Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Broken ❯ hope is a frail thing ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
chapter 13
hope is a frail thing.

A/N Long time no see. This is the third time i have re-edited this chapter thanks to a slowly dieing computer that deleated the file twice. Then the stupid machine keeled over with a burnt heardrive. oh well. now that paridise is finished I will be working on this one.

I promise.

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Orochimaru stood by and watched as the shinobi wailed on Naruto, furious that the teen had dared to defy him. Punch after punch and the kid was barely screaming any more, taking the abuse silently as he was knocked around by the best jounin shinobi that had joined the sound. Blood dripped down the teens face and hands from the shallow cuts that covered him and as he was kicked in to the base of the building, he left a red smudge on the cement.

There was a crack followed by a whimper, then silence from the blond and the pale sannin lifted his hand to stop the shinobi. Instantly they complied to his silent order and stepped back from the now unconsciousness teen at their feet.

Not one of them would dare to go against his orders.

None of them were stupid enough to go against his orders, but this scrawny, ignorant blond had. Naruto was laying curled on the ground, hands still up near his face in a vain attempt to protect himself. His remaining eye was blackened and was swelling shut, his lips were split in at least two places and there was a dozen bleeding cuts that were visible to the angered snake.

Performing a simple set of hand seals, he did a chakra check to make sure that there was only superficial wounds on the teen. He did not want to have to let Kyuubi out to heal him, not yet at least. Not before he had tested the demons capabilities to the fullest. The blond was unfortunately a side product of possessing the demon. Orochimaru would be damned if he let one annoying teen be the downfall of his grand plans and hard work just because Naruto did not want to be part of it.

No, Naruto would do as he said or feel the consequences. The brat would learn to submit and be broken so he could use the demon as he saw fit. And as he saw it, Naruto had way to much fight left in him.

Grabbing the limp teen by the collar and lifting him up, Orochimaru gave the signal to the awaiting shinobi. He had plans for today and Naruto was part of them whether he liked it or not.

The ally filled with the smoke from the shinobi jumping away to report to the places Orochimaru had assigned them.
Hissing as he fought the urge to just snap the tan neck and be done with the pest, the sounds lord held a single hand seal and sunk in to the ground.

Stepping out of a tree, miles away and flinging the limp form down, mildly pleased with the pained groan that came from it, he waited until he felt the presences of the shinobi that he had just sent of from the ally. It did not take long for the well trained ninja to arrive at their appointed destinations around the little village in the valley he was overlooking.

A few wisps of white smoke drifted up from chimneys in the chilly autumn morning, and silently Orochimaru waited until all 25 of his best men surrounded the village that would be slaughtered. They were not going to perform the deed, no, the town was going to provide the duel purpose of showing the other shinobi villages what they were up against by having the demon destroy a petty town that stood in his way and be the final test to see how the demon would respond to the bait of a defenseless town.

The sun was up and he could see the waiting form of the village elder on the ridge overlooking the village. He had given the man a week to consider the options of having the sound use this town as a border station and so far the town elder had refused. Despite negotiations on tax and fees, the elder would not let it happen. To support such a despicable person such as he, would forever tarnish the villages good name, or so the elder had said.

Chuckling, the snake noted that the elder would soon learn that a tarnished name was the least of his worries. Picking the limp teen up by the back of his shirt the snake threw him in to a shed of a old abandoned farm that lay on the outskirts of the village.

Hastily, he bound that teen that had made him late for the meeting with the elder. He was supposed to of been there at sunrise but Naruto had been difficult and needed to be shown the futility of escaping. Wrapping the coil of rope he summoned, around Narutos wrists, then tying it off to a rafter in the old shed so that the unconscious teen dangled a few feet in the air. Even if the morronic blond woke, there would be no way for him to get away, the rope was made with an entrapment seal in it, so that the only way it would be untied was if the one that tied it, undid it.

Stepping out of the musty shed and looking back up to the oblivious elder that stood on the crest of the ridge, waiting for him. The old man thinking that he still had a chance to keep his town in one piece by showing up.

Today was the last day he gave the elder to consider his options. Even if the elder accepted, he would let Kyuubi loose and watch, as the old bastard looked on as his village, his oh-so-precious village, was destroyed. The shinobi posted around the village would ensure the totality of the massacre. They would kill any fleeing in to the woods or any that the demon overlooked.

Today the shinobi and villages would find out what the meaning of power was and it was probably better that Naruto was unconscious in a shed. He could not interrupt or stop what would happen.

~~~~~~~

From somewhere above him a jay bird screamed in anger at having a rope invading his roost. Groaning as the bird gave a few more sharp trills then took off for the heavens, the blond teen lifted his head and whimpered in pain when he attempted to open his eye. Narutos wrists and shoulders throbbed as he hung from them and his ‘good’ eye had swelled shut, blinding him. Relying on his other senses he took a deep breath and the earthly reek of decay filled his nose. The sharp metallic twang of blood was also present, his blood.

Not smelling the odd musk of the snake or the oil used on kunai, he figured that he must of been left alone. From the echos of the birds fluttering in the rafters he could tell that he was in a small enclosed space and that if there was any body else in here with him, he should be able to detect them.

Letting out a small sigh for the slight blessing, he twisted his wrists but yelped in pain as the tightly knotted bindings bit in to his battered flesh.

The sound of birds chirping filtered through the walls of the shed and he stilled, listening to the morning songs of at least ten different kinds of birds. He was not in the village of sound anymore, he was sure of it. That place smelled of garbage and sewers, this was a old wood smell mixed with leather oil and the only birds he had seen in the decrepit village were crows or pigeons.

Relaxing his tensed muscles, the blond slowly rolled his shoulders to ease the pain from hanging from his wrists. For now he was content to just hang here. He could not remember the last time he had heard birds and Orochimaru was not here.

He had gotten pretty good at sensing the evil snake mans presences and although he was not sure why Orochimaru had left him unguarded, he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Naruto shivered as a trickle of sweat or maybe blood ran down his bruised and beaten back. He took a deep breath and the sent of trees filled his nose and a twinge of pain from the bruised ribs he was sure he had, ached in his chest. His right arm stung from the snakebite but hanging here was better than having to go to the lab and the demented doctor for medical treatment.

All at once, every bird took flight as a scream tore out of his bloodied lips. Boiling red chakra was forcing it’s way out of the seal on his stomach. Burning him, engulfing him, setting his skin on fire as it took over.

Screaming and trashing, no longer feeling the pain from the ropes around his wrists, he let out one long wail of agony as the red cage formed around him and then slammed shut.

Instantly he was covered with a wave of pure red chakra and the burn as it healed the splits and cuts, the scraps and the bruises that covered him. The swelling around his remaining eye went down and he was able to focus and see with the demons eyes as the haze of red around him, faded. The remains of the shed lay at the massive paws and a small town lay defenseless in front of the demon.

The blond could feel the lurch as the beast jumped forward and the vibrations as the kitsune screamed its rage then slammed the devastating tails down.

Kyuubi tore through houses, ripping the occupants apart, disregarding the desperate pleading of the teen inside of him, to stop.

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Orochimaru stood next to the town elder on the ridge over looking the small town, as the attack began.

He gleefully watched as the elder’s face contorted in to a mask of horror as the kitsune razed the main street. The buildings fell in clouds of dust and screams of terror could be heard over the crumbling housing as people frantically tried to get away. This was a small town, its largest building was a 5-story clock tower and the elder actually screamed when it fell. When the demon attacked the school and its muzzle dripped with the blood of the young, the elder got on his knees and begged for him to stop this carnage.

This was ultimate power. He did not have to negotiate with the elder on trade terms, in a few minuets the elder would be out of a job and a town. The way would be open for him to move people and supplies threw out the mountain range and he would control the pass and all the trade that went threw it. All with one set of hand seals.

The elder put his head to the ground in a formal bow.

“Please Orochimaru-sama stop this.”

The snake bastard grinned and hauled up a small knife that he had hidden in his robes. Swinging the small blade over his head then down on the elder, stabbing him in the back, killing him.

The other villages already despised his tactics, but now they would fear him. Fear the demon he controlled. The other towns will know what happened here and in the name of self-preservation give him what he wanted.

There was a loud snap followed by a crackling sound as power lines snapped and fell to the ground. Looking back to the demon, he saw the smoke then flames as the rubble caught fire. Any who were trapped in the collapsed hospital would burn to death. Orochimaru grinned his sadistic smile, the more dead the better.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The destroyed buildings filled the air with a thick fog of dust. The black smoke from the many fires that still raged, plumed high in to the cloudless sky. The town was decimated, there was nothing left but the burning rubble and a few scattered bloodstains. The cinders of the remains of homes danced in the air currents like the autumn leaves did not to long ago.

Kyuubi sneezed, creating a small dust storm and shook off the grime that had collected on his fur. Licking the blood off his nose, the demon sniffed the air.

‘That snake bastard must be near. I’ll kill him for trying to use me. NO one uses me.’

Amidst the smoke and ashes came the sent of the vile man atop a hill not so far away. Kyuubi turned and leaped toward the hill that held the sly man, fully intent on ripping him to shreds. Before he made four strides the pinch and tug of the seal forcing him back in to Naruto, made him stop so he could pit all of his chakra against the deceptively strong pull. Flooding the area with his crimson essense as he battle the seal.

Kyuubi did not want to let the bastard to get away with using him, no human could control him.

Little by little the seal forced him back in to his blond container, each pull making him fight harder to stay out. Until the bars of his cage slammed shut around him and the air cleared of red chakra, returning to the dust and cinder clogged remains of the town.

The blond teen lay numbly in the remains of a once 4 star hotel for travelers going through the pass. His puffs of breath visibly drifting in the cold air up past the charred main beams that rose out of the ground like black skeleton fingers arching up around him like hands pulling him down to hell.

Naruto could feel the warmth of the burnt wood around him and the stinging bite of the freezing wind off the mountains. The steady pounding in his head blocked off all other sensation and as Orochimaru’s footsteps neared he let the black nothingness of unconsciousness take him.

Choosing it over the snake.

Orochimaru looked down at the blond laying in th smoldering ashes, then grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and could felt the power of the demon coursing through the boy. Naruto might be out cold but the demon was aware and mad. The beast was furious at him and there was not a damn thing it could do. Grinning to himself he gave the signal and the shinobi that came with him on this endeavor, started back to the sounds stronghold.

Mission complete, not a single villager survived.

Lifting the young blond teen up so that Narutos forehead rested against his shoulder, the snake man ran a long, cold finger across the boy’s jaw, feeling Kyuubis chakra boiling just under the surface. He was the only one who could let this devastating chakra out. He possessed the most powerful weapon of all the countries in the form of one small boy.

The cold wind blew, kicking up cinders and ruffling the long hair of the man and making the blond teen shiver. Standing up straight, Orochimaru put Naruto over his shoulder, feeling the demons chakra more with the added contact and hissed at the odd sensation of warmth flowing in to his cold body.

Forming his one handed seal, the snake lord sunk in to the charred ground and re-emerged in his chambers in the sounds complex, throwing Naruto on to his massive bed. The normally cool skin of his shoulder was still warm from the contact with the demon chakra. Orochimaru licked his thin lips as he felt the slight tingle fade.

To be in control of such power to have it bend to his whim and to know the whole time that it did not want to.

The vile man let out a long hiss as he stared at the vessel of Kyuubi as he lay in an unconscious heap on the silken sheets. So small even at age 14, he was shorter than most if not all his year mates. His build was small and would more than likely never grow big with muscle. Such an inappropriate container for as powerful a being as the Kyuubi. Still it was an intriguing combination. Loud mouth blond and powerful demon.

Lightly touching the shoulder of the teen and feeling the chakra flowing just under the surface, Orochimaru grabbed Naruto’s ankle and pulled him around so the blond was on his back. Scanning the child like face, he watched as the blue eye opened and quickly showed fear as Naruto realized how close he was.

All the demons power and the boy was afraid of him. That alone was a major turn on for the sick sadistic snake, plus the complete obliteration of an obstacle such as Kimon always made him aroused. Naruto was unable to move and it would be another hour until he would be able to, if the practices in the field were any indication.

Orochimaru still had to think of a suitable punishment for him running away, the beating was for being to stupid and getting caught. He knew what he wanted, the bulge in the front of his robes made it obvious, but he had never wanted a male before and found the urge to take Naruto intriguing.

Slowly the snake man leaned over the numb blond and ran his tongue across Narutos jaw line. He could feel the chakra pulse of Kyuubi speed up as he started down the tan neck, his pale hands quickly undoing the clasps on the teens clothes. Jerking roughly down on the black pants and sliding the fabric off the blond then dropping it to the floor. Returning his cold hands to the warm chest as he started to bite the collar bone, leaving bloody marks on the flesh.

Ripping the shirt off of Naruto to get to more of the chest, letting his long tongue roam over the plains of muscle until it encountered the hem of the boxers the blond wore.

Naruto whimpered and tried to move, but the chakra recoil still had his nerves misfiring making it impossible for him to get away from the pale man on top of him. The horrid tongue continued to run all over his prone body as a pale hand dripped in to his boxers to rub his groin.

‘NO.’

He could not say it aloud but he was screaming it in his head and willing his frozen body to move.

Orochimaru looked down at the panicking boy under him. Eye closed and breathing choppy, chest shaking with silent sobs. Continuing to knead the blonds flaccid member, the snake undid the ties to his pants and let them fall to the floor. Letting go of the teens dick to remove the remaining undergarment and pull him to the edge of the bed.
He slowly ran a cold hand over the demon containers chest, feeling the broken ribs through the tanned skin.

Orochimaru bent over further and let his tongue escape his mouth, letting it run over the boy’s taunt flesh, making the fourteen-year old whimper when he bit a pert nipple.

The rough black strands of his hair fell forward to create a curtain that shielded his face from view. The tips if his dark hair ghosting over the small teens frame and made his tan skin prickle with goose bumps in its wake. The pale man could feel himself grow harder at the blonds unwanted responses to his touches. The whimpers and the way his breath would catch, the quivering lip and the silent tears that streamed down the scared face, all of it making him ache for release.

Lifting his face from the tan chest he brought his left hand up and licked his fingers, coating them with saliva. Lifting Narutos legs and setting them on his shoulders he reached down towards the teens butt and slid his slender hand between the firm cheeks. Using one of his saliva-covered fingers to push on the puckered entrance then slide it inside, stretching the ring of muscle.

He prepared the boy fast, not that he cared if the boy was comfortable, but he preferred the fact that he could slide in with out any problems this way. Deeming him ready, Orochimaru placed his rock hard and weeping member against the quickly prepared entrance and plunged in with a hard stroke, hissing at the tightness around his throbbing cock. Not pausing to let Naruto’s body adjust to the intrusion, the snake started moving in and out of the wet heat that surrounded his manhood, with a fast pace.

The boy underneath him shuddered and sniffled with sobs that racked through his limp body every time the sannin pressed deeper inside him. The snake reached down and touched the half-hard cock that pressed on his thin abs. The black haired man smirked at the traitorous body of the boy and removed his hand, deciding to not give the teen any pleasure out of this. Placing the pale hand on a tanned hip, using it to bring the boy nearer to him with every brutal thrust.

Naruto could not scream or make any sound as Orochimaru raped him. He could feel the snakes weight on him and the pressure inside him, but was still to numb to truly feel it.

Orochimaru didn’t even let out a gasp as he came a few minutes later, he just pulled out after had regained his breath after a few seconds and pulled his pants back on, leaving Naruto laying on the edge of the bed as he left the room.

Slowly the feeling returned to the blonds’ arms and legs, a creeping tingle that turned in to pain as the nerves came back to life. With the return of sensation came the sting in his rear. Tears forming in his eye as the sting turned in to all out pain from the lack of preparation and lube combined with the horrible feeling of cum smeared on his thighs. Curling in to a ball on the disgustingly sticky sheets, despite the pain in his pelvis, he cried.

He could feel the ghastly touches of the snake digging in to his flesh and him powerless to even cry out. He could hear the screams from the villagers before the beast he contained, slaughtered them. He could still see the blood of Sasuke on his hands now combined with the villagers. The shear amount of it threatening to drown him, only to be replaced with the vile man thrusting in and out of him, using him, raping him, he could still feel it. The stickiness between his legs and the soreness of his rear, the demons ecstasy at the taste of blood.

Opening his eye and making a fist in the silk sheets, he shuttered violently.

‘I am a monster, a dirty, filthy, used monster. The Konoha villagers were right to hate me. I should have died in the cabin, no in the ally. Then Iruka would still be alive and Sasuke would not have gotten raped by me and that little town and Shimota would still be here and I would not have to help Orochimaru. I should die. I can’t get away, this will just keep happening. I should die. Rid the world of the demon and it’s pathetic container.’

Standing up from the large bed, with the stinging pain in his rear as a reminder, the blond looked around the dimly lit room. They had taken his weapons from him in the ally when they caught him, and now he needed something sharp. Spotting a glass lamp, he limped over to it and threw it to the ground, breaking it. Picking up a large sharp piece and placed it over his arms. He hesitated a few seconds before slashing deep cuts on to each wrist, letting his anger and pain be shown as he repetitively gouged his arms. Ripping his forearms to shreds until he could no longer hold the shard of glass, letting it fall to the floor.

Watching intently as the crimson life flowed out to puddle on the floor. Stumbling back against the wall as his legs turned to jelly, he fell to the floor as a dark shadow crossed over him. Looking up before the blessed darkness took him, he could see the infuriated face of the snake standing over him.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soft blond lashes flutter before opening, revealing a blue eye. The harsh lights of the treatment room were dimmed a bit, but still very unforgiving. Shijima, the doctor that ran this lab, was snoring somewhere off to the side. Making a mental note that he was still alive he closed his eye again, hoping to detach himself from life.

There was an annoying pain in his shoulders, nothing big, like his stomach, but annoying enough to keep him from drifting back in to the black void that was his sleep. Shifting slightly, knowing that it was futile to get relief from the cramp in his shoulders, but hoping he could get it to go away long enough so he could drift back to sleep.

For three days he had been strapped to the metal table in the lab. Hands and wrists held out to the sides, tied to the arms of the table by broad and dirty leather straps that would not let him shift to ease the cramp. From elbow to wrist he was covered in smudged bandages, smudged not from the wrists bleeding but from the surgeries he was submitted to.

The snake bastard was more pissed about almost losing his new demon then he was about the new demon trying to escape. Not by much though. Shijima had been ordered to start his experiments as soon as his wrists had stopped bleeding, and in a attempt to find death, he had blocked Kyuubis chakra when the first cut slashed his skin.

Orochimaru had to let the seal out even more and somehow Shijima had managed to stop the bleeding from the abdominal cross cut in time.

‘Stupid doctor. I was so close.’

Naruto took a deep breath and cleared his mind, forcing the horrible memories that threatened to flood him to stay in his subconscious. Instead focusing on the simple things like what hurt at the moment. His stomach hurt, but then it always did. He could not remember why though.

Whenever the scalpels came out he would turn inward and hide among his few good memories like chakra training with Sasuke in the woods. Somehow it was a small victory for him when they could not hurt him because he was not really here. He was hunting down Tora, the cat, for the fat lady with Sakura. When it got really bad and he could not help but scream, he would find himself at the demons cage. Kyuubi would surround him with his chakra and Naruto would be able to feel the sunshine as it beat down on him as he lay in a field, the fox blocking the pain.

Naruto had screamed and lashed out at the demon at first for killing all those people. But in the end it was the demon that helped him escape the pain. It did not seam fair. For all the memories of slaughter and carnage there were also some where the beast was just laying in a stream, watching the fish struggle to swim up it.

Somehow it was easier for him to go to the demons fish memories then his own. Sakura always ignored him for Sasuke who called him ‘dobe’. The people never cheered for him to win in the chunnin exams and he always remembered the look on Sasuke’s face as he glared out from behind black bangs as Kyuubi raped him. How Iruka hung from the ceiling, blood dripping down his front.

Wincing to stop the train of thought, it was getting harder to keep thinking of the good times and not of the past few weeks. Of the pain and the killing, the cutting and how Sasuke screamed in to the pillows. Yes, watching fish was better, no pain from other memories.

There was a slight pressure on his wrist and the one blue eye opened to see what touched him.

Orochimaru was undoing the leather straps holding him down. He did not move, why should he, death would be better than watching another town go up in smoke, then being raped again.

When all the straps were off, the long haired man said some thing, he did not listen, he hoped the bastard would get pissed enough to kill him.

He was pulled off the table and crashed to the floor, laying unmoving ,not caring what threats came out of the overlarge mouth on the pale face. Nothing would get him to move, he wanted to get out of here and death was the fastest way.

Three kicks from Orochimaru and still no response, the bastard was practically growling when he picked him up and carried him to the training room. Throwing him in, and rolling from the force as he hit the training mat, the blond curled up as soon as he stopped. He did not respond to anything, he just wanted to lay here and fade out.

Koshi reported to the training room, having wondered when Oroicimaru would be through torturing the blond and want to start training him again. As Benisato she had been keeping a tabs on the lab and knew that Naruto was still in there this morning. That if Koshi was being summoned to the training room then it meant that the poor kid was finally out from Shijima’s lab.

Opening the door and stepping in, not bothering to place an illusion over himself, the long haired teacher sighed as he saw Naruto.

The blond was laying curled on the floor, it looked like Maki had used her whip on him then got fed up and left. Not that surprising, she like the mess with people and ignoring her just made her go away. In truth it drove the woman nuts to be ignored which is why he had selected that particular coarse of action.

But for Naruto, Koshi could tell that he was not doing it for the satiation of annoying the sadistic bitch, no his blue eye was far to distant for that.

He no longer cared.

Orochimaru had succeeded in quieting the teen, breaking his spirit and leaving him a broken shell.

Keeling next to the broken teen, he gently touched the top of the blonds head and saw him flinch. Sighing he reminded himself that Koshi had to stay distant, he could not have his cover blown by being nice to the kid.

Even if right now Naruto really need someone there for him.

Stepping back the spy looked at the hollowed shell of the teen that he had first seen, there had to be a way to keep that spark alive long enough so that he could find away to get him out of here.

Shaking his hair he mentally corrected himself, they, so that they could find away to get Naruto out of here. He could not forget about Sasuke, as doped up as he may be.

If there was one person in the sound that could reach out to the shattered teen it was Sasuke and although he did not want to move so fast and push Sasuke any more then he already had, Naruto needed him right now.

Weaving a master illusion over the room, he left the blond teen curled on the mats like he had found him and set off the find the raven haired teen.

Sasuke flipped in the air and threw multiple kunai mid flip, each sinking in to there targets dead on. Landing the spin he took off again, twisting and turning in the air, pinning each of the small circles with a blade through the center.

This type of training was rudimentary at best, but after he shot up it took a few run through’s to get the dizziness to pass enough for him to be able to preform the dill with out missing. He still had most of the morning to warm up before he was to report to Orochimaru for his real training. The snake had taken over teaching him again. Not that he really wanted it this time, but it put him that much closer to Naruto.

He had not seen his blond friend since the day he had attempted to escape, even before then Naruto was a rare sight. The snake only brought him out to prefect the switching with Kyuubi and from the reports of what had happened in Kimon, Orochimaru had perfected the use of the demon.

That had happened the same day as the escape attempt and no one had seen Naruto since.

Walking over to the place he had left his canteen and a towel, he brushed the gathered sweat off his forehead. Pausing when he felt the pulse of a familiar chakra behind him.

Koshi was standing farther back and from the oblivious expressions of those near him, the effeminate master had cloaked himself in illusion. A slight smile tugged on his lips, sharingan saw through almost all illusions so he was not sure whether he was supposed to see the man right now or not.

To answer his question, Koshi raised his arm, beckoning him over.

Not sure what the long haired teacher wanted, but knowing that he had saved his butt already once, slowly Sasuke walked over to the illusion covered man.

Koshi turned away from him when he was still 20 feet from him and went in to the building. Huffing at the presumptuous teacher, the Uchiha followed him through the tangled web that was the sounds complex.

Stopping at a rather plain door a little too close to Orochimaru’s personal chambers for the comfort of Sasuke, Koshi opened the door and motioned for him to go in.

Cautiously he walked past the long haired man and in to the training room. Not sure of what he should expect. On instinct he did a quick assessment of the room, noting that it was nicer than most of the rooms he used and the mats were thicker. In the center of the room was a curled up form with its back to him. The black training clothes were ripped and looked to be a few sizes to big.

The shock of blond hair at one end of the lump confirmed that it was his friend.

“Naruto.”

There was no motion, no hint of recognition and Sasuke turned around to glare at the man who led him here.
Koshi had closed the door and was blocking so no one would be able to see in through the small window in the center of it. The illusion master nodded and gestured for him to continue. Crestfallen knowing that this was indeed his friend, he went and kneeled next to the unmoving form.

Sasuke saw the bandaged wrists and the hollow look in the blue eye.

Softly he set his hand on Narutos shoulder and the blond winced like he’d been burned.

Dark eyes widened as Sasuke desperately tried to think of things to say or do to help his blond friend. Nothing in his large inventory of jutsu’s and fighting tricks offered up anything useful. The only thing that came to mind was when he was upset and his mother would hold him when he was a child.

Not having anything else come to mind, he reached down and gathered the broken teen in his pale arms and positioned him so that his head was on his chest.

He could feel the tensed muscles in the blond as Naruto leaned against him. Softly he started to run his hand through the golden locks, wishing he knew something he could say to make it better, something that could bring the old Naruto back.

Closing his dark eyes he pressed his cheek aginst the top of Naruto head feeling the soft strands against his face.
Slowly, he felt unsure hands grab him around the middle and hold on to him tightly as the tan face repositioned then pressed itself against his collar bone. Running his hand down Narutos back, Sasuke spoke.

“I’ll find a way to get you out of here Naurto.”

He meant it, with every fiber of his being, he meant it. Seeing Naruto like this was making his heart clench.

“And go where? Konaha won’t want me back.”

The soft voice whispered at his neck, nearly killing him with its lack of vibrance that had characterized the blond.

“Anywhere you want dobe.”

Sasuke was not sure what to do, he was not the best for comforting people. He had already exhausted his limited amount of knowledge on the subject. Letting the room fall in to an awkward silence as he sat cradling his rival.

The soft voice against his neck broke the silence and Sasuke had to grab on tightly to Naruto’s back to keep himself from breaking at the sound of it.

“I just want it to stop. I wish I had never lived through the beating in the ally. I should of died, then none of this would of happened. I just want it to end.”

“I’ll get you out of here just hold on a little longer.”

He could feel the sobs coarse through the broken blond and held him tighter to his chest, slowly rocking and murmuring nonsense things until Naruto stopped and pulled away from him to look him in the eyes.

“Do you hate me for what Kyuubi did?”

“No. It was not your fault, none of it was your fault.”

The tan face turned away from him and a pale hand shot out to grab Narutos chin and turn it back.

“None of it was your fault Naruto. Hold on and I’ll find a way to get you out of here. I wont leave you.”

“I just want it to stop Sasuke. Just make it stop.”

Wiping Narutos tears away the raven raired teen pulled the blond back to his chest and let him cry on his shoulder. Sasuke could feel the twang of withdrawal starting in him and he shoved the feeling back. The drug made nothing matter and Naruto mattered to him. He was not going to let his friend suffer for the sake of the drug he craved. No matter what he would find a way to get them out of here.

Koshi got his attention with a wave of his hand and told him he had to go. Reluctantly he let go of Naruto and stood up. Mildly surprised when the blond stood up next to him.

There was a glimmer of hope back in Narutos eye and Sasuke had to smile as he left, after seeing it.

As the door closed behind the raven-haired teen the smile left his face. Getting Naruto out would be no simple task. Koshi had at least shown some loyalty to the blond. But how would he get the blond out if Orochimaru could control the seal on Narutos stomach. He really did not want a round two with the demon if he had to destroy the seal completely. But he would not let Naruto stay here much longer.

He was not sure how long the blond would last.