Disclaimers: This story is rated M for violence and dark themes. Kishimoto crafted the Naruto universe with all of its light and shadows. I choose to hang out in the shadows a bit, particularly in these next two chapters.
Chapter 1: Place of Wrath and Tears
It was fairly easy to relocate to Iguazu Village, all things considered. Sayuri was outgoing and easily made friends. People didn't ask too many questions, and a good number of people in this village shared their olive complexion, which made it even easier to be invisible. They had been careful, and Tsubaki successfully managed to convince Sayuri that it wasn't a good idea to try to repeat her Arbor Day stunt.
They fell into a comfortable routine. Tsubaki once again worked a job as a waitress for a restaurant, while Sayuri attended the local civilian academy. They spent the mornings and evenings together, and after their first year passed uneventfully, Tsubaki had finally begun to relax.
She should have known it couldn't remain that easy.
Tsubaki was still coming to terms with the fact that not only did creatures of darkness from beyond her worst nightmares exist, but they had taken a particularly unhealthy interest in her younger sister. And despite everything she had done to protect Sayuri, they were now both at the mercy of the creature whose name triggered fear across the nations: Orochimaru.
If she had anyone she could confide in, she imagined how she might recount the events of the past few hours. "Well, I thought the cabbage delivery guy was running late, but it turns out he wasn't running at all. He was dead. Because you see, when I answered the door hoping for some cabbages, I found Orochimaru, of the Legendary Sannin. He didn't bring cabbages. In fact, from what I could see behind him, he had recently finished the equivalent of a cabbage massacre, taking the unfortunate delivery guy down alongside his ill-fated produce. I knew then and there that my day was not going to end well, and I had a sneaking suspicion that my life wasn't going to end all that well, either." As it was, Tsubaki remained silent. She had no one to confide in, and she was currently a powerless prisoner of Orochimaru. The only thing that made her situation worse was that her little sister was captive with her.
Sayuri had been terrified, but she seemed to have screamed herself into exhaustion, as she hung limply in the hold of Orochimaru's snakes. He was using the snakes to tow them along at blinding speeds. He at least had the courtesy to keep them from bumping and dragging along the ground, although Tsubaki wasn't certain that it really counted as courtesy in the context of active kidnapping. She realized that wherever he was taking them, it was unlikely they would ever be found. No one would come looking for them.
Orochimaru couldn't hide his glee. He'd spent so many years trying to cultivate Wood Release. He had cursed himself when he learned that his sole successful experiment was under Danzo's control. Then he had cursed Danzo when he learned the man had been cowed into handing the boy over to the Leaf. Fate smiled upon him with this gift of not only one child of Wood Release, but her Senju sibling as well. He would test their DNA for purity, just to be certain, but his brain was already imagining the possibilities.
He still needed to optimize the compatibility between the Uchiha and Senju cell lines to improve the Sharingan grafts. With more samples to work with, the in vitro studies could be accelerated.
Defying the laws of nature, Orochimaru's already wicked grin became even more wicked as an idea struck with the full impact of a meteor.
A cloud covered the sun. A nearby rodent became paralyzed in terror. Trees trembled, and their leaves wilted.
He estimated the preparation would take three years, and the risks would be substantial. But the idea was irresistible. Even the tiniest possibility of success was worth it for the chance to one day see results... in vivo.
And if the older girl died, he still had the younger sister with Wood Release.
After forcibly collecting preliminary blood samples from his reluctant new subjects, he left them in a sparsely furnished, windowless room with two beds. Each had a single pillow and blanket. "Rest well," he advised as he locked the door behind him. The hunger in his voice was anything but reassuring.
Tsubaki spent the rest of the evening and well into the night in a futile attempt to console Sayuri. Eventually the young girl's sobs turned to whimpers. Tsubaki didn't shed a tear. She refused to be broken in front of her sister. Neither of them slept well.
Some people claimed Orochimaru was the embodiment of evil. Others claimed he was the embodiment of terror. Some argued that he was the embodiment of amoral scientific curiosity. Tsubaki couldn't care less.
Her life turned into a living nightmare.
The day after her capture, Orochimaru dragged her away from her sister and placed her in front of a young man with gray hair. Orochimaru ignored her threats to tear him limb from limb and feed him to his own snakes. "Kabuto will teach you what you need to know. You will do as he instructs, or your sister will suffer for your disobedience," he hissed.
Tsubaki ceased her protests and glared, first at the twisted snake who had kidnapped her, then at the unassuming, bespectacled man before her. He didn't look like a monster, but she was sure any servant of Orochimaru would be rotten to the core. She was quickly proven correct in her assumption.
Kabuto gave her one week to learn the anatomy of the human body.
She poured over scrolls in her room while her sister watched in glassy-eyed silence. She learned the intricacies of blood supply, the nervous system, musculature, and organ systems. After seven days, she received her first patient.
Early that morning, Kabuto had informed her that she would study in one of Orochimaru's laboratory spaces for a change. She left her sister behind and followed him obediently. He led her through a large metal doorway, then left her side to lean against one of the far walls of the lab without a comment.
Compared to other rooms she had seen in Orochimaru's compound, this laboratory area was brightly illuminated. It was so bright, in fact, that Tsubaki's eyes struggled to adjust. She squinted at the white cabinets that lined the walls, and noticed the plain white exam table that occupied the center of the room. Several machines that were completely foreign to her sat off to the side, screens blank. Before she could process her surroundings any further, another person burst into the room.
The person was covered in blood. She couldn't even tell if they were male or female, as they staggered forward and collapsed.
Tsubaki ran toward them and cast a frantic glance at Kabuto. He remained leisurely propped against the wall. "Get over here! We have to help them!" she cried. Closer examination revealed her patient was a man. His flesh was torn in claw-like patterns, and blood flowed freely from his wounds. Kabuto didn't move. "What are you doing?" she yelled desperately. The man before her was dying.
Kabuto adjusted his glasses, which flashed as they reflected the bright lights from the ceiling. "By now you should have realized why I gave you those scrolls. You are expected to become proficient in medical ninjutsu. Based on your studies, you should be able to recognize the nature of each of his injuries. From there, it is simply a matter of repairing them, if you wish."
"There are too many wounds and he's bleeding too much! And just because I know what his anatomy should look like doesn't mean I have the slightest idea how to fix this! I need your help!" Her words tumbled out rapidly. She began to tear pieces of the man's bloody clothing in an attempt to form makeshift bandages for the worst of his injuries.
The man lost consciousness.
"Medical ninjutsu requires precise chakra control," Kabuto lectured slowly, ignoring his pupil's escalating distress. "Channeling chakra to your hands can serve as both a diagnostic and therapeutic tool."
"We don't have time for this!" Tsubaki's long brown hair fell in her eyes and tangled in her field as she worked. Her hands and clothes were covered in blood as she fought a losing battle to staunch the bleeding.
"Ah, but we do have time. This is just another lesson, you see? You'll be able to handle cases like his in no time at all. I'll leave you a few scrolls with instructions for basic medical chakra control. I'll also leave a blank scroll. You will write a complete report on his injuries, and you will spend the rest of the day repairing them as best you can. I'll be back in the evening to evaluate your progress."
"By then he'll be dead!" Tsubaki stared at Kabuto in disbelief. How could anyone be so unfeeling?
"I believe he already is," he said bluntly. Then he walked out of the room, locking the door behind him.
When Tsubaki looked back down at her patient, she knew he was right. The bleeding had slowed, but only because his heart had stopped pumping, and there was minimal blood left to lose. The sound of silence was deafening. The pristine white floors had been painted crimson.
She became acutely aware of the metallic scent around her, the stickiness of the blood on her hands, and the wild thumping of her heart. Bile rose in her throat and she vomited. The edges of her vision dimmed, and she fought to remain conscious.
The tears she had been hiding from her sister broke loose and she sobbed in despair. She wept for the loss of her parents, the loss of her home, the loss of a place where she belonged. She wept for her sister, who deserved someone who could actually protect her. She wept for the dead stranger before her. Even though she knew there was nothing she could have done and the whole situation was unfair, she couldn't help feeling guilty for his death. If she had been stronger, more talented, she might have been able to save him. She berated herself for being weak, helpless, and useless.
She estimated that she allowed herself to wallow in self-pity for twenty minutes.
After that, she wiped her tears and raised her head in unwitnessed defiance. Her face was marked from tears and blood and her hair hung in clotted knots, but her eyes shone with hardened determination. She made up her mind in that moment to set her will like stone; she would accept the gauntlet her captors had lain before her. If she couldn't escape now, she would become stronger. Then, if she ever had the opportunity, she would be ready.
When Kabuto returned in the evening, he was surprised to find the floors scrubbed clean. The patient from earlier was on the exam table, completely covered by a white sheet. Tsubaki approached him and offered him a scroll with a bow. She was pale, but her hands were steady. She must have cleansed herself in the sink. The only evidence of that morning's bloodbath was her clothing, riddled with dark brown stains.
"I have done as you instructed, Sensei," she said.
Kabuto proceeded to the exam table and uncovered the cadaver. His eyebrows rose. The body was covered in scars, and boasted marks that suggested burns from chakra incorrectly applied, but every wound was closed on the surface. He ran a chakra-cloaked hand over the body to assess for internal damage. Again, there was evidence of chakra burns, and he also noted some persistent nerve damage, but the major vessels had been repaired. He was impressed.
Tsubaki carefully observed Kabuto's face for his reaction. She caught his initial surprise, and she was fairly certain that the way his eyes widened as he finished his exam meant that she had impressed him. It was a small victory.
Although upon reflection, maybe it was actually a defeat. She was going along with whatever they had planned for her, after all. That thought banished any pride she might have felt in her achievement.
"You've done well," Kabuto told her. "You may return to your room. I will have fresh clothing delivered for you. In the future, I will provide you with separate clothing to wear in the laboratory."
"Thank you, Kabuto-sensei," she intoned.
When she returned to her room, however, she didn't get a chance to change out of her bloodstained garments. She promptly collapsed onto her bed, unconscious from chakra-exhaustion. She didn't wake when Sayuri began screaming.
The sight of her sister covered in bloody clothes collapsing in an unresponsive heap filled Sayuri with unspeakable terror. She screamed for what seemed like hours but was likely only minutes. Kabuto arrived and conducted a quick exam after commanding Sayuri to remain silent. "Your sister is tired and needs her rest. If you're a good girl and stay quiet, she should recover without a problem."
"What happened to her?" Sayuri sniffled.
"She worked very hard today. But your sister is strong. I have no doubt she will be fine," he answered shortly. Kabuto had no desire to stay and exchange pleasantries with the little brat Orochimaru had chosen as his next lab rat, so he turned to leave.
"Of course she's strong. That's why she's the best big sister," the girl informed him quietly.
Kabuto just chuckled as he closed the door behind him.
Tsubaki slept for two days. When she finally awoke, she was hungry and disoriented. In a flash, her younger sister had leapt onto the bed with her. "Nee-chan! You're awake! Kabuto said you'd get better, but I was so worried."
Tsubaki smiled weakly at her younger sister. "I'm fine, but I could really use some food. Do we have any?"
"Right here!" her younger sister replied as she scampered to offer the soup Kabuto had recently left for them. It was still warm.
"Mmm. Thank you, Sayuri. You've been so brave." She checked to make sure there weren't any surprise snakes hidden in the soup, and once she was satisfied that it was only chicken and noodles, she ate ravenously and allowed the meal to warm her from the inside out.
"Yesterday they took me for more tests," Sayuri admitted, eyes downcast. She revealed her arms which were covered in needle marks. Some of the marks were surrounded by angry bruises.
A hot anger amplified the warmth of the chicken soup in Tsubaki's stomach. "I'm so sorry they did that to you. Listen, I'm learning how to heal injuries. I'm not very good at it yet, but once I can do it well, I will heal you."
"You're gonna be a doctor?" Sayuri asked, her wounds forgotten.
"Something like that," Tsubaki smiled. She suspected that medical training was not the only thing Orochimaru had in mind for her. She spotted the change of clothes Kabuto had brought in the corner. She unfolded the long, beige tunic and eyed the thick purple rope that accompanied the uniform suspiciously. "Do you think Orochimaru asked Kabuto to come up with these uniforms? Can you imagine it? Kabutooo," she rasped in a poor attempt to imitate the Sannin's voice. "I need your fashion advice."
The girls dissolved in fits of laughter that seemed out of place in the underground hideout. "You look better in it than Orochimaru, nee-chan. But what is that rope for, anyway? It looks like it's just in the way."
"Fashion needs no explanation. It speaks for itself." This time, Tsubaki imitated Kabuto's voice and laughed again. "But seriously I'm not wearing that rope unless they make me. I have no desire to look like a carbon copy of Orochimaru."
The sisters took solace in each other's jokes, and before long, their spirits were higher than might have been expected given their bleak situation.
The next day, Kabuto informed Tsubaki that she had one week to learn an atlas of poisons and venoms. This time, he also provided her with scrolls detailing how to remove poisons and concoct antidotes.
She established a routine for herself. She would read for an hour, practice chakra control for an hour, then review the earlier material for mastery. She repeated this sequence day after day until the morning Kabuto came to take her back to the laboratory room.
This time, Tsubaki had an idea of what to expect. A tight braid captured her hair and kept it behind her back and out of the way. After her first failed healing, she decided she would never wear her hair down again.
She mentally prepared herself as a woman stumbled through the door. Like the previous patient, she had severe wounds and her blood spilled onto the white floors. Tsubaki didn't even bother to request Kabuto's help. She knew it would be a waste of breath.
She guided the patient to the exam table, where she began an assessment of her injuries. Several times the patient recoiled when Tsubaki's control wavered and caused mild injury.
Her mouth set in a grim line, Tsubaki began her healing. Even before she started, however, she had realized that once again, she would not be able to save this woman's life.
The injuries were too severe, and Tsubaki didn't have enough chakra to extract the poison she sensed flowing through the woman's bloodstream. Still, she proceeded with the healing at her own pace, making note of the quality of the injuries and contents of the poison.
The woman survived longer than the man from the previous week, but after an hour, the light left her eyes as the poison had its way with her.
It took Tsubaki another twelve hours to completely extract the poison and repair the dead woman's injuries.
At the end, she still had enough energy to change into clean clothes before lying down on her bed, exhausted. She only slept for a day and a half.
Another three weeks passed in a similar fashion as Kabuto introduced her to contagious illnesses, autoimmune diseases, and neoplasms.
At the end of each week, someone died. But Tsubaki's care became more efficient, and her control improved. She no longer left chakra burns on her patients, and she no longer hesitated when determining which problem to address first.
She began to receive patients more frequently as her skill improved. After six months and forty-nine deaths, Tsubaki managed to save her first patient. She woke up the following morning feeling refreshed.
Her chakra reserves were growing.
Each death still affected her, and she regretted that she couldn't do more for her anonymous patients. She adjusted her mindset, however, keeping in mind that they were already dying when they came to her, and that wasn't her fault. By learning what she could and becoming stronger to help others in the future, in a way she prevented them from dying in vain. At least, she hoped that was the case.
She had begun to be able to heal Sayuri's injuries from Orochimaru's experimentation, which gave her a small relief and earned her even more undeserved adoration from her little sister.
She didn't miss the fact that Sayuri's eyes didn't hold the same sparkle they once did.
One afternoon, her sister returned to their room with a vacant expression that had Tsubaki rushing to give her a hug.
"This place has too many monsters," Sayuri whispered slowly, shadowed eyes still trained on the wall as if it would offer her some answer to an unspoken question.
Tsubaki could think of nothing to comfort her. "I know."
"Nee-chan, if I were a monster, would you still love me?"
"You're not a monster. Don't let them frighten you. And no matter what happens, I will always love you." Tsubaki planted a soft kiss on her sister's forehead.
The next day, Tsubaki would learn more about the monsters that had traumatized her sister.
Author's Note:
The next chapter will wrap up Tsubaki's formation. In my original idea for this story, I never planned to write two whole chapters of an OC development/training arc. As I worked on later parts of the story though, I realized my flashbacks were getting too long and involved and it was messing with the flow, so I decided to move them to the beginning. As a result, we still haven't had any interactions with Itachi yet. Forgive me.
Until next time.