Naruto's Different Path

Chapter 21: Curse Seals and Shared Secrets

"Orochimaru."

Kushina's eyes widened as she turned to face the Nine-tailed fox, silently demanding for him to tell her what happened. The bijuu shook his head and told her about the fight and what the snake had done to Naruto while he was in control, and gestured to the gates in front of them after mentioning the seal Orochimaru had put on him. Kushina turned a tear-filled eye towards Naruto and proceeded to pound on the barrier, letting out yells of protest and pain-filled wails, however, all her attempts were in vain.

"Stop it." Naruto growled out.

"Why are you doing this?!"

"I want to test the limits of the jinchuriki of the strongest bijuu. The amount of power at your disposal, just imagining what I'd be able to do with that power is making me giddy. Although it's a shame that I won't be able to take over your body due to the nine-tails inside you, I can at least find out the limitations you have as a jinchuuriki before I take the bijuu for myself."

Naruto thrashed around even harder than before and glared at the man. "You'll never take Kurama from me! I'd rather die than let my friend be taken by you!"

Orochimaru chuckled as he sliced the boy's wrist open, earning a shout of pain from the boy. "I do believe you're not in a position to shout out proclamations, Naruto-kun." He leaned closer to Naruto's ear before he whispered into it. "But I'll let you yell more proclamations, just to make it even sweeter when I get to see the look of defeat on your face. So please, continue to make false promises."

Naruto lashed out and blew the void of memories away with a swipe of both arms. He locked onto Orochimaru and ran towards him and pinned him on the ground when he reached him. "I've had enough of you! First, you kidnap me and dissect me, and then you have the nerve to go after Sasuke! I'll kill you!"

The other Naruto chuckled as he called the void back, forcing another one of his memories to be replayed. This one had taken a month after his kidnapping, but it was one of Naruto's worse recollections.

Naruto's eyes had a glazed look over them, he had left only the embers of his defiance left, but he would cling onto them with everything he had. The door opened and Naruto turned his head slowly to see who had come in this time, only to spot Orochimaru's silver-haired lackey. The blonde's ocean blue eyes had regained a bit of their color as a small smirk made its way on his face.

"So glasses, what's your boyfriend got for me today-?"

Kabuto backhanded Naruto across the face, earning a grunt from the blonde as the silver-haired man pushed his glasses up in an attempt to hide his annoyance.

"I'm sorry... I forgot that it was supposed to be a secret." The blonde said with another smirk plastered across his face.

Kabuto retaliated by punching the blonde in the nose, his anger with the blonde becoming more and more apparent. As the blonde groaned in pain, Kabuto cleared his throat and addressed the blonde runt.

"Sorry Naruto, but Orochimaru has other matters to attend to. Which means he left the observation task to me." The silver-haired genin smirked widely as he saw the boy wince. "Oh don't worry, I'll be sure to be extra rough." The teenager said as he activated his chakra scalpels and walked towards the boy slowly.

All Naruto could do was face Kabuto with a half-lidded glare, silently telling him to bring it on. The older boy grew aggravated with the blonde and decided to cut off one of the boy's fingers and examined the healing process, all while Naruto was trying to hold back painful yells. The wound closed itself off and didn't grow the finger back as Kabuto was expecting.