To all my wonderful readers: I sincerely hope you liked the last chapter! And I'm still looking for more reviews. If you like it, the very least you can do is say so. Since I have no feedback to know what you enjoyed or want more of, I had to experiment a bit with this chapter. But the plot is slowly unravelling.

Sorry about the relatively late update, but I've been super busy what with exams and music theory tests...but I hope to be more regular henceforth!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

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23rd April, 2032, Laboratories of Dr. Tsunade Senju, Pacific Heights, San Francisco

"Ahem," Tsunade said with a cough, interrupting the intimate scene before her. She inwardly laughed as Sakura practically bolted from the arms of the man she was passionately kissing moments before. It was quite surprising to find Sakura of all people being caught in this situation.

"Next time you try to take a man home with you, make sure he goes to your house- not mine!" she said slightly irate.

Sakura's cheeks were still tainted pink as Tsunade waltzed into the room.

"There's something off with the test results."

"What do you mean? Is it something serious?" Sakura asked almost instantly.

"Not particularly- her stats seem to be normal. If anything a little malnourished."

"Then what's the problem?" she asked, confusion evident from her tone.

"If we go by these results, then there should be nothing wrong with her. The physical symptoms tell a very different story."

"So you think there's a hidden agent taking part?"

"Yes." Her lips pressed tightly in a firm line, as she thought about the other area where she had previously seen similar symptoms. Although that was a long time ago...

"I'll give Yuki some antipyretics, and you take her home. Bring her in tomorrow or the day after and I'll look into the matter." Tsunade said, snapping herself out of her thoughts.

Sakura nodded.

"Now as for you," she said, turning to the black haired man, "I've given you some painkillers for your shoulder, and if you want me to keep treating that burn, then you can come see me tomorrow."

"Actually," he interrupted, seemingly unfazed by the scene she had witnessed earlier, "My arm's fine."

He lifted his left arm up, moving it around, with no apparent visual strain on his arm.

Tsunade felt her eyes widen with shock at the movement. She walked up to him and took a closer look at the shoulder, only to face utter bewilderment.

"But how?"

She thought of any possible explanations. she had been quite sure that his shoulder was frozen. Had she misdiagnosed? Maybe he was in shock from whatever had happened to them- that might've been why he couldn't move his arm. The idea of her having a misdiagnosis was highly unlikely- but it was more possible than the idea of an injury that should have taken months to heal fixing up in a matter of hours.

Sakura gave her a knowing look, saying, "It's okay. Even you can make mistakes."

The suppressed snicker was what set her off.

"You know what?" she said, getting angrier by the minute, "I've had enough of you disturbing me in the middle of the night. It's about time you get out and leave me with my alcohol!"

They didn't waste much time in taking Yuki and leaving.

Watching them pull away from her driveway from her laboratory window, she pulled the blinds, took a bottle of whiskey from her long term stash, and reclined in her comfortable armchair behind her laboratory desk. She heaved a sigh of exhaustion as she frowned upon the test reports that lay before her.

17th March, 2010, Uchiha Corporation, Basement Laboratory

Tsunade frowned down at the test reports in front of her.

"Oi! Snake eyes! Get yourself over here!" she hollered across the room.

Soon Orochimaru appeared by her side, followed by their third lab colleague.

"She's rejecting the toxin." Tsunade said grimly.

The white haired analyst of their team asked, "Who?"

"Cynthia."

"You mean the subject we most recently performed the experiment on." their snake eyed companion clarified.

"'Subject'? For heaven's sake, she's a child! Real flesh and blood! And an orphan at that! Don't be so apathetic!" Tsunade chided.

"So you were saying?" the third man prompted.

"These are her blood test reports. There's no external pathogen influencing her current physical state. It can only be attributed to the neurotoxin. She's rejecting it." Tsunade handed them the report so that they could see for themselves. "Our plan of action should be?"

Orochimaru handed her back the reports saying, "So far, the experiment has been successful. Just because she's trying to reject the toxin doesn't mean it won't fulfil it's use and stabilize her body's reaction to the experiment. We should increase the dosage of the toxin to facilitate the experiment's success."

"Are you insane? She's sufferring so much already! Add any more of that thing and she'll be better off dead! And what's to say she'll reject the experiment as well and die? Just get rid of the neurotoxin! So what if the experiment fails! She'll just revert back to her normal state. We can try again afterwards! Tsunade! Back me up on this!" the white haired man argued.

"We risk too much if we try to withdraw the neurotoxin now," she said before turning to Orochimaru, "But don't think that the neurotoxin can't kill her. If she reacts too badly, she faces a risk of death not only from the experiment, but also the neurotoxin. We need an alternate compound to stabilize the reaction. And until then- we can't add to the toxin accumulation in her bloodstream."

The two men before her begrudgingly agreed to her solution, while she rolled her sleeves up for the night ahead of her. If she were to find said alternative compound, tend to Cynthia appropriately with as little suffering to the little waif herself, and appease both of her stuffy co workers, she wouldn't be getting sleep for quite some time. Boy she could use a nice martini at that point.

Back to present, 23rd April, 2032, Pacific Heights, San Francisco

Tsunade drew herself out of her memories as she took a long swig from her scotch.

The past was in the past, and she wanted nothing to do with it. Nothing to associate her with that accursed organization. Or the vile ideas of Orochimaru.

But the child Yuki worried her. For starters, when she first saw the girl, carried in Sakura's arms, she could have sworn she was a ghost of the little waif she had known by the name of Cynthia.

All of that thought was pointless when she considered the implications of Yuki's blood test results.

On one hand, it was likely pure coincidence. But she couldn't get rid of the unshakeable unease that accompanied the report as she looked down at it.

Deciding there was no use in fretting over it, Tsunade left the comfort of her armchair going back to where she had kept a sample of Yuki's blood. If she could prove her unease to be unjustified, then at the very least she could properly enjoy her alcohol.

Separating a small part of the blood sample, she found herself in a part of her lab so infrequently visited that dust had accumulated on the shelves and beaker. It was a field of research she chose to never venture into again.

Finding the compound she was looking for, she added it to the blood sample- it was a quick test they used back in the day to see the concentration of toxin in the sample of body tissue they had.

Under the microscope back in the more lived in part of her laboratory, she looked down the eyepiece, hoping to see the characteristic result of a non toxic blood sample. But all of her fears were confirmed as she saw the exact opposite.

Yuki's blood showed high concentrations of a toxin. The same one she herself had used back when she worked as a full time researcher.

That meant that Yuki was an escaped experimental test subject.

23rd April, 2032, Hyuga Mansion, San Francisco, Time- 23:24

A lone white cat darted across the deserted road as a stray black sedan pulled into the driveway in front of the Hyuga mansion.

Sakura was sitting in the back of the car with Yuki asleep next to her. Naruto was in the driver's seat.

Sighing as she contemplating the long explanation that awaited her when she finally got inside, she got out of the car and walked around it to the other side, about to open the door closest to Yuki.

She froze when she felt a warm breath brushing her neck.

"Naruto?" she whispered.

She felt strong arms circle around her waist as he buried his face in her hair. She shivered in pleasure as his lips pressed against the nape of her neck and she leaned back into his embrace.

His lips trailed down to her collarbone and her body stiffened as she suddenly became sharply aware of the fact that they were making out in front of her house. In the middle of the night.

"Naruto," she said assertively, "I need to take Yuki inside."

She had no idea what name to put to whatever was happening between her and Naruto, but she knew for a fact that this was not the right time to be impractical.

His grip relaxed as he pulled back, giving her room to twist around so that she was face to face with him. Her hands slid up his chest and clasped together behind his neck as she pulled him down to her eye level.

Pressing her forehead to his, she added, "We can continue this tomorrow." Her lips curved up in a small smile.

His eyes were unreadable pits of coal, but his actions spoke otherwise as he pushed her against the side of the car and leaned in to steal her lips again.

Fifteen minutes later she finally entered her house to be greeted by an angry Hyuga family to whom she then recounted the events of the evening.

So there you have it! Be sure to tell me what you think! I really hope for a few more of those reviews. It helps to know that you actually enjoy and aren't reading just for the sake of reading.

Stay tuned for more!

~Raven