Naruto 1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do now own Naruto.

Tsunade was in tears when she found out. Her little otouto, her closest family member was dead. He was killed on a routine mission, most likely targeted due to her growing fame on her team with Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Sarutobi Hiruzen. His body had been nearly incinerated by a fire a jutsu they found, the only reason they could identify the body was because her amulet was found in the pile of ashes.

Her teammate Jiraiya had made sure to be the one to tell her, because her brother was the only family that she had had left. Tsunade wrapped Jiraiya in a hug, desperate tears running down her face, "Not my otouto, not him!"

The loss of Nawaki, someone who their granduncle the Nidaime, had said carried the Will of Fire in him brighter than most people he ever met, crushed Tsunade. Within the hour, her boyfriend Dan was there with her, and she cried for hours at the loss of her brother.

But what Tsunade would never know, was that her brother wasn't dead. His teammates, they were dead, but Nawaki had been captured, and his death had been staged so they would not look for him. Because at the same time Tsunade cried in anguish, Nawaki woke up in a cell.

***With Nawaki***

Nawaki stayed silent as he looked around the holding cell he had awoken up in. Three sides were completely metal, and covered in seals that he could tell we draining his chakra at just the right level to keep him alive, but too weak to do much more than turn his head, and maybe stand up if he muster up the strength.

The final side of the cell was metal as well, but set in the middle of it was a metal door, secured shut. Nawaki looked up to see that the reason he could see, was because there was a single bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling to provide light.

Desperate to do something, Nawaki began to crawl towards the seals on the walls, and tried to exam them to see if his limited knowledge of seals would help him. After examining the seals for over 20 minutes, Nawaki knew there was nothing that he could do. They had been actually pressed into the metal, so there was no paper to destroy to cancel the seal, and it was so intricate beyond anything that Nawaki had ever been able to comprehend himself.

As if knowing that Nawaki had realized how futile his efforts were, the metal door was pushed open, and two men walked in, clasped handcuffs around his wrists that had the same seals as the walls, and began to drag him out of the room.

He was pulled out into a hallway, to see that there were doors completely lining a nearly 200 feet long hallway, and you could hear screams coming from several of them. As he continued to be pulled along, Nawaki was pulled up a flight of stairs into a room with a table, and two chairs facing each other from opposite sides of the table.

Sitting in one of the chairs was Orochimaru.

Nawaki did a double take upon seeing someone that he knew quite well, "Orochimaru? What is going on? Why am I here? What is this place?"

Orochimaru chuckled manically at seeing how scared and terrified that Nawaki was, "This, my dear Nawaki, is my… laboratory. You are staying as a guest in my establishment, but don't worry, you will be taken care of soon enough."

Nawaki was thrown down by the two other men into the chair, and they both held him by a shoulder to insure that he couldn't move. "Why are you doing this Orochimaru? This is sick, demented and so wrong! Konoha would never let you do this!"

Orochimaru laughed lightly, "Oh Konoha doesn't know about any of this, in fact, all of Konoha thinks that you are dead right now. I even sent Jiraiya to make sure that he was there to comfort Tsunade when she finds out you _died_."

Nawaki stayed silent, finally realizing what was going on, "You found out, didn't you? Tsunade told you about it, and that's what this is."

Orochimaru chuckled, "Oh she really should learn to handle her liquor better, she spills all kinds of secrets. To think, you actually inherited the Nidaime's ability to control water. That's why I HAD to have you. This is my laboratory for people with special abilities that interest me. And your ability Nawaki, that interests me greatly."

Orochimaru gestured to the two other men, and they pulled Nawaki to his feet and dragged him back to his cell, removing the handcuffs before slamming the metal door shut. Nawaki only had a few minutes before the door opened, and a man pushed a cart into the room.

Nawaki tried to get a good look at the new man in the room, but all he saw was that he was wearing a butchers apron before a needle stabbed into his neck and injected a sedative into his system. He only had a few seconds before the darkness claimed him.

It would be hours before Nawaki awoke, strapped to a table clad in only his underwear. He tried to look around to see what was going on, only to realize that he was still in his cell, but he was strapped atop of the cart that had been pushed into the room.

Next he noticed that the man that had knocked him out was holding another needle near his arm, before it was stabbed into his arm, and Nawaki saw it pull out with his blood. Nawaki tried to talk, only to find out that he couldn't move his mouth at all, it was entirely numb, the best he could do was a dull croaking sound.

The man moved so that Nawaki could see his face, only to realize that he was wearing a mask over his face, and the only visible part of him was his eyes, he was covered from head to toe in various attire, that had the effect of giving him an overall sinister look.

Suddenly he started to talk. "So it seems that my newest friend is awake, huh? Well hello, my name is Doctor Ganden, and I hope that you enjoy your stay with me!" Over all the man was exceptionally charismatic, and yet he seemed completely psychotic. The over exuberant way that this "doctor" called Nawaki his friend sent chills down his spine.

"But don't worry though, you are only going to be here for a week, maybe two before I am all done with what I need. We just need to take some bodily fluids for testing, and then we are going to kill you!" Doctor Ganden spent several seconds rummaging around in the bottom of the cart.

Nawaki wanted to scream, to kill this man that was treating his body like it was his newest toy, which he realized, it probably was. 'A week he had said, I am going to be dead in a week.'

***Six Days Later***

Nawaki cringed as he heard the door open again, and Doctor Ganden walked in pushing his cart in with him, "Oh how is my favorite pal? Are you ready for the final day of testing?"

Nawaki moved to try and attack Ganden with all of the weak strength that he could muster, only to have Ganden knock him over with little effort, "Well someone is certainly lively today! I mean, you are only going to die today, no need to freak out buddy!"

Nawaki was weak from exerting the last of the energy that he still had in him, and could hardly resist as he was once again placed onto the cart and strapped down. There was little that Nawaki could do, he had had so much blood drawn from his body that he could hardly move, and now he knew that he must have been near death no matter what.

Doctor Ganden walked out of the room, much to Nawaki's surprise, until Orochimaru walked into the room. "Hello Nawaki, how are you doing? I thought you would be happy to know that Tsunade still cries herself to sleep every night."

Nawaki tried futilely to get out of his restraints, only managing to needlessly expend energy. All Nawaki wanted to do was scream vulgar insults at Orochimaru, but he had still been unable to talk since the first day that Doctor Ganden had shown up.

Orochimaru circled around the cart so that he was standing near Nawaki's head, "This is actually your lucky day Nawaki, we can't kill you yet. It seems that every attempt to implant your blood into a baby has resulted in their deaths, to I am going to have to try a different method to implant your abilities into someone else."

Nawaki could do nothing as Doctor Ganden shoved a pill down his throat, and Nawaki understood what Orochimaru had meant when a blonde woman entered the room completely naked, and he felt a twitch in his nether regions.

They were going to force him to impregnate a woman in the hopes that the child would bear the Nidaime's ability to control water, like he had. Nawaki relaxed, with that pill that had been shoved down his throat, there was no way that he could stop them from doing whatever they wanted.

It was hours before they were done, and Orochimaru, Doctor Ganden and the unnamed woman left the cell, leaving Nawaki to his own thoughts, 'I am going to have a child that is going to be some sick experiment for Orochimaru. I am going to have a kid that will never know his father.'

Nawaki fell asleep, still strapped onto the cart with that thought on his mind. He would not even awake when Doctor Ganden walked into the room the next day, and Nawaki did not awaken when Ganden pushed a needle into his neck, injecting the poison into his body that would kill him.

***9 Months Later***

Orochimaru was impatient, his most recent genetic experiments had all been failures. To top it all off, his teammate Jiraiya was beginning to suspect that Orochimaru had been orchestrating the kidnappings from the local orphanages, and he was beginning to guess that it wasn't where Orochimaru's experimenting had begun.

But it was all going to work out fine, his two most vital projects had come to fruition. The night before, one of the children that was injected with the DNA of Hashirama Senju had survived, and Orochimaru had brought the Mokuton back into the world.

Then there was the woman that had been impregnated with a child with Nawaki's DNA, which had unlocked the Nidaime Hokage's water controlling blood line. His only hope was that the child of Nawaki would hold the ability as well, the chances of it were slim however, as Nawaki was a second child of an only child, who's uncles had had the ability. It was severely unlikely that anything but a complete DNA restructuring would recreate the ability, though Orochimaru could hope that the chances would be in his favor.

There was also the success with the Mokuton child, even if he was the only survivor of 15, at least it proved that one could be implanted with the DNA of a bloodline user to gain its ability. The problem however, was that Nawaki's DNA had killed all 20 of the test subjects, so it was a chance that was at present too risky to take since his movements were becoming limited by Jiraiya's constant watch.

That was all irrelevant however, if Nawaki's child contained the ability, then it could mean he would recreate the two of the three strongest shinobi that had ever been in Konoha, Hashirama and Tobirama Senju. Imagine the power that Orochimaru could have under his control if he had an army of shinobi that were that powerful!

This was what was on Orochimaru's mind as he pushed open the door into the room where the blonde woman impregnated with Nawaki's child was being held while she went through labor. Instantly Orochimaru's ears were filled with the sound of her screams, such _delicious _screams! Sounds of pain that he could never recreate in any form of torture he had ever performed.

This woman had tried to double cross Orochimaru and inform Hiruzen about what he was doing beneath the streets of his beloved village. This was the ultimate form of torture for her, she hated how supposedly dark and corrupted Orochimaru had become, but that was fine, she was going to suffer through the most painful thing he could have done to her, forced her bear the child that would hopefully be one Orochimaru's greatest weapons.

It was a long and difficult birth, one that stretched on for over 14 hours, 'All the better.' But even as Doctor Ganden moved the child onto a table covered in a sterilized blanket, Ganden realized something, "Orochimaru-sama, it appears that miss Kaiya-san actually has twins!"

Orochimaru couldn't help but chuckle slightly, 'This is perfect! If both of the children have the ability, then I have room to experiment more with one of them, and the other one can stay perfectly healthy.'

It was another three hours before the second child was finally out as well, and Orochimaru examined the two babies, 'Hopefully one of you will have the ability that I seek, if not then you will both have to be disposed of.'

***Time Skip***

It had not taken long to see if either one of the babies contained the same blood as Nawaki, a simple comparison test took care of that. But unfortunately for Orochimaru, and probably for the babies, neither one was at all a match to either Nawaki's, or Tobirama's blood.

Orochimaru was incredibly angered by the discovery that neither child was even remotely similar to Tobirama or Nawaki. He was so enraged when he found out, that he had Ganden take both of the children, and dispose of them.

"I want both of those WASTES of MY time DEAD by the time I come back! Get it done Ganden!" Orochimaru left the laboratory in a storm of anger, more than a little irritated that both tests were failures.

Annoyed at the unprofessional emotion that his employer had directed at him, Ganden knew better than to try the patience of one of the strongest shinobi in the world, yet he was still clever enough to know that killing the two children, who could somehow still bear the bloodline of Tobirama, would be the real waste.

Yet he could not exactly keep them around. Grabbing both of the babies and fleeing the laboratory, Ganden formed a plan, 'If I leave the babies at an orphanage, they will surely be raised there, where I can keep watch on them.'

Ganden wasted no time, leaving the two babies wrapped in a blanket, he left them at the doorstep to an orphanage, and was gone before anyone could see him. Except for the person that was following him all along.

Jiraiya jumped down to exam the babies that were left on the doorstep of the orphanage. They seemed normal, and yet they must have been used in some kind of experiment by Orochimaru. Unsure of what action to take, Jiraiya decided that it would be best to take both of the children to Hiruzen, and for him to figure out what to do with them.

When Ganden snuck into the orphanage the next night to see if the two babies were still there, he received quite a shock when he found out that they in fact were not there. 'I cannot tell Orochimaru about this, if I do, he will probably kill me.'

So it was that Orochimaru never heard anything more about the two babies, even if one of them would group up to be a man that Orochimaru hated almost as much as he would grow to hate Hiruzen.

Author's Note

So a cookie to anyone who can tell me who one of the babies are supposed to be! One of them is a significant character from the Canon, and it shouldn't be too hard to guess who it is. The other one is going to be my own OC, who will not really be very important however.

Another thing, for the reviews I have for the other stories I have posted so far, no one has really worded anything as a question, rather they word it more like a statement. If you have any questions, feel free to review it, or PM me if that is easier. I want to get feedback, and so far I have actually gotten quite a bit of helpful feedback and remarks on some mistakes I have made.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"But Jiraiya, is there any actual way to even prove that Orochimaru was even involved? You suspect that this man Ganden is involved with Orochimaru, yet there is no proof, and it was him that left these two babies at that orphanage."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had had it with Jiraiya's ridiculous accusations that Orochimaru was somehow responsible for the disappearances of babies from hospitals and orphanages from around Konoha. Now he brought him two kids that had been left on the doorstep of an orphanage, claiming that some ex-doctor from Iwagakure that was under Orochimaru's employ

Jiraiya was exasperated with his Sensei's blatant disbelief and denial that Orochimaru was somehow in some wrong doing, "Sensei, I saw Ganden place these kids on an orphanage's doorstep. No matter what you believe, that happened. There must be some reason that a surgeon from Iwa that was exiled for inhuman experiments left two babies on an orphanage's doorstep, not to mention that he is here in Konoha in the first place!"

Hiruzen shook his head, it was like listening to a child try to blame another for some crime, "I believe that Ganden could be here in Konoha, but I refuse to believe that he is somehow working for Orochimaru, or that Orochimaru could be responsible for kidnappings around the village. That has to be Ganden himself, not Orochimaru."

Hiruzen paced over to where the two babies were laying on a table, they had been fed and changed first thing when Jiraiya had brought them in to the Hokage Residence, and now they were both lying asleep on the table. Looking them over, Hiruzen knew that something would have to be done with them.

"Look Jiraiya, whatever it all else matters, something will have to be done with these children. Ganden must have some interest in them if he had them and did some experiment on them, however if he did just leave them at an orphanage, whatever he had intended for them must have failed. But if whatever he did failed, maybe something should be done with them to keep an eye on them."

Jiraiya was a little conflicted with the decision that he came to, because he had been thinking about it longer than Hiruzen had been, and after going over the pros and cons, he knew what he should do, "I will take them Sensei. You may not believe it, but Orochimaru is responsible for this. Orochimaru has probably ruined whatever lives these two babies would have had, and I can try to give them some sort of a life."

Hiruzen sighed audibly, "Jiraiya I don't believe that you could possibly raise two 4 month old babies by yourself. You do have duties as Konoha's Spymaster you know, you can't spend the next few years of your life raising two kids and doing your duty. And I can't let you step down from Spymaster either, no one else would be able to hold together your net as well as you do."

"Fine then, but if we simply put them in an orphanage somewhere, don't you think that Ganden could be looking for them? It is possible that Ganden was still going to keep tabs on the kids while they were in the orphanage?" Jiraiya was trying to reason with Hiruzen as much as he could, but what he had said did have merit to it.

Tired of the whole conversation, Hiruzen snapped at Jiraiya, "If you are so sure that Ganden would be keeping tabs on them, why don't you keep tabs on them? And why not, you can them if you want to. I don't think that Ganden could find them even if he tried, and even if he does find them, we can keep a detail on them for a few months, and if Ganden tries anything, we can stop him from doing it."

Jiraiya looked over at the two children, "Fine Sensei, just make sure that nothing ever happens to them. We can name them Isao… and Minato. Two strong names, and I will check up on them from time to time Sensei. Just let me know where the two of them end up, I should leave the village soon, I heard word a few days ago that hostilities are growing between Suna and Iwa, and it is looking like a scuffle between a few squads of nin ended up in a few dead on each side. Things seem like they could get bad, and I need to be out keeping tabs on it all."

With a wave of his hand, Hiruzen dismissed Jiraiya, who left by pushing open a window and jumping out, down to the rooftops below. 'Minato and Isao huh? Well I know that life in an orphanage isn't great, but more likely than not, that is where you were before you were taken by Ganden. It is going to take a lot of paperwork to get you two situated in another orphanage.'

Hiruzen called in his personal assistant, who took the two kids out of the room. As Hiruzen's assistance left the room, Hiruzen began to head out as well. After all, the paperwork could wait until the morning.

* * *

'Seven months, it took me seven long months to track the paper trail back to these kids. All along, they were taken where I would not think to look, the orphanage that I left them in the first place. It was a deceptively clever idea, I never would have thought they would take them back to where I left them.'

Ganden was moving stealthily through the dark hallways of an orphanage in Konoha. He moved with purpose and grace that was somewhat surprising of a man that supposedly a civilian surgeon. He only took him a few minutes to find the room he was looking for.

The orphans all had labeled sleeping arrangements, their beds all had their name on it. It took a long time for Ganden to find the orphans because he had searched everywhere but the most obvious spot. He knew their given names, Minato and Isao. Both were boys, one with blonde hair and the other with chocolate brown hair.

Pushing open the door to the boy's dormitory he moved quickly through the dark room. He found Isao first, lying asleep in a crib, the boy did not move as Ganden pushed a needle into the boy's arm, loading him with enough sedative to keep the boy asleep for hours.

Tucking the unconscious boy under his arm, Ganden moved to the next crib over, the baby's blonde hair, such a rarity in Konoha, marking him as Minato. Pulling out another needle, Ganden nearly had the needle into the boy's arm before he heard the cry from a bed further into the room.

"Lady Anita! Come quick there is some man in here!" Swearing to himself, Ganden cursed himself for not checking all of the beds to ensure that all the boys were asleep, instead of assuming that none of them would wake at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Ganden heard pounding feet running to the room from down the hall. Knowing that no civilian would be able to stop him, Ganden pushed the needle into Minato's arm, and was about to grab him before something slammed into his back. Although it did not even budge him, the blow made him hesitate enough that he turned to see the same boy that had yelled earlier tried to tackle him.

Not hesitating in the slightest, Ganden turned to the boy, and killed him with a branch that seemingly grew out of his own hand that stabbed through the boy's eye, killing him instantly as his body fell to the ground dead.

Ganden heard another scream as the caretaker Anita came into the room, and screamed upon seeing the boy die. It was as the branch regrew back into Ganden's hand that Ganden swore, standing in the doorway was a boar masked ANBU, a black handled katana in his grip.

In another second the ANBU was leaping towards Ganden, his katana over his head as he prepared to bring his katana down on Ganden's head. However, he was met by several branches coming out of Ganden's hand that caught the katana and threw it out of the boar masked ANBU's grasp.

Another ANBU came into the room as well, but from another door at the end of the room, effectively trapping Ganden between the two ANBU members. But this one with a tiger mask, "Ganden Tsurubara! By order of the Sandaime Hokage you are to come with us for abducting and experimenting on several dozen children from orphanages and hospitals. Set down that boy and come peacefully, or we will make you. You will not escape, there are reinforcements on their way."

"Fuck you!" Still holding Isao in one arm, Ganden sent branches speeding towards the tiger masked ANBU, catching him off guard the branches caught his arm and tightened around it, and with a flick of his wrist, Ganden sent the ANBU through a wall into another room.

Seizing the only opportunity he would get, the boar masked ANBU raced towards Ganden with a kunai in one hand as another flashed through several seals, "Magen: Kokoni Arazu no Jutsu!" Suddenly Ganden found himself standing in a dark forest, a full moon in the sky, the scene was made creepier by a deep fog that permeated through the forest.

Recognizing that he had been placed in an illusion, Ganden gathered chakra and yelled "Kai!" Looking around, Ganden saw that the boar masked ANBU had closed the distance quickly, but by simply raising his arm, branches grew out of his arm and pierced straight through the armor that he was wearing, going straight through his stomach, the branches pulled out of his body, leaving the ANBU clutching at the gaping hole in his body, trying to stop the blood flow.

The ANBU that had been thrown through the wall reappeared through the hole that was created when he flew through the wall, his katana out, he charged back at Ganden. Knowing that the ANBU would be unwilling to launch any ninjutsu at him with all of the children cowering on their beds around them, and Isao held in his arm, Ganden launched more branches at the man, trying to rip the katana out of the man's grasp like he had the other ANBU.

This did not work, because the boar masked ANBU was a genjutsu specialist, but the one with the tiger mask was named Hayate Gekkou, a 16 year old kenjutsu specialist that even at a young age was quite well known. The branches were cut before they could reach his katana, and Ganden found himself suddenly at a disadvantage.

While he didn't show it, his control over Mokuton was new to him, and it still quickly drained his chakra. Deciding to cut his losses before whatever reinforcements that had been called arrived, Ganden pulled most of his remaining chakra and sent a much thicker and faster branch at Hayate that was met with his sword, but this one broke through the sword, and into his stomach, just like his boar masked comrade.

Ganden left both ANBU lying on the ground in pain, fleeing from the room in a hurry, he left Minato in the crib and instead left with only Isao. The boar masked ANBU stopped breathing before help arrived, and Hayate was barely kept alive as he was shunshin'd to the hospital. The branch that hit Hayate pierced through his lung, and Tsunade herself could only partially repair the lung, leaving him with a permanent cough that would plague him the rest of his life.

Ganden left Konoha that night, knowing that after that episode, Orochimaru would certainly hear that he had stolen samples of Hashirama Senju's blood and implanted the ability into his own body and kept it a secret from him. Not to mention he had kept Nawaki's children alive, disobeying orders. Even if Ganden still believed they held the key to unlocking Tobirama Senju's abilities, that would not stop Orochimaru's wrath for simply disobeying an order from him.

* * *

Jiraiya arrived back in Konoha only 20 hours after the whole incident, because the first thing that Hiruzen did was send a message hawk to Jiraiya to inform him about it. Once again Hiruzen and Jiraiya were in Hiruzen's private office, but this time only one of the children was present.

Jiraiya was livid, "I KNEW that something like this would happen _Hokage-sama_!" Jiraiya was snide and rightfully pissed, "Those two children were some sort of test subject for Ganden, and I told you he would find them if you put them in some orphanage. And look what he did to those ANBU! One of them is dead, and the other won't be able to go much further as a ninja because he is somewhat crippled by the Mokuton abilities that he showed."

Jiraiya looked over to Minato before turning back to Hiruzen and continuing, "I am going to take Minato and raise him, you may not believe it, but Orochimaru had to have helped Ganden develop that Mokuton control he has. I am going to take Minato with me, and try to track down wherever Ganden took Isao."

Before Hiruzen could even get a word in edgewise, Jiraiya and Minato were gone. It would be years before either were back in the village, and by that time Jiraiya and Minato were as close as father and son, and Jiraiya was training Minato to be his own apprentice. Neither Orochimaru, nor Minato would know it, but instead of being Orochimaru's greatest weapon, Minato would become the man that kept him from achieving his goal to become Hokage after Hiruzen passed on the mantle. Even though years would pass, Jiraiya never did find Ganden or Isao, though he never stopped looking, not even years after Orochimaru was fully exposed to the village for the experiments he committed, and driven out of the village by Hiruzen himself, who apologized profusely to Jiraiya for never trusting his judgment on Orochimaru.

* * *

So I am sure that a lot of you have questions about Ganden, the Mokuton control he has and how he could control without channeling it into a jutsu. I will get to that. And Isao is with Ganden, wherever it is that he took him. Hopefully you all like what I did with this chapter, I felt that I was kind of straining myself to get down all that I wanted to.


	3. Sorry

I am really sorry to say what I have to say right now. I broke all four of my fingers about nine days ago in horrible parkour accident and I am not going to be able to write for like 10 months. I have a cast on my hand and I am not allowed to type anything. I considered having my friend write it for me, but he was not okay with that. I can't type with just my left hand, as it is my off hand, and it took me about 45 minutes to type only 300 words, and as it is, my friend is typing this right now. I am sorry for those of you who wanted my stories continued, and especially to those who were looking forward to seeing Drop Your Mask continued, as it got 4,500 views on my profile, and on NBHigham's profile I learned it had over 55,000 views. I apologize, it is kinda my fault for trying something new when my friend told me I shouldn't, but it is what it is. I apologize for wasting all of your guys' time.


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