Chapter 32: Hidden Truths

Keitaro continued to make his way out of the office vents, confident in his choice but still disgruntled at the fact that he wouldn't get a chance to peep in on the secrets of the experiment. 

Even if he wouldn't understand most if any of the things that would be carried out, it was still something that he wanted to see, even if only to satisfy his curiosity. Still he had more than enough time in the future to delve into such things and it would only be a matter of time before he managed to get his hands into this particular field of study.

Since he was making his way out of the office vents, Keitaro hadn't thought that there would be many problems, but of course how could he have forgotten one of the core rules of the world that he had learned before?

If there is a possibility of something going wrong, then it most likely would happen to him.

He had barley moved a couple feet before the vent beneath his hand gave out, and a startled Keitaro came tumbling out of the ceiling and crashed into the floor.

He immediately jumped to his feet, looking around to see if anyone was around. Thankfully, he was very much alone in Kazuki's office. Whether that was a good thing or not was debatable, but it was better than being caught in the middle of the lab area.

Keitaro looked around trying to find a way to climb back up to the vents, but a quick look around showed him that he wasn't getting out through the vents anytime soon. 

Had he learned wall walking, then it would be a simple mater, but since he hadn't he would have needed something to stand on to make his escape. Even if he was able to move one of the many book cases -something that he couldn't do given that they were filled with books- it would have been quite obvious that someone had been there if Kazuki came back to his office and saw a random bookcase moved to the middle of the room, directly underneath one of the vents.

Keitaro was stuck and there really wasn't much else he could do. 

'Its not all bad though, I should be able to make it seem like I was only here to talk with Renji and snuck in here. Might get scolded a bit, but its still salvageable' Thought Keitaro as he made himself comfortable in one of the chairs.

After a moment of thought he pulled out a couple of scrolls that he had carried with him and once more began to read up on the theoretical information about medical care. It didn't take him long before he was once more enraptured with theory about the circulatory system and other such things.

While he kept his eyes on his scroll, he couldn't help but glance at the many book cases around him filled with information. He was tempted to try his hand at one of the many books and scroll scattered around the room, but with a resigned sigh he kept his curiosity in check. 

Given how lucky he tended to be, it wouldn't surprise him if pulled out on the scrolls or tomes from the shelves, only for a security seal or something that might explode in his face to be triggered.

About an hour or so after he had been trapped within the office, Keitaro paused as he heard something the broke his concentration. Confused he focused on his ears, only to immediately regret that decision once the sound became clearer. 

It was the unmistakable sound of a pained howl. 

At first, Keitaro thought that he was simply hallucinating, but it didn't take long before several other howls joined in with the first and their despite cries only seemed to be increasing in volume and frequency. 

For the first time in his new life, Keitaro found a reason to greatly dislike his innate ability to comprehend and understand the sounds of canine beast, as the howls and roars that he heard conveyed such pain and agony, that he wanted nothing more than for them to end. 

Sadly his wish wouldn't be granted until several hours later when the final howls died down. 

Throughout the harrowing experience his views on the people whom he had surrounded himself with had undergone several rounds of scrutiny and he wondered if it was too late for him to cut himself out from his clan.

He had contemplated simply leaving through the office door, security measure be damned just to get away from the agonizing screams of the tormented wolves, but he felt that it wouldn't be worth it. His mind kept wondering what exactly was happening to these test subjects to make them sound like that, but he refused to go out seeking answers.

Once the harrowing sounds finally ended, Keitaro was finally able to breathe properly once more. He was covered in a cold sweat and while he kept telling himself it was over, there was a part of him that couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what else awaited the poor test subjects. Afterall, this was only supposed to be the first stage of many to push the experiment to completion. 

He didn't have much time to think about it though as the sound of the door knob turning drew his attention. He looked up in time to watch as Renji and his father Kazuki made their way inside. 

Keitaro expected there to be some confusion at the sight of him, but neither Renji nor Kazuki seemed surprised to see him there. In fact, it was almost as if they had expected him to be there waiting for them to come back.

They quickly made their way over to the desk and sat down in their respective seats without saying a word. The room was blanketed in silence until Keitaro couldn't take it anymore. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could speak Kazuki beat him to it.

"I have to admit, when your father first approached me with the idea of taking you in under my wing for a while, I was doubtful. Most parents tend to view their children through rose tented glasses and think that their children are the best things to have ever graced the earth, so I was rightfully sceptical about just how 'great' you truly were."

Keitaro quirked his eyebrow at Kazumi, confused at his words but kept listening attentively.

"But when my son approached me with the idea of teaching you as well, I figured that there must have been some truth to things that your father had been saying. I decided to test you to see whether it would have been worth the time and effort needed to pass on some of my knowledge to you, and I'm pleased to say that you passed."

"I was being tested?" stammered a floored Keitaro.

Kazuki smirked before he turned to one of the book cases behind his desk as he continued to address Keitaro.

"Of course you were being tested. Didn't you think that things were going just a bit too smoothly for you? The fact that I so callously revealed details to what should have been the classified exploits of the clan to my son in such an open and obvious way, that he then relayed to you while sneaking you into one of the most heavily guarded areas of the clan? 

Didn't you find it odd, the conversation that you were listening in on was quit detailed don't you think? Or how about how easy it was to sneak into my office in the first place when there should have been seals or barriers placed as a precautionary measure at the very least? This place is afterall filled with very sensitive information."

Keitaro's brow crinkled as he realized that Kazuki had a point. No matter what, it was indeed a bit odd that he was brought into the loop so easily. Never the less he put on a façade of calm and simply nodded his head.

"It...had crossed my mind. I just thought it was because of Renji-"

"Ha! As if. I may not be the most strict or impartial parent out there, but there is no way in hell I would let my son strong arm me into revealing so much info about the experiments of the clan. Not to mention that he was able to give you such a detailed map of the air ducks when he was only alerted of the experiments today?" Kazuki scoffed as if the fact that Keitaro had had such a thought was a great slight to him.

Keitaro was stunned and turned towards Renji who had been keeping quite the entire time. 

"Sorry Kei, It's not like I could have told you about it, besides I knew that you would have passed…probably, so I didn't have anything to worry about" Said an embarrassed Renji.

"I really thought…I guess it makes sense in a way?" Stammered Keitaro.

"But of course. The reason why all those things just seemed to slot into place was because I've decided to take you on as intern or sorts I guess, and I needed to test you to see whether I would treat you seriously, or if I'd only allow you surface level access to a few things and leave you to your own devices." 

Kazuki turned away from the book case and unfurled a couple of the scrolls that he had taken out onto the desk. He also pulled a couple scrolls from his desk before laying them out as well. Keitaro was stunned upon noticing that the scrolls on display were the scrolls that he had scribbled on while studying throughout the last two years. They were filled with questions and conjecture that he had come up with, but as far as he was concerned these should have been back at his home tucked away in his book shelf, so why where they in Kazuki's hands? 

Not to mention that there were also a few scrolls that he had given to Renji so that he could fill in some of the blanks for him that were due to his lacking information or inability to gain access to certain books. Renji had always returned to him scrolls that where much more detailed and filled with the info he needed, but he always assumes that the old scrolls had been thrown away, definitely not that they were given to Kazuki to peruse at his leisure. 

"Renji had already told me about how quickly you were goings through the books he was lending to you and he had been worried that he would have run out of things to teach you. When he came to me I had actually even recommended a few scrolls and books for him to take to you to further your studies. I was sceptical about whether you were really as bright as he was playing you up to be and figured that if you were up to scruff, then it wouldn't take you too long to go through them all." 

If he had noticed Keitaro's internal crisis, then Kazuki didn't let it show as he tapped several small paragraphs on the scroll.

Even though his mind was racing, Keitaro was still pleased at the fact that his 'brilliance' had been noticed and recognized, while also feeling extremely peeved at the fact the he had been watched and tested without even realizing it. 

"When Renji brought your questions to me and I looked them over, I could tell right away that you weren't just reading the books but were truly studying them in dept. Yet, what really sold me was when your father handed me these scrolls. He was amazed at how far you had come and had wanted me to take you on as a student so that you could further your studies. That was when I decided to take you under my wing.

One of the biggest concerns your father had was that he simply wasn't well connected with people in clan to find someone to look out for and train you, especially now that he had become indisposed as a shinobi. So when I approached him he showed these to me so that I could see how far you'd come in such a short period of time. So, I agreed to take you on as an apprentice at least until you start at the academy. I would be the one to handle you basic physical and mental training, along with your ninken training, but I also wanted to test your mentality before I told you the good news first."

Keitaro immediately realized why his father had been so adamant about him coming to the compound today even though he wasn't needed whatsoever. He must have known about the 'test' and just made sure he was there. Even Renji coming to pick him up was a ploy.

How would he have known that Keitaro had arrived if not for the fact that he must have been actively looking and waiting for him to show up. He had been more focused on the idea of watching the experiments to notice the inconsistency but now it became pretty obvious.

"Is that why you gave that big speech before you left for the labs? You weren't speaking for Renji benefit at all, you were really talking to me weren't you. It was to test my mentality?" asked Keitaro.

"Indeed, I was giving you an option. If you had chosen to follow behind me, I would have still taught you but I would have become more of a mentor and would have taken a more hands off approach when it came to you.

Regardless of how much you might want something, you always have to be able to weight the pros and cons of your actions. Had you followed behind me, excluding the fact that you'd have been breaching a whole lot of clan rules, you would have been completely out of your dept and would have gained absolutely nothing of substance since you wouldn't have been able to follow what was actually happening. I would have been disappointed in you if you weren't able to see something as simple as that."

Keitaro decide then and there never to mention the fact that the only reason he chose to stay back was because he wasn't too keen on torturing the wolves and losing his mental 'innocence' rather than because he realized it would have been a waste of his time.

"By staying behind, you at least showed that you understood that sometimes, even when given the chance, there are some things that are simply above you and as such shouldn't be touched. Of course I still needed to see how tough your state of mind was and I also needed to punish you for sneaking into the lab regardless of whether I gave you a chance to or not. Which is why I used a little trick to ramp up the sounds of the test subjects that you were hearing. 

From the moment you entered the air ducts in my office, I placed you in a Genjutsu using the sound of these metal balls. The air ducts where also riggs so that once you tried to go back to the hallway that you would end up trapped in here, forced to suffer under the Genjutsu in question." 

Kazuki pointed to the metal pendulums that Keitaro had noticed were still clinking together even though they should have stopped quite some time ago. 

"Sound based Genjutsu are harder to execute, but are quite practical in certain settings. While the sounds that you heard were indeed from the test subjects, they were only conscious for about ten minutes before they passed out from pain. But in your case, you must have thought that hours had passed, all while listening to those sounds on repeat."

For the first time since he had started talking, Kazuki's gaze eased and a look of regret flashed across his face before he shook his head.

"In all honesty I figured that you would have passed out after a couple minutes of being under the Genjutsu, but you lasted the entire time. I started to regret the choice to use Genjutsu on you once I realized that you were still conscious, since I was pretty much subjecting you to a minor form of torture, but the fact that you could sit though those howl and even found time to read in between shows me all that I needed to know."

Once more Keitaro made a mental note to be weary of any and all scientific people that where apart of the Naruto world moving forward. Casually inflicting a child to such a traumatic experience and simply brushing it aside because said child seemed not to have become a broken mumbling mess, was the sort of behaviour one would expect from a mad scientist in the making.

"So the experiment…." Keitaro tentatively asked

"Oh that? Yeah it worked at least for now. The serum that Orochimaru developed is indeed highly volatile. The changes that it induces in the test subjects were relatively quick but the huge amount of pain was the trade off for such quick results. Even if we knocked them out before hand using general anesthetic, the pained from having their cells tweaked would have pulled them back to consciousness regardless. We did everything we could to lessen the pain, which is why they were only conscious for about ten minutes before they were able to pass out. It was pretty quick all things considered, but they are still undergoing changes all now, which will continue for some time. "

Knowing that the serum had been Orochimaru's handy work, Keitaro wasn't really shocked about the pain that it induced. The curse mark, also known as Orochimaru's calling card, also served as a sure fire way to strengthen its holder and could be considered a general power boost at virtually no cost to the holder. But the process of accepting said mark was a truly painful one and there wasn't even a guarantee of survival at the end of it all. Not to mention that you also unwittingly became a spawn point for the demented snake man. 

"Of course quick being relative in this case. Either way, the wolves have been altered and now we simply have to wait. I expect that half of them won't make it through the night and by the end of the week if a quarter of them are left, I would be genuinely surprised. Either way, the ones that are still alive in two weeks time will be tested and the three most stable males will be utilized in the next steps of the experiment."

Keitaro nodded his head before freezing. Why was Kazuki telling him all of this? Wasn't this supposed to be secret info?

"No need to look so shocked, with a happy heart I'm please to tell you that you've already passed my test, and could now be considered my apprentice. From tomorrow onward you will be joining in on Renji's study sessions and helping with the feeding and care of the test subjects and other minor things like that around the lab so that you can become more acquainted with and comfortable in the laboratory."

Kazuki handed Keitaro an envelop before waving him towards the door.

"Now I'm sure your dad is expecting you, you spent most of the day here after all so get going and I'll see you tomorrow. We start at nine, so don't be late."

Keitaro simply stared at the Kazuki's out stretched hand. He was peeved that no one had asked his opinion before giving him the 'wonderful' opportunity but he wasn't going to look a gifted horse in the mouth. Since he was being given a teacher, he'd gain as much benefit as he could before moving on.