章 19: Chapter 19: Chains

A/N: Trigger warning: torture. Read at your own risk.

-Yahizui-

The humid room was no longer cold, and the shackles on her wrists no longer bothered her. Neither did the sweat that had been gathering on her forehead, plastering red bangs to her skin like trails of blood. Yahizui paid no attention to any of that. Her eyes were glued to the man before her, watching his every move like a frightened little bird staring into the eyes of a cobra. He moved slowly as if he had no other care in the world. After what felt like an eternity, Orochimaru closed the scroll before him and swiveled on his chair to face her.

"I'm sure you wonder why you are here." His tone, his eyes, the way the corners of his mouth curved upwards like he knew a terrible secret, it all made her push back into the hard wall behind her, praying to find someplace to hide.

"You see, Yahizui-chan," continued Orochimaru. "You are something extraordinary. I'm sure you've realized that you never really get sick and that whenever you're injured, you heal faster than most." He stood, moving toward her with languorous steps, smirking at her futile attempts to sink into the wall behind her. "Have you ever wondered why?"

Yahizui shook her head, the motion jerky from her shaking, not trusting her mouth to form any words.

Something in her expression made him sneer, his mouth twisting like he'd smelled something particularly foul. "You're really just a simpleton. I, on the other hand, appreciate rare bloodlines when I see them."

The sound of her frantic heartbeat almost drowned out his voice. What was he talking about? She had no bloodline; she was nobody coming from a civilian village.

"The Uzumaki genes are wasted on the likes of you."

Uzumaki? Her eyes widened as all previous attempts to back against the wall were forgotten. She could see him smirk now, satisfied that his words brought her such shock.

"I see you've heard of them. Maybe you're not so simple after all, Yahizui-chan."

Orochimaru turned back to the table and grabbed a scalpel. Yahizui's heartbeat reached new heights, her lungs straining to take a breath, as she gasped.

Orochimaru moved toward her with calculated moves, looking pleased. As he crouched down at her level, Yahizui tried once more to move backward, desperately yanking at the chains that kept her there. He smirked at her futile attempts, grabbing her red obi and slashing right through it. The cold air of the dungeon hit her sweaty skin as her kimono blouse parted down the center of her chest.

Time stopped, her breath freezing in her chest as a new sort of fear overtook her. No, not like this.

Yahizui found the strength to fight back.

Suddenly, pure, bone-chilling desperation raced through her, prompting her body to react. Even as she screamed, the sound tearing from her throat, she lashed out at the man before her, arching her back, her legs kicking out to keep him away from her unprotected body. She ignored the burning pain in her shoulders as she tried to find better leverage with her feet.

In her frenzy and blurred vision, Yahizui no longer saw the man before her and had no time to react when his hand slammed down on her left leg.

An audible crack resonated throughout the room, quieting her frantic screams. The pain did not register at first. She was much too scared, the adrenaline thrumming through her veins keeping it at bay. All Yahizui could see was the fury in those yellow eyes and the unnatural position of her leg.

Then the pain hit her like a sledgehammer, causing a different type of scream to leave her throat.

"Shut up."

His hand whipped out and covered her mouth, gripping half her face and cutting off any oxygen she might have taken in. He pressed hard, his fingers bruising as they dug into her cheeks, making Yahizui's eyes further widen as she tried to yank her head away.

There was no escape; she couldn't run, couldn't move, couldn't breathe!

"You will keep your mouth shut, or I will sew it shut."

The lack of oxygen was making her head swim and her vision fade. Maybe if he kept his hand there… maybe she will run out of air and die… then she wouldn't have to be alive for whatever he planned to do with her body. Just as everything before her eyes darkened, Orochimaru removed his hand and precious air filled Yahizui's lungs once more. She felt weak, tears leaking from the corner of her eyes as the pain from her leg throbbed through her whole body.

Through her blurred version, she could see him bring the scalpel to his palm, slicing it open; crimson blood immediately leaked from the wound. Then, with precise movements, he dipped a finger into the blood pooling in his hand and began writing symbols across her abdomen. Stunned, Yahizui said nothing, merely trembling at the pain in her leg. She couldn't see what he was writing, but the pleased expression on his face bore no good news. Writings in blood could only be seals, yet what sort of seal was it? And what made him think that she was part of the Uzumaki clan?

"After the fall of the Uzumaki, there were plenty of members scattered all around the world. All red-haired, unaware of the world outside their little island and ripe for the picking. But you see Yahizui-chan, what others didn't know was that not every Uzumaki was a useful one." He smeared another line of blood, trailing his finger over her chest and up her collarbone. "There are some that are more valuable than others, and I know how to find their real worth." After a few more strokes Orochimaru seemed to finish his seal. He pulled back, admiring his handiwork. "Now, let's see your worth."

He placed his hand in the middle of the seal and pushed his chakra through it. The symbols pulsed once, twice, then started moving, crawling over her skin like bands of flame. Yahizui's eyes widened as she saw his hand slowly sinking inside her body, the seal glowing around it. Ice froze her insides, and then the fire spread through her entire body, scorching her like acid. Pain, fresh and agonizing burst from the center of the seal, blackening her vision and ripping an earth-shattering scream from her throat. It was like every needle in the world was inside her body and pressing to get out from inside her, through her skin, through her mouth, her eyes, her chest. It was like someone was carving her heart out from the inside, found it unsatisfying, and then looked for more. And in a moment of painful lucidity, she realized that someone was indeed scratching through the inside of her chest, Orochimaru's immaterial hand looking to pull her soul out.

Why was he doing this?

Why was he hurting her so?

What would make him stop?

Orochimaru's face twisted up in glee as he plunged his arm deeper inside her chest.

Yahizui could not take it anymore. She felt her mind fray until nothing but pain remained. She would do anything to end it, give anything!

Her eyes were thrown back, her mouth opening in a silent scream, and just when her mind was about to crack, something unraveled inside of her and the pain came to a sudden stop.

"Wonderful!"

There was a buzz in her ears. Her shoulders hurt, and her throat felt broken. Yahizui blearily opened her eyes, meeting the excited look of Orochimaru with her anguished one.

Unable to hold her head up, Yahizui let it fall forward, chin touching her chest in exhaustion. She wanted to close her eyes and disappear, but the sight before her sent a ripple of shock through her. Her eyes widened, and the world became silent. There was no chuckle from Orochimaru, no heartbeat to drown all noise, nothing. All she saw was a thick, spiked, golden-glowing chain emerging from her middle. It looked ethereal, like an intruder in her body, and yet she knew that this was what he pulled out of her.

This is what he was looking for.

"You…" Orochimaru said, pulling Yahizui out of her trance as long fingers cradled her head, forcing her to meet his eyes. "You were really worth the trouble."

There was a grin on his face that would have normally frightened her, his unnaturally long tongue slipping out to lick his white lips as if he could barely restrain himself.

"I think I might even grab a taste…just to be sure."

I…I don't care.

Exhaustion washed through her, leaving her with nothing. Yahizui's head sunk back down to her chest, unwilling and uncaring with whatever else he had planned for her.

I don't care anymore.

Maybe he would be merciful and kill her.

She didn't flinch when he grabbed her arm, yanking the chain, and her shoulder, didn't squirm as his warm breath moved over her sensitive skin. As his unnaturally sharp teeth pierced her flesh, nothing but a gasp escaped Yahizui, an instinctive reaction at feeling her chakra leaving her body.

About everything else… she didn't care.

-Itachi-

The team dropped down into what looked like nothing more than a peaceful clearing. Alert, Itachi kept his gaze on his surroundings even as Kakashi crouched down to listen to his summoned dog.

"They were here for a while, fighting." Kakashi pointed to the west among the thick trees. "That way."

Without a moment to lose, they set out, their forms flickering through the thick foliage. When the trees thinned, they jumped to the ground, and when the forest gave away completely, they ran over the clay-like earth, not even a footstep left in their wake.

Pakkun, Kakashi's tracking summon, suddenly stopped at the border of a small town.

"They're there," said the pug in a gruff voice. He turned toward his master and shook his head. "There's a sickness in this village. It smells of death."

Itachi and his teammates reached for their pouches, intending to grab the extra filter for their masks when the tall figure of Murasaki Kaito landed on the other side of the clearing.

"You're here," Kaito said in a tense voice, breathing more cumbersome than it ought to be.

His appearance was more ragged than the last time Itachi had seen him. Kaito's hair was plastered to the metal of his headband, his eyes still bright with a lingering fever. There was a distinctive sway to his movements as if all his energy had been consumed by merely coming to meet them.

The weakness Itachi saw in Kaito sent a flare of worry through him for Yahizui. Where was she? Was she sick?

"Kaito-san," Kakashi began, "what happened here?"

If there was one thing Itachi admired about his Captain, it was his ability to keep his emotions hidden. He would arrange his demeanor into one of disinterest, taking everything in with apathy that could fool even the most seasoned interrogator. There was not much that fazed Hakate Kakashi, and Itachi strived to reach that professionalism as well.

"A virus of some sort…deadly. It's better if you don't enter the village," Kaito replied in a tired voice.

The mention of an unknown virus caused the tallest companion at the back of their troupe to step forward.

"What are the symptoms?" he asked in a deep voice.

Kaito looked attentively at the man. "It starts with weakness in the limbs, and tiredness, followed by intense fever. Then, as the system is weakened, dark spots appear on the skin—like a rash, followed by vomiting and… death. So far the only thing that ensured survival was… chakra."

Itachi's eyes widened beneath his mask. "And the villagers?"

"Dead. All one hundred thirty-two of them."

The number was staggering. What virus could kill people so fast? Itachi didn't know much about diseases, but what Kaito said brought a shiver down his spine. Such a virus was dangerous and could prove hazardous if left uncontained.

To Itachi's left, Tenzo gasped. "All of them?"

"Their systems couldn't handle the disease. Some held on longer than others, but in the end, they all fell." There was nothing in Kaito's voice, all emotion snuffed out in the way that seasoned shinobi usually presented their reports.

The tall man's hooded head tilted to the side in question. "What about you and your team?"

"The sickness caught up with us as well, but as you can see the symptoms weren't as severe. It held me down for three days. The kunoichi of our team was the first to recover."

Itachi frowned behind his mask, though he couldn't help but feel relieved to hear that Yahizui was all right. "Where is she?" he asked.

When Kaito's eyes fixed on him, Itachi briefly wondered if the man knew it was him under the mask. When the jonin looked at him, Itachi saw pity in his eyes.

"Yahizui is missing. She'd been gone, together with the medic that took care of the villagers before I woke up and… my current chakra level is too low to summon a tracker."

"This disease…" said the tall ANBU, ignoring the current discussion between Kaito and Itachi. "I've seen something like it before."

All eyes were immediately on him, and Kakashi voiced their curiosity. "When?"

"In the last years of the Second Shinobi War, Konoha charged Orochimaru to look into possible options of ending the war faster." He paused, letting the information sink in.

The mention of Orochimaru had them all hanging on his every word.

"Orochimaru had always been good with poisons and experiments, so he focused his efforts on creating a biological weapon. As you can imagine, it wasn't easy. He managed to develop something together with Tsunade's medical knowledge, but it did not last. It brought nothing more than the symptoms of a common cold, and the project was closed."

Itachi frowned under his mask. All records of Konoha's less-than-noble efforts during the war had been conveniently lost, leaving the general and especially the newer shinobi population with little to no knowledge of Konoha's doings in those dark times. The darkness of their village was kept well hidden, yet it was there, lurking just beneath the surface. It made Itachi think if good things had to always sprout from evil deeds, or if it only was so in their world.

His thoughts lay forgotten as the man spoke once more. "The war ended, and the idea lay forgotten... Until the Third War started. By that time Tsunade had left Konoha and Orochimaru was working with Danzo Shimura, who sponsored any project that would expediently end the fighting. The biological weapon idea was picked up again, and Orochimaru resumed his work. I don't know if he managed to make any progress on it since it wasn't used in the Third War either, but I do know what the symptoms and results were supposed to be and they match exactly what you said."

Kaito looked at the man with confusion evident in his eyes. "How can you know all of that?"

Slowly, the tall ANBU lifted both hands. He removed his hood and mask, revealing long, snowy white hair and a face that every jounin shinobi in Konoha knew. "Because he was my teammate."

Itachi had to hand it to the Sannin, his revelation was quite dramatic, and judging by the shock on Kaito's face, it had the impact he desired. With his long spiky hair, piercing dark eyes and broad, tall stature, Jiraiya was an impressive figure—even more so now that his reputation loomed behind him.

"Jiraiya-sama," said Kaito after taking a moment to recover from the surprise. "It's an honor to have you by our side."

Itachi listened to the exchange with only half a mind. Yahizui was missing, and Kaito was too weakened to search for her. Had she been taken by Orochimaru? Why would he have any interest in her?

"Kaito-san," said Jiraiya, "I find it fascinating that a genin would have the chakra amount to beat the virus before a jounin, don't you?" There was a dip in his tone as his dark eyes narrowed.

Itachi watched the jounin's eyes darken. Itachi's eyes narrowed, attention fixed on the man before them.

"I… maybe," Kaito said, his voice unsure. "I can't deny that she has some traits specific to that clan, but there are many with that hair color that don't claim any Uzumaki ancestry…"

The mention of that clan made Itachi think of another woman with long crimson hair and a soft smile. How could he have not seen it? He'd always written it off as her coming from Wind country, where such a peculiar hair color was seen more often; but now that the possibility was there, he felt like a blind man. Her endless energy, her fast healing, and the temper he had heard the Uzumaki were known for… they were all there.

Jiraiya nodded, one hand rubbing his chin. "Even if there's the slightest possibility, Orochimaru will take it."

The creeping feeling of anxiety was crawling up Itachi's back. The image of a limp body with gaping holes instead of bright eyes came to him. Her body was so small, and her hair… her long hair was now red instead of brown, mingling with the blood seeping from her cooling corpse. No, he will not let her die like Izumi did.

They had to find her fast.

"Can we track her?" Itachi asked before thinking to keep himself in check. A muscle in his jaw twitched, unseen behind the mask, his eyes burning with accumulated chakra. Just the thought of what that monster could have done to her made his pulse rush and his teeth clench.

"My dogs can track her scent," said Kakashi in his usual drawl. "Kaito-san, do you have something of hers?"

"I do," said Kaito, pulling an unfinished scroll out of his hip pouch. "And I'm coming with you."

Kakashi's dog mask was trained upon Kaito's still sweaty face. "That is out of the question." Kakashi pointed to his hands. "Your strength is not back yet. Your hands are trembling, and you've most likely already taken a soldier pill. If you join us, you will only be a liability. Your orders are to stay here and recover. We will go after your student."

Itachi saw a battle in the jounin's eyes. Kaito wanted to join them, but he was painfully aware of the protocol. If he came with them in his current state, he would be a liability at best and dead at worst. In the end, reason triumphed, and Kaito spat angrily to the side and turned around.

"Bring her back," Kaito said.

I will, Itachi thought as his fists tightened, making the leather of his gloves creak.

I will bring her back no matter what!