I Promise Chapter 11: Trapped, a naruto fanfic

AN: Hey, it's been a while. Sorry about that! A lot of shit has been happening recently. But you're not here to listen to my excuses, you're here to read! So let's get started.

I don't own Naruto.

"Do you know who I am, Naruto-kun?"

Two sets of cruel eyes stared down at him, each wearing the grin of the devil. The man with the glasses seemed to be the least threatening among the two, though even he held an unsettling aura that made his instincts scream at him to run away.

Not like he could run even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could do about it now.

He was trapped.

Despite that, he chose to show his defiance by remaining silent. His pride was still hurt after he and his team's humiliating defeat.

"Kukukuku." The pale man chuckled gleefully, a dark frightening melody that terrified him to his very core.

He and his team had fought this man. They'd given it everything they had. And still, he'd been toying with them the whole time like he wasn't even trying.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"…" The blond stared back at the man, face set in an angry frown. There was no way he would show weakness to someone like him, and there was no way he would play along with his games. He could see what the Sannin was doing. That man already knew the answer to all of those questions.

"You are here, because you are special." He answered for him. Smirking down at the seal drawn onto the center of the boy's stomach, he continued. "Such beautiful craftmanship. Truly a work of art." He placed a cold fingertip against the black lines and traced along them in fascination, making the Jinchūriki wince. "The Shinigami is quite the mysterious being, wouldn't you agree?"

"What are you talking about?"

Orochimaru removed his finger and walked over to a table nearby, his assistant scribbling down notes throughout the exchange.

"An entity that deals with souls. He's been around since the dawn of time and is considered godlike from every angle." He stopped at the table and picked up a small stack of tattered papers. "But you already know all about this, don't you Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's eye widened when he realized what the snake man was holding. Those were the pages from the book that he'd ripped out, the ones containing what little instructions remained. He'd been keeping them in his tool pouch for safe-keeping.

"I see you've been doing your own little research, how adorable." The man chuckled again and leaned against the desk, eyes casually trailing along the pages. "And I'd be willing to bet that you desperately wonder where the rest of this oh-so crucial information is."

Blue eyes narrowed rebelliously at the accusation. It was true; he'd spent many a night pondering where it could have possibly gone, but there was no way he was going to tell this guy anything.

Orochimaru smirked at the child's attempt at silent rebellion. "Kabuto." He said shortly. The bespectacled man next to him nodded.

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

Orochimaru's gaze never left the Jinchūriki even as his assistant left the room to carry out the unsaid task. "How has your life been within Konoha, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto's eyes widened slightly, but refused to meet the man's.

"…"

"The populace of that pitiful village have always been so foolishly narrow-minded. It was the same when I was there. People labeled me for my looks, and rumors even began to come up about my precious little student once I took her under my wing. It is truly an unforgiving community."

Naruto's eyes remained stuck to the ceiling, though he couldn't help but carefully listen to each word being spoken.

"That case was true for the previous Jinchūriki as well. While not many knew of her identity, the ones in the know who weren't close to her treated her with scorn and contempt. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about, am I wrong?"

"…"

Orochimaru smirked at the blond's silence. Though he wasn't being very talkative, one could clearly see his internal struggle that was being displayed on his face.

"And I'm willing to bet that the case is no different for your situation. Everywhere you walk, people whisper. They give you the cold shoulder, or deny your very existence."

"…"

"It's suffocating. It's like being stuck in a nightmare that you cannot escape from. You try, and you try to prove yourself, to prove to them that you are worth something, that you are not the monster that they think you are. Dark thoughts plague your mind. Would they care if I were gone? Would it make them happy? What did I do wrong? Is my existence really just a mistake?"

The blond squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to the side in defiance. The snake's words were beginning to hurt. He was right, he had asked himself this many times in the past. But now…

"And eventually, you begin contemplating things that your innocent mind would never have previously considered."

"No…"

"Kukukuku." The snake Sannin chuckled in amusement. "There is no need to lie to me Naruto-kun."

Naruto ground his teeth together in frustration and began to struggle against his thick leathery bindings once more.

"I can give you those answers you seek. I can give you the life you've always wanted, a life outside those village walls, a life without scorn. I can give you a purpose to live."

His struggles ceased at that, too taken aback by the proclamation.

How?

Was such a thing possible?

"Join me, Naruto-kun. Become my underling, and together, we can make that village pay for all that it's done to you, to us! I can give your life true meaning. You will be accepted; you will be loved by your peers." He walked forward so that the blond could see him and extended his hand towards him in a show of trust. He suddenly felt his bindings slacken and fall before slithering away into the darkness, revealing them to be nothing more than snakes.

"What do you say, Naruto-kun? Will you join my cause?"

The blond stared at the outstretched hand with fuzzy confusion. A new life? That…Did sound nice. If there was any truth in the snake-charmer's words, then he would never feel lonely again…He would never have to wake up in the morning, paranoid that he would be all by himself once more. He would have a reason to get up, and he'd go to bed at night feeling happy instead of being filled with anguish.

He could see his own hand extend forward against his own will to meet with the snake's own pale hand. But maybe he didn't have to fight it? Maybe this was the right choice? Maybe this was where he belonged?

"Happy birthday Naruto!"

His hand froze in midair as a memory jolted his mind back to reality. No…This…This was wrong. This was all wrong.

Sho's shaking hands darkened in color and the boy rushed at his enemy once more. Winding his arm back, he delivered the strongest punch he could muster at the man's cheek, forcing his head to tilt to the side.

"What…?" Sho muttered in surprise. The pale man barely look fazed. Even worse, his eyes were now angry and irritated and no longer held any playfulness.

"That technique…I do not care for it at all."

The Sannin grabbed onto the boy's arm and easily snapped it in half with a twist of his hand. Sho's scream of pain sent chills down the spine of his teammates.

This man was…Evil.

He was lying to him. Again, with the lies! He had toyed with him and his teammates for his own amusement! There was no way that the monster in front of him could have any good intentions in his heart!

"…Go to hell."

Orochimaru remained silent for a few dreadful moments, but a smile slowly found its way upon his features, and that cold sinister chuckle echoed within the room once more.

"Oh well. It was worth a try." Before Naruto could react, the snakes from before shot back out of the darkness and tied around his wrists again, leaving him in the same previous predicament. "It would have been much easier, but such is the way of life." Although his words seemed remorseful, the smile on his face showed him that he wasn't really bothered by it.

The door opened again and in walked Kabuto carrying an item that he couldn't quite make out because of the poor lighting. The bespectacled man handed the object to his master, who proceeded to walk forward into the light.

It was a white mask of a demon set in an ugly smile with two big horns coming out of its head. He felt his blood grow cold as realization set in.

Orochimaru had the reaper mask.

"I've had this for quite a while, Naruto-kun." The Sannin said gleefully, enjoying the look of shock on the boy's face. "I took it along with the rest of the notes once I left the village. It's a shame that you refused my offer." He said as he placed the mask down on one of the tables within the room.

Naruto swallowed thickly as the man walked up to him again and sat on the chair next to the operation table that Naruto had been lying on.

"I apologize, I still haven't explained why you are here. You see, I used to be part of an organization that was…Well, let's say that they are not the friendliest of people. In fact, they are after people that are just like you." He said, surprising the blond. "And I'm still not quite sure what they plan on doing with them. This is where you come in. I want to see what makes your kind 'tick'."

A cold shiver ran down Naruto's spine at that. What was that man going to do to him? And more importantly, why was a group after the Jinchūrikis? Were they after the Bijuu within? A group with such ambitions had to be extremely powerful. Would he have to be on the lookout for them if he made it out of here alive?

"Well then, we've wasted enough time. Let us begin."

Naruto looked up as the man in front of him made a one-handed hand sign, and soon after, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, until al he saw was darkness.

"What did you do to our Sensei!?"

"Naruto, calm down!"

The blond grit his teeth in frustration and balled his hands into fists, barely registering the words of his female teammate.

"Kukukuku. And what are three helpless little Genin doing out here all by themselves?"

An intense pressure crashed down onto the three younglings, making them freeze up in shock. Cold sweat broke out on the blond's forehead as he gulped nervously, but managed to take a slow calming breath. Wow, who knew being subjected to Kyuubi's ill intent would actually help him out in the long run.

He glanced over to his teammates besides him and coughed slightly under the weight. "Crap, snap out of it, guys!"

"Kukukuku…" The man in front of him chuckled once more, much to his displeasure and fixed his predatory eyes upon the trio.

"Th-This is…Orochimaru. Missing nin from Konoha, one of the three Sannin!" Yuna said in a shaky voice.

"Did you just say a Sannin?" Sho looked over to her with incredulity.

"It doesn't matter who he is! He killed sensei, I'm gonna make him regret it!"

"Naruto, you need to think rationally right now!" Yuna yelled back at the blond. "We can't take this guy on; we need to get out of here!"

Naruto's angry eyes snapped towards Yunawith a ferocity that she had never seen before. "You're just gonna run away?"

"How long are you planning on bickering between yourselves?" The pale man said in a mirthful tone. "It's quite rude to ignore your guest, you know?"

Yuna's shaking increased as she took a step back in fear. "Wh-What should we do?"

"…" The oldest of the team looked over at the new arrival and balled his hand into a fist. "There's no way we could outrun him even if we tried. Our only option is to fight."

The three children looked at each other, uncertainty clear in their eyes. But after a moment, the three nodded in determination.

They weren't going down without a fight.

Yuna placed her hands into the Ram seal as Sho and Naruto shot forward from their position besides her. A small wave of dizziness hit the snake Sannin but was easily shrugged off and canceled within a split second. He casually leaned away from Sho's punch and redirected Naruto away with a wave of his arm.

'Dammit, it's not over yet!' The blond thought as a clone appeared next to him. Both took their swords out and began hacking and slashing at the human snake.

'How droll.' Orochimaru thought distastefully as he expertly weaved in between the slashes, his body contorting out of the reach of the sharp edges. Sho came from above with an ax kick, his heel smashing into the top of the man's head, but before they could mentally celebrate, the body they'd struck turned into a brown color and dissolved into dirt.

"Dammit!" Naruto and Sho remained back to back to each other, fully alert and eyes scanning the area around them. Yuna landed besides the three of them, her brow furrowed in a mixture of worry and frustration.

"Anyone see him?" The girl asked as she kept her hands clasped in the horse seal, though the only reply she received was a shake of their head. "Keep your eyes open."

The trio remained silent for a moment with baited breath, waiting for something, anything to happen. The silence and the anticipation was becoming suffocating to them.

"Hm?" Naruto's ear twitched as they picked up a faint, low rumbling in the distance. "What's that noise?" His teammates frowned and focused their hearing. Naruto was right, there was sound becoming steadily louder and louder.

"That…That sounds like…" Yuna muttered in uncertainty. Though her eyes widened as birds desperately flew away and trees began to topple down in the distance. "RUN!"

Naruto yelped when Sho grabbed onto his collar and high-tailed it out of the small clearing, just as a serpent's giant maw burst through the trees in an attempt to devour them.

"Aaaaahhh!"

"Hm…Yet another failed prototype."

Orochimaru shook his head in disappointment as the cursed seal that he had placed near the boy's shoulder faded away once more. Jinchūriki really were quite tiresome. His seal worked in such a way that his impure chakra would taint the recipient's own, and inject a type of addicting enzyme that would force them to use more and more, and thus give him a greater control over them. But the boy's tenant seemed adamant to immediately flush out the putrid chakra and eat the seal away. The worst part was, he couldn't even add a fragment of his soul inside the seal, a key factor that went into making it nigh unbreakable; but the risks were just too great. Who knew what could happen if he attempted to place a part of himself within the same person that contained the mightiest of the bijuu?

Naruto panted in exhaustion as Kyuubi forcefully expelled the vile chakra. This has been a constant for the past two days. He'd pass out, and be woken up a bit later as the snake man attempted to brand him with his curse mark, though all that was for naught as none of them even seemed to work. After each failed experiment, he would be forced back into a deep slumber until the next one.

The process was very similar to how a human would catch a cold. A virus would try to infiltrate the host's body, and the antibodies would fight it. People seemed to misinterpret a "cold" as the virus's doing, but it was actually their own body's attempt to flush it out that caused the fevers and the sickness. Those were necessary to make an inhospitable environment for the virus.

Much like how the antibodies fought the virus, Kyuubi's chakra fought the Sannin's chakra, resulting in the immense pain that he was constantly feeling hours after hours. Sore muscles, high fever, violent shaking, strong bouts of sickness, all so similar to a regular cold, yet so much worse.

"Kabuto, we are going to have to take more drastic measures."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

Before the blond could hear anymore, his hearing began to grow fuzzy and his eyelids were forced shut.

Smoke coming from a wooden pipe gently wafted through the air as the Sandaime's heavy frown deepened even further while he listened to his subordinate's debriefing of the new situation. Once again, it seemed that the mistakes of his past seemed to be coming back to haunt him.

"We've received confirmation from Disonasu that team 5 has checked in at Hacho village. The trail led us to a bandit camp that had already been cleared out, and we managed to track it to an inn. From there, they followed a simple trail back towards the borders of the land of fire. However, it ended prematurely 30 kilometers North East of the village."

"And you're sure that it just disappeared?"

The Chunin turned towards the toad sage that had been pacing back and forth this whole time, listening to his debriefing along with his leader. "Yes sir. It just seemed to vanish into thin air. There were clear signs of a battle, along with a heavy reptilian scent. The body of Jōnin Wada Tomoda has been recovered a few paces away from the battle site."

Silence prevailed within the office as the two elders digested that information. Hiruzen nodded towards the Inuzuka and gave a wave of his hand to signal his hidden ANBU. "You may all leave."

Once the room was cleared, the Sannin turned towards the third, an angry look on his face. "This is absurd! How could you have let him out of the village so early!?"

Hiruzen sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. "Believe me Jiraiya, I-"

"You what, sensei!?" Jiraiya slammed his hands on the mahogany table. "You throw him in an orphanage, you let him live on the street for months, you make him live alone," Jiraiya paced around the room once again. "You allow him to become a ninja when he's clearly too young, you give him a sensei that isn't even strong enough to protect him!" He faced the old man and leveled furious eyes upon him. "And now, Orochimaru, another one of your mistakes managed to get his hands on him, and who knows what he's doing to him?! You are spitting on Minato's memory!"

Hiruzen stood up from his chair as the pressure within the room increased. "How dare you!?"

The two glared at each other for a few more moments before Hiruzen sighed and sat back down on his chair. "Now is not the time for this, Jiraiya. If it is indeed Orochimaru, then we must proceed with haste."

Jiraiya scoffed and turned towards the door. "I'm going to the fighting site. And I hope you get your act together. For once, stop acting like a Hokage, and start acting like a human being." He said before slamming the door shut. Hiruzen sighed tiredly and sifted through his paperwork to make the preparations.

It barely took him a minute to arrive near the village gates, where he flashed through handsigns and summoned a big purple toad wielding a shield and a sasumata.

"Ah, Jiraiya. To what do I owe the pleasure."

"Gamaken, I need you to take me 30 kilometers north east of here, full speed."

"Ah, I will do my best. Though forgive me, I am quite clumsy."

"Jiraiya-sama!"

The toad hermit turned to see a masked Jōnin land besides him. "Huh? Is that you Kakashi? What do you want, I'm in a hurry."

"I know where you're headed, I heard the report from a Jonin near the tower. Please, let me come with you."

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow but shook his head. "No, you'll only be in the way."

Kakashi clenched his fist in frustration before slowly lowering himself onto his knees and placing his hands out in front of him, much to the Sannin's shock. "Please allow me to join you. I promise you that I will pull my weight. I am among the best when it comes to fighting and tracking."

Jiraiya watched the Jonin in front of him with his mouth slightly agape with surprise. He'd always pegged him to be a proud man who would never bow to anyone save for his leader. "What the hell's gotten into you? Last time I saw you, you looked about ready to give up on everything."

Kakashi remained motionless, forehead still pressed to the ground. "Things have changed. Naruto is important to me, and I would let myself die before I let anything happen to him."

The hermit's eyebrows creased as Gamaken watched on silently. "Aren't you going a bit too far with this?" When he received no reply, he clicked his tongue and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. " Tsk, fine just hurry up and get on. My title can give you clearance to leave the village for now."

Kakashi finally raised his head and got back onto his feet, nodding towards the sage in appreciation. "You won't regret it."

"Yeah yeah whatever, just hurry it up."

'…2561…2562…2563…2564…2565…2566…2567…'

Those numbers…

…2569…2570…2571…2572…2573…2574…2575…

They seemed to be the only thing keeping him grounded to his humanity.

'…2578…2579…2580…2581…2582…2583…2584…"

It's been nearly a week. At least, that's what his internal clock was making him believe. Who knew how long it'd actually been. There was no sunlight in this room, nor was there any clocks. There was only the chair that he was tied to and a small table.

'…2589…2590…2591…2592…2593…2594…2595…"

Every time he'd wake up, it would be to a new painful experiment. And every day, it seemed they only became worse and worse.

And every time, they would fail.

"…2601…2602…2603…2604…2605…2606…2607…"

Even though he couldn't feel the fox's connection anymore, it felt like he was still fighting in there. Whatever the snake man was trying to do, Kyuubi wasn't having any of it and was countering everything. Unfortunately, this meant that Naruto's body had to act as the war-torn battlefield.

He would then proceed to fall unconscious. This had been his life for the past few days. Wake up, live through the torture, pass out, then wait for the next one. A nasogastric tube had been inserted inside his nose so he wouldn't starve or die of thirst. Then slowly, it had felt like his reality was slowly slipping away.

And so, he counted.

First he counted the tiles on the floor, then the tiles on the ceiling and walls. And once he'd counted them to the point he couldn't even bear to look at them anymore, he counted in his head. Mostly he'd just count up starting from zero, but sometimes he'd mix it up a bit and count in additions and multiplications. The times where he felt extra adventurous, he'd do the same but in decreasing orders.

It was his only salvation.

"GAAAH! HELP ME!"

He squeezed his eyes shut as the woeful echoes of another tortured patient resounded from another room further down the corridor.

This was the worst part.

Every time he heard another person cry out in pain, he could feel his heart and his sanity break a little more.

It was clear that he wasn't the only one subjected to the cruel treatment.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

But he could do nothing about it.

"…I'm sorry…"

'….1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…'

"Ugh…"

Blond hair popped out from beneath the fallen tree that had nearly squashed him to death, followed by a large intake of air. That was way too close. If Sho hadn't pulled him away in time, he'd probably be snake food by now.

He coughed up some dust that had gotten caught in his airways and looked to the side at his two teammates that had already managed to get back to their feet. He shook his head and forced himself into a standing position.

"What…?" Sho muttered in surprise. The pale man barely look fazed. Even worse, his eyes were now angry and irritated and no longer held any playfulness.

"That technique…I do not care for it at all."

The Sannin grabbed onto the boy's arm and easily snapped it in half with a twist of his hand. Sho's scream of pain sent chills down the spine of his teammates.

"Sho!" Yuna yelled in panic as the Sannin carelessly dropped the Genin from his spot up on the trees, though he was quickly caught by the girl. Sho groaned at the impact but tried his best to stifle his pain through gritted teeth.

"Ugh, dammit…" Naruto growled as frustration began to grow from within his stomach. His eyes turned into slits as he could feel newfound power growing from within. Launching himself forward, he threw a claw swipe at the pale man who brought his arm to block it, but was surprised at the newfound strength behind it.

"Kukukuku, so you are finally revealing your true colors then? …You irritating little pest..."

"It seems this laboratory's location has been compromised."

The blond Jinchūriki twitched slightly at that little piece of knowledge. Kabuto, the man with the glasses turned towards his leader in surprise.

"How do you mean, my lord?"

Orochimaru hummed irritably as he began to walk towards the door, his servant falling into step behind him. "The scouts have recorded some unusual readings skulking about in the area, and if my feeling is right, then this will prove to be quite troublesome. Continue to ensure that the daily tasks are met with the inmates, I will return shortly."

"As you wish, Orochimaru-sama."

The door slammed shut behind the two, leaving the whiskered boy alone within it once more. Though instead of feeling scared and hopeless like usual, he felt the faintest embers of hope blooming in his chest.

Could it be? Could these 'unusual readings', as he said, be someone coming to his rescue? He found it hard to believe, but a small persistent part of his mind couldn't help but contemplate on that chain of thought.

But all that didn't matter. Orochimaru was momentarily leaving the premises. Of course, he'd tried escaping his bonds before, but for some god-forsaken reason, they weren't made of ropes or wire, but were actual thick leathery snakes that refused to budge no matter how much he tried to force himself out of them. How were these things even still alive? It's not like he saw anyone coming around every day to feed them.

He'd give up after a few minutes, the hissing of the snakes and the idea of getting caught by that man making him nervous enough to cast the idea out the window for a few days. But today…

This was his one chance. He'd only dipped his toes in last time in his attempts at escaping, but now he just no longer had a choice. He needed to escape, and if he didn't now, then he had a feeling that he would never be able to and would remain trapped here for eternity.

He once again attempted to pull his hands free from the tight bonds, twisting and tugging them at random in an effort to release them. The snakes behind him hissed in warning, but he decided to ignore them for now. Damn! They weren't budging! The seals on his body had sapped him of his chakra, not to mention his only source of nutrients for the past near-three weeks have been coming from a tube going up his nose. His frame had become pale and skinnier and rendered him even weaker than normal.

But he wasn't about to give up. He refused to give up now. Maybe if he couldn't overpower the snakes, he could force them away in some other way?

His hands were tied at a weird angle; over his head and behind his neck, most likely done so that he wouldn't be able to reach them at all. But he had to try. He attempted to lean back and reach the bindings with his mouth, but his body just wouldn't bend that way.

…He had no choice.

The snakes hissed more and threateningly raised their body as he tried to force his head between the space of his shoulder and his wrist. He cringed when he felt the muscles in his arm cramp up in protest at the weird angle, but he pushed on. Harder and harder, he kept pushing his head further in.

No, it was no use. The joints of his shoulders were physically stopping him now. He couldn't progress forward anymore. But he was so close!

Clack.

He bit his lip and stifled his cry of pain when he felt his shoulder joint snap under the pressure as pain flared up all throughout his arm. Just one more centimeter and he could reach it!

Crrrack.

His deltoid and trapezius ripped, and it took every fibers of his being not to scream out in agony. God, this sucked. But compared to the constant pain he'd been in these past few weeks; he could easily manage this.

There! He sunk his teeth into the thick body of the first snake, who hissed loudly and shot forward, its long fangs burrying into his cheek and pumping him full with venom. It hurt, god it hurt like crazy, but he was too far gone to give up. He bit harder and yanked his head to the side, ripping a chunk of its skin off. The snake finally let go of his cheek and fell to the floor, hissing in pain and slithering into the darkness.

He did the same to the second snake and bit onto its tail as hard as he could using his molars. The brown snake shrieked and coiled around his neck in retaliation; but with this movement, Naruto could feel the snake's grip around his wrists slacken slightly. That was all he needed.

He mustered up all of his strength and yanked his hands free from the loop that made up the snake's body. Frantically feeling around the tray sitting on the table next to him, he grabbed the first thing his hand landed upon and stabbed it deep into the snake's head.

The reptile fell dead instantly when the small sharp scissors pierced his brain. Naruto collapsed on the ground, panting madly and ripped the tube out of his nose as he attempted to catch his breath again. But he wasn't looking too good now; not only had his muscles atrophied from underuse, he now sported a broken shoulder and a cheek full of venom that was quickly spreading to his neck.

"K-Kyuubi, are you there?" He thought weakly as he tried to force himself up. His body was shaking so much, it felt similar to how your arm felt like after it fell asleep for a few minutes, only ten times worse and all over his body. He propped himself against the bed and looked down at the multitude of seals written across his stomach.

He was no expert in seals, but he knew there existed two types. The ones that melded with your skin, and the ones that were only active as long as they were still drawn on. The seal that held the nine tails inside of him disappeared when nothing was causing it to show up, so dragging a line across would do nothing to disrupt it. But those ones that sat on top, he hadn't seen them disappear at all. He could spot a suppressant seal, a restraining seal and a disruption seal among others.

He desperately tried to rub his palm against the ink in an effort to rub them off when he felt his mind begin to slip again from the snake's toxins. No, no he couldn't go out like that!

In a last-ditch attempt, he pulled the scissors out of the snake's body and cut a gash across his own stomach, making a trench across the suppression seal.

Red chakra suddenly exploded from his body as the aura of the nine tails finally came into contact with the outside world after all this time. This was much more powerful than it usually was, thought the blond in a strange detached manner, So much more potent, so much angrier. It seemed the nine tails hadn't appreciated being closed off for so long.

Before he could even begin to think about fighting for control, he felt the chakra force him into a standing position. His shoulder snapped back into place, the poison was forcefully expelled out of his body and the puncture marks closed, showing unblemished skin underneath. His eyes turned into a deep red with his nails and fangs elongating. Even more strange, his whiskers thickened and his lips turned into an animalistic shade of black. The vicious chakra bubbled up around him and formed into a cloak, forming two long ears sitting on top of his head and two even longer tails angrily waving around behind him.

The blond howled and clutched his head in pain, his sharp nails cutting into the skin from the action. The door suddenly burst open revealing an alarmed looking Kabuto, though his surprise didn't last for long as twin chakra scalpels appeared on both of his hands. The bespectacled man rushed at the Jinchūriki to incapacitate him, but failed to react in time when the younger boy launched forward faster than he could react and sent a wild claw strike that ripped into the side of his face. A loud boom resounded from the impact as the medic-nin was sent flying through several walls, though the crazed blond paid it no mind and began sprinting through the corridors as a third chakra tail sprouted from his tailbone.

He gave a feral snarl when he was ambushed by more people, probably servants of that treacherous snake. It didn't matter to him though; all he could see right now were monsters standing in the way of his freedom. He raised his arm high up in the air as the orange cloak extended and a giant clawed hand crashed down and sent them all flying away. Two more tried to run up behind him, but a gleaming golden chain spearing through their chest stopped them dead in their tracks.

Naruto clutched his head in pain once more as his skin was beginning to peel off. He should be stopping this. He needed to stop this, but the gloss of blood was becoming so tantalizing and it was all he could do to not succumb completely to his desires. A fourth tail was beginning to form behind him, and the burning chakra became even more painful, but he forced it back, the new tail retracting into the cloak.

He continued his mad dash through the underground maze, now running on his hands and feet like a wild dog. Red eyes glared hatefully at those same walls with the twisty patterns that he had become so accustomed to seeing these past three weeks. No more. He was sick of them. Two more giant claws made of chakra materialized behind him and made short work of them. Terrified screams resounded through the corridors as rooms were demolished and prison cells were ripped apart, but he ignored them and kept running to the exit. He had to get out of here, he couldn't stand this place anymore! Any longer and he had a feeling that his sanity would lose him!

He crashed through one more wall and finally was able to see the clear blue sky. But something was wrong, he was still surrounded by walls all around him! This wasn't the exit, it looked more like a courtyard. But still, the fresh air and sunlight soothed his mind and snapped him back to reality. Cringing and kneeling on the ground, the noxious red chakra retreated back into his body and left behind a panting whiskered boy.

"O-Oh god…" Reality came crashing down on the poor blond. He…He'd killed those people back there! Not only the ones working for Orochimaru, but also the innocent ones that had been caught in the crossfire! The ones that had been imprisoned just like he had been!

"Wh-What did you do…You idiot!" He desperately gripped his hair and shook his head in denial, hoping the entire thing would just go away if he willed it hard enough. But alas, the nightmare wasn't gonna go away so easily.

"Why…"

Angrily slamming his head against the ground, his screams of frustration cut through the deafening silence of the outside world, the wind being his only witness during this vulnerable moment until all that remained were hopeless sobs of sorrow.

Naruto laid on the cold ground for several minutes, panting and sniffling as he mourned the unfortunate souls that had shared his pain. He couldn't stay forever though, as much as he wanted to just lay there and sleep for the rest of his days. The soft wind and sunshine were starting to make his eyelids heavy.

'I have to get out of here…'

Slowly pushing himself into a standing position, he clutched his other sleeve and brought his arm closer to his body as a particularly cold gust of wind chilled him to his bones. There was only one way forward, so all he could do now was follow it.

He trailed the same path for several more minutes, Strangely, but thankfully not running into any more workers. This facility was surprisingly barren for its size, it was strange. 'A lot of empty rooms everywhere.' He remarked idly.

He stopped abruptly when the sound of laboured breathing and muttering hit his sensitive ears. He turned his attention to another door, though this one didn't seem empty like the rest. He slowly walked towards it and pushed the door open. It looked like a small spartan bedroom. Four walls, and a single bed with a lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. No desk, no nightstand, no chair, no window. This looked like a prison cell more than anything now that he thought about it.

Though what drew his attention was the crouching figure in the middle of the room, with their backs turned to him, making him unable to see who was there. The person was muttering to themselves and had a hand placed firmly on the nape of their neck as if to push away phantom pains.

He…He knew this person. The clothes were a bleak beige colour, but that shade of skin, that hair, that voice he could hear coming from them. It was definitely familiar…That's right…It was…

"Sho?"

AN: And that's a wrap. A bit of a short chapter, but this was all I could dish out at the moment. Again, really sorry for the long wait. I've moved houses! And the process has been pretty long and tiring. As if that wasn't enough, the new place is too small! So we've had to organize a storage container to keep all of our excess stuff in that wouldn't fit in the place. Not only that, but pest control, plumbers, service providers, realtors had to come and visit non-stop, it was a real shit-show. But hey, I somehow managed to squeeze out a chapter! And hopefully the next one won't be as long.

I wanted to address the feedback I've received previous chapter. While most of them were positive, a lot of people seemed to think that the chapter was "bad" or "out of place", which is strange because I felt like it was one of my best written chapters yet. I'm assuming people thought it was too different to the preceding ones? I disagree. From the start, I tried to show small glimpses on what path this story was going to take, from Kakashi's personality disorder and flashbacks, to moments like his escapade with Bee and the incident with the Stone ninja. I want people to understand, I will not be holding anything back, and there will be no "plot armour". People will not be safe just because they are main characters. Enemies will do use every dirty tactics to "win". Life doesn't pull any punches, and neither will I.) Everything that has been going on so far has a reason for going the way that it has, so please I ask that you bear with me.

Thank you so much to everyone that has stuck with me so far. I'm always amazed by the level of support I receive from all of you. Please leave reviews and motivate my lazy ass and tell me what you think!

See you next time! (And hopefully sooner this time!)