It was dark and it was dank. It smelled like a mix of formaldehyde and cleaning supplies. The air was sterile and the scent made Naruto nauseous. It was the first thing he noticed when he woke up. His head felt heavy, as did his limbs. He knew something was amiss. Where was he? He opened his young, bleary eyes and started to sit up, only to find he was strapped down. "Wh-what?" he croaked, beginning to panic as he struggled to free himself to no avail.

"Naruto?" he heard.

He squinted. When his vision cleared he saw his father hovering over him. "Dad...?"

"Yes," Orochimaru murmured. In his hand he felt a clipboard. He made notes and asked his son questions. "How do you feel?"

"Heavy," Naruto said weakly, struggling against his bindings. "Let me out..."

"Not yet."

"Why?"

"We need to run some more tests."

Naruto closed his eyes. This is how it all began – only he wouldn't remember it. He wouldn't remember any of it.

Later in the evening, Naruto was wheeled into another room. It was bright – much brighter than the last room he was in.

"Another child?" a blond woman asked solemnly. There was guilt in her tone and it was unmasked.

"We'll keep trying until we get it right," a grey haired man replied simply and without a hint of remorse. "I think he got lucky this time, though."

"How many children has there been?"

"This boy is the fifth," he responded.

The woman sighed sadly before approaching Naruto. She smiled gently and it made Naruto feel more at ease. "Hello," she said, releasing him. "My name is Tsunade. I'm going to give you a little check-up."

Naruto sat up and stretched his arms and legs out. He felt better being able to move again.

"So," she started. "Do you feel heavy at all?"

"When I woke up," Naruto said, "but now I feel fine!"

She smiled at that. "Good. Are you experiencing any pain?"

"Nope!"

"No headaches?"

"Nope!"

"No tremors?"

"Nope!"

She continued listing off symptoms and Naruto continued to deny anything was wrong. "Amazing..." she murmured, scribbling something down before setting her clipboard aside.

"Can I go home now?" Naruto asked, not caring to ask her what was so amazing.

"Yes," Tsunade said, holding out her hand. "I'll take you to your father."

Naruto wrapped his hand in hers and they walked out of the room. Naruto stared at the plain, white walls. The entire place smelled strange, like a hospital. Naruto didn't know exactly what to make of it, but he knew whatever it was he didn't like it.

"How did it go?" his father asked when they entered his office.

"He's... perfectly fine," Tsunade revealed to him. "His heart rate is normal. He's experiencing no negative symptoms. Everything... everything went fine."

He smiled. "Excellent."

"How?" Tsunade nearly begged to understand. "How did this happen when all of the other children you brought me died?"

Naruto stared up as the two adults conversed, frowning as he listened. "Died?" he questioned.

"This boy isn't from an orphanage like the rest. He's from the slums. I'm sure he's been ingesting chemicals his entire life. I'm not sure if that has something to do with it. We'll need to do further testing." Orochimaru sighed, staring down at the wide eyes of his son before looking back up at Tsunade. "We'll have to erase his memory. I don't want him telling his school friends what his daddy is doing."

||XxXx||

"Stop it!" Tsunade screamed at Orochimaru on many occasions. "He's just a child! Stop!" She grabbed his arm, but he shook her off, not wanting to listen to her shouting.

But it didn't stop – not for a long time.

||XxXx||

For Naruto, things always went back to normal. He never remembered the bad parts. At least, he never remembered them at first. But as the weeks went on the memories began to crawl back into his mind. He went to his father with his questions and fears.

"Dad...?" he asked one morning before leaving for school.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I keep... having strange dreams," he said. "Or... I don't know if that's what I should call them. They feel like memories."

This stopped his father in his tracks. "What dreams are they?"

"I don't understand them," Naruto confessed, "but in them... you're hurting me."

"I would never do that," Orochimaru said sincerely. "You know that. You're my boy."

"I know..." Naruto murmured. "I'm sorry. I guess they're just dreams..."

When Naruto left for school, Orochimaru knew what he had to do. He spent the day at the office and he came home with extra doses of the drug that stifles memories. He turned to the lab in his home and began tweaking the formula. It was easy to retrieve lost memories, but taking them away with a difficult and selective process that required a careful eye. That night, he would give the confused child a new dose and the following morning the blond child would wake up with his concerns long gone.

||XxXx||

That is how it continued. Then the tests were finished and Orochimaru prided himself on his latest success. This boy would have it all. He would have strength. He would have speed. He would have power. What Naruto didn't have, Orochimaru gave him.

He continued to be the happy go lucky child for years to come, but he would grow to become the ultimate weapon – the puppet in a most dangerous game.