. Listed from most active to least, they are beta, theta, alpha, and delta. At any given time, there is one dominant brainwave frequency and only trace amounts of others. However, in this girl…she exhibits virtually equal amounts of alpha, beta, and theta at the same time."
Shia and Kerisu glanced at each other. "What about delta?" Kerisu asked.
"Delta is always on its own," Kire told them. "Don't let me confuse you: the first three can still be found alone, like in the normal brain, but they also mix sometimes. I haven't found any reason or rhyme for why they do, though," he admitted.
There was a moment of silence as they all thought of possibilities, but no one had anything to conjecture as of yet, so they moved on. Shia asked about the psychoanalysis sessions Kire was planning with his team.
"Well, there's a slight problem with those, actually," he said. "If we're giving them 'therapy' sessions, they need to feel comfortable and secure, not tied down and imprisoned. I would need to have them in the usual psychiatrist rooms in order to do the sessions with proper results."
"We don't know how dangerous the subjects are yet; we can't risk the safety of your team or the chance that they might escape," Shia said.
"I know," Kire answered. "That's the problem. Until we can trust them in an unsecured environment, I can't do much."
Shia sighed and waved this matter off as well. For the moment, there was nothing she could do about it. "Just finish planning who will question who," she told Kire. "Maybe go around and talk to them a little while they're in their rooms to get a feel for their personalities."
"I might try that," Kire said, writing a note down for himself. He chuckled slightly. "I already know that A8 isn't very happy with me."
Shia ignored this comment and asked Kerisu if he had found anything noteworthy in the full body cat scans and the physical tests his group had done.
Kerisu shifted forward and grabbed his clipboard, which had a large packet of papers clasped within it. The others made themselves more comfortable and settled in for the long haul. With the attention given to A12 in the Medical EA, most of the physical work had fallen on Physiology, and Kerisu wasn't known for short stints.
"Alright," Kerisu began, "I'll start with A1, the one with high muscle density and the ability to lift over a 500 pounds with ease. On the subject of his compacted muscle cells, I can say that I think I may have found the reason. I checked the clothes he was originally found in, and tried to stretch them. Would you believe me if I said they were unmovable? I couldn't stretch them an inch—it was as if they were fitted to his body shape only. When I scanned them with our radioactive scanner in the Tech EA, I found that they were basically infused with heavy particles—chakra."
A few "hm"s went around the room, but they allowed Kerisu to continue.
"Since we don't have the, uh, 'Chakra Reader' yet, I can't get a full scan of the particles. Anyway, I think the suit is what is forcing his cells to compact so much, and that the chakra in the suit is what is keeping it so stiff."
Shia allowed this theory and asked him to continue.
"I also looked at the cells individually under a microscope. You guys remember fast and slow twitch muscles, right?"
At Kire's sheepish expression and Raifu's smile, he explained. "The fibers that make up muscles are divided into two main categories: fast and slow twitch fibers. Fast contracts quicker than slow, but lasts for a shorter duration. Usually, people with a greater amount of slow twitch fibers have more stamina while fast twitch is better for short bursts of energy and then rest."
Kire nodded. Raifu didn't really do anything.
"Well," Kerisu went on, not expecting a reaction from Raifu, "The muscle cells of this boy have both characteristics, meaning, in essence, that he has the speed of a sprinter and the endurance of a long-distance runner."
Shia's eyebrows drew together. "That's strange," she noted. "Can this happen from training or is it simply genetic?"
Kerisu sighed. "Well, as we won't have the results of the genomes for another few days, I can't say for sure. Some research suggests that muscle type can be forced to change through training, but it's still under testing. Personally, I think it is possible, but for him to get this level of power, the boy would've had to force his body to function over long periods of time while under immense stress, and that would involve an exceptional amount of training."
"We'll wait for the genome results to decide, then," Shia replied. "Kire, try asking him in his sessions about any kind of training he may have done in the past. Ask about his family, too; that may give us a hint as to whether it's genetic or not."
Kire wrote this note down as well.
"Kerisu, do the subject's cells use aerobic or anaerobic respiration?" Shia asked.
"Both; in that way, they are like fast twitch type A."
"I see." She paused. "You may continue."
"On to A2, then: the adult. I checked some samples from his unusual eye, the red one, and found that their composition is somewhat different than normal eyes. Because of the way the cones and rods of the eye are set up, it reacts to changes in light and dark near instantaneously instead of the 20 minutes or so it takes for normal eyes. This eye is basically a very advanced form of the human eye: better depth perception, longer viewing range, sharper images. I also scanned the cells, and some of the masks in the radioactive scanner, and found chakra present in them. His more 'normal' eye does not show anything in the scanner, so I can guess that there is no chakra present in it. Further analysis of this is pending the creation of the Chakra Reader. And finally, we found his muscle cell composition to be much the same as A1s, but they weren't so compound. In comparison with athletes of today, he is much like a light weight wrestler or boxer—perhaps a runner as well. Oh, and he's still unconscious."
Shia was glad that Kerisu was bending more toward summary now and hoped he would continue in such a fashion with the rest of his report. "Ukire," she said, "check his state of health to make sure that this prolonged state of unconsciousness is normal."
Ukire nodded.
"A3, the bug boy," Kerisu went on. "We found several compartments in his body that we think are specifically meant for housing the bugs that were found in him. The strange thing is we can't find any evidence of a food source for them. They are not connected to the stomach in any way, and so cannot be getting nourishment that way, and there is no proof of their eating his body at all. I don't understand it."
Ukire tilted his head. "Could it be that they leave his body to feed and he simply houses them?" he threw out.
"It's a plausible idea," Shia said. "Did you check the bug's bodies?" she asked Kerisu.
"Yes," he answered, a strange look on his face, "and we couldn't find a trace of food in them. More surprisingly, the digestive system was highly unusual for the beetle-like bugs that they are (we still haven't identified the species). They have no outlet for wastes, only a stomach, and its walls are very porous. I don't know what to make of it."
"Keep watching him, then, and Kire: make sure to ask him about the bugs," Shia ordered.
Kire sighed and wrote down the third note.
"Okay, that's all for A3 at the moment," Kerisu started again. "A4, the girl with invisible metal weapons on her, has proven to be basically normal so far. The only thing is that the weapons, which, incidentally, are still invisible," he ignored the shocked looks and raised eyebrows, "show up in the radioactive scanners."
"More chakra influence, huh?" Shia asked, pausing for a moment to think. "So far, chakra seems able to mold physical things, become a physical presence, make things invisible, affect eyes, and cause…what, infinitely multiplying masks?" Her tone was exasperated by the end.
Kerisu smiled sheepishly. "Just wait 'til I'm done," he said, and Shia didn't like the sound of it. "A5, identified as Shikamaru, has no differences as far as I can tell."
Shia didn't know why she was somewhat disappointed to hear this.
"A6's white eyes showed up much the same as the adult's red eye under a microscope and under the scanner. And A7…" Kerisu glanced at Shia and saw her face tighten slightly. "I still can't figure out how he can apparently heal from a bullet wound in less than an hour—we couldn't find any traces of the bullet or a wound, and yet there was blood and an entry hole in his jacket and shirt. I'm hoping his genome will tell us more about him."
Kerisu waited for Shia to say something, and when she didn't, he went on. "A8 has been under Kire's watch. A9—" his eyes darted up to Shia's and away again, and he coughed uncomfortably, "—there was a mark on his shoulder that I neglected to mention during the walk-around, and it has proven to be a little more important that it first appeared."
At Shia's murderous look he quickly said, "I didn't think it was anything more than a tattoo, it seemed pointless to mention it! Anyway, upon closer inspection we found it wasn't a tattoo at all—it was a kind of breeding ground for an unidentified enzyme. The only thing I can predict from the make-up of the enzyme is that it is an enhancer."
Shia's face darkened. "An enhancer, as in a steroid?"
"Possibly; I can't say for sure yet. I'll have to study it more, perhaps allow it to infect something else to see its effects. I have Shota-kun and Kebi-kun on it right now."
Shia looked down in thought for a moment. "Medical, compare the make-up of this enzyme to the steroid used by A12, and keep an eye on A9 for signs of the same reaction as A12. We don't need a repeat of that incident; we're running out of Subject Rooms," she grumbled, and Ukire laughed. "Continue, Kerisu."
Kerisu looked back down at his papers, grinning at her sarcastic joke. "Ahem, we're still waiting for the genome to judge A10, the dog boy's, abnormalities. And, uh, his tattoos are just normal tattoos. I also tried a few simple commands with the dog and it just growled at me, so I can't tell if it's trained to only answer to its master or if it's not trained at all. A11, the white eyed female, came up exactly the same as A6 under the scanner. The only difference is the matter of her heart problems."
Shia interrupted him there. "Ukire, look into that as well. See if she needs surgery—this opening scar sounds dangerous."
After Ukire acquiesced, Kerisu finally finished. "A12 is under Medical watch and we're waiting for genome results for A13, the pink-haired one," he snickered. "That's all for me."
The others tried to hide the deep breaths of relief that they took. Only Shia and Raifu succeeded.
"Alright then," Shia said. "It's getting late. Heads, I want you to put your assistants on shifts and make sure the experts get sleep when they need it. We don't need anyone collapsing from exhaustion….again. Dismissed."
--
6:48 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, Subject Room of A9
Acute aggravation tried to call up another sigh, but Sasuke, true to his stoic aloofness, suppressed the show of emotion. Of course, no one would really be able to blame him for his boredom. Sitting—or rather, hanging—for an undetermined amount of time with nothing but a white wall to peruse can do that to a person.
Sasuke's reputable mind had already worked out what must have happened after he had been hit with the sleeping darts. His Sharingan had allowed him to dodge the first few that came his way, but in the end there had been too many darts and not enough time for him to stay standing, and he had joined most of the rest of his team in unconsciousness. From there, he was positive that they had all been captured by an unknown enemy force and were now being held captive pending torture.
Of course, this belief was counter argued with the state of the people here in regards to chakra, as discovered earlier. Without chakra, they couldn't have the abilities of shinobi and could not, therefore, be classified as such. Despite the obvious fact that one did not need to be a ninja to instill torture, it was, nevertheless, a relieving point to Sasuke, as he considered himself above most shinobi torture practices already. What could mere civilians possibly do that would rival the horrors of his own people?
No, the only thing Sasuke really had to worry about was the Sharingan. As long as his eyes were intact, it meant two things, which were unfortunately of a contradicting manner. The first was that his captors could possibly learn the secrets of the Sharingan, and the second was that he might be powerful enough to escape this world for good. These two realizations made Sasuke uncertain as to whether he should risk destroying the Sharingan or not.
On the one hand, it would be a complete dishonor to his family to allow their secrets to be stolen by someone else, but on the other hand, if he did try to sabotage his eyes, there was very little chance that he could then escape on his own. The Sharingan probably raised his abilities ten fold, and they were his only hope to reopen a portal back home.
This train of thought opened up a can of worms involving Itachi, Naruto, family honor, and pride that occupied Sasuke's less rational mind for hours. His thoughts chased each other in circles while he tried to keep his emotional reactions at bay. However, Sasuke was still a very skilled ninja for his age, and so he noticed immediately when the whole area began shifting. There was an unusual droning sound all around him and, he couldn't be certain, but he thought that he might have changed direction at least once. Finally the movement stopped and Sasuke focused on his surroundings warily. Was this the first move of his captors?
The wall to his right suddenly swung forward and a man wearing glasses and a white overcoat entered the room. The way the door opened prevented Sasuke from seeing out into the area, so instead he surveyed the man who had entered. He looked somewhere in his late twenties, and his black hair was pulled into a pony-tail at the base of his head. He looked rather scrawny. Of course, physical appearance could be very deceiving (as Sasuke had found to his consternation in his first encounter with Rock Lee).
The white coat suggested involvement in medicine, and medic-nins were renowned for their chakra control. But doubt of this man's chakra ability crept its way into Sasuke's mind as he remembered Neji and Shino saying that these people lacked chakra. Shino's bugs and Neji's Byakugan would be able to detect the minutest traces of chakra, so their input could be trusted. A small insignia, too far away to read, was emblazoned on the coat's right breast pocket.
The man was only carrying a clipboard and pencil. That was the only reason Sasuke didn't immediately activate his Sharingan and kill the man. Instead, he raised his eyebrow skeptically.
The bespectacled man looked surprised for a moment, but then suddenly curious, and he turned around just as a blond man came into the room behind him and closed the door firmly.
"It's just the tattoo for this one, right, Kerisu?" the blond asked carelessly as he walked passed Sasuke without giving him a second glance. Sasuke's eyes narrowed. There could only be one thing they were talking about.
"Right," the first man answered, coming up to Sasuke's left and folding down the collar of the all-white suit he'd woken in. "I want to see what type of ink was used, make sure it's not infected or anything."
Sasuke tried to jerk away from the man, Kerisu's, hand, but the restraints around his jaw and arms prevented it. He knew that if they checked his supposed "tattoo," they wouldn't be finding any ink. Would it be dangerous for them to know about the cursed seal? It was already sealed by Kakashi, so there was no threat that they could take power away from him. The seal was not his design and therefore he did not care who knew of its secrets (although a tiny part of him protested this: he was special; he alone deserved the power of the seal).
Satisfied that their knowing of the seal's existence could do him no harm, Sasuke instead made a small, devious plan. From the sound of it, they did not know of the Sharingan's existence yet. This meant that he could catch them off guard. He would let them worry over his cursed seal until the time was right, and then strike unexpectedly and escape. Brief thoughts of looking for his teammates and the other rookie 9 ran through his head, but he pushed that aside to deal with once he was free. After all, they could be dead already.
"Alright, let me get a look at it," the careless blond man said as he came over to Sasuke carrying a scalpel and a thin piece of glass. Sasuke, according to his plan, put up little resistance as the blond man poked at the cursed seal. The man's light colored eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"This isn't a tattoo," he told his partner.
The curious one, who had been watching Sasuke's blank facial expression, blinked over at the blond. "What?"
"I know tattoos, and this isn't one. Here, I'll take a sample; we'll look at it under a microscope." With that, he ran the scalpel over the black skin without cutting it and then wiped it over the glass piece before they both moved behind him.
Sasuke didn't know exactly what they were doing, but he could still hear them.
"Woah…" It was the curious one.
"What? Lemme see." Scuffling feet, shifting papers. "Are those enzymes?"
"Yes." A paper was rustled loudly and nearly torn. "See the design? Same as this."
"That makes the substrates whole cells."
A tense silence.
"… We need to break it down for further analysis, but it's almost 8 o'clock; I have to finish the rounds and then report."
"I can start it while you're gone."
"Alright. I'll send Kebi-kun in to keep you company."
"Ask him to bring an extra set."
"I'll be back as soon as possible." The curious man left the room then, leaving the door open. Sasuke considered this a poor idea, but didn't try anything. He had already tested the strength of his bonds earlier and knew it was pointless to try to break them. He suspected that not even Rock Lee could get out of these.
It didn't matter anyway, since a moment later another dark-haired man with glasses entered the room. If Sasuke hadn't been so vigilant, he might have thought they were the same person, but no—they simply seemed to be of the same nationality. This one had his hair cut short and flipped upward in the front. He came in with a cardboard box, glanced at Sasuke, touched his hair nervously, and then went around to the other side of the room to join the blond man.
Sasuke was a little annoyed that they were staying out of sight, but had to admit that he would do the same. He once again commenced listening to their conversation, which didn't make much sense to him. They were blabbering on about enzymes and catalysts and components, things like activation energy and whatnot, and at one point seemed to have an argument over "chemical equilibrium." Most of these words were out of Sasuke's vocabulary, so the only thing he knew for sure was that they were discussing and studying his cursed seal. The careless one had come back for another sample at one point while giving him a cheeky grin which, combined with the blue eyes and light hair, reminded him irritatingly of Naruto.
Aside from their discussions and the sound of clanking metal and glass, Sasuke had nothing to do. He was unwilling to waver his caution while they were in the room, so he was forced to begin thinking of contingency plans, creating different scenarios in his head and then deciding what would be best to do: what if he came across the super fast weapons again? What about the sleeping darts? The monsters?
Should he try to get information out of them? No, that wouldn't work, any moron would know better than to give help to their prisoners, and these were doctors. Most doctors did not fall under the category of "stupid," though gullible was another matter entirely…He considered the possibility of deceit in his scenarios.
He was somewhat thankful for the change in pace when the original curious man with the pony-tail returned, but this melted away quickly as he joined "Kebi-kun" and the careless blond behind him. This went on for quite a while, and Sasuke was having to fight off drowsiness when the curious man came around the bed and addressed him for the first time.
"How did you get this?" he asked carefully, motioning toward the cursed seal.
Sasuke stared back blankly, refusing to answer. Even if it wasn't his invention or concern, fat chance he would help them.
"It's very dangerous for you," the man pressed on. "I need to know the origins so I can help stop it."
Sasuke mentally frowned. Dangerous? Kakashi had said something like that, but Sasuke had assumed he was just trying to keep him from gaining more power, perhaps more than Kakashi himself possessed. But if this stranger thought he could earn Sasuke's trust, then he was sadly mistaken.
The man almost looked frightened now. "Kid," he said, and Sasuke unconsciously bristled, "you have no idea what this thing is going to do to you. It's changing your cells; you won't even be human anymore."
Sasuke stared and then struggled with himself over whether to answer or not. He didn't care about their knowledge of the curse seal, right? But if they were trying to take it away…all that power…that was changing him so he wouldn't be human…but they might be lying, probably were lying…but Kakashi agreed to an extent….
Anger and confusion were starting to rise in Sasuke no matter how much he suppressed them. Maybe…maybe they were just messing with his mind. Yes, that must be it. This was a ploy to weaken him into giving them information. Maybe they were planning to duplicate the cursed seal to use on themselves. Sasuke's taut eyebrows relaxed again as he let the thought sink in. Don't tell them anything; that's obviously what they want, and they are the enemy. Never give the enemy what they want, because it will always hurt you.
The man seemed to give up on him when he saw Sasuke's deliberately blank expression, and went back to jabbering with the other two. Before long, they had decided to move back out of the room, only referring to their destination as "the lab." They took a sample of his blood and a few other places on his body ("We can check to see how far it's spread.") and then left with their equipment on a rolling table. Sasuke only managed to glimpse several beakers and Petri dishes with liquids in them before they were behind the door and he was alone once again.
Don't give them anything, he thought again. They're looking for weakness.
--
9:51 pm, Day 0, Complex D7, Living Quarters, Kitchen
Shia opened the refrigerator, looking for supplement after the long first day on the job. Her stomach rumbled loudly as she pulled out the ingredients for a sandwich and set to making it. It was a lamentable detail that legitimate Japanese cooks were difficult to come by in America, so they were stuck with generic American food, which seemed to be centered around sandwiches, chips, and fast food.
As she sat down at a nearby bench (rather like in a cafeteria) and started eating, she glanced around at the other occupants of the room. She was currently located in the middle part of the open residential room, which acted as a dining room, between the kitchen and living room parts. Five other benches besides the one she was seated at were lined up in front of her. A few of her colleagues were eating at these while others were lounging at the couch watching television. These were the people who, like her, would be getting a normal nights rest. Shia didn't have anything to do until the other Heads could do more research, and that would take time.
The solitary door at the far end of the room beyond the couches opened to allow Kire, Head of Psychology, to enter. He made his way brusquely to the kitchen, passing behind Shia's bench. He paused behind her.
Shia could feel his glare sizzling into the back of her head. Without pause, Shia closed her mouth while she was chewing, and he continued to the fridge. As soon as he was out of earshot, she stopped censoring her eating habits. By the time he returned to sit across from her, she was once again chewing without sealing her lips, and he had to stare her into proper manners again.
She glared at him this time. "I have to open my mouth to get my teeth around the food, you know," she argued.
"And you know that I hate that sound," he shot back, pulling a bottle of mustard to him. "Mmmm," he said as he spread the yellow substance over his deli style sandwich.
"That's disgusting," Shia said blandly.
He snorted in derision. "You only put meat, cheese, and lettuce on yours. It's completely dry."
She shrugged, and Kire looked at her closer.
"What's up?" he asked carefully.
Shia made a kind of gesture with her shoulder that might have been a half-shrug or might have been a twitch. "Just thinking..." She took a bite of food and chewed it slowly. "…It feels like we're barely scratching the surface with these kids. There are so many variables, so many possibilities."
Kire nodded solemnly. "I know what you mean. That blonde girl who I checked on today—she thought I was going to kill her or something. It was weird how…not scared she was. If anything, she seemed angry. If I woke up like that, I would probably flip out and demand a lawyer."
Shia snorted softly at this before going back to her sandwich, forgetting to chew quietly.
Kire glared and pouted mildly before diving into his own sandwich with gusto. After a few minutes of comfortable silence, in which Shia remembered to try to quiet down her eating, Kire looked back up from his almost finished sandwich. "You think I should do rounds now, or start tomorrow?"
Shia's eyebrows tightened. "What? Oh," she said, remembering her suggestion to Kire about getting a feel for the subjects' personalities before deciding who would council who. "I dunno. How tired are you?"
"I'm actually feeling pretty well rested. No idea why; I'm usually exhausted by now."
Shia snorted softly. "Probably because you took a nap on the train."
He smiled sheepishly. "You heard about that?"
"No," she answered, going back to her food while she secretly roiled in pride at knowing Kire so well, "I guessed. Anyway, if you're not feeling tired, and you're done examining the brain of A8, then go ahead and do it tonight."
"Well, I was only able to make one trip before your 'necessary' meeting, so I might check her again tomorrow. You heading to bed?" When she nodded, he looked amused. "All the social interaction got you beat?"
Shia declined to respond, and Kire laughed before throwing his paper plate away. Just as he had done when he had entered, he stopped behind her on his way out.
"Geez, Shia. You got here first and yet I finished eating twice as much as you before you're half done."
"If you were facing me like a man, I would kick you," Shia answered snidely without turning around.
Kire left the room laughing. Shia stared across the room at the closed door for a moment before finishing her sandwich, grabbing a glass of ice water, and going to her room. She set about meticulously brushing her teeth and changing before crawling into the unfamiliar bed. There she laid awake for almost two hours, thoughts swirling until they settled enough for her to slip into sleep. Her last nagging thought was, I feel like I forgot something…
Meanwhile, in a room several hundred yards away, a blond boy with three slashes on each cheek screamed in annoyance. "Argh! Let me down! My legs are numb, dammit!"
It would appear that Bikenu Shia had forgotten to lay the subjects' beds horizontal again.
--
Bikenu Shia: Main Head
Mante Raifu: Head of Technology
Vinlo Kerisu: Head of Physiology; Experts: Masayo Shota
Enmaro Kire: Head of Psychology; Experts: Setano Suki
Minamo Ukire: Head Medic; Experts: Derubi Akane, Kamara Jiru
Subjects/Shinobi: A1—Lee, A2—Kakashi, A3—Shino, A4—Tenten, A5—Shikamaru, A6—Neji, A7—Naruto, A8—Ino, A9—Sasuke, A10—Kiba, A11—Hinata, A12—Chouji, A13—Sakura.
AN: Wooh, this was the most difficult, and longest, chapter yet. Sorry for the delayed update. I can't promise that the next will be any better. In fact, it might be longer, considering that summer's over. But anyway, I will keep going with this story, even if I can't update until next summer (which I don't think will happen, but, well, life demands attention…).
Thanks to everyone who viewed and reviewed the story so far, and I hope things aren't becoming too boring. We're still in the beginning stages here. Expect a few more chapters of the scientists "testing the waters" around the ninjas, so to speak. This chapter is unedited (by someone else) because my editor seems to be incommunicado at the moment. Unless I can contact her, I am without an editor, so if anyone sees any mistakes, please, I would like to know.
There have been a few concerns about the OCs. Addressing this issue once again, all I can say is that it is not really necessary to know anything except for the role of each scientist (for instance, psychology or medical). Yes, they do have their own personalities and backgrounds, but no, these things aren't necessary to know for the story to flow onward or for you to understand it. The main OCs are the Heads and Shia, so if you have an honest desire to get to know any of the characters, focus on them.
Oh, and before I forget, I have to thank one of my reviewers (FFFX), who pointed out to me that I had completely forgotten about Sasuke's cursed seal. –Bangs head on the wall— That mistake is inexcusable.
Most of my information for this chapter was found on the internet, so I can't really account for the credibility of it all. However, I do hope it sounds reasonable enough to everyone.
Questions/Comments for this chapter:
1. If we have any experts here (for I am certainly no such thing), then would you say my explanations on Chouji sound plausible?
2. Based on the info Kire (Head of Psychology) gave, anyone care to guess what's up with Ino's brain?
3. Anyone like/hate the Abyss idea?
4. For me to get the point of discovering things about the shinobi across, I need to use the scientists' POVs more often than not. Is bringing in the POV of at least one shinobi per chapter satisfactory? Though I'm still going to work on mainly ninja POVs from now on...
5. Was Ino characterized alright? She's the one I had so much trouble with. Eventually I thought "what does a typical twelve year old girl think about?" and then it hit me: Sasuke. So, yeah, her person is sort of rooted around her infatuation with Sasuke, or her connection with her family, etc.
6. I have this belief that Sasuke is very calculating during fights, but when he is out of immediate danger his emotions tend to swarm him more easily, causing him to be constantly arguing with himself, hence his brooding. Anyone notice the shift from emotional turmoil about the Sharingan to calm evaluation of the scientists and his escape plans?
7. The scenes felt mixed up to me because part of Sasuke's came before the scientists' end of the day review. Did everyone grasp the timeline alright, or do I need to shift some things? I edited Ino's POV to come at the beginning of the chapter. I also put in the time and place for each scene.
8. Lee's suit idea. Yeah. It explains why Gai is so insistent that the suit is a big part of the training, but I feel like it's kind of lacking. However, it was the only explanation I could think of for why someone Lee's size can be as strong as Kakashi when said someone doesn't even have the capacity to use chakra. So, meh.
Thanks again for reading, and I hope to see you again. Next chapter: Kire gets to know some of the subjects and gets to worry about others.
-Itallia
P.S. I almost forgot. I've got an update panel on my profile now so you can see where I am on the next chapter.
