Chapter Text
Namikaze Uzumaki Fujin. Son of the first Uzukage and Namikaze, formerly Haruno, Sakura. The uzukage, Namikaze Uzumaki Ryuusuke, along with his two of his four children and his wife, were on the train to the ninja village in the Land of Fire, Konoha.
Fujin was excited. Not only did he get to watch his oldest brother Akahiko fight in the final of the chuunin exam, but he would get to see his best friends, Nara Saku and Uzumaki Naegi.
The train ride had always been one of his favourite things when going to Konoha. Instead of taking the Thunder train, which went through a teleportation seal his father had made, they took the Wind train, which went on a long bridge connecting Uzu to the mainland. Fujin had always liked watching the ocean as the train speeded over the waters.
He peeked out of the window, seeing the green and lush forests surrounding Konoha. In the distance, he could see the city in all its glory. Excitement built up inside him. This would be the best day of his life.
As the train entered Konoha's outskirts, Fujin could see how his father's expression changed from his usual soft and peaceful expression to a melancholier gaze. Fujin tried to hide his curiosity as his mother gently took his father's hand, murmuring something in his ear.
Fujin had turned six that year, and his training in the ninja arts had been practiced since he was five. Though he hadn't learned much ninjutsu nor worked on taijutsu. It was mostly studying and learning how to read situations and faces, hence why he easily could recognise his parent's expression.
"Dad, don't you like Konoha?" Fujin asked suddenly. His father's blue eyes trailed from the window to him. He gave Fujin a soft smile, shaking his head shortly.
"I like Konoha just fine, Fujin. I'm just reminded of when I'm younger when I'm here," he replied. Minato, Fuujin's older brother by two years, cocked his head to the side.
"You were born in Konoha, right?" He asked. Ryuusuke smiled.
"That's right, I lived her until I was Akahiko's age. I moved right after my own Chuunin exam," Ryuusuke said. Fujin looked at his mother, who looked at the floor in what seemed to be... shame?
He was glad that his older brother was not as attentive to details as himself, just continuing to ask his father about Konoha and moving away from there. Minato had always wanted to explore the world, and their father had decided that if he passed his chuunin exam he would be allowed to do so. Minato had yet to become a genin, but he was amongst the most powerful students in his class and was well on his way to become one of Uzu's strongest ninja. And Akahiko was even stronger than him again, showing talent that hinted on him being able to surpass their father.
Fujin had another older brother, Minato's twin, his name was Sora. Sora, at the age of five, had awakened an ability to communicate with Uzu in a way their father couldn't quite understand. However, he could control the barrier around Uzu at will, and Sora had mentioned to Fujin and Minato that the island could tell him when a storm was coming, or if danger was on the rise. Because of that, Sora liked to remain in Uzu, feeling much safer there than anywhere else. He said that he wasn't interested in watching Akahiko's match, as he could do that whenever his brother was in the village anyway. Fujin had to agree with that, but he didn't come to Konoha to watch the match, he came to meet his friends.
Nara Saku was the daughter of Nara Eon and Nara Yachi, belonging to one of the most prestigous clans in Konoha. Famous for their shadow techniques, analytic abilities and intelligence. Saku...was not very smart, Fujin had concluded, but she was very adventurous and fun. She and her family, being her mother, father and elder brother often came to Uzu during summer vacations. Her elder brother, Nara Shizuaki, was a student at Uzu Academy, and was in the first international genin team along with Akahiko and Uzumaki Riko.
Uzumaki Riko was the eldest sister of Naegi, though Naegi also had an older brother named Ao. A family trait running through them was a soft, shy and kind personality. Naegi was still with Saku and Fujin on their various adventures. Naegi's family also came often to Uzu, but not nearly enough in Fujin's opinion.
Since Naegi and Saku were both the same age as Fujin himself, they practically grew up together, Saku and Naegi even more so. They were entering the academy this autumn, and while Fujin was technically going to enter the Uzu academy, he had begun to entertain the thought of asking his father if not he could go to school with Naegi and Saku. Sure, he had some friends in Uzu, like one of his many clansmen; Uzumaki Haru. Haru was not someone Fujin was particularly close to, but they hung out a lot when they had the time. Haru was very competitive, and there for the boys were often found racing in the city.
"Dad, when we get back to Konoha, will you begin my ninjutsu training?" Fujin asked. His father glanced at him, eyebrow raised.
"Fujin, me and Sora didn't start before we were seven! You shouldn't either!" Minato said, huffing.
"What happened to you doesn't matter to me," Fujin argued. "Both you and Big brother one and two are already strong! I don't want to fall behind!" He continued. Minato stuck his tounge out.
"You're the youngest, you'll always be behind!"
"Boys, stop fighting," His mother scolded.
"Fujin, I can start with some simple chakra control exercises to get you used to your chakra, but nothing more. If you want, we can work a bit more on your personality and infiltration studies?" His father said. Fujin nodded, sulking. Then, the train stopped, and the doors opened.
"We're here!" Fujin exclaimed happily as he jumped out of his seat, running out of the train. As he shuffled his way through the masses of people, his father laughing in the background, Fujin tried his best to spot his best friends in the waiting area.
Surely, a wildly waving Saku and a more shyly waving Naegi with a bright smile waited for him not far away, their mothers standing behind them with smiles of their own. Fujin ran over to them, and Saku barrelled into him on the way, making them both fall to the ground. Naegi's laughter sounded clearly as he helped them untangle.
"Fujin!" Saku exclaimed happily. "It took so long for you to get here! Why didn't you take the Thunder train? We could have been exploring all day!" She babbled. Fujin laughed.
"I wanted to see the sea! Dad said we had the time to take the long way, and it's not often since he's busy all the time!" Fujin explained happily. He looked at the adults who watched their children with gentle smiles.
"Hey aunt Yuki, aunt Eon!" Fujin said with a grin. The two females smiled at him.
"Hello Fujin, did you run away from your father again?" Eon said as she ruffled his hair. Fujin stuck out his tongue.
"Dad's always late, you can't blame me for being quick!" Fujin retorted. Eon stifled a laugh.
"It's true," Yuki said with a knowing smile.
"Eon! Yuki!" Ryuusuke shouted from afar. The two females looked at him, smiling brightly,
"Ryuu!" Yuki greeted. "I see your son hasn't inherited your tardiness, did you take another nap?" She teased. Eon laughed, the two meeting Ryuusuke halfway.
"Thank god he didn't," Sakura said with a sigh. "In the mornings I almost have to dress him to get him ready for the day, I swear for someone who managed to sleep for an entire month he's too tired," she said, punching Ryuusuke lightly on the shoulder. Ryuusuke pouted, tapping his finger on his cane absentmindedly.
"How is your leg nowadays?" Yuki asked gently. Ryuusuke shrugged.
"The usual, Sakura manages to keep the pain even more at bay, and I'm working on a more permanent sealing method so that I can erase it completely," Ryuusuke replied. Yuki hummed.
"You're lucky that it's a mild pain, it could have been a lot worse," Sakura stated. Ryuusuke chuckled. He turned to Eon.
"Is Jiraiya in town?" He asked. Eon nodded.
"He came back for the occasion, chuunin exams require a higher security by default, no one will try anything whe nthey know that Jiraiya is in town, even though he's retired. Me and Yuki are Obito-sensei's guards, so we'll be in the box with you. Jiraiya wanted to hang out with your kids, but Yachi and Kousuke is there, so don't worry about any corruption," Eon replied with a smirk.
"Not to mention that I'll be there," Sakura said, a vein popping on her forehead.
"I thought you would be Ryuusuke's guard as well?" Yuki said. Sakura shook her head.
"Roshi and Yugito came along, but they took the thunder train. They are prepping the apartment. It was decided that Fujin would stay at your place?" Sakura asked Eon.
"Yeah, my old apartment in the Nara compound remains vacant, Shikaku said that Saku, Fujin and Naegi could stay there, and he'd watch after them, or rather, Yoshino will watch after them. Shikamaru and Temari are here too, with their son Shikao. He's the same age as the kids so they'll probably get along. Though Shikao usually hangs out with Choza," Eon said.
"Choza? Isn't that Choji's old man?" Ryuusuke asked. Eon shook her head.
"Choji's father died in the early parts of the war, Choza was named after him," Eon said. Ryuusuke nodded solemnly.
"I probably should have known that," he said awkwardly.
"Dad can we go?" Fujin moaned. He, Naegi and Saku were all standing by the exit, almost jumping where they stood. Ryuusuke laughed.
"Hey, the tournament starts in an hour, you guys need to find your seats and buy snacks for the matches! You won't have time for any exploring anyway," Ryuusuke said. Fujin pouted.
"Fine, but do we really have to watch all the matches?" Fujin asked. Ryuusuke looked at Sakura questioning. She shrugged with a defeated sigh.
"If you truly want to leave at some point I'll allow it, but I'm sure all your siblings really want your support, and we can't be sure of when that is. Matches can be changed if something happens. Other than that, I don't see an issue," Sakura said. Ryuusuke nodded.
"You heard her," he said. He looked at Eon and Yuki. "We should go meet Obito-sensei," he said. They nodded in reply. Yuki and Eon said goodbye to their children, while Ryuusuke ruffled Fujin's hair affectionately.
"I'll drop by the Nara compound later, okay? Don't be outside too late," Ryuusuke said.
"Yes, dad," Fujin drawled in reply.
Fujin exchanged looks with Saku and Naegi while they watched their parents disappear, Sakura going with Minato to the stadium towards the stadium.
"We can probably find them at the stadium later, let's take a detour and do some mini exploring!" Saku said. Fujin grinned.
"Sounds great!" He said.
The three kids ventured down the streets of Konoha. The people who were still there gave them polite smiles and small waves, after all, the son of the Uzukage, the son of one of the strongest jonin in the village, along with being quite the prodigy within the ninja arts himself and the daughter of the head of the intelligence department and the head of the torture and interrogation department – they were bound to be known.
Their parents were the heroes of the Fourth Ninja War as well, and tales of their victory was not uncommon knowledge. Fujin himself hadn't found it very interesting, his father – though doing some crazy stuff himself – was not really present during the final stages of the war. In addition, the actual facts around the final stages was somewhat blurred out, no one really talked about it – nor did they want to.
They decided to drop by a park on the way to the stadium. It wasn't very big, and usually it was not used at all. It was kind of nice though, quiet and by the river that ran through the city.
"You guys are entering the Academy next year, right?" Fujin asked his companions. Saku nodded.
"I asked mom if I could enter earlier, but she said no. The Uzu academy doesn't allow admissions before you're eight does it?" Saku asked. Fujin shook his head.
"No, they say that the extensive training they put their students through is not suitable for anyone under eight, and that they require a previous course before that as well for intelligence and stuff, my father is home schooling me rather than sending me to the pre-academy course, because he really felt bored for some reason and decided he needed to do something more than just sit behind his desk," Fujin said, chuckling.
"But we could still be on a genin team together, since our siblings did so," Naegi stated. Fujin nodded.
"Though the teams aren't based on friendship or something like that, it's based on skill to best balance the squad," Fujin said.
"Well, that sucks," Saku huffed. Fujin laughed.
"Couldn't have said it better," Naegi agreed.
They found themselves continuing on their path, rather than stopping in the park as planned. Walking over a bridge that crossed the large river, they soon entered the more spacious areas in Konoha, somewhat close to the Nara compound. It was a very lush area, with many open spaces and a nice atmosphere.
"Maybe we should start to head to the stadium," Naegi said. Fujin hummed in agreement.
"I don't really want to miss Akahiko's match," Fujin stated. Saku shook her head.
"Guys, we literally have free reigns for a couple of hours – and you want to sit and watch matches? We all know that our siblings will enter the little tournament held in Uzu for fun's sake," she said. Fujin shrugged.
"It's true," he stated. Naegi shuffled slightly.
"I guess," he mumbled. He suddenly shook his head violently. A wide grin spreading across his face. "You're right! We should totally just hang out as much as we can before Fujin has to leave again!" Naegi exclaimed. Saku and Fujin replied with grins of their own, and the three children ran into the forest, deciding to explore the 'wilderness' that was inside Konoha's walls.
The forest wasn't exactly thick, and it was pretty easy to find your way around. Yet the trees gave you a certain cover from the busy city life that Konoha had. It was also fun to play various forms of ninja games, as you could almost simulate a real battle situation without much problems.
The three kids laid on the grass in a clearing, watching the clouds pass over them while a gentle breeze fluttered their clothes.
"Uncle Shikamaru watches clouds a lot, he says it's one of his two hobbies," Saku said.
"What is the other?" Naegi asked.
"Playing shogi, it's a mind game or something, it's very boring!" Saku exclaimed. Fujin stifled a laugh.
"It's to practice strategy, your clan is famous for it," Fujin said. Saku stuck her tongue out at him.
"It's easy for you to say, Fujin! You have a knack for sitting and reading those super boring books for hours! I can't sit still for that long! It's impossible!" Saku shouted dramatically.
"I've always been better at moving than reading, but you should at least read something, Saku," Naegi added with a teasing smile. "It wouldn't help you to be the only dumbass in the family," he grinned. Saku punched him lightly on the shoulder.
"I could take you anytime!" She challenged. Naegi raised an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah?" He asked. Saku shot to her feet, fist raised. Naegi stood up slowly, a smirk playing on his face.
"Definitely," Saku said. Fujin stood up as well, trying to ease his two comrades by gently lifting his hands.
"Guys, please – if you guys beat each other up now I'll have to carry both of you home!" Fujin complained.
"No, please let them fight, I want to see what you are capable of..." A new voice said. Fujin stiffened as he looked towards the source.
In the shadow of a tree, a man leaned on the tree trunk gracefully. Long, black hair framed his face which was unnaturally pale. Yellow, snake like eyes stared at them almost... hungrily. Fujin's confusion was obvious. Why was the man looking at them like they were some meal? Fujin bit his lip, trying to make sense of the man's facial expression.
Naegi and Saku had stopped their argument, drawing closer to Fujin absentmindedly.
"Who are you?" Naegi asked. The man chuckled. He stepped out from under the darkness. He was dressed in clothes of primarily black, grey, white and purple. The purple matched the pattern that framed his eyes in the same colour.
"… you can call me Orochimaru," the man – Orochimaru – said.
"Orochimaru? You're one of the legendary sannin! A village traitor!" Fujin exclaimed. He fell into a protective stance, not that he actually knew how to fight – but he had watched his brothers a lot.
"That's correct, young Namikaze," Orochimaru said smoothly. "Now, I originally just came here for the sharingan, but it looks like I can get some bonuses while I'm at it," Orochimaru said. Suddenly, a pressure greater than Fujin had ever felt before fell in the area. It was crushing the three kids underneath it. Fujin felt himself shaking, he was unable to move at all. He was so... afraid.
His father had mentioned once during his lessons that people were able to weaponize their killer intent by amplifying it with their chakra – but this was to an extreme degree. Naegi and Saku didn't fare much better than him. Naegi was crying, and Fujin could feel tears pressing behind his own eyes as well. He truly wished he had gone with his mother now. He should never have stalled going to the stadium. Saku fell to the ground, shaking with tears streaming down her face as well.
Fujin turned his gaze to Orochimaru, meeting the man's evil eyes with an uncertain defiance.
"Don't try to fight me..." Orochimaru murmured. He stepped closer to them, not stopping before he was less than a meter away. He crouched down, smiling predatorily as he licked his lips. "You'll die," he said. Tears spilled from Fujin's eyes, then he felt a sharp pain in his head and lost himself to darkness.
--
Fujin snapped his eyes open. A sharp intake of breath followed shortly after. He sat up in what he quickly understood was a bed. It was exactly comfortable, but not impossible to lay on either. The room he was in had pure white walls, dark grey stone tiles for a floor along with two other beds that laid next to him. The occupants of those beds, to Fujin's relief, was Saku and Naegi.
Now that he got his surroundings, where the hell were they? He dragged himself out of the bed, strangely exhausted, before making his way over to Naegi, who was sleeping in the middle of the three.
"Naegi," Fujin said. His voice was hoarse, and his mouth felt dry. Naegi didn't even twitch. Fujin would have guessed that he had been awake for two days or something, because Naegi was usually a very light sleeper. He tried moving over to Saku, but the more he moved, the more his legs felt like jelly.
"I would go back to bed, Fujin," a voice hummed. Fujin whipped his head around, meeting Orochimaru's sinister gaze once again.
"Where are we?!" Fujin shouted with a glare. "I want to go home!" Orochimaru chuckled at that, the smile of a predator once again on his face.
"You are at my best facility, a true training ground for ninja hopefuls like yourself. As for going home... well, you can forget about that," Orochimaru said. "Naegi and Saku are sleeping because of a drug, they were very hysteric and difficult to deal with, and I didn't want to hurt them more than I had to. Luckily for you, you were knocked out quite a long time from my subordinates hit," Orochimaru said.
"Why are you doing this?" Fujin asked. Orochimaru chuckled again. It seemed like something he would do quite often.
"To make you into excellent ninja, of course," Orochimaru replied.
"You could have asked, I'm very sure that dad will be raging about this, we won't be here for long," Fujin said.
"I wonder about that..." Orochimaru hummed. "You'll do well to listen to me while you're here, or else there will the dire consequences. You and your friends will get to be the probably most successful subjects I have worked with. The procedure has gotten over a ninety percent success rate now," Orochimaru said. "I'll come get you all in two hours," he said and left.
Fujin ran up to the door, his legs shaking as he tried to open it. Locked. Of course. There was another door, on the side of the room. Fujin hurried over there. Opening it revealed a bathroom, a simple one with a shower and a bathtub, strangely enough. A toilet, sink, and three large lockers were on the side.
Fujin went back into the main room. There was no way out. He sat down on the bed, anger building up in him. He would not listen to Orochimaru. Nope.
-
Saku and Naegi woke up not long before the two hours were up. They were just as confused as he were himself, and as Fujin explaines his encounter with Orochimaru, they were even more confused, and scared.
"Our best option is to wait this out," Naegi whispered. Fujin and Saku stared at him incrediously.
"What?" Saku asked. Naegi looked at them carefully.
"Orochimaru is one of the strongest ninjas alive, and a very talented scientist according to the books in the library. He knocked us out easily, got into Konoha and managed to get the three of us out! If we disobey, as he said, things could go bad!" Naegi exclaimed.
"I won't listen to him! He's an asshole!" Fujin argued.
"A very strong asshole," Saku added. "It doesn't matter if we disobey or not... we just have to stick together guys," she said and grabbed their hands. Fujin pouted.
The door opened, and Orochimaru along with three henchmen who carried three gurneys,
"Now you three, be good and lay down on these," Orochimaru said. The three kids looked at each other hesitantly. "Now, please," Orochimaru said, his voice darker than before.
Naegi and Saku walked forward slowly, being lifted up into their respective gurneys by the henchmen. Fujin stood his ground, glaring at Orochimaru. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, before snapping his fingers. The final henchmen walked over to Fujin, and before Fujin could react, a fist had buried himself in his stomach, knocking the air out of him as he crumbled to the ground. The henchmen lifted him up and placed him in the final gurney.
Fujin tried his best to get a view on his surroundings, but everything just seemed like a long hallway. Suddenly, Saku and the henchmen pushing her gurney took a left. Fujin struggled against the restraints that had been put on him.
"No!" He shouted. He could hear Saku whimper quietly as she tried her best not to panic. Tears began rolling down her face. Fujin glared at Orochimaru's back, he was walking a little ahead of them, and Fujin was glad that he could watch him and curse him to the worst of the seven hells.
Fujin and Naegi were brought into what looked like a surgery room. The white walls were starting to freak Fujin out. He tried to get out of his restraints again, but to no avail. He got more pissed about his uselessness. He truly should have begun his training a long time ago, so this would never have happened. He just hoped that his father would notice that they were missing soon, he always knew what to do. At least Fujin hoped he did.
"Now, what we're going to do his that we're going to unlock some of your genes – activate them, if you will. After all, the Uzumakis carried strong bloodlines, and so do you, as descendants of the main family. First, we're going to have to make your body adaptable for it, and that's what this is for," Orochimaru lifted up a syringe with a blue liquid in it, pinching it gently.
"After that, we will unlock the genes with these," he lifted up a set of different syringes. Fujin shuddered. "And in the end, we will have to stabilize your body, and we have some more substances for that, if everything goes well, you'll be stronger than ever... if not... well, we'll see what happens," Orochimaru chuckled.
The henchmen along with them strapped Naegi and Fujin even more tightly to the gurneys, and Orochimaru walked over to Fujin with the first syringe.
"Now, since you so rudely disobeyed me earlier, why don't we start here?" Orochimaru said. He jabbed the syringe into Fujin's neck. A scream tore out of Fujin as the substance got inserted into his body. It felt like burning acid as it spread out through his body. It felt like every limb was being slowly ripped apart. He was seeing white as the searing pain continued to spread. Not long after, Naegi's screaming joined him, and Fujin tried his best not to cry, though he wasn't sucessful.
The pain remained for hours upon hours, and once it finally subsided, Orochimaru came back with the next set of syringes. Inserting them slowly, and painfully. The burning sensation continued. Fujin hadn't paid attention to the time, but he was certain that they had been in that room for over a day. He'd passed out a lot, losing consciousness because of the pain. He was sure Naegi didn't fare much better. After some time, Naegi had stopped screaming and writhing in pain next to him. He was fast asleep from exhaustion. Fujin cursed. The pain was still hot in his body.
Orochimaru came back in and rushed over to Naegi's side. Fujin couldn't hear what he was saying, but Naegi got hurried out from the room they were in. Fujin shuddered. He didn't want to think it. He didn't even want to entertain the thought. There was no way that would happen.
After what seemed like an eternity, the pain subsided. Fujin tried to get out of the restrains again. He looked at the restraints. It seemed like normal leather, and by the looks of it, very durable. The medical tools were too far away to have any use, not that he could get one of them since his entire body was strapped to the gurney.
Orochimaru came back into the room, eyeing Fujin carefully.
"How do you feel?" He asked Fujin. Fujin scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"As you would care," he said. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. He took a look at a computer which was stationed next to Fujin's bed. He quickly strapped some wires and drew some blood from Fujin with another syringe. Damn, he hated those things.
"It doesn't seem like the experiment had any effect on you," Orochimaru stated. Fujin glared at him.
"So, it was all for nothing then? Well, thanks for that, asshole!" Fujin shouted.
"Your cousin Naegi was much more successful, he is currently being fixed up and monitored. If you care about him, that is," Orochimaru said. "Saku's procedures are done as well, though she needs rest and time to heal, so you won't see her anytime soon. As the experiment didn't affect you, I'll start by putting you through some training instead, after all, you have great potential as a ninja considering your lineage," Orochimaru continued.
"Like hell I'll do anything you ask me!" Fujin shouted back at him. Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.
"Perhaps I'll have to break you in first, then," Orochimaru said. He went over to Fujin's bed, releasing the restraints as he grabbed Fujin's arm, dragging him out of the place. Fujin felt awfully weak, feeling himself tripping over himself as Orochimaru pulled him along.
It didn't take long before Orochimaru threw him into a room. It was darkly lit, but not enough so that one couldn't see. Fujin was dropped quite harshly in the middle of the room. He tried to stand up but found himself too weak to stand on his own.
"I'm not too fond of doing the dirty work, but I know someone who will be dying to meet you," Orochimaru said. He went out of the room, and Fujin could hear him step into somewhere else not far away. Not soon after, hurried steps came towards the room. The door slammed open, revealing a man who seemed to be in in late forties. He wore a dark red kimono like shirt, with black rims. He wore black pants and shinobi sandals. His grey hair was a contrast to his unnatural yellow eyes. Three, deep scars marred his face, it looked like he had fought a beast head on.
The man released something that sounded like a moan of pleasure. He hurried over to Fujin, looking over him hungrily.
"W-who are you?" Fujin asked. The man hummed.
"My name is not really important... but I'll let it slide this time... my name is Sonsho Shinryuaku, and you, my little friend," he leaned closer to Fujin, caressing his feed as he drunk in Fujin's terrified expression.
"You're going to pay for what your daddy did," he whispered in Fujin's ear.
--
They hadn't seen him for months, but by the amount of blood they had taken from Naegi was a good indicator that it wasn't pretty.
The tense silence whenever he and Saku were left alone in their room was excruciating. They spoke in hushed whispers whilst listening to screams of the tortured.
They had figured out that they weren't the first to be brought into this facility, and they most certainly would not be the last.
Naegi had known that opposing Orochimaru for so long wouldn't go well, but his cousin was not one to listen. Correction; his brother was a stubborn fool, who's view on what's right and what's wrong blinded him from the situation they were in.
Sauk had the same idea as himself; do what it takes to survive, all three. But know Fujin had been locked up who knows where and by each passing hour, each passing day, Naegi wondered if he would ever see him again, or if any of them would come out alive.
They had heard from Orochimaru that Fujin, who had continued to defy him, would spend his time being 'lectured'.
Naegi had woken up in a human test tube a few months ago. Orochimaru had brought him back to his room where Saku was brought in not long after. She had bandages in front of her eyes. After they both had calmed down, after crying and sobbing and just holding onto each other for their dear lives, Saku had explained that after the three had been separated, Saku had been brought into surgery for her eyes, it has supposedly mixed her sharingan along with a byakugan. Since her eyes needed to heal, she'd been kept in a dark room for at least three months. When Naegi was brought out of his own treatment, she was allowed to come here. Obviously, she still wasn't allowed to take of the bandages for another two months. Now, one month later after that again, Orochimaru had come to tell them that they would be working on their bloodline limits and training for the next six months.
Naegi had gone through some time ago, where they had figured out that he had not only been strengthen in body and soul, increasing his chakra capacity to that of a jonin, but he had an advanced healing bloodline that would perfectly heal any wound. It could occasionally leave a scar if the wound was too big, but not more.
In addition to that, the chakra weapon bloodline his mother had awakened had been passed to him. Every bloodline available to him had been activated to full strength. Not long after, they found out that if someone got Naegi's blood injected in them, it would heal their wounds. Orochimaru only used it for emergencies, but he told Naegi that Fujin would need his help for his treatment. Naegi had allowed it, although hesitantly. He still didn't know exactly what Orochimaru was doing to Fujin.
Training was harsh. They would wake up in the earliest hours in the morning, eat breakfast and get ready, before being sent for hours of physical workout. Following that they worked with intelligence related things, strategy, infiltration tactics, history, understanding of jutsu and how they worked and much more. After around three o'clock, they would work on various ninjutsu, chakra control exercises, genjutsu and anything in between. Orochimaru had developed a drug that allowed them to replenish their chakra a lot without any serious repercussions due to Naegi's healing ability. The exensive training led to Saku's chakra capacity increasing very quickly, and while Naegi's grew to, not on such a rapid pace.
After six months, both Saku and Naegi had chakra levels of elite jonin and every skill they'd work on had a high genin level to low chuunin level. It was this time that Orochimaru sent them into the pit.
The pit was a large arena in one of the lower levels, where every single soldier under Orochimaru fought to show their skill to Orochimaru and gain fame. In the pit, it was kill or be killed. Not that Naegi or Saku wanted to do anything. Naegi, who was able to produce blunt weapons, did his best only to knock out his opponents. Saku, who didn't enjoy it any more than Naegi, had found herself with a kunai buried in an opponent's chest once. Naegi did his best to help her get over it, but Saku had understood the meaning of kill or be killed. And sometimes, she found that it was the only solution.
Today, they were once again headed for the pit. Naegi didn't like it. He preferred the training they did the first half of the day. However, he could see the benefit of trying out his abilities in the pit. He knew better how to apply his skill in combat, and not just spars like he'd seen his siblings do.
The only thing that kept silence from surrounding them was the sound of footsteps they made as they approached a large double door. Naegi sent Saku an uncertain glance, which she met with an almost comforting grin. Despite the darkness of the entire situation, Saku had somewhat managed to remain the positive one. Always ready to crack a joke and try to lighten the mood. Yet, it was difficult. They still had no clue about Fujin, other than that he most likely wasn't dead.
The doors to the pit opened, and the chaos of battle sounded. There were always people in the pit, and the noise of it all was a big contrast to the usual silence that followed Naegi and Saku around. Other than the screaming of the tortured, obviously, but they weren't exactly close enough to be heard in Saku and Naegi's room unless they were really loud. It wasn't often.
It didn't take long before Saku and Naegi were in the midst of battle, fighting for their lives. Naegi summoned a chakra kunai, despite it being blunt. It was the best way to protect himself without needing to heal unnecessary wounds. A fire jutsu forced him to part from Saku's side. He fought three genin level opponents. He'd fought them before and knew that they would be back to attempt to extract revenge. He wanted to sigh, but knew that it would only aggravate his opponents more, and he didn't really want to see if Orochimaru had done any special augmentations to them.
A sudden blast of wind knocked him off his feet and he fell to the ground harshly. He lifted his kunai to block an incoming slash from one of the opponent's great sword. He closed his eyes out of instinct, readyign himself from the immense weight that was to hit him. The strike never came. A clash between metal was heard, and then the tearing of flesh. Naegi opened his eyes.
Dressed in the usual light blue garb that Orochimaru offered all his test subjects, though with several holes, stood his cousin. Blood had splattered on his face, a stark contrast to his pale skin. His golden hair was dirty with dry blood and his eyes stared back at Naegi with an unfamiliar blankness.
"Be careful," Fujin said. His eyes wandered over to Saku's location. He jumped into the fray without another word, cutting down his opponents with a stolen kunai like paper. Naegi jumped to his feet. He hurried over to Fujin's location.
"Hey! You can't just be gone for months and then not say anything! Where have you been!" Naegi asked. Fujin seemed to flinch slightly, his eyes shadowed for a moment before he shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not leaving you guys again," He said determinedly. Saku rushed over to them, crashing into Fujin as she hugged him. Déjà vu, Naegi chuckled.
After Saku had finished with her own questions, with Fujin avoiding them like he did with Naegi, the three seven-year olds fought together against their opponents. It wasn't much of a match when the three were together. They had some difficulty one coordinating properly, so they just stuck to taking on one opponent each and making sure no one behind any of the three.
After three hours in the pit, one of Orochimaru's henchmen came to pull them out. This was to send them straight into more training. Their new regimen was around learning all they could about logical things like strategy, history, chakra theory, workings of ninjutsu, leaders and countries, code language, speed of hand sign weaving and so on. In addition, they trained extensively in ninjutsu, taijutsu, various forms of weapon styles. Saku worked a lot with her bloodline limit, as in extending the amount of time she could hold it activated, the length she could see and so on. Naegi focused a lot on weapons, since he could create any at any time. Fujin had started studying Fuinjtusu to an insane degree, using shadow clone jutsu to absorb all the knowledge Orochimaru could offer him.
Six months later, Orochimaru brought them out on a boat.
Fujin, Saku and Naegi sat huddled together in the front of the boat. The cool night wind not being very favourable for them as they only wore thin cloaks over their battle armor. The battle armour wasn't much either. A black sweater and pants, with armour plating looking much like Konoha's chuunin and jonin vests. Despite the cold, Fujin loved the trip. The smell of the sea, the sound of waves, the open ocean – it reminded him of home. A pang in his heart startled him. He hadn't even had the time to miss home during his time here before. There had been... too much.
After Fujin had met Sonsho, a crazy man – a complete lunatic – Fujin had gone through torture in more ways than you could imagine. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, as Sonsho had specific orders not to fatally wound Fujin and try not to leave scars in any visible places. Fujin wasn't really sure why Orochimaru had been so adamant on that, but he'd rather not know. His torso however, was covered in scars from stabbing, deep gashes, whipping, burns and more. After Naegi's bloodline was activated and they could heal Fujin perfectly, the torture got even worse.
However, despite what Sonsho did, he could not break Fujin with normal torture. However, the thing that made Fujin break was forever stuck in the boy's mind. He had been prepared for the usual beat ups, but Sonsho just walked in with his wicked smile. The silver haired man made a single hand sign, and a long metal rod shot up from the ground, piercing Fujin straight through the chest. It didn't retract. Fujin could feel himself slowly wither out as blood poured from his wounds and he screamed from the pain, but Sonsho simply pushed some of Naegi's blood into him, replenshing the blood that Fujin lost. This went on for hours – maybe days.
Fujin unconsciously held his hand over where the rod had pierced him. Despite Naegi's perfect healing, the repetition of it had given Fujin a large scar on the centre of his chest.
"Where are we going, Orochimaru-sama?" Fujin asked. Orochimaru was sitting on the other side of them, watching them carefully.
"We are going to a paradise for rich people, an isolated island that you can't find on the map," Orochimaru replied.
"Saku and Naegi will stay with me as guards, while you will fight opponents in the coliseum. In the coliseum, the rules are simple. The victor moves upwards in a tournament, while the loser is removed. However, each shinobi is owned by some wealthy person, and the looser loses his shinobi to the winner. It is an easy way for me to get strong soldiers. I bring them back with me to the hideout, break them in, and expand Oto's military," Orochimaru continued. Fujin nodded simply.
"Is killing allowed?" Fujin asked.
"Usually, but you are not to kill them. I need them," Orochimaru said. Fujin nodded again. "You will also need to conceal your identity," Orochimaru ordered.
"Fuinjutsu henge then, should I prepare it for Saku and Naegi too?" Fujin asked. Orochimaru nodded. Fujin took out a brush and ink container from his pouch. He created a shadow clone that took the brush from him. Fujin removed his cloak and armor, along with his undershirt. The clone began writing a seal on his back.
"Any specific look you want me to take?" Fujin asked. Orochimaru shook his head. Fujin closed his eyes for a minute. The clone formed a couple of hand seals before activating the seal. Fujin's blond and spiky hair turned black, and his green eyes turned blue. His birth marks disappeared as well as his scars. He dispelled the clone, putting his clothing back on.
"Approved?" He asked. Orochimaru nodded in reply.
He then proceeded to do the same to Naegi and Saku. Naegi gave himself ginger messy hair with dark brown eyes, while Saku turned her hair blond and turned her eyes purple.
An hour or two later, they could see their destination.
The island was like a huge mountain in the middle of nowhere. Orochimaru led them through a secret cave entrance which led to a traditional japanese styled port. After walking through the port, they arrived at a large city, with colourful light everywhere, along with loud music and endless chatter from rich, well dressed people.
They followed the main street, which ended with a large dome shaped building. Fujin could hear the cheers of the spectators and the overly loud voice of the host before he even entered the building.
Inside, the noise was even louder. Fujin felt like he should cover his ears to spare himself from the noise, but he had to remain professional. Orochimaru kept his sinister smile on his face, looking at Fujin with the message; Do not embarrass me.
Fujin knew that he would be able to handle it regardless.
"And now, the first match of the night! With the ID-tag of Madame Hoshino, Kaiju!" The host exclaimed. A large, muscular man stepped onto the stage. Roars and cheers spread through the area, applauding the man.
"Analysis, Fujin," Orochimaru ordered.
"A regular, by the looks of it. Many fans, since some of them are already placing bets without seeing the second opponent. A ninja, not higher than C-rank. Looks like a rogue nin from Iwa. By the looks of his body, a primarily brute fighter. Fights by tolerating his opponent's punches and bringing them down with heavy blows. Probably lacks speed by looking how long it took him to get to the platform. Other than his high defence, it's easy to assume that his speed and stamina is low," Fujin assessed. Orochimaru hummed in agreement. "Though, that doesn't mean I should underestimate him," Fujin added quickly. Orochimaru waved him off.
"And now, his opponent! With the ID-tag of Lord Orochimaru – Raijin!" The host exclaimed. Fujin raised an eyebrow at Orochimaru, who smirked in reply.
With a seal-less body flicker, Fujin teleported to the stage. The crowd was silent for a moment, they stared at Fujin with wide eyes.
"This is just a kid!" Kaiju said. "I can't fight him, he'll be squished!" He continued. Fujin narrowed his eyes.
"Save your comments until the match is over," Fujin said darkly.
"L-Let the match begin!" The host exclaimed.
Fujin shot forward, lighting chakra surrounding his fist as he jabbed Kaiju's shoulders quickly. He used Kaiju as a step as he shot himself even more upwards, before running through several hand seals. First, he created a shadow clone beside him, and the clone went through a series of hand seals of his own.
"Water release: Great Gunshot!" The clone exclaimed. A large bullet of water shot towards Kaiju.
"Lightning Release: Thunderclap arrow!" Fujin exclaimed at the same time as his clone attacked. He moulded a large ball of lighting in his hand, before throwing it at record speed towards the water bullet, merging the two jutsu. The electrified bullet of water crashed into Kaiju, making the man scream out in pain. He fell to the ground, positively fried from the lightning – but alive.
"Kaiju's down! The winner is Raijin! Fitting name for someone who knows how to use two elements at such a young age! Now, who will defeat this rookie?" The host roared.
"The second match, Raijin with the ID-tag of Orochimaru, versus a young man, wearing the ID-tag of Lord Zabuza – the son of the Uzukage – Akahiko!" The crowd roared again. Fujin stiffened, he began to shake slightly as his eyes widened. Walking up the stage, long red hair tied in a ponytail, dark blue eyes staring at Fujin with hard eyes – Akahiko – Fujin's big brother.
Fujin wanted to call out to him, but he knew that Akahiko didn't recognise him because of his disguise, and if Fujin tried anything – Orochimaru could either attack Akahiko, or use Saku and Naegi to hold Fujin back. Despite his wished, Fujin knew... he couldn't make contact with Akahiko other than in battle.
The match started. Fujin speeding ahead and meeting Akahiko in close quarter combat. The two brother's exchanged blows at a quick pace.
"I thought you used lightning jutsu," Akahiko commented as they broke apart for a moment. Fujin bit his lip. "Quiet, are we?" Akahiko asked. Fujin closed his eyes for a moment, and that was all Akahiko needed to strike a punch at Fujin's jaw, sending the boy upwards. Fujin used his time in mid air to look at Orochimaru, who stared at him with narrowed eyes.
"I heard that one of the Uzukage's sons disappeared, why would his heir be here?" Fujin asked. Akahiko stared at him for a moment.
"It's true, my younger brother disappeared almost two years ago. Why I'm here, is none of your business," Akahiko said. Fujin landed on the ground softly, and the two shot towards each other.
"How do you know I'm the heir?" Akahiko hissed to Fujin quietly.
"You can't get free when you're stuck in a whirlpool," Fujin muttered quickly. Akahiko's eyes widened. "I can't lose," Fujin continued quickly. He channelled chakra to his hands as he punched Akahiko's guard with all his might, shooting the elder Uzumaki out of the ring. A cloud of dust surrounded the red-haired teen, and once the area cleared, he was gone.
-
Ryuusuke sat behind his desk, albeit the wrong way. He watched the village he governed from the top of the Uzukage tower. There was large windows on every wall, giving the room a nice orange hue as the sun set. It had been a peaceful day, though he was still worried. On Akahiko's insistence, he had let his son leave with Zabuza for a training exercise. He knew that he had a seal on Akahiko just in case, and that Zabuza would not let anything happen to the kid if he valued his life.
When Akahiko suddenly burst up the stairs that led into Ryuusuke's office, he wasn't sure what to think. The young Uzumaki, only fourteen years old, looked visibly shaken.
"Father, how many knows about the fact that I will become the Uzukage after you?" Akahiko asked quickly. Ryuusuke raised an eyebrow.
"Our family, along with Itachi and some of my closest friends, why?" He asked.
"I was at the coliseum and -"
"You were at the coliseum?! What was Zabuza thinking? I gave you the okay for a training exercise! Not gambling!" Ryuusuke scolded.
"Father that's not the point! There was this kid, he couldn't have been older than eight! He knew about the fact that I was your heir, in addition, he knew the Uzu code for 'we're being watched'!" Akahiko exclaimed.
"That is troubling, what's your theory?" Ryuusuke asked.
"I believe that since he's just a kid, that he's actually a spy who was arrogant, boasting about the fact that he knows something your usual person doesn’t. He proved to be quite capable in fighting and could easily pass as one of the pre-academy students," Akahiko said. Ryuusuke nodded.
"Sounds reasonable, very well. I'll ask the teachers to scan for him, what did he look like?" Ryuusuke asked.
"Black messy hair, blue eyes, thin, but had defined muscles," Akahiko stated. "He wore grey plated armor over a black turtleneck and black pants," Akahiko continued.
"Very well, now you'll get off easy from me, but you have to tell your mother exactly where you've been," Ryuusuke said.
"Father, that means you're not letting me off easily at all," Akahiko deadpanned. Ryuusuke grinned at him.
--
Fujin grunted in pain as a third swordslash connected with his back.
"Don't ever, speak to someone from your past," Orochimaru said form the side lines. Fujin nodded. He glanced behind him, seeing Sonsho's satisfied smile.
"Good. Now, return to your room. Wel return to the coliseum again in two weeks, and we will continue to do so for as long as I see fit. Rest up well, you'll spend the entire day tomorrow in the pit," Orochimaru said and left. Fujin climbed to his feet, his back stinging as he felt blood pour from the wound. He walked out from the room he was in, trailing down the hall before entering his room. Saku and Naegi stared at him with concerned eyes. Naegi hurried over to him.
"I'll heal you, please sit down," Naegi said. Fujin complied easily, sinking back to the ground with a whimper. Naegi had recently learned proper medical jutsu, and though it wasn't as efficient as his bloodline, it was more comfortable for him and for the people needing healing, as they wouldn't have to drink Naegi's blood – which was somewhat creepy and nauseating.
"Did you tell him anything?" Saku asked. Fujin looked up at her.
"Who?"
"Akahiko,"
"No, or I tried. I used a code we learned from dad when we were younger, it's to say that we're being watched. I hope he understood that I was from Uzu, and would connect the fact that I'm young and literally didn't look any different other than a change in eye and hair colour and lack of birth marks than I usually do that the possibility of me being me was there. Since no one except our family and dad's closest comrades knows that Akahiko is the next Uzukage, I hope he'll understand that it was me under disguise, being watched, especially since I asked about myself," Fujin said.
"Well, if he understood it he'll know that you were under Orochimaru, right?" Saku asked.
"It would take an idiot not to notice that,"
--
Fujin opened his eyes. He knew that he would have to get up soon, or else he would hear it from one of Orochimaru's henchmen who always got angry when they overslept. It had been around two years since Fujin, Saku and Naegi had forcefully been removed from Konoha.
Naegi and Saku was already up, Saku sitting on her bed with a thoughtful expression – which was rare – and Naegi was in the bathroom.
The door opened, revealing Orochimaru.
"Lord Orochimaru, what are you doing here?" Fujin asked politely.
"It seems I finally found some more use for you, Fujin, please follow me," Orochimaru said. Fujin hopped out of bed, grabbing his shirt on the way and pulled it over his scarred body.
He trailed behind Orochimaru in silence, trying to figure out exactly what it was Orochimaru had planned. After a while, Orochimaru entered a large room. There were two surgery tables in the room, one of them occupied. Fujin stared at the body lying there.
Spikey, golden hair. A white coat rimmed with red flames, a Konoha forehead protector and jonin vest. Fujin recognised that man. He'd seen pictures of him in his home. That was his grandfather, Minato Namikaze.
"What is this?" Fujin asked.
"Lay down on the table please," Orochimaru ordered. Fujin walked slowly over to the table, hoisting himself up. Orochimaru went over to Minato, placing a finger on the blonde's chest. Blue eyes sprang open, a bewildered look spreading across Minato's face.
"Orochimaru!" Minato growled.
"Hello, Minato," Orochimaru greeted with a drawl. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take the kyuubi now," Orochimaru said. Fujin's eyes widened.
"Lord Orochimaru, the chances of me surviving a sealing of a bijuu is extremely low since I've already developed my chakra reserves – please reconsider!" Fujin exclaimed.
"Fujin, your lineage makes you the perfect candidate for hosting a bijuu, besides, if things go wrong we can heal you nonetheless," Orochimaru said. Fujin met Minato's gaze. Blue, steeled eyes met terrified green.
"And isn't this a fitting meeting? Grandfather finally meets grandson," Orochimaru said. Minato's eyes widened.
"You're Ryuusuke's son?" He asked Fujin. Fujin nodded quickly. "Why are you here?" Minato asked.
"I think that's enough questions," Orochimaru said. He weaved through a long sequence of hand seals, before he placed his palm over Minato's stomach. Bubbling red chakra flowed up from Minato, and Orochimaru quickly placed his other hand over Fujin.
"Fuinjutsu: Demon Dragon Seal," Orochimaru stated. The red chakra shot towards Fujin, slamming into the boy's stomach. Fujin screamed in pain as the burning chakra crashed into him. It felt like his entire body was on fire – much like the time when Orochimaru tried the genetic acceleration on him. Fujin's throat burned as Fujin continued to scream. The pain was almost unbearable.
After a while, the final drops of chakra had entered Fujin's body. His shirt was torn right over where a fresh seal now was visible on his stomach, irritated red skin around it. Fujin stopped screaming, instead panting heavily as he tried to get used to his vastly expanded chakra coils. Fujin scanned the room, finding a couple of syringes with a red liquid in them. As Fujin looked closer, he saw that they were labelled as 'healing'. Fujin stared at them for a while, before his gaze wandered to Minato, who was watching Orochimaru, who was staring at a screen in the corner of the room.
Fujin wasn't wearing restraints at the moment. Orochimaru believed him to still be a loyal pet. The kyuubi chakra flooded his system, and Fujin shot across the room, grabbing four of syringes before body flickering to Minato's side. He jabbed the four needles into Minato, injecting Naegi's blood. Fujin's now red eyes, glared at Orochimaru, who was staring back at Fujin with hard eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" Orochimaru asked. Fujin growled. Red chakra began to seep out from him, before some of it darkened remarkably. Black markings appeared on Fujin's arms as his skin darkened in colour, turning black with a reddish glow. He quickly cut Minato's restraints with his nails turned claws, letting the adult Namikaze jump to his legs.
"Something I should have done a long time ago," Fujin said darkly. He grabbed Minato's arm and sped out of the room. The kyuubi chakra left him, but his strength remained. He slammed the door to his room open, Saku and Naegi sitting there with now wide eyes.
"We have to move, now!" Fujin screamed. Minato looked around them with narrowed eyes before he grabbed Fujin's arm harder and hurried over to Saku and Naegi. He grabbed Naegi's shoulder and looked at Saku.
"Hold onto me tightly!" He said to her quickly. Saku did as told, hugging Minato around the waist as she closed her eyes. As Orochimaru entered the room, a furious expression on his face, he didn't even have time to blink before his priced subjects disappeared in a yellow flash.
-
Fujin crashed into the ground as he reappeared somewhere. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on a wooden floor.
"What the hell?" A voice shouted. Suddenly, Fujin felt a blade pressed to his neck.
"Move, and you're dead," a voice muttered. Fujin looked around him, or at least the best he could from his position on the floor. From the looks of it, he was in an office.
"Obito?" Minato asked.
"Minato-sensei?" The voice from earlier asked – Obito – Fujin guessed. "Release them," Obito ordered. The blade on Fujin's neck was removed, and the blond sat up.
"You three... oh my god," Obito said with wide eyes. Fujin blinked, before his brain connected the dots.
"Uncle!" Fujin exclaimed. Saku and Naegi was just has happy as Fujin was.
"Wait – if Uncle Obito is here – where are we?" Naegi asked.
"You're in Konoha, in my office – to be exact," Obito replied, still slightly taken aback.
"We're in Konoha?" Fujin asked. He looked at Minato who smiled at him in reply.
Fujin was about to ask another question when a powerful presence suddenly appeared in the room. Fujin jumped to his feet, spinning around as he looked at the newcomer – newcomers, actually.
There, right in front of the door leading out of the office, stood three people Fujin recognised immediately. Aunt Eon, with her short black hair and dark eyes, with the long leather jacket and grey themed jonin outfit. Aunt Yuki, with her mid length battle kimono, soft pink hair and gentle blue eyes. His father, with the white cloak framed with red flames, much like Fujin's grandfather, the blue eyes that usually were twinkling with mirth, which were now wide in shock – the same blond hair as Fujin himself. Fujin began to shake as he tried to find something to say.
Suddenly, the three adults were gone, and Fujin found himself trapped in a strong embrace. Tears spilled from Fujin's eyes as he recognised the feeling.
"Dad!" Fujin sobbed. Ryuusuke held him even closer.
"Fujin! My boy, my little boy!" He cried. He broke apart the embrace, checking over Fujin's body quickly, he noticed the seal on Fujin's stomach. "What happened?" He asked quickly. Minato intercepted before Fujin could answer.
"I'll explain later, first, we should get the kids checked at the hospital," Minato said. Eon and Yuki also broke apart the hugging of their children.
"You're right," Ryuusuke said. He looked at Fujin reluctantly. "I have to get Sakura," he looked at Minato. "Watch him carefully, I-"
"I understand," Minato said gently. Ryuusuke disappeared in a flash and reappeared only a few seconds later. Yet, within that little time span, Fujin felt his heart hammer in his chest, the fear of not seeing his father again hitting him hard. Then, when his father returned, his mother was next to him.
Sakura, as soon as she saw Fujin, caught the boy in yet another embrace. She cried tears of happiness as she got to hold her boy once more. Ryuusuke created two shadow clones.
"I'll get Kousuke and Yachi to meet us at the hospital, we should go there now," Ryuusuke said. The others nodded. Sakura lifted Fujin up with ease, carrying the sobbing boy as Ryuusuke walked as close as he could, his eyes not leaving Fujin for a second. Eon and Yuki carried Saku and Naegi respectively, as they too were very shaken about the entire situation.
They arrived at the hospital not soon after, having been in quite the hurry. They easily got the kids sorted into one common room, where Tsunade and some nurses checked over the kids. The parents were left in the waiting area on Tsunade's strict recommendation.
After the check-ups were done, the kids had passed out from exhaustion, sleeping softly in their beds. Ryuusuke turned to look at Minato.
"Dad, what is going on?" Ryuusuke asked. "Not just the kids, but you are..."
"Alive?" Minato asked. Ryuusuke nodded.
"I woke up not long ago, probably an hour? Things happened very fast. I was strapped to a table with Orochimaru looming over me. Fujin was lying on a table nearby. Orochimaru extracted half of the kyuubi chakra that I had sealed within myself the day of your birth and sealed it within Fujin. Once Fujin got his bearings, he used the kyuubi chakra to free me and lead me to a bedroom where Saku and Naegi was, I teleported them to Konoha soon after," Minato explained.
"They were at Orochimaru's?! That bastard snake – he's going to die for this!" Ryuusuke growled.
"I agree," Tsunade said. Ryuusuke turned to her with a raised eyebrow. Tsunade sighed.
"Let's speak in private, all of you," She said and lead the parents, Minato and Obito into the kids' room. Tsunade held a clipboard in her hand tightly.
"We worked as fast as we could with the test results," she started. "I'll go through what we found in order, so we'll start with Saku," Tsunade said.
"Saku is in perfect health, though we can clearly see the results of extreme training. She has some light scarring here and there, but nothing that would cause alarm. Most likely, she has seen some battles already. Her chakra coils are very developed, alike to something you would see in a high levelled chuunin. There has been surgery performed on her vision centre in the brain, she shows signs of awakening a visual bloodline limit. That's the physical, though I strongly wish to check her mental later, if they were with Orochimaru," Tsunade said. She sighed.
"Naegi is in the best shape of the three, he has no visual scars at all. His body stronger than any other. When we drew blood from him, the wound closed up immediately. A sign of the healing bloodline limit, just much stronger. He has the chakra capacity of a high levelled jonin. The full extent of his capabilities remains unknown, as we can only see so much from the tests we took now," Tsunade assessed. She sent Ryuusuke and Sakura a worried glance.
"Fujin... is by far the worst off in terms of physical health," Tsunade started. "His chakra coils have been very strained, but that is most likely because of the recent sealing. They are quickly mending as a result of the healing kyuubi chakra. Because of the new expansion, his chakra pool is that of a high levelled jonin, perhaps more. It will most likely continue to grow because of the kyuubi," Tsunade said.
"The troubling thing about Fujin, is the amount of scarring he has," Tsunade started. She stared at Ryuusuke, who paled drastically. "He has scars from one form of wounds to another, everywhere on his torso. There are few places where there isn't any scarring at all, but some of them aren't extremely visible. Others however, are that of someone who has survived a mortal blow, yet somehow survived. He has a scar in the centre of his chest that suggests that he has been impaled. How he survived it all, is a mystery. But this is certainly a case of extreme torture, and if they were with Orochimaru, I'm not really surprised," Tsunade said. Ryuusuke, who had been very upset form the beginning, was shaking with anger.
"I will tear him into pieces!" He growled. Sakura grabbed his hand.
"Dear, I agree with you that he has to pay – but we need to focus on Fujin," she said softly. The two looked at each other for a moment, before Ryuusuke took a deep breath, calming down somewhat.
"For now, my recommendation is to keep them under supervision in the hospital for another day at least and bringing in an unbiased Yamanaka to check on their mental space. Though I will warn all of you, these kids have been through a lot. They have been without all of you for two years, surviving in what I can assume would be like pure hell. They might not be the same kid that you knew, and they might not be as easy to handle," Tsunade said. The parents nodded in understanding.
"After we've cleared them from the hospital, we'll make sure that they are properly checked on mentally for at least the first month. After that, you can eventually discuss enrolment to the academy. It could be good for them to have a contact with people their age and a sense of peace," Tsunade said. "I also want them to come back at the end of each month for the next six months to make sure that there aren't anything that we missed," Tsunade finished.
"Now, we should let them rest. I'll get some more chairs so you all have somewhere to sit, Obito, Minato, if you could help," Tsunade said.
Ryuusuke, Eon and Yuki exchanged worried glances. Ryuusuke walked over to Fujin, brushing a strand of hair away from his face.
"It's going to be fine now, you're home," he whispered.