Manga/Anime: Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto/Studio Pierrot
Words: 1 872
Publish: 
Summary: The final fight

"Number 1010, Uzumaki Naruto, aka Kyubi, finished his training today. He's ready to be sent on the field. And I can tell I've never seen a human like him! It's exciting to be able to observe him like that! He's our most beautiful treasure! But, he's a boy way too nice compared to the other experiments. Yes, he follows orders. But! Something about him bothers me. I can see he's started to understand his own personality. It's worrying for the future of the organisation."

It's that excited voice which pulled her out of the fog. The crackling of the old video was piercing her ears. But, her focus was on her horrible headache.

"That's why I decided to create a new version of clones. The method is the cell culture."

Hinata tried to open her eyelids. They were so heavy. She wanted to move her body but something on her waists was holding her still. The lack of liberty woke her a bit more.

"I'm going to select Kyubi's best genes, thanks to the cell culture, and in doing so, giving birth to Menma. And because Nature wants the generation following the previous generation to be stronger, Menma will be much more powerful and obedient than Kyubi once completely finished. It's so exciting!"

She succeeded at opening her eyes. Her sight was first blurry, then adjusted itself to let her situate herself. It was dark and the only source of light was the screen which the man, with a white lab coat and wild ginger hair, was on. He had a big smile on his lips. Even his eyes were shining with excitement.

So that was the real Yahiko.

"But, I have to test it on myself first." He disappeared, then came back with a test tube. "I already started with a piece of my skin." He brought the test tube closer to the camera. "I present to you Tendo. My first clone from the Pain project. The beginning of a peaceful world."

Hinata had to look away to prevent herself from vomiting at the sight of the piece of flesh. She took several inhales and exhales, trying to get rid of the pictures now forever etched in her mind.

It's at that moment she saw heigh tubes around her.

She blanched a bit more when she noticed the blond hair dancing in the yellowish water. She knew right away it wasn't Naruto. It was another Menma and when her gaze slid on the other tubes, she counted there's two more of them.

No doubt, she was in the laboratory in the attic.

So, where was Naruto?

"...the ADN is of course the key of the whole experiment and in the absence of having a surrogate mother, I have to keep that inside the incubator..."

As Yahiko's words kept doing background noise, everything made sense in her mind, understanding how to look at the puzzle.

One of Yahiko's clone, Tendo, had jabbed her neck with a syringe. She recalled losing consciousness. The large room on the second floor was in fact for her. He wanted her to stay at the orphanage because...

Her brain stopped her reflexion, not wanting to admit what she understood. Panic humidified her eyes. Her breathing broke. And she saw Yahiko's face again.

"...humankind has always evolved thanks to reproduction. It's what I want to do here but, in a fastest and more efficient way..."

Her baby was the key to produce better assassins.

Naruto was too human for them.

Selecting genes meant isolated emotions.

And since Menma had failed, they wanted to do the experiment on true descendants...

The feeling of being vulnerable clenched her guts. Gooses bumps climbed on her arms. Her body tensed. Sweat dripped on her forehead. And her panicked eyes searched for Naruto again.

But, she was alone in this room.

He wasn't here.

Fear started to eat her capacity to think. All she wanted to do was to protect her baby. To go back to Naruto. She then wanted to stand up but, once again, her arms prevented her from moving.

Looking up, she saw she was handcuffed on a bed. Looking down, she noticed her shirt was up to her chest and a red line had been drawn on her belly.

She squeezed her lids but like earlier, it was too late.

That sight etched in her mind, fueling her fear.

The more she waved her arms, the more the steel cut the skin on her wrists. Adrenaline poured in her veins, blocking the pain for now. Her fingers pulled on the handcuffs. She pushed on her arms, on her legs. She didn't move an inch.

She yelled a frustrated cry, covering Yahiko's voice.

"You're already up? We thought we had more time."

Her head turned towards the comers. Tendo was pushing an ultrasound scan, paused the video and took a seat close to her. Another clone followed. She didn't fail to notice him placing a gun under the mattress. Their movements were so mecanic. Even their postures seemed more robotic than human.

"Please. Don't hurt my baby." she begged on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"It is not our intention." the two clones, Pain, assured her as they looked at her. "We are just checking that everything is normal. Kakashi told us you had been pretty much stressed since the incident with Menma. Not to mention your dangerous car chase across Konoha to escape us."

"The men in the car were clones? And, you... you said Kakashi?"

"Yes"

"It's Kakashi who's behind all of that?"

"No."

Tendo's gaze left her to concentrate on his task. The cold lubricant gel he applied on her belly made her shiver and nervous. So, she continued her interrogation which was keeping her calm.

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"Kakashi is a thief. Yahiko is the creator of this place.

"So, Kakashi claimed ownership of the Akatsuki's ideas." They nodded. "He gave birth to Menma?" They nodded. "Does he work alone?" They nodded. "But then, where is Yahiko?" she asked.

"Dead."

"How?"

"Kakashi killed him."

"Why?"

"Because Kyubi found him."

"I-It doesn't make any sense... Why kill the brain of the operation? Unless... Kakashi wanted to be the only one to know about the formula?"

"Men are really greedy."

There was no bitterness in their voices. No gleam of anger or sadness in their eyes.

One thing was clear, they weren't doing all that for getting their revenge.

"Why are you doing that?"

"We want a peaceful world. So does Kakashi."

"A peaceful world? With assassins in every street? With clones who don't have humanity?" she asked as she moved to getting rid of their attention on her belly. "You don't have to do that. It's not because you share the same aims with Kakashi that you have to obey every time he tells you to do something."

"It is why we have been created."

That sentence tied her tongue. It was unbelievable, the lack of emotions in their voices and in their gazes was terrifying.

This was really the world of tomorrow?

How could Kakashi be ok with this? Wasn't he the head of Japan national security?

What if it was the root of the problem?

He was a part of the minority who was ready to do anything to achieve their ends. But using the formula to clone for the Secret Services didn't make it better. People, children, all innocent, were suffering again and again.

She couldn't be ok with that. The well-being and the future of her child were at stake.

She won't stay still and watched them do a ton of experiments on her baby.

But, what could she do alone?

She felt the shape of the gun against her side. That feeling was worse than having it aimed against her temple. But it confirmed what she deduced.

Even though Tendo had already told her multiple times they wouldn't hurt her, Pain were, before anything else, assassins.

If they had to stop her, they would.

She had to go back to Naruto.

But how?

With her eyes, she scanned the room again. Her gaze fell on the computer screen. She could try to trace his phone. She knew how to hack codes.

No. She should act as if the clones had taken all his communication tools.

It's ok. She believed in him. He'll come to her. He promised. In the meantime, she had to keep herself from getting hurt. She couldn't die.

"Your body knows how to protect your child despite the twists and turns. It is really interesting."

Nothing showed Tendo's interest. It was more as if he was repeating one of Yahiko's sentences because he heard him say it before. Everything sounded copied, faked.

Despite her, empathy squeezed her heart then, flew away when he put back the ultrasound device on her belly.

Her baby was her priority.

Her eyes slid on the other clone then on the handcuffs. She had to get rid of them to be able to sit at the desk. Naruto had teached her how to open them with a hairpin. She lightly frowned. Unfortunately, Pain had tied her hands away from her hair.

Despite their sweet words, they were wary and wanted luck on their side by having a gun with them.

It meant Naruto was still here. Still alive.

Motivated by that glimmer of hope, she started thinking.

Finding another solution to get free was imperative. She didn't even think of the consequences of what she was about to do.

Her only concern was to distract Pain.

Did she have the time to-

Her attention was brought back on the huge syringe he was filling with a dark liquide. The panic she managed to calm down by thinking crawled back in her veins.

"W-What it is?"

"It will only make your baby stronger." was their reply.

Was it supposed to make her feel better? If it was, it had failed.

Her heart was pounding hard. Her whole being was screaming to her to escape again but the handcuffs were still on. She moved away from the edge of the needle when it came close to her skin, begging them to stop. But, Tendo's and the other clone's hands were on her, reminding her of her struggle against Menma.

She was immobilised. She was trapped.

She felt the injection. He was about to press the piston. She couldn't do anything to stop him. Screaming was useless but she kept shouting at the top of her voice.

Until the syringe exploded.

Something sprayed on her and she only heard the gunshot after it happened.

Or was it a second gunshot since the clone standing next to her loudly hit the ground.

Even free from those unwelcomed hands, she was still trembling. She then exhaled several times through her nose to calm down. It's in doing so that she smelled the blood on her. The only thing she knew was that, it wasn't hers or her baby's.

Hinata didn't have time to process more of what was going on. A lighting bolt jumped on Tendo, pinning him on the floor. Her eyes then met two blue orbs shadowed by the red veil of anger.

He was here.

Final chapter tomorrow :)