Time for a change ...

weeeeee i am back with another chapter =>
sorry it took so long, i do try to keep the updates within a week or so but never seem to be able to.
oh and i am now back at uni, although i thought i'd have more time to write it have proven to be the exact opposite.
My time schedule is fully booked with classes and meeting, i guess me thinking less work in 4th year compared to other unies was a bit off.

but fear not, i shall still continue to write, i shall be a good girl and manage my time better hehe, well one can hope. if i decide to skip a wee bit of homework i dont think it will kill me.

and before i forget, thanks again to my beta, she is the best and i really feel for her for what she has to put up with in Korea.

oh and i would also like to thank

hisoka kurosaki; hehe that question will come up in a later chapter, maybe in a chapter or two. i thought it would be fun leaving things to the reader to imagine what it would be.

Kirai; thank you, yeah i know it was a bit mean but i couldnt help it hehe. yeah i thought i had OC Sasuke enough so at least some pride had to be left.

Sneakyfox; thank you so much, i am glad you like it. hehe yeah i tend to wander off quit a bit, but wont be doing anymore travelling until jan, and even then i only bee gone for 3 weeks. i shall try my best and keep the updates for every week, if uni allows me => and yeah i know it was a bit cruel to leave it off there but it just sort of happened, these cliffies can just sneak up on you.

thank you for ur comment, made me really happy. and of course thanks to all my readers, i am soon hitting 3000. never thought that many would pop in to read it.

okey i have babbled on for to long, i shall leave you wit a bag of cookies and enjoy chapter 13.

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“What the fuck do you want Kabuto?” Gaara said releasing his hand from the brunette. As Sasuke looked around, he found one guy on either side of them and one behind them, as well as one in front of them along with Kabuto. He quickly calculated any options of escape but very few of his options were without injury. Much like Sasuke, the 3 boys had already assessed the situation, but unlike him they sensed the presence of people hiding in the darkness. Shikamaru knew that they were there for a reason, the 3 of them were individually strong, deadly if the situation called for it. But the 3 of them together were probably beyond lethal.

“And here I thought you where a genius Nara,” Kabuto smirked. He could sense the wariness in the brunette’s voice and the signs from the stance they were holding. He knew the 3 had found the ‘missing’ group of men he had brought with him.

“We’re not going back…” Shikamaru answered clutching his fists even harder.

“Oh I think you will.”

“The fuck they will!” The raven decided to voice his opinion to the man.

“Sasuke …” Naruto hissed, the blond grabbed his arm and pulled a little. He knew Sasuke could probably hold his own but fighting Orochimaru’s well trained soldiers was slightly out of the raven’s league.

“Ah Uchiha-san, I was wondering when you would speak up. Possessive as ever I see. However, I do believe I have the upper hand in this game,” Kabuto took a hand out of his pocket and snapped his fingers together. One of the hidden soldiers came out from the shadows holding some photos. “You see …” The grey haired man looked through the photos. “I have leverage … 2 to be exact. One very annoying silver haired man and his very charming lover, who happens to cook an excellent meal. I was so lucky to get a small taste a couple of days ago, unfortunately none of you were there.”

“You fucking bastard …” Naruto launched himself towards Kabuto, who only smirked at the blond’s reaction. It was rather amusing to see how the 3 seemed to have develop human emotions, he was pleased how well they had adapted to different environments so quickly. It would be an excellent skill for infiltration missions.

“Naruto! Stop!” Shikamaru yelled, he could see the change in Naruto’s form, the aura changed and he knew the fox was about to surface. The blond turned to look at the brunette, his eyes were glowing a red colour and the whisker-like scars on his face were more visible. Sasuke blinked before blinking again. He was not sure what he was seeing, the beautiful blue eyes the blond had had changed colour to a demonic red, memories of the dojo a couple of weeks ago came back.

After a couple of minutes the blond’s the red eyes disappeared exposing Naruto’s deep blue. Suddenly, the blond’s gaze shifted to the raven who was staring at him in shock. Immediately, Naruto felt something in his chest he had never felt before, a sharp pain making it a little hard to breath, the onyx eyes that always looked at him with gentleness were now looking at him in disgust. The truth behind the institution had been revealed.

“Well then, shall we?” Kabuto stepped to the side and let his left arm slowly guide the trio and the Uchiha to the car. Shikamaru grabbed Gaara’s hand and slowly began walking in the direction of the awaiting car. He gently patted Naruto on the back who glanced briefly at Sasuke, and much to the raven’s surprise he found the blond’s eyes to be filled with sadness. It surprised Kabuto to see how the Naruto’s emotions were so easy to read, a flaw that needed to be corrected. The grey haired man added a mental note in the back of his mind before following the group to the car.

The car pulled up in front of the main entrance of the institution, all 4 boys leaned out the window and watched with big eyes how the large building, shaped like half a hour glass lying on its side, came closer and closer. Sasuke vaguely remembered the building, it had been nicer but then again it had been 10 or so years since he had last been there. The trees and the bushes had grown, some reaching above the glass roof giving the room underneath shadow. Unlike Sasuke, who only had vague and insignificant memories of the place, the 3 boys remembered a prison, a place where the sun would never shine and where the ‘gods’ which everyone seemed to believe in never existed.

To the naked eye the building was just like any other building, a place containing four walls, a roof, and a floor. No one ever knew there was a vast city of soldiers and doctors existing underneath the facade.

They stepped out of the car and followed Kabuto as he entered the building. On the inside stood a familiar man to greet them.

“Welcome home boys,” the man said with an evil grin plastered on his face. He stood 180 cm tall and had long black hair hanging loosely down his back, a few short strains hanging in front of his face. His eyes were narrow and owned the colour of a deep yellow.

Sasuke knew who the man standing in front of him was, he had know as soon as he had seen Kabuto.

“And welcome to you, Uchiha Sasuke. Although I’m rather surprised, your father said I was to expect your presence on Tuesday next week. But I have a feeling this visit will make up for the one on Tuesday.” Orochimaru snickered.

“What do you want Orochimaru?!” Sasuke demanded stepping in front of the others. Despite being curious as to what actually went on inside this building, in the past and now, he would not allow the snake-like man to take what was ‘his’.

“What you think Uchiha?” Gaara said, annoyed. He was seriously having doubts whether or not the raven was as smart as he thought himself to be. Sasuke turned his head and glared at the red head.

“Shut up, I knew that. But there is more to it. There has to be.” Sasuke turned back to face Orochimaru and Kabuto who had moved to stand next to the older man. “You have been hiding for 6 years, yet you have been able to walk around fairly freely. Orochimaru is not just any business man, he owns the research development centre of the military. He has influence all the way to the core of this country. If he wanted you found, he would have found you. Question is why now, why wait 6 years?”

Orochimaru smirked, even the younger Uchiha had a keen sense. Shikamaru looked at Gaara then at Naruto. Suddenly he realised that even thought they were on the run, they had always been within reach. Which in effect proved all his theories and plans had failed, they had never been safe.

“You are right. But I will admit that finding the 3 of you would have been harder had it not been for Sasuke here.” The snake man said enjoying how the pale face of Uchiha Sasuke went paler, almost resembling the colour of a corpse. It was his favourite colour.

The words Tsunade had spoken suddenly came slapping him across the face.

“You … you’ve been tailing my family!” Sasuke sneered. His inner voice was having a fit, he couldn’t believe he had been stupid enough not to see the signs. Then the guilt came flooding in, the feeling mixed in with the normal anger that usually habitude inside the Uchiha made a strange cocktail, namely because the guilt made his chest hurt like hell.

“No. Not you family. You … By request of you father.” Orochimaru said.

“My fath … er?” Now Sasuke was confused. The 3 boys looked at each other, they too were slightly confused but more curious as to why.

“Perhaps we should move this into the office Orochimaru-sama,” Kabuto suggested.

“Excellent idea Kabuto,” the snake man said and started walking towards the set of stairs leading up to the only room on the second floor.

Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru and Gaara entered the office after Orochimaru, closely followed by Kabuto. They all found a seat and sat down, waiting for the snake like man to explain. Sasuke, who had taken a seat next to the blond, glanced over at him, but Naruto refused to look at him. He gently took the blond’s hand and squeezed, hoping that the contact would help.

“Naruto …” the raven whispered. “I’m sorry.” The blond finally decided to look at the raven next to him. The onyx eyes where filled with guilt and concern, but it didn’t matter how much the raven decided to show his emotion to the blond. Naruto had never experienced these emotions, he had yet to learn what they were. Although he did recognise the last one, much due to Iruka being a mother hen, he was still unsure what to make of it.

“It’s okay.” The blond whispered back,“as long as you don’t hate me.”

“Hate you … dobe why would I hate you?” Sasuke responded squeezing the hand a little harder.

“Because I changed.” Naruto said, referring to the red eyes he had displayed earlier. Sasuke was not quite sure what the blond was referring to but he didn’t care, he could never hate the blond and just as he was about to utter some corny line about how he could never hate him, Orochimaru decided to speak.

“Well then boys, your old rooms have been cleaned and are ready for you to use.”

“We’re not staying.” Naruto said in a low voice.

“Beg your pardon,” Orochimaru said.

“He said they’re not staying” Sasuke said in an angry but cold voice.

“Oh really? What makes you think that?” Kabuto spoke this time.

“I have a question?” Shikamaru finally spoke after a short period of silence, breaking the whole ‘they’re staying’ ‘no they’re not’ argument Kabuto and Sasuke seem to be having. Everyone turned to look at Shikamaru, who was now holding on to Gaara’s hand, he had seen how Sasuke had sought out the body contact and he assumed that was the what couples do.

“Very well Shikamaru,” Orochimaru answered.

“Why did you wait until now?” The brunette asked.

“War..” Orochimaru answered. ‘War’ Sasuke thought, he had not heard anything about a war been mentioned on the different news channels.

“What do you mean by war? This is the highest time of the peace created 50 years ago, the celebration of the treaty was celebrated a couple of months ago.” The raven answered.

Years ago Konoha had been at war with Mist Country, along with several other allys and enemies. Like any war, it had been a bad one, lasting almost 10 years. But in the end, common ground was established and each country went back to their respective territories. It was under the making of the treaty that any form of human enhancement had been forbidden due to the experiments carried out on the war prisoners from all sides.

“Like that treaty would ever be honored.” Orochimaru hissed. “Only a year after the treaty was signed Mist Country had already established an army of enhanced soldiers,” the last two words made the pieces fall into place. The document at his father’s, the deals and connections with Orochimaru. Naruto, Shikamaru and Gaara’s past, it all fit. The experiments performed on them were to create better soldiers.

“It is exactly what you think Uchiha.” The snake man said, he knew Sasuke would have managed to put the pieces together by now. But he was slightly disappointed Shikamaru had not yet. “This is a human enhancement clinic solely to help the military create better soldiers to fight wars.” Orochimaru stood up and nodded to Kabuto to set up the projector. “Here we train the soldiers to endure the harshest conditions known to man, anything they can’t handle by physically, we fix with drugs, compliments of your father.” Orochimaru smirked, “then there is the odd operations here and there.”

“You are sick!” Sasuke stood up, the images on the screen of different soldiers in different stages and conditions. The thought that Shikamaru, Gaara and not least Naruto, his Naruto, had gone through was almost too much.

“No Sasuke, reality.” Orochimaru spat, “ever since dawn of time, humans have always strived to be the best, to create the ultimate weapon. It doesn’t matter if you think its sick, this is reality and right now the newest challenge of being able to win the next war all come down to who manages to create …”

“The perfect soldier.” Shikamaru had finally emerged from his daze and joined the conversation.

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there u have it, hope you enjoyed it. and dont forget to comment =.>