Chapter Three
A New Beginning?
"Mitsuki, who did that to you," Sasuke asked eerily. All I could do was stare at the new Sasuke before me. He appeared so…menacing and dreadful. If I didn't know better, I suspected that the Curse Mark had activated and turned Sasuke into a monster!
"I said, who did that to you?!" Sasuke persisted. All I could do was weakly raise my hand and point to Kabuto and Genma. He turned to them and glared.
"What can I say," Genma said. "She was becoming annoying."
"You're gonna pay," Sasuke stormed. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Huge flames burst forth from his mouth.
"Heh…I can handle this!" Genma scoffed. His expression suddenly changed into pure fear. "Wait…there are shurikens in the flames!!" The shurikens hit Genma full-force.
"What's the matter? Are you scared, or are you afraid of getting killed?" Sasuke derided mercilessly. He rapidly ran to Genma's side, chucked him in the neck, and sent him flying into a tree.
Then what happened next changed me forever. Sasuke placed his foot in the center of Genma's back and grabbed his wrists. "You must be exceptionally proud of these arms of yours," Sasuke commented, pulling on Genma's arms. "You must be especially…attached to them!"
"What are you doing?! You're crazy!" Genma faltered, staring fearfully up at the raven-haired Genin.
Abruptly, there was the SNAP of arms being yanked out of their sockets. I stared as Sasuke ruthlessly flung Genma into the opposite tree. Then he turned to Kabuto. "It seems you're the only one left!" he foretold.
Staring at Sasuke, I started to whimper a little bit. That wasn't the Sasuke I knew and loved…I felt it! I couldn't stand it any longer. Stumbling to my feet, I ran at him and cried, "Stop!"
When I reached him, I hugged Sasuke from behind. "Stop, please…" I sobbed. He turned his head and gazed at me with his Sharingan, and I stared back, tears overflowing from my deep blue eyes. Unexpectedly, the Curse Mark receded, and Sasuke fell to the ground.
I heard him murmuring, "Why did I do that…?"
"You wanted to protect me," I responded. "And I forgive you."
"Forgive me for what?" Sasuke asked.
"You almost killed Kabuto. Adding on to that, you beat the shit outta Genma to protect me!"
Sasuke smiled at me and I hugged him. His eyes were no longer full of hostility and hatred. What Sasuke had been a few moments earlier had disappeared into the Curse Mark. It was fascinating how love could force hatred to retreat to its hiding place.
As we left, I grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Naruto…I know you love me." I declared.
"Y-yeah I do!" Naruto exclaimed.
"However, I'm more than just a girlfriend. I'm your sister."
Naruto and I stared at each other for a moment, and embraced. "Make it to the tower safely then…" he whispered.
"I wish the same to you."
"Mitsuki," Kabuto reciprocated, walking up to Sasuke and I. "I want you to have this Earth Scroll."
"Why?" I asked, a tad suspicious.
"With Sasuke having the Curse Mark now, we can't hope to defeat him. Have our Earth Scroll as a token of respect." Kabuto dropped the Earth Scroll at Sasuke's feet and disappeared with his teammates into the trees beyond.
Kumori ambled up to us and sat down. "So what now?" he asked.
"We need to make it to the tower quickly," I replied. "When I was scouting the area, I saw a river nearby. I thought we could camp there for a short amount of time. However, when we leave, we'll have to erase any sign of our scent."
"That sounds good to me." Sasuke agreed. Kumori also nodded in accord.
At the spring, I was catching some fish. "Awe, come on! We need food!" I muttered in an aggravated voice. I quickly darted my hand into the water and pulled out a huge catfish, which was almost twenty pounds to be exact. Biting into its neck, I realized that Sasuke was behind me.
"That there is some pretty good accuracy, young vixen." he teased in his 'Chinese sensei' voice.
"Thanks for noticing, handsome teacher." I replied in the same accent. I looked up and handed him the fish. "Dinner is served."
We divided the fish into three pieces and gobbled them up. It truly wasn't all that bad eating a fish slightly cooked. After that short meal, we erased any sign that we'd been there at all.
Quickly keeping up our pace, we ventured through the forest for a few more hours.
Unexpectedly, a team of Rain ninjas leapt out at us. "Crap…" Kumori muttered. Sasuke used his Sharingan and realized that they were clones.
"They're clones, Mitsuki." Sasuke observed.
"That means that the real ones are somewhere nearby." I finished.
"Can you see them, Sasuke?" Kumori asked warily.
"There are three figures in the threes to the southwest. If we can just lure them out…then maybe…" Sasuke propounded calmly.
Abruptly, the three real ninjas leapt out behind Sasuke. "Look out!" Kumori cried. The black-haired Genin immediately whirled around as one of the ninjas stabbed him in the arm. I glared at them and brandished a kunai knife myself. I rapidly charged at one of the foes and used Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu. My clones and I immediately began attacking him.
Kumori glared at one of the other two enemies. "Bring it on!" he shouted.
The ninja silently made a hand sign and the cried, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
My teammate then proclaimed, "This is a Jutsu I developed myself! Lightning Style: Sparks of Shock Galore!" Three enormous strands of electricity burst forth from Kumori's palms and obliterated the Water Dragon technique. The ninja was immediately electrocuted to his death.
Sasuke was faring extremely well with his opponent. He used his original Shadow Shuriken technique. The technique was that Sasuke created another shuriken that appeared as a shadow of the first one. Basically the method was an essential form of Genjutsu.
The ninja was quickly bewildered. As the shuriken hit the foe, Sasuke kicked him up into the air. Then he used Lion's Barrage and swiftly made the ninja unconscious.
After finishing off that team of ninjas, our team headed to the tower, which was no more than ten yards away.
When we arrived in the tower, Sasuke collapsed all of a sudden and screeched in anguish. "What is it, Sasuke," I asked my voice shaky. "Did you get in injury in battle in a battle that you didn't know about?"
"The-the…Curse Mark…!"
I pulled down his shirt collar and noticed that the Curse Mark was alternating from black to an orange-yellowish color. In fact, it was almost throbbing…
"Kumori, set Sasuke against the wall," I ordered. "I'll get some sleeping pills and milk. That'll calm him down." Kumori nodded and helped Sasuke over to the far wall. I reached into my knapsack and pulled out a carton of milk and a container of pills.
"Here you go, Sasuke, eat these." I instructed calmly. Guiding the sleeping pills into his mouth, I held the carton of milk up to his lips. Sasuke weakly grasped the carton in his hands, drank what he could, and went into a deep sleep, more like oblivion.
"What do we do now? Our teammate is unconscious and we're the only two that are healthy and awake." Kumori pointed out.
I glanced at the calendar on my cell phone and checked the time. "We still have a day and a half left, so I guess we'll use that time to rest and recuperate." I dictated, taking a deep breath.
"Sasuke has the Curse Mark, though. We can't remove it, and we can't stop it. Only Kakashi-sensei knows the sealing Jutsu to at least shut down the Mark's power." Kumori mused aloud.
"Kakashi will seal Sasuke's mark on his own time. Meanwhile, let's heal our injuries. I'll ten to Sasuke; you just chill out. Agreed?" I sanctioned. Kumori nodded in approval as I pulled out some bandages.
That night, I lay awake beside Sasuke, thinking about what had happened. What did Orochimaru fancy with my boyfriend, and why did Genma want to murder me so badly? It didn't make sense, and I couldn't make any logic of it anyhow. However, I did know one thing: if that sick-minded snake ever got his clutches on Sasuke, I would be there him, regardless of the cost.
In the meantime, I knew that the Preliminaries were coming up tomorrow. Somehow deep in my mind, I sensed that all three of us were going to fight people that we couldn't possibly face up to.
