(Book the Second) In the Eye of the Snake ~Crimson Light in the Uchiha

The Reason to Live

Kabuto's POV

I looked at Orochimaru politely, "Do you want the little Uchiha-chan back?"

Orochimaru grinned at me from the corner of his mouth, "I'll admit her death was a great loss to me. She could of been an interesting pupil..."

"Er, Pupil....?"

Orochimaru smirked at me, "I thought you had a mind, Kabuto-kun," I flinched and Orochimaru-sama continued, "you were the one who realized that most of the experimental fluids get burned up by some mysterious chakra that is still alive inside Rin-chan....if that is the case then the only way to uncover her true ability is to physically push her to that point."

"Can't you use the curse seal...?"

Orochimaru-sama pushed down Rin's collar down to reveal the three tomes, "The Heavenly Seal is a dud if the user is dead, it is only useful for me to extract some extra chakra...."

I suddenly had an idea, "Perhaps..." I suggest quietly, "we can take one of the prisoners as a sacrifice for the Edo Tensei?"

Orochimaru-sama turns to me smirking, "And where, Kabuto-kun..." He chuckles, "would be the fun in that? I do not want an obedient Rin. She is much more useful and....interesting when she monitors her own actions."

I stare incredulously, I had really thought Lord Orochimaru would do anything to get power....but he also seems to like to amuse himself more sometimes....I shouldn't be surprised I guess. "We'll it is no use now," I sigh, returning to my notes, "Rin is dead and that's the end of it. The most we can do is try to extract whatever chakra is still protecting Rin even though she is dead."

"Indeed...." Orochimaru-sama and I walk out of the room and we lock the door behind us.

"We should see how the Sound's Five are doing with their training, we should teach them how to activate Level 2 soon..." I suggest.

"I wonder how Rin-chan's level two would of looked like," muses Orochimaru-sama, "if only she was alive."

And that moment as we walked down the dark halls, came almost immediately.

A scream radiated off the walls and I leapt back, pulling a kunai out. My ears rang and echoed the sound back into my head which started to split open. I start to run forward but then Orochimaru pulls at my arm with a grin.

"Hehe," he chuckles, "a possible miracle....do you recognize this scream?"

I think hard as I listen to the high pitched voice and it hits me with a heavy gasp. This sounds exactly like Rin when I broke her wrist. "It must be other prisoners reacting to the experiments," I argue, "there is no way-" I stop and I listen, the screaming is coming from the hall way we just walked through. Shit...

I don't say a word to Orochimaru and I rush down the hall. I run to the locked double doors and I put chakra into my fist. I punch the doors and the metal groans as it falls apart. I stare.

Fire blazes every where and I peer through the flames. Someone was screaming in there. A smoky shape of someone small clutching her head and screaming, convulsing violently on the experimental table that she was lying on. I just managed to catch the words while shying back.

"THEY'RE ALL GONE! WHY?! NO! Everything is GONE!!" The screams disappear to be replaced by loud sobbing and crashing.

Orochimaru-sama comes up from behind me with a wide smirk. "Kabuto-kun," he says pointedly and I nod.

"Yes Orochimaru-sama!" I rush forward and I dodge the flames, heading to the small figure who lies on tr experimental table, screaming. When I get close enough, I hurl a senbon needle. There is a faint thunk and the screaming stops abruptly. There is a faint crash and the small body falls from the experimental table. I catch the child just as the flames disappear.