𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐢 | ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ ꨄ︎ ꜱʜɪᴘᴘᴜᴅᴇɴ

Burn It All

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✧˖*°࿐

The dim rock-hallways are secluded. My steps in my sandals are the only thing enough to create an echo. I've been memorising every breath I took to every sound I made, wanting to etch this entire day into memory.

Sasuke doesn't know it, but if he manages to kill Orochimaru-or at least wound him enough for me to step in, my job here is done. It should be my mission right now to intervene, but I can't stop myself from doing things my way.

These legs pumping with adrenaline are guiding me to a room far from where I blinked past the chambers of Orochimaru resting. They're taking me straight to a room I'm quite familiar with.

Running my bloodied hand along the uneven walls of rock, I took to memory the feeling of this place and direction to Kabuto's lab until my bandaged hand finally stopped at a cool, metal door. A red print of my hand slides down.

My chakra is entirely concealed, but I active hazy cloud to entirely disappear from the spot anyways. Thanks to the other jutsu I learnt last minute from Orochimaru, I submerged myself through the door like a ghost and made my way inside without lifting a finger nor alerting the experimentalist.

Kabuto's at a table with tools, some used. The scatter mess is completely different from Orochimaru's perfectionism. Similar containers such as the one I was previously in filled the room, though much smaller in comparison. The vessels inside ranged from reptiles to uncannily large bugs.

Along a wall, in particular, were malnourished people chained against it. The majority of them were dead, although unmarred as Kabuto likes.

As I was about to run my eyes along them without further care, my vision stopped at the sight of Shoichi, the scrawny male of my half-assed book club. He's just as dead as the rest of them, but his body shown more signs of experimental use.

I got closer when part of me knew I shouldn't have. A tag on Shoichi's large toe grabbed my attention. It read: 'Male, 16'.

There's the familiar ring in my ears, my upper lip curling with my uncontrollable grimace.

"You sicken me." I finally speak, cutting Kabuto off from casually talking to himself about Orochimaru's problems. He spins to my voice, suddenly confused when he can not see me.

"Suki?" He recognises me anyway, scoffing. "How did you get out of that container? Not only were you secured by all those restrictive wires, but no one other than Lord Orochimaru can free you."

Releasing hazy cloud jutsu, I reveal myself standing next to Shoichi's lifeless figure. Kabuto smirks in reaction. The nerve to smirk.

"Wrong. Sasuke freed me." I take the tag from Shoichi's toe and rip it off, crumbling it up to litter the ground.

Kabuto's hardened face lets me know exactly what he's suspecting. His precious lord is in danger, but he'll have to go through me.