AN: Here is the next chapter, mostly exposition again and OC based so please bear because its plot vital. A few more chapters and you won't have to read about these OCs again…or will you? You will but not for a very, very, very long time. At least fifty chapters so rejoice.

Also due to a comment, I have redone and posted chapter 7 to better explain my thinking when writing Kakuzu in that chapter due to how poorly written it was. From now on, I will write an author's note before chapters if the chapter contains something that might raise eyebrows to avoid confusion. There will be things in this story which have been tweaked outside the canon so warning for the future. If you are loyal to the canon then I suggest abandoning ship now, or you should have already on the first chapter. This story is purely fun and meant to entertain.

With that said, yes, Zetsu is FEMALE in this story. Why? Multiple reasons. Simple reason, I like genderbend and this story is uncanon, as you obviously see and will see. There will be romance in this story and I no longer write yaoi, sorry. Also, I actually really like Zetsu's backstory and did not want to temper with it, so basically this Zetsu is an alternate in background and gender. If this bothers you then leave, because I will not tolerate flames for writing what I want in my story because you don't like it.

Also I wish to thank the people which have favourited and alerted this story. It encourages me to continue writing this questionable story. Thank you.

Warning(s):Genderbend, OCs, Implied Gore

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Wasteland:

Act 1:

Chapter 8

"There we go." Ayana whispered to herself as she tucked K-MF-084 back into her hospital bed after her daily session of Mayfly-suppression chemo. The girl was pale and trembling, having endured a severe spell of vomiting and Ayana withdrew a tissue from her pocket, using it to dab away the beads of sweat on Experiment 084's forehead and the clear fluid crusted on the corners of her mouth. The girl hugged her tattered teddy bear, emitting a low whine and Ayana sighed, heart aching at the sight of the suffering girl. 'At least there was no testing scheduled this week.' She thought as she stroked the girl's sunken cheek.

"Go to sleep, you have nothing else today." Ayana told the girl gently and 084's eyes began to droop with the welcomed clearance. Suddenly, just as soon as they closed, her large, honeycomb eyes reopened and widened, her lips stretching into a sharp-toothed grin. Ayana blinked at the girl's abrupt perkiness and followed her sight over her shoulder, gasping at the surprising sight.

"Kiyoshi-kun?" She remarked, standing to her feet as the blonde doctor approached her. "You're not due back until tomorrow!"

"I came back early, I was too worried." Kiyoshi explained to his friend, gently nudging past her to crouch at 084's bedside, cradling the girl's smiling face. "How are you, Zetsu?" He whispered, keeping his voice low so one of the other nurses currently tending the children in the infirmary ward did not overhear. Referring to an experiment by their name was strictly frowned upon.

"She had a vomiting spell this morning," Ayana answered honestly despite the girl's optimistic nodding to please her favourite person. "But, there was no testing this week."

Kiyoshi nodded. "Good." He petted the teenager's head, ignoring the layer of grease that coated his fingers from her matted, green locks. He would have to speak to Tarou about permitting the girl a real bath instead of merely sponging her down. "You're so brave, Zetsu." The girl's crooked grin only widened at the comment and it made Kiyoshi's heart soar and also clench. This girl was nothing but a patient of his, an experiment, but he saw her as special to him as his own daughter. It struck him with guilt, as he had spent the past week with his daughter yet his thoughts were solely on K-MF-084 the whole time which had spurred his early return. Now that he had seen the girl was indeed fine, perhaps he could sneak back home unnoticed and before his wife and daughter awoke to discover him missing.

However, his thoughts were shattered when an unexpected earthquake thrashed the laboratory and Kiyoshi and Ayana and the other nurses occupying the wing were thrown to the ground. The children screamed, diving beneath their covers as the ward trembled and the lights were shortly knocked out, submerging the clinic in pitch blackness occupied by the dying whine of the medical equipment as they powered down and the crashing of containers striking the ground. The quaking resumed for several seconds before it thinned then ceased completely. A moment later, the backup generators activated as the lights flickered back on and the equipment whirled back to life, revealing the ward was in tatters as glass and medical supplied littered the ground.

Kiyoshi stood, helping Ayana back to her feet and dusting off the debris from the ceiling from her coat and hair. Once he ensured her wellness, he hurried to 084's bedside and riffled through the blankets where she had barricaded herself beneath, discovering the teenager cowering and clenching her bear.

"Zetsu, it's alright sweetheart." Kiyoshi cooed as he coaxed the shaking girl out of her hiding hole, hugging her against his chest and stoking her back. The other nurses recovered from their tumble and quickly pursued the chore of comforting the startled children in matters not so gently as Kiyoshi which involved scolding and harsh hushing.

"What was that?" Ayana gasped, glancing around the trashed clinic. "An earthquake? In Kusagakure?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, blonde curls coiling themselves around the frame of his glasses. "I don't know."

After the children were calmed and secured back in their beds, the nurses made haste of leaving the ward while Ayana and Kiyoshi stayed back. Kiyoshi had managed to soothe 084 also, tucking her back in bed and checking that her numerous IVs and feeding tube had not been dislodged during the earthquake before turning to Ayana. "Wasn't 001's field test today?"

"Yes it was," Ayana said before realizing what Kiyoshi had actually asked and gasped. "You don't think…that was Iwagakure?"

Kiyoshi shook his head, gazing at 084 who was in the process of falling asleep and tugged the blankets higher so they also covered the purple bear clenched in her arms. "K-MF-001 could not survive such an explosion so I hope not." He said, biting down on his bottom lip. 'But, I also do.'

…

Meanwhile in the meeting room on the opposite side of the laboratory, Ryouta climbed from the floor, the earthquake having knocked him directly out of his seat and he rubbed his head, checking his hand for any blood from the collision between his head and the ground. He stood, discovering Tarou still sitting on the opposite side of the long conference table and calmly sipping his coffee, the intense shaking having no effect on his obese frame except for some unattractive jiggling.

"It would appear Iwagakure is fighting back," Tarou remarked, shoving an entire half of wheat toast into his mouth and chewing noisily. "K-MF-001 must be giving them quite the scare."

"They better not harm him. K-MF-001 is worth more than their pitiful lives." Ryouta commented as he returned to his chair, straightening his silk tie and smoothing out the wrinkles to his black suit. It was a special occasion today and he had dressed to impress for his video conference call with the Council after K-MF-001's field test concluded. He had never spoken personally with the Council before and wanted to look good when they called to praise his work.

"K-MF-001 has been weaponized specially for the elimination of entire armies. The worse they can do is give him a headache to nurse in the morning." Tarou said, slurping down the rest of his hot coffee. "Relax Ryouta. Such a worrywart, you are. Have a cup."

Ryouta accepted his superior's nugget of advice as he left the conference room to retrieve a cup of coffee only to discover the earthquake had totaled the kitchen and destroyed the coffee pot in the process, as apparent by the horde of flustered scientists and doctors cleaning the mess. Instead, he decided on a soda, stepping over the rubble and his coworkers to the tipped fridge and retrieving a can from within before maneuvering to the exit and back to the meeting room. He sat back down and popped the coke, sipping on it and allowing the caffeine to distract his anxious brain with a sugar rush while he and Tarou awaited for K-MF-001 to report back.

However, after an hour, the anxiety reared its ugly head again when K-MF-001 had yet to return and there were no farther evidence of fighting topside. His unease was only made worse when Tarou unsheathed Kaiya, his beloved repeating crossbow from his hip and began to polish its golden handle with his shirt while humming a happy tune.

"Ryouta, is the tracking device in K-MF-001 active?" Tarou questioned, making Ryouta flinch and as a result, spill the remainder of his soda onto the table.

"Y-Yes." The black-haired man replied, quickly backing up his seat to avoid the river of soda that cascaded off the side of the table towards him and got up search for something to clean the mess. "Yes it is. So long as K-MF-001 is within a five mile radius of the laboratory."

"Is his shut off switch automatic or manual?"

"Manual. To avoid incident I had installed it in Toshi's office." Ryouta explained, finding a random assortment of paperwork in the trash bin and used it to sop up the coke.

Tarou nodded, admiring his own golden reflection with a grin. "Why don't you head up there and track K-MF-001? We don't need him wandering off and eating some poor soul." Ryouta accepted the suggestion as he left the conference room and speed walked his way down the corridor towards Toshi's office, eager to locate K-MF-001 before he hurt himself or escaped.

Toshi was the laboratory's lone security guard and his "office" was just a polite term used to refer to the cramped, closet-sized security office he worked within. The office lacked a door, being no room for it, and Ryouta popped his head in, discovering the overweight officer staring blankly at the stacks of monitors that displayed various parts of the lab while eating from a baker's dozen box of chocolate donuts on his lap.

"Toshi." Ryouta hissed and Toshi jumped, dropping the donut he had been munching on and made a subconscious grab for the stun rob strapped to his side before realizing who had addressed him.

"Ryouta-sama, you scared me!" Toshi scolded, removing his hand from his weapon as he hunched over to retrieve his discarded treat from the floor, dusting it off before shoving it into his mouth. "Haw ca I hep hoo?"

"K-MF-001 hasn't returned yet. I need to activate his tracking device." Before Toshi could reply, Ryouta was shoving past him, squeezing into the few inches between the hefty man and the panel controlling the cameras scattered along the laboratory towards the wall where a separate monitor and keyboard were located.

Ryouta scanned his identification card through the card reader installed on the panel and the vector monitor booted up, displaying a green, blocky text that read 'Loading' for several seconds before another text replaced it that said 'Password'. Ryouta typed in his password, glaring at Toshi so the obese man didn't take an unwanted peek and the screen flickered, a horizontal white line rolling down the screen as it slowly loaded random shapes to represent Kusagakure with a solid white square for the hospital. Once the map loaded, the white line distorted into a circle as a sonar was emitted across the digital Kusagakure, searching for K-MF-001 tracking device. A minute and a few pulses later, the radar had yet to locate 001 and Ryouta felt his stomach sour.

"No, no, no!" Ryouta whispered, grasping the boxed monitor. "Where is he? Did he escape Kusagakure? No…no!"

"There he is." Toshi injected suddenly.

"What?"

"There." The security guard pressed a chocolate coated finger against the screen, pointing out a flashing dot that had been hiding behind the hospital illustration the entire time.

Ryouta eyebrows knitted as he peered closer. "What? That's the emergency elevator. Has he been there the entire time? What is he-?" However, he was interrupted as the monitor overseeing the emergency elevator in the infirmary wing began to flash with bold, red text that read 'Warning'.

"Emergency elevator in use. Emergency elevator in use." A feminine voice announced through speakers of the screen, repeating the phrase until Toshi silenced it by jabbing his thumb on a random button.

"About time he figure how to press a button." Ryouta huffed as he reached for the microphone that was connected to the intercom system of the entire laboratory. "Attention, I need the retrieval until for K-MF-001 to prepare and report to the emergency elevator in the Infirmity Wing, immediately. K-MF-001's retrieval until to the emergency elevator in the Infirmary Wing immediately."

Ryouta concluded the announcement and scooted back past Toshi towards the door. "Toshi, I need you to press that red button on the panel before you unlock the elevator. It will activate the shut off switch for K-MF-001 and enable us to safely transport him back to his vault." Toshi glanced around before discovering the obvious, big red button and nodded, swallowing down another whole donut. "Do not press it until the retrieval unit and I are on scene and do not open the elevator until you shut down K-MF-001 and do not press the button more than once. The shut off switch in K-MF-001's head renders him unconscious by shocking specific sections of his brain. Pressing that button more than once might severely damage his brain or potentially kill him. Do you understand?" Toshi nodded again, suppling a chocolate smeared thumbs up and Ryouta finally left to depart towards the emergency elevator.

Within a minute or two, he entered the infirmity wing and jogged towards the emergency elevator that sat at the end of the stunted hallway, his footfalls echoing on the metal walkway. The red warning lights installed above the elevator were flashing and spinning, bathing the dim hall in an ominous light and making the atmosphere feel significantly creepier as Ryouta stood there alone and waiting for the others to show up. After several minutes, two of the makeshift members of the retrieval unit arrived, another scientist wheeling a dolly and a nurse wielding a frighteningly large syringe with a seductive for the possible chance the off switch in K-MF-001 malfunctioned. Seconds behind them were two male doctors, one carrying the proper chaining and iron mask to bind the unstable experiment while the other had another uncomfortably sized syringe for the even less possible chance that the off switch did not work, nor did the first injection of drugs. Originally, there had been six members of this slapped together retrieval unit, but when they had been loading K-MF-001 into the elevator to transport him to the surface, his seductive had worn off and in the few seconds he was freed, he managed to amputate the arm of one member and strike another so hard they were sent to the hospital with bleeding of the brain. It was why Ryouta chose not to take any chances this time around and activate his shut off switch for safer loading and unloading.

Once everyone was gathered, Ryouta looked up at the camera staring at them and waved his hand towards the elevator, signaling Toshi. There were no cameras in the emergency elevator so Ryouta had to trust Toshi has pressed the button as told, and said button had worked, when moments later, the blaring lights stopped and turned green before the doors began to slowly chug open. The team of various members of the laboratory tensed, prepared to risk their lives to wrangle the abomination into submission while Ryouta held his breath, the seconds ticking by like hours until the doors fully opened. When they finally did, however, the held breath was released into a gasp with everyone else present gasping as well and single female nurse screaming when K-MF-001 stepped out, or at least, what remained of the experiment.

The man was nearly unrecognizable as his pale complex was now a charred black and no longer resembled a human being but rather a burnt slab of meat and protruding bone. The experiment took another step forward, his mangled leg breaking off completely and he tittered for a couple of seconds before his sole remaining lacerated eye rolled back into his exposed skull and with a bloody gurgle, he topped to the ground, splashing the hall with hot blood and a spray of melted flesh. The nurse fainted and the two doctors dropped everything to flee to the nearest wastebasket and vomit.

"No!" Ryouta yelled, instantly rushing to the side of his cherished experiment, ignoring the putrid stench of burnt flesh and blood that emitted from his body. "No! Those bastards! My work! My work!"

Kiyoshi and Ayana had been casually chatting in the ward when the lights to the emergency elevator switched on and they overheard the announcement by Ryouta, followed shortly by Ryouta himself and the gathering of the 'retrieval unit' outside. The two stepped out into the hallway to perceive the event when the elevator doors opened and K-MF-001 fell out, dead. Ayana gasped, covering her mouth and burying her face against her friend's shoulder to block out the gruesome sight while on the other hand, Kiyoshi sighed and shook his head. His reaction was mixed, internal horror was tinted with unspoken relief with the experiment's overdue passing.

'Finally…' Kiyoshi bowed his head and hugged Ayana, muttering a small pray beneath his breath for the departed man. 'May you rest in peace with your daughter, Itsuki.'

"Ryouta, what has happened?"

Kiyoshi flinched from the voice and looked behind to see Tarou, the man strangely lightfooted for someone of his immense size and had not been heard entering. Ryouta straightened up, adjusting his tie with shaking hands as he glanced between his boss and failed experiment. Suddenly, he had the funny feeling he wouldn't be attending that video conference with the Council, or had a job any long for that matter.

"Tarou-sama…Iwagakure, t-they killed K-MF-001!" Ryouta stuttered through his quivering jaw, mind scrambling for something to say that might convince his superior to preserve his job and skin. Unfortunately, saying he could fix it was not an option.

"Oh, well that's a pity, considering how much you reinsured me about K-MF-001's capabilities, Ryouta." Tarou said, though such pity was not present in his voice. It made a shiver course up Kiyoshi's spine and he clasped Ayana closer out of unconscious protectiveness. He had witnessed Tarou's temper in the past. The man was like that of a volcano, docile and nonthreatening when undisturbed but when the internal pressure became overwhelming he would erupt, and when he did, it was violent. Ryouta swallowed thickly at the man's unusual calmness regarding the current situation considering their entire project may now be jeopardized with K-MF-001's death. "And I guess there is no saving him?"

Ryouta shook his head. There weren't enough pieces of his left to save. Tarou sniffed and audibly cracked his jaw, making everyone present flinch from the quiet sound due to the tense atmosphere smothering them and carefully eye Tarou's hand for any movement towards his sheathed crossbow buckled at his hip. "A pity, but even dead, K-MF-001 is far too valuable to just toss out. His body will be stored in the morgue to preserve what is left of him. Ken."

The one remaining scientist that had been awkwardly standing about jumped at the mention of his name, nervously facing his boss. "Retrieve the gurney and take K-MF-001 to the morgue, would you kindly?" The man, Ken, nodded and scurried off to do such, nearly tripping over the still unconscious nurse on the floor.

The man returned with said gurney and Ryouta assisted in heaving K-MF-001 onto it, gagging at the smell that wafted from his corpse and the jelly-like texture of his skin, making a mental note to wash his hands with bleach later. Once secured, the two men wheeled him away, swerving around the unconscious woman. After they had left, Tarou sighed and adjusted his tie, judging how he would break such devastating news to the Council when he noticed Kiyoshi and Ayana who had been quietly viewing the entire time.

"Ah, Kiyoshi, you're back. Was your break refreshing?" Tarou asked nicely, eyes curving into friendly half-moons yet it still unsettled the other man.

Kiyoshi nodded. "Yes it was." He said, though it was a half-truth. It had been until now.

Tarou grinned, his teeth an unsightly shade of yellow. "Well you returned at the perfect time. With K-MF-001 defunct, we can begin optimizing K-MF-084 to replace him immediately. Hopefully the Council forgives this blunder." With that said, Tarou walked off to speak with Ryouta and discuss how they would explain their failure to the Council, or more precisely, Ryouta's failure.

Kiyoshi's stomach plummeted to his toes and Ayana, noticing the white sheen that bleached his face, instantly guided him back into the ward in case he vomited or even fainted. Kiyoshi sat back down beside K-MF-084's bedside, the girl fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the events which had just occurred outside and her possible future. Ayana brought Kiyoshi a cup of water and he sipped it, his stomach rejecting the harmless liquid and he handed it back to her, cheeks tinted green.

"Kiyoshi-kun, it will be fine." Ayana reinsured him, rubbing his shoulder as she crouched alongside him. "It is impossible for the Council to approve of optimizing 084 after 001's failure. It took years for us to perfect 001 and even that wasn't enough."

Kiyoshi removed his eyeglasses and pressed his fingers against his eyes, trying will away the pure fear that terrorized him following Tarou's words with optimism. "You are right. The most they may approve of is the original plan to activate 084's Mayfly and use her as a mole." He told himself, but his own words rang hollow to him as there was the real chance they may decide to scrap their original motivations for instant results. K-MF-084 already possessed an unstable strain of the Mayfly, and it would not take much to mutate her into the abomination that K-MF-001 had been.

"084 shall be fine, Kiyoshi-kun." Ayana embraced her companion and Kiyoshi returned the gesture with half the heart.

'Lord, I hope so.' Kiyoshi thought as he watched K-MF-084's slumbering face. Otherwise, he would do everything in his power to protect her.

…

AN: Chapter 8 finished. Sorry for all the OCs. Just give me two more chapters then you never have to see them again…for awhile. Just bear with me, please.

Also thank you everyone again for alerting and favouring. I'm not sure if the sudden increase in interest is a good thing or a bad thing. If it's a bad thing then please tell me. I'd rather not be a laughingstock for writing something I genuinely care about because it's too different from the norm. If it's good then I'm glad people are curious about this unusual, oddity of a story. Trust me, this won't be the last of the eyebrow raising tales I shall tell.

Anyways, please excuse the lack of BETA and please review. But good or constructive reviews if you do. I will not tolerate flames.