Flashback: 17 years ago/Location: Kumo Mountain Research Facility
She kept flashing in and out of consciousness, catching the occasional sound of a voice here and there, somehow audible amongst the constant underwater ambience that surrounded her ears. Mostly, what she heard was useless drivel - discussions of what sounded like vital readings that she assumed were hers, measurements, quantities of things, and the like. But on one particular occasion...
She could faintly detect the click and thud of a door closing. She then heard a voice, coming from a slight, pale-skinned man who wore long black hair in a ponytail that she had come to know as Minaka, "Ah, A-sama! How good of you to show up at my lab on such short notice."
Knowing who A was, she brought herself to consciousness as best as she was able, given the sedatives she could feel in her system. Opening her eyes just enough to see, but not enough for anyone not looking to notice, she looked out into the room. She saw Minaka standing next to a figure whom she knew all too well...and hated with a passion. Said figure was a tall man, somewhere between 6 and 7 feet in height. He had an Herculean physique with blond hair and dark skin. He wore the standard Kumo jounin attire, accented with gold bangle bracelets on each of his wrists.
The man was Jounin Commander A, the son of the Sandaime Raikage and Kumo's second in command.
She then heard A speak, "This better be of great importance to Kumo, Minaka, or I will find someone to take your place regardless of whether or not they lack your expertise for creating your test subjects."
Moving just her eyes toward Minaka, she noticed that he paused suddenly at A's warning before returning to the eerie smile she knew he typically wore. She could only assume that Minaka knew the seriousness of A's threat.
"Of course it is!" he responded quickly, "Why would I ask you to come down here aside from the offbeat chance of forfeiting my life? Please note the specimen, here!" said Minaka, pointing towards Yugito, who decided to close her eyes so they would think she was still unconscious, though she kept her ears open and listened intently.
"Your message mentioned this had something to do with the experiment Raikage-sama conducted three years ago after Yugito's Nii's suicide," said A, as he had read the report, but nothing ever came of it to suspect anyone had done anything wrong, and that after the girl's death, they just sealed the Nibi away until they found a better host, "What does this...project...have to do with her?"
"Yes, this has quite a bit to do with Yugito Nii, A-Sama. You see, since you took over after the previous Jounin Commander's death three years ago, you were only given certain pieces of information regarding that whole fiasco. I felt I should inform you of something that was intentionally left out in his report, and requested Raikage-sama to keep it a secret until now when it would be ready," said Minaka confidently.
"You sound quite proud of this little project of yours, Minaka," A observed, "For your sake, it had better be worth it, or you'll be getting acquainted with my Iron Claw," A finished. This was not the first time he had threatened the man, and if things went well it would not be the last.
"Oh, I am quite proud of this test subject, A-sama. Behold, my experiment in all her glory, and the greatness that I have done!" said Minaka. The talking stopped, and Yugito assumed that Minaka was again indicating her to A, who was probably studying her visually.
Her assumption was proved true when she heard A speak up again, "So, then, what's so special about a naked little girl?!" She noticed the disgust in A's tone, and wondered if the giant man had thought that Minaka was a lolicon and a pervert.
"This is not just any ordinary girl, A-sama," Minaka began with confidence once again, "This girl is an artificially-created human, constructed from the DNA samples of Konoha's Yellow Flash and Konoha's Red Habanero, and anchored by the Nibi's seal. It was kept secret until this point to keep the other nations from learning of her on the chance that they would try to infiltrate us to either free the girl or kill her. The girl has been absorbing chakra at an astonishing rate, her power is incredible even without the beast sealed inside of her, and in the years to come, she will be unstoppable."
There was a moment's pause on conversation once again before A responded, in a tone that clearly indicated he was both impressed and skeptical, "We will see, Minaka. We will see."
A few moments later, Yugito again heard the sound of the door closing. What she had heard intrigued her. She didn't know what their plans were for her yet, but she hoped beyond hope that by the time she was let back out, Kumo would allow kunoichi back into their regular shinobi forces.
Nine years later
'Run away! Must escape! I won't let them poke and prod me anymore!' were the only thoughts in the mind of a certain jinchuuriki as she desperately tried to get away from where she was.
Her hopes of being able to survive and serve her country under A, the Yondaime Raikage, had been completely dashed. A and Minaka had given the final verdict; they were going to lock her in the laboratories to do more experimentation on her...
No! There was no way that she would be denied any longer!
She needed to breathe the fresh air she knew was just a wall away. She wanted to smell the trees and flowers that were but a few steps away. She longed for her freedom!
Hardening her gaze, she grimaced bitterly as she rushed past a hallway filled with mirrors. The blue skin and crimson hair, for the first time in her life, looked ugly and disconcerting. That was the proof staring at her right in her face, mocking her that she would never be able to be normal, just like Minaka had said.
(AN: Just picture Mystique from X-men)
When she had woken up, all she could hear were the frenzied cries of that insolent whelp. Some miscalculation must have happened on their part, proving quite fortuitous for her, because she felt far stronger than she thought she should. It was as though she was again completely tapped into Nibi's power, but that couldn't be! So then, what had happened?!
It would be a few hours later when the head researcher, a woman named Takami who actually treated Yugito like a human being and made her procedures as painless as possible, had personally come over to apologize to her on the mistake that was made. It turned out that the mistake was not as fortuitous as she had initially believed. Time seemed to come to a standstill when she was informed that she was degrading, and that she would be dying. What was worse was the admission that she only had a few weeks at most to live.
She didn't even know what to feel.
Hatred? For Kumo and what that bastard Raikage did to her? Yes, but that wouldn't change anything, would it?
Despair? For not being able to ever feel that sense of validation as a living person? Maybe...
Anger? For them wanting to still coop her up despite all the damage they've already done?
In the end, it all boiled down to negative emotions, and she didn't like it one bit. She was one of the quieter girls when she was a kunoichi in her previous life, rarely ever speaking up unless she had to. She would constantly be aware of her surroundings, choosing to learn as much as she could by watching and analyzing while remaining inconspicuous like any good ninja should. She would listen attentively to the chatter around her, picking out whatever she could that could help her in any way possible.
Most thought her quietude stemmed from coldness and indifference, the polar opposite of the demon sealed within her, but that was only because they didn't choose to get to know her or watch her more closely. She just didn't see a point in wasting energy over useless matters. After all, why should she show any emotion at all over something that would change nothing? Was she supposed to be happy and greet everyone with enthusiasm just because they were testing her? There were more important things to direct that kind of energy towards.
"Get her!"
"Don't let her escape!"
"Retrieve her at all costs!"
"Send for BOLT!"
She was brought out of her musings by the shouts of orders pertaining to her capture. Her entire body tensed at the mention of the BOLT. If those men intercepted her before she could leave the building, it would all but eliminate any chances she had in escaping this hellhole. She knew how strong they were, and with her current state, she doubted that she would be able to hold them off for any more than ten seconds.
Rushing through the hallways, she desperately tried to make her away towards the back exit as soon as she could. The chunin and jounin rushing behind her and the din that they created only served to heighten the tension within her. Just a few more doors to go and she would be outside in the open air, on open ground, and able to run in any direction she wanted as fast as her legs could carry her!
Kunai and shuriken being fired at her were easily repelled by her more-in-tuned ability over fire. With a wave of her hand, she created a thick fire shield behind her back, easily defending herself against the projectiles, melting all that came into contact with it.
These insolent whelps were of no threat to her and they had to know that. But then, why hadn't they stopped their pursuit? It was then that she suddenly noticed that they had...and something didn't feel right about it! Why, all of a sudden, did they stop now? Unless -
She gasped as she realized she was being directed into a trap. Before she could even continue that line of thought, a nodachi pierced right through her guard, easily penetrating her torso as she was stopped dead in her tracks. A hard hook to the face followed right after she forcefully removed herself from the blade and hot blistering pain rained down her back as another blow caught her right in the middle of her spine.
Not wasting any time to even think about the severity of the injuries she currently had, she used whatever remaining energy she had and aimed it right at the floor beneath her. Adjusting her body position in mid-air, she launched herself right through the glass windows of her prison, before she landed hard onto the rocky, craggy ground of the mountainside.
Fresh, cold air blew against her face even as she felt her conscious slowly fading away. A rush of footsteps surrounded her before arms grabbed hold of her body, attempting to put her into submission, only for her to resist and send miniature balls of blue fire to fend them off. She had to stay conscious, not matter what it took! She wasn't going back! SHE WASN'T GOING BACK!
She could tell that BOLT were watching her on the sidelines, the bloodlust obvious as it permeated through the dark night sky. Only she would know just how mortally injured she was with that stab of the nodachi. It had very narrowly missed her heart; had that been pierced, then it would have been over within seconds. As it was now, it was just her lung, so now her death had been prolonged from seconds to hours, maybe a few days if she was lucky...or unlucky, depending on how one chose to look at it.
She knew what those bastards were thinking. Those men always had a sadistic streak when it came to her. They wanted her to bleed and suffer more before they took her back in.
Such was the cruel nature of BOLT, Kumo's Black Ops.
A familiar female voice suddenly rang through the area, "Alright that's enough! Who gave you orders to manhandle her?! Release her this instant!"
Yugito could see the white-colored hair of Takami through her blurry vision. As she made her way over, she could see that the woman was wearing a lab coat with a black top underneath it. She immediately tried to assume command of the situation as she barked orders for the men to stand down.
'What is she doing here?' Yugito asked herself in confusion while also feeling a surge of relief upon sighting a person that was at least not a hostile.
"But madam," the man holding the struggling Yugito down responded, "this Jinchuuriki is now useless! It's all her fault that the research facility is destroyed! I claim no responsibility to this incident!"
Rage gripped at her as the voice of that man that had ruined her life echoed through the area, "It's much better to lock her up in the laboratories where we use her as a specimen for - "
SLAP!
With one swift move, that obnoxious researcher was sent crashing into the ground, holding his jaw in disbelief as he stared up at the woman, "Y-you, h-how dare y-you!"
What he got in return was an enraged glare from a woman who had lost all patience, "You had better keep your mouth shut if you want to live to see tomorrow, Minaka. Or would you like to find out firsthand whether or not your skin can survive severe acid burns?"
That was enough to intimidate the man and silence him to his sniffles of pain.
Kneeling down, the woman quickly gave a check of her injuries, before motioning for the medical staff to do some emergency treatment, "Hurry and get a stretcher! She's gonna go into shock soon if we don't do something!"
Wondering just why this woman was helping her, the blue girl allowed them their administrations, the pills and injections, but to no avail. She could feel it herself, her life was wasting away.
"Hang in there, kitten. I'm working as fast as I can to help you," was the weaker response of her tenant.
"Leave her be!" A's boisterous voice resonated in her ears as she heard Takami swear under her breath. The Yondaime Raikage strode onto the scene and surveyed the situation with a critical eye. Minaka stood up while nursing his still-stinging cheek and smirked in Takami's direction before turning to A when the big man addressed him.
"Why have you called me over this, Minaka?! Did it not seem important to you that I was in conference with the Daimyo?!" If looks could kill, the man would have died at least a few hundred million times within that last second.
"My apologies, Raikage-sama. Please forgive my stupidity and lack of consideration," Minaka offered in a contrite yet sleazy manner.
He then turned to Takami, "Hahaha, why so serious, Taka-chan? There really is no need to treat her! She's a scrapped project, and seeing how she so wanted to leave the laboratories, I shall grant her that wish!"
With dramatic flair, Minaka turned to the others and announced, "All troops are to return to their normal posts. Medical staff members are to finish their current emergency treatments, nothing more, nothing less! Raikage-sama, if you would, sir, there is still much to discuss about - blergh!"
Before he could even finish his sentence, a reeling kick met his face without hesitation as he was trampled into the ground. Turning a furious glare to his attacker, he saw Takami standing over him.
She yelled at the man she had downed for the second time, "Who the hell told you I would be following those orders?! You just shut up and stay down! Medical staff, you're under my command and will do as I say...or else..." Her eyes glinted dangerously, easily convincing them to carry on with their treatment of the fallen jinchuriki.
"Urgh, that's so mean of you Taka-chan! But that's what I like about you!" The fact that he got up as if no harm was done to him at all was quite impressive...that or he was used to the physical harm administered to him on a daily basis.
"Hojo, I'm warning you..." Cracking her knuckles, Takami stomped towards the most infuriating man she had ever met in her life.
"BOLT," the Raikage's voice interrupted her stride towards the despicable little mad scientist, "please escort Dr. Takami to my office for now."
"What?!" Within seconds, she was restricted by two of the masked men, leaving a stunned expression on her face as she looked at A, "You would go so far as to allow a deteriorating little girl to be sent her death?! Just what kind of sadistic monster are you?!"
"Relax, Kara-chan!" Minaka mockingly assured her, "This is all for the sake of science! Even with the demon sealed in her, her DNA make-up is not holding together. She will be dead soon. It will be a pleasant surprise to see how long she does survive in the harsh environments."
"And just how is this situation a pleasant surprise?!" Yelling, Takami tried her best to wrestle her way out of the grasps of the two BOLT to no avail.
"A little kitten, born different than others, now facing elimination in a world where survival of the fittest is the golden rule of life - imagine the possibilities. What would possibly be her end? Would she end up with her life wasting away, or would she finally find the thing that she was born to seek out?! Ah, the suspense! I cannot take it any longer!"
"You crazy maddening fool! Raikage-sama, Unhand me this instant!"
"Medical Staff," the Raikage asserted, "By my orders, you are to finish your current emergency treatments and leave. We shall not interfere with her desire to escape from us! Guards are to stand down and let the BOLT take charge. Once she steps onto that road, she shall no longer be accepted back in the facilities building! Kill her if she comes near!"
Minaka began laughing manically, "Ahahahaha! This is gonna be great..." as he rubbed his palms together in sick anticipation, only to be interrupted.
The source of the interruption was a series of large explosions that went off all throughout the research facility, drawing the instant attention of the guards and the BOLT. Without a word, the BOLT members rushed off, followed by the other shinobi. Minaka frowned in displeasure at being interrupted halfway through his speech and could only sigh lamely as he finished off his orders in an anticlimactic manner. Takami on the other hand, could only gape at the coincidence of all this. If she was a betting woman, then she would go out on a tangent and say that this was actually planned by someone.
"Come Taka-chan, we must return to the laboratories at once to access the damage!" Without looking back, Minaka was already making his way back into the building.
The white-haired woman hesitated for a few seconds, took one last look at the girl lying on the ground. She ran over to Yugito and whispered softly, "I'm sorry, honey. If you can, please...survive...and live as long and as happily as you can..." she kissed the girl's forehead before rushing off as well. After all, if someone had dared breach their security, she had to make sure none of their secrets were stolen.
The bleeding girl could barely understand what was going on all this time, and only barely managed to retain her consciousness as she felt the treatments coming to an end. By the time she was able to lift her head up, the entire area was rid of people. She was alone, with only the rocky ground for companionship. Knowing something must have happened for this retreat, she wasted no time in continuing her escape.
Due to a lack of strength because of the blood loss, she had to half-crawl, half-drag her body across the ground, before finally, her entire body left the grounds of the research facility. Not even daring to stop for a moment, she braved on, forcing herself to ignore the searing pain with each movement she made.
'I will survive this...' she thought to herself in desperation, 'I must survive this...'
Hours...days...the length of time she'd been crawling was completely lost on her, as time stopped having any real meaning for her. All that mattered to her was that next foot or two that she had to force herself to advance - after all, if she was moving, she was still alive, and where there was life, there was hope...right? A new sound was picked up by her ears - the sound of flowing water. She had to be near a creek or a river! Her clothing was now in tatters after her fights within research facility, and she began to notice that she was also severely dehydrated. Pulling herself with what was left of her strength, she forced herself into a sitting position against a large rock near the river.
'So tired...' she complained to herself resignedly.
Staring blankly at the ground before her, and at the flowing water just a few short yards away, she couldn't even begin to think of what she should do now. Her injuries were severe and though they have been given some treatment, it was hardly enough. Now that she was no longer moving, thoughts of her future beyond the immediate began to plague her mind. She was never going to return to Kumo, but then, where could she go? And what would she do if she ever actually got there? Where would she stay on cold nights like this? How would she even get there, and how was she going to get food for herself before she...died?
Question after question bombarded her already fragile mind as she slowly felt the fatigue creep into her once again. Somehow, she felt like laughing. Just like before, she sat alone on the ground, all by herself, not commenting when everyone else had made friends with each other.
'In the end, I guess Minaka was right...what good am I if I die like this?'
She sat quietly and closed her eyes, 'It's so quiet. I'll just go to sleep...forever...'
The beat of her heart was slowing and she was yawning. Images of the faces she cared for flashed through her mind. Emotions were almost non-existent now - she wasn't sad, or angry, or even disappointed. She was just numb. The fear of never being with her little sister no longer bothered her.
"Wait, Kitten, please!" Yoruichi begged loudly in a tear-filled voice, "Don't give up! Don't let them win! Please don't let it end like this!"
"I'm sorry...Yoruichi..." Yugito answered, not even bothering to keep her conversation on a mental level, "...I just don't...have any more...strength. I can't...keep this up..."
'Why didn't I...do this before? I'll finally be at peace...' she thought to herself, managing a small smile before blacking out, unable to respond to Yoruichi's desperate pleas to stay alert and live.
The first thing she felt upon becoming self-aware once again was pain - agonizing, excruciating pain. It felt like thousands of needles were being stuck and poked into her body. If she could liken what her insides felt like, she would say that her internal organs had been dunked in acid. Every muscle and fiber in her body screamed at her, letting her know just how close to death she had come. This had brought with it a point of curiosity - why was she still alive?
As the pain began to fade into the background, she began to feel other sensations: the feel of a soft bed beneath her frame, the pillows her head was laying against, the warmth she felt and the weight of blankets over her body. Her mind soon became more alert, sharpening as she decided to take stock of her situation. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, not wanting to let whoever was near know she had awakened. First, she ran a swift assessment of her body's condition. She could feel that her regenerative-healing factor was slower than normal, but it was working. Yoruichi was trying to close up the smaller cuts first so that she wouldn't have to replace as much lost blood when she started to address the more serious injuries. More to the point, her cuts and bruises had been bandaged. She couldn't determine the type of cloth used to do the bandaging, but she could feel them wrapped around her torso, which had taken the most damage.
Between the bed and the bandages, Yugito could easily deduce that it probably wasn't a hostile that had brought her to wherever she was and treated her. However, that still told her very little, and just because she wasn't near any enemies didn't mean she was safe.
Where was she? How did she get here? Was she in friendly territory, neutral territory?
Wanting to know a little more about the area around her while still maintaining some secrecy, she sent a small pulse of chakra out of her body. The chakra acted like a sonar beacon: by constantly pushing a set amount of chakra out of her body at a constant rate, while still keeping herself connected to it, she could 'feel out' her surroundings as the pings of her chakra bouncing off of objects and back to her told her where things were, and also what they were.
To her alarm, she felt a massive chakra source that was only a few yards away from her.
And it was slowly closing in on her position.
Cracking her eyes just a sliver, she saw a figure that she guessed was male calmly approaching her bed.
When he got close enough to her, she suddenly jumped him and slammed him to the ground. Shortly afterwards, she heard a shattering sound followed by a small splash. Apparently, her current...warden...host...she didn't really know what he was...had brought a bowl of stew over to her, if the ceramic shards and the chunks of meat and vegetables covered in dark brown liquid was any indicator. She turned her attention back to her captor/rescuer, who was staring intently at the five elongated claws protruding from her fingernails. She began to blush when she took in his features - golden blond hair, electric blue eyes, three whisker-like birthmarks on each cheek that she thought gave him an exotic air, and a rich, healthy tan.
He turned his gaze into Yugito's own eyes and kept himself as calm as possible. Yugito was impressed at how he kept his cool, though she certainly wouldn't admit to that right now. She also noticed on her hand and arm that her skin wasn't blue anymore, but a normal tone, albeit with a slightly darker tan than she remembered having before.
"Who the hell are you?! Where have you taken me?!" Yugito demanded.
"Okay, I'll talk. But first," the quickly jabbed her in the side, making the girl cringe and grab her side. His assailant distracted, he quickly swept her over and ended up on top, causing Yugito to gasp out of pain as she was thrown to the ground. Thinking quickly, the boy placed a seal on her and activated it. Yugito immediately felt her body lock up and found herself unable to move a muscle, no matter how much she struggled.
"You bastard!" she hissed.
"Look, I'm sorry, but you need to calm down before you hurt yourself even more. I'm no medic and even after I fixed your DNA make-up, I don't know if those herbs will work on your injuries or not. But to answer your first question, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm here to help you," explained the now-identified Naruto.
"Oh, really?! How about you prove it?"
"Fair enough. I was the one who found you leaning against a rock next to a river, half-starved, dehydrated, and on the Shinigami's doorstep. Kyuubi was able to get in contact with Nibi, who was using every possible resource at her disposal just to keep you alive. Through means too long for me to explain, I was able to fill in the holes to your DNA and now you won't have to worry about being a splotch on the side of the road," Yugito seemed to calm down after hearing that. The shock of her not dying was enough to make her completely docile. Seeing that she had calmed down, Naruto released the seal, allowing her to move again. She looked at Naruto, who stared back at her in confusion, making her visage contort into a glare.
"Aren't you going to help me get back into bed?" asked Yugito in a deadpan voice.
"I don't know if I should. After all, you did just try to kill me," countered Naruto.
"Well, what type of wounded ninja is willing to trust someone she doesn't know?" Naruto didn't look all that convinced, "Fine. I swear on my life that I won't make another attempt on yours."
That was somewhat reassuring to him. Nonetheless, Naruto was cautious and on guard as he helped her to the bed she had just leaped out of, keeping a watchful eye for any surprise attacks. He went and got another bowl of stew and placed it on Yugito's lap, helping her sit up as she began to dig in. The two sat there in silence as Yugito ate three more bowls. Once she had eaten as much as she could, she sighed in relief and laid back down, facing the blond.
"You said that your name was Naruto Uzumaki, right? I think I've heard that name before."
"Maybe from Hi no Kuni?" asked Naruto.
Yugito thought for a second before something clicked, "You're the kid that was killed in Konoha, and then the new daimyo punished the entire village for it. We were wondering why the Fire Daimyo was so angry with his hidden village."
"Actually, I was hoping to convince you to come with me..."