Chapter 27: Trust Issues
"Do not judge my story by the chapter you walked in on."
~Unknown
Naruto shivered in the darkness. The liquid in his IV dripped in a constant rhythm. His legs ached and itched. What he wouldn't give to be able to move them, just an inch. Who knew that lying still for so long could be such torture? And what next? Once the Akatsuki had extracted all they wanted from him, he was dead. Naruto shivered.
He couldn't help doubting his own words from earlier. Should he really have come back? What was the point in coming back to a world with no hope? In that so-called 'Paradise', he had had everything. Here, he was going to die on a cold, metal slab, most likely after extensive torture and experimentation. He was never going to see his loved ones again. Never sit down to dinner with Iruka and tell him about his day at school, laughing about Kakashi's weird teaching style. Never kick a football with Kiba and Neji. Never hear Sakura jokingly chide him. But worst of all, never see Sasuke. Never see that smile that he showed so rarely, yet was somehow burned into the deepest recesses of Naruto's mind.
The door swung open and Naruto squinted his eyes from the light that shone through. A tall man entered, silhouetted by the light, and he approached Naruto with swift, purposeful steps. The door closed automatically behind him with a soft click, leaving them in darkness once again.
'Kabuto?' wondered Naruto. But no, this man's shape had been taller, his shoulders and chest set wider than Kabuto's thin frame.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto, straining to see in the pitch black.
No reply. Instead, the man flipped a switch on the lamp above Naruto's head. The overhead surgical light came to life with a flicker and then a soft buzz. Naruto blinked in the harsh light. Kabuto's tray of small surgical instruments rattled as the man pulled over the tiny trolley. He picked up a scalpel.
"What are you doing?" asked Naruto, fighting to keep the panic out of his voice. He could see the flash of metal in the corner of his eye.
"Getting you out of here." replied an unfamiliar, deep voice.
"Out of here? What are you talking about? Who are you?"
"Now is not the time for questions. You can do as I say, or stay here and die."
Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the man's face, but it was too dark in the shadow of the harsh light, and there appeared to be some kind of black fabric hiding the lower half of his face.
The man took a firm grip of Naruto's arm and brought the scalpel down towards the vulnerable skin on his forearm.
"I need you to stay very still," said the man, "And try not to make too much noise."
Naruto's eyes widened.
"What? Why? What are you going to – aaagh!"
His sentence broke off in a cry of pain as the man cut a deep gash into his arm with one deft motion. He pressed a hand to Naruto's mouth muffling his scream.
"You have to be quiet."
"Quiet for what? So you can butcher me to death, you psycho?" – was what Naruto wanted to say, but it came out as – "Mmf mo mmf? Mmf mmf mmf mmmmmf, Gu mmff?"
"You must trust me." came the calm response. "I'm trying to help."
Naruto only rolled his eyes in an exaggerated motion. It was the only part of him he could express with the hand pressed over his mouth.
The man removed his hand, watching Naruto for any sudden movements or noise.
Naruto, for his part, panted heavily now that his mouth was free. Blood seeped from the cut on his arm. It stung like hell. He glared at the man.
"They put something in you." The stranger said by way of explanation. "I need to remove it. But first, you need to tell me your favorite color."
Naruto squinted at him.
"Why do you need to know my favorite – aaagh!"
Once again, pain exploded through him, radiating from his arm. The man had shoved his fingers deep inside the cut and was pulling out something small and hard. Naruto ground his teeth together desperately trying not to scream, but he couldn't prevent some subdued whimpers and groans escaping his harried throat. He breathed a mental sigh of relief when the man finally stopped and held up a piece of bloody plastic in front of Naruto's pale face.
"Pain is easier to handle when you aren't expecting it." He said by way of explanation.
Sweat trickled down Naruto's temple. His arm was on fire.
"You asshole." He gasped out. He wanted to cuss him out until his throat was sore, but he couldn't help eyeing the plastic curiously. There were tiny metal blobs and strips on it. If he had to guess, he'd say it was a small circuit underneath all that blood.
"What is that?" he asked.
"It's a tracking device. In case you had any ideas about escaping. Kabuto will have inserted it while you were still under."
The man placed the tracker and scalpel on the tray, and immediately began undoing the bindings on Naruto's arms.
As Naruto's arms came free, he scrambled to undo the restraint around his head with fumbling fingers. It was difficult, particularly since his hands were cold and stiff. The man had already finished with the bindings on his legs, and pushed Naruto's clumsy hands aside, undoing the final confine with deft movements.
Naruto groaned in protest as the man helped him to sit up.
"Unfortunately, we don't have time for you to recover. We have to move fast. Put this on and follow me."
He tossed a black hoody at Naruto who surveyed it suspiciously before putting it on. The thickness of the soft fabric was a welcome feeling as it warmed his goose-pimpled skin. Naruto pushed himself carefully off the gurney landing on unsteady legs. The concrete was cold to his bare feet, and the hairs on his legs stood up as a shiver went through him. He unbunched the hem of his boxers, the only other piece of clothing left to him after the experimentation.
Naruto eyed the tracking device with a curious eye. It flashed a tiny green light in intermittent beats. The tiny piece of plastic made a hot bolt of rage go through him as he imagined Kabuto calmly cutting him open, calculating an end to any hope Naruto might have had of escape. He picked up a round metal bowl.
"Sayonara." he said as he lifted the bowl above the tracker with every intent of smashing it to pieces.
"No!" The man jerked him back, almost knocking Naruto over. "Don't destroy it."
"Ack! Why not?" choked out the teen. He pulled at the collar of his hoodie where it had been yanked, glaring at the man.
"For one thing, anyone monitoring this device will notice the sudden loss of signal."
The man picked up the small tracking device, showing Naruto the flashing light under the surgical light.
"For another, these tracker chips have a failsafe. When you break them, it causes a signal spike which sets off an alarm on the Akatsuki electronic systems. Every member within the radius will come running to this spot."
He walked over to a corner of the room and placed the chip carefully behind some plastic jars filled with various powders.
Naruto watched him with a frown, rubbing his arms as they warmed up.
"How do you know all this?"
The man replied in a quiet voice. "Because I designed them."
The twisting and turning of the corridors proved to be as much of a maze with his eyes open as when he had been blindfolded. They reached a plain, white door with a grey panel next to it. The man punched in a few numbers and there was a buzzing and clicking as the door unlocked. They hastened along the next hallway before the man halted, holding a hand up and motioning for Naruto to stop. The sounds of voices echoed from around the corner. The stranger turned back for the first time to fix Naruto with eyes framed with jet black locks. His irises gleamed dark as night and twice as terrifying.
"Along this corridor will be two security guards." explained the stranger, but Naruto wasn't listening.
He had seen those eyes before. He backed away, trying to reach whatever it was that teased at the edge of his mind. The man trailed off, allowing the door to click closed.
"Who are you?" whispered Naruto, feeling his back hit the sheer, hard surface of the wall behind him.
The man sighed and pulled the black fabric mask down.
The shape of his face was familiar - the high cheekbones and delicate jawline, but most of all the mouth. They were relatively full for a man and set into a firm, stubborn expression. The similarity was uncanny save for the deep grooves under the man's eyes giving him a tired, worn look – the eyes of someone who had seen far too much in far too short a time. There was no doubt about it. This man was Sasuke's brother.
"You…Y-you're…"
Naruto braced himself to run, but the man darted forward and grabbed the boy's arm before he could escape.
"Listen to me." he said in harsh whisper. "I know you have no reason to trust me right now, but you need to do exactly as I say or you're going to get us both killed."
Naruto hesitated. Before him was the man Sasuke most detested, the murderer of his parents, the man he had pursued his entire life. None other than Itachi Uchiha. And now here he was offering Naruto his freedom.
"Why would you help me?"
The man straightened up, letting him go.
"Because contrary to what you may believe and have heard, I am on your side."
Well, that was a helpful explanation.
Footsteps sounded along the corridor. It was hard to tell how far away with the echoes that sounded along the walls.
"How do I know this isn't a set-up or something?" whispered Naruto.
"If the Akatsuki wanted to end your life or do something to trick you, you would have no choice in the matter, and no chance." said Itachi. "Nothing has changed. You can do as I say or take your chances on your own, but I promise you, you won't get far."
He held up the keycard in his hand.
Naruto swallowed. As much as he didn't want to have any association with this psychopath, he didn't exactly have a choice.
"Fine." He said.
The man gave a curt nod and pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket.
"Hold out your hands."
Naruto looked at him in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."
Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Since you seem to be rather slow on the uptake, I'll explain to you your situation. I have timed a route that has allowed us to avoid any patrolling guards. However, right now a patrol is walking towards us. The guards we're about to meet will need to believe you're my prisoner. Put them on."
Naruto ground his teeth. Yep, this guy was Sasuke's brother all right. He held out his arms and allowed Itachi to snap them into place. The next moment he was ushered through the door as it buzzed open. Itachi was behind Naruto now, guiding him up the hallway, one restraining hand on his shoulder.
They rounded the corner to find two plain-clothed men standing on either side of an extremely wide industrial elevator door. The metal doors were shut.
"Good evening, gentlemen." said Itachi as they approached.
The two men paused mid-conversation and immediately straightened up when they caught sight of the senior Akatsuki member.
"Good evening, sir." said one of them, then hesitated when he noticed Naruto. "Uh, is everything okay?"
"Perfectly fine." said Itachi. "Bring the lift down, please."
The other security guard shifted, his dark jacket swinging open slightly to reveal a holstered gun. Naruto tried not to stare at it.
"Uh, the uh, subjects are not supposed to be taken above ground, Mr. Uchiha." said the security guard. "Mr. Obito's orders."
The man visibly quelled as Itachi turned his emotionless gaze on him.
"I'm aware of that." said Itachi in a calm voice. "However, Obito requested personally that I take this particular subject to his upstairs office. Would you like me to tell him that you stopped me?"
The man hesitated before pulling out a key and inserting it into a panel on the wall.
"Of course not." He said quickly as pressed the elevator button below the key insert. "Please, go ahead."
The elevator took a few painstaking moments to respond, but finally the doors opened, and Itachi and Naruto stepped inside.
Itachi inclined his head in thanks to the two men, not taking his eyes off them for a moment as the doors closed.
Naruto let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Well, that was terrifying." He said.
"It's not over yet." responded Itachi.
The elevator hummed as it ascended, bars of light flashing through the crack between the doors with each level they passed.
"What is this place?" asked Naruto.
"An underground factory. The higher levels are used as a front for a distillery, but of course, most of the workers don't know about what is going on underground. "
"A distillery, huh?" said Naruto. "I guess that's the perfect place for creating drugs and stuff."
The man beside him didn't reply.
Eventually, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened to reveal a large warehouse, gray and colourless lit by dull, fluorescent light. There were skylights spread across the high ceiling, but no sun shone through. It was pitch black outside, but under the cold glow of fluorescent lights stood hulking vats and brass tanks. The strong smell of sweet hops assaulted Naruto's nostrils. But that wasn't what caught his attention.
No, what caught his attention were the three surprised Akatsuki standing directly in front of the elevator's wide open doors.