I own nothing relating to any series, including Naruto.

Surviving Experiments

Chapter 1

Naruto snapped awake. Not because he wanted to but because his older sister had hugged him to her chest at some time during the night and he was having trouble breathing. Now wide awake and still struggling to breathe a little, he performed the Substitution Jutsu with the body pillow she had bought months ago so she wouldn't grab him in the middle of the night. It didn't work, but it still saw some use.

He slowly slid out of bed, scratching his stomach as he walked to the bathroom. He was careful to close the door before he turned the light on, not wanting one of Anko's snakes sent after him again. He loved his older sister, but she was terrifying.

It started almost eight years ago, when the traitor Orochimaru had kidnapped him and taken his loyal apprentice, Anko, and abandoned the village. Anko hadn't known he had been kidnapped, he had been stuffed into a Prisoner Scroll and she hadn't been privy to some of Orochimaru's more vile experiments, so she didn't discover he was with them for a few years, after Orochimaru started to experiment on her.

The reason he was kidnapped wasn't for anything political or some kind of petty revenge, it was his ability to heal past just about anything. From missing organs, such as a lung or his kidneys, to gene splicing, his body either repaired the damage or adapted to it. As such, as a result of all of the experiments, Naruto was now the wielder of several kekkei genkai.

The Dead Bone Pulse was taken from a Kaguya clan member named Kimimaro, Metal Release, which was taken from some dead ninja from Iwa and something Orochimari called Sage Release was taken from an older kid called Jugo. He was almost certain Orochimaru would've experimented on him more, had it not been for a timely ANBU team coming and rescuing him and Anko from one of his many laboratories.

The kekkei genkai, when combined as they were, made him into a force of destruction. He had an extremely high defense and incredibly dangerous, unorthodox offense, which just doubled down if he activated Sage Release. With Dead Bone Pulse, he could turn his bones as hard as steel but, combine it with Metal Release and they were borderline unbreakable.

Anko wasn't spared either, her anger at Orochimaru's experimentation removing any traces of bonds between the snake master and his apprentice. Naruto, as it turned out, had his own kekkei genkai. While his unnatural regeneration was boosted by his prisoner, it seemed he, due to his mother being the previous host to the Nine Tailed Fox, already had an impressive rate of healing, so long as he had chakra.

She was given his kekkei genkai through a very painful experiment and further experimented but she ended up with Jugo's Sage Release and another Iwa ninja's Explosion Release. There was probably more planned, like with him, but they were rescued at the same time.

After their rescue, four years after their disappearance, and after they were released back into society - they both had weekly visits with the Yamanaka for a while and they still had monthly visits - he and Anko were nearly inseparable. She was his older sister, a title she had gotten after she had tried to save him and later comforted him after Orochimaru's experiments.

As he did every morning after his standard routine, he looked at himself in the mirror and activated his Sage Release, watching as his skin turned a reddish-orange and his hair grew out until he looked somewhat like his father. The other changes were a lot more drastic. His sclera, the whites of his eyes, turned black while his normal blue eyes turned blood red with a slit for a pupil instead of a round spot. His teeth turned into fangs, his nails into claws, he gained a pair of parabolic fox ears and, if it weren't for his Dead Bone Pulse, his legs would've changed to a digitigrade pair that would've forced him into a four-legged stance like a fox.

Plus, like Jugo, other than the initial release, he could almost freely alter his body, and likely would once he learned better control. Unlike Jugo and Anko, he didn't have a problem with losing complete control while it was active. Sure he got angrier and more aggressive like they did but he could at least pick a target and focus on it and he could deactivate it

He looked at himself in the mirror in this state so often because he wanted to remember what Orochimaru did to him, so the memories of the torture he underwent wouldn't fade. He swore vengeance and he would have it.

Deactivating the kekkei genkai, he flicked off the bathroom light and walked out… and ran into Anko. Despite the fact they literally slept together, he still blushed as he ran headfirst into her naked breast. "Damnit nee-chan, put some clothes on before you walk around."

He wasn't really bothered when she put him into a headlock and dragged him back towards their bed. "Back to bed, 'Ruto," the naked tokubetsu jonin mumbled.

"I can't sleep," he lied. "I got exams later and I'm nervous."

She muttered something that didn't sound like anything and continued to pull him to the bed. Knowing better than to resist, he wouldn't get away anyway, he silently accepted being tugged onto the bed and used as a body pillow. At least he wasn't being smothered this time.

~Z~

Naruto snapped awake for the second time in just a few hours as the alarm clock blared. Anko shifted next to him, pulling away and climbing out of bed, muttering the entire time. She walked across the room and slammed her hand down on the appliance, causing him to wince. It was close to breaking again, meaning they'd have to go get a new one in a few days. She was not a morning person.

"Naruto," she tiredly called out, turning to face the bed before she began to stretch. "Time to getup, c'mon."

Already wide awake but having been through this routine several times, he climbed out of bed and stretched.

Bleary-eyed as they walked towards the bathroom, she patted his head. While she took over the toilet for the early morning ritual - he was still fine from just a few hours before - he started the shower and waited for it to heat up. He barely flinched as Anko pinched one of his cheeks, shooting a glare at the purple-haired woman.

"Good morning Naruto," Anko said, grinning at him. He was so going to have to get back at her. Instead, for the moment, he ignored her as he climbed into the warm shower, Anko following a brief moment later. Seeing her naked wasn't a big deal, they had seen each other's organs before Orochimaru removed them so it wasn't even close to embarrassing to shower together.

The shower was something Anko had splurged on, using the pay from one of her A-rank missions to have the tub torn up and an entirely new shower system put in. While they couldn't enjoy baths anymore, they could now both soak in the shower and relax as the water pelted them from six locations on the roof and two more on each side-wall.

Despite the fact that the two of them weren't blood related, Naruto held very few perverted thoughts about Anko. She was his sister and that was all that mattered to him. It would be a cold day in hell before he did anything that might take her away from him.

That wasn't to say he felt nothing. Anko was a very beautiful woman but she lacked the ability to feel shame. She would go out of her way to do something embarrassing for any normal person, like picking him up from the academy in a tiny bikini that barely hid anything, and not be bothered in the slightest. It was a combination of that and her constantly caring for him

He hadn't even tried explaining that incident to his classmates.

Seeing a prime opportunity to retaliate as Anko was toweling her head off, he twisted his towel up and snapped it at her, a wide grin spreading across his face as the tip of the towel cracked against one of her cheeks. By the time she turned to glare at him after letting out a very girlish "Yip!", he was running away cackling.

He barely slowed down to get dressed, a loosely tied orange haori with his clans symbol on the back over a standard genin-grade mesh shirt, orange boxers, standard genin-grade mesh pants, navy-blue shinobi pants and sandals. His hair was still dripping wet as he jumped out the bedroom window, just in time for Anko to knock down the bedroom door.

"Get back here Gaki!" Anko yelled at him, causing him to laugh harder as he took off for the academy. He'd get it later, but he enjoyed getting back at her for the moment.

He landed on the ground, rolling to break his fall before hopping to his feet and taking off, avoiding two of the three senbon that she threw at him. He'd pluck the one that hit him from his leg once he was out of range of her attacks.

Once he had rounded the first corner, he paused and pulled the senbon out of his calf before putting his hands into the Tiger hand seal and channeling chakra throughout his body. It worked, the feeling of his body heating up being the tell-tale sign that he was drying himself off rapidly. His hair would feel weird for a little while but it was better than it dripping from how wet it was.

After checking his leg to make sure it had healed - it had - he started towards the academy again. It wouldn't do to be late on his last day, after all.

~Z~

Naruto grinned at the stunned expressions of the two chunin instructors as he proved his clones were Shadow Clones, the four doppelgangers straightening up the room as he sat comfortably on the desk.

"Are- are those solid clones?" Mizuki stuttered.

"Yep!" Naruto answered, still grinning at the stunned pair. "I told Anko-nee about the trouble I had with the normal Clone Jutsu and she talked to Hokage-jiji and he gave me a special… special… Err, he said I could use the Shadow Clone Jutsu instead because I'm an Uzumaki and failing me because my clan's traits would be like failing an Akimichi for their weight."

"A dispensation," Iruka idly remarked, a look of pride crossing his face. Naruto understood. Until Iruka had sat him down one day and talked to him calmly rather than shouting at him to behave, something he was pretty sure the Hokage told him to do, he had been a troublemaker and borderline flunking out of academy. Now he was roughly middle of the class, if only because he had trouble sitting still for long periods of time the academy required.

"Well, I think showing off solid clones should be a pass in any case," the scarred chunin continued. "Well done Nartuo." Iruka pulled his hitai-ate off and offered it over, "As promised, the hitai-ate off my head. Congratulations Naruto. And thank you for straightening up the seats," he finished with a small smirk.

Naruto grinned wide, taking hitai-ate, "Thanks Iruka-sensei!" He started to tie it on, his grin stretching wider as he proudly displayed his new status to the two chunin.

"You're welcome, Naruto. Now get on to room three-o-one, I'll take you out to Ichiraku's later for a graduation gift." Iruka smiled and Naruto was off.

"I didn't know he was an actual Uzumaki," he heard Mizuki say. "I thought he was just named that in honor of the last two hosts. It explains a lot about all of his energy and fidgeting." He didn't get to hear Iruka's response but it was nice to know that someone else wasn't close to understood him a little better.

He made his way to the room he was told to go to, the only thought on his mind being whether or not he could get the fabric of his new hitai-ate in orange… probably not.

No one in the class looked surprised to see him there, and he saw that most everyone passed, minus a few civilian students that paid less attention in the class than he used to.

He made his wave over and sat next to Hinata, who blushed, and some civilian girl, Ami he thought he name was, who glared at him. He didn't care about what Ami thought one way or another, most civilians hated him anyway. He was hated for his burden, the fact he came back after being kidnapped and, after it spilled out, the fact he was a possible mole and traitor waiting for the command word to trigger him. He couldn't even deny any bit of that last part because both he and Anko couldn't remember the majority of their experiences under the whims of Orochimaru.

The hate from the parents was copied by their children, so he was almost universally despised in Konoha. Were it not for the ninja clans, it would be universal.

"Welcome and congratulations, young genin," the academy headmaster said as he appeared out of the blue, causing a few unprepared people to flinch. "We won't keep you long, don't worry. I just have a few things to say." And so went a spiel that Naruto was pretty sure was memorized judging by the man's tone and the bored look in his eyes despite the smile on his face.

It was a long, boring fifteen minutes before they were let out. He walked silently with Hinata as they made their way downstairs. They were walking side-by-side and they were almost out of the academy before he grabbed her elbow and pulled her to the side before her guard noticed her.

She squeaked cutely and her blush got brighter but she offered almost no resistance to being pulled along.

"Sorry!" He said loudly after pulling her far enough so that no other newly minted genins could hear them. "I just… I wanted to say thanks." He could feel his cheeks burning from embarrassment. "You helped me a lot after I-..." He hesitated, he wasn't ready to share that just yet. "After I started the academy. You remember how bad I was."

She nodded softly, and, before she could say anything, he continued, a blush burning his cheeks, "I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out… we meet our jonin tomorrow, so Saturday?"

Her cheeks looked as red as his felt. "S-sure," she half-stammered. "I'd like that."

"Great!" He exclaimed. "I'll meet you outside your clan complex around lunch time if that's okay." He waited just long enough to see the bright smile on her face before he ran off, a matching smile on his.

~Z~

"Really?!" Anko shouted, a look of surprise on her face, not something he got to see very often. "About time. The Hyuga princess has had her eyes on you since you started the academy. I'm surprised you were the one that did something about it though."

Naruto frowned as she ruffled his hair, setting his third empty bowl of ramen down. "Really? Why didn't she say anything?"

"... she's shy." She said it like it was obvious. "The girl has self-esteem issues and you turning her down would've hurt her badly."

"I wouldn't have turned her down!" He shouted before a bright blush started to burn her cheeks.

She grinned and ruffled his hair again, "I know, but emotions can confuse even the best shinobi. You and Hinata are only twelve and only just graduated. Just don't rush into things. Just because you might be ready doesn't mean she will be. Go at her pace, not yours."

He nodded, "Got it."

"Oh, I meant to ask," she said, setting her first and likely only bowl of ramen down. "Did you find out who your jonin-sensei is? I'm gonna talk to yours to see if they don't mind me getting someone to help develop a taijutsu style for your bone-thing."

"Nah, not yet," he answered. "They're assigning us tomorrow. I'll send you a clone once I find out who I got."

"Hmm," she hummed. "Well I'll see if the taijutsu specialist is in town tomorrow and willing to spend some time helping you. He's got his own team so he might not be able to."

"That's fine," he said. "I'm sure I can find something that'd work for me, or my jonin-sensei will."

~Z~

"Team Seven," Iruka said, staring down at his clipboard, "under Jonin Kakashi Hatake are Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and his personal apprentice Naruto Uzumaki. I don't know how you impressed him, Naruto, but good job. Kakashi is one of the most skilled jonin in Konoha."

'Oh, so that's Inu-nii,' Naruto thought, thinking back to the masked ANBU that made him a promise as he was being rescued from Orochimaru's clutches. He hadn't seen the ANBU around much, for obvious reasons, but he did still smell the man around from time to time.

"Team Eight," Iruka continued on, "under Jonin Kurenai Yuhi are Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka. Team Nine is still active… Team Ten under Jonin Asuma Sarutobi are Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka. And that's everyone. Your jonin-senseis will be here in about an hour so take a chance and get to know your new teammates. I wish you all the best of luck."

As soon as Iruka left the room, Naruto summoned a shadow clone and sent it on its way to Anko to tell her about the teams.

"Great," he heard Sakura grumble. "Iruka tells us to get to know our teams and Naruto runs off as soon as he leaves."

"No, I'm right here. That was a shadow clone." The entire class froze at that. Seeing as the clone itself physically opened the window, he kinda understood it. "It's a B-rank jutsu that allows the user to make a solid clone. I got permission to learn it because my clan, the Uzumaki, have naturally large reserves and it's impossible for us to get enough control during our time in the academy."

Sasuke, his new teammate and someone who had never said a word to him before, stared at him and spoke for the first time without being prompted by one of the teachers, "Teach me."

Naruto blinked twice. "I can't. I'm not saying that because I don't want to - I mean I don't but that's not why - but I'm not allowed. It's a B-ranked kinjutsu because if you use it and you don't have enough chakra, it can kill you."

"Stop trying to be cool, Naruto-baka." One of the civilian students said. He didn't know her name but she was one of Sasuke's sycophants. "Teach him the stupid jutsu. I bet he has more chakra than you anyway!"

He smirked, "Hell no. If you want to see him dead, do it yourself. I'm not going to get arrested for intentionally teaching someone a jutsu they don't have the chakra to use. Besides, Sasuke can actually use the normal Clone Jutsu, I can't."

"Well said Naruto," said a voice from nowhere, before the doorway shimmered and a beautiful woman with messy black hair that went down to about her shoulder blades and red eyes appeared. "He's not lying. The Uzumaki were blessed with large chakra reserves but they naturally had poor control because of that. The average jonin can only make about half a dozen before they exhaust their reserves."

He looked around the room and saw a few that looked about ready to argue but remained silent anyway, and another few that looked impressed as they looked at him. Sasuke looked like he was a part of both parties.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi," the now-identified woman said. "Team Eight, if you would come with me."

He waved at Hinata as she left the room with her sensei and waited all of three seconds before some of the sycophants started to yell and shout at him again, trying to force him to teach Sasuke the jutsu. They were loud and screeching and he was getting annoyed.

"Fine!" He yelled at the group, reaching into his pouch and pulling out a handful of leaves. "If Sasuke can make one of these explode while trying to stick it to his forehead using the normal chakra-control method the academy teaches us, I'll teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Just to prove his point, he placed a leaf on his forehead and tried to make it stick there. It took all of three seconds for the leaf to explode, leaving a small chakra burn on his forehead.

"Why are you carrying around a bunch of leaves?" Sakura said. He had a bit of a crush on her but she liked Sasuke so he wasn't going to get in the way of her pursuit of him.

"To test my chakra control on occasion." He answered. "That was my record, or just about."

A few of the girls scowled but shut up, thinking Sasuke would get it right away. Sasuke's brow creased as he focused and constantly failed at the task. The other teams slowly trickled out as their senseis picked them up.

Naruto looked up from his spot, his clone having popped after Anko spoke to him. "Apparently Hatake-sensei is habitually late for everything but missions, so we can expect him to show up in an hour or two. Do you want me to leave a clone here while we go get lunch or something? Or I can send a clone out to go get lunch for us."

"I would rather not risk upsetting him if he arrives and we're not here," Sakura said. "Can you send a clone to my house and pick up something from my mom?"

"Sure thing! Can you write a note to her for that then?" When she nodded and began to do that, stealing a slip of paper from the teacher's desk, he turned to Sasuke, "What about you?"

"... whatever's fine," Sasuke grumbled, still focused on the leaf.

"M'kay, give me a hundred ryo. I'll bring your change back."

"I thought you were getting it, dobe." Sasuke said, his attention slipping from the leaf, causing it to fall off of his forehead.

"Getting it, yeah," Naruto replied, "Not paying for it."

Sasuke shot him a glare but pulled out a wallet before handing over the required money.

Once Sakura handed over the note, he made two shadow clones and sent them out. Sakura's clone returned in ten or so minutes with a salad while the clone he sent out for ramen took half an hour because it was lunchtime and Ichiraku's was busy.

They ate in silence, only the sounds of their utensils making any noise in the room. Once they had finished, he conjured two more clones to take care of the mess, returning the containers to the owners.

They had been waiting almost three hours before Kakashi showed up. Sasuke had given up on trying to explode the leaf and just stared out the window, Sakura was painting her nails and he was searching through the teachers desk for something to do.

"You must be Team Seven," the masked Jonin said. "Naruto, good to see you again."

"You too In- err, Kakashi-nii!" He responded.

"You two know each other?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi hummed, "Mm, a little. I imagine the three of you are tired of this room, let's meet up on the roof." He disappeared without another word.

Sasuke, looking as upset as he ever did, left the room first, walking quickly, and leaving him and Sakura behind.

"What's he like?" Sakura asked as they followed after Sasuke, walking at a much more normal pace.

"I don't really know him, like he said. But you know how I entered the academy late?" She nodded, so he continued. "He's the only reason I entered at all."

"What? Did he make you enroll?"

He shook his head, "No, it's complicated. I… rather not go into it. It's really personal."

Sakura frowned, "But you called him brother."

He nodded, "I did, yeah. I'd probably be dead or worse, if it wasn't for him."

They arrived on the roof just a moment later, both of them taking a seat next to Sasuke.

Kakashi waited for them to get settled before he spoke. "Now then, how about we get to know each other? Simple things, like your favorite thing, what you hate the most, dreams, ambitions, hobbies, things like that."

"Why don't you go first?" Naruto asked. "We all know each other at least a little bit but you're an unknown."

"Oh… me?" Kakashi questions. "Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dreams for the future are none of your business… but anyways, I have a lot of hobbies."

Naruto stared at the jonin a moment before he shrugged, figuring he'd pry the man for details later.

"You first, Pinkie," Kakashi continued, gesturing idly towards Sakura.

"Umm… My name is Sakura Haruno. My favorite thing is…" Naruto started to drone her out as she not-so-subtly hinted that Sasuke was her favorite thing, hobby and what-not. He listened to Sasuke mention his goal, talking about his brother no doubt, before it was his turn.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki," He said, smiling. "My favorite thing is Ramen and my nee-chan, Anko. I try not to hate anything but I'm not always successful. My dream and ambition is to be Hokage but I have another one like Sasukes. Unlike Sasuke, I'd be fine if anyone killed the person I want dead. Besides that, I don't really have many hobbies. I spend most of my downtime training but I do like working on my garden when it needs it."

"You didn't tell us how you knew Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura half-yelled.

"And I won't," Naruto replied firmly. "Not yet, at any rate."

"I agree with Naruto," Kakashi said. "I won't pry into Naruto's past just like I won't pry into Sasukes. They will share when they are ready."

He let his sole eye glide over the three of them before he smiled under the mask, "Now then, do the three of you have any specialties I should be aware of? Naruto, let's start with you this time."

"Hai. I specialize in offensive and defensive taijutsu but I've also had small amounts of kenjutsu training due to my kekkei genkai. Plural, not singular."

His teammates looked at him like he was a lying idiot and he was getting ready to explain to them but Kakashi spoke first, "He's not lying. Naruto has four confirmed kekkei genkai, potentially more." He smirked at their faces.

"Next," Kakashi continued. "Pinkie, your specialities."

Sakura frowned at the name but spoke anyway, "I'd specialize in genjutsu or iryojutsu but have no specialties at the moment."

Sasuke started speaking as soon as Kakashi turned his head towards him, "I'd specialize in ninjutsu mostly, but genjutsu too once I activate my Sharingan."

Kakashi nodded. "Okay, good. You're exactly what I expected. You all suck."

Naruto snorted, getting a glare from the other two. "What?" He asked. "He's not wrong. We're rookies, of course we suck. I've seen average-ish genin in action and they could take us with one hand behind their backs."

"Exactly," Kakashi said, a smile evident on his face despite how much of it was hidden. "But that's going to be it for today. Meet me at Training Grounds Seven at nine am. We'll be doing survival exercises. Don't eat breakfast or you might throw up."

Kakashi disappeared and Naruto snorted again, "Don't listen to those orders. Like I said, he's habitually late. It's probably going to be noon before he arrives. He wants us to be hungry and upset.

~Z~

Authors Notes

Dead Bone Pulse is better for healing bones and flesh on a large scale than Naruto's Kurama-enhanced regeneration (other than when he's angry pre-Shippuden) but worse at healing small-scale or things like burns.

I kept Mizuki around because I figured that, if he knew what kind of torturous experiments Orochimaru performed, even if it was on Naruto, and the low odds of survival, he'd be scared off of joining him. He might hate Konoha and Naruto in particular but he seems like the type of person to value his life over prestige. I might do a redemption arc for him or I might just not mention him again, we'll see. Plus you can only see him beat up so many times before it becomes boring.

100 Ryo is roughly equivalent to 10 Dollars, or 10 Ryo per dollar.

Japanese Translation

Kekkei Genkai - Bloodline Limit

Nee/Nee-chan - Older Sister

Haori - A traditional Japanese hip or thigh-length jacket typically worn over a kimono

Jiji/Ojii - Grandfather

Hitai-ate - Forehead Protector

Sensei - Teacher/Master

Hebi - Snake

Inu - Dog

Nii/Nii-san - Older Brother

Kinjutsu - Forbidden Technique

Hai - Yes

Ninjutsu - Ninja Technique

Taijutsu - Body Technique

Kenjutsu - Sword Technique

Genjutsu - Illusionary Technique

Iryojutsu - Medical Technique