AN: Thank you again for your reviews/messages! It makes it so much fun to write for you. Here's a longer chapter for you this time. I've been sorting out some plot points, and generally being a perfectionist (that's why I was posting the shorter chapters and not proceeding too far). However, I've figured stuff out, and also decided to relax a bit, and just have fun. It's not like I'm writing a novella, just a silly fanfiction. Besides, I know my skills are extremely limited so I just want to enjoy writing. Still, I'll do my best to entertain all you lovelies. ;)

Red Storm

Chapter 19: Promises, Promises

"Knowledge is the eye of desire and can become the pilot of the soul."

~Will Durant

Naruto spat out the blood that had pooled in the bottom of his mouth from the last hit. His eye and lip had swollen, and throbbed intensely. He glared up at his attacker, who was calmly massaging his knuckles.

The man sighed.

"We already know, Naruto. There are no secrets you can keep from us."

He pulled a sheet from his manila folder. The sound of thick paper rippled as he held it in front of Naruto's face.

"This is the drug you took, correct?"

Naruto squinted up through his now one good eye. Before him was a photo of a round pill, similar in size and shape to a paracetemol or ibuprofen, but instead of white it was blushed a pinkish-red.

Naruto probed the cut inside his lip with his tongue and looked thoughtfully at the picture.

"If you already know, why do you need to ask?"

The man's eyes narrowed.

"This isn't a game, Naruto." he said. "Let's just say Mr. Obito likes to be thorough."

The Freddy Kreuger look-a-like, or rather, Mr. Obito, pushed himself off the desk and gave the other man's shoulder a friendly pat.

"What Zetsu here is trying to say, is that we already have the information confirmed through other sources. We believe that at least one source is reliable, but it's always good to check and double-check. Our research needs to be…accurate."

He spread his hands. "You know how it is. Keep all our bases covered and all that."

No, Naruto did not know. In all honesty, he had no idea what he was doing here, nor what any of this was about. There was only one thing he was sure of, and that was that no one had been aware of him taking drugs outside of a few people–Iruka, Sasuke, his lawyer and Orochimaru. His mouth felt suddenly dry.

"What source?" he asked.

Obito stretched his lips into a smile as cold and rigid as his pressed business suit.

"Why, Sasuke, of course."

Naruto reared up just catching the man with a headbutt to the mouth. A second later, he was yanked back roughly by the two men on either side of him.

"If you've hurt him, I swear I'll-!" he shouted, struggling in his captor's hands. A quick blow to the head silenced him and once again he was thrust into a world of swirling starbursts.

Obito wiped a spot of blood off his lip. He observed it for a moment before looking at Naruto with a raised brow.

"Well, you are stronger than you look for such a scrawny kid."

He pulled a red handkerchief from his pocket and wiped first his finger and then his mouth carefully.

"There is no need to worry, however. We haven't done anything to Sasuke. Actually, as far as I'm aware he is safe at home."

He looked into the darkness, receiving a nod of confirmation from one of the shadows.

"You see? No cause for concern. Sasuke told us of his own free will."

Naruto stared at him for a moment before tearing his eyes away, searching the floor for answers. That didn't make sense. Sasuke wouldn't do that. Sasuke wasn't- It… didn't make any sense.

"Sasuke?" he said, the name feeling odd on the tip of his numb tongue.

The man crouched down in front of him and put a finger under Naruto's chin, lifting it gently. A look of fake concern graced his melted face.

"That's right. Your very own little Uchiha."

He pushed out his lower lip in a mocking pout.

"To think, all it took was the tiniest nugget of information from us for him to sell you out, and now here you are."

He gestured to the room around him and gave a quick wink before straightening up.

"That boy has a one-track mind. Give him a little hope of finding his brother, and he'll do almost anything. He'd be so jealous if he knew that you were in the same room with his very own big bro."

He waved a hand towards a side of the room and someone shifted in the shadows. Naruto only caught a glimpse of dark eyes glinting in the light as the figure withdrew further into the darkness.

"Of course," continued Obito. "He couldn't have known what it was going to lead to. If it makes you feel better, we would have found out another way – torture or what have you. But this way just makes things so much…easier. Cleaner if you will."

He grinned.

"All you need, Naruto, is a little temptation, a little cheese for the mouse and he'll run run run through the maze, doing whatever tricks you ask him to."

Obito waggled his middle and index fingers like a pair of imaginary running legs as he spoke.

"Now, my little mouse, what we need from you is to know -"

He held out his palm and Zetsu quickly handed him the photo, which he then held in front of Naruto once again.

"– if this is the drug you took."

He waved the paper slightly. "Well?"

Naruto ground his teeth before glaring at the man.

"Go to hell." he whispered.

Obito nodded several times.

"Go to hell." he repeated thoughtfully. "Go to hell, hmm."

He brought his arm back and smacked the teen hard on the side of the head. The impact jarred through Naruto's skull and he gasped at the pain, blinking rapidly as stars of blue-black burst before his eyes once more. A kick to the stomach soon followed, and it was his captors' grip on Naruto's shoulders yet again that stopped him from being sent sprawling onto the floor.

Obito's Freddy-Kreuger face stretched back into a manic grin, and he laughed as he reached out a hand, gripping Naruto's throat tightly. The teen choked, the vessels in his neck and face swelling painfully from the pressure.

"I've already been there, Naruto." said Obito. "I like to think of it as my own personal home-away-from-home. Now, unless you'd like to visit there yourself, you'll stop playing games and answer my question, won't you?"

He leaned down toward him and murmured,

"It really doesn't matter for you if you do or not, you know. Either way, this will end the same. So, why not be a good boy and just tell us, hmm? I just want a little tiny bit of confirmation from the horse's mouth."

Naruto spat out the remaining blood in his mouth and returned the man's gaze in stony silence.

Obito sighed and raised his hand again.

"Wait." interrupted a voice.

"This isn't your concern, Pain." Obito said in a calm tone, but he lowered his hand and turned towards the darkness.

There was a mechanical whirring, the clicking of wheels and the man with the paper voice emerged from the gloom. He was in a large, electric wheelchair decked out with the kind of accessories that belonged in a nightmare science lab. Black tubes snaked from tanks and machinery in the back, connecting them to painful-looking open sores in the man's body. Naruto's eyes widened as the chair maneuvered into the light. The man had the appearance of a living corpse, a wraith that had been caught in the chasm between life and death. His face, and indeed, his entire body were pale and gaunt. Loose skin hung from bone, and not a drop of colour remained in his skin. Even his eyes were void of colour, pale white with odd black veins spiraling in the iris. His limp hair was jet black and drooped over his forehead in greasy tendrils. As he spoke, the cracked lips moved slowly as if every syllable spoken took excruciating effort.

"We need him…in good health…for the testing."

Every few words were cut short by the wheezing of the respirator, and the man's chest rose and fell with each puff of air that was injected into his lungs through the long tube attached to his throat.

Obito took a step back, and surveyed Naruto. A warm trickle of blood crept down the side of Naruto's temple as he returned the gaze, eyes flitting between Kreuger and the wheelchair-ridden specter. Obito sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You're right, I suppose. I guess we can't do this the fun way."

He took a few steps back and leaned again the desk once again, folding his arms.

"Okay, Naruto. Here's the thing. You don't tell us and we just have to drag Sasuke, Iruka, and everyone else you know and love right down here with you. We don't need them in good shape. We can just torture them until they crack or die, whichever is quicker."

He waved one arm, gesticulating as he spoke.

"Now, you don't want that, we don't want that. Frankly, it's troublesome and we'd rather get things moving, so…"

He stroked his chin.

"What's it going to be?"

Naruto ground his teeth, lifting the corner of his lip in a sneer. He directed as much hatred through his eyes as he could. He despised this man – a man who could talk about torturing his friends and loved ones as easily as if planning a company picnic. It was nauseating.

"There's no point in looking at me like that, Naruto." said Obito. "Either you answer me now or we get your friends in to help us out."

Naruto closed his eyes. He didn't know why they needed to know, why he was even resisting. Stubbornness had become a habit it seemed. The kind face of Iruka twisted in pain flashed unbidden through his mind followed closely by Sasuke's, Ino's, Sakura's.

He hung his head.

"Fine." He said in a quiet voice. "Yes, those are the pills I took."

Obito smiled, flashing those overly-white teeth.

"Excellent. Now we're getting somewhere." he said, "And yet, here you are all cured – as right as rain. Tell me, how did you get off them?"

Naruto shrugged. "I just…stopped."

Obito raised a brow. "Stopped?"

"Yeah, I mean. It wasn't easy, and they were the sickest two weeks of my life, but after I got through the withdrawal, it was…manageable."

Obito leaned forward slightly with a frown.

"Tell me, Naruto - and this is important for both your sake and your friends' – did you take any medicine, drug or injection of some kind to get off the pill?"

Naruto hesitated. All eyes were on him, watching him intently. He shook his head.

"No, nothing. I mean, apart from chicken soup, I guess. My friend took care of me."

"Your friend?"prompted Obito.

"Sasuke." he replied, staring at the floor.

"And you're saying he didn't give you anything?"

"No, well, not that I know of. I wasn't conscious the whole time. But why would he? He didn't even know what drugs I was on."

"You were working for Orochimaru though. He might have given you something, something that would help you recover."

Naruto let out a harsh laugh. "No, trust me, Orochimaru was the last person who wanted me off those drugs."

Obito turned to the man in the wheelchair.

"What do you think?"

"He is not…lying." wheezed the man.

Obito strolled over and pulled Naruto's head up by his hair. Naruto gritted his teeth, but didn't resist.

"You think they gave it to their son?" he said and let out a short laugh. "Amazing. Truly amazing. I underestimated the Uzumakis."

"There is…only one way…to know for sure." replied Pain, and those black-veined eyes focused on Naruto.

Naruto pulled his head out of Obito's grip. "Gave what to me? What do you know about my parents?"

"I know a lot about your parents, Naruto Uzumaki." Obito tilted his head to one side, regarding Naruto dispassionately. "I killed them."

The words shot through Naruto like a bullet as everything in him froze.

"What?" His voice barely a whisper.

"I killed them." repeated Obito. Not a single flinch of remorse or emotion flickered across his face.

For a moment it was like the world had plunged underwater - into a world of slow motion. Naruto's heart rate felt like it was decelerating and yet speeding up at the same time. Its beat vibrated throughout his entire body and pounded in his head, and no matter how many times he swallowed, there was a lump in his throat that grew and grew and grew.

He stared at the calm face of the man before him, as unperturbed as if he had just told Naruto the time of day.

"Why?" he asked finally, his voice cracking.

Obito shrugged.

"It was on my father, Madara's, orders, God rest his soul. He ran the Akatsuki at that time. Still, I suppose I was the one that fired the killing shot. It was a clean execution, well, after the torture." For once, Obito was not smiling. "I didn't take pleasure in it if that makes you feel better, Uzumaki. Your parents died with honour and although they were highly troublesome and even continue to be, I do respect that."

He shrugged, an apologetic smile stretching across his candle-wax skin. "All's fair in love and war, am I right?"

Naruto didn't answer. He didn't have an answer. His mind had been wiped clean.

The words coming out of this man's mouth just couldn't be real. It didn't make sense, couldn't be possible that someone could be that cold, that heartless. He blinked hard, trying to make sense of the tornado of emotion that whirled through him – shock, anger, sadness, anguish, disbelief. Then just as quickly as it had started, the storm inside of him ceased. Every emotion disappeared, every single one bar a honed, all-encompassing rage.

He hung his head and mumbled something under his breath.

The man frowned slightly and leaned forward. "What was that?"

Another muffled sound, and Obito found himself straining to hear. He cocked his head, moving slightly closer.

"You'll have to speak up, kid."

Naruto lifted his head slowly, fixing Obito with a penetrating stare, and the man was slightly taken aback at the expression that was calm as a sea of glass.

Naruto spoke again, this time his lips slowly widening into a chilling smile which didn't suit the young, friendly face.

"I said, I'm going to kill you, Obito."

Without warning Naruto threw his his head forward, catching the man with a blow to the face. Obito stumbled back with a cry, clutching his nose, but the boy didn't stop. He began yanking his body in every direction and aiming a hit wherever he could at his captors. But his eyes were still fixed on Obito.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" he shouted.

His two captors on either side struggled to keep a hold on him.

"Boss." said Hidan uncertainly, his voice tight as he used all of his strength to control the boy in his grip.

Obito sighed and waved a hand dismissively, hissing as he touched a tender spot on his quickly swelling nose. "Take him away for testing. Let's confirm once and for all if he has it."

Hidan, next to him, let out a yell as he was caught by a vicious kick to the shin. In response he punched Naruto in the side, but the teen barely flinched.

"I'll kill you, Obito! My face will be the last one you ever see. I promise you that." he spat out.

The rough sackcloth hood was yanked over his head, covering his view of the man who had killed his parents and plunging him into darkness again.

"Once I make a promise, I never break it!" he yelled as he was dragged away.

Obito said nothing, the room left in brief silence as the door closed.

Finally, he gave a small sigh and smoothed his slick, black hair back carefully with his hand.

"Well, that was certainly dramatic. Let's get back to work shall we? Pain, keep me updated on the results."

Pain nodded slowly as Obito exited the room.

Naruto continued to struggle, shouting and yelling as he was hauled down a seemingly endless maze of twists and turns. His kicks and punches were rendered utterly useless due to the bindings around his wrists and arms, but it didn't stop him trying and he felt a grim satisfaction as Hidan let out a yelp of pain.

"Ow, the little midget got me on the leg again!"

"If you're going to cry over one little bruise you're in the wrong game." came the monotone reply of the other man.

"Tche, who's crying, Kakuzu?" said Hidan as they approached a silver metal door. "Come on, help get him inside. Why couldn't we have just used a sedative? Ow! Stop struggling, you little shit."

Naruto had gained a foothold on the floor and tried springing up, catching Hidan on his jaw. He gave a satisfying cry of pain. "You fucking little-"

"We can't." came the sharp voice of Zetsu from behind them. "It would interfere with the testing."

"Yeah, well, once testing is over I'm knocking this one out with a horse tranquilizer." said Hidan.

A second later, Naruto's skull exploded in pain as it was hit hard with a fist through the sackcloth.

"Didn't say nothing about keeping him in line though, eh?"

"I think he would prefer it if you endure." replied Zetsu dryly.

Naruto went still as they continued to drag him, waiting for the blackness in his vision to dissipate.

As his mind righted itself, he became aware of an odd scent assaulting his nose through the sackcloth. It was a strong hospital smell, a mix of chemicals and fresh linen.

Tension knotted in his stomach, and his desperate struggles renewed as he was lifted up onto a hard, thin mattress. His legs were pinned by several hands and untied before he heard the crackling sound of Velcro snapping them back into place in new restraints. Next were his arms, then his head and chest until he was completely immobile, the thick straps forcing him to lay prone.

Naruto licked his lips. His mouth was dry, and his heart rate had sped up to a ferocious gallop. He took long, deep breaths. The hot rage that had fuelled his bravery thus far ebbed traitorously away, only to be replaced by sick uncertainty and cold fear.

But that fear, it was nothing –nothing– compared to the sheer terror that pulsated through him as a new voice spoke. A voice he knew only too well.

"Naruto-kun, it's been a long time."

The bag was pulled off his head, and he blinked in the harsh light. A face came into view, standing over him. Naruto held his breath, unable to speak let alone move. He found himself staring up at a bespectacled man with long, white hair. But this man's features were no longer the same plainness they used to be. Where there was once smooth skin, it was now dried, cracked and blistered.

The man's eyes crinkled in fake friendliness and a sweet smile played on his lips.

"I have so been looking forward to seeing you again."

"Kabuto." whispered Naruto, the words coming out in a dry choke.

He closed his eyes forcing the threatening tears back at the realization that his fate was sealed.