Dasuto ducked a vicious swing from Zaku's lead hand, the razor sharp kunai passing just a hair's breadth above his unprotected skull. Reacting purely on instinct he anticipated the follow up right hook, jumping back and throwing a wild haymaker aimed at the taller boys face.
Weaving around the uncontrolled punch with not much difficulty Zaku peppered Dasuto's guarded arms with a quick jab and dropped down low for an attempted sweep kick.
Managing to just in time to jump over the low oriented blow he never even saw the vicious uppercut coming until it was too late. All across his vision stars exploded and he actually felt himself leave the ground, before slamming back down to earth in a rather un-heroic and painful manner.
"Wow Dusty, you're fighting even worse today than you than usual!" Zaku joked as he offered a hand to help the supine teen to his feet.
Pulling himself up, Dasuto couldn't help but feel a twinge of depression at his friend's poor attempt at humor. Truth was he could barely stand his failure and thinking back on the past few years he couldn't help but wonder where it had all gone wrong.
It had started with so much promise, swearing his loyalty to what he would later learn was one of the world's most powerful ninja, gaining a chance to redeem himself for his past failures.
But it had all gone to shit.
No matter how he tried, how much blood sweat and pain he put into training, he could never seem to gain a significant increase in power. Truth be told he was what any conventional ninja academy teach would call insignificantly average. His chakra reserves? Average. Strength and speed? A wee bit above and as for ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu? Probably a little bit under, only being able to perform the standard henge, bunshin and kararimi techniques that were taught in the academy.
It was no surprise then, to him or anyone else, that Lord Orochimaru had rescinded his favor of the boy who had once showed so much promise and indeed had seemingly forgotten he even existed.
He was lucky he supposed, being placed on the leading Sound genin team after his miraculous graduation from the academy, the so called "Sound Three" after the team's most powerful member, a mummy boy named Dosu had been promoted in order to fill the gap left in the snake Sannin's bodyguard after the death of Tayuya.
But truly his greatest fall from grace had come after Orochimaru-sama had attempted the curse seal technique on him, which turned out to be a tremendous failure as his body rejected the mark and left him almost comatose for weeks confirming his fate as a true waste. It had happened not long into his tenure at the academy, the prospect of gaining as much skill and power as the infamous Sound four had been a rather seductive and exciting prospect. Alas it had been for naught and the fact that he still bore the aborted curse seal, a half moon encircled with 5 stars a evenly spaced intervals, only added insult to injury.
It had been almost seven years since that day, seven years of wasted effort and failed dreams. The presence that had haunted him in his wandering years had seemingly died out, retreating into the deepest parts of his sub-conscious. Without it he was just another nobody line soldier, useful only as cannon fodder and the occasional C ranked mission. Strangely this change had occurred after the botched curse attempt and at times it only left him to wonder.
But over time he had grown to accept his position as a second fiddle in a grand orchestra. He managed to like his teammates at least, the smartass, hotheaded Zaku Abumi and the confident, female power presence of Kin Tsuchi, the team's genjutsu specialist and ad-hoc leader.
Speaking of which…
"Dasuto-kun that was pathetic!" the feisty little brunette scolded, looking up at him in displeasure and crossing her arms across her petite frame in a perfect parody of an annoyed older sister.
He had grown over the years and as if making up for his lack of progress in any other area, had reached almost six feet in height and he wasn't even done. But at heart he still hadn't grown much at all.
"I'm sorry Kin-chan! I've just had a lot on my mind recently." He said with a bowed head, speaking barely above a whisper, as if already suffering from the effects of her bell trigger genjutsu.
"Ha! Something on your mind? If that's the case then this something has been on your mind for as long as I can remember!" she had been getting fed up recently with his depressing lack of progress and it showed in her tendency to blow up on the slightest little things. Though perhaps she had good reason to be agitated; what with the upcoming Chunin exams and everything.
A week ago, Kabuto Yakushi, Orochimaru's right hand man, had appeared and told them they were to be representing the Sound Village in the upcoming Chunin exams to be hosted in Konaha. They were to appear to be taking the exams for the advancement of their village standing, but in reality their sole purpose was to engage some Konaha shinobi and test his combat prowess. Sasuke Uchiha was the intended target and when shown a picture of the boy, Dasuto's thoughts immediately labeled him as a "class A brooder".
However such petty thoughts were swept aside and made insanely unimportant compared to the swell of anger that began to build in his gut. Soon it rose to encompass his entire being, wiping out any semblance of rational thought. For a moment he thought he felt a stirring in the recesses of his being, just like old times. This was power, the raw emotion, the feel of dominance through indomitable hate, the feel of crushed bones and ruined bodies, slick blood flowing between diamond edged claws. Life slipping away inch by torturous inch the sweet stench of burning bodies and the tang of souls being devoured by a great beast and.
As quickly as it had come the feeling left him, sinking back down below the quagmire of self doubt and shame that seemed to make up his person now. Even if he had the chance to take revenge there was no doubt in his mind he'd be too weak to follow through. So it faded.
Quickly it was forgotten though as Kabuto explained the details of the exam and what they would have to do once they reached their target to be.
They couldn't kill him, that much was clear and Dasuto couldn't help but feel a pang of jealously at Orochimaru-sama's interest in the boy. It had once been him in the spotlight, now the fallen angel, wallowing in the mud and filth of his just comeuppance.
So here they were, just two more days until they departed for the Chunin exams and he didn't even have enough strength to defeat his teammates one on one and wouldn't even attempt to think about taking on more than that.
He had a bad feeling about this.
The trip to Konaha took less time than he had expected. Half a day of leisurely travel and he began to notice the change in the countryside around him, changing from the rolling plains and paddies of Rice country into the deep forest of Fire.
He trod through the forest, the heavy tread of his black leather combat boots crushing the fallen leaves into powder beneath his feet.
They had all received new clothes in preparation for the exams, urban camouflage patterned trousers and bandannas. Zaku wore a tan coat with the kanji for "death" on it, black ninja sandals and a stylized cowl around his neck. Kin wore the same pants as the others, but instead of a tan shirt wore a green halter top and fingerless leather gloves to go with her black sandals. Dasuto had the same pants as the other two, but had his hair shaved short compared to Zaku's spiky mess and Kins luxurious locks. For his top half, he kept it simple with a black tank top under an old foliage green windbreaker. However on their forehead protectors they all sported the single musical note of their patron village.
As they walked, he couldn't help but steal glances at his female teammate from his position in the rear of wedge. It was low of him and he felt awful, but he couldn't help himself. To him she looked radiant, decked out for war. In his mind she was akin in appearance and spirit to an Amazonian warrior, gliding through the battle with an air of grace that was constantly denied. This fueled his curiosity more than any petty appearance could ever do and though he still hadn't matured enough to understand the connection shared by a man and a woman on a more intimate level than only sexually, he was still happy to admire from a distance and take what pleasure he could from her company and presence.
It wasn't too long after that they left the tree line and he got his first sight of that hated village firsthand.
It was big, very big. Possibly the biggest place he had ever seen! Those massive gates, if the civilian's of this village could create such a monstrously large creation then who knows what their ninja were capable.
Suddenly he felt very small and vulnerable, what could one man, no, boy do against something of this magnitude? Images of the power displayed by those four ninja that murdered his parents flashed in his head and only served to build up the unbreakable wall between him and fulfilling his life's purpose.
"Gah! Look at the size of those gates! This place is amazing!" Zaku exclaimed a bit too happily for his liking.
Just days before his teammate had been granted Lord Orochimaru's blessing in the form of the two air blasters that had been installed in his palms. Excited he had immediately set out to test his new toys, demonstrating their awesome abilities in front of a stunned Kin and a depressed Dasuto, who merely grunted his amazement. Unfortunately for Zaku, the showboating had ruptured the tender grafts that had not had time to fully heal and he had to abstain from using his cannons for at least three days. So much for practice, however it did make Dasuto a little happier to see him shot down in such a manner. Karma could be such a bitch.
Back to the present, the three made their way past the gigantic gates and checked in at a small toll booth on the side of the rear throughway.
Inside they were confronted by possibly two of the laziest Chunins the trio had ever witnessed. They were wearing nametags, one which read Izumo and the other Kotetsu.
"Welcome to Konaha, names, ranks and village please." The one with half his face covered in hair, Izumo, drawled; all the time not taking his eyes from little orange book that seemed to command all his attention.
"I'm Kin Tsuchi, this is Zaku Abumi and that over there is Dasuto. All three of us are genin of the Hidden Sound Village." Kin growled, irritated that this ninja wasn't giving them the proverbial time of day.
"Hmm, is that just Dasuto, no last name? That's pretty weird." the Chunin said again, still not looking up.
"Yeah, that's me, Da-su-to. Would you like me to spell it out?" Now he was angry, the gall of this leaf nin, calling him out on the name that Orochimaru-sama himself gifted him with.
For the first time the seated ninja looked up "No I'd rather not, you might not spell it right and then where would we be?" he sarcastically drolled aware of the rising anger in the camo wearing genin right in front of him.
Frantically Dasuto tried to calm himself, something about these ninja set him on edge and an uncanny anger was starting to brew inside him. Kin noticed this and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Dasuto-kun, it's not worth it, remember our orders from Lord Orochimaru," she whispered soothingly into his ear "We can't risk exposing ourselves to the Leaf nin before we have completed our objectives." Her hand began to stroke his back in little rubbing motions, until she felt the tension in his shoulders dissipate and she let go.
"Jeesh man, take a chill pill. Don't want you getting hurt before the big day." The one called Kotetsu sneered and Dasuto did his best to ignore the jibe. "Alright you three, don't cause any trouble here are your passes, be sure to keep them on you at all times. On them you'll also find your room numbers. So don't lose them, okay dust-bunny?"
'I'm so gonna murder these guys!' Dasuto lunged at the snickering pair of asshole Chunins. Unfortunately he forgot there was a table separating him from them, so instead of ripping them apart with his bare hands like he originally planned, he was left laid out on the ground painfully cupping his groin in anguish.
The two Chunins chuckles turned to full blow hysterical laughter and as a red faced Dasuto climbed unsteadily to his feet and let his friends give him support as he hobbled away.
Just one more reason to hate burn this murdering two-faced village to the ground.
And all those asshole Chunins with it.
Naruto Uzumaki, Konaha's number one most surprising knucklehead ninja, was bored.
This stupid test was taking waaaaaay too long and he had long ago decided since he didn't know any of the answers there was no point in wasting his time on some stupid words. He glanced back and noticed his crush and teammate Sakura Haruno working diligently on her own paper and he sighed in frustration. Oh course she could do it, she was only the smartest girl in their graduating class. And as for the teme, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto was pretty sure he was doing that crazy eye thing of his and somehow getting the answers from that.
'Bah, nothing cool has happened so far! Where are all the big ninja battles and duels? Where are the cool jutsus and flashy taijutsu moves? Where's lunch?" Naruto held his stomach as it let out a tremendous growl and embarrassed he quickly turned his head back and forth to see if anyone had noticed.
Turned to the left, clear, whew, now just to check the other side. He whipped his head around; almost knocking out a blushing Hinata Hyuga with his wild swing.
"Ah, Hinata-chan,sorry, sorry!" Naruto frantically whispered, waving his hands in an attempt to placate the violet haired girl.
"It's alright N-n-naruto-kun, I-I'm okay." She whispered back and combined with her already soft voice Naruto could barely hear her speak, if it wasn't for the quiet atmosphere of the classroom he definitely wouldn't have been able to.
"Ah, good. Um, Hinata-chan, er are you okay? Your face is really red." He sincerely asked, wondering what was wrong with his friend. She could be choking!
'Like that one time Kiba got a whole chicken bone stuck in his throat and had to go to the hospital to get it removed. Or the time I tried to swallow that whole bowl of ramen in one gulp! Or the time…" By this time Naruto had forgotten all about Hinata's plight.
Seeing his attention now elsewhere, the poor girl was able to get a grip on herself and the chronic blush dipped back down to her normal healthy glow. Inside though her heart was still in a fluster.
'Why can't I tell Naruto how I feel! Does he feel the same way? Why didn't he let me give him the answers? Does he not like me?' Head whirling with these thoughts the easily flustered clan heiress, reactivated her Byakugan and got back to work. She still had some answers to finish and compare with the other test takers.
Meanwhile Naruto continued to stare off into the distance, now drooling out of one side of his mouth, dead to the world around him.
'MAH! WHEN IS THIS GOING TO END!' Naruto groaned, 'This is taking forever!' The test had been dragging on for what seemed like hours and the ADD riddled orange adorned boy could barely stop from screaming out loud in frustration. If this went on any longer he might just do that! At this time over and eighth of the original teams had been eliminated for being caught cheating.
Finally a bell rang and the proctor, some big ugly guy named Ibeekea, or something like that, announced that the first part of the exam was over and it was time for the final question. But first any team that wished to drop out could do so; they could take it again at a later date. If however they decided to risk it and stay for the final question and they got it wrong, oh this was bad; they would be barred from taking the chunin exams ever again.
To say Naruto was sweating at this point was an understatement, if he messed up he would probably have Sakura and Sasuke both trying to kill him, not to mention he could forget any hope of ever getting the pink haired goddess out on a date!
Looking to his left and to his right, he noticed one hand shoot up, then another, starting a chain of drop outs that silently stood up and filed out the door in a single long line of defeat.
His arm began to quiver at first and then raised a fraction of an inch off the desk. He tried to will it down, he really did, but like it was tied to a bundle of balloons it began the inevitable ascent upwards.
However at the peak of its ascent he slammed it back to the desk with a loud !SLAM! that attracted the attention of nearly everybody in the classroom, including the scarred proctor Ibiki.
"Ha! Never will you get me, Naruto Uzumaki, to admit defeat so easily! Not when I never give up! Not when I never break my promises and NOT when I'm going to be the greatest Hokage the worlds ever seen! So try your best to scare me off with that, I will never back down! That is my nindo! Believe it! That is my ninja way!" he finished with a shout and a slight smile on the face of the stoic ninja and the collective gasp from the rest of the testers told him that he had been successful in his impromptu oration.
When it was revealed that the final question was whether or not you were brave enough to stay and risk it all, Naruto sighed in relief. He really would've failed otherwise. Death by fangirl didn't seem like a very attractive way to go.
It was at this point that Ibiki Morino, now revealed to be the head the ANBU torture and interrogation squad, started to tell the genins just how important it was to put your entire self on the line when it really mattered. To sacrifice all for the greater good.
Here he was really ramping it up and Naruto assumed it was his way of trying to top his speech!
'Sorry old man, not gonna happen!' However the battle of the amateur orators would have to wait as the next stages proctor made a rather, startling entry. Almost even dynamic if you would.
With a crash of broken glass and tearing fabric and a whirl of tan, purple and er, breast, somersaulted through the opening and landed with a flourish. Behind the woman a sign had been pinned to the wall by kunai, showing both lighting fast precision and speed. But while the delivery system may have screamed professionalism, what the sign proclaimed, not so much.
MEET YOUR NEXT PROCTOR! THE SEXY AND SINGLE, ANKO MITARASHI! ARRIVING!
But just to prove a point and maybe enlighten those that couldn't read (Naruto) the attractive purplette announced in a loud booming jovial voice "ARRIVING NOW THE SEXY, SINGLE, ANKO MITARASHI! YOUR NEW PROCTOR!" beaming she threw up a peace sign "That's me!"
Naruto and just about everyone in the room sweat dropped, 'Man this lady is crazy!' or 'Don't think I'd ever see anyone wearing that much fish-net! Oh mama!' were the two most common thoughts being broadcast across the classroom.
Well that is all except one.
It was her, the snake woman from his nightmares, he was sure of it.
"But Anko-chan, don't you want to spend the night alone all alone, just the four of us?" The dog masked Kakashi's voice ran fresh in his memory.
'And there she is standing in front of her peers without a care in the world, having the audacity to joke and flirt as if there was nothing wrong. As if the BLOOD of countless innocents didn't stain her pretty little hands crimson.' He was shaking now his whole body responding to the maelstrom of emotions churning inside. 'WHORE, MURDERER, COWARD, CUNT, SUCCUBUS, BLOODY CORSPE!" Dasuto broiled on the inside, the pressure inside, building to such a point where he was sure he was about to explode.
'But I must control my anger, otherwise the plan will be compromised and Orochimaru-sama's will be displeased.' Too late did rational thought restored itself; as by this time he was already across the room, throwing knife after knife at the object of his hatred.
Hinata wasn't sure exactly what just happened, one moment the strange kunochi was preening her feathers after her surprising dynamic entry and in the next the room exploded into a frenzy of violence as one of the Sound Ninja who had threatened the Genin Kabuto, charged out of his seat and started chucking knives at the special jounin at the front of the class.
Hinata gasped as one of the knives actually hit Anko in the leg, sending her to the ground. However in a testament to her skills she, even with an injury she managed to dodge the rest of the knives easily. But it seemed the mysterious genin wouldn't be deterred as easily as the errant projectiles had and with one final last bound the Sound ninja crossed the distance and the two grossly mismatched ninja's came together with deadly force.
Kin clasped her hands over her mouth in pure shock over what had just occurred. Dasuto had lost it, he'd finally snapped. A quick look over at Zaku confirmed that he felt the same, that there friend had finally lost his long time battle with sanity and just gone off the deep end. It had always been a distinct possibility, it was easy to see that their strange teammate was never the most emotionally balanced person and this couldn't be wholly unexpected.
'When Lord Orochimaru finds out, all three of us are going to die!' Kin thought worriedly and quickly switched into damage control mode.
The only way this could work is if Dasuto actually managed to defeat the jounin, though looking from the way the fight was going, that probably wasn't going to happen.
'Shit! Time to think up a plan B and fast!'
Naruto really didn't have anything going through his head; he was still stuck on Anko's fishnet bodysuit and would be for quite some time to come.
Out of all of them the one most confused individual in the room at that moment was no other than the single sexy Anko Mitarashi herself.
On moment she was basking in the undivided attention of her audience, whether it was from respect or lust she didn't care, as long as all eyes were on her.
However just as she had had enough of the eye fucking and was about to begin the brief on the second half of the Chunin exam, she found herself dodging a flurry of thrown knives, taking one in the leg while she was at it.
'Was my entrance really that bad?'
Currently she was trading blows with some random genin that had charged at her like a bat out of hell and frankly she didn't know what to make of him.
There was no way he was an assassin, he wasn't nearly skilled enough. As it was she was effortlessly holding her own against the crazed idiot and it was becoming more and more evident that that first hit to the leg was just a lucky shot.
Finally tiring of the pointless spar, Anko took the offensive, throwing a lighting fast flurry of punches and kicks that for the most part all connected where they were supposed to. Seeing that her victim was temporarily stunned she grabbed the bottoms of his legs in a classic wrestling throw and brought him down to the ground, hard. The kid was knocked out cold.
Getting up and planting a foot on the back of her vanquished foe, Anko gave her audience one of her best "friendly" smiles.
"Sorry about that little interruption folks, now as I was saying before, the next stage of the chunin exam is going to take place in the Forest of Death, which also happens to be my personal favorite training ground, ever! It's going to be sooo much fun!"
As she explained into the specifics for the next test, she couldn't help but keep going back to the few clear images she had of her would be attackers face and the unmistakable hatred she had seen. Something was telling her she had seen this guy before. Somewhere…
"I can't believe they seriously bought that!" Kin laughed as they walked out of the Konaha ANBU headquarters building. "We are seriously lucky we got away! If Lord Orochimaru ever found out we almost got caught." She left the implied threat hang, in truth if their mission truly was botched, they probably would all end up in unmarked graves somewhere in the forest.
"Then its good everything worked out in the end. We get to keep fighting, Orochimaru-sama is happy and Dasuto here get's to go back to getting his ass kicked by sexy jounin women where ever we go!" Zaku joked and slapped his friend on the back.
For his part Dasuto didn't say anything, just kept his eyes down and tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone on the street.
What had happened back in the classroom? One moment he was sitting in his chair, shaking his in lieu of the blond loudmouth's sudden declaration of idiocy. Seriously who wore that much orange? Such an ostentatious color and individual, it truly surprised him that the kid wasn't pushing up daisies already.
So there he was, sitting in his chair, when that fucking snake had appeared. Not that he had anything against the slithering reptiles but the bitch had set him off bad, so bad. He hadn't felt like that in years, not since that first night he had arrived in Hidden Sound. No, better not to dwell on that; that way laid madness.
He didn't remember throwing the knives, or charging across the room in a berserk rage and engaging the special jounin with taijutsu. He did remember the subsequent beating that took place and his removal from the academy and transfer to ANBU HQ. They had locked him in a holding cell and soon after a tired looking jounin with bags under his eyes and a perpetual cough came and began question.
"So *cough* Dasuto-san, why did you attack the proctor?" the sad looking man asked, resting his hand easily on the well worn pommel of a simple katana, the threat obviously there and potent.
He licked his lips; he had to think fast, they would never accept the truth. Even if he could prove she was guilty, they would undoubtedly back their own, condemn him for seeking justice. So he lied.
"I'm so sorry; see the thing is I thought, I thought we were under attack as part of the exam. I apologize but I can be a bit jumpy at times, victim of two many ambushes eh?" he halfheartedly offered and from the look the other man gave him, he was sure he was done.
But after it was all done, the jounin had just asked him a few more standard questions, thanked him for his time and left. And surprisingly enough he only waited a few minutes before the door opened again and a chunin came in and informed him he was free to go.
Picking up his weapons from the evidence locker on the way out, he met his teammates at the front desk. They had waited for him while he was incarcerated and on the way out he explained what had happened on the way out.
"So Dats-brain why'd you go off on that chick anyways?" Zaku asked, curious as to the other boy's rather uncharacteristic moment of insanity.
Kin nodded her head in agreement; she had been trying to figure that out as well.
Dasuto shrugged his shoulders and cracked his neck, trying his best to look relaxed as possible. "I dunno, guess I just wanted to get in the fight a little earlier, test these so called Konaha nin and see what their worth."
'Bullshit.' Kin thought though what came out was a sickly sweet "So what'cha learn?"
Dasuto's face cracked for the first time in a small smile. Tomorrow the second stage of the chunin exams would begin and he had already been beaten to a pulp.
"It's gonna need some more work."
Ibiki waited patiently for Hayate to stop coughing after telling his report. His fit finally passing the special jounin dropped his hand, trying vainly to conceal the blood that covered it. The interrogator noticed this but didn't say anything about it.
"So their obviously hiding something." Hayate offered, trying his best to get his breathing back to normal. "Do you want me to bring them all in?"
The scarred man was silent for a moment and when he spoke it was with great thought. "No, leave them be, I have a feeling this is about to get complicated, better to watch from the shadows and try to piece together the situation." Seeing the other man about to object he held up his hand in a placating manner. "However I will request for the Hokage to task someone to watch the group; and should anything untoward occur, intervene."
"Hmm, that would solve the problem, let's just *cough* hope they *cough* keep *cough* their noses clean."
"Indeed."
A/N: Next chapter begins with the chunin exams, so there should be some form of action happening. Expect things to deviate from the canon after the exams, but still remain relatively on the same track. No world shaking changes in the near future. Anyways, read and review as always, criticism is welcomed as well as rants. Oh and I haven't decided on the pairing/s for this fic, if you have any suggestions let me hear em', won't hurt anything and who knows I just might use your idea.