Chapter Text
He had been captured during the cleansing. The Empyreans, or Sanctified, had decided that too much demon blood lie within the population. They didn’t care they had already enslaved the others and tried to control their “breeding”, as they called it. No, they decided certain clans should be destroyed. They were the just ones, the right ones, the divine ones, the ones with angel blood.
The Uzumaki clan had been the first. Their long life span and knack for healing from, what should have been, fatal injuries was a problem to the Sanctified. The Empyreans were supposed to be the supreme half breeds, not those in the Mephistophelian, or Forsaken, category. Next, they came for the Uchiha. The visual capabilities demon blood seemed to give them was a threat to the Hyuga faction, one of the most well-known families with some of the purest angel mutations.
He didn’t understand why they spared him and his brother, if “spare” is the right word. The Sanctified had made them both watch as they executed their mother and father within their own household. Itachi had already awakened his advanced eyesight long ago, but that is what had awakened Sasuke’s. To sit there and watch as his mother and father’s warm blood ran from their bodies across the floor to his kneeling knees. Sasuke knew his older brother only remained passive to keep him alive, Itachi could have destroyed the executioners in one quick movement.
Later, they would tell him it was because having only two Uchiha Mephistophelians, instead of an entire clan, would drive up their price on the auction block, besides they were both males, so they had accomplished their goal. No more pure-blooded from their clan could possibly be born. They shipped them to opposite ends of the market, Itachi was to stay close to their clan’s homeland while Sasuke was shackled, with his eyes sealed, within a slave trade truck for what seemed like days.
They offered him no food and barely gave him enough water to drink. He had to either go to the bathroom on himself or hold it. The shackles made sleeping even difficult. Sasuke’s biceps were shackled together along with his wrists behind his back. His ankles were shackled to those chains which caused him to stay in a constant kneeling position. He may have been an Uchiha but he was only seven, usually they were collected for slave trade when they were twelve or thirteen.
Sasuke made it through the journey smelling like death warmed over and weak enough to collapse as soon as they loosened the chains. They yanked him up threatening him with a beating if he couldn’t make it to his cell. It would take a while to reach that destination.
After walking what felt like miles, the jailers stripped him, doused him with cold water, and quickly sanitized his small body before wrapping him in some other clothing. The entire thing was disorienting without the ability to see. They then poked and prodded him along until he heard them unlock a metal door.
“Ok, you demon shit, here are your luxury accommodations,” one of the voices he had been hearing during the entire ordeal began. “Let me show you, what the divine think your worth.” The sealing cloth fell from his eyes and all that filled his vision was a dark cell, with straw as a bed and another kid his age kneeling in the corner. “Let’s not forget your jewelry,” the man blurted as the shackles were again slammed unto his weak frame.
“Oh look, we even happen to have someone your age. Maybe you guys can become little demonic buddies and receive your beatings together. I am sure all the other kids will find that rather entertaining,” the jailer mocked as he headed to the door.
As soon as the man left, Sasuke fell unto his side and let his sorrow overtake him. What the hell was he going to do? He had no idea where he was and from the look of the other kid and the cell, this was not the nicest place to be. He suddenly felt someone nudging him with an elbow and he looked to see what the hell the other boy could possibly want.
“I am sorry if I hit somewhere that hurt but I can’t really see you right now, just hear you. That corner behind me is the warmest spot. They didn’t chain you to the wall so you are welcome to it,” the other member of the cell was saying as Sasuke turned to look at him. His eyes were blindfolded, but not sealed, and his clothing ragged along his back. Had he been whipped?
The other boy listened as the new slave’s chains moved ever so slightly. The chains sounded light enough for the other person to be his age, maybe the jailer wasn’t just getting his hopes up. All the others were twelve or older and had some major advantages. Maybe the two of them had a shot to get through the day without getting beat by more than just the guards.
“How do you know I am not chained to the wall if you can’t see?” Sasuke asked.
“They blindfold me a lot, they say my eyes are creepy. The chains for the walls are heavier and make a different sound. Come on, you will need your rest, they will be dragging us out to the work yard come sunrise,” he answered.
Sasuke watched as the boy hobbled over on his knees to the back corner, his head was cocked to one side, listening for him to move. Sasuke managed to find just enough strength to get to his knees and follow his cellmate’s example.
The one with the blindfold listened as the other boy got closer. His movements were slow and slightly clumsy. This must have been his first time in shackles. His breathing sounded off. How long had it been since he had been fed? Had he gotten any water recently?
When Sasuke felt the temperature difference of the floor he finally realized how cold he actually was. He let himself collapse on the warmer straw and close his eyes. That only lasted a few minutes as a new sound filled the area.
It was screaming, blood curdling screaming, following by the sound of something ripping skin. Sasuke immediately found a way back to his knees and looked to the other kid as his head swung in that direction. His cellmate’s head was again cocked to the side as he listened carefully. He didn’t look bothered in the least.
“What’s going on?” Sasuke asked, worried he might be next.
“Well,” the other boy blindly looked in his direction, “we didn’t finish the job they gave us to do today. I have already been through my whipping if you haven’t noticed or are you blindfolded too?”
“I saw that the back of your shirt was ripped if that’s was you mean, but if you were whipped, shouldn’t there be more blood?”
“I don’t bleed for long, I tend to heal quickly,” he answered. “I mean, we Uzumakis are sort of known for that.”
“Uzumaki? I thought that clan was destroyed years ago.”
“Seven years ago, actually. My mom and dad died during that cleansing but not before Dad saved me. The slaves that had to clean up the aftermath found me hours later and decided it was best to raise me themselves. I guess I’ll be worth a ton in auction someday, not that it matters to me.”
“So, you have been here for seven years?” Sasuke questioned. “How old are you?”
“I’m seven, been here since the day I was born,” he answered. “My name is Naruto, by the way.”
“Wait, you are telling me you only know this?” Sasuke was almost crying. Living here the rest of his life would be the very hell they thought his demon blood came from.
“Yeah. I know it sounds horrible, well, it is, but this is all I’ve known. At least I have nothing good to compare it too. Hey, you mind getting this blindfold off so I can actually see you? If we are going to be talking I’d like to see who I am talking to,” Naruto asked.
“I thought you said your eyes were creepy,” Sasuke stated as he tried to find a way to remove Naruto’s blindfold. It came down to untying it with his teeth from the back of the blonde’s head. As soon as Naruto found it loosening, he made a motion for Sasuke to back up and shook his head just enough for it to fall down around his neck. Naruto raised his head blinking his eyes as they adjusted to being used. They were just blue, not creepy at all.
“Black hair, pale skin, and dark eyes. Maybe an Uchiha?” Naruto began to guess as he studied Sasuke for a minute. “Is your sight activated yet? I mean, usually they’d have your eyes sealed if it was but maybe they thought you too weak to use it right now.”
“How would you know anything about the Uchiha if you’ve been stuck here your whole life?”
“I see all the different types of Forsaken come through here. I have kind of made it a guessing game to figure out where someone is from before they tell me,” he answered.
“My name is Sasuke and I do have my sight. Why do you care?” Sasuke questioned as he looked him over. “And I heard the Uzumakis had red hair. Yours is blonde. And what are those scars from on your face anyway?”
Naruto chuckled at that, “You’re kind of funny. I don’t know why I care, just curious, I guess. Maybe one of my parents had blonde hair? The scars are from the day they found me. I guess my father marked me like this for some reason. I call them my whiskers.”
“Well, that’s a great gift from a father. Why would you want to scar a baby? Your clan must have been weird.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto answered back as he rolled his eyes. He then looked down and caught his blindfold with his chin and somehow managed to work it back up to his eyes with his shoulders. “We better get some sleep before the work day starts. They may go easy on you since it will be your first day, but not on me.”
Sasuke then watched as Naruto flopped on his side onto the floor, he followed suit with a little more grace and felt his exhaustion fully catch up with him. He was asleep in minutes. Naruto, on the other hand, listened for anything that might give a hint to what was in store for the next day.
***
Naruto awoke early listening to the sounds outside the small barred window he knew was to his right. He didn’t want to believe what he was hearing. He quickly turned his head to where he knew Sasuke was sleeping and muttered under his breath. There was no way that could possibly be the chore they were about to do for Sasuke’s first day. If it was, they might break him without a single beating.
“Fuck,” the word escaped Naruto’s lips before he could control himself. He heard Sasuke stir and he began begging as quietly as possible that he wasn’t right.
Sasuke awoke to Naruto muttering something. He went to rub his eyes and then was quickly reminded that his arms were bound. He slowly got himself up on his knees and tried rubbing his eyes on the shoulders of the thin shirt he wore. He then looked at Naruto. Even with the blindfold Naruto looked worried, maybe even horrified.
“Naruto, what’s going on?” Sasuke questioned as he scooted a little closer to the only soul he knew in this horrible place.
“Uh, well, I think something bad is happening today,” Naruto answered and then started biting his bottom lip as he turned to face the small window. He knew telling him now would at least dull the shock ever so slightly but this was not something he ever imagined telling anyone. “I think, I think we are burning bodies today. The bodies from the most recent raids.”
Naruto heard the quick intake of breath and the shuttering of the chains. Sasuke’s breathing then stopped for a moment and then began again shallow and quick. Naruto moved a little closer to him, trying to be ready to catch him with his shoulder if he passed out.
“Are you saying they will be burning my clan today?” he asked almost inaudibly. “They are just burning them with no ceremony, no offered prayers, nothing?” Sasuke couldn’t understand it. How could they? They were at least somewhat human right? Those people were mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters. What if, what if he had to burn his parents?
Suddenly, both boys heard the door to their cell shake. Both turned their heads but only one saw the sneer on the jailer’s face. He quickly pulled the keys from his belt and unlocked the door while keeping his beady, little eyes on the Uchiha.
“Looks like you might to get to see some of your family and friend’s faces today, Uchiha. Oh, they are a little bloated and smell, but I am sure they are recognizable,” the jailer jeered. He swung the door open and walked right up to Sasuke with his hand outstretched about to grab his neck. His hand never made contact with Sasuke, but the side of the jailer’s face made contact with the floor.
“Don’t you fuckin’ say shit to him like that and don’t you dare touch him. He’ll have enough to deal with without dealing with you too, you bastard!” Naruto yelled.
Well, Sasuke thought it came from Naruto’s mouth but it had a weird, deep echo to it. He studied the part of Naruto’s face that he could see. His scars looked different and were his teeth sharper? Maybe it was the extra light from the small window that allowed him to see better, the sun had come up enough to light the cell a bit.
Sasuke backed up as quickly as he could on his knees as the jailer lifted himself to his feet glaring at Naruto. The blond seemed to almost be looking at him from the side and there was the weirdest smirk on his face. What was that idiot smirking about? He may have gotten a hit in when the jailer wasn’t looking but Naruto was now the focus of his attention.
“Oh, you are back up on your feet. That took you long enough. Too bad I can’t see you. I would have loved to see your dumb face smack into the block floor. Tell me you at least left a little blood on it as a souvenir,” Naruto jeered mocking the jailer. His voice still seemed off and his teeth definitely looked like they could do some damage.
“You possessed little brat. What makes you think I won’t beat you an inch from death?”
“Who’s gonna show the fresh meat the ropes then? You want to be carrying the bodies to the ovens like a slave? Be my guest. We all know after the last auction there aren’t many young bloods today. From what I heard, the last raid involved more killing than harvesting,” Naruto boasted back.
The jailer back handed him across the face sending him siding a few feet across the floor, “You may be right, I can’t fully beat you today but at least I get the freedom to do that and withhold your breakfast.”
Sasuke looked from the jailer to Naruto back to the jailer, and then he heard Naruto getting up.
Naruto was smiling as he tasted his own blood pooling in his mouth. His lip was split open, that’s for sure, but nothing a few hours wouldn’t heal. He quickly found his center of gravity to lift himself from the cold floor.
“Just stay down,” Sasuke almost begged Naruto. He would rather work with someone he had only known for several hours then be with this white-haired Empyrean.
“Don’t worry, Sasuke. He won’t hit me again,” Naruto said as sure as he knew he was breathing. “Right, Mizuki?” When Naruto turned his head in their direction his blindfold had come off probably as he slid across the floor. His eyes were fresh-blood red with slits for pupils. The way he tilted his head was eerie and his smile seemed to spread across his face as he watched Mizuki. Naruto licked off the blood that was dripping from his lip.
Sasuke didn’t understand it. The Uzumaki clan had no known visual mutations but those were not the eyes he had seen last night. And it wasn’t that he just couldn’t see them that well in the dark. Sasuke realized he was hearing metal clanking against itself and looked towards the jailer.
Mizuki’s keys were shaking along with his body’s shudder. He was trying to glare at the slave in front of him even though he looked rather fearful. Naruto slowly scooted himself around, now fully facing the jailer. “I will kill you in your sleep, demon. I will find a way.”
“I dare you to try. You might want to get us up top before Donzo finds out you are the one taking so long to get us to the mess hall. We need to burn those bodies after all,” Naruto stated as calm as day as his eyes slowly shifted from red, to purple, finally to blue, his pupils following suit.
Mizuki unlocked the shackles on Sasuke first and then handed him the keys, “You unlock the demon, I am not getting near the possessed, little fucker.”
Sasuke got up shakily to his feet and wandered over to Naruto. Naruto’s blue eyes never left Mizuki’s face. He rubbed his wrists and ankles as the shackles came off. He stood easily, like the shackles had been just a small inconvenience. Sasuke tossed the keys to the jailer while Naruto continued glaring.
Sasuke realized he was taller than the blonde beside him but did not question the kid’s resolve as Naruto started to walk past Mizuki, through the door, and down the hall. He followed just a few steps behind. He heard the jailer exit their cell and shut the door. Sasuke continued to follow Naruto as he led the way up the steps.
“Are you wanting chow today? I am not so sure it’s a good idea with what you’ll be facing soon. You may just want to grab a quick drink and then follow me,” Naruto explained as he pointed to the direction he was headed.
Sasuke just nodded and agreed with his statement. Naruto led him to an area that had water to drink. The water wasn’t exactly clean, but he was so thirsty. Naruto quickly took a drink before looking over his shoulder. What was he looking at?
Sasuke looked up then and saw the other Forsaken filing out of their sleeping areas. Very few moved toward the building that smelled of some sort of food. Most must already know what today was. He then noticed there seemed to be a color code. His shirt was white which seemed to be the only one, while the others were red, black, green, blue, yellow, or orange. Naruto seemed to be the only in orange though.
“What do the colors mean?” Sasuke finally asked out loud.
“You’re new, you’re white. I am ‘possessed’ so I am orange. Green means you’re ready for auction, red and black mean they will never auction you off. Blue means next month you are ready for auction, yellow means no one wanted to buy you so they have to figure out why,” Naruto answered as he motioned Sasuke to follow him. “The black and reds will beat me, and maybe you, since we are the youngest here, for fun. Stay away from them unless you think we both can take them.”
“Wouldn’t we get trouble for doing that?”
“It would be worth it. I would love to get the upper hand on them just once.”
“And what do you mean possessed? I heard the possessed were mindless idiots who ate people or drank their blood.”
“You saw me down in the cell, they think it is just a matter of time. They tell me there must be a demon inside of me waiting for just the right moment. I mean, maybe that’s why I lived,” Naruto answered and then stopped before turning the corner. “Are you ready for this?”
Sasuke suddenly remembered what was happening today. He looked at Naruto and swallowed hard. He could tell there was no way getting out of this. He was a slave now, made to do whatever his master told him to do which today meant burning his own clan to ashes. What was he supposed to do? He and Itachi were the only ones allowed to live and then to mock that, he was now the one burning them.
“Come on, the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can get away from it,” Naruto said as he put his hands on Sasuke’s shoulders. “I will try to do as much as I can but this is a two person job. I will need help.”
Sasuke nodded and turned the corner. There were carts full of bodies, sitting beside rows of furnaces and the smell was gut wrenching. Sasuke just stared, wide-eyed. Were they all here? He felt his stomach rebel and turned back around to dry heave. There was nothing in his stomach to expel anyway. He felt Naruto’s hand on his back.
“Listen, you need to calm down. They will beat us both if we don’t get started and we will still have to do this job. We are section seven, just like our cell is number seven. No matter what we are doing, go to the number seven. We will have twelve bodies, three ovens. It takes two, maybe three hours for each body to burn. We can do this,” Naruto explained. “I am sorry these are people you know but if you get through this everything else will seem like nothing.”
“You’re joking, right?” Sasuke questioned. “Have you ever burned anyone you knew?” he whispered through shaking breaths.
“I have burned every single person who raised me but one.”
Sasuke eyes again grew wide. What was this place? Maybe Hell would be a step up. Naruto was the same age he was, already without his clan and then had to burn almost all the people that raised him What the hell?
“Ok, I think I am ready,” Sasuke began after a few moments. “Just take me straight there and let’s get this started.”